Venezuela Holds Elections

As we Americans look forward to ours, a month away, Venezuela held their elections today, with incumbent president Hugo Chavez facing challenger Henrique Capriles.  Turnout has been high enough to force polling stations to stay open past the official 6:00 p.m. closing time.  The race is expected to be close.  As of this posting, the results have not been announced.

Read more at:
BBC News, the Guardian, Reuters, CNN, and the Washington Post.

UPDATE:  According to the Daily Caller, a Spanish news outlet reports that according to exit polls, Capriles is leading by about 51% to 48%.  However, the offical results have still not been announced.

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Music Break

It's been over a month since I've posted a music break, which means that one is overdue.  To start off, a video I saw during my recent trip to Italy, Sempre Noi by Max Pezzali featuring J-Ax.

Here's one I listened to a few times back in the early seventies, Bongo Rock by The Incredible Bongo Band, who played it in a tempo slower than in the original version by Preston Epps.

In the early eighties, I ran across this one by an early lineup of Whitesnake, Would I Lie To You?...

...which should not be confused with Would I Lie To You? by the Eurythmics.

To finish, the Jimi Hendrix Experience version of the Beatles' Day Tripper.  Bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell handle most of the vocals, with Jimi providing his usual guitar fireworks.  Before starting the song, they play a few bars of I Want To Tell You, written by George Harrison, which was later covered by Ted Nugent.

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How Does Islam Regard Christianity?

Muslims believe that their prophet Mohammed is the last of a long line of prophets, which includes many prophets found in the Bible, such as Moses and Jesus.  According to Islam, Allah revealed through these earlier prophets teachings that were substantially the same as found in the Koran, which was given by Allah through the angel Gabriel to Mohammed.  The teachings given to prophets such as Moses and Jesus, however, were later corrupted by their followers.  In other words, Allah revealed what Muslims call the "true" Torah to Moses, and later the "true" Gospel to Jesus, but Jews and Christians respectively distorted these into the Torah and Gospel as found in the present-day Bible.

This, of course, is but a brief summary of how Muslims regard Jews and Christians, and their two religions.  For a much more detailed explanation, listen to Robert Spencer, and read his website Jihad Watch.

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Ode To Odd Instruments

I ran across this little ditty on YouTube, played in 5/4 time by Michael Hearst.

The rhythm is kept by a Knockman Cha Cha (which Hearst calls "Chachak").  Various melodies, chords, and accompanying parts are played on the daxophone, Hohner claviola, bass melodica, stylophone, otamatone, and Moog Theremin.  For percusssion, there's an Elasticbrand Audioware rattle and a porter's bell.  The Theremin is named after its Russian inventor.

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Wednesday Links

As Barry and Mitt prepare to go at each other tonight, let's see what else is going on.

Let's start with Barry's campaign.  From Breitbart's Big Government, Obama campaign staffers in Florida have allegedly posed as election officials.

From The Hill, according to the CDC, teen births are at a historic low.

From the Christian Post, Tyndale House Publishers has joined a lawsuit against the Obama administration's abortion pill mandate.

From the American Thinker, the alliance - and similiarities - between progressives and islamists.

From the Daily Mail, a main busted for his 7th DUI claims he swerved to avoid an elephant.

From Yahoo Sports, it's the artist known as LSU Freak.

From the News Observer, forget underwater basketweaving and ballroom dancing.  Instead, quite a few UNC athletes have been taking a class in Naval Weapons Systems.

From NBC News, and the "you can't make this us" department, a suspicious elongated object bearing the word "Kaboom" was not a pipe bomb, but a walking stick belonging to Natural Hunka Kaboom, who claims that his last name was shortenend from the Polish name "Kaboomski".

From Yahoo News, a prosecutor in New Orleans is arrested in court, after a joint falls out of his pocket.

Also from Yahoo News, a UFO seen over Cincinnati has been identified.

From SFGate, a dog that took an 11-mile ride stuck in a car's grille has been reunited with its owners.

And finally, via Iconic Surrealism, the RNC's ad featuring VP Biden's inadvertent truth telling.

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Obama Campaign: Vote Your "Parts"

Earlier today, the Obama campaign posted an e-card on their Tumblr site, saying "Vote like your lady parts depend on it."  Bloggers took notice, and soon afterwards, the hashtag #LadyParts became popular on Twitter.  Hours after bloggers started criticizing the e-card, it was deleted.  However, the Washington Examiner (among others) saved a shot of the e-card.  Obviously, I think that the Obama presidency has harmed Americans, both those with lady parts and those with manly parts.

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Woman 1 Bear 0

A black bear wanders into someone's back yard, but knows better than to mess with her.  From the New York Post:

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