Beauty and Aesthetics: If Joshua Bell Performs in a Subway Station Does Anone Listen?

A very interesting (long and worth it) read over at the WaPo posits this question:
Can one of the nation's great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let's find out.": An interesting discussion of beauty and aesthetics ensues.

Marcy Wheeler talks to Sheldon Whitehouse re: FISA, Holder, Wiretaps, and Statute of Limitations

Emptywheel (Marcy) once again taking Democracy into her own, very capable, hands.

For info on the statute of limitations and the apparent GOP tactic of running out the clock on possible prosecutions of various Bush era DOJ officials see her post at Emptywheel. Marcy contends that the GOP hold on the Holder nomination is intended to help run out that clock.

In this brief video she makes Senator Whitehouse aware of the situation and he promises to look into it. Let's Hope!

For a bit more background on Marcy see my previous post.

Thanks Howard Dean! The 50 State Strategy Proved Rahm and the DCCC Wrong.

Marcy (otherwise known as Emptywheel) over at FireDogLake finally got her picture taken with Howard Dean. Her post is, as always, a good read.

Howard Dean invented the 50 state strategy, much to the Rahm and the DCCC's dismay, and as Chair of the Democratic Party implemented it vigorously which led eventually to Barack's victory. During the 2006 primaries Rahm burned a lot of bridges with the NetRoots Nation by supporting conservative Democrats against progressive NetRoots candidates.

Marcy, supported by Jane Hamsher at FireDogLake, became the go to person even for the MSM on the Scooter Libby Trial and in so doing took the final step of putting Bloggers on par with the MSM.

Check out Marcy's post!

Pick Yourself Up: Obama Inauguration Speech's Best Line Riffs on Dorothy Fields via Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

Is Barack Obama now a not so secret Fred and Ginger fan?

Is it coincidence that Obama seems to have turned to a popular song written at the height of the Great Depression to find perhaps his most memorable line in today's inaugural speech?

Obama(2009),
"we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again"

Pick Yourself Up (1936) lyrics Dorothy Fields, music Jerome Kern,
And pick yourself up, Dust yourself off, Start all over again."

The movie Swing Time was released in 1936; the Depression was raging and Fred and Ginger were cranking out light entertainment for RKO featuring opulent settings, popular music, lots of dancing and oft times offering a few chuckles at the foibles of the upper crust. In the process they also created a body or work that is unsurpassed in the field of American Musical Movies and indeed Dance on Film.

Pick Yourself Up is introduced first in song as Fred hits on Ginger, a ballroom dance instructor, by pretending he can't dance, a bit later its used in a classic dance sequence as Fred tries to save Ginger's job by showing her boss that she has indeed taught him to dance (much to Ginger's surprise.)

Will Barack and Michele have a number up their sleeves ala Fred and Ginger for the Inauguration Ball this eve? We will have to wait and see, but in the meantime enjoy this clip; it just doesn't get any better than this!