response 76 of 95:

May 1 02:52 UTC 2002

#74> Except innocent people don't get their homes broken into by cops
suspicious that they're speeding.

response 78 of 95:

May 1 13:00 UTC 2002

Eventually I think it won't matter whether drugs are legal or not, because
you won't be able to get a job if you test positive for using them.  (I do
think it's a bit hypocritical that businesses will tolerate people who
repeatedly come in hung over from drinking binges, but will immediately fire
anyone who tests positive for using pot.)

response 80 of 95:

May 1 14:05 UTC 2002

I wouldn't work for a company that asked me to take a drug test.  

response 82 of 95:

May 1 14:49 UTC 2002

It doesn't matter what the companies themselves think if all the insurance
companies start requiring it.

response 84 of 95:

May 1 16:15 UTC 2002

I understand drug testing for jobs where it matters, although there I might
also fire people for coming in drunk. I do computer work. Who am I going to
injure if I'm too high to work the keyboard correctly?

response 86 of 95:

May 2 00:49 UTC 2002

At my job, you can corrupt medical records and register the wrong person, with
potentially lethal results.

Of course, a lot of companies have regulations about coming into work drunk,
sans the enforcement.

response 88 of 95:

May 2 10:56 UTC 2002

resp:70  I'm sorry, Bruce, but although your observation on modern 
country and modern folk is fairly accurate, you have no idea what the 
hell you're talking about.

Once upon a time, what was called country was pretty much what was 
folk.  I'd have to do a hell of a lot of research to pick out all that 
was there, since I'm not a professional musicologist, but I'm assuming 
it covered bluegrass and other Appalachian styles.  To be quite 
honest, "folk" is just a catch phrase for music of the masses.. any 
cultural music that the common people sing and play.

I think quite a bit of this country was influenced by older Celtic 
styles developed by the Scots and the Irish.  Listen to their 
contemporary music again sometime.  They love country-western.  Johnny 
Cash was said by Bono to be so huge in Ireland, and that the people 
can't believe he's not Irish (the comment being made when Cash was 
featured on the Zooropa album).

Western was also a separate style.  It was mostly cowboy ballads and 
campfire songs as I understand it.  They mostly sang about their dogs, 
horses, the range, etc. http://lonehand.com/music.htm doesn't give a 
thorough definition of what is western music, but it will point you to 
plenty of definitive recordings.

 http://www.pressroom.com/~okt/WesternSwing.html gives a definition of 
western swing that was made famous by Bob Wills and his Texas 
Playboys.  Western swing traded licks with rhythm and blues even more 
heavily when acts like Bill Haley and the Comets, and then Elvis 
Presley became famous, which sound became part of what was to be 
defined as rock and roll.

Country and western, though separate styles in recent history, were 
eventually brought together.  I have no idea where honky-tonk came 
from, but again, I'm not really a musicologist.

damn, I should do this.  A professor I had was so totally right.

response 90 of 95:

May 3 03:07 UTC 2002

well you obviously don't understand folk music, so it is a good thing you
aren't a musicologist.

WE have been having this discussion for as many years as I can remember.  

What is folk music?

My wife, a professional writer adn reviewer of folk music, has asked this
question many a time, even of the professionals.  Folk musicians have a wide
opinion on what folk music is.  I will suggest she come in here and make a
comment if she so desires.

Lets go way back, back into time.  Cave men, cave women, neanderthals!
opps!  to far!

You can find the roots of folk music all over northern europe. It came her
with the immigrants, The Scots, the welsh, the Irish, the French, the English,
the Spanish, all have a similar heritage when it comes to "folk music". 
Probably the nordic and the rus as well.  Since I do not listen to the older
mediterainean musics, I won't venture to say if they also have a similar root
base.

I suppose you could look at the insturments used, and how they were used as
well. The violin, the harp, the drum, the bagpipes, the flute, the whistle
are all traditional insturments of "folk music".
 
Whether this can be linked to the Celtic influence or not is something to
speculate on.  cajun music, country western music, the blues, and rock and
roll all show some influence of folk music.

My personal opinion is that it is a derivative of the Celtic culture, stronger
in some areaas, less so in others.  It might be easier to say what is not folk
music.

African, indonesian, polynesian, chinese, japanese, indian, are not related
to what we traditionally refer to as folk music. Opera, rap, symphonic, jazz,
and techno are not folk music.

Where folk music and country split is harder to determine, but I will
repeat that most "folk" musicians are indeed liberal, and most "country"
musicians are indeed conservative.  Once again, most does not mean all.

response 92 of 95:

May 3 13:31 UTC 2002

See here, "Songcatcher".

response 94 of 95:

May 6 08:40 UTC 2002

resp:90 apparently not, and that's a much, much better explanation.  
Thanks.  Sorry if I acted like the fool, but that response sounds more 
thought-out.. so 'folk' and 'country' apparently made a split.  
Sometimes *I* have to say stupid things to get people to provide the 
rest of the context.  Sorry about that, but it worked.

btw, just because I don't understand folk music, it doesn't mean I 
can't do the research, and you just apparently provided a *lot*.