Top Christian Albums of the 1980's -- #3

MELTDOWN – Steve Taylor (1984)



Steve Taylor produced only five regular albums, the first of which was a 6-track "EP" and the last of which appeared in 1993. Yet each one was special in its own right, and the quality of the first four make this by far the most difficult call for the one-album-per-artist rule.




Meltdown is Steve Taylor’s first full-length album, although it contains at least two tracks intended for I Want to Be a Clone, the debut EP that appeared two years earlier.




While it lacks the biting satire of Clone, and the production quality isn't quite as polished as On the Fritz and I Predict 1990 which followed, and each album contains a jaw-dropping range of musical styles and versatility (not to mention the ongoing satire), Meltdown gets the nod because it brings Taylor into his own not just as a songwriter, but as a complete musician.




Ironically, Taylor's three best songs of the decade (Bad Rap from Clone, To Forgive from Fritz -- one of the greatest songs of the decade -- and I Blew Up the Clinic Real Good from I Predict 1990) are found on other albums. Again, it's almost unfair to limit Steve Taylor to only one entry on this list, but rules is rules, and Meltdown is the clearest example of the Steve Taylor experience, from the jarring opening title track to the stirring closing ballad Baby Doe and everything in between.

Geography Lesson

So I'm getting ready to exercise this morning and I have the morning news on while the DVD player is warming up and there's a story about the indictment of R. Allen Stanford for an alleged Ponzi scheme.

Fine. But then the reporter goes on to talk about how Stanford is one of the few Americans to have been knighted, noting that he received the honor from "both Antigua and Barbuda."

Emphasis added.

Good grief.

And these people wonder why nobody trusts the media.

Top Christian Albums of the 1980's -- #4

BEAT THE SYSTEM – Petra (1985)

Remember the "one album per artist" rule? Second only to the soon-to-be-revealed #3 on this list, this was the most difficult call.

I had to think long and hard on this one -- Petra did virtually nothing wrong this decade. Never Say Die, More Power To Ya, Not of This World, Back to the Street, This Means War!, On Fire! and Beat the System right in the middle. If I'm picking a personal favorite, I almost have to go with Not of This World. Almost. Greatness, however, has to go beyond simply "favorite." Beat the System makes this list because it presents the classic Petra lineup at its peak, turning in a strong, consistent performance from beginning to end. They were able to introduce the synthesizer -- all too ubiquitous in the 80's -- as complementary and not alternative instruments, allowing Bob Hartman's superstar guitar work to continue to highlight the album.

Purists might prefer Not of this World or More Power to Ya among their earlier works, and strong cases can be made. The forgotten Back to the Street gave us the best song of the decade (by Petra or anybody else) in Fool’s Gold, and the band rounded into form with This Means War! that followed, with the excellent John Schlitt now firmly established as lead vocalist. All are great compilations, but Beat the System got the alchemy exactly right for ten outstanding tracks.

Nine Years Ago

That's hard to believe. We all were so young, and you were too. Still missed today.

We'll see you soon!

Top Christian Albums of the 1980's -- #5

SO YOU WANNA GO BACK TO EGYPT...? – Keith Green (1980)

Released in May 1980, it's really a 70's album, but it still makes the cut for this decade. Keith Green released four albums in his lifetime and all were outstanding. His first two don't qualify for this list chronologically. Songs for the Shepherd would follow and have slightly better production values; many consider it the first "worship album." Egypt gets the nod regardless, however, as it presents Keith Green at his most versatile, inspired and passionate, and even features Bob Dylan on harmonica.

It was also the album which introduced this writer to CCM, and I remember not only being impressed with the musical quality and creativity, but with the booklet that came with the album and included the lyrics, the background of each song, comprehensive Scripture references, and reprints of several tracts from Keith's outfit Last Days Ministries. A tour de force from an artist taken from us far too soon, and greatly missed nearly thirty years later.

Top Christian Albums of the 1980's -- #6

THE IMPERIALS SING THE CLASSICS – The Imperials (1985)

Not, as some might think, a greatest hits album, although it comes closer to that than anything else on this list. Rather than performing their classics, the greatest vocal band in Christian music history performs ten songs made famous by other performers, but heard here in their own classic style.

The Imperials struggled for an identity in this decade, trying to establish themselves in a market that was getting younger and adopting a harder musical edge. Nonetheless, they produced some great work. Heed the Call is a near-miss on this list, featuring the incomparable Oh Buddha, and Stand by the Power follows closely as an excellent compilation in its own right. Other efforts were solid but reflected their identity crisis. However, when they returned to their roots in 1985, they gave us their best work of the decade, and an album for the ages, re-introducing ten great songs and a great band to a new generation of fans.

Zen-Master vs. the Red-Master

So here we go again. The LA Fakers are on the verge of another championship which, if they don't blow it this time, will put Phil Jackson ahead of Red Auerbach in total championships won as a coach. Both currently have 9.

Phil Jackson is a great coach. He's proven his ability to win and manage superstars, and if the ownership group had cooperated in Chicago he probably would have won a few more rings.

But, seriously, when you talk basketball coaches, there are two categories -- Red Auerbach and everybody else. Phil Jackson has won with talent assembled by his predecessors; Red had to start from scratch. More than once. Phil won in an established league where revenues were never a problem. Without Red, the NBA would not have survived the 1950's, and Phil would never have had a chance to play for the Knicks or even coach the Albany Patroons, much less find success in Chicago and LA. He's probably still be in Deer Lodge, Montana coaching his granddaughter and 4 of her closest friends as they battled in the quarterfinals of the Powell County playoffs.

Finally, one can argue that Red has 16 (or even 17) rings, as he had a significant part in every one of the Celtics' championships from his seat in the front office, up to the point of hiring Danny Ainge who put the pieces in place for last year's banner. I somehow don't envision Phil having the patience to fill such a role. He's not exactly known for sticking around when things aren't going his way.

The yankees have updated their website...

to reflect their new ownership:

And outside Fenway Park last night...

A conventional broom just wasn't big enough for this job...

Meanwhile, STILL in Tampa...

Top Christian Albums of the 1980's -- #7

DON’T WAIT FOR THE MOVIE – White Heart (1986) –

The first five White Heart albums, from their eponymous debut (with Steve Green as lead vocalist!) through Emergency Broadcast each had defining tracks as the band successfully tread the ground between contemporary rock, radio-friendly ballads, and heavy metal. The later works were somewhat more ordinary. Don’t Wait for the Movie makes the list because its musical and production quality is outstanding without being overbearing, and it is easily the most consistent work of the first five -- not to mention the best album cover of them all.

Ironically, it was a debut album of sorts, with a new lead singer (Rick Florian replacing Scott Douglas). Each of the other four albums is worth hearing, and Emergency Broadcast features their best song of the decade (No Taboo), but Movie is the best of the bunch.

History Lessons

Bob Ryan offers one here on the Yankees' ongoing ability to rack up #27. Somewhere in the Bronx there's a 8-year-old wondering why the Red Sox always beat the Yankees.

And of course I could like to everything Victor Davis Hanson writes, but this refresher on American history is worth a review in light of claims of the current administration.

Top Christian Albums of the 1980's -- #8

PICTURES IN THE SKY – Rich Mullins (1987) – Ah, yes -- freshman year in college, waking up to Screendoor every stinkin' day at the unearthly hour of 7:00 AM thanks to this album in my roommate's clock/radio/cassette. It was my first introduction to Rich Mullins (and an inauspicious one, I daresay), but I eventually cut through the early-morning blahs and came to appreciate Rich's creativity and originality. Nonetheless, I had to buy the CD before I realized that Screendoor was not the album's opening track. My roommate had kept the cassette on "side 2" that whole year.

Other artists had their peer group; not Rich Mullins. His sound was (and is) unique; original in its own right, and emulated by none since. Pictures in the Sky showcases Mullins at his versatile best, with each track unique yet with an overall cohesion. Along with another artist on this list, taken from us far too soon, and greatly missed.

Top Christian Albums of the 1980's -- #9

NO MYSTERY – Rick Cua (1983)
Rick Cua’s first five albums were all good, but No Mystery, his second, provides a little more polish than his debut Koo-ah and precedes his slide into over-produced top-40ish rock. Ten solid tracks of power rock and power ballads with no weak spots, including The Power, the signature tune of a noteworthy weekend college radio show at the end of the decade. One Way Out is unquestionably Cua's best song from this era (probably ever), but it's hard to pick favorites. Like #10 on this list, it's a shame it's hard to find, but worth the expense if you can locate it. And, incidentally, doesn’t this guy remind you of Billy Ray Cyrus?

Top Christian Albums of the 1980's -- #10

PASSIN' THE FAITH ALONG -- The New Gaither Vocal Band (1983)

Surprised? While there’s a lot to be said for complexity (see #1 and elsewhere on this list), simple pleasures are often the best. The legendary Bill Gaither continued writing great music throughout the decade, and the GVB in various incarnations was his vehicle for recording it. The vocalists are the musicians, with the bare minimum of instrumentation to complement, not smother, their voices, and the songs are crisp, diverse and original. By producing a contemporary sound without compromising his principles, Gaither provides more evidence (as if any was needed) that he's among the best songwriters and producers of the last 50 years. Still enjoyable (if you can find it!), a quarter-century later.

Another list to argue about...

Not on the list...

For the past several months, I've been compiling a list of my ten favorite Christian Contemporary albums of the 1980's. I guess it's about time I published them, so they'll be following in regular installments in the weeks to come. Feel free to post your comments and suggestions.





First, the ground rules. Very simply:


• One album per artist makes the list. Thus, it's not only the ten best albums, but the best album from each artist.
• Release dates 1980-1989
• No greatest hits, compilation albums with multiple artists, live albums or soundtracks.





Second, the criteria (and perhaps a guide to understanding my descriptions to follow):


Consistency – In today’s MP3 society, listeners tend to take their favorite 2-3 songs from an album and forget about the rest. In fact, the entire concept of an "album" is rapidly becoming obsolete. I’ve got nothing against "Greatest Hits" albums, but a regular-issue album, including those that are somewhat uneven, still represent a snapshot of that artist at that particular time in the artist’s performing career. Undeniably, many albums contain more than their share of "filler," thus the evolution to the cherry-picking we see today. Thus, a key criterion in compiling this list was to have an even performance from the first track to the last, both in terms of musical quality and production effort.



Maturity – We were looking for albums that, where possible, captured the artist at the peak of its performance ability and musical style, reaching a sound with which the artist was clearly comfortable. Thus, few debut albums, however good they may have been, are included on this list as the artist may have needed to go through a few production cycles before reaching a point of musical maturity.



Influence – Both on other artists, and on the listener.





More to come...

65 Years

This D-Day tribute is worth 10 minutes of your time. Make sure you watch it all the way to the end.

The Victor

Dr. Victor Davis Hanson, as always, gets clearly and concisely to the problem of racial preferences in the Sotomayor worldview. Worth a look here.

Government CEO

Briefly yesterday I was tuned into a radio host (I think it was Jim Quinn) in the midst of a solioqy about the ineffectiveness of governmental management. He rattled off a long list of big-government failures (and a few small-government failures), from public schools to the post office to the Department of Energy, and concluded by asking (supposedly rhetorically) "Name one thing the government has managed successfully!"

Although I was in sympathy with his argument, I nonetheless came up with something right away -- "World War II."

Which then led me to thinking -- if the only thing government can do right is manage a war (and then, not always with equal degrees of success), why is that the one thing that left-wingers don't want them to manage?

Not exactly the deepest thought I've ever had, but it kept my brain occupied for a few seconds.

The Times They Are a-Changin'

Over twenty years ago, as I was starting college, I picked up a stereo set at a yard sale that had an 8-track player. So while my colleagues were building their CD collections, I was plunding Goodwill stores for 8-track cassettes. Today, as the world has moved to MP3 technology to the point of even making CD’s obsolete, I find myself accumulating compact cassettes at an alarming rate, including an eclectic box of about 45 of them that I scored at a flea market last week for the grand total of $1.00.

I’ll keep maybe 6 or 7 of them – I wanted the box more for the cassette racks included therein – but I figured I’d at least listen through them to see if there’s anything worthwhile I might be overlooking.

Working alphabetically (naturally), I come upon two compilations of Joan Baez, including her live set "From Every Stage" produced in 1975. A great voice, certainly, but the lyrics (both hers and the artists she interprets) reflect the pattern of the times, and are what you’d expect from someone in their early 30's with a well-established reputation for social activism. The opening a capella number, for example, contains a reference to "that killer Kissinger" amongst other harmonious diatribes.

Nonetheless, I was struck by her introduction to "Natalia," which is reproduced here verbatim:

[This song is] written about a political prisoner in USSR. And in USSR, when you do something naughty they throw you in the mental hospital and tell you you’re "cuckoo" and try to get everyone else to believe it. The terrible thing is that, eventually, sometimes, you get to believing it, too.

But there is one woman, named Natalia Gorbanevskaja, who never believed it. She was very, very strong. She wrote a poem about the invasion of Czechoslovakia – she thought it was a very poor idea. And when she wrote the poem, the government of the USSR thought she was a very poor idea and they put her in the ol’ bughouse. She was pregnant at the time – she was very strong, and she convinced herself she would be fine, she would have her child, she would go on speaking out – so every time she comes out of the looney bin she writes another poem, and the put her back in. But – it is because of people like Natalia Gorbanevskaja I am convinced that you and I are still alive and walking around on the face of the earth.

>>>>>>READ THE LAST SENTENCE AGAIN!<<<<<<

Ah, for the days when being a liberal meant that you believed in liberty, and not being a syncophant parroting clever bumper-sticker philosophies while blindly following the mass media with sheep-like docility.

Maybe the Dixie Chicks can adapt this idea for their next album and include a song about the human rights violations in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. I mean, when they and their acolytes are finished blaming President Bush for everything...

A footnote -- Joan's Wikipedia biography contains a paragraph about her trip to North Viet Nam with Jane Fonda et al in 1972. Whatever her feelings towards Viet Nam (and every western military action before or since, apparently), Joan at least saw through the charade of the communists. Read the rest of the bio and you'll have no doubt that she was (and is) a firm left-winger, but, to her credit, not a Phoanie.

Better than his Brother

One of my favorite residents of Marion, Massachusetts has passed away. I knew a Ed.D. and a Structural Engineer from that town, but there was only one Professor.

He was also an author -- Real Grass, Real Heroes -- an account of the 1941 baseball season. We could use some of those real heroes right about now. And I do mean real.

Ultimate Ring Toss

This is what can happen in your back yard when the township doesn't pick up the recycling in time and the kids get home from school early...

Have the ADA people seen this?

I have to admit I had worked in this building for over 3 years (3 of those months in a wheelchair) before I was struck by the irony of this sign.

Quarterbacking the Elephants

It was January 1988 and I was a senior in high school, on a Model United Nations trip in Den Haag (The Hague). We shared a youth hostel with a school from Massachusetts. Hanging out with them one night, I asked them -- being the amateur political scientist that I was -- if they were all Dukakis fans. Oh, no, they replied -- they were all Republicans. Then you must all be for Bush, I inferred. This time the objections were even louder -- no, NO, NO! they insisted. They wanted Jack Kemp. All of them -- male, female, black, white -- nodded in agreement.

I can't say I was too familiar with the former AFL quarterback, then a Representative from western New York, or even that I knew he was running for president. A passionate supply-sider and Ronald Reagan's true ideological heir, Kemp never stood a chance against an incumbent Vice President, not to mention an over-confident televangelist who split the conservative vote.

Kemp, ever the good soldier, would go on to serve in the first Bush administration, somewhat miscast as HUD Secretary, then with Bush's defeat in 1992 he formed a conservative group which nearly everyone saw as a stepping stone to another presidential run. Yet he sat out 1996, and was on nobody's short list when Bob Dole tapped him as his running mate.

It was an inspired choice -- or so it seemed -- and for a few heady days that summer following the convention, the symmetrical Dole-Kemp ticket actually led in several polls. Kemp rallied diehard conservatives to the Republican ticket and it actually seemed like the GOP had a shot against the well-oiled, well-managed Clintonista regime. Here was a candidate who appealed to conservatives without offending liberals, who had legitimate deep roots in two bluish states (CA and NY, which, believe it or not, were still considered somewhat in play in 1996), who had genuine credentials with African-Americans, and who was solidly pro-Life without it being a hallmark of his ideology. Too good to be true -- right?

It was not to be, and although Clinton's re-election was almost inevitable, it could have been closer if Kemp hadn't completely disappeared in the last two months of the campaign. His pitiful peformance against the robotic AlGore in the VP debate that year was unforgivable, and was a signal even to the most devoted Republicans that the election was over.

But Quarterback Jack's most productive days had predated his 1988 campaign and subsequent falterings. He had advocated the Reagan economic agenda with more passion than anyone except perhaps Reagan himself, and set the course for a decade of prosperity and the defeat of Communism. The rest is a footnote. He will be missed.

They don't allow SCATES either...

This sign wouldn't be so egregious if it wasn't posted on the door of the local library.

Seriously.

Rumor has it...

that Arlen Specter is switching parties. But according to confirmed reports, he's still a Democrat. So I don't really know what the big deal is...

Thou Shalt Not Steal

Unless you're Jacoby Ellsbury against the Yankees on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in Tampa...

Harry the K (1936-2009)

He wasn't the greatest broadcaster ever. An article even appeared in a Philadelphia magazine a few years ago speculating that he was "losing it." But, my goodness, what a voice! Maybe the best I've ever heard, on or off the radio. Some random memories of Harry Kalas --

(1) His call of Mike Schmidt's 500th career home run is my first conscious memory of hearing his voice, on a short-wave radio on the southern tip of Africa.

(2) I was a rookie radio "board op" in upstate NY in 1993. Driving to work one day, I had the station on and heard Larry King interviewing Harry Kalas and other radio voices (I think Jon Miller was among them). Our was, of course, a voice-oriented business, and we had fine-tuned ears to identify stronger and superior vocal talent, trying to develop our own vocal cords to a higher level and maybe land a job that would get us out from behind the board and instead behind a microphone. I had heard Harry before, of course, and knew his voice well. Upon arriving at the station, the operator I was relieving was sitting there in almost reverent silence listening to the conclusion of the interview. "Did you hear that voice?" she asked in a near-whisper, "I've never heard anything like that!"

(3) Beyond all that, however, he'll always be remembered in the Salad Bar for his narration of the commemorative video of the 2001 New England Patriots.

Rough Start

What a rotten week. We've lost a highly promising young pitcher, the greatest voice in radio history, and one of the most colorful diamond performers this side of Babe Ruth.

And the standings in the American League East are inverted.

Things can only get better...

Ahhhhhhhhh Spring!

Twilight of my Career

About five months ago, my daughter decided she wanted to play basketball. So we signed her up with the local youth association for their 5th & 6th grade girls league. The problem was, about 60 girls signed up and there were only four coaches. The math (15 to a team) wouldn't work at that level, so the coordinate sent several begging, pleading, desperate e-mails asking for some more coaches. Finally, I wrote back to him -- saying, basically -- I ruptured my right achilles tendon last April, so I can't run, can't jump, and, beyond that, even with two healthy legs I was a terrible player, and I'd never coached before and had no idea how I'd relate to a bunch of 10-12 year olds, but, if he was that desperate, I'd do my best to help out. As I've often said, crisis forces people to do strange things, so he accepted my offer, such as it was.

I was then warned, by others, that I would have two more problems -- the kids wouldn't listen, and the parents would complain. For whatever reason, neither of those conditions ever came to fruition. The young ladies were of the highest quality character, and many of the parents helped out with coaching and other stuff. We lost our first four games, but came together at the end to win our first playoff game, finishing the season somewhat shorthanded in our final playoff game, but a good run nonetheless.

So I guess I have to do this again next year when my daughter is in Sixth grade. I can only hope that I'll be just as lucky (if luck was involved) with the quality of the players and parents on next year's team.

I let them choose their team name -- they almost unanimously chose "Twilight" -- one of those irritatingly inflexible singular sports franchise tags (ie "Minnesota Wild" -- "Utah Jazz" -- "Stanford Cardinal" -- how do you cheer for one player?). I think it had something to do with vampires, but whatever. It was fun.

Cavalier Attitude

Hard to believe that it was twenty years ago this month. One of the few bright spots during the darkest of years. And one of the few good pictures ever taken of me, here with my first car, purchased March 9, 1989, and departed this world May 9, 1997. Taken to his final resting place under his own power November 14, 1997. "Roger," my 1985 Chevrolet Cavalier -- dependable, durable, reliable, loyal. Like his namesake, he never missed a start. Unlike his namesake, he was faithful to the end, and our treasured companion through the changes of life. through 73,700 miles, 5 addresses, 4 insurance carriers, 3 states , 2 engines, and zero accidents. RIP old friend -- you earned it.

Paul Harvey (1918-2009)

My comments as posted on the official Paul Harvey website:

"Paul Harvey was, almost without question, the greatest radio broadcaster in history. Nobody did it better, or longer. And what a terrific voice! He instinctively knew how to blend solid reporting, great writing, broadcasting style, salesmanship and humor. Many have tried, and most have failed, to achieve even a portion of his success, relying instead on celebrity or pomposity as their foundation, neglecting those fundamentals that Paul Harvey mastered early in his career. There will never be another Paul Harvey. RIP."

Fair-Not Doctrine

The passing of Paul Harvey (official website here) marks the end of one of the greatest careers in broadcasting, lasting over 50 years and continuing almost to the end of life at the age of 90. Nobody did it better, or longer, than Paul Harvey.



The broadcasting industry -- specifically radio -- has been in the news recently with discussion of the "Fairness Doctrine" in the back rooms of the Nation's Capital, the purported goal of which is to give the left-wingers a stronger foothold on our radio waves, equal to or greater than the dominance they already have in the rest of the media.



Fair or otherwise, their ambition betrays the same lack of understanding of the free market that they have consistently displayed in the past 200 years or so. Their allegation that left-wing forays into radio have failed because of a lack of exposure is absolute nonsense, but it is akin to their equally inane postulate that people are unable to succeed on their own without help from a higher resource (ie the government re-distributing taxpayer money).



In other words, the reason left-wingers have failed is because they can't sell, and the reason they can't sell is because it runs against their deeply-held convictions. It has nothing to do with their political or social positions, their broadcasting talent (or lack thereof), or "exposure." As nouveau-socailists, they simply fail to understand that radio stations outside of NPR exist TO MAKE MONEY, and those stations and their owners will carry any program that can sell itself to the station's (and network's) advertisers.

That's why Paul Harvey, Rush Limbaugh and (to a lesser extent) G. Gordon Liddy and Sean Hannity have succeeded, and Mario Cuomo, Bill Press, Randi Rhodes, Alec Baldwin and the whole sorry cast of Air America failed. The first group could sell ice to the proverbial eskimo; the latter group doesn't understand the basic principles that drive the free market in the first place.

Maybe if they had listened to Paul Harvey over the years, they'd understand the rest of the story.

Losing the Battleground

It's been a bad two months for fans of the 1949 movie Battleground. We lost Van Johnson in December, Ricardo Montalban in January and now James Whitmore this week. His role as Platoon Sgr. Kinnie earned him an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor.

Denise Darcel ("Denise") and Jerome Courtland ("Abner") are, to my knowledge, now the only surviving actors from Battleground, although there may be a few still living who had minor parts.

See the movie. Please.

Harry the Great

WWII buffs, particularly those who have read and seen sagas of POW's (from Hogan's Heroes to Stalag 17 to The Great Escape) will enjoy this link to Tunnel Harry. This link forwarded to me by RAH, whose father was one of the heroes of WWII.

To the Victor

Victor Davis Hanson offers his take on GWB here. Somewhat more positive that Murdock's, offered below.

I've personally found the media coverage of the past few days absolutely intolerable. There's the swooning Koolaid-drinkers of the far left and mainstream media (pardon the redundancy), and the nitpicking nabobs of negativism on talk radio that are launching premptive strikes before the moving vans have unloaded. I'll match my VRWC credentials against anybody, but I'd at least like to see the ink dry on the cabinet papers before we get too carried away.

NRO has been somewhat of a refuge, providing both candid coverage of the outgoing administration, and surprisingly positive commentary on the new one, as old friend Jonah Goldberg writes here.

That being said, I do think this Geithner thing is going to come back to haunt BHO. He should have pulled the plug on this one. But that would have been too drastic of a change.

The final legacy of the second Bush administration will be the Obama administration, and we'll see what kind of legacy that will be. But whatever our complaints against the former president, we have to thank him for keeping us safe for 2,688 days, for dealing with a nearly incomprehensible crisis, and for making the tough decisions when the chances of success were slim. Thank you, Mr. President. May history judge you with greater fairness than your contemporaries.

Parting Shots

DeRoy Murdock presents a detailed criticism of the outgoing administration on NRO.

I have long maintained -- and Murdock seems to agree -- that the central flaw of Bush II was a failure to communicate (with apologies to Cool Hand Luke).

Or, as Steve Taylor once said ("Bouquet") -- "Nothing's sadder than the words, 'what might have been.'" (FYI the above link has the lyrics wrong).

Bye, bye, 2008

The year in review covered here.

My favorite moments appear at 2:59, 4:25 and 6:29.

It's about time!

In a rare and belated display of sensibility, the BBWAA has elected the great Jim Rice to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I'll grant you that I'm prejudiced -- Rice was the first baseball hero of this reporter, growing up in mid-coast Maine in those crazy late-70's -- but I really have to wonder what the BBWAA is looking at to delay it this long.

For some reason, they'll "automatically" put in marginal players who stayed around to accumulate arbitrary milestone numbers, yet continually overlook great players who truly struck fear into opposing teams. Rice was flat-out unbelievable for 12 seasons, rarely injured, and steroid-free.

So, it's great that he finally gets in, but the fact that Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Kirby Pucket got there first somewhat diminishes his election. In any case, a great excuse for a summer road trip to Cooperstown.

Now, about Luis Tiant...

2-3-2

One of the many lingering images in my mind from Super Bowl XXXVI -- an image which, unfortunately, I am unable to find in print -- is of Kurt Warner staying on the field during the hysterical postgame celebration to congratulate the Patriots players and coaches.

Even though it must have been an excruciating loss for him, he had the class to stick around and give credit where it was due, not run off and hide in the locker room.

It says something about his character; and perhaps it's that character that has kept him in the game this long and one win away from a return to the big dance.

I really don't care who wins on Sunday, but it would be kind of cool to see a stand-up guy like Kurt Warner make it all the way back.

So Favre Away

Eric Mangini is likely to be fired and Brett Favre is hopefully going to retire. Good riddance to both. The Dolphins were clearly the best team in their division and deserved to win on the final game of the season (and thus win the division), but poor decisions by both Mangini and Favre in the fourth quarter cost the Jets a chance at victory and thus the Patriots a chance at the playoffs.

First, some basics -- when you have 4th-and-2 on your opponent's 43 and you're down by four points in the fourth quarter, you go for it. Unless you can get a perfect punt, at best you'll gain 20 yards of field position by giving up the ball, and you're facing a team that has run the ball effectively all season, particularly in the fourth quarter. The fact that the punt was blocked is immaterial -- the call to punt in the first place was idiotic.

Second, why are you running a hurry-up offense with a full five minutes left? You have two timeouts and you're on the opponent's 29. What's the rush? Favre was apparently trying to catch the Dolphins in the wrong defensive formation, but isn't it better to execute the play properly? Even his (intended) receiver was surprised.

This isn't sour grapes -- The Patriots lost their all-world quarterback early in the first game of the season, yet rebounded to finish 11-5 and lost the division on a tie-breaker. They had winnable games against the Jets and the Colts (and, to some degree, the Steelers) which would have made this discussion moot had they executed.

New England's defense -- already aging and depleted entering the season after having been manhandled back in February -- was their true Achilles heel (pardon the expression) this season, a problem which was exacerbated by the loss of stalwarts Rodney Harrison, Adailus Thomas and many others. With Tom Brady's status up in the air, they've got some work to do in order to contend in a suddenly improved division.

We'll see what that brings. In the meantime, congratulations to the Dolphins on a well-deserved division title. As for Mangini and Favre, we'll see you on Monster.com.

Year in Review

All in all, this is a year I'd rather forget. We had disaster in February, catastrophe in April, cataclysm in August, calamity followed by heartbreak in October, and a complete debacle in November. We lost Bill Buckley, Ivan Dixon, Jesse Helms, Charlton Heston, Van Johnson, Bill Melendez, Tony Snow, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Sir John Templeton, and Paul Weyrich. I had to replace my cell phone, my car, my assistant, my laptop, my starting quarterback, my television and my right Achilles tendon. There was no shortage of underwriters to debate or of clients to placate. Yet, with seven days to go, we appear to have survived, and we have something to look forward to in May 2009. A few somewhat random thoughts to wrap things up...


Quote #1 -- Hogan's Heroes, episode 96
Newkirk: The first thing we must do is not panic.
Kinchloe: I already have -- what's the second thing?


Quote #2 -- Johnny Most, 1986
"The Boston Celtics are the World Champions for the sixteenth time. They have come back from all kinds of adversity, and they have shown the world what a great ball club they really are."


Quote #3 -- attributed (erroneously) to Winston Churchill
"Never give up.
Never give up.
Never, never, NEVER give up."


Quote #4 -- George S. Patton
"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom."


Quote #5 -- Ronald Reagan, 1989
"My friends, we did it."


Quote #6 -- Apostle Paul, Ephesians 3:20
"[God] is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think."

Quote #7 -- from Saving Private Ryan
"I'll see you on the beach."

Deep in the heart of Texeira

The signing of Mark Texeira by the New York Steinbrenners is not the apocalypse that commentators are making it out to be. Not even for the Red Sox. The Yanks have been over-paying for players (not "talent," players) for the past eight years and it's gotten them nowhere. Mike Mussina. Carl Pavano. Kevin Brown. Jarret Wright. Jason Giambi. And, of course, Pay-Rod. And they finished third last year.

Now they've opened their checkbook for another National League pitcher (see Brown, above); another injury-prone pitcher (see Pavano, above), and a young slugging first-baseman (see Giambi, above).

It might just work out for them, but I'll believe it when I see it. Had the Sox signed Texeira, they would have been faced with the dilemma of trying to fit four all-star-calibre players (Tex, Youk, Lowell and Ortiz) into three positions (1B, 3B & DH). One of them (probably Lowell) would have had to go, yet it was his absence -- far more than Man-Ram's -- that contributed to the Sox ultimately falling short last year. If this gang is healthy, I'll take them over any team that money can buy. If they're not healthy, well, that's the chance you take. However, I'd rather take that chance with less than $400 million.

As has been written here before, the dynastic Yankees of the 1990's had even this observer's grudging admiration, as they had built their teams the right (or the traditional) way -- a strong farm system, a core group that had played together in the minors, and complementary, second-tier players signed to reasonable contracts to plug the gaps year-to-year. They now have a weak farm system, an aging core group, and a host of over-paid, under-performing free agents. It hasn't worked yet.

1983

Twenty-Five Years Ago. Hard to believe. The picture was actually taken in 1985, but it was near that location two years earlier that me (the sunburnt guy in the back row) went on a hike with Tim (the guy in the yellow shirt) and got lost in the boondocks, a somewhat harrowing experience that entailed two dicey river crossings without a bridge.

This was on Christmas Eve, folks.

And, yes, we made it back...

Ode to George

A fellow Blogspotter posts some additional commentary on IAWL; I particularly concur with the two paragraphs and find the SNL video link embedded therein to be a more satisfactory ending, although I might have skipped the pile-diving at the end...

It's a Wonderful So-Called Life

NBC presented its annual rendition of the perennial Christmas special It's A Wonderful Life recently. It wasn't that long ago that you could see this movie pretty much 24/7 during December on various channels; then NBC got exclusive rights to show it once a year. Apparently NBC doesn't think that people have VCR's, let alone DVD players.

Anyway, a good enough movie with some memorable performances, but I find it hard to watch because, like several of Capra's other pictures, the conclusion just isn't complete. Why does Mr. Potter have to keep the money and go from the hard-core, aggressive businessman he has been throughout the film to a downright crook? If Potter had given the money back -- and he clearly knew he had it and where it had come from and that it wasn't his -- maybe after the wild rally at the end, that might have made sense.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, unfortunately, isn't much better -- the last ten minutes make absolutely no sense at all, as if Capra knew he had to get the thing done within 129 minutes?

In both cases, the overall themes are solid (what life would be if you'd never been born; political corruption), but the sequences are contrived and the endings are unsatisfactory. Fortunately, both Capra and Stewart gave us plenty of solid work elsewhere. It's just odd that these two pictures get most of the notoriety. I must be missing something...

Kerrying On

I saw this book for sale at a salvage store. If I hadn't been in a quasi-public place, I would have been ROTFL. I could barely hold my Blackberry still to take the picture. I seriously thought I'd need visual proof of what I had seen.

John Kerry: A Portrait. You have got to be kidding. Does this guy have a Kennedy complex or what? First we have the initials (middle name - Forbes). Then the haircut. Now we need a coffee table book of intimate photographs? Starting with a picture of him on his private yacht? No doubt, the book goes out to expound on his well-known charm and charisma and his early years pulling double-shifts in the meat packing plant. What's next -- an MTV special? A DVD of his best-received stand-up? An audiobook of Theresa's favorite bedtime stories? Good grief.

Amazon shows an issue date of September 2004, and of course ever presidential election year produces its share of literary buffoonery, but someone should have been fired for this. Maybe they were. If I hadn't seen this in person, I would have thought it was a 4-year-old gag from Saturday Night Live.

I wonder how many copies actually were sold. I mean, other than the ones Theresa scooped up to get it into Amazon's top 1,000.

Halp us Jon Carry -- we R stuk hear @ Ollies...

Name that Scandal

Mark Krikorian has a few suggestions.

Van the Man

The great Van Johnson (1916-2008) has died at age 92. He's worth commemorating for at least two reasons --

Primarily, his portrayal of PFC Holley, the central character in Battleground, perhaps the best WWII movie ever made. I typically watch Battleground around this time each year, and was just getting ready to pop in the DVD when I heard the news. There are, of course, a number of great WWII films (and plenty of lousy ones), but Battleground stands out for its believable and eye-level portrayal of a band of brothers (before the Band of Brothers) during a difficult turn in the war. I particularly like how it molds each of the characters into distinct, identifiable, and (most importantly) genuine roles with whom it's easy to connect.

If you haven't seen Battleground, rent, borrow, buy or steal it NOW (okay, don't steal it).

The second reason is a little-known fact -- Van Johnson was actually given serious consideration for the lead role in WWII television classic, Hogan's Heroes. Don't ask me how I know this; just trust me...

His full credits are here. RIP.

Bailing Away

I have to admit, I'm not a person with a great deal of sympathy for the so-called American automobile industry (I say "so-called" because many "foreign" cars are actually built in the US).

My first car was a 1985 Chevrolet Cavalier, and as such, it has a special place in my heart. I had it for just over eight years and it got me through college, into marriage, several moves and job changes, and up until almost exactly a year from the birth of my first child. Nonetheless, I can't overlook the fact that both the engine and the transmission blew out at around 70,000 miles. I paid a fair sum of money to get all that fixed, and it lasted another 50,000 until the engine went again.

The first car my wife and I bought together was a 1993 Mercury Tracer. That transmission went at 40,000 miles. I was infuriated -- I wrote several letters to the good people at the Ford Motor Company stating, in sum, that warranty or no warranty, there's no way that should ever happen. They feigned sympathy but of course did nothing, and I swore off ever buying another Ford product again.

Several years later, we needed a van and, despite my earlier pledge, we settled on a 1998 Mercury Villager and traded in the Tracer. This time, however, I took the plunge and bought the extended warranty. A short time later, I was glad I did -- that engine blew at around 38,000 miles. The warranty paid for almost all of it, but I had steam coming out my ears both on the principle and the inconvenience of the whole mess. Inexcusable, I fumed. That would be my last Ford vehicle. This was on top of a number of nagging mechanical and electrical issues that the dealership seemed incapable of repairing (the intermittent air conditioning was a particular irritant). And while we kept it a few more years, it was ultimately replaced with a Honda Odyssey.

To replace The Mighty Cavalier, we purchased a 1993 Mazda Protege, which we would keep for more than ten years. It was in that vehicle that I brought both of my children home from the hospital. This was and remains to date the best car I ever owned -- It was a 5-speed 1.8 DOHC with a fair amount of firepower. At around 100,000 miles, the body was starting to give way, but the engine could have run forever. It finally got to the point this year that it was too expensive to maintain, as the parts were become both scarce and expensive, and when the AC compressor went, it was time for a trade at 108,000 miles. But it still ran great.

We now own two Hondas -- the aforementioned 2005 Odyssey, and a 2007 Honda Fit that succeeded the Protege. Yes, we paid a little more for them, but (knock on wood) no mechanical or major maintenance issues. With my track record, I got an extended warranty on both, but we haven't had to use it yet.

I realize that the American Automobile industry is populated, by and large, with good, solid, hard-working people at all levels of parts, manufacturing and service, and I sympathize with them that the collapse of their industry in general and their employer in particular will adversely affect them and perhaps the country overall. But it's not my fault that they've produced inferior products at inflated prices for the better part of four decades. Any industry needs to keep up with the times or go away. We've seen this before -- ever hear of Bethlehem Steel?

The Price is Wrong

Sports and Game Show guru JB provides this link from a c. 1983 airing of The Price is Right. You can also guess the date by the appearance of the Los Angeles Raiders.

Note that the prices shown are for a pair of season tickets.

Of course, the Raiders have moved back north. Whatever happened to the Kings?

Post-Mortem cont'd

The great Dr. Victor Davis Hanson provides his analysis on NRO in this piece, What Went Wrong?

Following the 1992 elections, in which the Republicans not only lost the presidency that they'd held for 12 years (and 20 of the previous 24), but could not capture either house of Congress, there were many cries and recriminations. Pete DuPont was a voice of reason at the time, writing that for Republicans and conservatives (not always synonymous) to return to power, they didn't need to move to the left, as some were saying, but become more adept at articulating their agenda.

2008 may be a more comprehensive defeat than 1992, but Hanson's thesis is similar.

I mean it

Seriously, Collinsworth is dreadful. Whoever gave him a job on television should be shot by a firing squad and then forced to apologize.

Thursday Night Pain

The NFL Network is a standing monument to the excesses of American television. But that's another post. Meanwhile, we're forced to watch an important game between the Pats and New Jersey Jest. It's halftime and the Jest are ahead, but my complaints have nothing to do with that:

First, who did Chris Collinsworth pay off to get a job on network television? This guy is awful. I mean, if he ever produces an original thought his head will probably explode. If the NFL Network and NBC won't dump him, maybe somebody can invent a mute button that screens out his voice.

Second, it's somewhat telling that while the Patriots are honoring at halftime perhaps the classiest, most unselfish player ever to wear their uniform (Troy Brown), we don't get to watch -- we can hear some of it, but we can't watch it, because the 17-person halftime panel is interviewing the anti-Troy Brown, Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson of those dynamic Cincinnati Bengals.

I wonder if this game is on the radio...

Michael Barone

As usual, Michael Barone -- the walking encyclopedia of American elections -- nails it in his analysis of 2008.

Well, you may not agree that he "nails it," but he says much of the same stuff I was saying. He just says it better.

Final Thoughts

Nearly twenty years ago in the early years of the first Bush administration, I was conversing with a friend who was somewhat older than me, also an evangelical Christian, but something of an old-style liberal originally from Minnesota. He expressed skepticism both about the enduring value of the Reagan years ("did he mortgage your future?" I remember him asking me) and what his successor would amount to.

Nonetheless, he had voted for Bush (senior), noting that in 1988 it had come down to a single issue for him -- abortion.

We haven't heard much (in my view, not enough) about the differences between the candidates on life issues, having been overshadowed in large part by economic-related banter and secondarily (again, a distant second place) by national security. Fair enough -- priorities have changed.

Politics and history move in cycles. Candidates and parties move in and out of power. Eight years of a Republican administration, most of which were accompanied by a Republican congress, combined with the challenges we face today and in the immediate future, and it's easy to understand the desire many have for that ill-defined "change."

But with those challenges in mind, and given the choice between someone with experience building consensus and confronting problems and someone who hasn’t done anything, between a legacy of national service and a resume that would struggle to fill a quarter-page ad, I have a hard time seeing why people would consider the latter.

As an amateur presidential historian, I recognize the importance of intangibles, but substance is needed to back it up. The Bushes had plenty of substance, but communication problems; Clinton was the opposite. Carter had neither. The great ones -- including that guy who allegedly "mortgaged my future" twenty-plus years ago -- had both.

Regardless of the outcome, the Republicans nominated the candidate who probably stood the best chance of winning, and a running mate who energized a previously lukewarm base. Perhaps if John McCain was 52 instead of 72 the dynamics might have been different, but age hasn't been anything more than a subliminal issue in this campaign, so that's hard to gauge.

Anyway, we'll see you on Tuesday. Keep your eyes on Pennsylvania. Hopefully they'll wait and call it after the polls actually close.

Philadelphia Freedom

A quick note to congratulate the 2008 World Series Champions Philadelphia Phillies. They played well down the stretch and through the playoffs and are a deserving winner.

One comment, however -- since when is waiting 28 years (or 25, depending on how you measure) an unbearable long time for a championship? The Red Sox waited 86 years; the White Sox 88 years; the Cubs...well, forget the Cubs, but what about Cleveland? Even the Boston area, which has ruled this decade in sports, went over 15 years (including the entire decade of the 90's) between a professional title of any kind.

Get over your self-inflicted agony. I could do 28 years standing on my head. And during those 28 years you had one of the greatest NCAA champions (Villanova, 1985), a largely relevant NFL team, an appearance or two in the Stanley Cup, and one of the top 5 NBA teams ever (led by one of the greatest players ever). There's been plenty to cheer about in Philadelphia. Enjoy the parade, but don't expect the rest of us to feel any happier with the end of a drought of 28 lousy years.

60 Hours to go

It's a little more than 2 days until Election Day, so a few final thoughts / prognostications before the clock runs out ---

(1) My instinct tells me that this will be one those presidential elections that will see a dramatic shift in the race in the final 48 hours, not unlike 1980. With most polls showing the junior senator from Illinois with something of a lead, I'm guessing we'll either see his opponent eke out a surprising victory, or his messiah-ness run off a landslide of 40+ states. Just my thoughts -- and, for what it's worth, I was right in 2000 (about Florida) and 2004 (about Ohio).

(2) Regardless of the outcome, one wonders how history (not necessarily historians, but history) will judge the second Bush administration. All would agree that mistakes have been made; not all will agree what those mistakes were. It's also important to note that GWB entered office with at least one-third of the population believing in all sincerity and in spite of the evidence that he had stolen the election; and that while others, less hard-core supporters of his opponent professed a willingness to "give him a chance," that honeymoon lasted about 15 or 16 days. For a moment, after 9/11/01, it looked like we might be able to pull together but, again, those inclined to do so were quick to find fault. It may take 40 or 50 years for us to sort this one out.

(3) It is also somewhat curious that while Congress enjoys its lowest approval ratings in several centuries, they seem poised for easy re-election. The current majorities took control over 18 months ago, yet they somehow remain free of any responsibility for whatever crisis we currently find ourselves in. The parallel isn't quite there, but there's some application to the adage that it's easier to fire the manager than get rid of all the players.

(4) The outcome of the presidential election is going to come down to a handful of states -- FL, NC, OH, IN, NV, VA and CO were at one point safely in the McCain camp, but are now (at best) wavering. MI (that's Michigan, not Mississippi or Missouri), PA and tiny NH have an outside chance of going for McCain, but any of this group could go either way. MN, IA and MO might also be in play. The rest are pretty much settled (I'm doing this from memory, so don't shoot me if I leave one out).

This makes me wonder how the networks will report the projected winners from these states as the evening rolls along. I've never been comfortable with networks pulling the trigger the instant the polls close -- if, for no other reason, that people may still be standing in line to vote at that time. I thought they learned their lesson with the Florida fiasco eight years ago.

Anyway, I'll see you at the polls on Tuesday. Just don't expect me to stay up until 2:00 AM on Wednesday. Those days are over.

Those old Apple IIe's

Yes, they did have computers when I was in high school. Al Gore just hadn't gotten around to inventing the Internet yet.



I have no idea what I was doing here, but I was probably scrambling to complete the high school newsletter after my journalism classmates had been slacking off the entire week playing Karateka or something...

Tetris didn't come along until our senior year. Actually, it had been in circulation for a few years, but it took awhile to reach us. By then my alma mater had started down the path of Gatesian destruction and coverted to IBM-compatible equipment.

Season's End

A valiant fight, including a comeback for the ages, came to a disappointing end last Sunday night / Monday morning as the Red Sox fell to Tampa Bay in seven games. Credit where credit is due -- The Rays fought back from two disappointing losses to triumph in the ultimate game and played with the character as well as the talent of champions.

A few breaks here or there in Game 7 (or, for that matter, in Game 2) might have made a difference, but the Sox certainly had their share of breaks in ALCS's of the recent past. Considering they were without an effective Josh Beckett, a healthy Mike Lowell, and lacking any significant offensive production from several places in the batting order, you really can't complain.

Some have added the absence of their former LF to that list of shortcomings -- I respectfully (or otherwise) disagree. The failure of Scott Boras' small-minded client to live up to his contractual obligations in 2008 may well be the underlying story of this season, and perhaps a mature (and thus productive) Manny Ramirez would have made a difference, but the Manny we saw in the first four months is a Manny we can happily do without.

Perhaps when MLB gets around to hiring a commissioner, he (or she) can look into the rather serious allegations of Boras' tampering. I won't hold my breath, however. It will probably be about the time the NFL investigates the Indianapolis Irsays for pumping crowd noise into their arena, or intentionally tanking late-season games so the head coach's best friend can get into the playoffs.

Nonetheless, the Twenty-First Century World Series scoreboard remains: Boston Red Sox 2, New York Yankees 0.

Year-two-thou-sand (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap) -- Year-two-thou-sand (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)...

Champagne on Ice . . . where it belongs

Am I the only one who thinks these September champagne celebrations in baseball are a little excessive?

I mean, hey, it's great you're in the playoffs or won your division or whatever, but unless you bring home the big trophy with all the flags on it, nobody will remember you five years from now.

"Wild Card" celebrations are particularly irksome -- you haven't won anything yet.

Somehow you never see NFL, NBA or NHL teams celebrating the fact that they made the playoffs...

From the "It's About Time" Department

Red Sox to retire Johnny Pesky's #6.

I always thought the rules the Red Sox had for retiring numbers were a little too restrictive, so I'm glad JWH & Co. had the good sense to see them as guidelines, not strict prohibitions.

The article includes a list of other potential retirees; from that list, only Jim Rice (#14) stands out, the most feared hitter of his generation. Naturally, he should be in the Hall of Fame. Come to think of it, why isn't Johnny in Cooperstown?

There's a fine line between honoring too few and honoring too many, but sometimes you have to look beyond statistics and focus on what a person means to an organization, both on and off the field. Apart from Ted, Yaz, Pudge, Dorre and Cronin, there aren't too many that stand above Johnny Pesky.

Five Years Ago

Ah, yes...

19-10. A very satisfying win on a number of levels --

(1) Over the New Jersey Jest,
(2) At their home stadium (which they're actually borrowing from that other New Jersey team),
(3) Against their treachorous, misguided and over-rated head coach,
(4) Against an ineffective and equally over-rated aging quarterback (see July 11, 2008),
(5) In front of an over-indulging audience,
(6) Proving that the Patriots have more than one talented player on their team,

and, most significantly --

(7) IN A GAME THAT THEY WERE EXPECTED TO LOSE -- HANDILY.

Of course, tomorrow, the talking heads will talk about how the Jest really aren't that good, how they didn't make the playoffs last year, and how they barely defeated the Division II Miami Tunas in week 1 -- facts that were conveniently overlooked prior to Sunday's kickoff.

Of course, those same Tunas could get their dander up (or whatever Tunas have) for next week, so you never know. But we'll always have Paris...or the Meadowlands...

Bring back #11!

You know what just popped into my head today?

Drew Bledsoe.

I mean, why not?

He's only 36, and while he and Coach B had their differences, I'm sure they can work it out. He can't be too old to learn how to throw a screen pass...

36 (or XXXVI) is kinda a lucky number anyway if you're a Patriots fan.

Just a thought...

Organization Man

Most people understand the role of a Mayor or a Governor, regardless of the constituency governed. But a "Community Organizer"? That's a little more obtuse. Fortunately, the Left-Wing establishment is there to help us out with their latest slate of talking points, explaining (to quote Donna Brazile, Susan Sarandon and Steve Cohen, that "Jesus was a Community Organizer," and, oh by the way, "Pontius Pilate was a Governor."

As an Evangelical Christian (ie Follower of Christ), I happen to have a somewhat higher evaluation of Jesus Christ than the aforementioned script-readers, and I find their continued attempts to annoint their candidate of choice as the next messiah (directly or indirectly) rather offensive.

Be that as it may, I also disagree with the premise of the analogy, and I have a feeling that most of Jesus' contemporaries -- not the least of which included the First-Century Jewish Rulers -- would agree with me (if just on this point alone). Community Organizers -- whatever they are -- shouldn't be in the business of offending and exposing the ruling class. Come to think of it, that sounds more like the other guy running for President...

Time Out

Seven years. Hard to believe. Everything changed in moments.

Take time today to remember the courage and sacrifice of so many on that darkest of days, and the families of those who lost a brother, sister, parent, child or spouse.

Hopefully history will also judge President Bush and his administration for taking the steps necessary to prevent any further attacks on his watch. In baseball parlance, it may not have been seven perfect innings, but it still qualifies as a no-hitter.

Never forget.

Pigs in Space with Lipstick

Seriously, I'm not convinced that the Lipstick comment was a cheap shot at Governor Palin. However, it does trouble me that The Annointed One doesn't know the difference between pigs and pit bulls.

Not only that, so what if "it's still a pig?" What's the matter with pigs? I love pigs -- they're delicious.

After Gov. Palin's speech in which she referenced Hockey Moms and Pit Bulls, NARAL or NOW or one of those culture-of-death groups issued a statement that made a similar pig / lipstick correlation. Nobody took notice, apparently -- until it came to the attention of some low-level (former?) speechwriter for the junior senator from Illinois. So it wasn't even an original thought.

Hopefully, the leaders of the Republican ticket won't be drawn into the pit -- so to speak...

A Real Stand-Up Guy

The Biden Gaffe Machine strikes again.

Let's be fair -- this is really an honest mistake that anyone could make. Not unlike the parting comment I made to my bald accountant many years ago, "Well, Fred, I'll get out of your hair." And Biden makes a pretty good recovery after realizing his mistake.

Nonetheless, if this had been Dan Quayle or Sarah Palin or George W. Bush or John McCain or anybody to the right of Joe Lieberman, I'm pretty certain that the coverage -- and reaction -- would be slightly different. So goes the world...

PS -- The above link seems to have a collection of slip-ups from Mr. No-Filter following the conclusion of the linked clip.

Down but Not Out

This kind of reaction really burns me. Real classy fans they have there in New York.

I've been a Red Sox fan (and Yankee hater) for over 30 years -- a rivalry that makes anything the NFL has to offer look like a Sunday School picnic -- and I have never cheered or applauded when a rival player was injured or suffer any other misfortune. Unbelievable.

I'm not ready to throw in the proverbial towel yet, and I'm certainly not conceding the division title to anyone (much less the NY Jest) one (victorious) game into the season. The team that was introduced as such in Super Bowl XXXVI has been challenged at every other position, and while this test may be harder than most, it doesn't mean the season's over.

Last season, the Patriots found their motivation in the previous year's playoff loss, and then the absurd media piling-on that surrounded the Spygate episode. They had something to prove then, and they have something to prove now. There's still plenty of talent on that team, they have the best coach in the business, and Matt Cassel isn't exactly a rusty tomato can.

It is a tragedy that one of the NFL's premier players will miss a season while in the prime of his career, but any team worth anything is bigger than just one player. Now's the chance to figure out how big they really are. The New England Patriots truly have nothing to lose -- conversely, victorious opponents (if any) know that there will be an asterisk next to each "W."

And those bozos dancing on tables in Manhattan and elsewhere have lost their right to lecture anybody on character.

In the interest of equal time...

Here's 3+ days in St. Paul summarized in a minute or so.

McCainiacs St. Paul

I'll leave the reaction to the McCain and Palin speeches to others more articulate than I (shouldn't be too hard to find). Solid performances all round, to be sure. McCain did seem somewhat off his rhythm, particularly in the early going, perhaps disrupted by the handful of crackpots who had somehow made their way into the arena.

Am I the only one who's troubled by this?

Sure, these nuts have a right to have their say (although the media, blogosphere and thinly-veiled "documentary films" should be more than sufficient), and I suspect the public viewing their craziness will primarily work against them. My concern is from the standpoint of security. Admittedly, four years ago in New York, with an incumbent president on hand during a time of war, it was even more disturbing. And a large public arena leaves plenty of gaps that can't all be secured, but it still bothers me.

Since I consider myself educated enough to at least understand english, I've never felt the need to have these conventions filtered and analyzed through me by overweight middle-aged white men in suits (I have to be careful -- that's getting close to home), so my network of choice is C-SPAN. However, even they took substantial time off the podium to show the various protestors in varying degrees of protest (and departure). I'm not sure that was necessary. I mean, television won't show drunken baseball fans running onto the field, so why this? It's not 1968 anymore.

Bill Melendez (1916-2008)

If there was a better animator, pre-CGI or otherwise, I'd like to know who it was. Yes, PEANUTS would have still been unspeakably successful had the characters never appeared on television, but the great Bill Melendez added a dimension to Charles Schulz' cartoons that brought them to an even greater audience. Faced with the near impossible task of creating "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in less than 6 months, he developed techniques that made the PEANUTS characters believable in animation -- neither too elaborate or too simple, he was thus annointed the only animator allowed to work on Sparky's creations. And the only voice -- ever -- of Snoopy and Woodstock.

Thanks for everything, Bill. Your work is complete and is the standard by which all that follow will be judged. Rest in peace.