Blog: Culpepper Log

Judge forbids Wicca An Indianapolis judge has formally forbidden two divorced Wiccan parents from exposing their song to "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." CLICK HERE to see how I break this foolishness down.

Patty and Selma's dream date I noted an ad offering a complete DVD set of the entire McGyver series on 35 discs covering seven seasons of Patty and Selma Bouvier's dream made flesh. Just $240.

New album releases, week of 5-24-2005 If'n you're feeling the need to get your grunge on, Audioslave has a new album this week, Out of Exile . As this album already ranks #6 on Amazon, apparently pretty many people are feeling that need. For songwriting and playing though, probably the best new bet would be from Robert Cray. He knows what he's doing. The title song "20" apparently is some kind of anti-war thing, a lament from a soldier in Iraq. Junk [...]

A Modest Proposal on Senate Judicial Filibusters Republicans have been going around making the claim that the Democrats in the US Senate have filibustered 10 judicial nominations. Give or take maybe one example, this has never been done before. Thing is, the Democrats haven't really filibustered ANY of these nominees. I watch C-Span pretty regularly, and I don't recall seeing Evan Bayh making like Jimmy Stewart- with his collar pulled open, hoarse and weak from 24 hours speaking against Priscilla Owens. No, these pansy Republicans have just let the Democrats have the [...]

Jim Carruthers, RIP I pause to note the passing of a blog buddy, Jim Carruthers. I knew him mostly as a fellow Blogcritic. He was a flaming pinko liberal, and one of my favorite sparring partners. He sure loved scrappin'. I'll miss that. He'd definitely give us arrogant 'Muricans hell. You really have to cut him some slack there for being Canadian. What with their beady little eyes, and their heads so full of lies, what can you expect? There was generally nothing really hateful [...]

New album releases, week of 5-10-2005 There's nothing in the new releases this week that blows my skirt up. Probably the biggest thing is the new Dave Matthews Band album Stand Up . I've always thought that I should like him. He's definitely got skills, but I just can't bring myself to care. This album apparently tilts towards more political lyrics, but it'd take more that slapping some pinko nonsense on the top to get me interested. Robert Plant & the Strange Sensation have a [...]

New album releases, week of 5-3-2005 If you're into boring tuneless loud noise presented as "music," then this should be a big week for you. Specifically, we get a new Nine Inch Nails opus With Teeth . Also, Limp Bizkit (reunited with guitarist Wes Borland) has The Unquestionable Truth, Pt. 1 . Those will likely be among the big sellers, but there are at least a couple of albums for music fans. Notably, Aimee Mann has a new set, The Forgotten Arm [...]

Al Qaeda and Al Green They say that you are what you eat, but just as much you are what you think about, what you let your mind run on. Sananda Matreiya, the artist formerly known as Terence Trent D'Arby offers the following corollary bit of wisdom in his fan newsletter: "Our times are out of balance and the proof is simple. We spend far too much energy focusing on Al Qaeda, and not enough on Al Green !" Nor do [...]

Where's my global warming, ya stupid Bush voters? I hate President Bush so much. It's colder than crap in Indiana- highs in the 40s. This weekend we had half inch thick hunks of ice raining down. Almost the end of April, and there's snow piling up on the car. Stupid Bush. Granted, it gave me a good excuse to whip out the Parade album and get up on "Sometimes It Snows in April." That's always gratifying. Still, we could be having [...]

New album releases, week of 4-19-2005 Loudon Wainwright III has a new album out this week that sounds interesting, Here Come the Choppers . I'm particularly interested in hearing "Hank and Fred," a tribute to Misters Williams and Rogers. I've never paid much attention to Herb Alpert, but the 40th anniversary re-release of Whipped Cream and Other Delights is already #44 at Amazon. I note also the curious sounding multiple artist Jamaican dub album of Bob Dylan songs, [...]

Terri Schiavo and the rule of law Jonathan Rauch at Reason has the best explanation I've seen for how exactly wrong Dubya and the Republican Congress were in attempting to interefere in the Schiavo case. Particularly, their efforts represented a clear pure abandonment of the most basic principle of conservatives: rule of law . CLICK HERE to read Rauch's excellent analysis.

New album releases, week of 4-12-2005 The freaks of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band have a best of album out containing cuts from all of their albums, This Is the Dirty Dozen Brass Band Collection . If you consider the ability to break glass at 50 yards with your voice proof of musical talent, then you're in luck. Mariah Carey has a new album out on Def Jam records, The Emancipation of Mimi . Garbage has a new platter, [...]

Prince Charles makes an honest woman of Camilla Prince Charles generally doesn't mean much to me. Being a Kentuckian-American, I fail to see the point of the British royal family in general. They seem like a pointless national appendix. Charles has always appeared to me to be an idle rich boy who has to occassionally act as if he has something to do with running the country. Benign, but insignificant. However, he did impress me this weekend by marrying his beloved Camilla. Best I can read the tea leaves, [...]

Spending vs Deficits "Our country would be far better off with a federal budget of $1 trillion and a deficit of $300 billion than with a fully balanced budget of $2 trillion" Milton Friedman, 1995

Acidophilus and Antibiotics Simple health tip: Acidophilus and antibiotics are two great tastes that taste great together. Antibiotics are wonderful things, killing off all kinds of nasty stuff that can kill you. Newer and better antibiotics come along all the time, racing to keep ahead of all the mutating bacteria and other assorted crap. However, there are always problems with anything. One inherent problem with antibiotics is that they will tend to kill off things in you that you don't want killed off. Vis a vis [...]

New album releases, week of 4-5-2005 A couple of famous chicks have albums this week, not that their music is what either one is particularly known for. Famous rap hooker Faith Evans has a new album out this week, The First Lady . With Biggie and Tupac dead and no longer arguing or shooting over her or whatever, is there some less than obvious reason why anyone would care? It's starting out at #244 on Amazon, so it certainly ain't breaking any records out of the box. [...]

Ann Coulter, please meet Separation of Powers Ann Coulter should be put to the lash. I'm afraid, however, that a setting of Ann Coulter, Al Barger and a lash would somehow result in me being her woman in some terribly shameful way. So from a keyboard at a safe distance, I'll call her out for willful ignorance regarding the Terri Schiavo case, as evidenced in THIS COLUMN . Now besides all the ugly and irrelevant attacks on Michael Schiavo, she was willfully blind to the limited powers of government. The [...]

Terri Schiavo's So-Called "Supporters" The Terri Schiavo case has become a cultural Rorschach test, with enough conflicts and ambiguities that different people see different things in it. Therefore, I won't necessarily 100% describe my own reactions as totally and unequivocally "rational" and based absolutely only on the facts in front of me. I approach that as nearly as I can, but all have fallen short of the glory of God. That said, some of the supposed "supporters" of Terri Schiavo really positively UNimpress me. Rather than generalizing, here are a couple [...]

Ayn Rand vs Whittaker Chambers and National Review Ayn Rand heartily alienated most intellectuals of her era- left, right and center. Even today, the mere mention of her name brings a vicious snarl to the lips of many people. Partly, this was because she was a genius, and her work made irredeemable confetti of a lot of little worldviews. All of Marx's horses and all his lame professors couldn't put socialist or altruist philosophy together again after Ayn. So, some of this alienating couldn't be helped. [...]

The Beatles Christmas records The Beatles recorded seven special members-only singles at Christmas for their fan club members, from 1963 to 1969. They have not, to my best knowledge, ever been commercially released or circulated past their original one-time fan club issuance. They're not really songs, but odd spoken word recordings that give an interesting angle on their evolving worldview. Their first one was a fairly straightforward cheerful open letter to their fans. They were saying hello, giving FAQs. The first few are something like a Beatles year in [...]