Enter the Blue Cap Brigade

(Cross posted at Shaking Off and Facebook.)

So it seems fairly certain that there’s going to be a Likud victory. Now, if we're lucky they will be able form a rainbow coalition with their traditional opponents, Kadima and Labor. Otherwise, Yisrael Beitanu will be the main coalition partner, which means Israeli politics will swing way to the right. Yisrael Beitanu, also known (mainly by me) as the "Fucking Crazy Party", has been compared to the Nazis on occasion but I think that's just journalists getting off on the irony of comparing a Jewish organization to a notoriously antisemitic one. However, Yisrael Beitanu is ultra-nationalistic and racist, which is bad news for any Arabs living in Israel or (especially) the Palestinian territories.

The funny thing is that it is Hamas and, by negligence, the rest of the Arab world, that has driven the Israeli public to such hawkishness. By their constant barrage of rockets, Hamas has brought this on. Now, I can see two possible explanations for this:

1. Hamas just loves war. They love getting their jihad on and no peace process is going to stop them. Notably when the UN Security Council came up with a ceasefire proposal Hamas rejected it alongside Israel.
   
   
2. The concept of a liberal democracy where people vote for the party that best represents their views instead of the party which they view as being least corrupt; this concept is so utterly foreign to Hamas that they are unaware of the influence they have on Israeli politics.

Now the Israeli blockade of Gaza is stupid, ineffective and wickedly damaging to Israeli credibility. Just take a look at Cuba and you'll see how effective blockades are for inducing regime change. However, the term "Israeli blockade" is misleading because Egypt has been maintaining a blockade as well. You see, everyone hates Hamas. Especially the Arab countries. Egypt is willing to blockade Gaza in order to protect its citizens but is unwilling to take any further action. The governments of the Arab world avoid criticizing Hamas too much because they fear it might provoke an international Islamist uprising (cf. Mugabe and the African Union). So they choose to butt heads with Israel instead of Hamas. Better the devil you know.

Part 1 of an infinite part series on the stupidity of abortion.

(Cross posted at Shaking Off and Facebook.)

So President Obama has reversed Ronald Reagan's "Mexico City policy" which disallows public funding for death factories. I mean, obviously it's not enough just to have the ability to slaughter your unborn child, it's necessary for hard working taxpayers to bankroll your ≈$500 "oops." Ever since Mr. Reagan formulated it in 1984, this policy has ping-ponged between Republicans and Democrats. One thing's for sure: it's fairly evident now that Mr. Obama is NOT a secret Muslim. For as the Qur'an tells us: "Kill not your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you. Surely the killing of them is a great sin." (17:31, Yusuf Ali).

For my part, I have conceived of a policy that is complimentary to Mr. Reagan's. I call it the "Keep Your Legs Together policy." It goes something like this: You are about to engage in sexual intercourse. Are you prepared to deal with the challenges of parenthood should your actions result in pregnancy? If yes, then proceed. If no, then keep your legs together!

(Cross posted at Shaking Off and Facebook.)

I hereby proclaim, for now and for evermore, today, December 12 shall be celebrated as Victory over Communism (V-C) Day.

Now I realize that this may seem premature because after all there are still five communist states out there and several more where communist parties form governments. Nonetheless, the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 represented a swift kick in the nuts of the world revolution. The USSR broke apart over the entire month of December 1991, beginning with the Ukrainian independence referendum on the 1st and ending with the complete and utter cessation/transfer of all functions on the 31st.

So why the 12th? Well since it's hard to pin down exactly popular dates include the 21st when the CIS was formed or 26th when the Supreme Soviet voted to dissolve the union. However, since both of these are too close to Christmas, I decided on the 12th which is when Russia left the union, a point that there was definitely no turning back from. Just as if England were to secede from the UK, Russia's departure effectively rendered the superpower defunct.

I want to take this time to recognize some important warriors in the struggle against communism:

Pope John Paul the Great
Everybody knows him, he was the head of the largest church in the world, a figurehead for over a billion people. Nevertheless I believe too many people regard him "simply" as a religious figure and don't appreciate the political influence he had.

The Roman Catholic Church's no-holds-barred opposition to communism was one of several factors that led European communists to break from Moscow and develop "eurocommunism," a version of communism which, among other things, lacked the atheist ambitions of straight up Marxism.

However, I believe one quotation says it better than anything else. In 1992, devout atheist Mikhail Gorbachev made the follow comment: "What has happened in Eastern Europe in recent years would not have been possible without the presence of this Pope, without the great role even political that he has played on the world scene."

Chiang Kai-shek
Much has been said about Chiang's authoritarian rule and human rights violations. While there are many things he did I certainly don't endorse, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place: with the Japanese breaking down his front door and the communists coming in the back he did what he had to. In fighting Japan he lost China and he decided that some freedoms would have to be sacrificed to prevent infiltration. One thing is for sure: in 1949 there were two China's and today one of them is a liberal democracy with a robust economy and the other is an exploitative police state. Chiang's China is the former.

The Partisans
Last, but not least I want to give a shout out to all those who fought against unbelievable odds. After everyone else had given up they refused to put down their arms. While Russian White Army and the Chinese National Revolutionary Army must be given their due, the people for whom I have limitless respect are those who continued to fight to the bitter end, moving from town to town or even living in the wilderness to avoid capture. These people mainly lived in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. Who knows what drove them on to fight a battle they could never hope to win? Perhaps at first they were preparing for Western intervention. But after the brutal crushing of the Hungarian Revolution many still fought on.

I'm really glad I wasn't alive in 1956 because I would have been so fucking pissed off at the uselessness of the West to come to the aid of Hungary. We just sat on our hands and said, "Oh wow, you must be very brave. We're so proud of you, and although we're not going to stop the Soviets from brutally crushing you, Time Magazine has agreed to make you Man of the Year as a consolation prize." 12 years later like déjà vu, the same damn thing happened to Czechoslovakia.

But still they fought on. Poland's "cursed soldiers," the Forest Brothers of the Baltic nations and various groups in Romania. I hope one day I am able to find a cause for which I have a fraction of the passion they had.

(Cross posted at Shaking Off and Facebook)

"Ben, why do you complain so much about the monarchy?"
"It has no real power."
"It's not even a relevant issue."

So Prime Minister Stephen Harper requested proroguing of parliament and Governor General Michaëlle Jean granted his request. That buys Mr. Harper some time but ultimately if the opposition parties do topple the government the ball is in Mme. Jean's court. Would she allow a coalition to form? or would she call an election?

Why is it her decision? I don't remember voting for her. I guess she was appointed then, but she must have had parliamentary confirmation. Wait, she didn't? Well, the vast majority previous Governors General have been Members of Parliament, Canadian or British, or at least held some sort of diplomatic post. Pardon? You say she was none of these things? She was actually a reporter? Well, clearly that qualifies her to be the head of our military. I guess she represents same old hag named Mrs. Windsor (just don't call her that in parliament or else you'll be expelled).

Contrary what some will have you believe this coalition idea is more democratic than the Senate and completely constitutional. It's also completely stupid. Like suicide or abortion, just because you can doesn't mean you should. The last two times there were serious coalition discussions it was concerning the issue of conscription. Maybe we should bring that back, too, because I think Hamid Karzai would be a much better leader to live under than Stéphane Dion. You know, if we're lucky, this may even turn into a full blown constitution crisis. That would just be swell on top of that little economic crisis we're already in.

But Mr. Harper, this doesn't mean I'm letting you off the hook. I'd like to introduce you to my good friend John Maynard Keynes. You'd do well to listen to what he has to say.

(Cross posted at Shaking Off and Facebook)

dum dee dum, it's my birthday. It's the second time in my life that my age is divisible by 11. It will probably happen about 5 more times (hopefully). Let us reflect...

Who am I? No, really, WHO AM I? Well I'm a 70th generation descendant of the Suebi tribe. While that sounds cool it's mostly speculation combined with a little bit of research and math.

This much I know for certain: I'm a tenth generation Swiss Mennonite immigrant and a fourth generation English migrant. Northumberland to be precise, I believe. I'm also a eighth generation Dutch immigrant. I have some Anglo-Norman roots and possibly some Scottish, too. But mostly there's German, Dutch and English blood flowing through my veins giving me a fairly well-rounded Germanic heritage.

I want to be proud of my Germanic heritage, I really do. Unfortunately, unlike other groups like the Slavs or the Celts there's a stigma attached to the idea of a united Germanic ethnicity. You see, there once was this historical figure who was also very proud of his Germanic heritage. His name was Adolf Hitler. Much the same way he ruined the name "Adolf" and the toothbrush moustache, he's ruined Germanic pride. What a douchebag.

Historically national identity has been very closely tied with religious identity and this is no different in my case. My mom's family were all Anglicans from England. My dad's family ultimately hailed from the Old Swiss Confederacy, the birthplace of Anabaptism and the Dutch Republic, which encapsulated Friesland, the birthplace of the Mennonites. As for me personally, I'm still searching. And for me faith is a very private, intimate matter. You could say I'm a lapsed-deist monotheist. But there were two paths I have been exploring. They were two that appealed to me the most and incidentally they both have deep connections with the Germanic peoples.

After exploring Anglicanism I concluded it was a little too traditional for me and I was also uncomfortable with the intimate links it has with the British monarchy. So I next looked to Lutheranism. Martin Luther was, of course, born in the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism spread to the Nordic countries where it still functions as an established church in most of them.

The other, more enigmatic, form of Christianity that piqued my interest was Arianism. This school of thought, later to be deemed a heresy was founded by Arius, a Berber priest from Egypt. For awhile it seemed posed to become the dominant form of Christianity. Eventually, however, it was decisively crushed at the Council of Nicaea. However, in the meantime, many of the Germanic "barbarians" had already been converted to Arian Christianity. Odoacer, the first ruler of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire was such a person. Eventually however, the orthodox catholic doctrines won out. Oh well.

After writing this, I am still no closer to my answer of who I am.

(Cross posted at Shaking Off and Facebook)

I'm thinking of a politician. He has many detractors but is nonetheless an elected official who is very popular where he's from. Some of his various political positions include opposition to gay marriage and support for a two-tiered health care system. He's a man for whom religion is very important and talks openly about his faith. His foreign policy includes maintaining close ties with Israel and sending more troops to fight in Afghanistan.

Who am I thinking of? You're thinking probably some real conservative figure, maybe Stockwell Day? Well you're wrong. I'm thinking of Barack Obama. While he does have a lot of other opinions on various issues, many of which wouldn't fit nicely into this little game we played, the fact of the matter is Mr. Obama isn't nearly as left-wing as some people would like to believe. I laughed out loud the first time I heard him being called a "socialist." If Mr. Obama is a socialist then Jack Layton must currently be planning a revolution of the proletariat.

( From here on out I get kind of preachy )

(Cross posted at Shaking Off and Facebook)

This is my first entry (in 63 weeks...first ever of my rebooted blog). In the future, when I become the next Kissinger-Sadat-Cromwell-Wilson-Sun-Romero*, we will all be able to look back here and say, "this is where it all began." Forgive the hubris but I have high hopes for myself.

Eventually I'll get married. To someone very interesting, perhaps an Irish Catholic socialist with matrilinial Jewish heritage, red hair and an alto voice who is a scholar on liberation theology. We'll get along despite our differences.† We'll settle down somewhere, and after gaining my citizenship I'll take the position as Ambassador to the United Nations (unless of course I decide to be a missionary in Taiwan). We'll live in a house built from imported Lebanese Cedar, the same wood the Phoenicians used to build their great navies and King Solomon used for the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. I'd like to summer on Bouvet Island if Norway agrees to cede it to me. As I said, high hopes.



This picture appeared in The Globe & Mail about a month ago (AFP/Getty Images). It apparently depicts "opposition gunmen" whatever that means. Lebanon is not unlike Northern Ireland where you have militias on both sides fighting each other. So I guess that makes pretty much everyone a terrorist.

Now what I want to know is why these boys are so well dressed. Their hair is done up all nice and the guy on the right has a very well-sculpted beard. The guy beside him in the maroon has a semi-greaser look going on but that's neither hear nor there. Did a group of friends meet together and say, "Yo man, let's gel our hair and then go get our terrorist on." Or were they just in the middle of a day out on the town when the fighting broke out? If that's the case did they have to run home to get their AK-47s or do they always carry assault rifles around with them?

And what's with the bandanna over the face? Is he pulling off a bank heist in the wild west? It's got a bunch of colours on it and at least two American flags and I'm thinking that's not standard hijab wear. He's holding some sort of stick. It looks like it has electric tape on it. Maybe it's a hockey stick? Was he in the middle of hockey practice? Sorry folks, that is unlikely because Lebanese hockey is dead and there was only one player to begin with.

And that's all I'm going to say. I'm off to the land of the vikings.

* When I first wrote this almost a year ago I was a political realist so I'm not quite sure how Wilson made it onto the list. Over the past months however, I've transitioned into a strongly idealist position thus making the inclusion of Kissinger an anomaly. I've kept the wording unchanged for historical purposes.

† I think it would work surprisingly well considering that I'm a Fine Gael supporter which would effectively make our marriage a miniature version of a Fine Gael-Labour coalition.

Just a thought...

It's interesting that some people think that Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon syncs up too well with The Wizard of Oz to be a coincidence yet have no problem believing the creation of the universe was one.

Until I'm given a better explanation for first cause I'm going to keep on believing. And even though I may be a minority where I am right now, I can rest assured there are billions of others like me around the world.

Went to the book store today. As usual they didn't have what I wanted. I sent away the form for a credit card today also so I won't have this problem anymore.

The books I was interested in but could not find:

Tom Wolfe - The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby
John Brady - Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater
Tom Wolfe - The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Tom Wolfe - The Right Stuff
Thomas Paine - The Age of Reason
Thomas Paine - The Rights of Man
Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Men
Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Edmund Burke - Reflections on the Revolution in France

And then finally after 9 misses they did have 2 I was interested in:

St. Augustine - Confessions
St. Augustine - City of God

So the latter is over a thousand pages and I wasn't really up to something that long at the moment and both of them are pretty dense, so I decided it would be best to attempt reading them after I had finished the Bible.

And so I picked up 2 other books I hadn't planned on buying which is the way it usually goes:

Thomas L. Friedman - From Beirut to Jerusalem
The Gospel of Judas

So these look like interesting reads. I have much more to say but I'll save it for later. Additionally, some time in the future I'll probably stop posting much here as I think I'm going to acquire my own personal blog, in which I can rant on about music, politics and religion until the sun goes down.

God grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom always to tell the difference.

My cat has diabetes.

I went to the dentist today to get some fillings done. In the past, during the operation, I've listened to Jeff Foxworthy, Queen and Led Zeppelin on the headphones. Last time I was there I listened to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, specifically the second and fourth movements because that's all I had time for and those are my favourite. Call it clichéd but "Ode to Joy" has one of the greatest melodies ever composed. This time around I looked through the choices, thought I might go for something more modern but eventually settled on a compilation of Erik Satie. I first got into Satie because I read that he was one of those fringe composers. I've since learned that he's a bit more mainstream than I'd first thought but he was still one of those composers, like Wagner or Debussy, that was borderline avant-garde despite being relatively popular.

Now I have an essay to do and I'm munching away or these positively godly Rosemary & Olive Oil flavoured Triscuits.

In the past week over a million people have ceased to exist so to speak but specifically we lost James Brown, Gerald Ford and Saddam Hussein. Brown came as a complete surprise to me, I knew Ford was getting on in his years and Hussein, well, yeah. Concerning Saddam Hussein, while I'm not a supporter of capital punishment, this execution will prevent insurgents from taking hostages in order to leverage a release from prison. I think they should have used a firing squad instead of hanging even though he was convicted for crimes against humanity as opposed to war crimes. For some disturbing reason I also wanted to see footage and I did find it. God only knows what the future has in store. Notably, Saddam's execution is probably one of the few things the U.S. and Iranian governments have agreed on in the past 27 years.

I've got a lot to do in 2007, yes, a lot to do. And I fear it's all going to come at me fast and right off the bat. But I'll be ready for it. I hope.

I only make this joke a couple times a year around this time and then shelve it for next year so here it is:

My New Year's resolution is 1600 x 1200.

Worst. Pitchfork. List. Yet.

They expanded it to 100 and now they're including all tracks and still they missed a bunch of really good songs and some of the good songs that were on there were at far too high a number.

Two songs in particular that probably would be in my top 5 tracks of this year are by artists that are completely absent:

Tapes 'n Tapes - Insistor
Pajo - Who's That Knocking

I mean, WTF?

Also, I noticed there was nothing by Thom Yorke up there and it's true they didn't give that album a good rating but there are plenty of tracks on that list from albums they savaged. "Harrowdown Hill" and Tapes 'n Tapes' "Cowbell" at least should have been up there too.

[edit]Can't believe I forgot to mention "Backstage Girl" by DJ Shadow feat. Phonte Coleman. Such a kick-ass track.[/edit]

[edit]My top 10 list:

1. Tapes 'n Tapes - "Insistor"
2. Pajo - "Who's That Knocking"
3. The Pipettes - "Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me"
4. Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland - "Promiscuous"
5. DJ Shadow feat. Phonte Coleman - "Backstage Girl"
6. Joanna Newsom - "Emily"
7. The Pipettes - "Pull Shapes"
8. Thom Yorke - "Harrowdown Hill"
9. El Perro del Mar - "God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get)"
10. The Rapture - "Pieces of the People We Love"

Oh course, there is a lot of music I just haven't heard.
[/edit]

Brad has often pointed out to me that, despite my own political standing, pretty much all the music I listen to and the authors that I read come from the liberal side of town. But there are some very notable exceptions the most obvious of which is Ezra Pound, an American ex-pat who became one of Mussolini's top propagandists. And of course Wagner had some controversial views though these have been largely blown out of proportion due the actions of Wagner's #1 fan: Adolf Hitler. But back to Mussolini. W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot both showed some interest in him, though not to the extent that Pound did. And Eliot is probably my favourite author. As I understand, Mussolini also garnered support from members of the Futurist movement. So I'm rather interested in what made Mussolini so alluring. Sure, he was probably one of the most charismatic leaders of the 20th century but these are borderline avant-garde artists we're talking about. So I think when I have some free time I think I'd like to read some of the early pieces on fascism that he wrote (or at least was credited as writing). From what little bits I've seen I think the difference between those early writings and the Third Reich is not all that unlike the difference between Marx's Communist Manifesto and the Soviet Union under Stalin. It's not as if I expect to find that deep down Mussolini had a heart of gold and he was just misunderstood. He was definitely a tyrant but I think his views might not be quite as strong as it is thought because of concessions he was "forced" to makee for an alliance with Hitler.

Equality is a funny thing. I don't believe in it. People are not all equal and I think it would be very unfair to treat them as such. Taken to its extreme, saying that everyone is equal is like saying that we're all clones. Should men and women compete together in Olympic events? No, that would just be silly because of they way the male body is built would give them the obvious base advantage. But it wouldn't be equality if they didn't compete together.

That being said, I do believe that all people, no matter what their race, sex, creed, colour, nationality, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or any other beliefs or circumstances may be; they are all entitled to certain rights like life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

And then there's shit like selective equality and affirmative action that also have no place in this world but unfortunately have more gained more acceptance than just your standard discrimination.

This thought is just random, and not really new at all nor even complete, really. I just thought I'd put it somewhere other than a notepad file where even I'm liable to forget about it.

I fucking hate Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

From: EID Mubarak <xjigvswh@peery-arrillaga.com>
To: lairor@gmail.com
Date: Oct 25, 2006 3:57 PM
Subject: Hip Hop

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Man, I love junk mail. It cracks me up.

I went to Chapters today to pick up a book for present for a friend and it was raining outside so I browsed through the store awhile. I went over to the religious section to see if they had any good translations of the Qur'an (i.e. Pickthall's, Ali's or Arberry's, in that order) and of course they didn't. There was a whopping 13 books on Islam, but alas, that number still fell behind the 14 there were on Judaism. I'm pretty sure there were more books on The Da Vinci Code then there were on Judaism and Islam combined. And if you add all the other pseudohistoric Grail-esque legend books that have been popping up recently... well then you might as well give it its own section. It's kind of like right after Bowling for Columbine was a big success, it seemed that everyone and their brother was making a liberal (propaganda) documentary to be shown at art house cinemas. It's like that for Grail literature now.

Now there's one book I was sort of looking for but was not surprised that they didn't have it. And it's not the kind of book you can just ask for. At least I couldn't. In fact, I would be hesitant to tell anyone that I'm interested in reading this book, lest they make me out to be some kind of neo-Nazi or Islamist extremist. The book in question being, of course, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Now I know the thing is complete bullshit but I still think it would be an interesting read. Besides, there are still many people, especially from Muslim states, that believe what is written between those pages. And I think that a key to knowing the other side, is learning their philosophy. So that's why I especially want to read the Qur'an because I believe it's probably a very important document in this day and age. I remember when I requested to be enrolled in this Old English poetry course I believe it was: they told me no, one of the things they suggested I take is another language. Now that's just stupid. I'm taking English because I don't want to do other languages. Not that I'm against learning other languages, I just believe that English is the most important language in the world today. Of course it doesn't help that the only languages the university offers are (what I believe to be) useless Romance languages and dead ones of antiquity. Besides English, I think Arabic and Mandarin will prove to be important languages on the global scale. Also perhaps Hindi. I'm also interested in learning Hebrew, due to my passion for Middle Eastern politics and Jewish history. But alas, none of those four languages are offered here. The languages I want to learn are diplomatic ones: they're languages spoken by a lot of people who posses a lot of power. Spanish may be the third most spoken language in the world, but I can't see any emerging superpowers from the Spanish world like China or India or the collective force of Iran, Pakistan and the Arab League.

And that's that!

[Edit- The bookstore didn't have My Tank is Fight! either they can stock it and I made sure to click the option saying I would have bought it had it been there.]

"...go looking for flying saucers in the sky." -- Caetano Veloso

The last few weeks have been a time of contemplation for me. Although the post-break up apathy is still alive and kicking, I think I can feel it beginning to dwindle. Maybe. I've been noticing my political leanings have been becoming increasingly libertarian. My Red Tory background is definitely still there, but I think I'll find whatever I eventually settle on to be easier to defend in this climate than, perhaps, past beliefs of mine. I'm still completely disinterested in domestic matters. My eyes are still intently tranfixed on the Middle East. Unlike anything going on here, I feel events there actually have the potential to change the world. I like that idea. Once I'm on top of my convictions and my schoolwork, perhaps I can again turns my thoughts towards companionship and the fulfillment of my lusts: both carnal and intellectual.

It's become pretty evident to me that my idealogies run against the grain of those possessed by many of my colleagues in the TCSA. This was not unexpected. I think I'm going to meet up with the acting president, Scott, sometime and talk to him because he seems like a pretty level-headed guy. I guess I just want to make sure that an organization that is supposed to be representing me is not aggressively pushing ideals I don't believe in. Or at the very least, they tell both sides of the story.

I'm terrible at making "top" lists because I have a hard time deciding which of two totally different songs is the better. That being said, I sat down to make my own top 10 songs of the '60s list. I ran into trouble early because I kept subconsciously trying to put in songs just because they didn't appear on Pitchfork's list. So here it is, my top 10 songs of the 1960s that didn't appear on Pitchfork's list. And yes, I'm aware there are 15 songs on the list:

1. The Beatles - In My Life
2. Neil Diamond - Solitary Man
3. Randy Newman - I Think It's Going to Rain Today
4. The Move - Blackberry Way
5. Dion - Runaround Sue
6. Bob Dylan - Mr. Tambourine Man
7. The Velvet Underground - Candy Says
8. The Yardbirds - For Your Love
9. The Mothers of Invention - Brown Shoes Don't Make It
10. The Toys - A Lover's Concerto
11. The Cascades - Rhythm of the Rain
12. The Move - (Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree
13. Traffic - Dear Mr. Fantasy
14. The Bonzo Dog Band - I'm the Urban Spaceman
15. Donovan - Hurdy Gurdy Man

If I was actually able to compile my own top 200 list of '60s songs there would probably be up to 170 in common with P-fork's list, 30 or 40 or so would be my personal submissions.