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