Not only is she stupid, she's dangerous

Not only is Sarah Palin a stupid "hairhead," strictly in politics for the money, honey, but she borders on dangerous. In her Sunday "interview" with Fox News Sunday, this dolt actually advocated attacking Iran and sending troops to defend Israel (all part of her uber-fundamentalist religious mindspeak that endangers the very fabric of the nation), saying it would be in President Obama's FAVOR to proceed along those lines.

Really? Is she THAT ignorant? Perhaps, but she IS that dense.

Anyone who has to give a speech with "cheat sheet" notes written on her palm, and then has the audacity to attack someone for delivering a complex speech with a teleprompter deserves nothing but spite hurled at her.

Sadly, she has a following of like-minded dolts, simpletons who want to regress this nation to its former days of ignorance (including the destruction of actual science in favor of dogmatic nonsense) and segregation (out with all the non-white people).

She reflects the absolute worse in all of us and why so many people cannot stand politics anymore. It's all about her instead of being all about us.

If you honestly support Sarah Palin, you seriously need to sit down and examine your inner beliefs as to why.

She's a boob with boobs and neither are all that goddamn impressive!

Quick Super Bowl analysis - DAT WHO!

My analysis of Super Bowl 45 is simple: fate deemed that New Orleans would win. Why? Because every break went the way of the Saints.

While most people would write that the Tracy Porter interception was THE play of the game, I will disagree. That sealed the win but it wasn’t the turnaround play of the night.
There were two – the second-half onside kick (a gutsy call from Sean Payton, the man who SHOULD have been the Cowboys’ coach) and a challenge flag with less than six minutes to play.
New Orleans did not do a great job in the first half stopping Indianapolis’ offense so getting the first possession of the second half, after making adjustments, would have proven crucial to the Colts, leading 10-6.
But the successful deception turned that momentum around instantly. The Colts did methodically march right down the field to score and take the lead, but they did so while trailing instead of leading. It then became a game that appeared to be one decided by final possession.
Perhaps MORE important was the challenge call on the Saints’ final go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter. Had the ruling on the field NOT been overturned, it would have been a five-point game which meant Indy could have settled for two field goals (requiring LESS yardage to gain) for a one-point win. Making Indy score a touchdown offered a more difficult challenge, which proved too much for the Colts to overcome.
So once again, a Colts team, favored to win in Miami, lost a Super Bowl to an underdog, beloved by much of the nation … ala 1969 against the Joe Namath Jets.
Who dat? The upstart Saints are already etching a pose for Sports Illustrated Sportsmen of the Year. Dat who!

Run, Sarah, run ... PLEASE!

The most rock solid prediction that can be made in advance is this: President Obama will be guaranteed (repeat, lead pipe lock) a second term if the Republicans nominate Sarah Palin as its candidate for president in 2012. In fact, it should be the Democrats funding her campaign war chest to see such an occurence happens.
She is the single most dunderheaded dolt EVER to emerge on the national political stage. She tries to substitute the folksy "You betcha" attitude for knowledge, of which she possesses nothing between her ears.
If a single person, with an iota of intelligence, believes her Saturday speech to the so-called Tea Party (is that Lipton or Tetley?) will launch her star, they are either blind or stupid. Sorry, but es la verdad (it's the truth) as they say closer to Brownsville, Texas.
She knows nothing, talks about nothing except to toss a few poorly worded barbs in front of right-wing, white-wing meateaters who think it's cute to incorrectly use words like "socialism," "communism" and "dictator" when speaking about the Obama administration.
Her most quoted portion of the speech came concerning the arrest of the Detroit underwear bomber (was that Jcokey or Fruit of the Loom ... er.... LOON), who has been made to be THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN WHO EVER LIVED instead of a screwed-up student who couldn't thread a needle if he tried. Sarah wanted him flogged and tortured (that could have been accomplished by forcing the guy to listen to hear for 36 hours straight). However, the Justice Department, following the EXACT legal procedure used by the previous administration when Richard Reed, the shoebomber, was stopped trying to do the same damn thing.
In fact, the Republican indignation is laughable. Not a WORD, not one fucking syllable, was uttered back then when he was caught, read his rights and tried in court.
But short memories and politics seem to wipe away congent thoughts.
As for her "hotness???" Puh-lese, Betty White looked better in the Snickers commercial last night. Sarah Palin is a media whore - she takes money to be seen and perform. She should be introduced to the sea chanty, "Pay Me My Money Now."
And how WAS that tanning bed installed in the Alaska capital for her use? She's as white trash as it comes and is attracting the same, drooling crowd where men judge her on their own MILF factor instead of actual leadership.
She's a dollar sniffer and does ANYTHING she can to get it, including selling out her home state by quitting the governership in order to cash in on her 15-minutes of fame.
Only the Republicans will stretch that until 2012. Good luck. Democrats are smiling at the prospect.

Choke of this

You know who is really choking on Toyota today? All them damn ass GOP Southern Senators, like Shelby and Sessions and John Cornyn, states with major Toyota plants, who voted AGAINST the US automaker bailout because of parochial self-interests. They WANTED Detroit to fail miserably in order to improve the status of their non-union plants in the South .... the same ones NOW shut down because of Toyota's horrid PR problem.
Ford MIGHT pass GM and Toyota for no. 1, which would be stunning since it did not take the money, did not cut away brand names and did not fire its executive leadership. Yet another reason to buy American and restore some semblance of order in this world.

While the Prius problem seems systematic to hybrids (the delay between energy conversion and the damn brakes working), Toyota did its level best to HIDE that from customers. This is a well-worn plot to many a TV show and movies. It's cheaper to keep silent and settle lawsuits than to replace and fix the problem. The fact that Toyota doesn't know HOW to fix the problem is astonishing, yet KNEW there was a problem for some time.
It's all about Japanese corporate mentality v. U.S. openness society. We want to know when and why things fuck up; Japan doesn't.

Bye, bye Toyota????

You might well be seeing the crumbling and potential death of a major automaker ... and it's NOT an American firm.
It would NOT shock me to hear of the suicide of the Toyota chairman in Japan. Apparently, the company didn't want to cooperate, knowing what it would mean in the end.

And now the vaunted Prius is under investigation... and yet ... Toyota doesn't KNOW how the fix the problem (it's guessing) but swears it's not the electrical system. When you toss that ball SO high, you are actually pointing to the problem. Toyota seems to be TOO eager to point out what it ISN'T.
Apparently Ford sees the opening and is seizing the time (as we used to say back in the day).

The day the dog stood still

Author's Note: The following was published in the Collin County Opinions section of the Jan. 31, 2010 edition of the Dallas Morning News.
In the classic movie comedy, “Ghostbusters,” the main characters explain, in terms of Biblical apocalyptic terms, the dangers of unleashing all their captured “material” upon New York City.
Mayor: What do you mean, “Biblical”?
Dr. Raymond Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the sky! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes ...
Winston Zeddmore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!
For the past 10 months, the mass hysteria has finally played itself out at my Plano household. The human sacrifice has been various body parts (used as scratching polls) because our dog and cat have finally managed to live together. So to speak.
The dog, Seamus, was a rescue animal, liberated during the annual North Texas Irish Festival, but the cat, BeeGee, entered our home through the alley and then the garage, inching her way from stray to “stay.” And for a period of about 10 months, it was her castle to rule; we just lived in it at her whim. Then entered this four-legged creature which she treated like a mother-in-law or dead fish; after three days, he had outlived his welcome. It’s almost been a year and she remained perturbed that her kingdom had been invaded.
The dog is never hard to find; we just have to follow the trail of torn pillows, with stuffing strewn everywhere, chewed-up rawhide bones, and mangled slippers. It always leads to a prone animal snoozing on my wife’s bed … which is also half-eaten. Sad-eyed Seamus will glance up from the chewed wreckage of a former Cole Hahn moccasin; while my wife and I just stand there, shaking our heads. As once mentioned here before, the dog tries to eat everything (the latest example being a new plastic yo-yo when he failed to get it to “walk the cat”).
At first, the cat v. dog situation was not good; it more resembled Wrestlemania or NHRA drag racing. The dog would try to play and fetch the cat (in his mouth); the cat would reverse field and smack him against the snout with a solid Muhammed Ali-like left cross (who knew the cat was left-pawed like the rest of us in the household?). It’s better entertainment than any mixed martial arts pay-for-view showdown you can buy on cable TV.
Emergency air or ambulance sirens make no impression upon Seamus, but if just one of us is caught by him, rubbing or petting his affection competition, he launches into his best Lassie “Help, Timmy is in trouble again” barking at the top of his considerable lungs. I swear his black and white coat turns Celtic Kelly green in a pique of envy and jealousy. I thought that was reserved for jilted ex-girlfriends.
We didn’t know if this battle would become “Alien v. Predator” or “The Simpsons,” but like good animal Marines, we (and they) adapted. They’ve learned to “respect” one another’s food and territory, although the cat is still flashing her best M-G-M growl at times, the dust – and pillow stuffing – has settled for the time being.
I don’t know what the scene was like at your household on Christmas Day… but it might have been mine.
The spouse and I were in our living room, wishing we had cleaned the chimney to use our fireplace. We sat respectively in our easy chairs, watching “Law and Order” reruns, and marveling at the snow that covered our Texas-based lawn.
We simultaneously looked over to the dog and cat – just mere inches from each other, oblivious to one another, sleeping the night away. Their harmonious snoring mixed well with the smell of one of my sugar-free apple pies, baking in the oven.
My wife and I turned to each other and smile, satisfied that species détente had been reached; that all shoes would remain safe.
For at least one more night.

More on McGwire

Regardless of what people "think" or "believe," amking comparisons between Pete Rose, banned for life from baseball, and Mark McGwire,who some think should also be banned, are two completely different cases.

First, Rose broke THE unbreakable rule in baseball - no betting on games, especially your own team. It is the idelible stain upon baseball dating back to 1919. Steroids don't go back that far. H also went to prison for it.
Second, McGwire was never convicted of a crime nor charged by anyone - police OR baseball. In fact, MUCH of what McGwire took THEN was never banned by MLB because it needed players, like McGwire, to maintain popularity in the sport. Hell, you can STILL buy Andro on the self of any GNC. You cannot preach to youth about abstinence from PEDs and not advocate for its abolition to the general public.
Third, cheating has been part of the game for ages. Weren't greenies or bennies or whatever they took in the 50s, 60s and 70s ALSO performance enhancing drugs ... by the very definition of PED?
And records were set in eras where ballparks were SO small that mere pop-ups flew for home runs. Bobby Thompson's legendary "The Giants win the pennat" HR was hit over the LF fence at the Polo Grounds just 285 feet from home plate.
Everything, from equipment to medicine to the stadiums, have played into records from all eras. If you scrub one decade worth of records, you've got to go back and examine ... everything! And it can't be done.
Forget the asterisks, etc. And if you do it with baseball, shouldn't it be done for all sports? Think baseball is the lone olf here? Football has been nothing but steroid-aided, including the decade of the Cowboys' Super Bowls (and forget about the home town factor; players on ALL teams were juicing and there was NO excuse for it).
Everything has changed and nothing in this world has stayed the same. So live with it!

Fair and balanced? Yeah, right (wing)!

Second most stunning headline, and LEAST shocking, of the day:
Palin signs on with Fox News
By Howard Kurtz
The Washington Post

Sarah Palin, who regularly rips the media, is becoming a television pundit at a place where she's likely to feel at home.
A Fox News executive says the network will shortly announce that the former vice-presidential nominee is signing on as a contributor.
Palin, who resigned as governor of Alaska last summer, will appear as a commentator on various Fox shows. She will also host an occasional program that will examine inspirational tales involving ordinary Americans.
Palin will join Mike Huckabee as a Fox contributor who was also involved in the 2008 campaign. The exposure can only help Palin if she decides to pursue a 2012 presidential bid.
At the moment, Palin makes pronouncements mainly through her Facebook page. The Fox connection would give her a platform on the nation's top-rated cable news channel.
Palin is extremely popular with her conservative base, which has fueled the sales of her best-selling memoir. But she is a divisive political figure who not only draws the ire of liberals but some Republicans, including staffers who deal with her during her run as John McCain's running mate. Steve Schmidt, a top McCain strategist, said on "60 Minutes" last night that "there were numerous instances that she said things that were -- that were not accurate that ultimately, the campaign had to deal with."
Hiring Palin could further boost the popularity of Rupert Murdoch's network among conservative viewers. The network already employs former Bush White House aide Karl Rove and former House speaker Newt Gingrich as highly visible commentators.

Perhaps she can interview Mark McGwire about things like ... honesty and values. :-)

I, Mark McGwire, confess

The most anticipated, and LEAST shocking, confession in recent times:

Text of the statement Mark McGwire issued Monday to the Associated Press, admitting he used steroids during his career:
"Now that I have become the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, I have the chance to do something that I wish I was able to do five years ago.
I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come. It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected. I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize. I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 off season and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again. I used them on occasion throughout the '90s, including during the 1998 season.
I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era.
During the mid-'90s, I went on the DL seven times and missed 228 games over five years. I experienced a lot of injuries, including a ribcage strain, a torn left heel muscle, a stress fracture of the left heel, and a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of years and I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I thought they would help me heal and prevent injuries, too.
I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids. I had good years when I didn't take any and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry.
Baseball is really different now - it's been cleaned up. The commissioner and the players' association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I'm glad they did.
I'm grateful to the Cardinals for bringing me back to baseball. I want to say thank you to Cardinals owner Mr. DeWitt, to my GM, John Mozeliak, and to my manager, Tony LaRussa. I can't wait to put the uniform on again and to be back on the field in front of the great fans in Saint Louis. I've always appreciated their support and I intend to earn it again, this time as hitting coach. I'm going to pour myself into this job and do everything I can to help the Cardinals hitters become the best players for years to come.
After all this time, I want to come clean. I was not in a position to do that five years ago in my congressional testimony, but now I feel an obligation to discuss this and to answer questions about it. I'll do that, and then I just want to help my team."

Goodbye, friend

Blogger's Note: Upon the passing of a friend, Jerry Fleming of Plano, Texas, I sent a communication to the wife of the obituary writer seen here. She also works for the Morning News as I had established a relationship via the email. The result is here - a fitting tribute to a good man.

By JOE SIMNACHER / The Dallas Morning News

jsimnacher@dallasnews.com
Jerry M. Fleming continued helping people long after his 1989 retirement as an Army social worker and lieutenant colonel.
He settled in Dallas, where he assisted both civilians and veterans. He was especially known for helping fellow Vietnam veterans receive benefits related to cancers linked to military exposure to Agent Orange.
Mr. Fleming, 69, died Saturday (Jan. 9, 2010) at Medical Center of Plano of complications of a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the fourth cancer he had battled.
Graveside services with military honors for Mr. Fleming will be at noon Friday at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. A celebration of life will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Community Unitarian Universalist Church, 2875 E. Parker Road in Plano.
Mr. Fleming's social work in Dallas covered everything from counseling employees after robberies and other tragedies to working with veterans, said his wife, Beverly Fleming of Plano.
"He was very caring, very much into our church; he was head of the ushers," Mrs. Fleming said. At Community Unitarian Universalist Church, Mr. Fleming and his wife worked to help AIDS patients.
For 20 years in Dallas, Mr. Fleming provided outsourced marriage and substance abuse counseling.
He was a social worker with several companies that subcontracted counseling services. He also volunteered his social-working expertise to veterans.
In 2002, doctors diagnosed Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia, a rare type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
"If anybody told Jerry he had something, he started researching it," Mrs. Fleming said.
"The military acknowledged that Agent Orange had caused several things, one of them is non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which WM is one."
Mr. Fleming created a Web site and soon received calls from veterans across the nation wanting to know how to get compensation.
"If they got it – wonderful – if they didn't, he told them how to contest it," his wife said. "He helped a lot of vets get money that was due to them."
Mr. Fleming's research led him to the Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia Foundation. He attended the group's annual meeting and later agreed to start a support chapter in Dallas.
Mr. Fleming was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, where he attended the University of Dayton, before receiving his bachelor's degree from Ohio University.
"We were married a week later." Mrs. Fleming said.
A college ROTC cadet, Mr. Fleming was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army. He served in Germany and Vietnam, where he was company commander for an ambulance unit.
He later served at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he was selected to go to graduate school at Ohio State to earn a master's degree in social work. He finished his 26-year Army career as a social worker. In his career, he was stationed at Fort Sam Houston near San Antonio and Fort Sill, Okla. He was chief of social work at Fort Knox, Ky., when he retired.
"He loved the military, we both did; moving and meeting new people," Mrs. Fleming said.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Fleming is survived by a son, Steven Fleming of Gilmore, Texas; a daughter, Suzanne Fleming of McKinney; and three grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to the research fund at the International Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia Foundation, http://www.iwmf.com/.

Finding my inner curmudgeon

I was recently surfing through several news websites and discovered just how out of touch I must be with the rest of the world. While I keep searching for meaningful analysis and news, the rest of YOU are dwelling upon stuff of which I have NO clue.
Headlines, from local sites to international press, told of the absolute shocking death of Stephen Gately, a member of the band, Boyzone, in Majorca.
Sorry, but who?
And then several sites proclaimed the good news that Kourtney Kardashian is having a baby – and it’s gonna be a boy!!!!
Sorry again, but who?
Surely, the results of the People’s Choice Awards is the most discussed matter at every water cooler.
Uh, pardon me, but … what’s that? I didn’t choose a thing.
And here is the death of Tia Tequila's "wifey," as if I give a shit...except she was a very hot lipstick lesbian.
I don’t know a fucking thing about these people and the social circles in which they travel. And frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn (a line NOT borrowed from a Tina Fey skit on “Saturday Night Live”). It’s not that I’m sympathetic; I just don’t give a shit. Lately, the number of items being compiled on my “what not to do” list is increasing by the nanosecond.
So if that makes me a curmudgeon ... whatever.
I couldn’t tell anyone a thing ever sung by Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift or Hannah Montana or Billings, Montana. I don’t watch reality shows other than the news and baseball. I don’t want to see who is the lesser loser on “The Biggest Loser,” or why I should ever care about dysfunctional families like “Jon and Kate Plus 8” (my former in-laws provided enough of that for 10 lifetimes). I don’t want to ever watch anything about a guy who unleashed a flying mushroom across Colorado and got his kid (named after a bird) to help scam the nation.
I don’t care who’s on “Oprah” or “The View” and I don’t watch shows like “Gossip Girl” or “The Hills.” Of course, I never saw “Friends,” “Seinfeld” or even a single chapter of “Roots.” I still have the original episodes from “Lonesome Dove” I taped (as in VCR) from 1989 and just haven’t gotten around to watching THAT in 20 years’ time.
I don’t watch anything (and anyone embarrassing themselves or others) on YouTube because it rhymes with “boob tube” and demonstrates how that phrase has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I don’t eat seaweed because … well, just because sewage. I don’t eat sushi since I like my meal, more or less, dead. And Pad Thai sounds like a bundle of paper encircled by twine.
I liked reading newspapers until the Internet made it unfashionable to get your fingers stained with printer’s ink (which I always took a sign of actual, nor artificial, intelligence). If I would read a book, I like the kind with paper and hard covers instead of coming on a palm-size device.
And I prefer to have had this written on a manual typewriter rather than a computer keyboard because I actually enjoy prying apart jammed keys against a carbon ribbon. It, too, was a sign (and unmistaken sound) of man’s brain cells participating in the lost art of clever reasoning and engagement.
If all this makes me a curmudgeon, then I wear it proudly like my favorite baseball team’s cap on my bald-ass head. There’s no law that mandates automatic acceptance of modern culture, technology, morals or standards. As far as I cal tell, the answer of “…well, just because” is sufficient to almost anyone’s contrarian point of view.
The dictionary describes a curmudgeon as “a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old man,” which is actually sexist because why can’t a female be just as curmudgeony? Why can’t men act differently during certain times of the month (like payday, or tee-time, or kickoff)?
I’d rather be a curmudgeon than the modern version of hip. After looking closely in the mirror, believe me, I AM hip! Nice and wide hips … and stomach, too. I am who I am, and I’m not changing to reflect, or keep up with, the times. All that matters is being accepted by the people who matters – the ones who love me … for me.
Now excuse me, but I’ve got to go catch up on missing episodes of “I Love Lucy.” Is she still married to Ricky?

When the c-c-chips are down …

As a former small business owner, I admit I know very little about business principles. I never attended Princeton, Harvard or the Wharton School at Carnegie-Mellon. I was a graduate of the seat-of-your-pants system taught at the Keep-The Doors-Open University.

I foolishly believed that you could make as much money by selling your product for a lower price, moving more units – newspapers, in my case – than you could at a higher price but selling fewer of them. I remained true to that principle, even as the ship was sinking; I played the captain’s role to the hilt and went down with the company. Heck, I didn’t know any goddamn better.

So you can understand how I was stunned one recent day when my wife brought home a bag of potato chips from a company whose headquartered are down the Legacy road here in Plano (who is nameless but initials are Frito-Lay). It was a well-known brand, including its r-r-ridges and rolled “Rs” to properly pronounce but my jaw dropped at the price on the 10-ounce bag … $3.99. I got downright …. R-r-Ruffled.

How r-r-revolting! Four bucks for some shit that was half-empty to start. It seemed like only yesterday that the same crappy item cost under $2.50 or even two dollars. At that cost, the chips seemed like a reasonable purchase but four dollars?!?!

Hey, hasn’t anyone at that company heard that there’s a recession happening taking place?

I’m sure the company spokesperson would counter by noting the quality of the product, the change in oil used to manufacture those chips and the increased cost of the air used to inflate that 10-ounce bag.

And economic experts would tell you that when you increase your price for service or items just 10 percent, you reap 33 percent more income, or when you lower your price just 10 percent, it takes twice as many sales to recoup the difference. I just know that the local major metro daily has lost beaucoup of sales because MANY people (moi included) have cancelled subscriptions because it is priced OUT of our budgets.

Four bucks for a bag of chips is fine and dandy, but times are tough, pennies are being pinched, nerves are being r-r-ruffled and households everywhere are discovering the true words penned by the Kinks two decades ago (1979), entitled “Low Budget.”

“Circumstance has forced my hand


To be a cut-price person in a low budget land.


Times are hard, but we’ll all survive;


I just got to learn to economize.


At least my hair is all mine, my teeth are my own,


But everything else is on permanent loan.”

There’s no doubt that Americans will flock to anything cheap. There is no other explanation for the sight of people standing in long lines in the dark of Thanksgiving night, often in near-freezing temperatures, simply to buy a second-rate flat screen TV because … it’s priced ridiculously cheap. Consumers have tossed aside quality American-made products in favor of low-priced junk made in foreign lands by the lowest salaried labor corporations can find. Damn, we’ve made Wal-Mart, king of cheap shit, the largest retail business around FOR THE VERY REASON – shit is cheap.

But … you Do get what you pay for. Cheap shit is … cheap-ass SHIT!

Such an attitude has all but eliminated the American manufacturing sector and turned our society into robotic shoppers, jumping like lemurs at the newest gadget or electronic toy, usually made with our dollars but not by our neighbors. We borrow up to our eyeballs to pay the credit cards used for these purchases and it’s all a vicious treadmill and we’ve become the trapped hamsters.

It reminds me of the 1983 movie, “Mr. Mom,” written by the late John Hughes and starring a much funnier Michael Keaton. Its “story” centered around the difficult recession of the early 1980s and an unemployed auto engineer who reverses household roles with his wife.

As the contrived finale came to a head, in the background plays the finished commercial that the wife had spent her time creating. It showed the president of a canned tuna maker explaining that his product, normally the most expensive on the market, would roll back its price until economic conditions improved.

It was because his all-American product – Schooner Tuna – was the “tuna with a heart.” He subscribed to the theory that if you sell more units at a cheaper price, you might just make as much money.

The chip company CEO needs to stand before the public and say the same thing. Lower the prices on those bags until our economy recovers enough to justify charging the higher prices.

I hope the folks on Legacy Drive are listening above the din of all that chip munching. Someone needs to find some goddamn “heart.”

Cream is at the BCS top

All you bashers of the current BCS national championship system: bite it!
After this round of action (a less-than-stellar TCU loss, in the worst uniforms ever seen, to the worst undefeated college team in the USA - Boise State AND a total embarassment by Cincinnati against Florida), it should be clear that THE two best teams are playing Thursday for the national title, In fact, the top 4 teams REALLY are Texas, Alabama, Florida and Ohio State.
And there ain't no argument 'bout that.
Period.

How to earn my vote: ‘Tis the season (sadly) for politics

Author's Note: This is the original (pre-edited) version of the column that appears in the Jan. 2, 2010 edition of the Dallas Morning News.
By a quirk of fate, known only to God and the Texas political parties, the holiday season always intersects with the campaign season as filings begins for a horde of offices (county, state and federal). And in between commercials for overbearing perfumes or colognes represented by fading stars or the next “perfect holiday treat” are the initial forays into that minefield that IS the Texas electorate.
While the primary season should not be held so darn early, and it ought to be against the laws of decency to air political ads before Jan. 1, (So, in the spirit of the season, I propose) a few grounds rules should be put into play for any candidate earning the peoples’ votes … at least from this potential supporter.
Be “for” something; not against everything – At some point, the weight of total negativity crushes the voters’ spirit. Do a mental lap-band procedure and speak to the positives you wish to achieve. Stop being such a downer!
Cut the labels – People come in all sizes and shapes, as do their political viewpoints. Simplistic labels do grave injustices to how (and what) people believe. Please stash them deep in the sock drawer and stop using them!
No demagogue with the egg nog – Too many politicians seem more interested in being part of a perpetual rugby scrum than getting things done for the betterment of all (not just a particular political party). If more offices changed to non-partisan status (all county offices and judicial positions for example), the better we’d all be served. Stop being so partisan!
If you’re against it, why run for it? – It’s hard to take someone seriously if he/she (merely) rants against the very governmental institution of which they seek to become part. If you hate government, why in the world should anyone elect you? Stop trying to fool people! To quote Marx (Groucho), “I’d never join a club that would have me as a member.”
Add some crumpets with that “tea” – This past summer’s phenomenon (the tea party movement) introduced genuine, substantive issues to the debate … when a select few “members” weren’t parading around making less-than-gracious comments about a certain person’s heritage, ethnicity, religion or birthright. Missing in some of the undue paranoia was substance. Loud debate without concrete suggestions is simply yelling. Please no more yelling!
Only directors yell “cut!” – One person cannot reduce the size of government or spending; both parties have been, and still are, guilty to bloating the budget, including so-called staunch budget-cutters. Anyone who promises drastic turnabout of this runaway train is … lying. Please stop the lying!
Be specifically specific – For once, I’d like to hear actual proposals. Not “I’m still studying the issue.” Study time should have happened before (you filed for the election) the filing; the campaign is the exam and the results are posted on Election Day. And if you tell me, “I’ll get back to you on that one,” don’t bother. You flunk! Stop flunking this simple test!
Kill the robo-calls – One surefire way to destroy any chance of garnering my vote is to bombard my house with those annoying automated, auto-generated pre-recorded solicitations … because that’s exactly what they are! Thousands of Texans have placed their homes on the “No Call” list to avoid such pandering. And no one quite panders like a politician. So stop calling!
If you follow these simple steps, you might, I repeat MIGHT, get my vote. Or not…depends on what arrives for Christmas … hopefully not any of that cologne.

Welcome to the winter wonderland

Welcome to Dallas, Texas area (I'm nestled in the northern 'burbs).
It was 75 degrees a mere 24 hours ago. Now ... it's freaking snowing outside.
People can poo-poo the "myth" of climate change all they wish. I just know that shit like this ain't suppose to happen so quickly.
You gotta love it.
Merry Christmas, even if it's white where it's really shouldn't be.

Why all the smiling about Tiger's downfall?

I'm sorry but I sense a tinge of racial dishonesty when it comes to the public reaction to the destroyed persona of golfer Tiger Woods. I truly believe that if he WASN'T black, and having achieved what he has accomplished on the links by the age of 33, and that persona carefully crafted by his late father, the public's reaction wouldn't be so ... intense.
I sense a certain snickering by folks out there, especially by white conversatives to see how the mighty has fallen. This daily update on the contracs/endorsements being lost is NOT news - I mean who REALLY cares if Tag Heuer drops him as a sponsor. How many of YOU are wearing $5,000 watches????
And the admitted infidelity doesn't change the talent he possesses on the golf course. When he plays his best, NO ONE beats him. Period. Yet all these women are being paraded by agents/lawyers for 10-15 seconds/minutes of momentary fame and then ... to borrow the final line from "The Usual Suspects," "Poof, and then they're gone!"
Tiger Woods isn't the only superstar to have been unfaithful and many of them are stil prospering. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant to name two. Hell, Wade Boggs carried on a road trp affair with a woman - not his wife - and watzed into the Hall of Fame.
So why is THIS different?
Because he IS Tiger Woods (or WAS). That "Tiger" was a creation; Eldrick Woods is the real person and he needs to find out how he wishes to live his life with his family.

DART: doomed to failure

Poor Dallas Area Rapid Transit! The worst pun of the day (Monday) is how the public is throwing its light-rail passenger system “under the bus,” which is kinda funny since the bus people also operate a train schedule.
And not every well. It came to a head last Saturday when tens of thousands of fans tried to use the DART trains (and save a couple of bucks parking) to get back and forth from Fair Park and the Cotton Bowl for the annual Texas-Oklahoma football game.
First, people who operate buses should never oversee trains. Current DART people still haven’t got the hang of it and the board needs complete overhaul. But having said that, it was ridiculous for anyone to expect a light rail system to handle ALL those wishing to attend the Fair … and the game. Even in major cities with long history of light rail/subway/elevated systems who transport athletic event crowds (Boston, NYC, Washington, Chicago), it doesn’t happen quickly.
Sometimes it DOES take hours to clear out HUGE crowds (and remember, the Cotton Bowl holds twice as many people as venues like Wrigley Field or Fenway Park...). When my wife went to Washington, D.C. for the big women’s rally a few years ago, it took her many hours to leave the mall via its Metro system because you can only run so many people in so many passenger cars at a time – and do it safely!
DART, with just 80 cars, was doomed to failure from the start; it did its best to handle the overflow…and its best simply wasn’t adequate.
Besides, those DART riders would have been just as stuck in traffic, causing even MORE of a traffic delay in the Mixmaster and around Fair Park area (and would have been subject to the near-criminal method of parking at Fair Park).
In Atlanta, when the Braves play at Turner Field, you ride MARTA to an area called Underground Atlanta and (on the same MARTA ticket), get transferred to a shuttle bus which takes you directly to Turner Field. These shuttles run every minute or so and that’s ALL they do ... before the start of the game and afterwards.
Shuttle buses COULD have taken a large portion of the Green Line passengers to Fair Park on this instance and relieved much of the stress on the system. Certainly, there were more than 80 buses in the DART system, right?
DART should have had ALL Green Line users go to the West End Transit Center and the Green Line could have been initiated THERE! As it was, no Red or Blue Line users (coming from Plano, Richardosn, or Garland), trying to transfer at Pearl Street (the first place to get the Green Line but the line stop in downtown from Victory Station), could have gotten to the Green Line; ALL those trains were at (or beyond) capacity – a transit line design flaw for which DART must take blame.
At the West End Center, shuttle buses could have EASILY been dispatched. In fact, said buses COULD have been run from ALL DART transit centers, going directly to Fair Park and bypassing downtown altogether.
IF someone at DART had actually thought about it, or actually STUDIED other cities and their methods, all this hand-wringing could have been avoided. Now and in the future!
ALL IT TOOK WAS A LITTLE FORETHOUGHT AND PLANNING!!!!!!!!
As it happened, it was a doomed mission and the negative publicity will cost DART more than it could have ever gained … which is really sad for the city of Dallas as a whole.
P.S. – DART is its own entity; it is NOT run by the city of Dallas and does not have anything to do with its employees, who are becoming scapegoats for those who do not understand how this city operates. Since ignorance is often bliss, these must be very happy people.

A moment of silence for this sports icon!

Rest In Peace - Captain Lou Albano. A lonely nation lifts its eyes to you.

It's still noble to get the Nobel

In my mind, perhaps THE most undeserving Best Actor Oscar EVER present was in 1970 when John Wayne received the honor for his "performance" in "True Grit." It was a lifetime achievement award to be exact; that movie wasn't The Duke's 20th best performance (hell, his last movie, "The Shootist" was a better acting job and he should have won for his work in "The Searchers" or "The Quiet Man.").
But there was Big John, beaming with pride at his good fortune. Perhaps Wayne was the most surprised man in the room.
President Barack Obama was awoken - not to here that Ozzie Guillen had been fired as White Sox manager (THAT would have made Obama happy) or bin Laden had been captured (doubly happy) - but to be told that HE had been named Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2009. I guarantee you he was the most surprised man in America with the announcement.
Now, when you get such a prize, you do NOT say, "No thanks; I'm not deserving." You smile and prepare a good speech in a classy tuxedo for Oslo.
While people can debate Obama's merits to have gotten the honor, note that it was NOT an American decision; it was an international choice. No one campaigned for it or even contemplated his selection prior to the disclosure. The man has only been on the job for nine months which IS a reason for not choosing him but also not enough time to REALLY get many things accomplished. Since policy moves as slow as molasses in Maine in January, these things do not happen overnight.
Anyway, you cannot unring the bell; you move forward. All this nastiness from conservatives and Republicans and those who bitch about everything Obama says, does or thinks is sour grapes in my book. Nice that an American got the prize and let's just move on.
In fact, a timeout needs to be called on BOTH sides to let all this shit being spewed to settle and disappear.
At least until the World Series is over. Huh, guys?

U2 tickets for sale

Due to a problem in mobility, I must try to sell my seats for Monday's U2 concert at Cowboys Stadium.
If you want to go (seats are high up, but you WILL be there), I am selling them for face value plus a $30 parking pass CLOSE to the Death Star.
Contact me ASAP at chuckbloom@hotmail.com and we can do this.
I don't want them to go to waste. SO HURRY!

Possible U2 set list for Cowboys Stadium show

When U2 appears on Oct. 12 at Arlington's Cowboys Stadium (yours truly anad esposa in da crowd), this COULD be the set list:
“Breathe”
“Magnificent”
“Get On Your Boots”
“Mysterious Ways”
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
“She’s The One”/"Desire”
“Elevation”“Your Blue Room”
“Beautiful Day”
“No Line on the Horizon”
“New Year’s Day”
“Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”
“The Unforgettable Fire”
“City Of Blinding Lights”
“Vertigo”
“I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”
“Sunday Bloody Sunday”
“MLK”/”Walk On”
Encores:
“One”
“Amazing Grace”/”Where the Streets Have No Name”
“Ultraviolet (Light My Way)”
“With Or Without You”
“Moment of Surrender”

I do hope they end with "40" as usual for a U2 show, and I wish they'd add "Bad" and many others from older albums ("I Will Follow" as an example).

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees

Up for the class of 2010 are:
Iggy & the Stooges
the Red Hot Chili Peppers
LL Cool J
Kiss
Genesis
Donna Summer
ABBA
Darlene Love
Laura Nyro
the Chantels
the Hollies
Jimmy Cliff

I believe KISS is a natural, as is ABBA (one just cannot discount actual album/singles SALES). I'd also add the late Laura Nyro (as a songwriter, not performer), the Hollies and Jimmy Cliff. The Peppers will make it because they still tour and record.

Protecting our nation’s MVPs (most valuable parks)

The initial sight takes your breath away … literally! It doesn’t appear to be real; more like a master artist’s painting – with multiple layers of colors bombarding your senses. Move a few hundred feet to either side and you see a completely new revelation and many people simply stand there in jaw-dropping awe. Anyone unmoved by the eternal beauty of such a view will never generate reciprocal feelings for anything.
It is how one often reacts when seeing the Grand Canyon for the very first time - I felt that way this past summer. While this particular corner of the country is the crown jewel of the U.S. National Parks System, and the most symbolic natural formation, not every national park site is the Grand Canyon – some tell a different story and preserves a different lesson from our history. But each location is important to the American experience – from Civil War battlefields to the remnants of past occupants before anyone called this land a “nation.”
National Parks cut across the spectrum – they aren’t all mountains, valleys, caves, volcanic formations or forests. Some are made-made spectacles (the Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, St. Louis Arch); some honor literary giants (Edgar Allen Poe, Eugene O’Neill, Carl Sandburg), American heroes (Clara Barton, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr.) or heroes who helped keep our independence (Jean LaFitte). Some sites spotlight historical events (Little Rock Central High School, Brown v. Board of Education, the Wright Brothers) and some tell of the darker episodes in America (Manzanar, Little Big Horn, Oklahoma City and Flight 93 memorials).
Some parcels are dedicated to family pleasure and fun (national recreation areas), including two in Texas (Lake Amistad near Del Rio and Lake Meredith north of Amarillo) and one in Oklahoma (Chickasaw), just 2 ½ hours from the DFW area.
Texas, for its part, has 15 connections to the national system, and could easily include others. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s birth place, in Denison, should join the six other birth sites to presidents protected by the NPS. And with Texas literally starving its own parks for funding, it might be wise to allow Palo Duro Canyon (the country’s second largest canyon) to be transferred under the NPS umbrella.
I’ve also believed The Alamo, one of the five most recognized American symbols of freedom, should join the other San Antonio missions as a national park site; coming under the peoples’ province and away from the highly secretive control of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. It should belong to ALL of America – not just a select few.
These treasures need our consideration, attention and support, including adequate funding for park expansion, facilities upgrade and maintenance and acquisition. Every individual and family can be several things to help preserve our national parks.
First, you should visit as many as possible – to educate yourselves and your children. Start in Texas with the awe-inspiring Big Bend National Park, within the Chisos Mountain region of west Texas. People say a picture of is worth a thousand words, but one glance at the area known as “The Window on the World,” will inspire a thousand pictures – especially at dawn and dusk.
You can join support groups, such as the National Parks Conservation Association (www.npca.org), dedicated to the preservation of the national parks and increasing public awareness of the need for NPS protection.
Come this Sunday, Sept. 27, you can learn more about our national parks on PBS when acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns premiers his new documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Burns, as he has so expertly done in the past on the Civil War, baseball and America during World War II, will examine the current state of the NPS, as well as tell the story of the people (such as John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt) whose visions led to the eventual preservation of these special sites.
Finally, you can pen a note to your congressman and U.S. Senator, stressing the need to maintain proper funding for the national parks system – because it IS important to pass along these symbols of our heritage and history to our children, grandchildren and future generations.
They deserve the chance to have their jaws drop at the Grand Canyon, too.

College hoops JUST around the corner

And ESPN is going whole hog with a marathon of its own (not involving "Law and Order").
It begins on Monday Nov. 16, technically on Nov. 17 in the Eastern time zone.
Here is the schedule (Dallas time since I'm living here):
11 p.m. (Monday, Nov. 16): Cal State Fullerton at UCLA, ESPN
1 a.m.: San Diego State at St. Mary's, ESPN
3 a.m.: Northern Colorado at Hawaii, ESPN6
5 a.m.: Monmouth at St. Peter's, ESPN
7 a.m.: Drexel at Niagara, ESPN
9 a.m.: Clemson at Liberty, ESPN
11 a.m.: Northeastern at Siena, ESPN
1 p.m: Arkansas Little-Rock at Tulsa, ESPN
3 p.m.: Temple at Georgetown, ESPN
4:30 p.m.: Bin.ghamton at Pittsburgh, ESPN2
5 p.m.: NIT from Durham, N.C., ESPN
6 p.m.: Tennessee vs. Texas Tech (women) in San Antonio, ESPNU
6:30: Arkansas vs. Louisville in St. Louis, ESPN2
7 p.m.: Gonzaga at Michigan State, ESPN
7 p.m.: Northern Illinois at Illinois, ESPN360.com
8 p.m.: Duquesne at Iowa, ESPNU
8:30 p.m.: Connecticut vs. Texas (women) in San Antonio, ESPN2
9 p.m.: Memphis vs. Kansas in St. Louis, ESPN
10:30 p.m.: NIT from Tempe, Ariz, ESPN

Happy hooping, y'all! Hope the World Series is over by then.

Five top Patrick Swayze movies

It's kind shocking to know that the late Patric Swayze, who died earlier this week from pancreatic cancer, was exactly ONE week YOUNGER than me (born Aug. 18, 1952 in Houston).
Ouch!
His five best movies were:
Ghost
The Outsiders (check out the cast in that flick)
Dirty Dancing
Point Break
Red Dawn.
RIP, Patrick.

One more thought...

As the 70th anniversary of WWII has started, which the REAL Adolf Hitler began, which resulted in the deaths of millions upon millions of people (not just exterminated Jews but Russians, English, French, Poles, Italians, etc.), any fool who even utters such a remark should be treated at the parasite that he or she is. Not to mention blindly ignorant.
It is SO sad that this rage is being stoked by certain TV/radio talkers, local people NOT excluded sadly, under the blanket of the First Amendment would make the Founding Fathers roll over in their graves, rise from the dead and shred the Constitution in public - all the while crying for the condition of the country that TRIED to establish.
And behind it all (this MUST be said), IS ... the spectre of blatant racism. Especially in the old Confederacy, which includes ... Texas.
As one commentator said when he asked why certain people still battle the Civil War in their minds, "It didn't end in 1865; it was just intermission."
For all the pride and joy many people felt last November about certain barriers being torn down, others are intent on destroying that person and rebuilding that American Berlin Wall higher than ever. All the proof you need is on any opinion blog today.
And local radio talk show host Mark Davis ain't helping matters with his ridiculous drivel. Of course, easy for him to say "Keep your kids home." No punishment agaisnt the parents; only the students for unexcused absences. Where is the superintendent who will stand up and say that any parent openly keeping their children out of school because of the Obama speech will be prosecuted for contributing to the delinquency of a minor?
Seriously. Make these people put their money and butts behind their silly threats!

Only the idiotic would call it indoctrination

To anyone who stupidly thinks teh proposed Sept. 8 address by Prtesident Obama to the nation's schoolchildre, about the virtues of getting a good education, is some form of "Manchurian Candidate" brainwashing or indoctrination or some other "evil" plot to control children:
If you are SO adamant about keeping "politics" out of the classroom, then stand up with ME and DEMAND that religion be kept OUT OF THE CLASSROOM IN ANY FORM! Including prayer, distribution of religious related material and other forms of possible "brainwashing." Because THAT does NOT belong in the public schools, either.You can't have one and NOT the other. Religion belongs in the church and the home - NOT in SCHOOL!
Right???????
I am SOOOOOOOOO ashamed to even be living in such a jelly-fished, spineless, suck-ass administrative-directed school district as Plano, Texas, which is NOT going to show the speech to ITS children. God fucking forbid!
And to think we pay such enormous salaries (a quarter of a million per year for the idiot superintendent) to this sheep-ple who "educate" our children. It is shameful beyond words!!!!!

Texan of the Year

Since it is September and the process for a decision about the Dallas Morning News' Texan of the Year will probably begin, I suggest a nominee:The unemployed professional.
Since January of this year, many of those included in the ever-increasing ranks of Texas' unemployed residents are the so-called SOFT COLLAR workers - the degreed professionals who, after several years at many of Texas' biggest companies (such as Texas Instruments, Bell Helicopter, other tech-computer-telecom companies, etc.) have come to learn the newest three letter addition to the business lexicon - RIF (reduction in force).
In fact, it is now a verb - to be riffed means, "you're fired!"
And those job fairs, with hundreds upon hundreds of people lined up for hours seeking a precious few job openings in their respective professional fields, are being held in the unlikeliest of places - such here in Collin County, the state's wealthiest area and home of many of those companies doing the RIFfing.
As the recession strikes at Texas like a Level 3 hurricane, as the unemployment number climbs to 10 percent, the people standing in the unemployment line are NOT the usual suspects; they are the former professionals who have been purchasing the "homes inthe 300s," driving the cars from the high-end dealers and supporting the "non-Walmart" retail stores where sales are crumbling. It isn't a pretty sight and it isn't business as usual. After the housing buble burst, now it is THEIR homes being foreclosed; their lives being deconstructed; their income missing in the national economy.
When economists state the demand is not matching the supply, this is the sector not doing the demanding.
These people, the backbone and ribs and lifeblood of the American consumer-based economy, are the face of the recession.
And truly are the Texans of the Year 2009.

Another Michigan football first

The controversary surrounding Cowboys Stadium and the low-hanging video board is interesting and cute but it is not a new thing. The problem dates back to the 1920s!!!!!!! And there was a common sense solution ...
The answer to the following trivia question: What was the FIRST indoor football facility built in the U.S.? is ...Yost Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (you can look it up).
It opened in November of 1923 after ground was broken in 1922. It was the vision of a legendary coach, Fielding H. Yost, who coached at UM from 1900-27. Yost wanted a place for his players to practice during the harsh winter months. After ground was broken, Yost summonsed all parties involved (buildings, engineers, architects) along with his punter.
The men watched as the kicker booted three punts into the air, after which Yost said he didn't want any kick to touch the ceiling of his facility .. and the building was constructed accordingly. The roof was pitched at a crown higher than usual to allow a FULL game practice, including the punting game, to be held inside.
For years, Yost Fieldhouse housed men's basketball and track before its conversion to an 8,000-seat ice hockey arena in 1973-74 (for which it continues as the home of Wolverine hockey today - a fine example of recycling historic buildings into modern use).
Had Jerry Jones wanted to avoid any problems at his billion dollar palace, the solution was simple...and totally avoidable.
As history teaches us.
Just thought you'd like to know.

“Uncle Teddy and Me”

It wasn’t until late in the night – after watching all the remembrances of the late Senator Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy, after seeing that he had played football at Harvard in the mid-1950s – when I remembered of a conversation I had with him in 1971.
At that moment of life, I was part of the Michigan Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Michigan, a member of the sports department. During the Wolverine football season, the paper published a contest – Gridde Picks – where students, or readers of any kind, would select the winners from among 10 games (tiebreaker included), all vying for a free pizza from a greasy spoon called Omega Pizza (we later upgraded the pie to be from the Cottage Inn; a substantial improvement in quality to be sure and it was just around the corner from the paper offices).
For each week, we also had someone affiliated with that Saturday’s opponent make his choices, which would be published as a means of comparison … and much humor. It was our chance to pen some ridiculous prose in that small box and for the folks in the sports department to actually make rudimentary political comments outside the lines – so to speak.
The 1971 home opener was a weak Virginia squad (who was summarily dispatched 56-0 en route to an undefeated regular season for Michigan). But finding a famous UVA alumnus at that time was a tad difficult.
Until one of us remembered that Sen. Kennedy went there for law school. BINGO! That was connection enough and I took it upon my shoulders, and big mouth, to try and reach him to make that week’s picks.
A series of phone calls made their way through the Boston and then Washington offices, a gaggle of aides and assistants, until … without warning; “Uncle Teddy” was the next voice I heard.
I explained the situation with as straight a face as I could muster, and as he listened, I could heard his tongue becoming fastened firmly into his cheek.
“You ARE serious, son?” he said in his best BAH-Stan accent. I assured him I was.
“What does the winner get?” he asked and was told of the piping hot pizza awaiting that week’s victor.
“If I win, will I get one?”
“Positively,” I said. “We’ll arrange for it to be delivered.”
“I want a fresh one, you know,” he said sternly. “With toppings?”
He was told it would be cheese since it was just a student paper and not the Boston Globe’s budget.
“Sure, why not; I love a good pizza,” and with that, he promptly picked all 10 games and gave a big margin of victory for Michigan over the Cavaliers.
“They don’t really play good football down there; I have no idea why they are playing you,” he astutely said.
And with that, he thanked me and gave his office address in case he emerged as victorious as he believed a Kennedy should.
Fortunately, he failed to win that week, but it might have been one of the few times he didn’t.
For the record, three weeks later, I yanked Cmdr. Lloyd Bucher, he of the infamous USS Pueblo (the ship captured by the North Koreans in one of the testier international incidents in 1968), out of a “boring staff meeting” to do the same thing.
The captain was not upset; he seemed rather amused that I had the nerve to do something like that. When informed Sen. Kennedy had participated three weeks earlier that seemed to clinch the deal.
“I hope I can do better than he did,” Bucher said.
He got close, but no cigar … or pizza.
And it took his death to remember all that.
Damn, I wish I could raise a greasy cheesy slice to the memory of both men. But the diet says no. It’ll have to be part of my memories.

Woodstock: 40 Years and a Long Time Gone

I am of that Woodstock generation (although I wasn't there) and I view for what it was - an outstanding concert that became a brilliant movie and betetr soundtrack. In fact, it could be best viewed as the soundtrack of that generation - seeing the future and some endings.
It was Jimi Hendrix' last great performance (in many minds) as well as Janis Joplin, the beginning of the new funk as presented by Sly and the Family Stone, the transformation of music into opera (by The Who), the beginning of the "super group" concept (Crosby, Stills and Nash), the last grasp of the folk protest wave (Joan Baez) and the ultimate expression of flower music (Arlo, Sebastian, Havens). We discovered the greatness of Joe Cocker and Carlos Santana.
Until Woodstock, most music festivals of that kind were more controlled affairs (like Monterrey), but this was open, unpredictable and wild; it wasn't planned to be that way - it just turned out that way.
Woodstock became symbolic because of it size and the desire for others to have a sense of romance. But it was just one weekend, just like Studio 21 was just one club and not a complete metaphor for 70s hedonism.
One day soon, I will slap the movie DVD on the player, get the newly-released 6CD box set and play it completely through.
In the end, for me, it was ALL about the music.
As it really should have been.

Epilogue: Been there, seen a whole bunch

When you take a trip that covers more than 4,500 miles (so said the odometer but it was actually more when you factor walking and driving in other vehicles), you get to see plenty of sights unable to envision at the place you call “home.” There are no mountains or oceans anywhere near Plano, Texas, on the vast plains of North Texas; there are no sights that take your breath away or make you pause for an eternity to burn an impression into your brains.
You either forge that momentary memory into your mind and store it for permanent recall … or you take a photo to remind you of that frozen image. Between the two of us, we took photos totally more than a gigabyte of storage on our laptop. Perhaps close to 1,000 photos – give or take the hundred or so that were dumped along the way (out of focus, insufficient light, someone didn’t want her picture taken, etc.).
It’s like that on every trip we take and our files are growing with burned CD images of where we’ve been and what we’ve seen.
Well, almost…
There are some things that you just cannot forget; moments that WILL live forever inside your soul: seeing the Statue of Liberty in New York City, the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall in Philadelphia or the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor; the magnificence of the Mackinac Bridge, the lush green rolling grounds of central Kentucky (where the champion thoroughbreds are nurtured) and the silent lands in Virginia and Tennessee where brother fought brother during the Civil War; the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. and the sound of the creeks along the roads leading to that shrine.
Here are some of the things we saw, and heard, and did, (and will remember) – often odd, but always unique:
seeing wildlife, such as elk, prairie dogs and a herd of bison;
finding orange trees located (and growing) in a city’s downtown plaza (Riverside, Calif.);
locating the world’s tallest thermometer (in Baker, Calif., and it read over 100 degrees that MORNING) next to a store selling “Alien Jerky;”
getting passed by a Smart car, on an Arizona freeway, doing OVER 75 miles per hour;
watching several $250,000 Lamborghinis zoom past us on Los Angeles roadways (along with the stray Aston-Martin or two);
seeing HOV lanes … on freeway entrance ramps?!?! (of course, it was in California);
facing police check points for traffic going over Hoover Dam;
two-cent slot machines … at a high-class joint like The Bellagio;
noticing traffic warning signs for elk, ram/sheep, mule and horse crossings, as well as one warning people NOT to step close to the edge of a cliff for fear of falling;
seeing traffic stop lights SOLELY for the purpose of allowing pedestrians to cross busy streets (in Tucson);
drinking mango margaritas or eating salads topped with pomegranate dressing;
viewing two rainbows over the right-field fences in different ballparks (Albuquerque and Las Vegas);
visiting a minor league ballpark situated within a residential development (instead of a municipal park in most other cases);
seeing two-time Olympic gold medalist Jennie Finch (as stunning as she is talented) sitting 20 feet from me in Oklahoma City and then watching Manny Ramirez during his rehab assignments in Albuquerque;
watching a full (one hour) local evening newscast … without a sportscaster (ask yourself when was the last time YOU saw that!);
looking at the sun set over the San Bernardino Mountains and mule teams train down in the Grand Canyon.
There are more of those memories and they will flash before our eyes with the mere mention of a word, song or thought. It’s how vacations should be for everyone.
---
Things are back to “normal” at home; the dog chases the cat, the cat doesn’t like it and we both look at each other and shrug our shoulders. Jodie has to get up earlier to start her commute to Dallas City Hall for work, and I have to join her as chauffeur to the DART light rail station (to and from).
There are upcoming birthdays to remember, bills to be paid, problems around the house to be fixed and friends with whom to be reacquainted. We’ll complain about the heat, the roller-coaster cost of gasoline (please make up your damn minds on the price) and why a watermelon costs more than a steak.
In other words, life is back and we knew before the trip. But ... aha, for a brief second (or two or 10), we can flick the mouse on a folder containing photographic memories and for the shortest time, simply flash to that scene in the Grand Canyon or Isoptope Park or to a roadside along Route 66. It means we can “vacate” the present and go back to the “vacate-ion” ... and just smile.
For the final time … until we meet again … shalom!

YOU supply the words

As comedian Robert Wuhl says, "I shit you not."

Found in the Saguaro National Park, this obviously male cactus ...