Amongst the deluge of feedback I get, a recent comment really offended me (get it?). The feed backer felt I had lost some of my offensiveness. So, let's hope I got my mojo back and offend a few of you in this post.
The New Yorker, with exquisite timing, had a profile of Paul Ryan two weeks before he became the Vice Presidential nominee. The guy lives in the same town he was born in with other Ryans all over the place. Jaynesville, Wisconsin. Never has won a state wide office let alone a national one. Now we have two very wealthy white Midwesterners running against Mr. Obama and the conservatives could not be happier. Both opposed gay marriage and Ryan at least is a right to lifer. He is bright and at the least his budget proposals are specific as opposed to Romney's who just opposes everything and proposes nothing. Ryan opposes everything about government (one wonders why he wants to run and oversee it) and proposes things which would push us back to the glory days of the 40's and 50's. If it were up to him, the USA women's success at the Olympics would never have happened because Title IX never would have happened and all the women would be at home, not working, and having babies. He is more dangerous in many ways than Romney. On the other hand, he gives the Dems something hard to punch as opposed to the jello that is the Mitter.
Then we have Tommy Menino who continues to fix my sidewalks and my potholes but still has not found it in his soul to endorse Elizabeth Warren. It is unfathomable--is it her gender, her Hahvahd connections, her lack of insider status? Whatever, Scottie is running free and needs to be kicked to the curb. Elizabeth is doing her part but Tommy needs to get off his fat ass and do something else beside pouring cement onto crumbling pavement.
I promise myself to look at my boy Nate's blog once a week and then find myself looking at it daily. He is still forecasting that the Prez will end up with close to 300 electoral votes but only has a 4% lead in the popular vote. This currently includes Obama wins in Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Iowa, and Wisconsin; but Colorado just moved into the toss up category. I worry despite Nate's massive data analysis.
And then we have neither candidate daring to say a word about recent murders in Colorado and at the Sikh temple. They just want to send flowers and lower flags which I guess is all well and good but the NRA has them scared from even suggesting that perhaps we should ban automatic weapons. Even with very strict laws in this fair state, 3 women ended up being murdered just this week sitting in a car. More flowers and memorials; more ministers bemoaning the violence like they always do; and the guns keep coming. One of Neil Young's songs written after 9/11 quotes the comedian Chris Rock who more or less said: no more flowers and memorials; we need to do something. Ditto.
Then we have a city in Texas (McAllen, I think) which just built its High School a $60 million dollar football stadium. So fucked up--only irony is that Barbara and I just began watching old episodes of Friday Night Lights which of course is about High School football in Texas and while it might be good tv, it represents some sort of skewed value system.
SPORTS TALK
Bob Ryan covered the Olympics for the Globe and then semi retired. He was THE best Globe writer and one of the best in the country. The field is now open for that fool Shaughnessy to take charge. The only good news is that Chris Gasper who is very good has become the new columnist The bad news is that the Globe actually had 3 reporters in Baltimore for this series with Orioles--kind of like a death watch or something. Waiting for the smoke to come out of the Vatican chimney.
Let's be clear that the women outshone the men at the Olympics especially in the team sports. All due to the explosion of collegiate level women's athletics which in turn (as I mentioned before) is due to Title IX. Without it, you think the U.S. women would have won gold in basketball or water polo? Come on and then think about the Mitter and Mr. Ryan.
I hate Lebron but I will now grudgingly admit two things. The Heat beat the Celtics in game 6 (and then game 7) due to him and then he absolutely carried the men's Olympic team on his back on the way to gold. He is absolutely at the top of his game.
No more softball at the games but we do have Equestrian and Rhythmic Gymnastics--both pathetic excuses for sport. Has anyone seen those folks with their ribbons and beach balls doing god knows what. Oh my. But guess who is a member of my tribe? That would be Aly Reisman who actually had her Rabbi quoted in the paper talking about her Bat Mitzvah.
Mr Brady and the boys are back which is good for all fans of all local teams cuz the red flops are both flopping and fighting and will not recover. Gonzalez may be a good hitter but he is an undermining fool leading a clubhouse uprising. My boys down in NYC hit a few bumps but when Eric
Chavez is hitting .300 and Freddy Garcia can pitch 6 or more innings, they will be ok. Please check out what Jeter is doing.
Back to you all in mid September after a Rocky Mountain high.
Hope I offended someone.
Sayonara
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
USA! USA! USA!
More about my super patriotic phase later but for now I want to mention my new cousin. That would be Henry and his mother would be Samantha and his parents would be Greer and Andy. We will go see him face to face tomorrow and make sure they are doing everything correctly--because WE KNOW. Continuing the extended family portion of this screed, I took a road trip with our nephew Jake last week and visited 3 schools he might apply to in the fall. Had a great time with him and visited UVM, UMass, and Northeastern. Very different places. UVM is very very far. It is easy to understand why their orientation is north to Montreal since it is only 90 miles away. I was surprised at how isolated UMass seemed to be--from his home in NJ, Burlington felt more accessible than Amherst. He will have more visits and was great company--though we did not share music. He put in his ear buds and I blasted Bruce just to give us each a break from too much man talk.
Moving on to the Mitter. He stuck his foot, actually both feet, in his mouth in England and then decided to kiss a bunch of asses in Israel--including Mr. Adelson who is already giving him gobs of money. The Mitter has decided Jerusalem is the capital of the country though he might want to check with the Palestinians on that one. Honest to god, in the upcoming debates, if Obama does not chew him up and spit him out in the area of foreign policy, it will be a total mistake. The Mitter has no clue. He would, however, support Israel if it attacked Iran and thinks our domestic gun laws are fine despite the massacre in Colorado the perpetrator of which used an automatic weapon. The Mitter and the NRA totally support his right to have purchased the weapon.
On the other hand the murder of the Israelis in Bulgaria will not go unpunished. In a week or a month or sometime in the future, Israel will do something in Iran as retribution and will be able to deny it. I cannot say I can blame them if they start to see a pattern of Iranian violence against their travelling civilians. I also believe that all the Republicans requesting military intervention in Syria better look closely at Iraq and Afghanistan both of which are falling apart. They also are probably missing what I think is obvious--that the U.S. likely has some sort of "feet on the ground" either close by in Turkey or in Syria itself. We are also probably facilitating all sorts of weapon transfers and intelligence gathering for the resistance. So if I were John McCain, I would shut the fuck up.
The apologists are out in force to resurrect the image of Joe Paterno. The most pathetic sight was watching students watch the announcement of the sanctions--all in tears and twisting their hair and woe is me the statue is gone. Kick him while he is down I say. Now I read that Sandusky believes the sanctions are too severe. Raise your hands if any of you care about the opinion of a pedophile like him.
Nate Silver's poll analysis is getting me a bit too optimistic. This week, the data he analyzes projected Obama winning in Florida and Ohio which would pretty much doom the Mitter. I am trying to hold myself back but remember there are less than 100 days left until the election.
Two items of cultural interest or so I hope: Doonesbury has a new character by the name of "Jimmy Crow" drawn as (guess what) a crow. A reminder to us all of those Jim Crow laws of the 60's in the South used to keep African Americans from voting. The Republicans are doing it again in Florida and other states. Doonesbury nailed it. Then there is this documentary called "Pelotero' about the recruitment of Dominican baseball players and how sleazy the whole business is. Just terrific as well as depressing.
OLYMPIC NEWS AND NOTES
1. Please tell me why all Brazilian athletes use only one name. Does not matter what sport or what gender--just one name.
2. One of the analysts for water polo is the guy who covers ice hockey for NBC (a Canadian). He has been comparing the physicalness of water polo to ice hockey. You gotta watch one of these games. Absent the drowning of your opponent, you can pretty much do anything especially if it is underwater. Plus these folks have to tread water the whole time. Absolutely brutal. They wear these funny helmets which I guess is to protect their ears from getting bitten off which is not likely a penalty.
3. I believe we Americans overrate our athletes or to put it another way, we have no clue how good the rest of the world has gotten in all sports. Most noticeably in swimming.
4. I hate this tape delay business since I have already checked the Internet for the results and have no need to actually watch them unless I "care" about the sport or the athlete.
SPORTS TALK
My Yankees are slumping and I am not sure what Ichiro will bring except they needed someone out there. The pitching and hitting are both struggling right now. On the other hand, Jeter and Cano are playing out of their heads and may each end up with over 200 hits.
What do the red flops do about Josh Beckett except curse Theo who brought him here. He has a sucky attitude and now he cannot even pitch.
Not worried yet but the Patriots offensive line is how shall I say this--in flux and where the fuck is Brian Waters anyhow?
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you are on your cell phone, drinking coffee, and crossing a street in front of me, I may not be nice. Jessica is in Ghana which somehow is closer to us than England which really messes up my geographic balance. And then I worry about her being there. Will visit the Aubrun cemetery next week for my annual pre Jewish New Year visit. a lot of my family are in residence there.
Sayonara
Moving on to the Mitter. He stuck his foot, actually both feet, in his mouth in England and then decided to kiss a bunch of asses in Israel--including Mr. Adelson who is already giving him gobs of money. The Mitter has decided Jerusalem is the capital of the country though he might want to check with the Palestinians on that one. Honest to god, in the upcoming debates, if Obama does not chew him up and spit him out in the area of foreign policy, it will be a total mistake. The Mitter has no clue. He would, however, support Israel if it attacked Iran and thinks our domestic gun laws are fine despite the massacre in Colorado the perpetrator of which used an automatic weapon. The Mitter and the NRA totally support his right to have purchased the weapon.
On the other hand the murder of the Israelis in Bulgaria will not go unpunished. In a week or a month or sometime in the future, Israel will do something in Iran as retribution and will be able to deny it. I cannot say I can blame them if they start to see a pattern of Iranian violence against their travelling civilians. I also believe that all the Republicans requesting military intervention in Syria better look closely at Iraq and Afghanistan both of which are falling apart. They also are probably missing what I think is obvious--that the U.S. likely has some sort of "feet on the ground" either close by in Turkey or in Syria itself. We are also probably facilitating all sorts of weapon transfers and intelligence gathering for the resistance. So if I were John McCain, I would shut the fuck up.
The apologists are out in force to resurrect the image of Joe Paterno. The most pathetic sight was watching students watch the announcement of the sanctions--all in tears and twisting their hair and woe is me the statue is gone. Kick him while he is down I say. Now I read that Sandusky believes the sanctions are too severe. Raise your hands if any of you care about the opinion of a pedophile like him.
Nate Silver's poll analysis is getting me a bit too optimistic. This week, the data he analyzes projected Obama winning in Florida and Ohio which would pretty much doom the Mitter. I am trying to hold myself back but remember there are less than 100 days left until the election.
Two items of cultural interest or so I hope: Doonesbury has a new character by the name of "Jimmy Crow" drawn as (guess what) a crow. A reminder to us all of those Jim Crow laws of the 60's in the South used to keep African Americans from voting. The Republicans are doing it again in Florida and other states. Doonesbury nailed it. Then there is this documentary called "Pelotero' about the recruitment of Dominican baseball players and how sleazy the whole business is. Just terrific as well as depressing.
OLYMPIC NEWS AND NOTES
1. Please tell me why all Brazilian athletes use only one name. Does not matter what sport or what gender--just one name.
2. One of the analysts for water polo is the guy who covers ice hockey for NBC (a Canadian). He has been comparing the physicalness of water polo to ice hockey. You gotta watch one of these games. Absent the drowning of your opponent, you can pretty much do anything especially if it is underwater. Plus these folks have to tread water the whole time. Absolutely brutal. They wear these funny helmets which I guess is to protect their ears from getting bitten off which is not likely a penalty.
3. I believe we Americans overrate our athletes or to put it another way, we have no clue how good the rest of the world has gotten in all sports. Most noticeably in swimming.
4. I hate this tape delay business since I have already checked the Internet for the results and have no need to actually watch them unless I "care" about the sport or the athlete.
SPORTS TALK
My Yankees are slumping and I am not sure what Ichiro will bring except they needed someone out there. The pitching and hitting are both struggling right now. On the other hand, Jeter and Cano are playing out of their heads and may each end up with over 200 hits.
What do the red flops do about Josh Beckett except curse Theo who brought him here. He has a sucky attitude and now he cannot even pitch.
Not worried yet but the Patriots offensive line is how shall I say this--in flux and where the fuck is Brian Waters anyhow?
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you are on your cell phone, drinking coffee, and crossing a street in front of me, I may not be nice. Jessica is in Ghana which somehow is closer to us than England which really messes up my geographic balance. And then I worry about her being there. Will visit the Aubrun cemetery next week for my annual pre Jewish New Year visit. a lot of my family are in residence there.
Sayonara
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