"It was 1969 when Senator Kennedy, recognizing the success of Medicare for senior citizens, first called for universal health care for all Americans. "We must begin to move now to establish a comprehensive national health insurance program, capable of bringing the same amount and high quality of health care to every man, woman, and child in the United States," Kennedy said at Boston University Medical Center on December 16, 1969.
Senator Kennedy has spent his public life fighting for comprehensive health care for all Americans. Over the decades, tens of millions have benefited from his sustained efforts."
MY COMMENT: Unless I am mistaken TODAY OCTOBER 1ST 2013 Will live as a day in history where the dream of Ted Kennedy was FINALLY REALIZED!!! It took over 40 YEARS FOR THAT DREAM TO BE REALIZED!!! WHAT IS AMAZING IS THAT IT TOOK A BLACK AMERICAN PRESIDENT TO FINALLY GET IT DONE!!!!!
No matter how hard they tried, the whites couldn't do it!!
Whoah! That's something alright!!
The Republicans were so angry about it
they made certain the American government was shut down!!!!
I usually don't give a damn about the news,
but today...I have made an exception
for there should be certain days when I do make an exception and watch the news
and TODAY is American history in the making!
According to what I have studied
the Democrats have been fighting a hell of a long time
for what American President Obama accomplished today
it is indeed a day that will be remembering in history
for American President Obama
and a day of infamy for the rich white American Republicans
Considering the next post I'd say it's time for Star Truck VO 1
Doing the voice over for Star Truck was quite an experience with the Xtranormal company. The first version was done with the stock program voices and did it ever sound stiff!!
Man, what a challenge for my voice to do all those voices. Sounding like a street-walking black ho was the worst. I guess it should hurt me the most, right? Serves me right for making Star Trek Uhura talk like that.
Since the Star Trek bridge was interracial I thought I would go all out and have silly fun with the concept.
This is only for the strong who can take it
If you go to church regularly do yourself a favor and don't watch this video, okay?
Hey, you were warned, right?
This video is dedicated to how disappointed I was to find that one of the original Enterprise bridge-crew is gay. Which one? Watch the video and take a wild guess
Gratitude and appreciation opens the most wonderful doors of blessings the Universe has to offer. Those who are not grateful and appreciative end up scraping the bottom of the barrel of life overwhelmed with a burden of things to complain about. The more they complain the more they attract and manifest more reasons to complain. It's a vicious cycle that many are hopelessly stuck in and will probably never escape within their miserable lifetimes.
Oh well....
It took me a long while to finally realize that everyone has the right to ruin their lives if they so choose and it's none of my business if they choose to do so.
It took a hell of a lot of suffering before I learned that lesson and began to understand that a great portion of peace of mind comes from minding one's own business whenever possible.
You can be a great Buddha who has mastered yourself, but if you are then put in charge of a monastery and are responsible for monks who have not mastered themselves chances are your peace of mind will be continually sabotaged. It's rather impossible for the "enlightened" leader of a monastery to mind his own business when his monks get into trouble because they are not so very "enlightened". What the monks of the Buddha did was indeed the Buddha's business whether he liked it or not!
I remember reading a story of how one of The Buddha's monks was a homosexual and was seducing other monks. Oh man! Was the Buddha ever pissed off when he found out! Gave his "enlightened" peace of mind a real kick in the nuts alright!
born in Olot, Gerona, Spain, composed during the Classical period
Antonio Francisco Javier Jose Soler was an eighteenth century Catalan composer, priest, monk, student, teacher, mathematician, inventor, and organist. His life was spent serving both the Catholic Church and music. He was a prolific composer with over 400 compositions credited to him by the time of his death at age 54. Soler spent most of his life at monasteries, particularly El Escorial, the magnificent royal palace, chapel, and monastery built by King Philip II outside of Madrid two centuries earlier.
Soler apparently came from a musical family. His brother, Mateu, played bassoon in the monastery of Las Descalzas Reales and then in the court of Carlos III, and finally in the Capilla Real. His musical training began at a very early age. In 1736, he became a student at the Benedictine monastery choir school at Montserrat where he learned organ and composition. Between 1752 and 1757, while in his early twenties, Soler studied with Domenico Scarlatti, the Italian composer who served the Spanish court of Ferdinand VI and Maria Barbara.
Prior to going to El Escorial, where he spent the rest of his life, Soler was the maestro de capilla at Lerida and was ordained subdeacon in 1752. Later that same year, he joined the Hieronymite order of monks at El Escorial monastery and professed to the order in 1753.
Soler performed many duties at El Escorial. In 1757, he became maestro de capilla. In addition, he performed as first organist, wrote much of the church music, and taught music. Perhaps his most prestigious student was the son of Carlos III, Don Gabriel de Bourbon. Soler taught the young Don Gabriel keyboard and many of the Soler's harpsichord sonatas were written for him.
It is difficult for most to grasp Soler's level of productivity, particularly in light of his many other duties and interests. His musical compositions included over 120 sonatas for harpsichord, six quintets for organ and strings, six double organ concertos, 10 masses, five requiems, 132 villancicos, and many other works. His most famous was a sonata for harpsichord entitled Fandango.
Soler also wrote a treatise on harmony, Llave de la Modulación (1762) whose concepts remain valid today. This treatise, however, caused considerable controversy and rebuke by some of his peers. These criticisms caused Soler such dismay that in 1765, he responded with a written retort, Satisfacción a los reparos precisos, which spanned 67 pages and was supported by such noted authorities as Morales, Palestrina, and Scarlatti. The controversy did not end until a final defense was provided in Jose Vila's Respuestra y dictamen in 1766.
He developed another treatise in 1771 that demonstrated his interest and skill in mathematics. This book was on Castilian and Catalan currency exchange and was published in honor of Carlos III. Soler was a man of other talents in addition to those mentioned. He invented a tuning box that was used to demonstrate differences between tones and semitones to Don Gabriel. He was also expert in organ design and construction. In 1776, he developed the specifications for an organ for the Malaga Cathedral. ~ Bruce Lundgren, Rovi
MY COMMENT:
The thing that inspires me most about Antonio Soler are the other things, besides music, that he did. I mean, the guy was a veritable Leonardo Da Vinci, for crying out loud! I'm surprised I've never heard of him before