Favorite poster from NR's "The Corner"

Prediction [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Bibi Netanyahu will never be given a Nobel prize.

Hey Man, Sing Me a Song [John J. Miller]

The new Five for Fighting album, Slice, is out today. I've had a copy for a few weeks — that's one benefit of having written about John Ondrasik's band for NR and NRO — so I've had an opportunity to give it a few listens and let it sink in. The title track is about the power of pop music to make you feel a part of something bigger than yourself. It's kind of nostalgic, too, because it wonders about the erosion of common culture in a blog-driven world. Ondrasik longs for the creation of songs "that you could carry til the day you died."

Will any of his new songs make the cut? So far, I like "Slice," "Chances," "Transfer," and "The Story of Your Life."

Two other songs merit a special mention. They are both sequels of sorts. The first is "Note to the Unknown Soldier." It follows "Two Lights," which, as I've written, is almost certainly the first pop song at least partly inspired by Victor Davis Hanson. The new tune is about the anonymity of today's soldier — and a heartfelt appreciation for what they do and what they lose, plus a determination not to forget them.

The other is "Tuesday," a reference to September 11. Five for Fighting is a post-9/11 phenomenon; Ondrasik owes much of his success to the way his song "Superman" resonated with the public after the terrorist attacks. Now, eight years later, he worries that Americans are slipping into a 9/10 mindset: "Is Monday coming back?/Well, that's what Mondays do/They turn and turn around/Afraid to see it through."

Maybe if enough people list to the new Five for Fighting record, "Tuesday" will sway hearts and minds — we'll let its melody turn into a memory, rather than wish we'd heeded its warning when we still had time.

10/13 07:45 AMShare

Re: Slice [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

You've made a sale, Miller. I just bought it (and I never buy CDs anymore). Looking forward to it. I've never known Ondrasik & co. to disappoint.

10/13 07:54 AMShare

Now they've gone too far.

looks like payola to me

Oh god stir up bullshit scandal please I beg you

we'll let its melody turn into a memory, rather than wish we'd heeded its warning when we still had time

wtf does this even mean

lolololololololol

when did robert christgau start writing for the corner

"we'll vaguely remember how this song goes rather than vaguely remembering how this song goes after a terrorist attack"

Results 1 - 10 of about 9,770 for "five for fighting" conservative. (0.19 seconds)

huh

In fairness, this does answer my lingering background question of "who the hell still listens to Five For Fighting?"

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/05/06/five-for-fighting-in-dc/

(Flashback: Check out The Glenn and Helen Show interview with Ondrasik in case you missed it. Victor Davis Hanson played an integral part in “Two Lights.”)

wow that part might be true? that's even lamer than being NRO hyperbole

And they have to buy it rather than listening on YouTube or wherever to show that they support the free market.

I have this picture in my head now of the NRO all meeting up at a Five for Fighting concert and buying the same band t-shirt.

...all wearing it at the office the next day

Thank you for the inspiration, Nicole:

Victor Davis Hanson was the lyricist for Five for Fighting

http://media.musictoday.com/store/bands/327/product_large/FICT17.JPG

www.iwantaworldwherefiveforfightingareallworkingatmcdonalds.com

<3 u HI DERE

i remember getting a free compilation cd at edgefest when i was in high school that had "bella's birthday cake" on it and me and my friends did lol impersonations of it the whole ride back

Parsing this hurt my brain.

John Podhoretz once remarked that all conservatives are bilingual: We speak both conservative and liberal. Liberals are monolingual, because they can afford to be. To the Obama crowd, Fox News is a foreign tongue. The “mainstream” tongue? Well, we all grew up with it, were taught in it.

Ahahahaha. Oh, John Podhoretz. Is this your way of feeling better for your poor Hebrew + Yiddish skills? "Oh, I'm multilingual too!"

"George W. Bush’s people would never have singled out, say, MSNBC."

Uh didn't they?

They singled out NBC iirc, yeah

"And why should I have to learn about Van Jones, ACORN, and other significant matters from Fox News opinionists?"

oh sheeet gbx....edgefest...

lol cut work and got fired for that weekend

man i hope it was worth it.

i went to the one with ramones, bush, sponge and collective soul. front 242 refused to play cos ppl were throwing mud (it was raining) and they didn't want their gear ruined. people were getting aggro.

it was "our" altamont imo

I agree with Lord Hanson!

n one sense, we should all be happy that Obama — it is undeniable — has improved America's standing in the polls taken abroad.

But what might account for such a radical turn-about in America's image in such a short time, other than the fact that a young, charismatic, and eloquent African-American is now the titular head of the U.S. instead of an older, white, Christian guy with a Texas accent who says "nuclar"? Not being George Bush helped, but there is clearly something more going on to account for such markedly improved attitudes about America.

I think the answer is pretty clear: The world likes us when we admit that it was a mistake to take out Saddam Hussein; it likes us when confess to two centuries of systematic sinning and agree that we are no longer all that exceptional; it likes us when we at least verbally agree to sign on to the mass transfers of wealth in cap-and-trade European-style environmentalism; it likes us when we talk up the U.N. and rejoin the Human Rights Commission; it likes us when we distance ourselves from the hated Zionist entity; the world also likes us when we reach out to Ahmadinejad, Assad, the Castros, Chavez, Putin, and other dictators and totalitarians that are the norms in much of the world; and it likes us when it feels that we are adopting more statist policies akin to many states abroad. In other words, the more we resemble at least some of the popular attitudes of those in Asia, Africa, South America, and in Europe, the more we are liked.

the world also likes us when we reach out to Ahmadinejad, Assad, the Castros, Chavez, Putin, and other dictators and totalitarians that are the norms in much of the world

sentences like these are so hilarious and gross, they really make me laugh but they also make me want to throttle him. they have only a glancing relationship to truth, so the question is, does VDH really believe it? he's either totally cynical or completely marinated in bullshit

"reach out to Putin"

like staring into his eyes and seeing his soul? Calling him "pooty-poot."

Man, we had a president who called Putin "pooty-poot." For 8 years.

http://www.forbisthemighty.com/acidlogic/graphics/pootie_tang.gif

file under "good luck with that"

Re: Re: Teabagger [Jay Nordlinger]

This is the way I put it in a post on Monday: “I myself am afraid that ‘teabagger’ is here to stay. And perhaps conservatives will ‘own’ the insult, as they say? Or maybe they have owned it already? Alternatively, is ‘teabagger’ to be a conservative N-word, acceptable — even joyously employed — among conservatives, but nasty and impermissible from liberals?”

Another word on the list of onetime insults that got “owned”: “Methodist.”

P.S. Readers keep reporting instances of the use of “teabagger” by “mainstreamers” — Gwen Ifill is one such mainstreamer. Readers also wonder: When will the ’streamers stop smirking, as they say it? The smirks are still present — suggesting that the users know exactly what they’re doing.

10/23 04:33 PMShare

kind of a theme with this cat, remember this gem?

Friday, April 24, 2009

An Epithet, Anyone? [Jay Nordlinger]

Responding to a posting about school choice, a reader has a very interesting idea. He knows that “liberals and their allies in the MSM get a lot of mileage out of the ‘chicken hawk’ taunt” — “chicken hawk” is what they call people who support military action who never served in the U.S. military. (That would be most people who support military action, of course.) Our reader wonders why there can’t be a similar term for politicians who oppose school choice whose children have never been to public school.

04/24 07:59 AMShare

"people who support military action". well played, nordlinger

nordlinger

Alternatively, is ‘teabagger’ to be a conservative N-word, acceptable — even joyously employed — among conservatives, but nasty and impermissible from liberals?
Alternatively, is ‘teabagger’ to be a conservative N-word, acceptable — even joyously employed — among conservatives, but nasty and impermissible from liberals?
Alternatively, is ‘teabagger’ to be a conservative N-word, acceptable — even joyously employed — among conservatives, but nasty and impermissible from liberals?
Alternatively, is ‘teabagger’ to be a conservative N-word, acceptable — even joyously employed — among conservatives, but nasty and impermissible from liberals?
Alternatively, is ‘teabagger’ to be a conservative N-word, acceptable — even joyously employed — among conservatives, but nasty and impermissible from liberals?
Alternatively, is ‘teabagger’ to be a conservative N-word, acceptable — even joyously employed — among conservatives, but nasty and impermissible from liberals?
Alternatively, is ‘teabagger’ to be a conservative N-word, acceptable — even joyously employed — among conservatives, but nasty and impermissible from liberals?
Alternatively, is ‘teabagger’ to be a conservative N-word, acceptable — even joyously employed — among conservatives, but nasty and impermissible from liberals?

yes it's out of context and he means it the other way but it's too perfect

joyously employed teabagging

haha i took it as "conservatives accept and even joyously employ the n-word"

On the Elevator [Jay Nordlinger]

Today, on the elevator, I met a man - a fan of my work, who gave me a firm handshake. We laughed about global cooling and Obama's children: what if they had to attend a public school? When the elevator doors opened, he exited before me, turned, and said with a wink "by the way, I am the other kind of teabagger." I felt 'OK'.

10/24 02:16 PMShare

~LOL~

looooooooooooooool

hahaha wtf does that last sentence even mean

maybe it wasn't him ;)

haha yes homo

love the idea that nordlinger got hit on & assumed it was just a devotee to the cause

The handshake was firm, some would even say it was rock hard.

On the Elevator [Jay Nordlinger]

Today, on the elevator, I met a man - a fan of my work, who gave me a firm handshake. We laughed about global cooling and Obama's children: what if they had to attend a public school? When the elevator doors opened, he exited before me, turned, and said with a wink "by the way, im the kind of teabagger who enjoys dipping his ball sac into jay nordlinger's open mouth." I felt 'OK'.

10/24 02:16 PMShare

"You make my pee-pee maker t-t-tingle."