journal.melendez.org

Por el camine del sitio mio un carretero alegre paso con su canciones que es muy sentida y muy guajira allegre canto Me voy al transbordador a descargar la carretera (bis) para cumplir con la meta de mi pequena labor A caballo vamos pa'l monte a caballo vamos pa'l monte (bis) Yo trabajo sin reposo para poderme casar (bis) y si lo llego a lograr sere un guajiro dichoso A caballo vamos pa'l monte a caballo vamos pa'l monte (bis) Soy guajiro y carretero y en el campo vivo bien (bis) porque el campo es el eden mas lindo del mundo entero A caballo vamos pa'l monte a caballo vamos pa'l monte (bis) Chapea el monte,cultiva el llano recoge el fruto,de tu sudor (bis)

Journalism's first obligation is to the truth. Its first loyalty is to citizens. Its essence is a discipline of verification. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover It must serve as an independent monitor of power. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience. In the new century, one of the most profound questions for democratic society is whether an independent press survives. The answer will depend on whether journalists have the clarity and conviction to articulate what an independent press means, and whether, as citizens, the rest of us care. -Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, The Elements of Journalism

And people say politics doesn't matter: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,56600,00.html Hard not to be a pessimist after reading that!

If you ever get the chance, check out a band (now defunct) by the name of that dog. Back in the heady days of the early 90's, when I used to be obsessed by girl bands, that dog was among the coolest, with Los Angeles artiness and ethereal harmonies (did I really just say ethereal?). They had great pop inspired hooks and...a violin! Pretty much any non traditional use of a violin piques my interest, and this was some cool stuff. Here's a picture of them. The two women on the left and the right are twin sisters. The one on the right plays the wicked fiddle I spoke of. You can check them out at this site , which has a few tunes. The best, or at least the most characteristic of the tunes are actually under the "videos" section. One of their great tunes is "He's Kissing Christian" from their strongest album, "Totally Crushed Out." The other videos are pretty good too. The first, "Old Timer," was directed by the auteur of music ...

My parents left for Albuquerque after a six day visit here in the Big Easy. It was great to see them and now I feel ready to pass out from exhaustion. Unfortunately, I've got a lot of work to do before a little trip I'm taking. More on this later.

OK, so lately I have been getting ever so slightly peeved when I am around other seemingly "progressive" types, if that's really a type of person at all. I have been frustrated because I couldn't figure out exactly why I have been getting annoyed. I mean, we're all on the same side, right? I would find myself reading an e-mail and getting agitated to the point that I just wanted to delete the e-mail, and pretend it had never popped into my box. It finally dawned on me. It's a syndrome I am going to entitle "liberal bureaucrat syndrome." This is when people, rather than trying to support an idea with activities like actually doing something become involved by making suggestions of things for you to do. Or, the most irritating habit to me, people making extended critiques of all things done by others in the past, from a safe and distant vantage point. I realized that it's not so much people bossing each other around that annoys me (althoug...

So, what have I been up to lately? Hmmm....well, we just made it through our second hurricane in two weeks, I updated the look of the website , I designed a cheesy little web page for a bike ride I liked very much, and next week I begin as a fellow of the Institute of Politics .

Scary news from New Orleans: NOPD looking for suspects in Mid-City robbery, murder- http://www.wwltv.com/local/WWLrobmdr092702.6415df13.html

HACKERS BEG BORING PEOPLE TO STOP ENCRYPTING EMAIL: http://www.satirewire.com/news/aug02/encryption.shtml

The Disenchanted Kingdom: George Ritzer On The Disappearance Of Authentic American Culture. An interview by Derrick Jensen: http://www.thesunmagazine.org/318_ritzer.pdf