odds and ends

I read the Brit papers online quite a bit, and I've noticed one story that pops up again and again is how Tony Blair has gotten nothing or next to nothing in exchange for his support of the US in various areas, Iraq in particular. The suggestion is made time and again that somehow he got 'screwed.'
This seems to me an odd way of looking at things. It suggests that at some point Blair said reluctantly, "Okay, I'm going to back you on Iraq, but I want your support on tariffs (or whatever)."
I'm not naive; I know that in politics, it's often a case of 'scratch my back and I'll scratch yours,' but I really don't think that was the case here.
First, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the idea to invade Iraq was every bit as much Blair's as Bush's, perhaps even more so. If certain press reports are to be believed, Blair even cautioned Bush that the going would get tough at times and that they'd have to stick to their guns and see it through. Kind of like Thatcher telling George the Elder, "Don't go wobbly."
The other thing is, if you believe there is in fact a 'special relationship' between the United States and Great Britain, there are certain situations that go beyond political wrangling for this or that. There is a feeling that our two countries and interests are so intertwined that when it comes right down to it, we've almost no choice but to support each other.
Tony Blair, by almost anyone's standards, would be considered liberal here in the US. He's head of the Labour party, which proclaims itself without any reticence to be Socialist. He could at any time criticize Bush on any number of issues, including Iraq, to score political points at home without damaging the relationship but he has resolutely refused to do so. I find that very telling.

Odd and ends again- Did you know that Marilyn Monroe actually wrote the words to 'My Heart Belongs To Daddy?' I was looking up song lyrics the other night and I noticed several sites credit her as the lyricist. I don't know why I'm surprised really, but I didn't know she wrote songs.

And lastly- I was watching kickboxing the other day while I was playing trivia. It wasn't terribly interesting, but one thing that struck me was that, just as in regular boxing, the fighters would 'break,' as in move away from each other. But apparently, there's nothing in the rules that says they can't kick one another in the butt as the other is walking away. Which they did repeatedly. Made me laugh.

Home

One of my favorite bands (as most of you know) is Collective Soul, and they have just released a new dvd/cd called 'Home.' It's a performance with the Atlanta Youth Symphony Orchestra, basically a live 'greatest hits' album and dvd. I have watched it over the last couple of days.
The band is from Georgia and 'Home' is one of their songs, hence the title. Several rock bands over the years have done live albums with orchestras, from the Moody Blues to Procol Harum to Jethro Tull and even Metallica. Tull's was probably the best... I have to agree with whoever wrote the liner notes when he said that he never thought he'd say a symphony orchestra 'rocked' but that was surely the case there. I just love to hear the melding of really good rock with the strings and horns like that.
And I am biased, but I think 'Home' ranks right up there. The AYSO is made up of band members from schools all over Atlanta; the 'best and brightest' it's safe to assume, all these kids are what I would call prodigies and probably more talented than most professional musicians. In fact, the seeming speed and ease which they learned these songs probably tells me more about the difference between classical music and rock than I care to know.
But it's a fantastic concert, and one I recommend if you get a chance to see it. I think some tv networks are showing an abridged free version of it currently.

did we have this conversation before?

I saw a quote on the internet the other night that went, "when I talk about rebooting, I mean kicking somebody in the butt twice." I thought that was funny. Glad to see everyone's around again, everyone's posts seem to bring back memories to me of when we were growing up. I know I mentioned sneaking into Jan's room and listening to records when she wasn't there, but I did the same thing to Kathy, probably more so. I remember she came home from school one day and had a little vial of mercury, related to some high school science class. She told me, "This is very dangerous so don't play with it. Don't even touch it." She left and I went in her room, opened the vial, and promptly spilled half of it on the carpet. It's a wonder we're not all dead. Joe was just as bad with me, if not worse. I used to do a lot of cartoons and paste-ups and so forth, and I had an exacto-knife. I think that's what it was called. Used for trimming photos, drawings, whatever, like a razor blade with a handle. Mom was out one day and even though I was in the house with him (he was probably six or so), he went into my room and quickly managed to cut himself with it, between the thumb and forefinger. Joe didn't seem terribly upset about it as I bandaged the cut, but I kept thinking, "Mom's going to kill me, she's going to kill me..." Then she got home, I told her what happened, and she didn't say anything. Funny what you remember.