gdp's Comments

Glenn Beck - The 912 Project : 4/16/09: United Airlines Says Big People Have To Pay More

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:47:20 +0000

This is because an airline ticket is a measurement of space rather than weight. It's "1 seat." Children and adults take up one seat whether they are 40 lbs. or 160 lbs. Obese people are not being charged because of their weight, but their physical space overflows out of their "1 seat" that they purchased into someone else's "1 seat."

Glenn Beck - The 912 Project : 4/16/09: United Airlines Says Big People Have To Pay More

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:46:10 +0000

It isn't about discriminating against obese people for the sake of discrimination, it's because obese people infringe on the comfort/space that non-obese people pay the same money for. When you buy a ticket on an airplane you are buying a single seat and the space that accompanies that seat. If the person next to you is too fat to be contained in the space that they reserved for themselves through the purchase of their seat and spills into the space that you purchased, then that is an infringement. Why should obese people be allowed to infringe on the space that I bought for the same money? Aren't I entitled to the same space as the next person? You could make the argument that airlines who don't charge obese people more are actually cheating adjacent non-obese people. They are paying full price for less room than is implied when purchasing "one seat" while the obese person paid the same price for more room implied in "one seat." It would only be fair then to charge the person who takes up more than one seat the fare for more than one seat. It's not discrimination, it's simple math that protects the purchase of all customers, obese and non-obese alike.

Glenn Beck - The 912 Project : Books

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:00:44 +0000

Military.com Reviews American Soldier In this era of iTunes and YouTube the notion of a concept album has been all but killed as a function of digital technologies and the Internet. Gone are the days of “Tommy” and “The Wall” when a listener would drop the needle and let an album to play all the way through. (The LP format demanded it as much as facilitated it. A scratch was forever.) Now music fans browse their favorite e-commerce sites and choose what tracks to download based on 30-second snippets. Not that I’m judging, of course. I’m as guilty as the next Web surfer. I have hundreds of albums, cassette tapes, and CDs strewn across my home office, but I seldom, if ever, download complete albums. This phenomenon isn’t lost on the minds that create the music. The market drives artist activity and resultantly few of them think in terms of relating dimensions of a single story across an album’s tracks. But all is not lost for those valiant holdouts who still have attention spans that last longer than, say, four minutes and twenty seconds. Queensryche’s latest effort, “American Soldier,” is a concept album in the tradition of the greats — one that merits end-to-end consideration. What Jerry Lewis used to say about his telethon holds true for “American Soldier”: “If you miss a little you miss a lot.” The album opens with the strident voice of every squad leader yelling, “On your feet!” signaling that the band has stepped off the line of departure wearing a warfighter’s boots. The elements of combat inform songs like “Hundred Mile Stare,” “If I Were King” (also the album’s first video, which had its world premiere at Military.com), and “The Killer.” Voices of real vets weave in and out of the tunes, giving the narrative a transcendent company-street cred. Aviators are also brought into the battle with the slow build of “At 30,000 feet.” “American Soldier” also tackles themes of war beyond the fighting. “Remember Me” deals with couples who deal with the pitfalls and pressures of getting married right before a war rotation. (Key lyric: “I don’t know what the future holds, I’m sorry if this seems too cold; a man conflicted in his head, makes poor choices, regrets the words he says.” But the subject sums up his thoughts with “All I want from you is for you to tell me that you miss me.”) “Home Again” opens with a voice that states, “It’s very hard to keep a family together when you’re halfway across the world. A lot of us are dads; a lot of us are husbands, and we’re just counting the days to get home.” From there the song morphs into a poignant exchange between father and daughter. (The girl singing is actually lead singer Geoff Tate’s daughter.) My main concern when I first heard about this project was the “Soldiers as victims” trap that these sorts of projects (whether albums, films, or books) too often fall into. Too often the only takeaway from the military experience is trauma, heartache, and personal devastation. (I generally think of Metallica’s “One” as the perfect cartoon-ish example of this phenomenon.) But “American Soldier” deftly avoids this trap, primarily because Tate developed the concept by letting servicemembers, including his father, and families tell their stories without clouding the message with his own preconceived notion. In fact, in a recent podcast interview at Military.com, when I asked Tate what he learned about the military by virtue of putting the album together, he said, “I learned I knew nothing going into this.” The album isn’t a recruiting poster, necessarily, but it’s an honest reading of what happens when brave Americans are sent to war. From a musical point of view “American Soldier” is well-produced, aptly complex, and hook-laden. My acid test of a good album has always been whether or not it gets better with each listening, and “American Soldier” does. There are no throw-aways on this one, but for me the standout tracks (read “download now”) are “Hundred Mile Stare,” “If I Were King,” “Remember Me,” and “Home Again.” So walk a few clicks in the boots of “American Soldier” and rediscover the concept album. Along the journey through war you might recognize yourself or someone close to you. You might even learn something. And, of equal importance considering the medium, you will rock.

Glenn Beck - The 912 Project : Books

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:42:32 +0000

I know this isn't a book, but I think it is important to recognize this in the spirit of the 9-12 project. Seattle-based rock band Queensryche is releasing a new album next week dedicated to the soldiers who have fought and died for our country. The album is called "American Soldier" and is told (sung) from the soldiers' points of view based on numerous interviews with veterans and current soldiers with the band. I highly recommend this album as a fitting tribute to the trials, both physical and mental, that our soldiers have had to endure to keep our nation safe. You can hear the album as a preview in its entirety at VH1's website: http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/queensryche/2397012... And you can follow along with the lyrics here: http://www.queensryche.com/code/2009_American-Sol... More detailed information on the album's concept can be found here: http://www.queensryche.com/2009/03/08/queensryche...

Glenn Beck - The 912 Project : Proposed "Cap & Trade" Policy Looks Like A Regressive Tax

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:09:06 +0000

Because, sadly, Obama is still riding the Personality Cult that led to his election. Instead of looking at his policies and what he's actually doing, the followers are hanging on his words and the historiocity of his being elected. We can only hope that the "honeymoon period" will soon be over and Americans who love the man can intellectually separate Obama the "Personality" from Obama the "President." Until that actually happens, as long as he uses his teleprompter and gives stirring speeches without any divulging any substance, his supporters will continue to lap it up like a bad opium habit while his policies go unchecked simply because they come from the personality.

Glenn Beck - The 912 Project : The AIG Story Continues to develop

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:29:48 +0000

You've got a point of course, but imagine what would happen if he had said some disparaging remark about antiquated African customs? The drive-bys (as Rush would say) would do everything in their power to get him impeached. Instead, there's a double-standard being illuminated by the media not taking him to task for flippantly throwing around ethnic stereotypes. The media SHOULD be all over this, but for some reason because it is Japan they are not.

Glenn Beck - The 912 Project : Russia is building more nukes ...

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:29:51 +0000

Putin sees his chance at avenging the Cold War loss by building up nukes while America is infighting. Whether Obama is going to play the game or not remains to be seen, but rest assured (or assuredly restless?) that Russia is sending a message to the US now.

Glenn Beck - The 912 Project : 3/13/09 - 3/19/09

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:37:05 +0000

"China's Milk Victims Complain of Intimidation" http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090317/ap_on_re_us/a... Does anyone else find it interesting that while America is racing toward full-blown Socialism, a "Socialist" country like China races toward Capitalism? It's no secret that after Mao's death in 1976 that China gradually moved away from "Communism" into what Deng Xiaoping called "Market Socialism." Today, make no mistake, it's full blown Capitalism. While the Chinese Community Party (CCP) is fearful of relinquishing control and sometimes rears its head to quash rising freedom, we see that once again Capitalism and freedom seem to go hand in hand. The tainted milk issue is a case in point. The CCP is intimidating the victims to drop their lawsuits, but their want of freedom has emboldened them and they are speaking out against the government. This would be unheard of under Mao or even Deng, but today freedoms seem to be growing in China at the same time our freedoms are shrinking here at home. Who would have ever thought that this would happen?

Glenn Beck - The 912 Project : The AIG Story Continues to develop

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:20:38 +0000

As a Japanist, I find this kind of rhetoric insulting. It is very true that Japanese executives who knowingly allow corruption or allow public safety issues to go unchecked to turn a profit often go before the public to apologize and admit their guilt when they get caught. This is commonplace in Japan. Executive suicides, on the other hand, are not commonplace. The Iowa Senator is looking to the Japanese samurai cultural practice of seppuku (or hara kiri...not hari kari) and, by extension, the kamikaze pilots who gave their lives in World War II. I would suggest that out of personal integrity and respect for one of our closest allies that he take his own advice and apologize publicly to the Japanese.