I Hate Rap

I've concluded that Rap music (and I use that term loosely) is an expressive form that consists of a simple beat to chanted, mediocre poetry that is a series of catch phrases designed to shock the listener, and with little unity or edifying content. It's main purpose is protest, disturbance and hedonism. There is nothing in it that inspires the listener toward personal improvement, fulfilling relationships, or the overall betterment of society. It praises and promotes violence, illicit sex, civil disobedience and rebellion. That's the way I see it.

Why I Read Fiction

I've recently taken to reading Louis L'Amour novels (after at least 20 years of encouragement by my wife, who grew up on these books). I'm really impressed by the quality of the stories and writing. Of course, the Sackett series is a major part of L'Amour's work, so I've gotten The Sackett Companion, a book with lots of trivia and insights about the Sackets, the books and the writing process. Perhaps my favorite part of the book is on page 262:

It has often been said that we have but one life to live; that is nonsense. If one reads fiction he or she can live a thousand lives, in many parts of the world or in outer space. One can cross a desert, climb the Himalayas, or experience the agony of defeat, the triumph of victory, the pangs of starvation, or the choking thirst of the desert, all while safely at home.
The book has been man's greatest triumph, his most profound success. Seated in my library I live in a Time Machine. In an instant I can be transmitted to any era of history, any part of the world, even to outer space. Often I am asked in what period of history I would have preferred to live, and I wonder that they do not see, for I have lived in them all. I have listened to Buddha speak, I have marched with Alexander, sailed with the Vikings, or in their double canoes with the Polynesians. I have been at the courts of Queen Elizabeth and Louis the XIV; I have explored the West with Jedediah Smith and Jim Bridger; I have been a friend to Captain Nemo and have sailed with Captain Bligh on the Bounty. I have walked in the agora with Socrates and Plato, and listened to Jesus deliver the Sermon on the Mount.
Above all, and the most remarkable thing, I can do it all again, at any moment. The books are there. I have only to reach up on the shelves and take them down and live over again the moments I have loved. Surely, we live today in the greatest moment of history, for at no other time have books been so readily available, in the book stores, in the public libraries, and in the home.

If we are the sum of our life's experiences, then, the more we read, the more we become better, more interesting people. No one can possibly experience everything this world has to offer, but we can tap in to other's experiences through reading.

"Back on Uncle Sam's Plantation"

Below is a link to an article written by a conservative black woman named Star Parker. She is so correct in what she writes in this article that I think everyone should read and learn from it. I might even have to put her book on my wish list.

A quote:

The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families. ...

I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth producing American capitalism.

I had a professor in college who insisted that America was an inherently racist country and that blacks were kept in poverty in the inner city ghettos because of it. I used to vehemently and angrily deny it, because I have had no part in such evil schemes. I now understand that it is true, but only because Progressive Liberal Socialist Democrats (like my professor) made and keep it that way. I was so offended at the notion because it is so foreign to my way of thinking.

America IS the land of opportunity. Socialism works when people don't. (But only temporarily.) Capitalism works as well as you do.

Here's the article: Back on Uncle Sam's Plantation.

Enjoy!