Nobody 690

Sunday, March 18, 2007
Nobody # 690

Nobody Asked Me But:

Let’s start today with a sing-along:

Crazy Ann Coulter had a dream, E-I-E-I-O
And in her dream she saw some faggots, E-I-E-I-O
With a “Hillary faggot " here and a "Bill faggot" there
Here an "Al" there a "John"
Everywhere a "faggot," faggot
Crazy Ann Coulter had a dream, E-I-E-I-O

Repeat, substituting General Peter Pace for Crazy Ann.<<<

From this week’s Newsweek: Do you believe that the theory of evolution can coexist with religion?

Yes x No

Not Sure

A person (although not I) could believe in God as the first cause that set evolution in motion.<<<

Hugh coming through – with a response to last week’s questions:

"I hope I get this right. My father was a small businessman. Mom gave piano lessons and was a church musician. Grandmother (maternal) was a homemaker and my grandfather worked for a bakery. My paternal grandparents were farmers."

"I do not remember my first words but I do remember my mothers reaction. It was something like "bring the soap!"<<<

Last Sunday was one of those days when California resembles paradise. We used the first day of daylight savings well. It was 80+ degrees, so we sat out until after 7. We also did the same earlier, legs in the sun, body in the shade, a really excellent book and the smell of orange blossoms.

The book was Rennie Airth’s second, “The Blood-Dimmed Tide.” His first, “River Of Darkness,” took place in Post WWI England. “Tide,” is set 11 year’s later. The dark shadow of Nazism is just starting to set off alarm bells on the continent and, more slowly, in England. John Madden has now retired from Scotland Yard but finds himself being drawn to the case of a serial destroyer of pre-fourteen-year-old girls when he discovers the latest victim. Airth is an excellent writer, and he tells a superb story. I’m a tough grader and I gave it an A+.<<<

This week in Slate Magazine - http://www.slate.com/id/2161655/nav/tap1/ is a very interesting excerpt from the introduction to “The Enlightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of Everything,” which uses NCAA Tournament brackets to answer life’s nagging questions. I have taken the question, which was more important and followed through round by round with my opinions. In each round my more important is marked with an X as we move from 32 down to number 1. The form I use below is way not cool compared to doing it at the link above, but is the best I can do here.

It’s fun! Try it! You’ll like it!

ROUND ONE
Berlin Wall comes tumbling down (1989) x
Apollo I disaster: Grissom, White, Chaffee die (1967)

First time you heard the Beatles (1963)
Nixon resigns over Watergate (1974) x

Mount St. Helens erupts (1980)
Katrina hits New Orleans (2005) x

O.J. verdict (1995)
First Clay-Liston fight (1964) x

Miracle on Ice (1980)
Oklahoma City bombing (1995) x

JFK assassinated (1963) x
John Glenn orbits Earth (1962)

John Lennon shot (1980) x
Elvis Presley dies at 42 (1977)

RFK assassinated (1968)
Kent State shootings (1970) x

Woodstock festival (1969) x
San Francisco World Series earthquake (1989)

Buddy Holly dies (1959)
First man on the moon (1969) x

Princess Diana dies (1997)
Three Mile Island nuclear accident (1979) x

Munich Olympics terrorist attack (1972) x
Reagan shot (1981)

Shuttle Challenger explodes (1986)
Martin Luther King assassinated (1968) x

JFK Jr. dies in plane crash (1999)
Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on re-entry (2003) x

9/11 attacks (2001) x
Asian tsunami (2004)

Dale Earnhardt dies at Daytona (2001)
Russians launch Sputnik (1957) x

ROUND TWO – THE SIXTEEN
Berlin Wall comes tumbling down (1989) x
Nixon resigns over Watergate (1974)

Katrina hits New Orleans (2005)
First Clay-Liston fight (1964) x

Oklahoma City bombing (1995)
JFK assassinated (1963) x

John Lennon shot (1980)
Kent State shootings (1970) x

Woodstock festival (1969)
First man on the moon (1969) x

Three Mile Island nuclear accident (1979)
Munich Olympics terrorist attack (1972) x

Martin Luther King assassinated (1968) x
Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on re-entry (2003)

9/11 attacks (2001) x
Russians launch Sputnik (1957)

ROUND THREE – ELITE 8
Berlin Wall comes tumbling down (1989) x
First Clay-Liston fight (1964)

JFK assassinated (1963) x
Kent State shootings (1970)

First man on the moon (1969) x
Munich Olympics terrorist attack (1972)

Martin Luther King assassinated (1968)
9/11 attacks (2001) x

FINAL FOUR
Berlin Wall comes tumbling down (1989)
JFK assassinated (1963) x

First man on the moon (1969)
9/11 attacks (2001) x

MOST IMPORTANT
JFK assassinated (1963)
9/11 attacks (2001) XXX<<<

“You're Invited to a Comprehensive Obesity Seminar - LA Times.” I hope that I was not the only one to whom they sent this E-mail.<<<

He has started an unnecessary and disastrous war, which he will leave as his main but not only negative legacy for his successor. He will be remembered also for his attack on the Bill of Rights, his reverse Robin Hood tax policies (rob the poor to help the rich), his ineffectiveness in handling the disasters of Katrina and Walter Reed, his huge national debt, his failure to make more than a token effort to find a fuel alternative that will free America from its dependency on the Middle Peace and his callous indifference to the environment. His is a government of secrecy within a democracy that requires transparency to function properly. So, Is George Bush the worst President of all time?

A significant number of historians think so. They compare him with the other great failures, see list immediately below, and do not find him wanting. They use several criteria, but in my opinion the overriding one is that each man left office with his country much worse off than it was when he first took his oath. Here, then, are the five with whom these historians group Bush. The sixth one is my addition to the Hall Of Shame.

James Buchanan, - mishandled Southern secession in 1860 to the point that his most recent biographer has said, probably amounted to disloyalty.

Andrew Johnson, - actively sided with former Confederates and undermined Reconstruction.

Warren G. Harding, - administration was fabulously corrupt.

Herbert Hoover, - tried some reforms but remained imprisoned in his own outmoded individualist ethic and collapsed under the weight of the stock-market crash of 1929.

Richard M. Nixon, - the only American president forced to resign from office.

(My addition) Jimmy Carter – he lusted in his heart… no, that’s not it. He left the country in a malaise that he helped create.

Does George Bush belong on this list? Look around you and tell me that the answer is not a resounding yes! Is he the worst? That’s pretty subjective. That he belongs with this group is damning enough.<<<

“He who does not hope to win has already lost.” Jose Joaquin Olmedo – poet and President of Ecuador, June to December 1845.

This excellent quotation about life also applies to college basketball in March when that sport is life.

The Bruins hoped to win yesterday and they did, defeating Indiana and advancing to a Sweet 16 meeting next Thursday with Pittsburg. But it wasn’t easy. With so many missed shots and the fact that it was played on St. Paddy’s Day, one could easily have applied that old Irish saying:

"Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you fight with your neighbor. It makes you shoot at your landlord-- and it makes you miss him."

But, two more tough wins and Atlanta here come the Turners.<<<

And, finally, congratulations to Arron Affalo for being named first-team all-American by the Sporting News, the fifth time he's been named to a first team this postseason. Afflalo was also named to the NABC, ESPN.com, Dick Vitale and SI.com teams.

And to sophomore point guard Darren Collison, who was named second-team all-American by SI.com.<<<