Christmas in Fallujah - by Jefferson Pepper

It seems Billy Joel's powerful new ballad shares its title with a song from a Pennsylvania-born artist named Jeffeson Pepper.

Mixing alternative rock, warped bluegrass, punk, folk, Americana and alt country, Jefferson Pepper inhabits an eclectic, rootsy territory all his own. No pretension, just honest, plain-spoken poetry for anyone with enough awareness and good taste to listen.

You can hear Jefferson's song here.

Christmas in Fallujah - worth a listen

Billy Joel has a new song out in time for the holidays: Christmas in Fallujah. It has kind of a haunting Nirvana quality to it, which might be why I like it... Hope you do too.

“Christmas in Fallujah” arrives in the midst of an unpopular war. In a press release on his Web site, Joel says he was inspired to write the song by letters he received from U.S. soldiers in Iraq, but that he felt he was too old to sing it.

Joel chose an unknown 21-yr.-old from Long Island, singer/songwriter Cass Dillon, to give voice to his emotional, anti-war song:

“I didn’t feel I was the person to sing this song,” said the 58-year-old Joel. “I thought it should be somebody young, about a soldier’s age. I wanted to help somebody else’s career. I’ve had plenty of hits. I’ve had plenty of airplay. I’ve had my time in the sun. I think it’s time for somebody else, maybe, to benefit from my own experience.”

The song is available at iTunes now. Proceeds go to Homes For Our Troops.

S-CHIP and the wingnuts

Paul Krugman's NY Times op-ed today hits so close to home, literally and figuratively, I have to share it.

Krugman writes about the outright assault the nutty right wing has lauched to personally and vehemently attack 12-year old Graeme Frost, whom the Democrats had chosen to respond to the president's Saturday radio address. This was the broadcast in which W. outlined his reasons for vetoing the S-SCHIP bill, which was exapnding medical coverage for children on a national level.

I hope to write about this topic in some detail in the near future. But Krugman's column will serve as as good a jumping off point for anyone who is interested in what I believe to be the number one economic and social topic (ahead of the Iraqi war, even!) we in America must address. Now.

Scientist creating new life form... no, really.

Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.

Amazing stuff.

Politics v. Religiosity

Jon Meacham, Newsweek editor and author of “American Gospel” and “Franklin and Winston,” has a timely op-ed in yesterday's NY Times.

Provocatively titled, "A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation," Meachem tackles a contentious issue that is once again playing itself out, front and center, in the current exhaustive presidential campaign.

In an interview with Beliefnet.com last weekend, Sen. John McCain repeated what is an article of faith among many American evangelicals: “the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.”

I cringe every time I see such words or hear such thought. And while I am far from being a constitutional scholar, even I can recognize the error and danger of such thinking. I think the op-ed should get as much distribution as is possible. Money quote:

The founders were not anti-religion. Many of them were faithful in their personal lives, and in their public language they evoked God. They grounded the founding principle of the nation — that all men are created equal — in the divine. But they wanted faith to be one thread in the country’s tapestry, not the whole tapestry.

Thank you, Mr. Meachem, for pointing out some of the historical realities surrounding the myth of a Christian America.

Jon Stewart calls Matthews' new book 'A recipe for sadness'

Jon Stewart had Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball, on The Daily Show last night to talk about Matthews' new book "Life's a Campaign." It is one of the funniest book discussions I have ever seen. Why? Because Stewart was absolutely honest with Matthews regarding his view that the book's values are misplaced and wrong.

At one point, Matthews invites Jon to come on Hardball, to which Stewart responds, "Can I say this? I don't troll." Matthews ends up calling the encounter: "...the worst interview I have ever had in my life."

I have enjoyed watching Matthews and his fellow NBC pundit Tim Russert over the years. I find them to be, on the average, fair, fairly impartial and knowledgeable. Lately, however, I have learned to watch and mentally notate the nuance that they introduce into their interviews that they don't even know they are adding... things like physically characterizing political candidates versus actually weighing their words and the substance of their message.

On the face, since these pundits work from a visual medium [TV], it is understandable. But I hope for so much more. Matthews and Russert et al. are supposed to be journalists, right? Everyone knows politics is a popularity contest first and foremost (don't they?). But it doesn't have to be, and it most definitely should not be. The questions we face today are too serious to leave to the most photogenic candidates. We need substance.

Perhaps that is why Stewart's Daily Show has gained such popularity. Yes, it is a comedy show first and always. But time and again, he has a way of showing how serious topics are being mishandled by traditional media. I applaud his honesty.

Just Say 'NO!' to More War Funding

Read the news today, oh boy...

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates will ask Congress Wednesday to approve nearly $190 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008, increasing initial projections by more than a third.

I think I'm gonna be sick...

Congress should approve the request as quickly as possible "and without excessive and counterproductive restrictions," Gates will tell the Senate, according to his testimony. Doing so, he added, helps the Pentagon to better manage its resources and avoid shifting money around, which often requires additional cash.

C'mon everybody, call, email, reach out to your congressmen and women... Tell them to stop this war. Now!