The Hubbert Peak Theory of Rock, or, Why We’re All Out of GoodSongs | Overthinking It.

Many rock purists and music snobs (myself included) often lament the quality of most modern pop/rock music.  “Music these days is so trite and derivative,” they say.  “It’s just been downhill since the 60’s and 70’s.  Those were the days.”

A few years ago, Rolling Stone magazine added fuel to the music snobbery fire with its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list.  Anyone casually paging through the list would notice that the bulk of the list was comprised of songs from the 60’s and 70’s, just like the music snobs always say.

I, however, wasn’t content with the casual analysis.  So I punched the list into Excel, crunched some numbers, and found an interesting parallel between the decline of rock music quality and, of all things, the decline in US oil discovery and production:

So the question is…If we start drilling offshore and in Alaska, will the quality of rock music improve?

]]> http://constitutionclub.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/rock-music-quality-vs-us-oil-production-interconnected/feed/ 2 gurusteve http://constitutionclub.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/daves-quote-of-the-day-166/ http://constitutionclub.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/daves-quote-of-the-day-166/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:16:16 +0000 Dave the Sage http://constitutionclub.wordpress.com/?p=10893 ]]>

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.

~ Ronald Reagan – 40th President of the United States

Another jihadist and poor excuse for a human being received the justice he deserved this evening and FreeRepublic even had an execution live thread (well, then it became a “dead” thread) to pass the time during the death watch countdown. The Beltway sniper is no more but his victims, and his crimes, should not be forgotten.

Execution time: 9:11 p.m Eastern.

Here is a list of the people shot by the D.C. snipers during their coast-to-coast crime wave in 2002.

1. Keenya Cook, 21, killed Feb. 16 in Tacoma, Wash. She lived in the home of a friend of John Allen Muhammad’s estranged wife.

2. Jerry Ray Taylor, 60, killed March 19 on a golf course in Tucson.

3. Paul J. LaRuffa, 55, wounded Sept. 5 in the parking lot of his restaurant in Clinton.

4. Rupinder “Benny” Oberoi, 22, wounded Sept. 14 outside a beer and wine store in Silver Spring.

5. Muhammad Rashid, 32, wounded Sept. 15 outside a liquor store in Brandywine.

6. Million A. Woldemariam, 41, killed Sept. 21 outside a liquor store in Atlanta.

7. Claudine Lee Parker, 52, killed Sept. 21 outside a liquor store in Montgomery, Ala.

8. Kellie Adams, 24, wounded outside a liquor store in Montgomery, Ala.

9. Hong Im Ballenger, 45, killed Sept. 23 outside a beauty store in Baton Rouge.

10. James D. Martin, 55, killed Oct. 2 outside a supermarket in Wheaton.

11. James L. “Sonny” Buchanan, 39, killed Oct. 3 while mowing grass behind an auto dealership in White Flint.

12. Premkumar A. Walekar, 54, killed Oct. 3 while pumping gas at a service station in Aspen Hill.

13. Sarah Ramos, 34, killed Oct. 3 while sitting on a bench waiting for a ride in a shopping center in Silver Spring.

14. Lori Lewis Rivera, 25, killed Oct. 3 while vacuuming a car at a Shell gas station in Kensington.

15. Pascal Charlot, 72, killed Oct. 3 while waiting to cross a street in Northwest Washington.

16. Caroline Seawell, 43, wounded Oct. 4 while loading her car in the parking lot of a store in Fredericksburg.

17. Iran Brown, 13, wounded Oct. 7 outside a school in Bowie.

18. Dean H. Meyers, 53, killed Oct. 9 while pumping gas in Manassas.

19. Kenneth H. Bridges, 53, killed Oct. 11 while pumping gas near Massaponax, Va. His first grandchild will be 2 next month.

20. Linda Franklin, 47, killed Oct. 14 in a Home Depot parking lot in Falls Church.

21. Jeffrey Hopper, 37, wounded Oct. 19 while walking hand in hand with his wife in a restaurant parking lot in Ashland, Va.

22. Conrad E. Johnson, 35, killed Oct. 22 while standing in the doorway of the bus he drove in Aspen Hill.

The following is a mini-excerpt of one day’s experience at Best Buy trying to replace my fourth Xbox 360.  Yes, one day before Modern Warfare 2’s arrival on store shelves, the Red Ring of Death appeared.

The experience has 12 chapters.  12. Granted they are short, but they are quite powerful, and the range of emotions expressed within those digital pages is quite noteworthy.

Chapter 3 – The Five Stages of Best Buy Customer Service

Denial

“I’m sorry sir, but we cannot do anything about it.  There will be no replacement today because the computer won’t let us do it.”  the General Manager Lady said.

“But you have done it before.  3 times.” I responded.

“Yes, but not any more.”

“No, that can’t be.  Seriously.  It’s why I bought the PRODUCT REPLACEMENT PLAN – see – it says it right here on my PRODUCT REPLACEMENT PLAN envelope – next to the bright smiling people who were able to easily return and replace their products with no worries, hassles, or problems – just like the ad says.”

“Yes, I see that – but you see on the receipt it says “PSP” – that stands for “Product Service Plan” – not “PRP” which would stand for Product Replacement Plan.”

Anger

“Are you kidding me?  I was told this was a PRODUCT REPLACEMENT PLAN – see – it says it right here on my PRODUCT REPLACEMENT PLAN envelope – next to the bright smiling people who were able to easily return and replace their products with no worries, hassles, or problems – just like the ad says.”

“Yes, I see that – but you see on the receipt it says “PSP” – that stands for “Product Service Plan” – not “PRP” which would stand for Product Replacement Plan.”

Bargaining

A sense of deja vu hits me for the second time, again and I feel like I am repeating myself.

“Is there someone else I can talk to – surely we can reason this out – this isn’t the first time I have been here.”

“I’m sorry sir, but we cannot do anything about it.  There will be no replacement today because the computer won’t let us do it.”

Depression

“Seriously.  This can’t be.  Modern Warfare 2 is out.  I was going to get it.”

“I’m sorry sir, but we cannot do anything about it.  There will be no replacement today because the computer won’t let us do it.”

Acceptance

“Ok.  Sure.  What do I need to do to get it back to me asap?”

“You will need to talk to the geek squad. Please step over here…”

For those interested, it actually ended well – an hour and a half later, well really 4 hours later I walked out with my new Xbox 360 Elite in hand, a copy of Modern Warfare 2, and felt like I needed therapy…  the entire story is being withheld pending a movie rights negotiation or if anyone requests more. . .

And thanks to work, I have not yet experienced Modern Warfare 2…. grr.

Well, this is what happens when you work in a building with a bunch of techies. This is me chasing a woodpecker around the office last Saturday. Set to music, and sped up about 10 times faster than normal. I guess you have to be able to laugh at yourself. I was the talk of the corporate headquarters today. It appears this is my “youtube moment” whether I like it or not.

After minimal damage to both bird and myself he was successfully captured. Scared me a bit at the beginning. Not what you expect to go zipping by your head when you are working in a big, deserted building on a Saturday. I should have had the wife cook him up for dinner. I hear woodpecker is good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJOwHaujiZg

An Orchid will get you two to life

There can be no argument that I am unfit to be Your Humble Messenger.   Enraged by our deletion controversy, the true messenger has abandoned us in a fit of righteous rage.  Perhaps if he knew how everyone here loves him so, he might feel compelled to enlighten us yet again. . .

Speaking of deletion controversies, it appears House liberals are all atwitter over the deletion of abortion from the final healthcare bill:

Reps. Diana DeGette (Colo.) and Louise Slaughter (N.Y.) led the group of Democrats in writing to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) threatening to withhold support for a final conference report if it strictly prohibits federal funding for abortion services.

Your messenger finds it curiously amusing that the Maine “Republicans” are in line with these ladies. 

Last week I didn’t want to get too political about the Ft. Hood shootings, but the cat is now out of the bag.  From Cal Thomas:

The federal government at all levels has hired and promoted Muslims to influential positions. It requires “sensitivity training” for federal employees, including those who work at the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Last week, the House Judiciary Committee, dominated by liberal Democrats, defied the White House and removed from the USA Patriot Act a tool for tracking non-U.S. citizens in anti-terrorism investigations. As our enemies grow stronger and more emboldened, they see us becoming weaker and less committed.

As Cal said: suddenly gays in the military doesn’t seem so threatening.

Your messenger also stumbled upon this gem from last week.  It is a piece entitled ‘Criminalizing everyone’ and details an old man being locked up for two years because he didn’t follow protocol on importing orchids.  No seriously.  When Dave writes of bad case scenarios, this is they type of stuff he is refering to.

Mrs. Norris testified before the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime this summer. The hearing’s topic: the rapid and dangerous expansion of federal criminal law, an expansion that is often unprincipled and highly partisan.

Imagine that.  There can be political motivations for being locked up.  I am just your messenger here. 

Surfacing in the news again is the uber-hot ex-Miss California.  Apparently she is having a Bill Clinton moment and she “did not have sexual relations in that video.”  Your messenger thinks none of this would be an issue if she were a lefty that believed marriage was a union of whoever feels the itch at the moment, but what does he know.

And for you sports fans, it appears that Tennis’ Marat Safin, a Frenchman Russian, believes American Andre Agassi should give his titles and his money back.  Apparently, he doesn’t get how we do it here in the U.S.; inject, win, and listen to everyone else bitch about it.  The opposite side of the spectrum are the French Russians.  They inject, lose and bitch about the Americans for winning.

Sincere apologies to PG for butchering his baby.  But there is a way to change the humble messenger. . .

“We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”

Some poignant words on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall which was the symbolic end of the cold war. I remember that day clearly.  Berliners from both sides danced on top of the barrier that once divided them. A barriers that witnessed the deaths of countless East Germans seeking freedom on the other side.  Even with all the historical perspective of a 13 year old I knew that I was witnessing history in the making.

The full text of the speech after the jump courtesy of historyplace.com

Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: Twenty-four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, speaking to the people of this city and the world at the City Hall. Well, since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn, to Berlin. And today I, myself, make my second visit to your city.

We come to Berlin, we American presidents, because it’s our duty to speak, in this place, of freedom. But I must confess, we’re drawn here by other things as well: by the feeling of history in this city, more than 500 years older than our own nation; by the beauty of the Grunewald and the Tiergarten; most of all, by your courage and determination. Perhaps the composer Paul Lincke understood something about American presidents. You see, like so many presidents before me, I come here today because wherever I go, whatever I do: Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin. [I still have a suitcase in Berlin.]

Our gathering today is being broadcast throughout Western Europe and North America. I understand that it is being seen and heard as well in the East. To those listening throughout Eastern Europe, a special word: Although I cannot be with you, I address my remarks to you just as surely as to those standing here before me. For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin. [There is only one Berlin.]

Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic, south, those barriers cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers. Farther south, there may be no visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same–still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state. Yet it is here in Berlin where the wall emerges most clearly; here, cutting across your city, where the news photo and the television screen have imprinted this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of the world. Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar.

President von Weizsacker has said, “The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed.” Today I say: As long as the gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind. Yet I do not come here to lament. For I find in Berlin a message of hope, even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph.

In this season of spring in 1945, the people of Berlin emerged from their air-raid shelters to find devastation. Thousands of miles away, the people of the United States reached out to help. And in 1947 Secretary of State–as you’ve been told–George Marshall announced the creation of what would become known as the Marshall Plan. Speaking precisely 40 years ago this month, he said: “Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.”

In the Reichstag a few moments ago, I saw a display commemorating this 40th anniversary of the Marshall Plan. I was struck by the sign on a burnt-out, gutted structure that was being rebuilt. I understand that Berliners of my own generation can remember seeing signs like it dotted throughout the western sectors of the city. The sign read simply: “The Marshall Plan is helping here to strengthen the free world.” A strong, free world in the West, that dream became real. Japan rose from ruin to become an economic giant. Italy, France, Belgium–virtually every nation in Western Europe saw political and economic rebirth; the European Community was founded.

In West Germany and here in Berlin, there took place an economic miracle, the Wirtschaftswunder. Adenauer, Erhard, Reuter, and other leaders understood the practical importance of liberty–that just as truth can flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of speech, so prosperity can come about only when the farmer and businessman enjoy economic freedom. The German leaders reduced tariffs, expanded free trade, lowered taxes. From 1950 to 1960 alone, the standard of living in West Germany and Berlin doubled.

Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any city in Germany–busy office blocks, fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of parkland. Where a city’s culture seemed to have been destroyed, today there are two great universities, orchestras and an opera, countless theaters, and museums. Where there was want, today there’s abundance–food, clothing, automobiles–the wonderful goods of the Ku’damm. From devastation, from utter ruin, you Berliners have, in freedom, rebuilt a city that once again ranks as one of the greatest on earth. The Soviets may have had other plans. But my friends, there were a few things the Soviets didn’t count on–Berliner Herz, Berliner Humor, ja, und Berliner Schnauze. [Berliner heart, Berliner humor, yes, and a Berliner Schnauze.]

In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: “We will bury you.” But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind–too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.

And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.

Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

I understand the fear of war and the pain of division that afflict this continent– and I pledge to you my country’s efforts to help overcome these burdens. To be sure, we in the West must resist Soviet expansion. So we must maintain defenses of unassailable strength. Yet we seek peace; so we must strive to reduce arms on both sides.

Beginning 10 years ago, the Soviets challenged the Western alliance with a grave new threat, hundreds of new and more deadly SS-20 nuclear missiles, capable of striking every capital in Europe. The Western alliance responded by committing itself to a counter-deployment unless the Soviets agreed to negotiate a better solution; namely, the elimination of such weapons on both sides. For many months, the Soviets refused to bargain in earnestness. As the alliance, in turn, prepared to go forward with its counter-deployment, there were difficult days–days of protests like those during my 1982 visit to this city–and the Soviets later walked away from the table.

But through it all, the alliance held firm. And I invite those who protested then– I invite those who protest today–to mark this fact: Because we remained strong, the Soviets came back to the table. And because we remained strong, today we have within reach the possibility, not merely of limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.

As I speak, NATO ministers are meeting in Iceland to review the progress of our proposals for eliminating these weapons. At the talks in Geneva, we have also proposed deep cuts in strategic offensive weapons. And the Western allies have likewise made far-reaching proposals to reduce the danger of conventional war and to place a total ban on chemical weapons.

While we pursue these arms reductions, I pledge to you that we will maintain the capacity to deter Soviet aggression at any level at which it might occur. And in cooperation with many of our allies, the United States is pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative–research to base deterrence not on the threat of offensive retaliation, but on defenses that truly defend; on systems, in short, that will not target populations, but shield them. By these means we seek to increase the safety of Europe and all the world. But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed; we are armed because we mistrust each other. And our differences are not about weapons but about liberty. When President Kennedy spoke at the City Hall those 24 years ago, freedom was encircled, Berlin was under siege. And today, despite all the pressures upon this city, Berlin stands secure in its liberty. And freedom itself is transforming the globe.

In the Philippines, in South and Central America, democracy has been given a rebirth. Throughout the Pacific, free markets are working miracle after miracle of economic growth. In the industrialized nations, a technological revolution is taking place–a revolution marked by rapid, dramatic advances in computers and telecommunications.

In Europe, only one nation and those it controls refuse to join the community of freedom. Yet in this age of redoubled economic growth, of information and innovation, the Soviet Union faces a choice: It must make fundamental changes, or it will become obsolete.

Today thus represents a moment of hope. We in the West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safe, freer world. And surely there is no better place than Berlin, the meeting place of East and West, to make a start. Free people of Berlin: Today, as in the past, the United States stands for the strict observance and full implementation of all parts of the Four Power Agreement of 1971. Let us use this occasion, the 750th anniversary of this city, to usher in a new era, to seek a still fuller, richer life for the Berlin of the future. Together, let us maintain and develop the ties between the Federal Republic and the Western sectors of Berlin, which is permitted by the 1971 agreement.

And I invite Mr. Gorbachev: Let us work to bring the Eastern and Western parts of the city closer together, so that all the inhabitants of all Berlin can enjoy the benefits that come with life in one of the great cities of the world.

To open Berlin still further to all Europe, East and West, let us expand the vital air access to this city, finding ways of making commercial air service to Berlin more convenient, more comfortable, and more economical. We look to the day when West Berlin can become one of the chief aviation hubs in all central Europe.

With our French and British partners, the United States is prepared to help bring international meetings to Berlin. It would be only fitting for Berlin to serve as the site of United Nations meetings, or world conferences on human rights and arms control or other issues that call for international cooperation.

There is no better way to establish hope for the future than to enlighten young minds, and we would be honored to sponsor summer youth exchanges, cultural events, and other programs for young Berliners from the East. Our French and British friends, I’m certain, will do the same. And it’s my hope that an authority can be found in East Berlin to sponsor visits from young people of the Western sectors.

One final proposal, one close to my heart: Sport represents a source of enjoyment and ennoblement, and you may have noted that the Republic of Korea–South Korea–has offered to permit certain events of the 1988 Olympics to take place in the North. International sports competitions of all kinds could take place in both parts of this city. And what better way to demonstrate to the world the openness of this city than to offer in some future year to hold the Olympic games here in Berlin, East and West? In these four decades, as I have said, you Berliners have built a great city. You’ve done so in spite of threats–the Soviet attempts to impose the East-mark, the blockade. Today the city thrives in spite of the challenges implicit in the very presence of this wall. What keeps you here? Certainly there’s a great deal to be said for your fortitude, for your defiant courage. But I believe there’s something deeper, something that involves Berlin’s whole look and feel and way of life–not mere sentiment. No one could live long in Berlin without being completely disabused of illusions. Something instead, that has seen the difficulties of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to build this good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding totalitarian presence that refuses to release human energies or aspirations. Something that speaks with a powerful voice of affirmation, that says yes to this city, yes to the future, yes to freedom. In a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin is love–love both profound and abiding.

Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most fundamental distinction of all between East and West. The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront. Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexander Platz. Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what they view as the tower’s one major flaw, treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind. Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere–that sphere that towers over all Berlin–the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.

As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: “This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.” Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.

And I would like, before I close, to say one word. I have read, and I have been questioned since I’ve been here about certain demonstrations against my coming. And I would like to say just one thing, and to those who demonstrate so. I wonder if they have ever asked themselves that if they should have the kind of government they apparently seek, no one would ever be able to do what they’re doing again.

Thank you and God bless you all.

Ronald Reagan – June 12, 1987

Due to an absolute deadline that is fast looming, I must excuse myself and concentrate fully on some other tasks. Facebook, Conclub and a few other time consuming activities will basically be suspended for the next two weeks. I now am taking orders for Christmas on a manuscript that is not yet fully completed. Yesterday, one lady ordered eight copies of a “product” that doesn’t really exist yet for Christmas presents. I’m in “hurry up” mode and will be spending every spare moment for the next two weeks “elsewhere” other than here I am afraid. I spent several hours on my “special project” today alone and was happy with the progress that was achieved. I could probably use the break anyway. I’ve been a bit beat up and tired emotionally lately due to the unforeseen events that unfolded here recently and I could probably use the break time to rejuvenate and refocus my energies on what I believe to be truly important instead of allowing myself to get sidetracked. When I return I will begin running a series of philosophical essays on the ideological struggles of the day. Despite what you may have heard, I am far more of an ideological and sociological philosopher than many may believe. Activism and politics is secondary to understanding the agendas, goals and mindsets of those involved in the great struggles of the day. One can’t fight effectively what you don’t understand, and you can’t achieve true victory unless you truly understand what you are fighting for.

The Beast is not the only one who finds our President disconnected and passionless.  The Brits over at the Telegraph have noticed it, too.

During the election campaign, Barack Obama’s cool detachment was a winning quality, the “No Drama Obama” a welcome contrast with the “Mr Angry” John McCain, never mind the hot-headed “I’m the decider” President George W Bush.

A year into his presidency, however, Mr Obama seems a curiously bloodless president. If he experiences passion, he seldom shows it. It is often anyone’s guess as to whether an event or issue truly moves him.

In a sign that the Obama honeymoon truly is over, I began to hear this week the first stirrings of a wistfulness about Mr Bush. “I never thought I’d hear myself say it,” one Democrat told me. “But Obama makes you feel that at least with Bush you knew where he was on something.”

When Mr Bush’s Republicans were defeated in the 2006 mid-term elections, it was the President himself who stepped up and declared that his party had received “a thumpin’”. The Democratic defeats on Tuesday were not on anything like the same scale but Mr Obama acted as if nothing at all had happened.

It took Senator Mark Warner of Virginia to admit that his party “got walloped”. For three days, Mr Obama maintained a studied silence about the results while his aides blamed them on local factors that had nothing to do with the President. And to think that it was Mr Bush who was always accused of being “in denial”.

More serious perhaps was Mr Obama’s strange disconnectedness over the Fort Hood massacre of 13 soldiers by an Army major and devout Muslim who opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had praised suicide bombing and shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he opened fire.

When the television networks cut to the President, viewers listened to him spend more than two surreal minutes talking to a gathering of Native Americans about their “extraordinary” and “extremely productive” conference, pausing to give a cheery “shout out” to a man named Dr Joe Medicine Crow. Only then did he briefly and mechanically address what had happened in Texas.

On Friday, when most of the basic facts were available, Mr Obama tried again. It was scarcely any better. He began by offering “an update on the tragedy that took place” – as if it was an earthquake and not a terrorist attack from an enemy within – and ended with a promise for more “updates in the coming days and weeks”.

Completely missing was the eloquence that Mr Obama employs when talking about himself. Absent too was any sense that the President empathised with the families and comrades of those murdered.

E’s assertion in a prior post that only those sunk in the partisan fever swamps could possibly find Obama’s performance on the Ft. Hood slaying cold and oddly disconnected is belied by the fact that many on his own side – and in other parts of the world -  see it too.

A live tune from the 2nd album I ever owned.   Love it.