While we’re at it, here is 50 greatest conservative rock songs compiled by National Review.
Fasten your seatbelt, for you’re in for some surprises. Or maybe not. As John Miller rationalizes about the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” making the top pick, “The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries; this could be their theme song, an oath that swears off naïve idealism once and for all.”
It turns out conservatives are macho, love Alabama, bodies and kinks, above all, want to change the world as much as the liberals. Round out top 10 are “Taxman” by the Beatles, “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones, “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by the Beach Boys, “Gloria” by U2, “Revolution” by the Beatles, “Bodies” by the Sex Pistols, “Don’t Tread on Me” by Metallica, and “20th Century Man” by the Kinks.
It has become a culturally identifying question of our era. The Beatles or the Stones?
President Bush’s iPod is reported to include country artists like George Jones and Alan Jackson, and the presidential playlist has John Fogerty’s “Centerfield'’ and “Swinging From the Chains of Love'’ by Blackie & the Rodeo Kings. Senator Hilary Clinton’s iPod, according to New York post, is a “total smorgasbord” with both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, along with Motown and classical music. The former first lady’s playlist includes “Hey Jude” by the (universally liked) The Beatles, “Respect” by (black and feminist) Aretha Franklin, “Take it to the Limit” by the (lame and black-hole of the 70s) Eagles, and “Beautiful Day” by (socially conscious) U2.
(more…)
Today is the scary 6.6.06, and incidentally marks the launch of The Times of London, which was founded 218 years ago and has been under Rupert Murdock’s wing since 1981, in New York and New Jersey. At $1 a pop, the price is steep.
Other factoids - The Guardian, a left-of-center British broadsheet, brought out a weekly edition in the United States in 2003, and The Financial Times, started a U.S. edition in 1997.
At the Newsweek’s Second Annual Business Leadership Conference this morning, NBC’s Brian Williams moderated a panel discussion, Keeping The Lead:The Global Challenge to Stay Ahead With Innovation, Education and Science.
Williams, self-deprecatingly called himself a ‘wrong fossil’, opened with a hilarious story about a hallway encounter with an iPod-clad colleague who, out of deference for the Nightly News anchor, popped out one of his white ear buds, and raved about the NPR program he was attuned to, knowing little about the impressions he made on the Luddite-inclined Williams - “remarkable self-absorption” is what Williams regaled the audience with.
Discussions began with Steve Levy, Newsweek’s senior technology editor, on iPod’s attractive packaging, iTunes’ successful business model of bringing content to users. Panelist Paul Horn questioned whether science and technology is part of American competitiveness, given 75% of US economy are services (service science included). He pondered the use of web as a service, and its effects on people, the kinda social impact of technology in general and the internet in particular. Craig Newmark, of Craigslist fame, believed in “net neutrality” and the internet is a level playground but cautioned that there’re lots “disinformation” out there. Williams chimed in - he still preferred books to Congresspedia for cross-referencing in his work. The only panelist from the public sector, John Marburger, Science Advisor to the President and Director of the Office of Science and Technology, was apparently in a hot seat when asked about the slow take-up of broadband technology in the U.S., compared with Korea and Japan. He defended the administration’s alleged cut in science research and stressed that they are working on “accessibility and availability” of broadband internet.
One of the most interesting questions from the audience is about the “Manhattan project” of the 21st century and any top-down directive in response to the threat, perceived by Fareed Zakaria in his much talked-about piece on Newsweek. Steve Levy reasoned the US is not at war with its main competitors, China and India, today’s threat manifests in perhaps “distributed sputnik”.
Williams’s “heavenly minefield” capped it best. Btw, Williams was superb, in his own words, playing a “rabble-rouser and devil’s advocate.”
