Thursday, November 26, 2015

Thankagiving


Have a happy Thanksgiving day.  Never mind all the crap in the world today.  There's always been crap in the world, years ago we just didn't know about it.  Today just be thankful.  Forget about Pilgrims, Native Americans, good guys, bad guys, etc., etc.  Just focus on things YOU are grateful for.  Some of us have to search a bit, but there's always something.  I'm thankful for my sobriety, my partner, our dodging a bullet when we nearly lost our house, the fact we have a roof over our heads, and much more.

Find something, and be grateful for it.  Life has NEVER been "fair".  Just for today, forget about your quest, your activism, and just give thanks.  No need to invoke any deity  ---  unless you want to..

Using words that once really meant something, and could again, "Have a nice day".

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Nonconformity and Freethinking Now Considered Mental Illnesses

 I find the following rather strange, amazing, insane, etc.  How controlled are we to become?  Is there no more room for the "wild goose"  --  who once tamed is never the same?  Will young creative people have to hide their creativity?  Also, who are these guys working for?  How much repression must there be?

The following from: http://theunboundedspirit.com/nonconformity-and-freethinking-now-considered-mental-illnesses/  --  Please go there, they have lots of good stuff.

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Is nonconformity and freethinking a mental illness? According to the newest addition of the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), it certainly is. The manual identifies a new mental illness called “oppositional defiant disorder” or ODD. Defined as an “ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile and defiant behavior,” symptoms include questioning authority, negativity, defiance, argumentativeness, and being easily annoyed.
The DSM-IV is the manual used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental illnesses and, with each new edition, there are scores of new mental illnesses. Are we becoming sicker? Is it getting harder to be mentally healthy? Authors of the DSM-IV say that it’s because they’re better able to identify these illnesses today. Critics charge that it’s because they have too much time on their hands.
- See more at: http://theunboundedspirit.com/nonconformity-and-freethinking-now-considered-mental-illnesses/#sthash.GfDWFJfi.dpuf
New mental illnesses identified by the DSM-IV include arrogance, narcissism, above-average creativity, cynicism, and antisocial behavior. In the past, these were called “personality traits,” but now they’re diseases.
And there are treatments available.
All of this is a symptom of our over-diagnosing and overmedicating culture. In the last 50 years, the DSM-IV has gone from 130 to 357 mental illnesses. A majority of these illnesses afflict children. Although the manual is an important diagnostic tool for the psychiatric industry, it has also been responsible for social changes. The rise in ADD, bipolar disorder, and depression in children has been largely because of the manual’s identifying certain behaviors as symptoms. A Washington Post article observed that, if Mozart were born today, he would be diagnosed with ADD and “medicated into barren normality.”
According to the DSM-IV, the diagnosis guidelines for identifying oppositional defiant disorder are for children, but adults can just as easily suffer from the disease. This should give any freethinking American reason for worry.
The Soviet Union used new “mental illnesses” for political repression.  People who didn’t accept the beliefs of the Communist Party developed a new type of schizophrenia. They suffered from the delusion of believing communism was wrong.  They were isolated, forcefully medicated, and put through repressive “therapy” to bring them back to sanity.
When the last edition of the DSM-IV was published, identifying the symptoms of various mental illnesses in children, there was a jump in the diagnosis and medication of children. Some states have laws that allow protective agencies to forcibly medicate, and even make it a punishable crime to withhold medication.  This paints a chilling picture for those of us who are nonconformists.
Although the authors of the manual claim no ulterior motives but simply better diagnostic practices, the labeling of freethinking and nonconformity as mental illnesses has a lot of potential for abuse. It can easily become a weapon in the arsenal of a repressive state.
- See more at: http://theunboundedspirit.com/nonconformity-and-freethinking-now-considered-mental-illnesses/#sthash.GfDWFJfi.dpuf

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Maceo Parker plays Marvin Gaye "Let's Get It On"


roy hargrove quintet - strasbourg saint denis



roy hargrove - tp
justin robinson - as
gerald clayton - p
danton boller - b
montez coleman - dr

Benny Carter - Things Ain't What They Used To Be



Benny Carter-alto saxophone
Joe Wilder-trumpet and flugelhorn
Scott Hamilton-tenor saxophone
Ed Bickert-guitar
Gene Harris-piano
John Clayton-bass
Jimmie Smith-drums

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Jimmy Giuffre ‎-- Tangents In Jazz 1956 (full album)



from Capitol Records album released in 1956

00:00 A1 - Scintilla I (Jimmy Giuffre)
00:56 A2 - Finger Snapper (Jimmy Giuffre)
03:32 A3 - Lazy Tones (Jimmy Giuffre)
07:46 A4 - Scintilla II (Jimmy Giuffre)
10:15 A5 - Chirpin' Time (Jimmy Giuffre)
16:05 B1 - This Is My Beloved (Vernon Duke)
19:39 B2 - The Leprechaun (Jimmy Giuffre)
26:17 B3 - Scintilla III (Jimmy Giuffre)
27:58 B4 - Rhetoric (Jimmy Giuffre)
31:28 B5 - Scintilla IV (Jimmy Giuffre)


Jimmy Giuffre - Clarinet, Baritone Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone
Jack Sheldon - Trumpet
Ralph Pena - Bass
Artie Anton - Drums

Charlie Parker, Lennie Tristano & Kenny Clarke in August 1951



Charlie Parker, Lennie Tristano & Kenny Clarke play ALL OF ME & I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH ME in August 1951.

1960 - Stan Getz & JJ Johnson -Sweet Georgia Brown



J. J. Johnson (tb), Stan Getz (ts),
Victor Feldman (p), Sam Jones (b), Louis Hayes (d)

JJ Johnson-Blue Trombone 1957


Sonny Stitt,Howard McGhee,JJ Johnson,Walter Bishop,Tommy Potter,Kenny Clarke."Buzzy"



"Buzzy" (Charlie Parker).
Sonny Stitt Alto Sax,
Howard McGhee Trumpet,
JJ Johnson Trombone,
Walter Bishop Piano.
Tommy Potter Bass,
Kenny Clarke Drums

Very Rare!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Clifford Brown & Max Roach (Full Album)



Clifford Brown & Max Roach (album) released in 1955.

1/ Delilah 00:00
2/ Parisian Thoroughfare 08:03
3/ Daahoud 15:18
4/ Joy Spring 19:19
5/ Jordu 26:09
6/ The Blues Walk 33:51
7/ What Am I Here For? 40:36

Personnel:

Clifford Brown -- trumpet
Harold Land -- tenor saxophone
George Morrow -- bass
Richie Powell -- piano
Max Roach -- drums

Thelonious Monk live in' 66 : Lulu's Back In Town




Thelonious Monk (piano) Charlie Rouse (tenor sax) Larry Gales (bass) and Ben Ryley (drums)

thelonious monk - don't blame me


Bud Powell Trio plays Round Midnight (Thelonius Monk)


Bud Powell - Anthropology (1962)



Bud Powell - piano
Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen - bass
Jorn Elniff - drums

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

KEVIN DRUM: Red States Spent $2 Billion in 2015 to Screw the Poor

Medicaid funding is shared by the states and the federal government. Between 2000 and 2013—the most recent year reported by the CMS actuaries—the share of Medicaid spending shouldered by the states increased by an average of 6.1 percent per year. This is not total spending. It's just the portion the states themselves paid for.
In 2015, according to a survey by the Kaiser Foundation, spending by states that refused to expand Medicaid grew by 6.9 percent. That's pretty close to the historical average. However, spending by states that accepted Medicaid expansion grew by only 3.4 percent.Obamacare may have increased total Medicaid enrollment and spending, but the feds picked up most of the tab. At the state level, it actually reined in the rate of growth.
In other words, the states that have refused the expansion are cutting off their noses to spite their faces. They're actually willing to shell out money just to demonstrate their implacable hatred of Obamacare. How much money? Well, the expansion-refusing states spent $61 billion of their own money on Medicaid in 2014. If that had grown at 3.4 percent instead of 6.9 percent, they would have saved about $2 billion this year.  
Here's what this means: the states that refuse to expand Medicaid are denying health care to the needy and paying about $2 billion for the privilege. Try to comprehend the kind of people who do this.
POSTSCRIPT: Actually, there's more. The residents of every state pay taxes to fund Obamacare, whether they like it or not. Residents of the states that refuse to expand Medicaid are paying about $50 billion in Obamacare taxes each year, and about $20 billion of that is for Medicaid expansion. Instead of flowing back into their states, this money is going straight to Washington DC, never to be seen again.
So they're willing to let $20 billion go down a black hole and pay $2 billion extra in order to prevent Obamacare from helping the needy. It's hard to fathom, isn't it?