Pardon This Man's Whiteness - He Just Can't Help It.

When speaking about the influence of the internet to counter-act what she feels is the free pub the traditional media affords Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Presidential candidate John Edwards, lamented, "We can't make John black, we can't make him a woman."

Well, well, well,...its come to this: a candidate in the Democratic Presidential Primary is hurt because he happens to be a male and he also happens to be a white male..... a fabulously rich, white male. To be fair, as the wife of a candidate who appears to be losing ground to the two front-runners, she could've just been expressing some frustration. However, the logic behind her reasoning remains sound, though, she has no one to blame but herself. To be exact, herself and the power elite that have helped shape the ideaology of the Democratic Party over the last 40-45 years as the party of the Victim and more precisely the party of the Miniority Victim.

Is it any wonder then that the traditional viability of a white male Democratic Presidential candidate is openly questioned when that same party has painted itself into such a corner?

http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1397,2167603,00.asp

So, Again, What am I Doing Here?

I'm really, really going to try to get to some college football tomorrow. Don't know if I'll have regular pre-season installments through August leading up to the first kick-off but maybe, with your imagination, it will seem that way. I have some thoughts on why neither USC nor LSU, the two consensus pre-season Nos. 1 and 2 will win the National Championship.

Deny at Your Own Peril

In Europe, Holocaust deniers have been subjected to legal censure if not outright prosecution for years. Attached article from Newsweek uses "denier" and/or "denial machine" at least a dozen times in describing those who aren't totally onboard with the science of man-made global-warming. I will not apologize then for taking slight offense to the obvious hammering of this term as an attempt to equate the two camps.

Much is made in this article of the sponsorship of scientists and scientific paper-writers who call into question man-made global warming. What isn't mentioned in the article, though, is the Government funding, your tax dollars, in way of grants to the doomsayers that write of our imminent demise at the hands of man-made global warming.

Article also talks of corporations that are pushing for tougher restrictions on green house emissions. Got a little story related to that: As part of my job, I was researching some pending regulations on oily water separators that are put aboard our ships. My research revealed that the IMO (International Maritime Organization) to which our country is a signatory, worked with "industry" to tighten restrictions on what is allowed to be pumped overboard after being processed by the separators. What I found out was that "industry" was represented by a single company, "Company X". Turns out "Company X" was the only company in the world that had the technology whereby they could backfit existing and start manufacturing new separators that would comply with the stricter regulations they were helping create. And guess whose company's separators are now onboard our ships?

I realized then what is really meant by "going Green".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20122975/site/newsweek/page/6/

"Honk for the Troops!"

Apologies for the grainy quality of the photo. It was taken with my cell phone on the way home from a baseball game Sunday afternoon. I asked the boy on the right, (his kid sister is on the left in the yellow) whose idea this was and they all said that they kind of came up with it together. The girl just to the left of the sign then chirped in, "My Dad's in the Navy." And just so we all don't get too carried away with the sappy-ness of this Rockwellian image, the boy's T-shirt read, "Take my Sister, please."

"I am sorry, I'm currently unavailable but please leave your name and a brief message after the beep. Viva Jihad and Peace Out, my brothers."

After the Senate approved the same on Friday, the House approved the Wiretap Bill on Saturday by a 227-183 margin.

Despite all the bitching and moaning to the contrary, when push comes to vote, it appears that even Democrats realize the importance of a streamlined and efficient communications monitoring program. Its important to know what the bad guys are up to. Really. Really. Important. I'm heartened that my elected leaders and I are on the same page on this one.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6828088,00.html

If Chicks Dig the Long Ball, Then We're Looking at Baseball's Rat Pack, here.

Credit to Mike Hennessy for forwarding this link from the New York Times. Its a graph showing the home runs hit as a function of age. A quick study lends creedance to the conventional wisdom that Alex Rodriguez who just hit his 500th last night has a very good shot at beating whatever number Fat Head retires with this year.

(Oh. And the picture above is a picture of a Man)

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/sports/20070731_BONDS_GRAPHIC.html#

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Nice work, Padre fans. With an opportunity to express to Mr. Bonds just what a travesty his tying the all-time home run record was they rolled over and gave Bonds a standing ovation.

(From Chris Jenkin's article in today's U-T):

"So, the answer to the question? The crowd was gracious, excited, perhaps even privileged. And, in the minority, simply annoyed.
For all the poundings that Bonds has put on San Diego in the past, the immediate response to Bonds' shot was a universal explosion of “Whoa!” A predominance of cheering followed, muffling the inevitable boos, as the Bonds circled the bases to a standing ovation."

Dodger fans did their part this past week. I mean what's so wrong with vocally expressing a little anger, discontent and, dare I say, (gasp) pique? Padre fans had the chance to forever provide the proper context and backdrop for this travelling circus and they blew it. Pathetic.

Professional Sports and the Myth of Vegas

A couple weeks back Jim Rome had Michael Franceze on his radio show to talk about the NBA/Tim Donaghy betting scandal. Franceze, a frequent guest on Rome's show, is a reformed gambler and a former mob associate who has done time in Federal prison. I was only able to listen to the first two segments of Rome's interview but I had a couple of issues with some of the things Franceze was saying.

Franceze started in by talking about Vegas being a bad idea as a potential home for a pro sports franchise because of the easy access to gambling and a criminal element being there. With all due respect to Franceze who has probably seen more than I ever would in a 100 life-times: what a crock. Vegas, New York, Chicago, Atlanta.... it doesn't matter... whereever there are pro athletes with money, bad people peddling bad ideas will be there. Trouble will always follow young men with lots of money and it doesn't matter where. Oh yeah - they all gamble. NBAers especially. Flush with cash and days-off between games with nothing better to do, they become absolute degenerates. Thousands of dollars on H-O-R-S-E games before practice, running poker games, that game where you toss pennies against the wall.... anything to kill time and create the high that gambling and winning at gambling accomplishes. The NBA is rife with a culture of gambling as it is and it has nothing to do with Vegas.

Like its going to be any worse in Vegas? I'll make the argument that the situation actually will improve for a team home-based in Vegas. How many people that live and work in Vegas actually go near the Strip? Not many. Why? Because they are.... living and... working... in Vegas. Vegas isn't any different than any other place on the planet when it comes to the daily grind of working, raising a family and trying to keep your head above water. For teams and the players who would hypothetically be home-based in Vegas, the city would not be the destination where you go nuts for a few days... it would be home. Home to your family, home to your friends and home to your community. The allure and excitement would be dulled somewhat because you are making a home there and not treating it as a wild vacation destination.

Lastly, ballers would be watched like hawks in the casinos and strip clubs in Vegas. Vegas has a vested interest that everything is on the up-and-up and that there are no shenanigans. You think Baller 'X' is going to be able to go to a strip club and have some mob lackey approach him about fixing a game and this not be out on the "street" of the gambling establishment the next morning? If I'm baller "X", Vegas is the absolute LAST place I want to talk to anyone about gambling or fixing games in my own sport. Since Vegas is the gambling capitol of the world, they are best qualified to monitor and police the activity that is there very livliehood.

One more "lastly"... he talked about legalizing gambling and it being a bad idea. I agree but for different reasons. Like drugs, the only reason I don't want to see gambling legalized is that with legalization will come regulation and with that taxation. Gambling will become yet another revenue stream for the Monster (see: the Lottery) that will not coincidentally be regressive in nature, taking advantage of the very people that can ill afford it. The very people, culture and bureaucracy that will soon be providing your health care are the same practicing a soft-genocide of sorts in adminstering the gambling opiate to our country's lower economic classes.

The Bridges of San Diego County

In the wake of the tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis, there appeared a curious article in yesterday's San Diego Union-Tribune regarding San Diego's own bridges. I wasn't sure how to feel about the article's reporting that 1,500 bridges here in the county were safe but 87 were "structurally deficient". Local CalTrans honcho, Robert Stott, didn't inspire much confidence either with his quote, "I think all the bridges in San Diego are serviceable and in good condition." He thinks? I would expect far more out of a used car salesman.

"I think this airplane is serviceable and in good condition" - Your next airline pilot

"I think that grapefruit-sized growth in your abdomen is benign but, hell.... who knows?" - Your Hillary-care doctor 5 yrs. from now.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070803-9999-1n3safety.html

The Long National Nightmare....... still not over.

Barry Bond's pursuit of Hank Aaron's all-time home run record has taken on a life of its own in large part because Bonds has been sitting on 754 for weeks now. ESPN has been broadcasting about every Giant's game in which Bonds has been scheduled to play and the announcers realize that they are there not to announce a game played by the last-place Giants but to provide commentary at a potentially monumental athletic achievement. Unfortunately, the combination of the long wait and members of the media feeling the pressure to keep coming up with thought-provoking things to say has resulted in an outbreak of dementia among many of these same people.

Tuesday night, the Giants opened their series against their archrival Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. This being Dodger Stadium, the Bonds-as-villian tableau was being played out to the full extent to where the booing started before Bond's name was even announced prior to his first at-bat. The ESPN play-by-play man for this particular game felt compelled to say something along the lines of ... "It's a shame that it takes the vitriol being expressed towards Bonds for people to realize what a terrific ballplayer and human being Henry Aaron was and is...." Huh? What an incredibly self-serving thing to say. I don't know of one person who counts themselves as being at least a casual observer of baseball who has not had the utmost admiration and respect for Aaron the man and Aaron the baseball player for years. I know not a single person who woke up one morning this summer and said, "You know, that Bonds is such a jerk but that Hank Aaron... he's a swell guy." It was such a transparent attempt to establish some sort of moral high ground by the announcer by implying that he has had respect for Aaron for longer than any of the rest of us.

Next time up, los Gigantes had runner(s) on base with first base open. Despite his slump, the conventional wisdom in this situation is to intentionally walk Bonds which is precisely what the Dodgers did. This result was greeted with even louder boos by the Dodger fans. Now, over the course of two nights, I heard two talking heads (one T.V., one radio) opine that the booing of that intentional walk was proof that fans, even Dodger fans, wanted to see Bonds break the record. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. What do these people not understand about rivalries and about competition? Why were the Dodger fans booing the IW? Because there is a sense that IW-ing Bonds is not competing against Bonds. If Bonds is the villain in this real-life melodrama then an IW is letting him off the hook. Who wants to see that? This is similar to booing the punting team on 4th and short or groaning over a fullback dive on 3rd and long. These are tactical retreats in the context of a larger war. The fans get it - they understand the reasoning...... they just don't like it - and in that context, the booing made perfect sense.

Because of all the off-field shenanigans that routinely occur, particularly this past month or so, the media tends to forget that we are fans of sports because of what occurs on the field, despite all the crap off the field. That's what this booing was about. We want our guy to give his best stuff against Bonds. That's competing. Mano y mano. Let's throw all the chips down on the table and see who's the better man - that's why we love sports and that's why we are fans. Its not about Michael Vick, its not about gambling scandals, and its not necessarily about whether Bonds took HGH or not - its about Brad Penny pitching, firing a 95 mph heater and seeing if Bonds can still catch up to it. If he can't then bully for us, if he can and knocks it out of the park then, damn... he broke the record in Dodger Stadium but at least it was done in the context of all-out competition. Just can't figure out why this is such a difficult concept to grasp for people who are paid to know this.

So here's to Barry getting 755 and 756 in rapid succession here if only so we don't have to hear sports talk guy continue to make a fool of himself and so we can just go back to, you know... booing Barry Bonds.

Immigration and..... the Illuminati???

A few words about the horrendous Rube Goldberg Amnesty Bill that was inspired by a dear friend of the family's.

A while back I watched a History Channel segment that featured secret societies. They talked about the Free Masons, the Templars and "Skull and Bones" at Yale among others. One such secret society they talked about is a very elite international one that the program claimed is comprised, in part, of the biggest and most influential leaders in the political, cultural and business communities in the U.S. and around the world. Interestingly enough, these individuals are scattered over the entire political spectrum. The Bushes, the Clintons, the Kennedys, Rockefellers, Rupert Murdoch, George Soros, etc. etc. They all supposedly gather for a weekend every summer out at some estate in the Hampton's or Martha's Vineyard engaging in ritualistic orgies, virgin sacrifices and, of course, plotting their next acts to maintain dominance over the world via the shadow supra-national global government of which they are all part.

Up until about 6 weeks ago, I thought all that was just pure fantasy. I'm not saying I believe in this particular secret society of super-elites but I watched how everything played out over the month of June with the back room deals, the arcane Senate proceedings, the haughty contempt for us common "nativists", the naked ambition to secure a permanent source of cheap labor, and on and on it went. And then I took a look at the cabal that was backing this thing: the Bushes, the Clintons, the Kennedys, Big Business, the Wall Street Journal, the media elite, the cultural elite..... jeezus, its the very same people who are smearing blood all over each other at some compound out on Long Island each August.

Again, not saying I believe this society exists but you start looking at some of the individual pieces like the fact that Fox News and the usually reliable Weekly Standard were completely in the tank for Amnesty or formerly reliable conservatives like Linda Chavez calling me a racist, etc., etc. and I'm left scratching my head wondering, "What the hell is going on here?". Let's put it this way: I'm certainly open to someone arguing how there was NOT a significant degree of "globalist" or "internationalist" intent within that Bill.

Bev, that was for you.