Blog Retrofuturistic

Jason Giambi: no cautionary tale here

2005-05-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

Sportswriters, being prone to the pack mentality, are jumping on the idea of slumping New York Yankees 1B/DH Jason Giambi as some sort of "cautionary tale." Here, for example, is an editorial writer in USAToday opining that Giambi's example is a "huge steroid deterrent" and, yes, predictably, a "cautionary tale." But is it?

Going into tonight's road game against the Oakland A's, in which manager Joe Torre gave him a "pity start," Giambi was hitting .192, with three home runs and a measly six RBI, in 28 games. (Over the course of an entire season, that projects to a .195 batting average!) Quite the come-down for a man who as recently as 2001 hit .342, with 38 HR's and 120 RBI (.660 SA), while playing half his games in a pitcher-friendly park. And that was arguably a down year from his 2000, where he hit only .330, but with career best 43 HR's and 137 RBI. Giambi cashed in on those monster years in Oakland when he signed a seven-year, $120 million contract with the New York Yankees.

Then, in 2003, Giambi testified before the BALCO grand jury, reportedly admitting to steroid use, and his numbers have not been the same since.

Giambi never was a particularly well-conditioned athlete (in other words, he's no Barry Bonds). He's shrunk up like a leaky balloon since the BALCO testimony, which is consistent with one getting off the 'roids. He's also 34 years old, an age that it is not unexpected for a professional athlete to noticeably decline. And he has not even completed the halfway point of the obscene long term contract the Yanks gave him in response to losing the '01 World Series to the Arizona D-Backs.

Giambi had a remarkable six-year run from 1998 to 2003. Triple digit RBI each year. OPS over 1.000 in 2001, 2001, and 2002. Not a long enough stretch to be Hall of Fame worthy, but it got him a $120 million contract, TV commercials, fame and (I would guess) babes. So, at age 34, he no longer can cut it as a major leaguer. And that's supposed to be a cautionary tale?

More like a walking billboard for the juice, unfortunately. Giambi represents a Faustian bargain that many many young players will still find inviting. And if we can't be honest about this, then how do we ever expect to discourage steroid use when Giambi is horribly miscast for the role of "cautionary tale." Steroids may have dangerous long term health consequences, but Giambi's not yet a canary in this particular coalmine. He's merely a ballplayer who's declining numbers happened right on schedule, but perhaps a bit more steeply.

And, by the way, he's not coming back. He's 34. This is the second terrible year in a row for him, even worse than the last (.208 BA and 12 HR's in just 80 games). It's over.

Sainthood for the Great John Paul II

2005-05-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

Mixed emotions from this report: "Process begins for John Paul's sainthood."

Normally, a person is not eligible to be considered for sainthood until at least five years have passed since passage from life to death. John Paul II went to the next life only a month ago.

I trust the Church absolutely on the idea of saint-making, or, more appropriately, saint-recognition. If anyone in the last thousand years is more worthy of an accelerated saint-declaration process than Karol Wojtyla, I am not aware. But still, need there be an accelerated process at all? Even for the Great John Paul II and, as worthy, Mother Teresa?

The Catholic Church does not "create" saints. It merely recognizes ones whose deeds following death cause us to know that they are in Heaven. If you believe this, as I do, then the purpose of the five-year "cooling off period" is in place to prevent the emotions of the moment from being confused with the directives from the Holy Spirit. The mixed emotions are not in regard to either John Paul II or Mother Teresa. It is fear of future line-drawing. These two are obvious candidates. But will the next candidate for accelerated sainthood be on par with these two? (And, indeed, how could he? or she?)

Pope Benedict XVI and the saint-making machinery at the Vatican know better than I. I trust them to do what is right. Nevertheless, I have some trepidation about accelerating the number of accelerations, notwithstanding the obvious sainthood of the Great John Paul II.

Sweden under jihad: no wonder it's called the "Stockholm Syndrome"

2005-05-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

I recently caught this rather dispiriting blog-article from "fjordman" documenting the collapse of Swedish civil society. It is a portrait of a bored, wealthy (although not as wealthy as it perceives itself) culture that appears to have lost its collective will to survive. (Found via Rant Wraith.)

Apparently, internal Swedish muslim groups are calling for terror attacks within Sweden, including Theo Van Gogh/Pim Fortuyn style murders against anyone daring to speak ill of Islam. Crime is out of control in immigrant-filled cities such as Malmö, with the police having surrendered (leaving innocent immigrants at the mercy of the internal Islam terrorists).

This isn't just dhimmitude: the recognition that non-Muslims should be accorded significantly lower status in an Islamic Republic (as Sweden seemingly aspires to be). This is the aptly named Stockholm Syndrome: the psychological pathology that hostages eventually come to identify more with their captors than with their community. Swedish civil society is being held captive by Islamofascist thugs and Sweden's ruling elite reacts by crying for Swedes to surrender faster.

The myth of Scandanavian prosperity has long since been punctured. Multiculturalism will be the next myth to die in the frozen soil of the Land of the Midnight Sun.

My visited countries

2005-05-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

The world map is far far less interesting:

My visited states

2005-05-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of the World66 website:

50-1 shot wins Kentucky Derby

2005-05-07T21:53:00.000-07:00

A 50-1 long shot, Giacomo, won the Kentucky Derby. A 71-1 even longer shot, Closing Argument, placed.

What a boring Derby. The 20-horse field stayed bunched together way too tight for way too much of the race. It was too difficult to follow.

To make matters worse, the winning horse was named for the progeny of Sting. The insufferable Sting. NOw in the sports history books.

Guilty pleasure Saturday: "So Hard to Be in Love with You" - Daryl Hall & John Oates

2005-05-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

Voices was deservedly the artistic and commercial breakthrough for the most successful duo in the history of recorded music, the great Daryl Hall & John Oates. On Voices, the duo gave up all pretenses of being a "rock 'n roll band" (E.g.,,they made no attempts at "rockin' out" after the horrific "Alley Katz" from Along the Red Ledge.) They focused on being a great harmony-driven pop band, heavily inflenced by Philadelphia International R&B (appropos for a band from the City of Brotherly Love).

Unlike other Hall & Oates LPs, the album cuts on Voices are even better than most of the singles. My favorite track is the overlooked "So Hard to Be in Love with You." The harmonies are intricate and done to perfection. Present is the new wave influence of the ahead-of-its-time X-Static, especially in the opening drum lick that sounds a lot like that from the new wave/disco classic "Mystery Achievement" from The Pretenders.

The song is a silly nothing about being in a relationship with someone who travels a lot internationally. It's not typical rockstar "life on the road" drivel because the singer is the one who is homebound; the song is sung to the jet-setter, not by him. But so what? The lyrics are just an excuse to exercise the wonderful instrument that is the voice of Daryl Hall, complemented perfectly by his swarthy partner John Oates. A wonderful song o' the day.

Boomtown Rats - "Keep It Up"

2005-05-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

The first four LPs from Sir Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats have recently been re-released, re-mastered, and re-bonus-tracked. If you have the Rats on LP, these CDs are worth re-owning.

The Rats were nominally a punk band, a very melodic punk band. Their best songs sound like Bob Dylan tearing through the Van Morrison catalog, as each artist was both lyrically and sonically a great influence on these Irish popsters. Rat music never sounded better than on these remasterings. The band sounds quite professional and polished, without a hint of slickness.

Their third LP, The Fine Art of Surfacing, was their artistic breakthrough. The first two LPs were masterpieces of pop hook-laden DIY (do it yourself) punk. Surfacing represents a great advancement in songwriting and musical craftsmanship. There are so many great songs, many quite intricate and deep ltrically, but for a catchy bit of pure pop fluff, "Keep It Up" is a winner. Song o' the day, material, I tell ya.

Amazon has the import CD for $25.99. That's a lot, but this one is worth a premium. Would be nice for a record label to do a domestic release at a nice discount. I couldn't wait for that day, though, so I bought mine from a British store off the invaluable GEMM site.

British elections

2005-05-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

I followed the recent British elections. Not too closely, but from a safe distance. Like all good red-blooded American conservatives, I support Tony Blair, but I can understand that on British domestic and regional (i.e., European) issues, he's not (as they say "across the pond") my cup o' tea.

Putting aside the critical issue of who, precisely, was the Silly Party and who was the Sensible Party (the Liberal Democrats, apparently, would have been the Very Silly Party, or would that have been Sinn Fein), here's what I do not understand about the 2005 British elections that just saw Tony Blair returned to power with (New) Labour getting 356 seats (56 percent of the Parliament) on just 36 percent of the popular vote.

Labour performed disappointingly, worse than expected.
The Tories did worse than expected.
The Liberal Democrats did worse than expected.
No minor party really did anything other than the expected.

So how do you have an election in which every party, every candidate, has under-performed? Unless the consensus of the experts was that the three parties would divvy up 120 to 130 percent of the vote, and win a combined total of 740 seats in a 646-seat parliament, how is this possible? How can everyone do worse than expected? Please explain, someone, British electoral politics.

Chris Isaak - "Livin' for Your Lover"

2005-05-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

What better song o' the day to choose on my birthday than my favorite song off my favorite album?

Chris Isaak released Silvertone in 1985, just as new wave and the new romantics was dying, but before "alternative" had been commercialized into a distinct genre. It sounded like nothing else that was happening in 1985. Truth be told, it sounded like nothing else that had been released since approximately my birth at the dawn of the '60s. The rockabilly "Gone Ridin'" was getting airplay on Washington's then-great WHFS (and, if memory serves, on MTV's 120 Minutes, or (better yet) USA's Night Flight, great video show that I think were still on the air then). I saw Isaak in concert at the 930 Club, wearing what I would later learn was called a "Nudie Suit," with his great supporting band of guitarist James Calvin Wilsey, bassist Rowland Salley, and drummer Kenney Dale Johnson. He looked, as well as sounded, like nothing I was listening to at the time. The concert was great. Not only was the music hot, but he was a riot, with his in-between song monologues.

I became a fan for life. The brief Silvertone -- even with a bonus track on the CD it still clocks in under 40 minutes -- never gets old for me. It is such an exuberant downer of an LP. Yeah, it's stylized, but it's a sincere and loving homage to so much great music from the cusp of the 50s/60s. Despite the blue mood, it never gets tiresome. It's probably my favorite CD I own.

"Livin' for Your Lover" is the closest things get to an update track. Not that that means anything. E.g., two tracks later is "Funeral in the Rain," a great song, but not the quicker-picker-upper, if you know what I mean.

Chris Isaak also is one of my all-time favorite live performers. I definitely would watch his show over and over. And he's coming to Las Vegas: June 2-8 at the MGM Grand. I'll be there for at least one show. Having a grand time.

Which means I am going to Montevideo, Uruguay

2005-05-04T20:06:00.000-07:00

The process works as it should. Sometime, in Year 45, most like December, I vow to visit Montevideo, Uruguay.

Ever since I did a seventh grade social studies report on Uruguay, I wanted to visit this country. Why? Why not! Should I hit southern Brazil (Rio de Janeiro!) en route? Do I need to visit Argentina while I'm in the neighborhood, or will Montevideo have all the charm of Buenos Aires without the snobbery (and traffic fatalities)?

As I did the day-by-day selecting out vacation spots, Montevideo was one of the places that I kept hoping I would not eliminate. When it made the final two, I knew I was going to pick some place great. I picked the great international option.

I'm not going to New Madrid, Missouri

2005-05-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today is Birthday 45. Actually, technically, it's my 46th birthday, since I was born on my first birthday, so my first birthday was actually my second, which makes my 45th my 46th. Follow?

Only two envelopes left in the jar. Either one would make a great vacation. I pulled out one, the last to be eliminated, leaving the vacation choice in the jar. I'm not going to New Madrid, Missouri.

New Madrid is fascinating to me, given that it's the unlikely spot for the most powerful earthquakes to ever strike the conterminus United States. I know they've long since repaired the damage done in the 1811 and 1812 quakes (except that done to the course of the Mississippi River), but still, it would have been great to get a look at the landscape from one of the most interesting geological events in U.S. history. It would have been the centerpiece of great trip through the Heartland. Of course I would have driven up to St. Louis and taken in a Cardinals baseball game![*]

But it's not happening in Year 45.

Footnote: [*] The Cardinals, by the way, are now 5.5 games in front in the NL Central and, at 18-8, are the only team in their division with a winning record. It looks like the Central Battle may be over.

City Boy - "The Violin"

2005-05-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

A rock song, about an elderly woman sitting around ... hallucinating ... about a long ago young man playing ... the violin? Hell yeah!

My CD collection has one thing in common with "Canadian Content" radio stations. I own my records that sound just like classic Top 40 pop music, yet is something that regular people just haven't heard much. City Boy is one such group.

City Boy was a six-man British "prog-pop" group, i.e., they made hook-laden pop music that was deeply rooted in 1970s British "progressive rock" scene. They had a minor U.S. hit in 1978, "5-7-0-5," (#27 U.S. pop) off 1978's Book Early. But their best effort, far and away, was 1976's Dinner at the Ritz, an absolute hidden masterpiece of 1970's British pre-new wave pop. Dinosaur pop at the dawn of the punk era.

Every song is a gem. "The Violin" stands out. It is about as non-traditional of rock song material as it gets. An old woman. A violin. Let's rrrrraaaawwwwwwwck! It's gentle and delicate. It's respectful and reflective, without being maudlin or condescending toward its subject. It's great pop music.

Today's song o' the day, "The Violin," is dedicated to the best violinist who I ever had as a friend.

Does the Catholic Church need "de-homosexualizing"?

2005-05-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

My standard reaction whenever I read Maximus at RomanCatholicBlog is: preach on, brother! His blog is normally dead-on in his defense of orthodoxy and traditional Catholicism in the ongoing struggle to defeat the forces of liberal, anti-traditionalists who would turn the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church into a mushy muddled (yet still more colorful) Episcopalianism. His views are desperately needed to be heard both within and outside the Catholic sphere.

Though I rarely disagree with him, I strongly disagree with his brief essay on "De-Homosexualizing" The Catholic Clergy. We all have our particular, individualized crosses that we must bear. For some, it might be a temper, or being prone to violence. For others, it might be gambling, or being prone to substance abuse. It might be sexual. It might be women. Or men. Each of us is tempted by some sins more than others. And I do not think that a priest should be judged by which sins he is more tempted to commit than others, especially if the actual temptation is being overcome and the sin has not been committed.

As long as the priest remains celibate and is faithful and committed to the true teachings of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, what does it matter what particular cross he must bear? Put it this way: some are tempted by Brad Pitt, others by Jennifer Aniston. I don't want my priest telling me that he finds either of them "hot". There's just no good reason for it ever to come up in the course of a homily. It doesn't matter which, when his head hits the pillow at night, which one he sees in his dreams.

On the other hand, though, rather than Brad or Jen, if the one he is seeing in his dreams is Angelina Jolie, well, that's downright scary ... and that may be a reason to exclude someone from the priesthood.

I'm not going to Medicine Hat, Alberta!

2005-05-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

The process of selecting a vacation option by eliminating one choice at a time, randomly, is a good way to gauge one's attitudes toward each individual option. When I selected the 20 places I'd never been, but wanted to go, I liked some places more than others, but I absolutely wanted to go to each and every place.

But as this has gone on over the last few weeks, I realized that I really have no interest in some of the places. For example, Costa Rica. I'm sure Costa Rica is berautiful: the landscape, the architecture, the people. But, now that I think about it, since I like to travel alone, the beautiful beaches and jungles would be deadly dull. For me. I don't surf. I don't snorkel. I don't climb. This is a place that would be a perfect vacation spot for so many people. I now know I'm not one of them. As you would say in a relationship break-up, it's not you, Costa Rica, it's me.

Of all the options, the one I grew to really intensely dislike was Medicine Hat, Alberta. I love the name, still. I've been to Mexican Hat, Utah, had an absolutely grand time there (seriously, Goosenecks State Park is an awesome (as in "awe-inspiring) site, as is nearby Monument Valley). Medicine Hat would have been the perfect bookend, no?

I have problems with Canada. (See, e.g., Bruce Cockburn - "Peggy's Kitchen Wall," supra.) I thought Alberta, being the most U.S.-like of all the provinces, could be fun. Drive to Medicine Hat, then drive up to Calgary and over to Banff (where I had been before, but certainly could enjoy again). Maybe even head up to Jasper. But that would entail spending money in Canada, and paying taxes to support the duplicitous Liberal Party banana republic type corruption.

I could have made an Alberta vacation work. I probably would have concentrated on Montana. I could have taken in the famous Cut Bank, Montana, Giant Penguin (which, really, should have been the vacation destination and not Medicine Hat, in the first place). But Medicine Hat, which made the final three, did not make the final two.

Momentum building for real filibusters

2005-05-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

I'm one of those truly conservative conservatives who is against bending to the whims of fashion and abolsihing the Senate filibuster just because the Republicans can. Momentum seems to really be building for the traditional option, which some on the internet are dubbing "the Nostalgia Option." This is the return of the true filibuster.

The Dems say all that they want is to debate President Bush's judicial nominations. As a result, we have no debate and not enough judicial vacancies being filled. Worst of both worlds. (If you want to attribute this to the utter lack of leadership skills on the part of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who has allowed Harry Reid - Harry Reid! - to run rings around himself - well, I would not offer a counter-argument.)

The Dems want debate? Then it should be debate that we shall have. Return the traditional filibuster to its intended state, before Sen. Robert Byrd (D-Ku Klux Klan) in a naked display of power politics unilaterally changed the filibuster rule to allow these pretend filibusters. As TigerHawk said:

The prospect of John Kerry, Hillary Clinton or Ted Kennedy bloviating for hours on C-SPAN would deter filibusters except when the stakes are dire, if for no other reason than the risk that long debate would
create a huge amount of fodder for negative advertising. If Frist were to enact the "reform" of the filibuster instead of its repeal, he would sieze the high ground. He could take the position that the Republicans are merely rolling back the "worst excesses" of the long period of Democratic majority in the Congress, and that filibusters will still be possible if Senators are willing to lay it all on the line.

If you don't want cloture on a debate, then debate. This is a two-fer. (1) The Dem filibusterers look like idjits on C-SPAN 24/7 droning on and on about particular judicial nominees (how many hours before the remarks against Janice Rogers Brown sounds like unadulterated racism straight outta Bob Byrd KKK past?) and (2) the business of the Senate grinds to a halt. For us small government conservatives, that means they can't do any harm.

(Via Instapundit)

I'm not going to the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador

2005-05-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

This is a sigh of relief. Dut to the recent political problems in Ecuador, wussy me decided that visiting the Galapagos was probably a mite risky about now. While I find all of South America to be fascinating and worth visiting (well, except for Bolivia and the Guianas), the timing problem is not right for an Ecuadorian adventure.

Just three to go.

Bruce Cockburn - "Peggy's Kitchen Wall"

2005-05-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

Canadian singer Bruce Cockburn is the perfect vessel for my attitudes toward Our Neighbor to the North. My attitudes toward Cockburn perfectly track those I hold toward his native land. I once found both to be interesting, inviting, and worth a visit (or, a listen, as the case may be). Over time, the inherent smugness and shameless sense of superiority disguised as humility, plus the mindless leftist politics, got to me. I know find both insufferable.

Let's face it, Cockburn is really nothing more than an overtly political Gordon Lightfoot:

1. Both are Canadian.

2. Both are, ostensibly, folk singers.

3. Both sing in the same resonant monotone.

4. There's not a lot happening melodically in even their best songs.

I discovered Cockburn in the early 1980's. Cockburn's masterpiece, Stealing Fire, was released the same year as I took my first visit into Canada (for a Blue Jays game at the old Exhibition Stadium). I thought Stealing Fire was great. As this was still early in the Reagan Era, my politics had not shifted hard right (I'm a neo-conservative, meaning that I am "neo" to being conservative, meaning I once was a lib.) I thought Toronto was great, too. Just like America, only cleaner and more polite.

As the 1980s continued, I bought Cockburn LPs, but I was enjoying them less and less. The tunes were getting flatter; the lyrics lefter and preachier. And I started to notice that Canada was not as much fun. The smugness was getting to me.

By the mid 1990s, I had enough of both. This, of course, does not detract from the fact that Stealing Fire is a great record. Several of the cuts are great, like today's song o' the day, "Peggy's Kitchen Wall." A few, like the preachy "Nicaragua" or "Dust and Diesel" are clunkers/filler. This is the one Bruce CD worth owning. Alldirect has it with some bonus tracks for $11.88. Yeah, he's insufferable now, but that does not detract from the quality of his early 80s recordings. Just like I would not enjoy Toronto or Montreal now, but that doesn't detract from how much I enjoyed my trips to those towns back in the day.

I'm not going to the Kona Coast of Hawaii

2005-05-01T19:02:00.000-07:00

I want to go for the coffee! Hawaii and Alaska remain the only two of the 50 states that I have yet to visit. The Big Island, with its uncrowded beaches and lava fields, is what interests me most about the 50th State. A few days in Honolulu recovering from the jet flight, where I would visit Pearl Harbor and check out Waikiki, then I would be off island-hopping.

If I could afford Maui or Kauai, I'd go there. But, since I can't, I'm under the impression that the Big Island is the only option for the budget traveler. Maybe I'm wrong. But I won't find out in Year 45. My vacation selection is down to the Final Four. And the Kona Coast did not make the cut.

The Scorpion and the Frog: Terrell Owens and the Iggles

2005-04-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

Once again, we are reminded of the old fable of the Scorpion and the Frog:

One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.
The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.
Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.
"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"
"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.
"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"
Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"
"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"
"Alright then...how do I know you won't just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?" said the frog.
"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"
So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog's soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the
first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.
Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.
"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"
The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog's back.
"I could not help myself. It is my nature."
Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.

(Emphasis added). I recently alluded to this tale in describing the relationship between the U.S. and France. It is so applicable to the recent goings-on in Philadelphia regarding their dispute with star WR Terrell Owens. T.O. Is a no-show at Iggle mini-camp. He wants to renegotiate his contract. And he's poisoning the team. Why? Because it is his nature, for that it what T.O. does.

Much like the scorpion in the fairy tale (and, yes, I know what I am doing using that phrase in reference to Terrell Owens), T.O. wants to go to the Super Bowl. He hops a ride on the back on Donovan McNabb to cross that particular river to get to the Super Bowl side of the stream. His motivations are wholly sincere. But in the middle of the crossing, he has to stab his stinger in the Iggles collective back. He genuinely cannot help himself. It is genuinely his nature.

The Iggles knew it when they signed him. They have been betting that they, unlike said frog, would be strong enough to survive the poison once T.O. has let loose, as all should have known he eventually would. Given the inherent weakness of the NFC, perhaps they will be. I expect them to be. T.O. is an amazingly talent receiver; but he will never be able to overcome his true nature.

Guilty pleasure Saturday - Petula Clark - "I Know a Place"

2005-04-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

I know a singer. Petula Clark was to British invasion rockers what Sonny & Cher was to hippies: a TV-friendly, sanitized bit of youth culture aimed at the adult market. Both also made great timeless pop music that, in its day, was enjoyable to multiple generations and can be enoyed today without feeling dated.

Petula Clark is one of my favorite female pop singers. I remember her as a cute, perky blonde who guested on any of a number of American TV variety shows in the 1960s, like Glen Campbell. Pet peaked with her run of Tony Hatch written and arranged pop songs, from 1964's "Downtown" to 1967's "Don't Sleep in the Subway."

Her follow-up to her international Number 1 hit and star turn, "Downtown," was the great "I Know a Place," which hit Number 3 in the U.S. in 1965. Yes, it can be dismissed as a clone of its predecessor, lyrically and melodically. The soft verse and big bomming chorus. The tale of getting away to somewhere for a hip, happening party. Yes, been there, done that. But, hey, no one ever looked at a Monet and said, "Water Lilies? Again? Claude, some variety, please?" Yes, she's working the same territory, but she works it so well.

There are a number of great Petula Clark collections out there, depending on how far beyond the mid 1960s/Tony Hatch material you want to delve. Just about all of the collection will have the Big U.S. hits. I listen to my Pet on the 2001 Complete Golden Hits Collection, which seems to be difficult to find currently. It is 25 tracks, and includes a precious little 1920s style German language number "Casanova" straight out of a Weimar Era Cabaret. The allmusic site recommends the easier-to-find, 21-track The Ultimate Petula Clark, which goes lighter on the show tune fare, and readily available on alldirect for $11.88, amazon for $13.99.

Guilty pleasure? Maybe. Song o' the day? Absolutely!

I'm not going to Zagreb, Croatia

2005-04-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

Croatia, the land of my ethnic heritage, is a place that I must visit someday. Start off in the capital city of Zagreb, visit the seacoast towns of Dubrovnik and Split. Head over to the Marian site of Medjugorje in nearby Croatian Bosnia. If I had more time, I could do a whole Central European vacation and visit Slovenia, or Budapest, Hungary, or Prague, or Sofia, Bulgaria.

All wonderful vacation ideas. But there will be no Croatia trip in Year 45 as Zagreb has been selected. Down to the Fab Five.

Timbalada - "Vera"

2005-04-29T22:02:00.000-07:00

Song o' the day goes international again. "Vera" is the final cut on theCD Timbalismo by the great Bahian Brazilian band (and percussionist Carlinhos Brown side project) Timbalada. Usually, on the CDs for these Brazilian superstars, the last cut is a throwaway. Many times it is a brief instrumental, see, e.g., "Lactomia," the extended drum solo that ends Pense Minha Cor, or, even more bizarrely, the Sousa-style brass march "Hino do Binfa" that concludes Mineral. For Timbalismo, it is the best Timbalada song of the 21st Century.

"Vera" is a percussion-driven pop song that, basically, is what War would sound like if they were from Salvador da Bahia, Brasil. Not only is there a little brass carrying the melody, but there is even some flute down in the music. I would sing along with the lyrics more, except for the fact that my Portuguese language skills are on the level of a four year old - a mentally handicapped four year old.

If you want to learn more about the rich and varied sounds of the most musical country on the planet, Brazil, an additional resources is the All Brazilian Music site, a Brazil-only version of the invaluable All Music site (which is, itself, a very good resource for all forms of Brazilian music).

I'm not going to the Pampas of Argentina

2005-04-29T21:45:00.000-07:00

This is another one that hurts. When you draw up a list of places you've never visited and want to visit, the process of selecting out sites emphasizes the priorities among the options. The Argentine Pampas was a late edition to my list of 20 (a last minute substitution for a very expensive trip to Easter Island, Chile) and it quickly became one of my favorites.

I want to go to The Argentine and soak up the culture. And eat the beef. Visiting Argentina would be like going to Europe ... but without all the condescending America-hating (actually, America-envying) Euro-trash. Yes, the museums and architecture would be inferior, but the people would be friendlier and more attractive, the meats would be plentiful and the wines would be equivalent.

The Magnificent Seven are down to the Six Pack.

What's in a name?

2005-04-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

The Pope speaks out on his choice of name. As most suspected, the name was dual purpose. It was equal parts homage to the last Pope Benedict, Benedict XV, the "prophet of peace" during the time of World War I, who sought to end the horrors of war for all sides, and St. Benedict, the patron saint of Europe.

While more emphasis is placed on the Benedict XV homage, especially given that the last Pope Benedict was one of those "transitional figures" with a less-than-long papacy, I think in time the stronger link will be seen as the one with St. Benedict, the evangelizer of Europe.

Europe has entered the "post Christian" period. The western continent has lost its faith with all the resulting social pathologies. The rise of Nazism and Communism in the 20th Century were a direct consequence of whole cultures losing their faith. Radical Islam has arisen into a void left by the de-Christianization of Europe. Birthrates are falling. Crime is rising. Abortion and euthanasia, the bookend imposition of death at what should be the beginning and the natural end, are rampant. The death of Europe, where Western Civilization began, will have terrible consequences throughout the globe.

I thought the successor to the Great John Paul II would come from the Third World. I thought perhaps Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria would be tapped. I thought it was "time." But I think like a man, not like the Holy Spirit. And it was deemed that the most pressing issue facing the Church, facing all people of faith, is the re-evangelization of Europe. Pope Benedict XVI is uniquely well qualified for that role, for so many reasons.

I was initially elated at the selection of the former Cardinal Ratzinger because this meant continuity. I meant that the muscular orthodox Catholicism of the Great John Paul II would continue. The Catholic Church would continue to be a rock, strong against the prevailing winds of fashion and politics. But it's clear that this was only part of the reason, for there are other neo-traditionalists among the College of Cardinals, most younger than Benedict XVI, who could fill that bill, if that had been the only qualification needed.

While it's only been a short time since his selection, it is now obvious that this is the man who should be leading this Church on this day. The re-evangelization of Europe is tremendously important, as there is much evil that will triumph in this world if Europe is allowed to wither and die. The Scyllla and Charybdis facing modern Europe are unabashed hedonism on one side, Radical Islam on the other. Either destroys the culture, but death would come in different ways. This Pope is the one man qualified in these unique times to steer the ship of European state through these problems.

Forces already are at work. I think even the focus on Benedict as the "Nazi Pope" is going to be, perversely, a positive. I think this will drive a wedge in the heart of secular Europe by making it clear to Germany that they are not part of the modern EU-centric Euro-family. With a German pope ensconced in Rome, I am optimistic of the direction that Germany would go.

This is not a mere "transitional figure" who is the new Bishop of Rome. The name says it all.

(Thanks to the wonderful Roman Catholic Blog for pointing me in the direction of this interview.)

Mily Clément - "Zaho tsy hiala"

2005-04-28T21:06:00.001-07:00

There's not many places on the continent of Africa that I have a great interest in visiting. Due to politics and/or disease, I'm just not interested. See the wildlife? The San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park in Escondido is only a five-hour drive away. The poverty levels in western and central Africa, especially, seem too high to enjoy mingling with the local population. I'm open to persuasion that I'm wrong, but the African mainland (with the possible exception of Morocco) holds no interest.

However, the islands off the coasts, that's another story. The Cape Verde Islands off the northwest coast have a great musical tradition and, perhaps, my Portuguese language training (too minimal to be deemed "skills" could come into use). However, where I really would like to go is Madasgascar.

Why? The music! Madagascar has a great, rich, musical tradition befitting a cultural crossroads. Madasgascarian musical forms often combine the best of southern and southeastern Asia with the best of Africa. The Afro-Brazilian music (with just a hint of the Caribbean) of Bahia Brasil is an almost identical twin cousin of some of the best Madagascarian.

My favorite Madagascarian CD I own is Madagascar Banja Malalaka by Mily Clément. He is virtuoso of the unique Madagascarian style of guitar. The spare yet effervescent "Zaho tsy hiala" is the best track, getting the CD off to great start that continues through all eight tracks, which clock in at less than 35 minutes total. Quality, not quantity, from the guitar of Ms. Clément. If more of his music were available stateside, I would own it. It isn't, so I don't. Yet. Unless I can get to Madagascar.

I'm not going to Yellowstone National Park

2005-04-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

America's premier national park - the world's original national park - was among my vacation options. It made the "elite eight" among my options. It is a disgrace that this was even among my 20 "never been to" but "must get to" vacation options, because, by now, I should have gone there.

But I have not yet been to Yellowstone National Park. And just because it got selected out today, doesn't mean I can't take a long weekend driving trip up to the northwestern corner of Wyoming, and not only visit the Granddaddy of the National Park system, but take a sidetrip down to Grand Teton National Park and maybe Jackson Hole. (And bop over to Craters of the Moon in Idaho, given that it too was eliminated.)

That probably would take a mighty long weekend - perhaps even a nine or 10 day weekend. But it would be worth it. Sometime. Soon.

The end of Canada

2005-04-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Austin Bay forecasts a future for Canada very much like one I am envisioning, calling Canada the world's next "failed state."

Multicultural Canada seems like to go the way of Czechoslovakia and Tito's Yugoslavia, right off the map. The Toronto Globe & Mail reports support for separatism (a.k.a., "independence") for Quebec at a new millennium peak of 54 percent. Interesting about the sponsorship program, which was supposed to market the joys of transcontinental Canada to the francophonic population of Quebec and instead devolved into a taxpayer-funded Liberal Party piggy bank (with the emphasis on the word "piggy"). It was supposed to unify the country into a single multi-culti whole, yet it appears that it could be the catalyst for the final national crack-up.

Ironic? Don't you think. A little too ironic, yeah, I really do think. Said one Canadian once, awhile back

If Quebec, if the center doesn't hold, how could the rest of Our Smug Neighbor to the North stay together? Nunavut probably goes for full independence. The maritimes and Newfoundland would be geographically detached from a country that gave them short shrift even when there was contiguity. What chance do they have without a conterminous Canada?

Alberta is a perfect cultural fit the U.S. British Columbia could go independent, or join Alberta as the 51st and 52d states, respectively. Even the maritimes, including Newfoundland, could be absorbed into the U.S., since those economically depressed provinces could not go it alone.

That leaves Ontario with its two little Montenegros, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The good news is, the downsized (or right-sized, or, more appropriately, left-sized) Canada would be monolingual, which should keep the remaining constituent parts together.

(Thanks to Canadiologist captainsquarters.com for pointing me in the right direction.)

Orange Juice - "The Day I Went Down to Texas"

2005-04-27T21:41:00.000-07:00

Song o' the day! See "I'm not going to South Padre Island, Texas," infra.

I'm not going to South Padre Island, Texas

2005-04-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

Texas, down in Texas
Now I'm reelin' in the drunken sun
I jumped in the back of a Cadillac
I guess I'm a lucky son of a gun
Orange Juice, "The Day I Went Down to Texas," Texas Fever (1984).

No reelin' in the drunken sun on South Padre Island for me in Year 45.

And, while I'm at it, why don't I declare Orange Juice's sublime "The Day I Went Down to Texas," a wonderful bit of two-steppin' rockabilly sung in the resonant soulful voice of Edwyn Collins, off the six-track Texas Fever EP, the song o' the day? Let's!

I'm not going to the Vatican

2005-04-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

Much as I want to take the pilgrimage to the Holy See, eventually, it has not been a top vacation priority. It won't be in Year 45 either, as Vatican City has been selected out from the list of viable vacation options.

I want to go for the art and the history, as well as the religious experience. Maybe I'll just settle for the on-line tour of the Vatican museums. I won't get to hear Benedict XVI deliver a mass, but the fare is much more reasonable.

Tears for Fears - "Year of the Knife"

2005-04-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

While both of the monster Tears for Fears LPs were great complete listens, only the singles really left much in the way of impressions. The album tracks add to the overall polished atmosphere, but they consistently failed to leave any marks. If you don't think I'm right, then, quick: sing a verse from "The Working Hour," Track 2 on Songs from the Big Chair that fell right between the great Number 1's "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."

The exception on the other mega-hit, Seeds of Love, is the intricate "Year of the Knife," a cautionary tale of how violence begats violence. Propelled by a throbbing (almost disco) bass placed underneath an almost rockabilly-style guitar lead, it's a little like Ike & Tina Turner doing "Proud Mary." It starts off slow, pretty much ambient, then it begins to build, reaching the point of urgency by the time of the late-arriving chorus.

Alldirect sells Seeds of Love (with bonus tracks, of course) on the sale for only $10.69. You pick up Songs from the Big Chair (again, with bonus tracks) for the very same price. You can even grab the unrelievedly downer The Hurting for that price, too, but how much melancholy do you really need? Grab the big two at that obscene bargain of a price and enjoy.

Canadian perfidity

2005-04-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

Et tu, Canada?

I don't expect much from the French. for example. It's like the old fable about the scorpion and the frog: it is in their nature to be perfidious.

I used to expect better of the Canadians. But now, as the Canadian scandals mount, and the dealings come to light of the high Canadian government officials, including Prime Minister Paul Martin in bed with Saddam Hussein, it is clear that the Canadian government sold out its long term friendship with the United States for a few bucks worth of bloody U.N. Oil-for-food scandal cash.

Backstabbing from friends wounds twice: both from the stab and from the source. Given that the Liberal Party controls the Canadian media, it cannot even be said the Liberal-dominated Canadian government was doing the people's bidding, as the minority Liberal Party unilaterally sets the Canadian national agenda.

Perhaps it's because of the Quebec influence over Canadian national policy, but the Canucks now manage to combine the worst of the French, with none of the European nation's redeeming graces. Perfidy, without the culture. Backstabbing, without the delicious cuisine. Narcissism, without history. Whining, without wine. Smugness, without having a damn thing to be smug about.

Retailers who drive away their customers

2005-04-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

James Lileks bleats today about getting the third degree while making his purchases at a local Best Buy. In a Torquemada-worthy inquisition, the checkout person at the retailer lets loose a stream of invasive questioning, asking for address (to send a "free" magazine), phone numbers, demanding that he choose between extended warranty plans. All in all, the management of that chain has elected to make it as thoroughly unpleasant a shopping experience as possible.

Lileks is absolutely. Years ago, I stopped shopping at Sports Authority for that reason. I'd be paying cash for a $6 cotton Russell Athletic sleeveless workout T and the sales clerk would keep firing the questions. Can I have your phone number? "No." Or, "Why do you need that?" Why why why why do you need to interrogate a customer, to make someone regret buying from your store. We don't like to have to say know. We also don't like to have our privacy invaded. Rather than being continually forced to choose, it's just easier to shop somewhere else. It's not like Sports Authority was an exclusive dealer for Tevas.

And, given how much I grew to hate shopping at Sports Authority, I bought my last pair from Copeland's, where they let you buy things without an endless interrogation. For now. And if they ever start with the harassment, then there are other stores in Las Vegas.

Y'know, I ahte how it all comes down to Wal-Mart being a great place to shop, but ... if I use the self-checkout lanes at my neighborhood Wal-Mart, I am a zero risk of having to endure a checkout line interrogation from the retail clerk. Yet another reason to shop at America's favorite (and most hated) retailer.

I'm not going to Dollywood in Tennessee

2005-04-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

Just when I was really warming up to the idea of vacationing in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Not only could I take in the country kitsch of the Dollywood theme park, but I could take in nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I could have flown into Nashville and visited the State Capitol grounds (and paid homage at the grave of James Knox Polk), then bopped over to Jimmy Polk's mentor's house, Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. And, while I was in a Polk-y mood, I could have taken a short side trip down to Columbia, Tennessee, and visited the Polk home.

Sounds like a fun trip. But some other year. One half of the possible destinations have been eliminated and, today, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, was added to the list.

The Buzzcocks - "Ever Fallen in Love"

2005-04-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

Were the Buzzcocks a punk band doing pop? Or a pop band doing punk?

The Buzzcocks were what punk would sound like bled dry of all anger. Today's song o' the day, "Ever Fallen in Love" is pure punk. But it's also the most pop-oriented of the original Buzzcock singles. Home sapien lead singer Pete Shelley provides the right amount of confusion and urgency in his singing. The song was later covered by Roland Gift and Fine Young Cannibals, who take out all the punkiness and deliver a catchy pop song.

If you only want one Buzzcocks' CD, the difficulty is choosing between 1991's Operators Manual: Best of the Buzzcocks and 1979's Singles Going Steady. The 16-track Singles Going Steady was a repackaging of their first eight UK singles. On the original LP release, the A-sides were chronologically aligned on Side A, the B-sides chronologically on Side B. The 25-track Operators Manual takes 11 of the Singles tracks, and adds later material. But two of the better B-sides from Singles are deleted: "Oh Shit" and "Something's Gone Wrong Again." None of these additions, not even "Fiction Romance" or Different Kind of Tension's "You Say You Don't Love Me" seem worth the trade-off.

Alldirect.com doesn't make deciding between these two any easier. They sell both Operators Manual and Singles on the sale for the cheap cheap price of $7.99. At the price, you don't have to choose. Get both!

I'm not going to Craters of the Moon, Idaho

2005-04-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm guessing it's not much to see, just a bunch of lava fields, but I've been fascinated by Craters of the Moon National Monument for the longest time. The time will grow even longer as this will not be the destination for my Year 45 vacation.

This could have been a whole Central Idaho extravaganza of sorts, maybe even including a Salmon River rafting trip of some sort. If I had done that, I would have preferred a two-day, overnight excursion, as three hours probably isn't enough to get a feel for the river (or to see any scenery, for that matter).

I don't expect there's much scenery to see at Craters of the Moon. Just lava. But the whole "lost river" idea is fascinating, the idea that a flowing river plunges into the ground, and re-appears way on the other side of Idaho. I've never seen a river that's "sunk"; they usually stay on the surface, don't they? I don't think the siking point is open to the public, but it would be fun driving around Central Idaho, eating the local potato products, and looking for where it is. Some day; not this year.

Eurythmics - "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart"

2005-04-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

Savage is generally the least appreciated of Eurythmics records. The 1987 release was their sixth, and next to last, CD (not including 1999's "reunion" coda Peace). It was, quite literally, savaged by the critics and ignored by their U.S. audience. It produced no U.S. chart singles.

Such a shame. It's a great record, with any of a number of quirky, catchy pop songs. Despite being unfortunately overlooked, "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" is the best song of Eurythmics decade-long career. Yes it features Annie Lenox's cold, signature detachment, but it also has a mature humanity that was lacking in their great video singles of the early 1980s.

Dave Stewart was a pop craftsman of the finest sense. Even when his songs were flat without anything to say, they sounded great, which makes Eurythmics, in effect, a new wave E L O, fronted by an androgyne. "You Have Placed a Chill" sounds simply fabulous.

Savage is hard to find in its original 12-track form. Amazon has the 19-track remaster with bonus tracks for $18.49. Given that Eurythmics was essentially a singles band, I'm not sure if the remastered/bonus track discs are worth grabbing.

I'm not going to the Oregon Mystery Spot

2005-04-23T21:40:00.000-07:00

Weird voodoo mojo in eliminating this option today. It was #13 on my list. It was pulled from the cow-faced cookie jar when there were 13 envelopes inside. Doo-doo-doo-doo Doo-doo-doo-doo.

Roadside America loves the Oregon Vortex (a.k.a. "Mystery Spot"), deeming it the "most disturbed" of all the various "mystery spots" scattered throughout the country. It's located near Gold Hill, Oregon, just over the California border off I-5 in Southern Oregon.

A trip to the Oregon Mystery Spot would have included a side trip to Crater Lake, maybe the Oregon Coast, perhaps even Redwood National Park in the far nothwest corner of Coastal California. Maybe the trip could've been scheduled around the time of the reknowned Oregon Shakespeare festival in nearby Ashland. But, alas, no Oregon vacation for my Year 45.

Guilty pleasure Saturday: Freda Payne - "Band of Gold"

2005-04-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

Is this really a guilty pleasure? Or does everyone agree that "Band of Gold" is one of the great R&B songs, make that one of the great pop songs of all time?

The liner notes to Freda Payne's 1992 Greatest Hits compilation bluntly gets to the heart of this song: is it about a frigid bride or an impotent groom? Freda sings: "I wait in the darkness of my lonely room / Filled with sadness, filled with gloom / Hoping soon / That you'll walk back through that door / And love me like you tried before" Sounds to me like it's a problem that Viagra or Cialis could cure. Unless the groom just doesn't like girls. Hey, it happens sometimes.

When Belinda Carlisle covered "Band of Gold" on her 1986 solo debut Belinda one reviewer said she sounded like a girl in her room singing along to her favorite records. Well why the hell not? The great Holland / Dozier / Holland production makes this one of the alltime great sing-along songs. The guitars processed to sound like sitars for the opening notes (after the drum kicks it off) is a classic pop hook. This has to be the most exuberant tale of failed romance to ever hit the pop charts.

Amazon sells the 11-track Greatest Hits for $12.98; the far more comprehensive 30-track Band of Gold: the Best of Freda Payne goes for only slightly more, $15.98. Alldirect sells the Greatest Hits on the sale for $8.67. So it comes down to how much Freda you want. You've got have the hits. How deep into the album tracks you willing to dig?

Women's Ordination Conference deems Pope "divisive"

2005-04-22T18:21:00.001-07:00

This gem from the wonderful new "Roman Catholic Blog": "Sour Grapes From the Women's Ordination Conference".[*]

The R C Blog quotes their website as follows:

“When our church desperately needed a healer, the Cardinals elected Ratzinger — well known for being divisive in the church,” stated Joy Barnes, Executive Director of the Women’s Ordination Conference. “We need a pope who will build a bridge between progressive and orthodox Catholics, but based on Ratzinger’s hard-lined record, it is doubtful that this will become a reality.”

There's that word, "divisive". I get so riled up at the inappropriate use of the term "divisive," especially when it's used by people who really are the truly divisive.

My personal opinion is that need a Pope who will be just like the Pope Pope Benedict XVI will be. A pope who will consolidate the counter-reformation within the Catholic Church so valiantly fought by his predecessor. It is people like this "Women's Ordination Conference" who are truly divisive, forcing a change in a matter where the Church already has spoken definitively and finally. Pope Benedict XVI is not divisive merely by standing up for 2000 years of Church tradition in an area where his predecessor already decided the issue ex cathedra.
This means: this is not a subject for discussion. Period. Any further discussion by these people is by definition divisive, as it promotes schism and casts the Church as a unanchored dinghy tossed about the waves and currents of popular fashion.

The audacity if these refugees from some womyn's studies department and the feminized men who won't stand up to them. Calling anyone who won't give into their agenda "divisive"! They are being infantile in their self-centered egotism, just as our Pope is calling for adults to adults. They are propagating a selfish belief that they are automatically entitled to their personal preferences and anyone who stands in their way ... whine whine whine is being "divisive." Because they think that they are the only ones who count. Failing to give into them divides; surrender unites ... only if you are severely narcissistic and reject Copernicus's idea of the sun at the center of the universe and, instead, place yourself there. What an inappropriate for Christ's Church on earth.

The Pope has spoken on this subject and it is beyond the realm of debate. Anyone who wishes to continue belaboring the point is unworthy of the priest, making the very existence of the Womyn's Ordination Conference self-euthanizing.

Footnote: [*] I'm not enthusiastically linking to Roman Catholic Blog just because they blogrolled me. I have other reasons. Which I'll think of in a bit. Really. It's not an ego thing. Really.

I'm not going to San Jose, Costa Rica

2005-04-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

Only a lucky 13 survive. No Costa Rica vacation for this year.

I keep hearing about Costa Rica being a jungle paradise, with beautiful forest, beaches and volcanoes, lightly populated with the most attractive people (Ticos?) on the planet. It would be a worthwhile sociological experience to travel to that country, absorb the culture and learn why that land prospered (relatively speaking) while so much of Central America languished in deep poverty.

Someday. Just not the coming year of my life.

CBS's not-so "Amazing Race"

2005-04-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

Over the years, I became hooked on the CBS reality show, the Amazing Race, where teams of two race around the globe, with the last place finisher at various checkpoints being eliminated at the end of (nearly) each episode. The show had intelligence. It had drama. It had beuatiful international scenery. I watch little TV, and very little "reality" TV, but this was different.

No more. We're nearing at the "final four," the last four team, and I'm about ready to stop watching.

The seventh edition "stars" two obnoxious "reality TV stars," "Rob & Amber" who apparently were some sort of love-couple on CBS's reality giant, Survivor. These two aren't mere contestants, but are the "stars" of the contest. It's basically "Survivor's Rob & Amber Race 'Round the Globe!" Not my idea of good TV.

Continually throughout this series, whenever they get in trouble, and are in danger of falling behind the pack, something "fortuitous" happens. Either some local recognizes them from Survivor and helps them out. Or, as has happened at least twice, the shows producers change the rules.

Once, when Rob decided that he didn't want to complete a "roadblock," where one of the two contestants must complete some difficult or unpleasant task to advance, they simply let him advance. They imposed a "penalty," that was far less than what was imposed in past years for failing to complete "roadblocks" and which seemed to be timed based on how far behind some of the trailing teams were. In another instance, they just "happened" to arrive at the last second for a charter aircraft that for some reason was stuck on the tarmac on a bright, sunny day. (The fact that Rob seems to be given an endless supply of fresh, clean Boston Red Sox caps as he races around the world further heightens my suspicion that the fix is in.)

Don't insult the audience. Although I guess the audience loves Rob & Amber because the this whole season of Amazing Race is nothing but a 15-hour promo for the upcoming Rob & Amber wedding show. Count me as being eliminated from that race.

Health community lies for your own good

2005-04-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

This article at Tech Central Station neatly sums up a report that the Center for Disease Control ("CDC"), finally acknowledging what knowledgeable folks have suspected for sometime: there is no link between being "slightly" overweight and premature death. The health community is finally acknowledging the common sense that being underweight is correlated with increased risk of premature death and not until one's overweigh-i-ness climbs into morbid obesity territory does it appreciably correlated with increased risk of hastened death.

What a great way to begin the day for someone carrying about 20-25 pounds too many (putting me at about 10-12 percent over what I consider my "ideal"). I think I'll celebrate with some maple donuts!

Actually, I'm celebrating with over-sugared instant oatmeal because I'm too lazy this morning to cook up another batch of steelcut oats, which do make the most delicious oatmeal. If I boil a cup of pinhead oats (in four cups of water), it's a three-day supply of heart-healthy breakfast food. So, if I avoid the carbs that don't keep me filled, I'll be down to 195 or so in no time. Which, given the CDC study, may slightly increased my risk of hastened death (as I have fully "matured," I would believe that I'm too old now for "premature" death).

But if I look better, it's all worth it.

I'm not going to Mitchell, South Dakota

2005-04-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

And why did even consider Mitchell, South Dakota? The Corn Palace!

Roadside America loves the Corn Palace. And why not? It's a palace and it's corn! Actually, it is a quasi-Russian-style concrete building with a corn facade. Same decoratig principal as a Rose Bowl Parade float, except they use corn instead of flower petals and it is not designed to be driven down Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, but is, instead, stationary, and (this is a fundamental difference) it's in Mitchell, South Dakota.

A trip to the Corn Palace would have been a hoot. Maybe a side trip to Mount Rushmore to see if I "get it" my second trip. (My big question when I first went to Mount Rushmore in '89 was: "Does everyone who comes here think 'is this all there is?'") And Mitchell has a Culver's. (Best frozen custard anywhere, ever, in case you didn't know.) Flavor of the day was "red raspberry". Yumm. What more could you want from a vacation destination?

Well, whatever that may be will have to wait another year, because in Year 45, I will not be visting the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Pet Shop Boys - "Your Funny Uncle"

2005-04-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

Let's sing a song about AIDS! Another death song for song o' the day? This one is one of the biggest downers from those dance-pop icons the Pet Shop Boys.

The Pet Shoppers do AIDS songs better than just about anybody (even if none of their AIDS songs as nearly as good as the classic "Everyone Has AIDS" from Lease! ... or, umm, the Team America: World Police soundtrack). They thankfully don't do AIDS as anthems. Instead, they do gentle, subtle songs that treat illness as part of life. And none are subtle as their fragile little ballad, "Your Funny Uncle." You have to closely listen to the lyrics to discern that the song is set at a graveside funeral service for a young gay male.

I own this song on two Pet Shop Boys CDs. First, on the wonderful collection of B-sides and leftovers titled Alternative. Second, off the 2001 "bonus disc" re-release of their previously weak Introspective. Those bonus discs that the Pet Shops released at the turn of the millennium rendered Alternative superfluous. Plus, at $20.20 from alldirect.com, more at other sites, it's a little pricey. Just load up on all the bonus disc releases, instead, for maximum Pet Shop at the best price. (And all are essential, so don't scrimp there.)

Pope Benedict XVI, neo-conservatism and relativism

2005-04-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

Eric over at classicalvalues.com has a discourse on the new pope and relativism. He makes a number of points, two of which I want to respond to:

First, Eric makes a plea not for "liberation" theology, which Pope Benedict XVI fought, but for "libertarian" theology, claiming that Christ's line "render unto Caesar" reveals Christ's libertarian leanings by "bordering" on calling for separation of church and state. Jesus most certainly was not libertarian. However, his teaching of "render unto Caesar" does not "border" on arguing for separation of church and state; it is stong unequivocal advocacy in favor of it.

Why would Christ teach us Jeffersonian separation of church and state? Because of the pharissees, who were church and state combined. Given the then-impending and pre-ordained role of the pharissees in the crucifixion (it wasn't just the work of a distant Roman Empire), it makes sense that he would be warning us keep the two separate in the future, as combining church and state was corrupting to both. There's no "border" to his comments, he was well behind enemy lines when he made this observation.

But my stronger disagreement is Eric's proposition (insinuation?) that Pope Benedict, being a true neo-conservative (in its proper definition of one who started his adult life as a liberal and evolved into a conservative), is symptomatic of inherent relativism: i.e., he is living proof of the triumph of relativism. He is the embodiment of the idea that there are no absolute truths because even he, the Pope, changed his mind, too. I don't think that's a fair reading of what this Pope stands for, so I respectfully disagree with Eric's proposition.

This is not "changing your mind," it's growth. I once used to lay in a crib and scream if I didn't have a bottle and pacifier. I don't do that anymore. Did I change my mind about the virtues of screaming for a bottle and pacifier? Or did I simply ... mature? I like to think it's the latter. As we sing in the traditional hymn "Amazing Grace," "was blind, but now I see."

Relativism is the idea that there are no absolute truths. What Pope Benedict XVI, in his Cardinal Ratzinger incarnation, stated was that there most certainly are absolute truths. The fact that these absolute truths are revealed to us over time, and not all at once, is not the same thing as these truths never existing. Pope Benedict XVI grew and matured from where he was in his youth.

I voted for John Anderson in 1980 and was convinced that Ronald Reagan was going to get us killed in nuclear war. I never stepped foot in a church during the 1980s except to go to weddings. That's not who I am now. Does that mean it's all relative? That the way I was in 1980 is just as appropriate as a way to live my life as the one I'm leading now? I hope not. With each day, I like to think that I'm learning more about the person I should be. I want the grace to understand the absolute truths. I know they're out there. I hope I'm following them (best I can). And if I find I've veered off on to the wrong path, and make a mid-course correction, that doesn't mean all roads lead to God. It just means that I'm seeing more clearly than I was the day before.

That's not relativism. It's education.

I'm not going to Fatima, Portugal

2005-04-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

The Marian site I want to visit more than any other. I guess it's not right to go a holy site like Fatima because you're forced as part of some sort of lottery. One should go because it's one's choice.

So perhaps it's for the best that Fatima, Portugal, was eliminated from the "competition" as to where I take my Year 45 vacation.

You know life is good when ...

2005-04-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

You take Zack The Dog out for a walk one dusky evening, and you meet a few of the block-or-so-away neighbors and you're forced -- against your will, of course -- to take two fat slices of homemade banana cake with cream cheese frosting with butter pecan ice cream somehow stuffed inside the center of the cake.

Forced, I swear.

Dire Straits - "Telegraph Road"

2005-04-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

I've reached the point in my life where I don't much like rock 'n' roll. I don't much like guitar-based rock. When it comes to listening to my college-era new favorites, I'm far more likely to listen to something synth-driven than Ramones or Buzzcocks style guitar punk. And I've never liked "guitar heros." Guitar-hero rock was never a genre I cared for. I can't appreciate an Eric Clapton solo or an Eddie Van Halen wail. I can't even appreciate Joe Strummer turning the amp up to 11. If a guitar hero does a pop song, I'm there. See, e.g., Hendrix, Jimi, "Angel."

Mark Knopfler is a prototypical guitar hero, a craftsman of his instrument. You like guitars played by virtuoso? Especially in a non-metal setting? Then Knopfler is your god and Dire Straits is your band. Their not mine. Occasionally, they do a pop song that I like, but they are not a group that I want to own a whole album of. (In fact, I once did. Brothers in Arms, of course. I got rid of it.) A few mp3 files are enough Mark Knopfler, in my estimation.

One Dire Straits song I've always (inexplicably) liked is one of their more pretentious, "Telegraph Road," a 14-plus minute track that leads off Love over Gold. The allmusic site calls this their "prog-rock" album, which normally should be enough to get me to run for the hills. The song is atmospheric and meandering, perhaps like the eponymous road at issue. Maybe I like it because I once heard it driving the backroads of Fairfax County, Virginia, listening to the late (then) great WHFS, then out of Annapolis, I think, and the song was playing over the air when I happened upon a "Telegraph Road" there in Northern Virginia (back when I really liked Northern Virginia). Great song, but not enough for me to want a whole allbum of this guitar stuff.

Andrew Sullivan is a ass

2005-04-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

So says, sort of, Professor Bainbridge (via Charles Dickens, of course).

Professor Bainbridge, being the intelligent, rational, moral, orthodox Catholic that he is, takes great issue with histrionics recently posted about Pope Benedict XVI, by that Andrew Sullivan.[*] Sullivan went into histrionics because the new Pope not only will not subvert the basic tenets of Catholicism, but is (shriek!) one of the great defenders of church teaching in the last 100 years.

Mr. Sullivan has always been a self-centered, egomanical, obnoxious little twit (yes, I've met him, so I know of what I speak). He is frustrated by any institution that won't provide him with the affirmation that his self-loathing self craves. Because the Catholic Church declines to approve of butt sex, Andrew declines to approve of the Church. Hell, unless the Church raised buggery to a sacrament, Andrew would keep screaming like a schoolgirl whose My Little Pony was just taken away. The world does not exist to give comfort to Andrew; it's the other way around. For each of us.

In all seriousness, pray for Andrew.

I briefly caught an MSNBC story where Keith Olbermann -- speaking of schoolgirls who just lost their My Little Ponies -- was complaining about the new Pope. They used the word "divisive." Interesting word choice, no? A leftist/relativist who would subvert Church teachings would only be called "progressive." He would never be called "divisive," no matter how many faithful were strongly against him. Like "extremist," it is a word reserved for conservatives, no matter how appropriately applied to the other side.

And, while I'm at it, I think Pope Benedict XVI is the true "progressive." Here is a man willing to stand up and fight to change the direction we're headed. Momentum was carrying us -- and the Catholic Church -- into the modern world with all the good and bad that entailed. Pope Benedict XIV, in his Cardinal Ratzinger incarnation, was one of the major figures to stand up, point out the folly of our mindless slouch in that direction, and lead us to a better way. That, in my estimation, is a true progressive. Someone who's not willing to just let us drift where the times take us, but willing to lead in a new direction. Even if that new direction is the traditional way of doing things. Especially then the traditional way is the road less traveled.

I have rarely been so happy to be Catholic as I am because of the events of today. I'm giddy. Like a schoolgirl. Who's just been given five brand spankin' new My Little Ponies!

Footnote: [*] I will not link to Mr. Sullivan because I want to do nothing to increase traffic to his site and, thus, blogad revenue to his pocket.

I'm not going to Bangkok, Thailand

2005-04-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Down to the Sweet 16 as the only Asian vacation option was dropped from consideration.

I had decided that this choice really wasn't Bangkok per se, but Lampang, Thailand, in the northern part of the country, so I could see, hear and otherwise experience (smell, for example) the Thai Elephant Orchestra! Alas, not meant to be, as I pulled out the Bangkok envelope and that option is no longer in the cow-faced cookie jar.

White smoke!

2005-04-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

White smoke! Holy smoke! Extraordinary good news for us traditionalist, orthodox Catholics: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the voice of orthodoxy, is Pope Benedict XVI. The prophecy of St. Malachy seems eerily fulfilled, as the new Pope shall be the "Glory of the Olive" (taking the name "Benedict" and all).

I'm not going to Belém, Brazil

2005-04-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

When I drew up my list of 20 possible vacation destinations, the idea was that each option was equally viable. I would be just as happy if New Madrid, Missouri, gets selected as I would be with the Vatican. But as I do this "one envelope a day" elimination, I'm realizing that I have favorites. And I eliminated one of those favorites today.

I'm not just choosing a vacation spot Age 45. My reactions to each place selected out are focusing me as to where else I must visit in the near future. And given that I was really bummed that Belém was eliminated today, that must mean that I definitely have to go there in the near future.

I want to explore Northern Brazil: Belém, Fortaleza, Teresina (reputedly the hottest city in Brazil), maybe Satarem and Manaus, maybe Natal and Recife. Listen to the cool forró music of the sertão. This would've been a nice kick-in-the-pants to get me there before all my Portuguese language skills have dissipated. But it was not to be.

The Gap Band - "Burn Rubber"

2005-04-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

When it comes to funk, as with so many of my taste preferences, I am strictly "old school." And probably the best pop/funk band working in the middle era of the late 1970s/early 1980s -- after the death of disco, but before the rise of Prince -- were the Wilson Brothers from Tulsa, Oklahoma, a.k.a., The Gap Band.

They reached their artistic peak in December 1980 with the release of what may well be the greatest dance track of the 20th Century, "Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me." It went Number 1 R&B (two weeks), but inexplicably went nowhere on the Pop Charts (peaking at 84! can you believe?). The Gaps didn't land a pop Top 40 hit until 1982, with the "Early in the Morning," so derivative of "Burn Rubber" that it even featured sound effects for the opening.

Every Gap song is a party and this is the one where the party is most happening. This was a sure dancefloor-packer during my college years. And whyt not! When the motorcycle engines rev up in the intro, it was time to race to the dance floor.

So how much Gap Band does one need in his or her CD collection? I have the 19-track Ultimate Collection from Hip-O Records, available on the sale from alldirect.com for the bargain price of $10.69. It's a great collection, probably with a little too much of their post-peak material. The only essential song it's missing is "Seasons No Reason to Change," the best Gap ballad. But any collection that adds that one (the 11-track 20th Century Masters "Millennium Collection" is on the sale at alldirect.com for the obscene price of $6.63) subtracts something equally essential, usually their priceless theme to Keenan Ivory Wayans's "I'm Gonna Git U Sucka." You can't go wrong with either.

I'm not going to Sitka, Alaska

2005-04-17T14:43:00.000-07:00

Another day, another vacation destination ruled out. No trip to Sitka, Alaska.

If this had been the selection, I probably would have tried to book an Alaska cruise, through the inland passage. Not only would have I have taken the Russian architecture of Mother Russia's old new world colonial capital, but I would have toured the splendor of Alaska's isolated capital of Juneau. I would have walked in the footsteps of Jack London in Skagway. Maybe I would've done even more of Alaska, and explored Anchorage and the Kenai.

Someday. But not the Year of 45.

Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club - "English Garden"

2005-04-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

At the turn from the 1970s to the 1980s, Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club released two LPs of new wave pop, only one of which has been released on CD. The first, English Garden, was the clear superior of the two. The LP attracted some attention from the new wave music press (such that it was) for it contained two tracks co-written with the Buggles, including the classic "Video Killed the Radio Star" (which, as all good music historians know, was the first video played on fledgling MTV, in 1981, in its Buggle incarnation). English Garden contains a warmer version of "Video," a sunnier-poppier version propelled by Woolley's hiccuppy tenor.

The strongest song on the 1979 LP is the title track, "English Garden." It is the most "rockin'" track, such as that may be, on a disc that is very much part of the new wave genre that reached its peak that year. I still don't know what a "gentleman" is supposed to do in his "English garden," but that's all right. I'll always be nostalgic for this bit of late 70s new wave ($16.49 on amazon.com). Song o' the day for a hot Sunday afternoon.

I'm not going to Colorado Springs

2005-04-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

The birthday countdown begins today. The first envelope was pulled today from the cow-faced cookie jar. (Cow-faced cookie jar, you ask? Well, where else was I going to put my sealed envelopes, each containing one of 20 different possible vacation destinations.)

The first vacation destinated eliminated? Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I would like to go to the Springs eventually. Of course: it was on my list. Pike's Peak! Garden of the Gods! The Air Force Academy! Great drive over the top of the Rockies to get there!

Some day. Just not this coming year.

Guilty pleasure Saturday: E L O - "Shine a Little Love"

2005-04-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

I not much of a fan of Jeff Lynne's Electric Light Orchestra. Generally, they are a plain vanilla Queen. In essence, they are what Queen would've been had they been fronted by a dull, suburban heterosexual. Both combined hard rock with "serious music." Flamboyant Queen used opera; pedestrian ELO opted for NPR-grade classical.

One other difference, Jeff Lynne wasn't much of a songwriter. While multiple members of Queen could write imaginative, clever pop songs, Lynne's songwriting is weak. Choruses are usually nothing more than the title repeated. Over and over. And over again. Lynne's strength was that he could make his songs sound wonderful. Whatever deficiencies he may have had writing were more than offset by the creative production work. ELO songs sound wonderful. The only problem is that there's no there there.

By the time of 1979's Discovery (which, at the time, we referred to as "Disco? Very!"), there was no "orchestra" left in the Electric Light ORCHESTRA. They were a four-piece band without an in-house string section. They weren't much of a hard rock outfit at the point, they were a pop band, as the disco-fueled lead single "Shine a Little Love" amply demonstrated.

This is probably my favorite ELO single, despite the fact that it was a pure disco single released shortly after disco music dropped off the charts. Like all of Jeff Lynne's work, the song sounds great. There's much more happening musically than in your typical dance track, especially with the swirling synth effects after each chorus (which, typically ELO, is just Lynne repeating the title "you shine a little love on my life / you shine a little love on my life / you shine a little love on my li-i-ife").

Rock and roll lovers will disagree, but to me E L O will always be a singles band. The only way to own some E L O is a singles collection. I own the Definitive Collection, which I picked up on the cheap (really!) a few years back. It really is "definitive"; the song single it's missing is "Do Ya," not a dealbreaker. The version I own seems to be available no longer. A slightly different import version of this CD is available on amazon.com for $21.49. At that price, I would pass. But I don't have a substitute to recommend.

The Strange Magic collection is $14.99 on amazon.com, but it's missing the Xanadu singles "All Over the World" and "I'm Alive." What's the point of owning an ELO collection if you don't own John Lennon's favorite pop song? The 15-track Essential Electric Light Orchestra is pared down even more, but is only $10.99 on amazon.com. On the one hand, still no Xanadu; on the other, no "Ballad of Horace Wimp".

Eminem wins!

2005-04-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

I have no use for Eminem. I have no use for his music. I have no use for his leftist politics. I have no use for homophobia (a product, no doubt, of the old adage that we hate in others what we most fear in ourselves).

That said: congratulations Marshall Mathers III for your recent victory in the Michigan Court of Appeals. A "man"[*] by the name of Deangelo Bailey sued Eminem for portraying him "in a false light" on one song on Eminem's 1999 "The Slim Shady LP." The case got thrown out on summary judgment and that decision was upheld by Michigan's intermediate court of appeals. Bailey admitted to picking on Master Mathers while they were in school, even admitted shoving him. The song portrays the victim of the bullying as being so severely beaten that his "'whole brain fell out' of his skull," according to the FoxNews article. The court used an uncommon amount of common sense and decided that no reasonable listener would take that outcome seriously.

Clever, creative revenge on a bully which has now been upheld by an appellate court. For once, I salute Mr. Mathers.

Footnote: [*] Uh-huh. Yes. Those are indeed "sarcasm" quotes. As always, thank you very much for noticing.

Vacation 45!

2005-04-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

I face a semi-milestone birthday on May 4: my 45th.

It's not such a landmark of a day that I absolutely must be somewhere celebrating that day. That was my attitude as my 40th approached. Back in 2000, I turned 40 at the Happiest Place on Earth - Disneyworld Florida - on vacation with my family - my parents, my sister and my brother-in-law. It was the last "family vacation" we took before my mother past away 10 months after that.

It was a great vacation, but you only turn 40 once. I practice in employment law. So, to me, 40 is when you irrevocably cross over the line into full adulthood: it's when you get federal age discrimination protection. So, when I turned 40, at long last I was in a protected class.

Age 45 is different. As I don't plan on making out of my 80s alive, age 45 is an acknowledgment that my life has passed the midpoint. The uphill climb is over and I'm now on the downslope. That's neither good nor bad, just the way it is. For this reason, 45 is not a milestone birthday, but it is a milestone year.

So the goal is for an accomplishment sometime during my year of 45. I will choose a vacation destination and, sometime before I turn 46, I will visit the place. How to decide? I have chosen 20 places that I have wanted to visit for the longest time, yet for some reason or another have never managed to get near. Some choices are whimsical, some serious. Some are nearby, some are long and expensive trips. Some are spiritual, some are based on my heritage.

There is a reason for each, some more significant than others. Ten are in the US. Ten are international. Here is the list in no particular order:

1. Montevideo, Uruguay
2. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
3. Fatima, Portugal
4. Sitka, Alaska
5. Zagreb, Croatia
6. South Padre Island, Texas
7. The Kona Coast, Hawaii
8. New Madrid, Missouri
9. Medicine Hat, Alberta
10. Belém, Brazil
11. Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho
12. The Pampas, Argentina
13. The Oregon Mystery Spot, Oregon
14. Bangkok, Thailand
15. Vatican City
16. Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
17. Colorado Springs, Colorado
18. San Jose, Costa Rica
19. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota
20. Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

One only site per country or state. That's why Big Bend National Park in Texas was left off the list, as there was a higher Texas priority. I had some tough decisions, leaving off Easter Island, Chile, and Sydney, Australia. Or trendy Prague. Or the Warren Harding sites in Marion, Ohio. But this is my eclectic list of 20.

Each day, starting on Saturday, April 16, I will pick one destination for elimination, until my birthday, when I will select the place I'm going. Yeah, I know this is a strange way to pick a vacation destination, and it is very strange to put the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, on equal footing with the Vatican. But this little game is how I will mark my milestone here. You got a better idea?

Prince - "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man"

2005-04-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

The journey through Prince's classic side three of the Sign o' the Times concludes with one of the greatest pop songs in the history of Top 40: "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man." This is a 900-page novel disguised as three minute, forty second pop tune (extended out to 6:29 on the album cut).

The song is built on a very simple, descending melody. The production is top notch, with Wendy & Lisa's background vocals set perfectly apart from Prince's lead. Like a perfectly spiced meal, their vocals meld perfectly into the voice, while remaining distinct. And Prince's delivery of the vocal is spot-on, appropriately sexy, with just the right amount of leer ("She was standin' by the bar / Hmm, she was lookin' alright"). Empathetic, yet appropriately dismissive.

If you listen closely to the lyrics - and you should - two minutes into the track and both the woman (whose old man ran away only last June) and the protagonist are completely three-dimensional characters. Neither is a mere composite or archetype: these are real live flesh and blood. You feel terribly sad for the woman desperate for a friend of any sort; you also perfectly understand the emotions and needs character played by Prince and appreciate the brutal honesty of the lyric. A 110-minute big screen romance does not pack as a much real emotion as this little pop song.

It's an extraordinary pop song. Good enough, most certainly, to be song o' the day.

Prince (with Sheena Easton) - "U Got the Look"

2005-04-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Saluting one of the great LP sides in the History of Rock 'n' Roll ... side three ... Sign o' the Times ... the magnificent Prince.

Side three kicks off with the opening synth whine of the classic Prince / Sheena Easton duet, "U Got the Look." Prince nails it when he delivers that great line, "U sho' nuff do be cookin' / In my book" And you just know that Prince is a Twins fan when he sings, "Here we are folks / The dream we all dream of / Boy versus girl in the World Series of love." Later that year in which this song was released, in the fall of 1987, Twins verus Cardinals in the World Series of baseball. Twins won their first World Series title.

This was not the first pairing of this classic duo. That would be 1984's Sheena Easton single "Sugar Walls," which if I am not mistaken is a none-too-subtle genital reference. From Prince! Imagine. With that song, and with this duet (song o' the day, don'tcha know), you would've thought that Prince could've gottten Sheena to tour with him on his Musicology tour last year. Y'gotta think Sheena was available. And, she is, after all, "the dream we all dream of."

One marine rhetorically destroys 20 leftists

2005-04-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

James Taranto's "Best of the Web," on opinionjournal.com, posted a letter to the editor written by Marc Fencil, an Ohio U student and marine serving in Iraq. The result is that the website of the Post, the Ohio University student newspaper, seems to have crashed.

Fencil's letter perfectly captures the fact that so many of our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are bettering the world in ways these junior league lefties can only imagine. Twenty Ohio U students recently staged a "die in" to protest the liberation of Iraq and to snottily disagree with the psread of freedom and liberty in that troubled region. Well, Marines such as Mr. Fencil are the ones who pressed that on-button on that giant fan from which the winds of freedom are now blowing at gale force.

Opinionjournal published the text of Mr. Fencil's eloquent letter, which absolutely soaking from the appropriate levels of pride (at him doing a job well), disgust (at thespoiled protesters), defensiveness (even though he has nothing to be defensive about), perspective (well-earned) and wit (dry, very dry):

It's a shame that I'm here in Iraq with the Marines right now and not back at Ohio University completing my senior year and joining in blissful ignorance with the enlightened, war-seasoned protesters who participated in the recent "die-in" at College Gate. It would appear that all the action is back home, but why don't we make sure? That's right, this is an open invitation for you to cut your hair, take a shower, get in shape and come on over! If Michael Moore can shave and lose enough weight to fit into a pair of camouflage utilities, then he can come too!
Make sure you all say your goodbyes to your loved ones though, because you won't be seeing them for at least the next nine months. You need to get here quick because I don't want you to miss a thing. You missed last month's discovery of a basement full of suicide vests from the former regime (I'm sure addam's henchmen just wore them because they were trendy though). You weren't here for the opening of a brand new school we built either. You might also notice women exercising their new freedom of walking to the market unaccompanied by their husbands.
There is a man here, we just call him al-Zarqawi, but we think he'd be delighted to sit down and give you some advice on how you can further disrespect the victims of Sept. 11 and the 1,600 of America's bravest who have laid down their lives for a safer world. Of course he'll still call you "infidel" but since you already agree that there is no real evil in the world, I see no reason for you to be afraid. Besides, didn't you say that radical Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance?
I'm warning you though--it's not going to be all fun and games over here. You might have bad dreams for the next several nights after you zip up the body bag over a friend's disfigured face. I know you think that nothing, even a world free of terror for one's children, is worth dying for, but bear with me here. We're going to live in conditions you've never dreamt about. You should get here soon though, because the temperatures are going to be over 130 degrees very soon and we will be carrying full combat
loads (we're still going to work though). When it's all over, I promise you can go back to your coffee houses and preach about social justice and peace while you continue to live outside of reality.
If you decide to decline my offer, then at least you should sleep well tonight knowing that men wearing black facemasks and carrying AK-47s yelling "Allahu Akbar" over here are proud of you and are forever indebted to you for advancing their cause of terror. While you ponder this, I'll get back to the real "die-in" over here. I don't mind.

Here's hoping Marc Fencil keeps eloquently writing his opinions when he returns stateside. I can think of a few daily papers that could use a little conservative diversity on their editorial pages.

Prince - "Strange Relationship"

2005-04-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

Side Three of Prince's Sign o' the Times is one of the great "album sides" in the history of two-sided vinyl LP's. Each of its four songs rank among the greatest recorded songs of His Purpleness. So, in celebration of this still-fresh 18 year old LP, there is no reason to limit Sign o' the Times to one Song o' the Day.

"Strange Relationship," a celebration of a failing, dysfunctional relationship, is a fantastic bit of pop craftsmanship. Underneath an uptempo melody track that seems almost danceable is a slow, incessant driving beat that perfectly mimics the cadence of a heartbeat, the nervous beat of some stressed-out person who feels like his heart is about to burst out of his chest cavity. At first blush, it seems like a tale of mere sexual incompatibility. Upon closer listen, it is a story told from the perspective of the abuser in a what had so far been merely a mutually manipulative, but psychologically abusive association. Is that why it never was released as a single? Doubtful, given that a few years earlier, Sting and the Police parked themselves at number one for about two whole months with a stalker anthem.

Is it creepy? Only if you think about it. But in the history of pop music, far creepier songs have been bigger hits. (Given the ongoing accusations of pedophilia, Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone" remains for me the absolute creepiest pop song in the recorded music era). In remembrance of Andrea Dworkin at her untimely passing, a song where indeed the sex may be the functional equivalent rape.

Red Sox hatred is at a "Fever Pitch"

2005-04-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

A trend is sweeping the nation. All this Red Sox "mania" is making sports fan across America sick. FOXSports joins the bandwagon with this anti-Red Sox screed. The line that captures the essence of Red Sox over-exposure at its most Paris Hilton-esque:

The Yankees won four World Series in five years. The Florida Marlins won two in seven. The Anaheim Angels and the Arizona Diamondbacks have won rings recently too. These four teams combined whored themselves out to the media less than the Red Sox did in a mere four month span.

He's right, y'know.

Prince - "If I Was Your Girlfriend"

2005-04-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

This is the weirdest song in my entire CD collection. Time for it to be song o' the day, no?

When Prince goes for some gender-bending, it ends up undecipherable gerder contortionism. The song is "performed" by an alter ego, "Camille," billed as a new female vocalist "discovered" by His Purpleness. Here's how the allmusic site describes "Camille's" vocals on "If I Was Your Girlfriend":

The album credited the song's lead vocal to Camille, reported before Sign o' the Times' release to be a newly discovered female vocalist whose debut album Prince was preparing; of course, Camille turned out to be Prince singing in a high-pitched voice that was later sped up and altered electronically.

You want gender-bending? Boy George and Ru Paul can only dream of these contortions. The song is sung by a man. Pretending to be a woman. Singing a song from a male perspective. About his girlfriend. Only not "girlfriend" in the dating sense, but in the best-female-friend sense. Except two-thirds of the way through the song. Where he/she wants to help her pick out her clothes. Before they "go out." Which could be innocent. "Go out" could means friends. Doesn't have to be a date. But then he wants to give her a bath. And kiss her "down there," "where it counts." Which we know what he's referring to.

This isn't gender confusion; it's gender James Joyce. Is it boy/girl? Is it girl/boy? Is it lesbian? Is it two lesbians wanting to be boy/girl? Is it boy/girl wanting to be lesbian? Is it boy/boy? Is it boy/boy wanting to be lesbian? Does Prince - I mean, "Camille" - even know?

On its original LP release, "If I Was Your Girlfriend" was on "side three" of Sign O' the Times, an LP I was slow to warm to. My problem always was the title track, the lamest of all Top Ten singles in Prince's extraordinary career. While the rest of the disc(s) is timeless Prince, the title track is "topical," which meant it was dated seconds after it was recorded. Sign is tought to find on the cheap. Alldirect.com lists it for $16.70. Like everything Prince released from that 10-year interval from 1983 (1999) to 1992 (the unpronounce-able, unspell-able squiggly-symbol album), it is essential. Buy it, please.

Royal wedding 2005

2005-04-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

It's days like these that make me proud to be an American.

I am so thankful that, nearly 230 years, we had great men who led the fight to slough off the detritus of "royalty."

What I will never understand are U.S. citizens who give a rat's bee-hind about the #$!@*& Royals.

So much anger!

2005-04-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

So much anger in my postings over the recent days. Yet, in contrast to all this apparent anger, I am quite content, actually.

It's a beautiful sunny day in the most liveable city in the world, Las Vegas, Nevada USA. I just got back from taking Zack The Dog for a run in the park, where he got himself fawned over by multiple attractive women. He got to sniff some dachsund and other breeds. Now he's sacked out on the floor, which sounds like a good idea to me.

Today I vow to continue my quest to eat a new and interesting alternative restaurants. Yesterday's trip to the Argentine restaurant, however, was a complete bust. (I won't name the restaurant, but, c'mon, how many Argentine restaurants do you think there are in Las Vegas? And, no, I will not answer that question by saying "one too many." Happy thoughts.)

Surly service: when I told the waiter it was my first time there, so I was going to ask about the menu, he just snapped, "Give me your drink order." Not very warm and welcoming.

Mediocre food: I had a dry, flavorless "Milanesa de Carne" sandwich, which was listed as being topped with mayonnaise and Italian dressing, but in actuality had no dressing and they were so stingy with the mayo as it was as if the stuff cost $900 an ounce.

There I go again, Mr. Negativity. Positive thoughts. Today, I will try Indonesian. And I will like it!

Why can't Palestinians be "extremists"?

2005-04-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

Saw this darling AP wire photo via this vignette on littlegreenfootballs:

Two Palestinian children at "play". With machine guns. Here's the AP caption:

Two young Palestinians practice with unloaded weapons during a rally of the Al
Aqsa Martyr's Brigades militant group, in Gaza City Friday April 8, 2005.
Palestinian militants are threatening to call off their month-old cease-fire
with Israel and resume attacks if a rally planned for Sunday by Jewish
extremists at the Dome of the Rock the most hotly disputed holy site in
Jerusalem takes place.

(Emphasis added). Charles at LGF takes issue with the use of the word "unloaded," wondering just how the AP caption knew factually that the weaponry were unloaded. Seems like an assumption on the part of the AP.

Actually, what I think is truly "loaded" is the language used by the AP, evidencing a strong anti-Israel, pro-terror bias. The Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, a group of evil terrorist thugs, who aim to destroy Israel but really mortally wound only the innocent Palestinian people, is described merely as "Palestinian militants." "Militants"! How fair! How balanced! Yet a Jewish group that wants to hold a rally at a site holy to its religion, too, is deemed "extremists". Nice.

Teaching vey young children to kill with machine guns is not, according to the AP, "extremist". Free speech, at a religious site, however, is. Hmmm.

According to my Leftist/English dictionary, the word "extremist" is defined as follows: (1) a hateful conservative deserving of hate, (2) a conservative with whom you strongly disagree because they are full of hate, unlike you, the enlightened Leftist, (3) any conservative who, by definition, should be hated. Thus, the free speech Jews must be "extremists," a word never used to describe someone for whom your typical Leftist feels empathy, no matter how, well, "extreme."

What was it that Professor Reynolds once said? They aren't anti-war. Just on the other side.

Why I hate the Boston Red Sox

2005-04-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

When the 2005 baseball season began with two New York Yankee victories over the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox, it was cause for celebration. Sure, these were only two games in a 162-game season. The BoSox were not headed for 0-162. And, unlike the NBA, were a stinky team theoretically could end up with a single-digit win total in a season that is only slightly more than one-half the length of a baseball campaign, Boston was still well on track for a winning season.

But in this world we must learn to enjoy the good times while they are with us. And I loathe the Boston Red Sox.

With the opening of the new Farrelly Brothers "romantic comedy" centered on the Red Sox winning the World Series, my Red Sox hatred is at a, dare I say, "fever pitch."

While this is admittedly the ranting of a Sox-Hatah, the media's Sox-mania has long since crossed over into overboard territory. Omnipresent Sox caps with that obnoxious retro "B." Movies. TV (that whole "Queer Eye" makeover). Having one of the Yankees' hometown papers, the New York Times, surreptitiously acting as homers not for either New York team, but for Boston (a team which, by the way, they own in small part). The whole faux intellectual "baseball is a metaphor for life" crowd, each one a Sox fan. New England-based ESPN converting to all-Sox all-the-time coverage, even setting aside the obsessing from ESPN writer and celebrity suck-up Bill Simmons. Each one thinking the Red Sox are some sort of lovable underdog.

They are not. They are a very wealthy team that, for years now, has had the second biggest payroll in baseball. Bud Selig has bent the rules in the recent past in favor of them (and other Buds of Bud, like the Other Sox). The only reason they have not won more frequently is blatant stupidity. But money can buy you out from under a whole lot of stupidity and, in 2004, the Sox finally managed this feat.

I would even go so far as to say that the Red Sox tradition for losing (now briefly broken) is a metaphor for failed liberalism. The Red Sox are the home team for elitist left-ism. Hell, they're even owned by the failed newspaper of failed liberalism. Like the "intellectual" left, the Red Sox think that they are the oppressed underclass. Like hell. The Twins are the oppressed underclass. The K.C. Royals. The Pirates. The late Expos. Even the Selig Family Brewers. These are baseball's oppressed underclass. Not a team with a massive TV market and home game sellouts stretching to the next millennium. Not one that can afford the second biggest payroll in baseball. The Red Sox are like the liberal elitists who have deluded themselves into thinking that stand alongside the proletariat struggle when, in fact, they themselves are among the most out-of-touch bourgeoisie.

Quite interesting that this is the team of the Doris Kearns Goodwin and Ken Burns liberals, given its disgusting racial history. The Red Sox were the last team to integrate and have a history of unfortunate racial incidents, from refusing to sign Jackie Robinson, to the Tommy Harper firing, to the Oil Can Boyd police scuffle (admittedly, more a reflection of Metro Boston than the team). No wonder African-American players such as Barry Bonds and Tim Raines said they wouldn't play for this team.

The Red Sox have a number of players I like. I have loved and admitted Tim Wakefield for years, ever since he came up with the Pirates as a light-hitting first minor league first baseman who re-invented himself as a knuckleballer and postseason hero. Despite the loss of Nomar - who like most players who leave this franchise, left angry and bitter - the Sox always seem to have the most Georgia Tech alumni in the majors, this year adding Jay Payton to go with Jason Varitek. And what true conservative doesn't like Curt Schilling?

Of course, there are Sox personnel I've come to despise. This starts with GM Theo Epstein, a third-rate Billy Beane Moneyballer who has the advantage of, well, money, given his basically unlimited payroll. The Manny Ramirez Show has grown quite tedious. He wasn't this obnoxious and outta-control in Cleveland. Johnny Damon, once the functional equivalent of an electric cattle prod in the hindquarters of a moribund Royals franchise (in a good way) is enjoying his celebrity a little too much. And that caveman look? At the risk of sounding like a Bravo viewer, he could use a makeover. And speaking of people enjoying their celebrity a bit much: Kevin Millar. An obnoxious no-talent who has become team mascot.

Six and a half more months and it will be all over . The planets will return to their proper alignment. The Yankees will be AL Champs (unless the Minnesota Twins ( ! ) or the L.A. / California / Anaheim / L.A. Angels breakthrough). And the Boston Red Sox will go back to being failures.

It's like my friend Steve said when talking to a bartender who was wearing a Yankees cap. After talking baseball for a bit, the bartender asked him if he was a Yankees fan. He responded, "I am for this year."

Given the overbearing Red Sox media crush, it is a sentiment I heartily endorse.

Disclaimer: My hatred for the Red Sox has nothing to do with my status as a St. Louis Cardinals fan. After all, a Cardinals World Series victory drove one of the great moments in Red Sox failure (the 1946 Johnny Pesky "held ball" incident). I have no faith in Tony La Russa (a fantastic regular season manager) come postseason. The Cards' 2004 World Series has nothing to do with my anti-Red Sox attitude and, in fact, pre-dates it by decades (e.g., I pulled for the Mets in '86).

Guilty pleasure Saturday: Pointer Sisters - "Happiness"

2005-04-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Guilty Pleasure Saturday returns with it's groove-on.

The Pointer Sisters are the greatest sister act in the history of recorded music. Between 1979 and 1984, Oakland natives Ruth, Anita and June Pointer had a terrific run of R & B based pop hits. "Happiness" was the up-tempo follow-up single to their breakthough #2 pop hit, "Fire," both from their revelatory LP Energy. The Richard Perry-produced Energy transformed the sister act from a retro novelty group to mainstream pop princesses.

While the Bruce Springsteen-written "Fire" was a rock song expertly recast as a smoldering quiet-storm, ballad, "Happiness" is pure harmony-driven soul, with just a touch of 1920s fun. It is similar to their initial hit "Yes We Can Can," which they recorded as a foursome (Sister Bonnie was still a group member). Both, in fact, were written by New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint. "Happiness" thankfully lacks the novelty flavor of the earlier hit.

How to add some "Happiness" to your CD collection? Given that the Sisters were a singles group, their music really belongs in a CD collection only in the form of a hits compilation. Given further that "Happiness" was only a minor Pointer hit, you must choose your compilation carefully. It is not on every compilation. Your best bet is The Best of the Pointer Sisters, a mere $11.88 at alldirect.com, which covers their Planet/RCA record label years of 1978 to 1987.

That, of course, means this Best is missing "Yes We Can Can" and "How Long (Betcha Got a Chick on the Side)". It is merely the Best of the Three-Sister Pointers. You will need Yes We Can Can: The Best of the Blue Thumb Recordings for the best of the Four Sister Pointers. I guess it all depends on how essential you think Bonnie was.

Prefab Sprout - "Streets of Laredo / Not Long for This World"

2005-04-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

This is an appropriate song o' the day for the day of the Papal Funeral. A traditional western folk tune? On a western "concept" album by a British adult-alernative group? On the day of the funeral of the Great John Paul II?

Yes.

There's room for dispute as to whether this is the greatest song recorded by Paddy McAloon's British adult-alternative popsters, Prefab Sprout. "Streets of Laredo," however, their best song they Paddy didn't write, given that's its author is listed only as "traditional." It is also the best song about death in my CD collection, as it is a proper celebration of death, not in the Goth suicide music sense, but in the celebration of the Christian death. "Christian death" in the sense of the resignation toward death as part of the cycle of life. The song is quite powerful and very haunting, without being maudlin.

"Streets of Laredo" has been recorded by many artists. I've listened to the versions by Johnny Cash and Michael Martin Murphey and, they like others. sing it as a straightforward folk-based dirge. McAloon sets a dream-like instrumental track, disguising (unless you listen closely to the words) that the cowboy with whom he is conversing is a corpse. McAloon expertly added the "Not Long for This World" section that perfectly complements the cowboy's post-death lament.

Paddy McAloon probably visits the subject of death on more of songs than any other active songwriter working in the pop vein. On rhe American West "concept" record containing this track, the misunderstood and much-criticized The Gunman and Other Stories, the death references (sometimes just in the form of off-hand asides) are at their most frequent, possibly a reflection of the fact that all of us continue to get older and progress closer to the day of our own deaths. Amazon has this CD for only $17.49. It's not a sale price, but this is a great CD worth adding to anyone's collection, regardless of whether you are, like me, a Sprout-head.

Wal-Mart and the American Left

2005-04-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

Blog Retrofuturistic has staked out its niche in the blogosphere: I am the defender of Wal-Mart, as evidence here and here.

In addition to the well-publicized, well-financed fights to keep Wal-Mart out of particular locales, the Maryland state legislature just passed anti-Wal-Mart legislation. The bill mandates that large employers spend a certain portion of its income on employee health care. In actuality, it's a bill of attainder against Wal-Mart.

What in the world is the problem with those Maryland Democrats?

I love Wal-Mart. I'm cheap and I love low prices. If a company wants to charge me outrageously low prices for groceries, grooming products, and other assorted household items, then, by God, I'm gonna let them. I don't case if Wal-Mart is losing money on selling me SpeedStick deodorants for $1.70-something. I don't care if Wal-Mart's supplier is going under supplying Wal-Mart with Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice at such a low prices that my neighbor Wal-Mart will sell it to me for $2.50. Ain't capitalism grand! If the capitalist wants to lose money, I'll let them. And if it's all a ruse to drive the competition out of business so that next month they can charge $4.25 (which is what my Albertson's used to charge for the same half-gallon of delicious Tropicana Pure Premium), then next month I'll be drinking grapefruit juice, or mango nectar. Who wouldn't love these cheap prices?

The out-of-touch Left, that's who.

Wal-Mart is a microcosm for all that ails the elitist Left. Their War on Wal-Mart perfectly illustrates the disdain and outright contempt that the spoiled brat Left feels toward us working class stiffs.

The Left has long since left the business of helping working people. Ever since the rise of George McGovern, the "liberals" have waged war on the working class. From job-destroying environmental legislation and workplace regulation, to the destruction of public education, the Left can be counted on supporting government actions to decrease the quality of life for working people. The Left will fight tax cuts for working people, while demanding government funding (i.e., taxpayer subsidies) for their peculiar, unpleasant taste preferences such as NPR, left-wng harangues masquerading as lectures, and art involving the creative use of piss and dung (the more sacrilegious, the better).

Wal-Mart's biggest crime is letting people (and its customer base is very much working class) buy affordable mass-market merchandise. It's a shame that offends so many on the Left. Why can't these soulless, overbearing lefty zealots let other people live their own lives? It's like George Bailey once said of Potter, it's something they can't get their hands on and it's gnawing at them. Like Potter to the Bailey Building & Loan, the Left wants to destroy Wal-Mart.

Why does it hurt them so much for me to shop where I want to? Why can't they just let us people live our lives, for once?

The elitist Leftist engine that drives the Democrat party has declared War on Wal-Mart. Maryland is the latest skirmish, after Queens, Staten Island, and Inglewood, California. Working people do like to shop where they can get good prices. The Democrats don't think you are entitled to that option. Yet another reason why real working people no longer think the Democrats have any interest in them or their needs.

Kirsty MacColl - "Walking Down Madison"

2005-04-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

This song reminds me of ... Minneapolis! That's enough for song o' the day status.

This is not a reflection of the song's lyrical content, which pertains to the close proximity of great wealth and poverty in the modern cityscape. Summer of 1991, I visited the Twin Cities. I was probably visiting my sister in M'waukee, the summer right after the bar examination (Virginia bar) and there's only so much Wisconsin one person can take (or, more appropriately, given the huge food portions served in Greater M'waukee, "eat"). So I took a side trip to Minnesota.

I found a great radio station while there which played what I think we were then calling "new music," possibly "alternative music." (The station went off the air - drastic format change - the next year while I was again taking in the Twin Cities.) One sopng that the station played repeatedly during the few days I was in Minneapolis was a cathcy, hip-hop spiced bit of social commentary from Kirsty MacColl, "Walking Down Madison."

So of course I had to buy the CD, the cleverly named Electric Landlady (which is now available from amazon.com with a ton o' bonus tracks for $16.99). Kirsty had many great songs and the rapped bridge is distinctly "early 90s," but a great song reminding me of a fun vacation. What more do you want from pop music?

Ward Churchill: Affirmative Action = Nazism

2005-04-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

According to Eric at ClassicalValues.com, according to Little Green Footballs, according to the Associated Press, that according to David Lane, the lawyer for embattled/embittered University of Colorado ethnic studies "professor" Ward Churchill,[*] the University's examination into Churchill's false claim of Indian ancestry smacks of Nazi type investigations into "racial purity."

Duh!

Stopped clock. Twice a day. Correct, y'know?

I'm afraid I am agreeing with Ward on this one. One of my major criticisms of affirmative action is that there is a Nazi-like focus on racial classifications. Proponents of affirmative action really do promote the idea of race, or ethnicity, as destiny. This is the basis for the leftist core belief that "diversity" is nothing more than a laundry list of group memberships. The major reason that affirmative action is wrong is because of this unhealthy obsession with race, ethnic group and religion. This was a central tenet of Nazism and an obsession of the academic Left.

My favorite watch is broken. It's stuck on 9:40. The other day, I looked down at the dresser, with all my watches, broken and unbroken, lined up. I saw that the time was 20 minutes to 10:00. Yes, even my favorite broken watch was, despite itself, correct at that exact instance of time. Ward is so very much like my broken watch. (It too is old-fashioned and stylistically out-of-date.) But, instead of a particular time, he's stuck on "Nazi," and the trappings of Third Reich (see, e.g., "Little Eichmanns). The other 99.9% of each day that's he's completely wrong is not relevant here. This just happens to be one of his two daily minutes of correctness.

Footnote: [*] Why yes, those were "sarcasm" scare-quotes around the appellation "professor." Thanks for noticing.

The next Pope

2005-04-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

The Holy Father, the Great John Paul II, has passed to his next life. We no longer need to pray for him, but to him, for his intercession on our behalf as he most surely is now in a position to do so.

I am not going to write some glowing hagiography (and I am correctly using that term, no sarcasm quote marks anywhere near that word). The Pope knows what I think of him. I cannot write as well as others have on this point and a showy display of mourning from me would be a bit unbecoming.

That said: I have turned my thoughts to who will be the next pope. Not in the sense of internal Vatican politics and machinations, mind you, but just reflecting on what the next pope will mean to the Church. If you genuinely believe, as I do, that the election of a pope is guided by the Holy Spirit, then you have faith that the correct decision will be made.

I fully expect the next pope to be an orthodox Catholic from the Third World, but it is not up to me. Another well-traveled, intellectually vigorous hardline traditionalist would fit my preferences, but is that what is best at this point in time? Perhaps the next pope needs to be a mere caretaker, someone whose brief papacy is needed as a respite after the vigorous reign of the charismatic John Paul II. Given that this Pope will cast an enormous shadow over his successors, perhaps we need someone relatively bland and colorless so that we will recognize the next charismatic, transformative figure who is so elevated. Maybe the next pope will be a liberal "reformer," whose role will be to bring back into the flock the more salvageable among the more worldly. I don't know, but if you trust the Holy Spirit, you must believe what needs to happen is what will happen.

The great baseball analyst Bill James once remarked that baseball managers are hired and fired for a reason. That once a manager does his job, the needs of the organization change and the next manager will need to bring different strengths to the table. Perhaps that is the way with popes. The enormous contribution of Karol Wojtyla changed the needs of the flock. We definitely needed him in 1978. Given that we could not have him forever, it will be interesting to see what the Holy Spirit deems we need in light of the preceding 26 years.

Baseball preview: NL East

2005-04-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

Prediction:
Florida Marlins (92-70), World Series champions
Atlanta Braves (89-73), NL wild card
New York Mets (85-77)
Philadelphia Phillies (83-79)
Washington Nationals, f/k/a Montreal Expos (73-89)

2004 Final Standings:
Atlanta (96-66)
Philadelphia (86-76)
Florida (83-79)
New York (71-91)
Montreal (67-95) (R.I.P.)

This easily will be baseball’s toughest division this season. It will be the home of the eventual Word Series champions, if the two-time champion Marlins can handle the playoffs from the unprecedented position of divisional winner.

In 2004, for the first time in franchise history, the Florida Fish had a winning record and failed to win the World Series. In the team’s decade-plus lifespan, they previously had only two winning seasons, which coincided precisely with their World Series wins. Fishy things in South Florida should return to normal in’05: a winning record combined with a World Series win. The pitching may be a little thinner than ‘03, but the overall team may be better. With the Cardinals’ offseason losses, the Fish now boast the best up-the-middle defense in baseball: superb and under-rated SS Alex Gonzalez (how a legit World Series hero can be under-rated is beyond me), CF Juan Pierre, possibly the best lead-off hitter and smartest-playing player in the game, and 2B Luis Castillo. The Fish also will have a full season of what they lacked for most of ‘04: team leadership from an intelligent veteran, Paul Lo Duca. While I am not personally a fan of Carlos Delgado, his bat will be a huge addition. Add the continuing development of RF Miguel Cabrera and P Josh Beckett, and you have the best complete team in baseball. Put together on a reasonable budget.

Every year everybody predicts that the end of the Braves’ run of – what is it now, 88? – straight division titles (actually, an impressive-enough 13). And, every year, everyone is wrong. 2004 was the year the streak was a lock to end. The Braves pitching was in shambles. Free agent departures were sure to stymie both the pitching and the offense. And the Phillies had put together the NL’s best team on paper. But, as sportswriters and coaches constantly repeat, they don’t play the game on paper. After no other team in the division had stepped forward two months into the season, the A-Braves went on a tear. RF J.D. Drew stayed healthy and had a career year. C Johnny Estrada (who I erroneously thought was a throw-in during the Braves salary dumping of Kevin Millwood) not only replaced Javy Lopez’s career year, but he improved the team’s defensive play at that position. The 2005 Braves added A’s refugee Tim Hudson to this mix. Can they make it 14? Doubtful. They over-achieved ridiculously in 2004 and such performances are hard to repeat two years in a row. Drew is gone and he has been replaced by the man who is quite possibly the most malignant team cancer in baseball, Raul Mondesi (although, it will be a huge shock if he is still on the roster by July 31). Pitching coach Leo Mazzone should be a Hall of Famer. But he can’t keep filling inside straights, can he?

The most improved team in the National League will be the New York Mets. Yes, the New Yorkers. Two offseason acquisitions will propel this team into the pennant race. And neither is named "Pedro." Yes, Pedro is a huge pick-up. His roster presence is critically important for the Mets to achieve the primary goal: more back page covers than the Yankees in the New York tabloids. As far as getting this team to win, the aging and increasingly fragile Pedro Martinez are not nearly as important as the signing of CF Carlos Beltran and the hiring of manager Willie Randolph. Randolph has been apprenticing for a managerial job for quite some time. His hiring is past due. And since he is New York-tested, he will not be intimidated, or thrown off his game, by the New York media. While the Mets pitching is old and shaky, the team defense will be superb: Beltran, Mike Cameron shifting over to right, the charismatic Doug Mientkiewicz at first. Given Randolph’s experience as a middle infielder, I anticipate that he will straighten out the Jose Reyes/Kaz Matsui mess. Of course, with Mike Piazza still at catcher, there is a huge giant black hole in the team defense. This team will go as far as they can with their old-timers. that means competitive, but not playoffs.

The Philadelphia Phillies should be the best fourth-place in baseball. By far. The window of opportunity opened wide in 2004, but the team’s pig-headed decision to stick with Larry Bowa cost them a legitimate chance at a World Series. Bowa was an awful manager. He ran Scott Rolen out of town (for lack of "leadership," something he has been lauded for in St. Louis). He stunted the development of hitting machine Pat Burrell. He installed SS Jimmy Rollins as leadoff hitter, retarding the offense. His hard-driving style forced Randy Wolf to keep pitching on an injured arm. Bowa’s been axed and replaced by a "player’s manager," Charlie Manuel. Typically, when a First Class Jerk who’s worn out his welcome is replaced by a player’s manager, the team responds the first year with increased wins. That will not happen here as (1) the NL East is significantly improved from 2004 and (2) Manuel has a lot less pitching to work with, given the loss of Kevin Millwood and Eric Milton (who wasn’t going to have consecutive healthy seasons anyway).

The surest thing in baseball is the last place finish from the Washington Nationals, formerly known as the Montreal Expos. Finally, Les Expos have been liberated from French Canada, where we now know Major League Baseball should never have gone. There should be some improvement from the end of those 22 extra "home" games on the road in Puerto Rico. There is legitimate talent that the Nats may now be able to afford to keep on the roster, such as 2B Jose Vidro and 1B/OF Brad Wilkerson. They even added a free agent in the person of SS Cristian Guzman. Zut alors! (Sorry, no longer applicable). The roster is a bit thin, though. Vinny Castilla? That may not be so bad as Castilla puts up monster numbers in extreme hitters’ parks. If RFK has short outfield lines (as it did when they used to play exhibition games there in 1980s), Castilla might hit like he’s back in Coors. Maybe the great Frank Robinson, a superb handler of players, can keep under control OF Jose Guillen (a locker room cancer of near-Mondesian proportions). The fans should be enthusiastic and appreciative that baseball is back in the Nation’s Capital. They won’t demand a division title until, oh, 2006. The honeymoon will then be over.

Baseball preview: AL East

2005-04-02T23:57:00.000-08:00

Prediction:
New York Yankees (95-67), AL champions
Boston Red Sox (91-71), AL wild card
Baltimore Orioles (87-75)
Tampa Bay Devil Rays (73-89)
Toronto Blue Jays (70-92)

2004 Final Standings
New York (101-61)
Boston (98-64), AL wild card, World Series champions
Baltimore (78-84)
Tampa Bay (70-91)
Toronto (67-94)

The last three World Series champions were wild card entrants into the playoffs. The Red Sox are on track for another AL wild card. Two in a row? Not now that the Yankees are on a mission.

The Yankees are, above all else, professionals. Think they’re not completely sick of all the accolades and hosannas (even from their hometown paper, the part-owner of the Sox, the New York Times) which have been directed northward toward Boston ever since the Yanks’ shocking playoff collapse? The Yanks have more than just motivation to fend off the Red Sox challenge. They have a significantly improved pitching staff, with the addition of marquee free agent Carl Pavano and ageless Randy Johnson. I’ve given up waiting for the 41 year old Big Unit to go into an age-induced decline. I accept the fact that he is a complete freak of nature. There are danger signs as the central core is another year older, Bernie Williams especially. And Jason Giambi is finished (the re-signing of Tino Martinez is an indication the Yankees know this). Still, these are the Yankees and they are the frontrunners by default. Someone will have to come out and do something extraordinary to keep them out of the World Series.

What will the Red Sox do for an encore? You got to think it will be a difficult recovery from the hangover suffered from celebrating the team’s first World Series title in 86 years. The signing of SS Edgar Renteria and P Wade Miller, and the re-signing of Jason Varitek, are certainly strong doses of Excedrin to ease the headache pain and aid in the recovery. The injury to Curt Schilling, however, is a significant contra-indicator. Still, even without Pedro, this very much remains the team that won last year’s World Series, a team that should not have been good enough to get the World Series, let alone dismantle the mighty Cardinal machine they face. They shouldn’t win this year, but they should not have won it all last year.

The Orioles are good enough to win three, maybe four other divisions. Unfortunately for Peter Angelos and subordinates, they play in the Gold Standard of baseball divisions, the home of the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry. While I don’t think much of the signing of Slammin’ Sulkin’ Sammy Sosa, this team was poised to win 85-90 games without him. Sammy is a cancer, but he’s not sufficiently malignant to cause the team to lose W’s. The O’s infield features plenty of offensive firepower, especially from SS Miguel Tejeda (always terrific in the regular season) and versatile 3B Melvin Mora. If the pitching staff is decently effective, the O’s could appear to contend for a wild card spot.

On the other hand, the T-Bay D-Rays can only hope to contend for a winning record. There are some terrific young players on Lou Piniella’s team, like OF Carl Crawford, but not enough to fill out the whole diamond. For example, Alex S. Gonzalez (late of the Cubs and Blue Jays) may be significant playing time at third. Ouch. The pitching is an even bigger "ouch." The talented young staff that the D-Rays appeared to be developing a few years ago have been scattered to the winds. The current staff is young and unproven. The home team of the Florida Gulf Coast would struggle in a lesser division; unfortunately, they are not playing in a lesser division. Struggling is a given.

But not as much struggling as we can expect from the last major league team left in Canada. There are so many reasons to be optimistic for B-Jays. They are coming off a terrific spring, running up an impressive 17-8 record. Cy Young winner Roy Halladay appears healthy. Vernon Wells is only 26 and poised to make another leap forward. Corey Koskie has come home to the True North to play a great defensive third base. Yet struggle this thin team will do. The bench is thin. The RBI bat of anti-American Carlos Delgado will be dearly missed. And the clubhouse presence of obnoxious Shea Hillenbrand surely is worth a few extra numbers in the loss column. The long baseball season in Toronto will do nothing to alleviate the suffering caused by the absence of ice hockey. Me? I'm just happy that the baseball gods are punishing this franchising for switching last year to the ugliest logo in the game.

Baseball preview: AL West

2005-04-01T19:27:00.000-08:00

Prediction:
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (93-69)
Texas Rangers (82-80)
Oakland Athletics (78-84)
Seattle Mariners (75-87)

2004 Final Standings:
Just Anaheim (92-70)
Oakland (91-71)
Texas (89-73)
Seattle (63-99)

The Angels, a team in transition, are the class of a division in transition.

The L.A./California/Anaheim/L.A.-again Angels are neither particularly young nor old, yet still have a very similar roster to their 2002 World Series champion incarnation. That’s a nice amount of stability in the modern era. To what was essentially their 2002 World Series team, they added MVP Vladimir Guerrero last year. Interestingly, they struggled to make the playoffs and, basically, failed to show up once they did. This offseason, they added ageless CF Dorian Gray (a.k.a. "Steve") Finley, switched out SS David Eckstein for Orlando Cabrera (a very slight upgrade), and lost the Two Troys: slugging 3B Glaus and closer Percival. The loss of Percival should be unnoticeable with the continuing development of the amazing Francisco Rodriguez. The loss of Glaus eventually should be offset by the predicted development of Dallas McPherson (assuming healthiness). This team should win. They should contend for the World Series. Just like last year.

The DFW Metroplex Rangers should experience their consolidation year. They have a great manager in Buck Showalter, but he wears out welcomes quickly. They are struggling this spring and looked awful the one game I caught in Surprise, Arizona. They have the best hitting infield in the game (especially after the offseason bloodletting in St. Louis), with superstars at both corners in 1B Mark Teixeira (Georgia Tech alum!) and 3B Hank Blalock. And incredible SS Michael Young is a more complete player than either, anchoring the infield defensively with his intelligent play. The problems in Texas are not limited to pitching, however, as their weak-hitting outfield will produce too many offensive outs. Great leap forward predicted in ‘06. Small step backwards for ‘05.

It’s trendy to say the Oakland A’s will not be as bad as everyone thinks. But, since everyone is saying that the A’s will be better than "expected," exactly what are people predicting for them? I’ll go out on a limb and be the one who says that the A’s will be a below-.500 team in ‘05. There. That makes the "everybody" against whose opinion the A’s can over-achieve. Fat chance of that happening. Despite the Moneyball hype, the A’s have ridden the three pitching arms of Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito as far as they could thrown them. Once the playoffs hit, the Earl Weaver offense (built on walks and three-run homers) would struggle. The reason was easy to see: a team designed around taking advantage of the other team’s mistakes saw far fewer mistakes facing post-season caliber pitching. Add that the inability to execute the fundamentals and the Billy Beane A’s would waste a playoff spot, year in, year out. Now that the Big Three are two-thirds gone, and the lone remainder Zito is of diminished effectiveness, how in the world would one expect the A’s to compete? Maybe when the young pitchers mature, the period of regular-season non-competitiveness will be brief. And the roster has enough talent that the A’s will not fall very far (although what they plan to do with ex-Brewer 3B Keith Ginter is beyond my comprehension). But their most certainly will be a fall.

And bringing up the rear, once again, will be the Seattle Mariners. It definitely has been a long time since their 116-win season in 2001. The M's declined by 30 wins from 2003. A basic rule is that a team that worsens by 20 games or more does not decline further the next season. (The rule held for 2003 M’s, barely, as they held at 93 wins after their 23-game decline in 2002.) There will be a little dead-cat bounce to this team. But not enough to again be competitive. 3B Adrian Beltre had a career year which cannot be repeated in pitcher-friendly Safeco. New 1B Richie Sexson is something of a loss-magnet, after his years starring for some awful Brewer teams and his 2004 cameo with the 111-loss D-Backs. The index finger of steroid scandal pointed briefly at Bret Boone: think that might affect his play? And 42 year old Jamie Moyer is finally acting his age, bad bad news in the Pacific Northwest. Mike Hargrove is a great manager. He will get the most possible out of this team. That means wins will be like Seattle summer temps. In the mid 70s. Chance of upper 60s.

Baseball preview: NL Worst (West)

2005-04-01T17:56:00.000-08:00

Prediction:
San Diego Padres (86-76)
San Francisco Giants (85-77)
Los Angeles Dodgers (81-81)
Arizona Diamondbacks (71-91)
Colorado Rockies (68-94)

2004 Final Standings:
Los Angeles (93-69)
San Francisco (91-71)
San Diego (87-75)
Colorado (68-94)
Arizona (51-111)

Who’s your Daddy? Somebody has to win this weak division, might as well be the Petco Padres.

Normally, after taking a great leap forward, I would predict a half-step backwards, known in the trade as a "consolidation year." See, e.g., Texas Rangers (2005). Giant leaps forward usually require a combination of luck, health and career years that are not readily duplicated in consecutive years. The Pads could end up a game or three worse in the win column and still win this pathetic division due to competition that is either rapidly declining or stuck in stinkersville. The window of opportunity won’t stay open long for these men, though. Except for SS Khalil Greene and a couple of pitchers (most importantly, Jake Peavy), this is a team of old, aging veterans. Woody Williams (38), Trevor Hoffman (37), Brian Giles (34) and especially the beat-up Phil Nevin (34) don’t have many sands left in their career hourglasses. They better win now because aging teams, when they fall apart, fall apart fast. See, e.g., Arizona Diamondbacks (2004).

Can the Giants win without a healthy Barry Bonds (who, by the way, isn’t on steroids, he didn’t know the "cream" or the "clear’ were ‘roids, and, being such a naïve innocent, of course he would just accept BALCO’s word that it all was legit)? Of course they can win without Barry! They got one of the great managers in the game in Felipe Alou. They can win, in the sense that they won’t go 0-162. But can they prosper? Not likely. Nephew Moises will likely camp out on the DL. Aging SS Omar Vizquel is a shadow of his former self. 3B Edgardo Alfonso is an old 31. J.T. Snow has never justified at-bats at 1B. And the pitching is awfully thin. Felipe will hold them together with toothpicks and spit; good enough for second.

The Dodgers are significantly worse than they were just 12 months ago. Paul DePodesta may be the darling of the Moneyball crowd, but he looks over his head as a major league GM. The team never recovered from his bizarre late-season give-away of all-star catcher Paul Lo Duca. The loss of Dave Roberts and Alex Cora makes this team significantly weaker up the middle and great up-the-middle defense had been a wholly un-Dodger-like plus on this team for most of Jim Tracey’s managerial tenure. Cesar Izturis is a great shortstop, but he can’t do everything defensively. Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew (coming off a career year) won’t offset all the subtractions, including the loss of Adrian Beltre (who would've declined off his career year stats anyway, but not by as much as the numbers to be put up by his replacement). Playing in a weak division, however, leaves the Dodgers only so far to fall.

The D-Backs lost 111 games in 2004. They then lost Randy Johnson in the offseason. Candidate to surpass the ‘62 Mets? No. Well, why not? First of all, Diamondbacks weren’t as bad their record would indicate. There is no way this team should have rung up triple digit losses, let alone 111 of them. Their roster should have put up up more W’s than the Royals or even their division mates the Rockies. New additions Troy Glaus and Shawn Green should propel them forward a bit. However, if Tony Clark gets significant playing time at first, that should be a massive red flag that another 100-plus loss season may be in the offing.

Bringing up the divisional rear should be the Rocks of Colorado. Todd Helton playing nursemaid to a bunch of AA rejects. Actually, the pitchers only look like AA rejects. Playing at elevation does that to the best of ‘em; so you can imagine what it’ll do to the rest of them. The Rocks hopefully will give a lot of playing time to one of my all-time favorite major leaguers, ex-Twin (and ex-Giant) Dustan Mohr, whose heads-up, aggressive baserunning made him the hero of the Twins 2003 playoff run. I’m a huge Dustan Mohr fan and, regardless the amount of PT he's given, that definitely isn’t even close to being enough to get me to watch this sad team.

The final hours of the Great John Paul II

2005-04-01T11:34:00.000-08:00

It appears from news reports that we have entered the final hours of the most important papacy of the Catholic Church's second millennium. I don't believe the preceding statement to be hyperbole, just a recognition of fact.

Pope John Paul II is a saint on earth. He is the greatest pope of the second thousand years of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been a tremendous force for good in the world. From his critical role in the defeat of the Soviet Union (foreseen by Ronald Reagan), to his act of forgiving his would-be assassin, he has been a presence of the divine here on earth.

His example is probably the predominant reason I returned to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church back in 1992, the church into which I had been baptized by which my family left when I was about four (resulting in me being raised a non-commital Methodist). The Pope's life most surely will continue after this one and soon it will be more appropriate to pray to him, for his intercession on behalf of all of us, than it will be to pray for him.

Baseball preview: NL Central

2005-03-31T19:48:00.000-08:00

Prediction:
St. Louis Cardinals (89-73)
Cincinnati Reds (84-78)
Houston Astros (78-84)
Milwaukee Brewers (76-86)
Chicago Cubs (75-87)
Pittsburgh Pirates (70-92)

2004 Standings:
St. Louis (105-57), NL champions
Houston (92-70), NL wild card
Chicago (89-73)
Cincinnati (76-86)
Pittsburgh (72-89)
Milwaukee (67-94)

The Real America’s Team, the franchise that was once the home team for two-thirds of the USA, the St. Louis Cardinals, can deteriorate and win without a sweat in this pitifully weak division.

There are so many reasons why the Cardinals should suffer the biggest win decline from last season to this. The Cardinals’ roster is old. Almost 2001 D-Backs old. The youngest starting outfielder will probably be 34 year old CF Jim Edmonds. Old teams decline, sometimes precipitously. Three-quarters of the vaunted up-the-middle defense will be new, with, again, CF Edmonds the only holdover. SS David Eckstein will not perform at the same heights as Edgar Renteria. Scott Rolen is coming off a career year. They clearly were not as good as their 105 win total would indicate. And yet there are five good reasons why they will win this division again: the Astros, the Cubs, the Brewers, the Pirates, and the Reds. Those are some very good reasons. Oh yeah, and the addition of Mark Mulder (even if he is declining) and a healthy Chris Carpenter (even if he is Chris Carpenter).

The Reds are my pick for second by default. There’s not another team capable of finishing this high. Junior Griffey’s career is effectively over. He is a shell of his Mariners self, lurching from injury to injury. Yet the Reds do not need him to be respectable. Another MVP type season from Big Adam Dunn and some good health from Austin Kearns would be more important at this point. If the pitching is good enough, the Redlegs could stay close to the Redbirds. But not close enough to close a nearly 30-game gap.

Year 2004 was the last hurrah for the Killer B-Astros. Led by rental Carlos Beltran, the ‘Stros won their first playoff series in their 40-plus year history. But the Bags-n-Bigs show of 1B Jeff Bagwell and CF Craig Biggio is entering its final moments. Houston lost simply too many parts – and kept one too many in re-signing Scrap Iron Garner, the worst manager in the Big Leagues – to make another run in 2005.

The Brew Crew have enough talent to avoid the cellar. And that’s the best M’waukee fans can hope for. This is no longer a young team, though. This is a collection of veterans who should step up this year or step away. If the Brewers cannot play competitive baseball this year, with Geoff Jenkings and Junior Spivey at age 30, and Lyle Overbay and Wes Helms now 28, Brewer management should strip the team bare and start all over. This expansion-caliber club is only good enough for a mid-70s win tally.

It will be a long season on the North Side of Chicago and they won’t have Steve Bartman to blame. But at least they have a precious museum piece of a ballyard. Me-first Slammin’ Sammy is gone, but where are the RBI going to come from? Dusty Baker is back on his mission to ruin the critical pitching arms. He avoided this relatively well in San Francisco because he (1) had no ace and (2) had rubber armed men like Russ Ortiz and Kirk Reuter anchoring the staff. In Chicago, he has two aces (Mark Prior and Kerry Wood), both of whom have biological limits that Dusty is hellbent on breaking through. If LaTroy Hawkins is asked to close again, 90 losses is a distinct possibility.

Even if Jack Wilson continues to masquerade as the Second Coming of Honus Wagner, the Pirates still appear doomed for the basement. Not enough outs on the pitching; too many in the batting order. The Buccos need monster years from Ty Wigginton and Bobby Hill and even that won’t be enough. Lloyd McClendon seems like a good manager. And PNC Park is the crown jewel of baseball parks.

Hundred Percenter Hissy-Fit

2005-03-31T16:36:00.000-08:00

A blogger named "Malachy Joyce" is throwing a delinking hissyfit over at his/her "Hundred Percenter" blog, which is causing kerfuffles aplenty. See, e.g., here and here. The impetus of DelinkFest 2005 is Terri Schiavo. Hundred Percenter site (which I previously had never heard of, but, in fairness, I'm, sure this Malachy Joyce character has never heard of Blog Retrofuturistic) is jettisoning from his / her / their / its blog roll conservative-leaning blogs deemed insufficiently supportive of Terri Schiavo. As one commenter on classicalvalues.com stated, "As I understand it, the 'crime' in question was not supporting Every Possible Effort Maybe Even Including Sending In The National Guard, to save Terri Schiavo."

In a comment to protein wisdom's Jeff Goldstein, Malachy Joyce remarked, "true conservatives support life, 100%." 100%. That's pretty strong. But does Malachy Joyce really believe it? I must admit that am a bit concerned about the credibility of that blog, as he/she/they/it had previously made a thinly-veiled anti-Semitic remark about Jeff Goldsten's "beenie" [sic] being "twisted" [sick]. I presume that to be a yarmulke reference of some sort. True conservatives are not anti-Semites.

I am conservative. I would like to believe I'm a "true" conservative, out of the Catholic strain of conservatism. I support life. 100%, generally (allowing the whole "just war" part of the equation). Does Malachy Joyce support the death penalty? Or is this person/thing/entity leading candlelight vigils at the Texas State Pen, singing hosannas to Justice Kennedy for striking down one application of the death penalty in his recent Roper opinion?

If this blogger isn't, then this 100% life proposition needs to be amended, perhaps to 85 or 90% "supportive of life." If this blogger recognizes the problems with claims of absolutism, as applied to life, death, and the death penalty, and that support for life isn't such a simplistic formulation, then perhaps a little humility with regard to Instapundit, Little Green Footballs and maybe even protein wisdom is in order.

Baseball preview: AL Central

2005-03-30T18:50:00.000-08:00

Prediction:
Minnesota Twins (92-70)
Cleveland Indians (90-72)
Detroit Tigers (83-79)
Chicago White Sox (80-82)
Kansas City Royals (56-106)

2004 Standings:
Minnesota (92-70)
Chicago (83-79)
Cleveland (80-82)
Detroit (72-90)
Kansas City (58-104)

The Twins are, far and away, the most complete team in this not-as-weak-as-you-think division, but the young and improving Indians are a year away from dominating this division.

The question for the Twinkies is whether success will spoil Johan Santana. Is he ready to step up and become the next great dominant pitcher in baseball? His postseason performance would indicate otherwise. The Twins will win playing the most intelligent baseball in the league. Unique in the modern era of the Twinks, they have kept together their critical components (good bye Cristian Guzman). If both of the AL East powerhouses stumble (and the Red Sox getting past the Tribe for a wild card isn't a sure thing), the Twins could make a legitimate World Series run.

The young Indians should take another leap forward. They've added some veterans (Kevin Millwood, Aaron Boone, Juan Gonzalez) to a talented young core, which is the way you're supposed to build a team. Alex Cora will provide excellent defense in the middle of the diamond until the time, if ever, that Brandon Phillips is ready to become a major leaguer. All ably managed by Eric Wedge, the best manager in this division.

The Tigers are intriguing: not enough talent to compete, but clearly good enough not to stink (even if Ivan Rodriguez gets hurt, as he is past due for). The addition of Magglio Ordonez is a triple play. The Tigers get an A-game rightfielder. A division rival (ChiSox) is weakened from his departure. And incumbent RF Bobby Higginson becomes expendable. It couldn't be better if he promised to clean the mildew out of the team shower. Big question is whether 1B Carlos Pena is ready to start hitting like a major league first baseman. A more important one, though, is whether Jeremy Bonderman is ready to live up to all the hype.

The White Sox are sure to decline. DH (and Las Vegas resident) Big Frank Thomas (who I once downgraded from "Big Hurt" to "Minor Ache") can't stay healthy and is well into his age-induced declined. New acquisition Scott Podsednik is showing all signs of having been, sadly, a one-year wonder (a Pat Listach for the 21st Century, as it were). This is an ugly roster chock full of injury magnets (e.g., Jermaine Dye) and cast-offs from uncompetitive organizations (e.g., Timo Perez). A serious injury to Mark Buehrle and 90 losses would be a cinch.

But there's only so far the Other Sox can fall, because there's a nice fat safety net sitting beneath them. In 2003, the Royals looked poised to breakthrough back to being a competitive franchise. That window hasn't just closed, it's been nailed shut, painted, then bricked over, never to be seen again. They lost 100 games in 2004 with a half a season of Carlos Beltran. How in the world can they be better without him? Mike Sweeney is the only major leaguer on a roster that otherwise would struggle in AA. If the Royals keep their losses in the double digits, Tony Pena is manager of the year.

The complete "Wonderfalls" on DVD

2005-03-30T18:33:00.000-08:00

Buy.

I have now watched the complete 13-episode Wonderfalls DVD, listened to all the commentary tracks, and sampled all of the special features (including multiple viewings of the theme song music video). I am ready to render my verdict. Buy early and buy often.

The final episode ("Caged Bird") functioned well as an end of series wrap-up. It also would have worked as great jumping-off point for a Season Two but, alas, there was to be none. As with life, there was no resolution. Jaye (played by the lovely Caroline Dhavernas) never learned why she the inaminate animals were speaking to her (other than the cryptic "because you listen") in Episode 11, "Cocktail Bunny"). She's reached a truce (as opposed to peace) with the voices; the love life issue has been clarified.

The episodes became more dramatic as the series wore on. I think the producers started with a madcap farce to try to hook viewers in, with a bait-n-switch to more spiritual drama as you progressed deeper into the show. The dialog was still crisp. Fun aplenty. But it grew deeper. And still worked. Except for that awful over-stylized noir-esque "Crime Dog" episode. That one didn't work.

Watching these episodes each evening is one reason for ignoring this blog for one week plus. When I would get home from the office, I wanted to watch the next episode, to see the plot advance further. I can't wait for rerun season.

Michael Barone and the trust fund Left

2005-03-21T20:41:00.000-08:00

More great analysis from Michael Barone, this time over at the realclearpolitics site.

Mr. Barone says that the "trustfunder left" reached critical mass in 2004 and now hold great sway as a wealthy interest group within the Democrat party. What a shock, then, that two trust-funders were the most influential Democrats last election cycle: John Kerry (whose only talent appears to be marrying well, and by that, I mean wealthy) and Howard Dean (a son of Park Avenue).

The trustfund left is concentrated in a few places. Its main effect is making blue states an even deeper shade of indigo. And the trustfund crowd is disproportionately hard left, showing no respect for work (they got their $$$ without money), hostility toward faith and patriotism, scorn and ignorance of the military (as no one they know serves/d) and with no sense of how wealth genuinely is created. Given that they already have theirs, they are downright hostile towards anyone who wants to be upwardly mobile, as they support job-killing environmental mandates and confiscatory taxation of income (as they don't even have to work for a living).

The Democrat party is being destroyed from within by three incredibly selfish sub-groups: the public employee unions, the grad student elite, and the trustfunders. These selfish narcissists have made the Democrat party hostile the wants and needs of ordinary workers.

The conquest of the labor movement by the public employees destroyed the connection between labor unions and blue collar workforce. Labor is now unconcerned with workers and, instead, is just another advocate for big government liberalism. Why? Bigger government = more jobs for public employee union members = more dues money. A simple transitive equation. If Labor cared about workers, they would be advocating a pro-worker agenda in favor of development, manufacturing, ANWR drilling, and investment incentives: a job creation agenda. That's not what the labor adjunct to the Democrat currently is demanding.

The grad student elite supplies the intellectual firepower, such as that may be, to the current Democrat party.

But the trustfunders are the most dangerous of these subgroups.

First of all, they tend to be, if not anti-American, then America-skeptical. This is the "blame America first" crowd that Jeanne Kirkpatrick so eloquently warned us about. I understand the cause of the rote anti-Americanism of the eurotrash cafe elite of Paris or Berlin: it's equal parts petty jealously and mindless fashion-driven conformist trend-mongering. I guess the anti-Americanism of our trustfunders stems from an insecure desire for conformity and not wanting to be embarrassed by the Euro-sophisticates while sipping espresso in Barcelona, or mountain climbing in Nepal, skiing in Vail or snorkeling off Belize. Oh the demands of such a busy lifestyle

And, as I said, these people are anti-work. They have no respect for those of us who must work. That's why they support high taxation of income. They're not earning a living, so why worry about those of us who must. They can support job-killing environment policies, because someone who doesn't need to work doesn't need to worry about losing his or her job. So let that factory close down. Better that than having to explain why Kyoto can't work to that Dutch / Canadian gay "married" couple you met in Aspen (or was it Costa Rica?).

Worst of all, they hate technology that can improve the lives of real people all over the globe. It's easy to be callous about using genetically-modified seed to feed more people in Africa when the only time you ever miss a meal is when you're trying to take five pounds off your own fat ass. When your major food worry is whether that trendy little bistro you ate at last week isn't quite as trendy today, then it's easy to protest against hybrid grains being introduced into the food chain.

As long as these anti-American, know-nothing, do-nothing snotty elitists have any sway over the Democrat (via the man they funded, Howard "good versus evil" Dean), the Democrats cannot be taken seriously as having any interest in improving the lot of real people in this country and elsewhere on this globe.

"Wonderfalls" episode 5 - the first clunker

2005-03-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

I'm in the process of devouring my Wonderfalls DVD. Finally, I am getting to watch the un-broadcast episodes of this great TV show.

Taking the episodes sequentially, Episode 5 - titled "Crime Dog" - is the first that wasn't broadcast. It was previewed on the last episode, but some time during the intervening week, the wonderful Wonderfalls was cancelled. Thank God this episode never aired. It was the first clunker and if it had been the last episode shown,. I would not have such a warm heart-place for this quirky show.

To use a phrase from the past, one that it in popular usage when this show would've aired, this is the episode where Wonderfalls "jumps the shark." I've got another eight to watch, so I'm definitely hoping it jumps back.

This episode has two very serious problems that are always a symptom of shark-jumping. What makes a great TV show, movie, comic strip or any work of fiction is staying true to alternate universe the author created. Even when there are weird quirks that couldn't happen in real life, those quirks are invoked consistently. The laws of physics may be repealed or suspended, but there is an internal logic to how they are circumvented. This episode shot down two mandatory conventions in maintaining a logical parallel universe.

First, it revealed a new character. Ordinarily, a new character is no problem, if there is a reason for not having met the character before. This episode featured the Tyler family housekeeper, an "illegal immigrant" from Canada. Given that this character allegedly had been the housekeeper for the Tylers for 20+ years, there has to be some logical explanation for her not being introduced in the prior four episodes. There wasn't. Jaye had eaten dinner at the parents' house in previous episodes, where was the housekeeper? The internal logic of this alternative universe was violated by this act.

It was violated even further by a subsequent scene. The shtick of the show is that inanimate objects in the shape of animals occasionally talk to Jaye, played by Canadian actress Caroline Dhavernas. They tell her things, but they don't speak on request and they don't converse. This episode, a cardboard cut-out of a bulldog in a police uniform (hence, the "Crime Dog") spoke on request, conversed with her, and did not really an instruction that she was to follow. The dog told her to do something, she disregarded it, and the episode moved forward. Part of the internal logic is not only the rule against conversations, but that the plot moves forward when she ignores the dictates of the talking object. That did not apply to the cardboard bulldog. Again, the internal logic was violated.

Add to this the fact that the episode was preachy on a political issue (in this case, illegal immigration), without really playing fair with the alternative viewpoints. The fairness doctrine does not exist and, even if it did, would not apply to an entertainment program. If there had not been the other flaws, this problem would not have bothered me. But there were the other problems, thus this becomes another symptom of a great show losing its steam quickly.

As I watch the later episodes, maybe this error will be avoided and the show will un-jump the shark. Or, and this is my huge fear right now, Fox cancelled the show not only because of low ratings, but because there was a huge quality drop-off in later episodes. I hope it's not the latter. But, even if it is, I got the first four episodes on DVD and those episodes are fantastic. Well-written, well-acted, well-"put together". The show is worth owning on DVD even if the remaining episodes stink worse than Suzanne Somers sitcom.

Fair and balanced from John Leo

2005-03-20T12:13:00.000-08:00

John Leo is consistently one f the most readable, even-handed and independent-thinking opinion columnists working in the mainstream media. He has excellent column in the March 28, 2005, US News & World Report, pointing out the double standards, a.k.a. hypocrisy, of both the right and left on a host of major issues.

The Left thinks we should look to evolving standards of international law to interpret our Constitution ... except when the international community is way to our right (e.g., abortion). (And, of course, to the multicultural left, "international community" generally means "western Europe").

The Right thinks that power should devolve to the states and we should return to the pre-Earl Warren concept of federalism ... except when the Right wants to impose its agenda on recalcitrant states that may be moving quickly to the Left, such as the gay marriage or euthanasia.

Of course, the Left fares a little worse in the balanced portrait, mainly because the Left engages in such blatant hypocrisy while being so militantly and hysterically anti-hypocrisy. Those of us on the Right don't have as severe a problem with hypocrisy. We recognize that man is imperfect and incapable of perfection, and thus will always fall short of stated ideals. And, we also recognize that "hypocrisy," a.k.a. "little white lies" are sometimes the lubricant that greases the tracks of civilization. So it's not as big of a deal when a conservative engages in hypocrisy as when a leftist spouts off in favor of a blatant double standard.

The two best examples, or "worst," depending on your perspective of left-wing hypocrisy are on the issue of the first amendment right to free speech and the current debate of the filibuster.

The filibuster debate is a mild, and historically uninteresting, bit of hypocrisy. Yeah, when it was Republicans using the filibuster to defeat the will of the Democrat (or progressive) majority, filibustering was evil and the Senate rules had to be changed. Duke Law Professor Edward Chemerinsky comes off as particularly craven in this debate, authoring a paper in the 1990s about how the filibuster must be abolished, when it was being wielded by the R's, but now declaring it to be "unconstitutional" for the R's to rewrite the Senate rules to take this weapon out of the hands of the D's. Giving Chemerinsky the benefit of the doubt and assuming that he is intellectually consistent rather than a craven fraud, his apparent position is: the constitution requires that the Democrats get their way. Either that or he is a weasel. Take your pick.

The free speech debate is more important. Lefty-liberals love to cry about how the Patriot Act in John AshKKKRoft's AmeriKKKa is destroying the first amendment, or how Michael Powell's FCC is squelching free expression, or how denying government money to an "arts" project is destroying the first amendment, yet the Dems not only have no problem with direct assaults on free speech rights, but they demand it.

Campaign finance reform is one issue. I personally think that Justice Clarence Thomas is correct (and right) when he writes that the first amendment does not recognize the distinction between "political speech" and "commercial speech." Both are worthy of constitutional protections. It's precisely that "common sense" interpretation of the plain meaning of the constitution is a big reason I'm such a Clarence Thomas fan. Reasonable people can disagree. And I understand how the commercial speech doctrine developed that it is entitled to a lesser level of protection (kind of "strict scrutiny" versus mere "heightened scrutiny"). But McCain-Feingold jurisprudence turns this on its head: political speech is entitled to significantly less protection. They're not saying it, but any court that refuses to strike down the evil McCain-Feingold bill basically is applying the old "rational basis" test to political speech. And just about nothing gets struck down under a rational basis inquiry. And, somehow, that is viewed as the "progressive" position: hostility to free political speech. Contrast that with the fact that in the worldview of the current Supreme Court majority, as proclaimed by the callow David Souter, the free speech activity of exotic dancing gets full first amendment protections. I guess Justice Souter thinks we're free to attack politicians and urge votes against them only if we're naked. And moving. Preferably to a rhythm track.

Of course, the "speech codes" on many college campuses are the worst affront to free speech currently tolerated. (I am outraged by free speech restrictions on public campuses only: you have no first amendment rights at private, religious, or other non-governmental educational institutions. The first amendment protects against state action only. Sorry.) Yet restricting disagreeable speech that makes leftists "uncomfortable" is the norm on college campuses. It is the "progressive" view. Fighting terrorism, a la the Patriot Act, is not.

That's when leftie hypocrisy can get deadly.

Spring training Surprise

2005-03-19T22:50:00.000-08:00

I watched the Texas Rangers play the Los Angeles/Anaheim/Orange County/California Angels on a rainy overcast Saturday in Surprise, Arizona. Angels won in 10 innings, 5-3. I have a few observations.

First of all, what an incredibly beaatiful little 10K-seat ballpark they got themselves in Surprise. I'm going to have to go back some day, in the early morning, and see if they folks wander the practice fields.

The Angels only played a few regulars (Garret Anderson, Bengie Molina, Vlad The Great), and a large number of non-roster invitees, so I don't have a good sense of their team. You really do feel the non-roster and minor league players in that game. You can't help but want to see Brian Specht (2B) or Mike Napoli (DH) succeed. Chone Figgins - and I have no clue as to what is supposed to be his natural position - made a spectacular play at second.

The Rangers, on the other hand, were not impressive this day. I go into this season pessimistic about their chances and they did nothing to dissuade. Alfonso Soriano had an atrocious half-day defensively. Chan Ho Park was golfed around. SS Mike Young supplied all the offense (and played sterling defense) and teh Ranger attack died once Young was pulled the game. I'm concerned about the Rangers' pitching. And I'm concerned that they are not going to get enough offense out of their outfield. (Their infield, however, will be the best offensive infield in baseball again - even better than my beloved Cardinals.) Buck Showalter will have them ready to play.

One problem with the game that reminded of why I don't like to watch live sports much anymore: the fans. There was a big fat frick two rows directly in front of me that played the "loud know-it-all" persona. He knew everything. He also rode Soriano who (admittedly) was playing terrible defensively. But this guy was a tub.

Now, I'm carrying a few pounds to me. It's no crime to be heavy (not even in California). But if you're going to rag on an athlete for not performing, don't you think that you should have some rudimentary athletic skills yourself? This guy was 75 percent of the way toward Michael Moore-dom in his girth. Put the fat frig out at second and he'd still be trying to reach the balls the Soriano muffed. So my point: don't loudly attack the ballplayers for failing to do something you could never even do in your dreams.

If Roberto Alomar wanted to rag on Soriano's defense, well, I guess we'd just have to step aside and let him. But if a big fat Michael Moore body-alike in a black SeanJohn T-shirt wants to attack Alfonso Soriano, I say: shut the frick up you fat frig. And, yes, we were able to figure out that Angels SS Maicer Izturis isn't (yet) as good as his brother, Dodger SS Cesar. We figured it out without you loudly proclaiming it to all the folks in your zip code.

Guilty pleasure Saturday: Donna Summer - "Hot Stuff"

2005-03-19T22:32:00.000-08:00

Guity pleasures don't get any guiltier than a "bad girl" song from Donna Summer.

The only time I listen to my Donna Summer Anthology CD is, once a year, when I driving either to, or back from, Arizona. At 34 tracks, it's definitely more Donna Summer than any one CD collection needs. But the essential tracks from the original Disco Diva #1 are scattered over too many records not to get this one. The best track is "Hot Stuff," where Donna "rocks out." Of course that's relatively speaking, as we're talking about a hardcore dance track that sports rock trappings. Guilty pleasure song o' the day.

Special bonus: When driving home tonight from Surprise, Arizona, the spring training home of the Texas Rangers (and K.C. Royals, too), I ate dinner at a Del Taco in lovely downtown Kingman, Arizona. I don't know whether I heard soem brand new way-cool teen slang, or the counter girl was simply clueless, but either way I'm going to start using this hip new expression that I picked up in hip-happening K-town, A.Z. When the counter girl needed a co-employee to sign something (I thin it was for his meal), she asked him for his "Herbie Hancock." Not John. Herbie.

I'm thinking she's too young to know who Herbie Hancock really is. And the "urban dictionary" doesn't list "Herbie Hancock" as an acceptable synonym for "John Hancock." And the girl clearly wasn't asking the Del Taco boy to play jazz keyboards for his chicken cheddar quesadilla. So, I'm thinking the kids in Kingman are just way ahead of their time in coining hip teen slang.

Spring training in Arizona

2005-03-17T23:18:00.000-08:00

This weekend I will be checking out spring training in central Arizona with special emphasis on my favorite Arizona-training team, the Texas Rangers.

I am distinguishing here between franchises that I like (St Louis Cardinals, Minnesota Twins) and teams that I like (Florida Marlins, Texas Rangers). When I like a franchise, it's because I am a fan of the whole entity, regardless of the players on the roster or the way the team plays. When I like a team, it's because I like the players, or their style of play (usually that means excellent up-the-middle defense and a balanced offense not overly reliant on sluggery), at this precise instance of time.

The current Rangers are the most interesting team to watch of the Arizona trainers. Michael Young and Hank Blalock are great young players. Mark Teixeira is a Georgia Tech boy, always a plus (especially when the player is not a Red Sock). And Chan Ho Park is the only major leaguer who has ever called to interrupt a person who was eating dinner with me, so I gotta love him too. I'm not optimistic about the '05 Rangers, as I expect this to be a "consolidation" year before they become legit World Series contenders in 2006. But maybe catching a couple of spring training games will change my opinion.

And after I soak in the baseball atmosphere, it will be time for me to make my predictions for 2005.

"Wonderfalls" on DVD

2005-03-17T23:00:00.000-08:00

Blogging is light for a very legitimate reason. My Wonderfalls DVD came from amazon yesterday.

Wonderfalls was the offbeat story of a young slacker, recently graduated from Brown, and working as a retail cerlk at a souvenir stand in Niagra Falls. Inanimate objects - always animals - talk to her and command her to do things. It's never clear exactly what they're commanding her to do, as the meaning of the commands change over the course of the episode. Quite simply, it was the best scripted TV show of the 21st Century.

It aired for only four episodes. I caught only three. And I loved each one. The show was funny. It was witty. It was spiritual in a way that broadcast TV never is. It's not wholly in accord with my brand of orthodox Catholicism, but it is amazing for an American TV program (and a hour-long comedy at that) to take religion and the realm of the spritual so seriously.[*] And that's "seriously" not in the sense of heavy and weighty, but "seriously" in the sense of being a legitimate part of this world and one's existence.

I've now made it through the first four of 13 episodes that were filmed. Those are the four that were broadcast. It's even better than I remember. The witticisms came so fast that, in the original broadcast, I couldn't have caught them all.

Amazon is now charging $29.99. Alldirect.com has it cheaper by - what a shock! - three bucks, at $26.49. My copy is making me so happy.

Footnote: Quite interesting, given the spiritual/religious subtext of the show, that the excellent, catchy theme song, "I Wonder Where the Wonder Falls," was written and sung by militant atheist Andy Partridge. It's the only thing decent Partridge's done since Skylarking. Might as well declare the title song the song o' the day.

A two-fer from Professor Bainbridge

2005-03-15T22:53:00.000-08:00

Great great great post by UCLA law school professor Steven Bainbrige at his ProfessorBainbridge.com site. It's a two-fer!

Why's it a two-fer? It's two, two great posts in one!

On the one hand, he makes a great point about how big-government, nanny-state liberalism has destroyed the community network, replacing neighborliness with bureaucracy. We are less likely to reach out and help those in need because it's the job of government. A friend of mine takes the same view about why Franklin Roosevelt was the worst president: social security. FDR ended the idea that caring for the elderly was a family responsibility and replaced it with the notion it was a state responsibility. That's known as "destroying families."

The UCLA Professor makes that great point that must be emphasized over and over. And, and this is the two-fer bonus. He does it in the context of dismissing yet another example of the shallowness and superficiality of that upper middle class Brit-twit, Andrew Sullivan. He points out a virtual plagiarism by the pompous little (insert synonym for rectum here); he then proceeds to eviscerate the arrogant little (insert male genital synonym here) by pointing the utter falsity of the dumb idea he just stole. Bainbridge thrusts his epee like a fencing gold medalist, right into the (insert a whole raft of vulgarities).

Why do have such a low opinion of Mr. Sullivan? Well, I met the man. That's reason enough.

Beware the Ides of March

2005-03-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

Just because, that's why.

What is happening in the Philippines?

2005-03-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

Multiple posts, all of them fascinating, over at Belmont Club, regarding the Philippine front in the War on Terror:

-- There's this essay on how Gloria Arroyo's strategy of abject surrender to terror demands is (shockingly!) not getting the terrorists to back down in their strategy of kidnaping Filipino nationals for ransom in Iraq. Latest terror demand: Arroyo and the Philippine government are being told by Iraqi terrorists that they must vocally repudiate the U.S. and its Iraq strategy as a condition of releasing its latest hostage (whose family cries: do it!).

-- There's a series of postings, starting with this and this, including this, and ending with this, about the prison takeover by Abu Sayyaf imprisoned guerillas. The gross incompetence of the Philippine correctional guards makes security at the Fulton County Courthouse look like Dick Cheney's secret, secure, undisclosed location.

Wretchard's theme is that corruption, incompetence, cowardice, and leftist influence are in harmonic convergence in Manila, setting the scene for an unmitigated disaster on the Philippine front in the War on Terror.

The Philippines is a special country. It has a special mission in this world, to be the outpost of Catholicism to the most populous continent on the planet, right in the center of its greatest population density. Now is the time to pray for the Philippines. Pray that the corrupt officials put the real interest of the people above personal gain. Pray that itsgovernment makes the right decisions. And pray that those same officials grow a spine.

Concrete Blonde - "Heal It Up"

2005-03-15T20:18:00.000-08:00

I never would want to own a whole Concrete Blonde CD. I do own their "greatest hits," Recollection: The Best of Concrete Blonde, and even that (18 tracks!) is way too much Johnette Napolitano. They have some great, punked-out power-pop tunes, such as "Joey," "Walking in London," and "Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man" (in which Napolitano actually demonstrates a clever sense of humor). But too much of their material is just postured anger and tuneless, rapid-fire guitaristry. Not my scene.

My favorite is the achingly desperate "Heal It Up," where Napolitano wrings maximum impact from her very limited vocal skills. It's the best of the five or six reasons there is to own Recollection. It's, also, song o' the day for the Ides of March 2005.

The Supremes - "Stoned Love"

2005-03-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

With the exception of the anthemic "Someday We'll Be Together," the Supremes first few post-Diana Ross singles arew the best work of their career. And the best? Their funked-up #1 R&B hit, "Stoned Love." Song o' the day? Solid!

Diana's departure freed the remaining Supremes from the Hollard-Dozier-Holland formula, under inspired guidance from produced Frank WIlson. Apparently, Motown chief Barry Gordy hated this song. What the hell was Gordy thinking? The song has more rhythm and blues than the entire Diana Ross solo catalog put together (well, if you exclude the diana LP that she did under the care of Chic's Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards).

Atlanta hostage story

2005-03-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

Inspiring story posted on the FoxNews site about the woman (Ashley Smith) taken hostage in her home by Brian Nichols, the accused rapist who went on a killing rampage at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta last week. This woman's religious faith,a nd the fact that she trusted in that faith and lived that faith, got her through what had to have been harrowing ordeal when she was kidnaped by Mr. Nichols.

I first read about this remarkable woman via a link to lucianne.com posted on the Power Line page. One of the commenters to the posting said something that I thought was bizarre, that the poster hoped she would visit the man in prison. Then, after reading her story, I thought the same thing: I hope she goes to his trial and visits him a few times in prison, sort of like the Pope visiting his would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca. She doesn't have to, of course. She's a heroine anyway. She's already shown remarkable strength and courage.

Happy Pi Day!

2005-03-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

Here's a nerdy way to start the week, courtesy of Brian Lundmark's on-line comic strip Rockwood: the first "Happy Pi Day" strip. Get it? Today's 3-14? Pi?

Well, I thought it was funny.