About the Pioneer Day broadcast yesterday, the least said the better. The proportion of show tunes was slightly less than in recent years. That’s something. But Yellow Ribbonism Support Our Troops sentiment isn’t really the core of the holiday either, and that’s what they replaced the surplus of show tunes with. I don’t object exactly. Pioneer Day is the celebration of the ethnogenesis of one of the American peoples, so American patriotism is appropriate. But American patriotism alone isn’t enough. There needs to be some pioneer stuff too. (more…)

Still living in the shade of the trees they planted. (more…)