Nobody 713

Sunday, September 30, 2007
Nobody # 713

Nobody Asked Me But:

“Hope feeds, expectations kill.” – jt

I am not usually in favor of epidemics, physical or psychological, but the one called Tattoo Remorse has not come a moment too soon. Would that we could inoculate our youth, our athletes and our trendy adults and eliminate this scourge.<<<

Did Columbia’s president, Lee C. Bollinger invite Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (pronounced like “I’m a dinner jacket”) to a personal debate? If not, his introduction of Iran’s leader was crass and opportunistic. It showed neither class nor courtesy.

Columbia was under no obligation to invite this evil man. I have mixed feelings about whether or not it was a good idea.* But having done so they were obliged to treat him as a guest.

I had no problem whatsoever with the tough questions thrown at Ahmadinejad. Once he accepted his invitation, they went with the territory. But Bollinger’s self-serving attempt to have it both ways, promote free speech but cover my ass, begs the question of how he ever got the job of president of a great university.

*Pro: It gave him the opportunity to parade his idiocy before an audience.
Con: Being the leader of a country does not automatically entitle a villian/buffoon to the podium.<<<

Here’s Greg Gutfeld of “fair and balanced” Fox News: “So the foul-smelling fruitbat Ahmadinejad spoke at that crack house known as Columbia University today.”<<<

Note: I scooped Maureen Dowd. My reaction to the Columbia incident was written before hers. I’m not saying she stole from me, but……………<<<

It is a rare occurrence for me, but I am not immune. Every once in a while I see something, perhaps a never-used-anymore baseball glove in the garage and I’ll think, “ain’t it funny how time slips away.”<<<

A second look at Senator Craig – and at myself: I was in such a rush to judgment that I condemned the wrong man. I think that the Larry Craig who is a moral hypocrite is despicable and has no business conducting the nation’s business. But the Larry Craig who was arrested by the sex patrol is more a figure of pity than a deviant. As George Will wrote, “If deviancy can be defined down to signaling an interest in sex, then deviancy is what goes on in 10,000 bars every Saturday night in our country."

I do not want public restrooms to be sexual hangouts, but I don’t want them to be sex traps either.<<<

And did you know that the nickname for C. L. Otter, Idaho’s Republican governor, who will appoint Craig’s replacement is “Butch?”<<<

From CNN: Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at a Senate hearing this week when he repeated his view that killing is immoral and should not be condoned by the military.

What’s that, he said gay sex, not killing? What kind of pervert is he anyway?<<<

LITERATURE – MY BEST OF THE STILL-YOUNG CENTURY

Fiction – “The Plot against America” – Phillip Roth. Non-fiction – “The Year of Living Dangerously” - Joan Didion.
New author – Ronnie Airth.

Thankfully, I am never too old to be delighted. And delighted I was last week when I heard this song during the Bob Dylan show on XM. His Theme Time show that day was hellos and good-byes, and he played this song sung by Groucho Marx in “Animal Crackers” in 1930. So, without further adieu, here is “Hello, I Must Be Going.”

Groucho
Hello, I must be going
I cannot stay I came to say
I must be going
I'm glad I came But just the same
I must be going... Ta-Ta!
Margaret Dumont
For my sake you must stay;
If you should go away,
You'll spoil this party I am throwing
Groucho:
I'll stay a week or two
I'll stay the summer through But
I am telling you
I must be going.<<<

In Phoenix, Bitter Smith, is fighting to overturn that city’s ordinance that makes it illegal to text message while driving. No, I’m not sure if that’s what made her bitter.<<<

DID YOU KNOW: T

hat 82 billionaires did not make the cut for the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans?

Before the Bush presidency and its “save the wealthy” tax plan, a net worth of $258,332 would have earned you place number 397.<<<

And did you know that of the 21 budgets submitted by Republican presidents since 1980, 19 were unbalanced?

Or that of our $1T National debt –– 1/2 was incurred during Bush presidencies?<<<

IT’S WORKING! IT’S WORKING!

24 die in Iraq peace meeting blast. Without the “Surge,” it would have been 28.<<<

DODGER TALK

It is total wishful thinking on the part of the team’s veterans to believe that the team would have won the pennant had they played more. When they did play during the team’s two prolonged slumps, they left as many or more men on base as the young players.

But they are right to dislike and disapprove of what they see as disrespect shown by the kids to the veterans and the Game.

And finally, is there anyone, player, manager, front office who has talked to these “kids” about maturity and the Game?<<<

Also on baseball: Is the 20-game winner an endangered species?<<<

POST-SEASON BASEBALL (You can take these picks to the bank)

American League
Red Sox over Angels
Indians over Yankees
Indians over Red Sox

National League
Diamondbacks over Cubs
Phillies over Padres

Phillies over Diamondbacks

World Series Indians over Phillies

Note: If Mets win the East then Mets over Padres and Diamondback’s over Mets. If either Colorado or the Phillies are the wild card, I pick them to make the World Series. No matter who wins in the NL, the Indians win the WS.

MY BASEBALL AWARDS

National League

MVP – Matt Holliday - Rockies
Runner-up – Chase Utley – Phillies

Cy Young – Jake Peavy – Padres
Runner-up – Brandon Webb – Diamondbacks

American League

MVP – Alex Rodriguez
Runner-up – Magglio Ordonez - Tigers

Cy Young:

Josh Beckett – Red Sox
Runner-up C - C. Sabathia - Indians

DID YOU KNOW: Except for Ruth Bader Ginsberg, every Supreme Court Justice who has been appointed since Nixon chose Lewis Powell in 1971 has been more conservative than the Justice he or she replaced?<<<

Christian conservatives are trying to take the Republican Party away from the Republicans and make a religious organization out of it. - Barry Goldwater<<<

Anna Quindlen, in Newsweek, opines that Rudy the G, if elected president in 08, would be bad for the country but good for party – the latter because he would lessen the hold of the “Leviticus Lobby.”

She goes on to wonder when Republicans stopped being about public policy and started being about moral judgment.<<<

Color the elephant – This picture shows the Republican elephant. The color chart below is graded from white to black based on skin color. Fill in by the numbers to see the percentage make-up within the party of each group.<<<

Bill (I’m not racist) O’Reilly gets a surprise:

He went to a black restaurant last week with Al Sharpton and there "wasn't any kind of craziness at all. "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, M.F.-er, I want more iced tea."<<<
BACK TO HAWAII

I’ll start with pictures of my favorite Starbucks.

This was not the miracle of Lourdes, but it was close. I spilled some water and looked down – low and behold it stained my shirt with an exact image of Mickey Mouse.<<<

Signs of the times

When I sit in a beach chair or lie in a hammock, I don’t get up as gracefully as I once did. And to tell the truth I wasn’t all that grateful when I was once.<<<

Signs of the times – Part II

Overheard in Waikiki: Mother to young son – “We are all fucked up over dinner.”<<<

"I feel strongly that there ought to be fair justice."—George Bush, Sept. 20, 2007