Monday, April 11, 2005- What's on President Bush's iPod?
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(Warning: I do hope you'll pardon this rare quasi-political-humor post from Nosce Ti Ipsum. What started off as a silly blurb ended in a rant).
Reporting from the is this what passes for news today department:
The New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller has the scoop on what songs US President George W. Bush has on his iPod. "Mr. Bush's iPod is heavy on traditional country singers like George Jones, Alan Jackson and Kenny Chesney. He has selections by Van Morrison, whose 'Brown Eyed Girl' is a Bush favorite, and by John Fogerty, most predictably 'Centerfield,' which was played at Texas Rangers games when Mr. Bush was an owner and is still played at ballparks all over America. The president also has an eclectic mix of songs downloaded into his iPod from Mark McKinnon, a biking buddy and his chief media strategist during the 2004 campaign. Among them are 'Circle Back' by John Hiatt, '(You're So Square) Baby, I Don't Care' by Joni Mitchell and 'My Sharona,' the 1979 song by the Knack."
So what does this say about our President? Nothing really. If we made judgment calls on people based solely on what music they have on their iPods, well - that's a column onto itself. No big surprises on Bush's iPod either, just the typical play it safe, conservative clear channel radio mix that you would typically find aimed at someone of his age and demographic. Pretty dull stuff really, kind of what you'd expect to find on your fathers (or grand fathers iPod). Sure, it would have been a lot more fun (and perhaps quite a bit more true to life) if Bush's iPod contained such golden oldies as War Pigs by Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson's Fight Song or even the classic S.O.D. anthem Fuck the Middle East (all 12 lines of it). For all we know, Billy Milano might just be a special advisor of foreign affairs in the Bush administration - now that would certainly explain a lot of things!One song of particular irony on Bush's iPod was the inclusion of the classic Creedence Clearwater Revival song Fortunate Son, which was no doubt written about someone exactly like George W. Bush but from an earlier era (funny how the faces change but personality types always stay the same).
Several decades later and John Fogerty's lyrics still ring true:
Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail To The Chief",
oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no senator's son,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no,
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman come to the door,
Lord, the house look a like a rummage sale, yes,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no senator's son,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no,
Yeh, some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we give,
oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no military son,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one,- John C, Fogerty
- 4:28:29 PM
- Port forwarding works wonders for BitTorrent
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Applette has written a piece today about how to really squeeze some real performance out of Bit Torrent. Obviously written from an OS X users perspective but if you find Bit Torrent useful, give it a look.
- 9:16:50 AM
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