The Voice, The Ryman, And The Gospel, According To Tom Jones

May has been extraordinarily busy. OS had intended to frame his thoughts about the April 29 concert Tom Jones staged at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. It's taken a while to digest the experience. OS bought the tickets as a gift for his long-suffering Mrs. OS, expecting to spend the evening being entertained. He was, but well past that, OS came away from the evening profoundly moved.

At age seventy, Jones and his crew, both on and off-stage, perform flawlessly. That voice is still fabulous, and he has taken wonderful care of it over the decades. Mrs. OS noted that he continued to drink water throughout the evening, the best way to preserve a voice at work. The band was fabulous, and Jones was a delight as he sang and then stepped back to let the musicians ply their craft. The house mix reflected that same ensemble approach--everything clear as a bell, even at full volume, with his voice placed front and center, but always as a part of the music. Volume levels went from near silence to full-throated roar when they romped through favorites such 'Mama Told Me Not To Come' and 'Kiss'. The country set was performed with acoustic guitars only, which was especially touching in the context of the Ryman. Yes, Virginia, he really can pull those songs off...

He did a few of the big hits, such as 'Delilah', and yes, the ladies' undergarments did rain onto the stage, along with the bouquets of roses, at which he smiled, but pointedly did not encourage. Something was so different about this evening. Jones is in that same 'class' with Michael Caine, a living symbol of 60's cool and 70's hedonism. He gave a few nods in that direction, but he was about something else entirely. His rendition of 'You Can Keep Your Hat On' was grand fun, and he avoided excessive salaciousness--a real feat, given the content of the lyrics!

Musically, his heart and soul are grounded in blues and funk. He speaks with that profound Welsh accent, and if OS didn't have a few Welsh friends, he would have found Jones hard to understand. The man sings like he grew up fifty miles south of Memphis. It's remarkable, and the band picks up on it with a vengeance. He pulled off a dramatic rendition of 'St. James Infirmary Blues', amongst other moments.

The tour was in support of his 2010 gospel album Praise and Blame. The heart of the show was gospel music. Fair enough--any number of people can belt out some happy 'Gospel Numbers', gather the applause, and move on. This was different, and the album, good as it is, is only a pale shadow of the performance that night. The lyrics were dark, penitent, and he seemed to be singing from some private place, a place perhaps never brought to light in years past. It takes some cojones to open the show with one electric guitarist vamping angrily, and sing 'I'm going down to the church-house, get down on bended knee...Deacon Jones, please pray for me...with no devil will I make a deal...maybe there ain't heaven, maybe there ain't no hell...when I die, where will I go?'

There was one 'happy-clappy' spiritual ('Don't Knock'), but the rest was about grappling with mortality, failure, ethics...which was more than a bit of a shock. As the concert got underway, OS eyed the pews warily, wondering if all these graying boomers would welcome such tidings. Jones shared an anecdote about singing gospel with Elvis into the wee hours of the morning in Las Vegas, and it put them more at ease. The audience embraced the songs, and Jones, warmly.

OS found himself wishing a list of his friends, in da music biz, and the clergy, had attended. It would have been a cathartic and challenging evening. He kept looking for even one familiar face from 'da biz' in the Ryman's pews, but alas...no glamour to be gained here. No clouds allowed on the horizon in Nashville, ya'll, and seventy-year-old performers aren't TheNextBigThing upon which one can latch and grab a bit of cash flow.

Again, OS urges his UK and European readers, if you have the opportunity to attend one the concerts Jones has scheduled for the summer, be there. 11 June, Isle of Wight Festival is announced on the link.

King Obama Indicates He May Allow The Serfs To Have A Little More Oil, Eventually

From the New York Times:

In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president said the administration would begin to hold annual auctions for oil and gas leases in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, a 23-million-acre tract on the North Slope. The move comes after years of demands for the auctions by industry executives and Alaska’s two senators, Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, and Mark Begich, a Democrat.

The administration will also accelerate a review of the environmental impact of possible drilling off the southern and central Atlantic coasts and will consider making some areas available for exploration. The move signals a change from current policy, which puts the entire Atlantic seaboard off limits to drilling until at least 2018.

The president also said he would extend leases already granted for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic Ocean off Alaska that had been frozen after last year’s BP spill. The extension will allow companies time to meet new safety and environmental standards without having to worry about their leases expiring.

We know, from experience, that he means not a word of it. One can safely assume that the backrooms of the regulatory agencies are already working to make certain that not one drop of oil will be extracted, ever, although Duh Gubbermint will eagerly extract the proceeds of the auctions from the oil companies.

We can see this from the EPA's behavior earlier this year.

The federal Environmental Appeals Board has refused to reconsider its earlier ruling invalidating an air quality permit Shell Alaska needed to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea this summer.

The new ruling, issued Thursday, doesn't change things for the oil company, which earlier this month announced the lack of the air permit had made it impossible to get its drilling program together in time to sink exploratory wells this summer. But environmental activists, who along with Native organizations had challenged EPA's issuance of the permit, say Shell will now have to meet even stricter air quality standards that took effect at the beginning of this year.

Brendan Cummings, senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity, said any new permit Shell applies for will now include meeting greenhouse gas levels -- carbon dioxide and methane -- in addition to the nitrogen dioxide restrictions that the previous permit covered.

Shell spends over four billion dollars on their Beaufort Sea project, only to have EPA spike the entire deal over an air quality permit. EPA obviously never intended to allow the project to go forward, and this final permit was simply a pretext. Four billion dollars, down the crapper, flushed by Team Obama. Over two billion of that was spent on the lease, money sent to Duh Gubbermint.

Obama Rex, as we know, makes noises people wish to hear, devoid of content or intent.

This week, he's making noises about drilling for oil. Next week, it will be something else, some other set of noises, equally vacant.

It is just OS, or does it seem just outrageous that we now live in a country where our prosperity, our ability to function, now depends upon the edict of a duplicitous President and his minions, determined to carry out his true (if undeclared) wishes?

Obama must go. And a federal bureaucracy dedicated to our impoverishment must be removed. That means taking away their money, and repealing all underlying legislation that allows these predators to operate under the guise of legality. Judges must be appointed who will send the 'activists' back to the holes from which they crawled.

Then, let the oil flow. Let the factories hum, employing our citizens. Let's produce, let's build wealth, let's control our borders, let's rebuild our culture.


Obama must be voted out, and all his minions with him. The list is long and well-known. They must all go, from the town council to the House and Senate. Every last one of them must be sent on their way; politely, firmly, unequivocally.

Just Because it's Friday: King James 400th Anniversary Quote From Paul's Letter To The Ephesians

It's been an ugly week out there, sort of typically ugly, but ugly nonetheless. OS is not eager to see pics of Bin Laden's carcass, and is also uncurious about things like UBL's porn collection and TV viewing habits. It's enough to know he's been referred to a Higher Court for final adjudication.

So, as an antidote to that hopeless ugliness, OS offers you these words of the Apostle Paul, who wrote these glowing words in a pagan world ruled by the Assads and Gadhafis of the day. Paul stood almost alone, insisting that he had seen the risen Christ, and that love trumps all. Good words for our day, OS thinks.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

And, as a musical offering to pair with these tidings of comfort and joy, Handel's 'O Be Joyful'.



Have a great weekend.

The Amazon.com Deal With State Of Tennessee: Confusion Now, Hurt Feelings Later

Tennessee weathered (and is weathering) The Great Downturn in much finer form than many states. One reason is that recently departed governor Phil Bredesen, although a loyal Democrat, was no fire-breathing leftist ideologue. Budgets balanced, cash reserves were maintained, and he aggressively recruited businesses to the state, such as Nissan and Volkswagen. Much credit is due him for this.

However, there is some confusion about what exactly was promised to Amazon as inducement to locate warehouse distribution centers in Tennessee.

It's a lot of of jobs to be created, and real wealth can be built from these facility locations. However, Amazon claims they were promised exemption from collecting Tennessee sales tax on sales to Tennessee customers, and claim the transactions actually occur in Washington State. Present Governor Haslam feels honor-bound to abide by the word of his predecessor, to preserve the reputation of the state. The legislature is, on the one hand eager to see the jobs move in, and other other catching real flak from small businesses who compete with Amazon, and are obliged to charge and collect tax. That gives Amazon a 9.5% price advantage at full retail price.

They have a point. The local MainStreet bookstore here is keeping the doors open, but as a small operation, they have no leverage to compete on price with Amazon. OS understands how they would be highly unhappy with the state government just now.

It is a tough call, and someone will end up very unhappy after the smoke clears.

Omar Bin-Laden And His Brothers Lecture The US About The Rule Of Law

The statement is here.

Three of the four, by implication, agreed with Dear Old Dad, that wholesale killing of the innocent is perfectly OK, as long as it's 'Us' doing it to 'You'.

However, if 'You' decide to go after 'Us', your only option is to send in the sheriff to arrest us, give us a team of lawyers for free, and make certain we can post bond and live comfortably in the USA whilst awaiting trial.

And, by the way, we don't think Dad's dead.

We're gonna sue.

The always acerbic Peter Hitchens has his own take on the whole affair. OS is not certain how strongly he agrees with the gent, but this is well worth the time to read.

Presbyterian Church USA Decides To Cave In To The Culture

It's been like a form of Chinese water torture, really. Thirty-three years of a homosexual minority insisting not upon acceptance, but active endorsement, of what most in the pews of the parishes instinctively know to be aberrant behavior.

So, yesterday, that militant minority prevailed. The denomination has shrunk dramatically in both and reach into the society over those years, as the professionals in the bureaucracy and seminaries continued to tack Left. Normal families in churches usually don't stick around and spend their energies in 'church fights'. They have children to raise, and lives to live. So, instead, they vote with their feet, and leave. And with their checkbooks, which remain closed. Them that leave never come back, and it is hard to get a checkbook to re-open when the donor feels burned.

The poor schlubs who stuck around, hoping that sanity might yet prevail, were informed by video that they should 'live into' this decision, and not make haste to depart. In other words, 'Why yes, we did bend you over the table, but just relax. That burning sensation will subside as you become accustomed to the procedure.'

Still, that militant minority will be back, now in a bare majority, having chased so many off. The next target will be those parishes and presbyteries that still object. Expect a parade of 'candidates for ordination' to arrive at their doorsteps, demanding endorsement, threatening lawsuits, blackmail by press and demonstrations, and the entire suite of progressive tactics. This is not the end, ya'll. It's just the beginning. There's a price to be paid if you don't 'live into it'...

So, OS leaves you with the creepy video posted after the fateful vote was taken.

Remember, just 'live into it'.

Green Shoots Nominee: Timo Soini And True Finns Party

Dan Hannan waxes eloquent about friend Timo Soini, leader of the True Finns, who recently told Europe to take a hike, refusing to bail out its reckless bankers with their taxes.


DanHan refers to Soini's WSJ editorial, which is a cheerful explanation of the pernicious practices that occur when bankers and politicians get together to perform a gang-rape on the citizenry.

When I had the honor of leading the True Finn Party to electoral victory in April, we made a solemn promise to oppose the bailouts of euro-zone member states. Europe is suffering from the economic gangrene of insolvency—both public and private. Unless we amputate that which cannot be saved, we risk poisoning the whole body.

To understand the real nature and purpose of the bailouts, we first have to understand who really benefits from them.

At the risk of being accused of populism, we'll begin with the obvious: It is not the little guy who benefits. He is being milked and lied to in order to keep the insolvent system running. He is paid less and taxed more to provide the money needed to keep this Ponzi scheme going. Meanwhile, a symbiosis has developed between politicians and banks: Our political leaders borrow ever more money to pay off the banks, which return the favor by lending ever more money back to our governments.

In a true market economy, bad choices get penalized. Instead of accepting losses on unsound investments—which would have led to the probable collapse of some banks—it was decided to transfer the losses to taxpayers via loans, guarantees and opaque constructs such as the European Financial Stability Fund.

In a true market economy, bad choices get penalized. Soini understands, and states, the obvious. Why won't our politicians do likewise?

Further, he notes:

This is not just about economics. People feel betrayed. In Ireland, the incoming parties to the new government promised to hold senior bondholders responsible, but under pressure they succumbed, leaving their voters with a sense of disenfranchisement. The elites in Brussels have said that Finland must honor its commitments to its European partners, but Brussels is silent on whether national politicians should honor their commitments to their own voters.

This is not just about economics.

Green Shoots nomination for Timo, ya'll. He gets it. Here's hoping Finland ends up being the real-life Mouse That Roared. All it take for a Ponzi scheme to collapse is for one of the victims to scream bloody murder and refuse to play. After that, it's just a matter of time.

The Greek Two-Year Bond Now Yielding +25%: But, No Worries, Just Go Back To Watching 'Housewives' And 'Oprah'

What happens when a nation is run by politicians who promise to spend more and more into perpetuity, all the while simply borrowing from the rest of the world to cover its shortfalls?

It goes broke. Like Greece. And we get moon-shot charts of short-term gubbermint interest rates that look like this.

The US carries 15 trillion in debt, and Barry and Timmy insist we just must-must-must borrow 2 trillion more, lest bad-bad-bad things happen to us.

What might happen here?

OK, ya'll. Didn't wanna get nobody upset, heah? Jes' go back to that re-run of yesterday's NASCAR event, and make sure you got the tivo set up for wrasslin' tonight.

'SEALs don't shoot a lot; they don't need to.': Pithy Quote Of The Day From 'Sense Of Events'

Full article here. As always, Don Sensing is informative and displays his lovely dry humor.

Why Obama And Company Still Need To Depart Office: Taxing Cars By The Mile

OS is truly happy that President Obama gave the order to kill Bin Laden. But, let us remember always, it was the Navy that killed the monster, supported by a 'cloud of witnesses' from around the world, most of whom will go to their graves with crucial information and the methods employed to glean it. The President, for once in his extended childhood, made an adult decision, and acted in his constitutional role as Commander-in-Chief. Let's not not give Little Barry a new Audi A-4 just because he brought home one good grade on one report card, know-whud-I-mean?

Meanwhile, back in Washington, a new plan (as reported by The Hill) is being floated--a scheme to tax people per mile for driving their cars, with the mileage to be calculated by the mandatory installation of an electronic tracking device, and tax to be collected at the pump each time the serf driver fills up.

 Damn! It's brilliant! What could possibly go wrong, ya'll?

Liddle electronic devices never malfunction, right? And dah gubbermint never ever ever ever screws stuff up when it comes to collecting taxes, right? And this won't fall disproportionately upon the poor, with their older and less efficient cars, will it? And there's no possibility whatsoever of any infringement of civil liberties, ever ever ever, right?

Now, for a quick civics lesson: This is just one example of the sort of nonsense floated about daily by gubbermints--unelected people with post-grad degrees, on the public payroll, sitting in offices bought by taxpayer dollars, who seriously pursue these schemes to oppress and defraud the citizenry, in the name of SomeGreaterGood.

The brutal beasts who ran the prison camps of the Gulag and Nazi Germany didn't actually set up the system, ya'll! That was done (to paraphrase C.S. Lewis) by polite gentlemen with pedigrees and university diplomas, dressed in suits, meeting in book-lined conference rooms, quietly planning The Future after their own desires, with motions taken and seconded, voted upon, and duly noted in the minutes--followed of course by a quiet dinner to congratulate themselves for their good work, also bought with tax dollars. Or, now better yet, the final decisions are taken at a private resort, with private beaches and golf, away from The Rabble Whose Lives Must Be Run For Them.

This is why Congress must take away the credit card from the Executive, defund to zero these agencies, lest they herd our children and grandchildren onto the trains to GodKnowsWhere. It's crucial this be done now, while time allows.

The noisy debate is about 'We can't afford to spend this money, borrowing forty cents of every dollar'. That's just the chatter about the terrible math we have created for ourselves.

What's really at stake is our culture, our freedom, our dignity, our lives.

This is why Obama must go, and all his fellow travelers with him.

Don't imagine for a moment that Himself ordered the death of Bin Laden, motivated by love of country.