Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 245

For the 4th: And Now...Indoor Fireworks

Only fireworks I really care about, the "Indoor" kind.   Elvis:

Cruz Goes Awry

This may make your holiday: Sen. Ted Cruz claims that the tunes for "Amazing Grace" and the theme for "Gilligan's Island" are pretty much "interchangeable"--and then disproves it by singing a few bars. 

Forget 'The 1812 Overture'

If you need spirited orchestral music for the 4th, try Ludwig, also one of greatest pieces ever.

Blooming Iris

For July 4, from Iris DeMent, way back before Dubya and financial collapse.   "Livin' in  the Wasteland of the Free."  And see my many other picks today.

Zevon 'Chimes' In

Warren Zevon, live version of (perhaps) Dylan's greatest song, "Chimes of Freedom."  Bob's original below that.

Independence Day

Plenty of folks will play Bruce's "Sandy" today, with its over July 4 reference, but here's his much greater tune live, although not really about July 4 (or is it?).

The Ives Has It

For the 4th, my favorite piece of Americana music, from Charles Ives--the "Alcotts" movement form his "Concord" sonata. (Of course, he quotes Beethoven.)  The great Jeremy Denk, who I interviewed for my Beethoven book.

When Will Democracy Really Come to the USA?

Leonard Cohen ponders it--in this remarkable spoken word rendition of one of his greatest songs.   "Sail on oh might ship of state/ to the shores of need/ past the reefs of greed/ through the squalls of hate."

Hey, Baby, It's the 4th of July

Getting a bit of a jump on things, since fireworks going off outside (though not set off by "Mexican kids"), here's Robert Earl Keen live with his great version of Dave Alvin's "4th of July."  Below that, Dave himself. Whatever happens, I apologize!

USPS: Not 'Big Brown' But 'Big Brother'?

Bombshell from NYT just up, on Postal Service, it turns out, taking photos of every piece of mail it handles, some 160 billion pieces a year, since the anthrax attacks of oh so long.  And yes, they do target individuals, too.  A former FBI agent warns:  “It can be easily abused because it’s so easy to use and you don’t have to go through a judge to get the information. You just fill out a form.”

Mr. Pickering was targeted by a longtime surveillance system called mail covers, but that is only a forerunner of a vastly more expansive effort, the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program, in which Postal Service computers photograph the exterior of every piece of paper mail that is processed in the United States — about 160 billion pieces last year. It is not known how long the government saves the images.

Together, the two programs show that snail mail is subject to the same kind of scrutiny that the National Security Agency has given to telephone calls and e-mail.

More:

The program has led to sporadic reports of abuse. In May 2012, Mary Rose Wilcox, a Maricopa County supervisor, was awarded nearly $1 million by a federal judge after winning a lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known for his immigration raids in Arizona, who, among other things, obtained mail covers from the Postal Service to track her mail. The judge called the investigation into Ms. Wilcox politically motivated because she had been a frequent critic of Mr. Arpaio, objecting to what she considered the targeting of Hispanics in his immigration sweeps. The case is being appealed.