My favorite Christmas music

I can’t get enough of Christmas music this time of year. A list of my favorites is below, split into traditional and nontraditional songs:

Traditional

1. “Carol of the Bells,” George Winston. I love playing this on the piano, so it’s no wonder I like Winston’s song.
   
2. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,”Amy Grant. “Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies.”
3. “Do You Hear What I Hear?”, Whitney Houston. I will always remember my mom’s comment when listening to this on a car ride: “If he’s shivering in the cold, why don’t they bring him blankets and clothes instead of silver and gold?” Good question.
4. “What Child is This?”, Vanessa Williams. Another one I love to play on the piano.
5. “Here We Come a Wassailing,” Kate Rusby. I discovered this one last year and it’s been my favorite version ever since.
6. “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,” Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan. This is just such a lively and bouncy version. They sound great together.
7. “Hallelujah Chorus,” Mormon Tabernacle Choir. “King of kings, forever and ever, hallelujah!”
8. “O Holy Night,” *NSYNC. Let go of whatever preconceived ideas you have about “boy bands” and listen to this. It’s an absolutely gorgeous a cappella edition.
9. “Angels We Have Heard on High,” Sixpence None the Richer. I just like the chorus.
10. “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays,” Debbie Reynolds. The title says it all.

Nontraditional

1. “Little Town,” Cliff Richard. This is probably the worst music video ever, but the song is neat.
2. “Happy Xmas (War is Over),” John Lennon and Yoko Ono. “A very merry Christmas, and a happy New Year. Let’s hope it’s a good one, without any fear.”
3. “It Feels Like Christmas,” A Muppet Christmas Carol. Maybe my favorite Christmas special ever. “It’s true wherever you find love it feels like Christmas.”
4. “The Peace Carol,” John Denver and the Muppets. Yes, there’s a bit of a Muppet theme. I really like the album John Denver did with the Muppets. “The branch that bears the bright holly, the dove that rests in yonder tree, the light that shines for all to see, the peace of Christmas Day.”
5. “2000 Miles,” The Pretenders. I like the way this one sounds more than the actual lyrics.
6. “The Magic of Christmas Day,” Celine Dion. “God bless us every one, the good and the bad, the happy, the sad…”
7. “Breath of Heaven,” Amy Grant. A young woman performed this at a Christmas Eve church service years ago and blew me away. It was just lovely. It’s also from Mary’s perspective, which is a nice change.
8. “Christmas,” Blues Traveler. “If it’s Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, solstice, harvest or Dec. 25, peace on Earth to everyone and abundance to everyone you’re with.”
9. “Last Christmas,” Cascada. One of the few versions of this song that makes me want to sing along.
10. “Christmas in Killarney,” The Irish Rovers. This is a fast-paced, rollicking song.

What are your favorite holiday songs?

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We are all being framed!

Since the 1980s, wealthy conservative funding sources have plowed huge sums of money into creating think tanks to promote the radical right political agenda. The result of this seed money has been a seismic shift in how news and information is disseminated in the United States. It ain’t no liberal media anymore, folks.

By framing the debate with conservative catch-phrases, progressives, moderates, and liberals have been put on the defensive. In addition, by using or repeating conservative catch-phrases, the media, progressives, moderates, and liberals are actually doing the conservatives’ bidding for them. Through conservative tools like Fox New Channel and talking head pundits everywhere on talk-radio and television, these catch-phrases are repeated over and over again until they are part of the national lexicon. Here are a few examples of their recent catch phrases and why they are deceptive:

War on terror – by defining those despicable acts that took place on 9/11 as acts of war instead of heinous crimes, conservatives took advantage of the nation’s collective grief, shock, and outrage to pursue an authoritarian agenda. It also made it easier for them to push the more onerous and covert portions of the Patriot Act through Congress. Retired General and Secretary of State Colin Powell had argued at the time for the tragedy to be classified as a crime, but he was overruled by neocons in the Bush administration.

Defense of marriage – if there ever was a quick way to stir up religious conservatives, regardless of party affiliation, this catch-phrase would be it. For some reason radical conservatives think love and commitment can only be found between a man and a woman. Sounds awfully closed-minded, but consider the source.

Obamacare – by referring to health care reform as “Obamacare,” the conservatives are framing the debate based on the President’s image and popularity instead of the positive goals of reform itself. Not only does this alter the talking points, but it is sickly and subtly racist.

Partial-birth abortion – got to admit that this term does sound nasty, but that is because radical conservatives made this catch-phrase up to frame the debate in their favor. Technically, the proper term is “late-term abortion;” a rare, but necessary medical procedure, especially in those instances where the life of the mother is in jeopardy. Funny how those opposed to abortion in any manner claim to be on the side of life, except if you are the mother. No one is claiming these decisions are easy, but if you support life, then it should be at all stages.

Pro-life – how can you be pro-life, but then support capital punishment or sending our nation’s sons and daughters off to far-flung and continuous wars? That’s the great inconsistency. Secondly, why is the infant’s life more important than the mother’s life? Isn’t everyone’s life supposed to hold the same value? The proper term should be “anti-abortion.”

Death panels – to this author, no catch-phrase is more deceptive or inaccurate than this one. It relies on fear, especially senior citizen fear, to frame the debate. Never mind the positive attributes of health care reform or that private insurance companies have been making life and death funding decisions for decades, conservatives are framing health care reform as an economic development tool for the grim reaper.

Tax relief – considering the average tax bite in 2009 was the lowest it has been in almost 60 years, what is it exactly we need relief from? Personally, I would prefer relief from radical conservative lies and misstatements.

Needless to say, opponents to the radical conservative agenda had better get on the ball and pronto. At the very least, they need to take pages out of the conservative playbook and learn how to frame and/or re-frame the debate. More specific guidance on debate framing is also available in two fascinating publications written by University of California (Berkeley) Cognitive Science Professor George Lakoff. They are entitled The Political Mind and Don’t Think of an Elephant. To ignore this issue and allow radical conservatives to continue control of the framing will put many of the freedoms we know and love in deep peril.

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Fun Friday: Let it snow

Rick found this Guide to Snowflakes that tells you everything you could ever want to know about them. For example, is it true or false that no two snowflakes are exactly alike? Go here to find out the answer. It’s a pretty neat site, very appropriate if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere right now.

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