Aw, jeez, after TWO YEARS of campaigning, I thought we’d have some kind of clear-cut choice in this year’s presidential election, but that’s proving to be a pipe dream on both sides. Take Obaba for example: he’s long been considered the most liberal senator in office – so how does that square with these observations?

• Once upon a time, in his hometown of Chicago, he said he favored a ban on handguns, but after the recent Supreme Court ruling striking down Washington DC’s ban, he said he’s okay with that.
• What true Democrat (or, as my dearly-departed former father-in-law Ed Leers would refer to them, “Democraps”) would be in favor of the death penalty, especially for a crime that did not result in loss of life? Obama said that the Supreme Court was wrong in overrulling the death penalty for child rape convictions.
• Could a Democrat possibly be in favor of the erosion of our personal right to privacy? He seems to be, judging from his voting in favor of FISA, which grants immunity to telecoms for cooperating in warrantless wiretaps.
• How could a card-carrying Democrat be in favor of shifting good jobs outside the border? He said that NAFTA was ‘devastating’ and a ‘big mistake’, but now he’s against renegotiation of the treaty.
• There is NO WAY that a Democrat would be in favor of tax cuts for corporate fat cats – uh, guess again.
• I’ve already mentioned his flip-flop on public financing of his campaign – can I get some maple syrup for this waffle?

Barack Obama was a dyed-in-the-wool liberal all the way through the primary campaign season. Now, as every politician does for the presidential contest (including McCain), he’s drifting toward the center; he knows that’s the only way to win the office. Has he truly changed his mind on these issues, or can these attitude adjustments be chalked up purely to political expediency?

And who will he be if he wins the White House?

Thoughts? Please comment.

I promise – last post about the HMC – at least until September.

The Hollywood Master Chorale concert on Sunday was, in my humble opinion, a real success. Even in the heat we had a pretty good turnout. This being my first performance with the group, it’s hard to quantify how good it was; was it as good as the last concert? Better? Not quite? From my own point of view, I think we sang very well, the soloists all ‘hit their marks’, and Lori Ann Fuller brought down the house with her performances. I suspect that we will hear more from her and from Robert Montenegro as time goes on.

Tonight is the season-ending potluck, during which we’ll find out what the sales numbers were and whether the group will be back for another season in September. I’m a little perturbed at  the foot-shuffling that seems to be going on with the Chorale’s finances. The board, which is a little weak in the communication department, is being somewhat contradictory in how bad things are. Plenty bad, I gather, but all of a sudded we needed to sell 400 tickets or all would be lost. The report the day before the concert had us at under 200…and not a word since. Is this some kind of Chicken Little action?

It took me a while to wind down after last night’s HMC technical rehearsal. As I said in my previous post, this was our first rehearsal with our wonderful soloists from LA Opera: Soprano Lori Ann Fuller, mezzo-soprano Diana Tash, tenor Daniel Montenegro, and baritone Roberto Perlas Gomez.

All the soloists were really top-notch, but I took particular notice of tenor Montenegro – he reminded me so much of the demeanor, delivery and tone of Maestro Placido Domingo. And during his singing of ‘Tonight’ from West Side Story, all the women in the chorale seemed to be awash in the vapors.

I’m really jazzed (so to speak) about this concert spotlighting opera, These are songs I’ve never sung before, and is one of the most satisfying experiences of my entire musical career. I wish you all could be here to hear it.

Posting from HMC tech rehearsal – first with the soloists from LA Opera. This concert is gonna ROCK!

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday he’ll bypass the federal public financing system in the general election, abandoning an earlier commitment to take the money if his Republican rival did as well.

So ‘change’ means to change your mind when your first decision proves to be inconvenient?

GEE, I REALLY I DON’T HAVE TO

MY MIND AGAIN!

Easy does it, Steve…

I decided last week to explore a commute by bus again. Gas is over $4.50 a gallon now, which is nudging a bus commute into economic necessity.

My commute by car is 30 miles round trip, less than a half hour each way, which would cost me a gallon and a half of gasoline or so. My commute by bus is about an hour and a half each way, and costs $5.00 round trip. I merely had to decide what my time is worth – commuting an extra two hours a day doesn’t really crimp my earning potential, and it doesn’t have much effect on my evening activities, plus I can get some reading done, so I think it’s worth a trial at least. Downside – I gotta get up at six AM, an hour earlier than when I drive.

I bought a bunch of tokens last week; I’ll use four tokens a day. I’ll generally be able to do this commute five days a week during the summer when HMC rehearsals are on hiatus – this week is unusual in that there are two rehearsals, our regular Wednesday rehearsal and a ‘technical’ rehearsal on Thursday in preparation for our concert this Sunday; I’ll drive both of those days, as I go to rehearsal directly from work and I’m not interested in trying to figure THAT kind of bus ride, so this week I’m on the bus today, tomorrow and Friday only.

About a year ago I tried to do a combo bus/bike commute, which involved a bike ride to the local stop (a couple of miles away), loading the bike on the rack on the front of the bus, and riding to a spot about seven miles from work. Unfortunately, that seven miles is uphill all the way. I was completely wiped out even before I started work for the day. But in my research last week, I discovered another route that starts at the same stop, but ends within a five-minute walk of my work site. So I drove to the park-n-ride lot at the bus stop and ride the bus almost all the rest of the way. I pretty much looked out the window today listening to NPR on my headphones. It was really quite nice.

Remember the pictures and video I posted of the fire in the apartments next door? I got a very nice comment on that post from the Los Angeles Fire Department itself! The public service officer who responded even included links to a story about the fire along with pictures that are much better than mine.

Check it out!

Have you heard? Gas rose 27¢ a gallon in the last week, at least around here. $4.32 today, or $66 to fill my tank this morning. A year ago it was a dollar less per gallon. I remember as a new driver struggling to come up with a buck or so for a couple of gallons of gas for my old beater – a ’62 Ford Falcon. I wish I had that car now.

I’m trying to make a tank last for two weeks of my commute, which means going nowhere on the weekends. Oh well, if I don’t leave the house, I don’t spend money – I guess that’s a good thing.

Have a great weekend!