But I find this all a bit disturbing – the reduction of sober and complex issues to primitive animal emotions, even among educated intellectuals. I’m reminded of the Phil Ochs song “Crucifiction” . . .

The Spanish bulls are beaten; the crowd is soon beguiled/

And saliva is falling from their smiles

In “Crucifiction” Phil Ochs was comparing the story of Jesus to the modern way that we create heroes, give them impossibly difficult tasks and fill ourselves with impossibly high expectations, and then turn on our creations when they cannot deliver.

The song was a big hit among folkies back in the 60’s and has been forgotten since then. Complete lyrics may be found here:
http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/P/philochslyrics/philochscrucifixionlyrics.htm

Last night before Barack Obama gave his historical speech after months and months of waiting for this moment, I was shocked, appalled, and beyond livid as Keith and Chris proceeded the quote Barack Obama’s speech BEFORE Obama shared it to the American people from his heart! As a teacher who has taught elementary, middle school, high school and college, I am well aware of what cheating is but I have NEVER witnessed someone speaking the words of another before that person has the chance to speak it. Shame on both of these men! I did notice that on two occasions Keith stated that he did not feel comfortable doing this…but he did it anyway! How arrogant for these newscasters to untie the ribbon, unwrap the box, and open Obama’s “gift speech” to us Americans who have followed Obama, gone to his rallies, and supported his movement both intellectually and financially for months.