tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post3739460386312061324..comments2023-10-30T06:31:05.501-07:00Comments on MilPub: Making a DifferenceFDChiefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-38508420863047351492009-10-05T04:00:26.610-07:002009-10-05T04:00:26.610-07:00Help your big league dreams come true with these b...Help your big league dreams come true with these beautiful and comfortable sports bedding and <a href="http://www.sportskids.com" rel="nofollow"> kids bedding</a>, MLB Logo comforters and sheet sets with discount price at mlb-comforter.com<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mlb-comforter.com" rel="nofollow"> mlb comforter</a>Sportskids Teamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07567829294077524920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-59044670906646803262009-10-04T20:27:25.325-07:002009-10-04T20:27:25.325-07:00You gave us a bunch of presidents taht we shouldn&...You gave us a bunch of presidents taht we shouldn't believe in. Can you give us any president, or anyone in American politics, who is under the lable "One Man Can Make A Difference"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-29630010245423708722009-07-18T16:37:52.533-07:002009-07-18T16:37:52.533-07:00Basil-
Feeling much better thank you.
Don't ...Basil-<br /><br />Feeling much better thank you.<br /><br />Don't get Colbert, but will have to start to.seydlitz89https://www.blogger.com/profile/15431952900333460640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-61180461633950448412009-07-16T09:39:30.187-07:002009-07-16T09:39:30.187-07:00I too was a Little Leaguer, pretty decent fielder ...I too was a Little Leaguer, pretty decent fielder but stunk at the bat.<br /><br />I've seen Obama's pitch already a dozen times :) and it seems to me it's reflective of his administration to this point.<br /><br />Decent form, takes a while to get to the plate, but doesn't quite go the whole distance to make it to the plate.<br /><br />seydlitz, do you get Colbert's show? He had Douglas Rushkoff on last night, an amazing coincidence with your comment here. Must be psychic, eh?<br /><br />http://rushkoff.com/<br /><br />Video at Colbert's site:<br /><br />http://www.colbertnation.com/home<br /><br />sheerah, we've got to get us a religion thread going here, with religion in the news for the past few weeks. I'm referring to Ensign, Sanford and others. And now seydlitz's brought up the topic of prosperity/success theology too.<br /><br />BTW, seydlitz, nothing too serious, I hope?<br /><br />Back to Publius, Barney Frank was on Stewart's show this week explaining that the reason Stimulus 1 was short was because of Republican opposition.<br /><br />http://www.thedailyshow.com/<br /><br />I think I would tend to believe him about that matter, though I'm not capable to discuss financial matters at that level.<br /><br />And because Congressional Republicans are so miserably shitty I wouldn't put it past them. One thing Obama's crew has done right WRT to those stinkers is concerning Arizona and its 2 potholes in the Highway of Life, McCain and Kyl, who have bitched about the stimulus money all along. Some Obama cabinet members sent a letter to the governor asking whether her state's share of the money should be taken away.<br /><br />Here's the story:<br /><br />http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/azdc/57749<br /><br />QUOTE:Kyl maintains this year's stimulus law isn't working as advertised and argues that taxpayers shouldn't have to stay on the hook for money that hasn't been spent or won't be spent until years from now.<br /><br />On Monday, four Obama Cabinet secretaries sent letters to Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer asking if she, too, wanted to shut off the spigot of federal stimulus cash.<br /><br />“I believe the stimulus has been very effective in creating job opportunities throughout the country,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wrote to Brewer. “However, if you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to the state, as Senator Kyl suggests, please let me know.”<br /><br />McCain shot back on Tuesday: “I strongly support the comments of Senator Kyl and call on the administration to retract its threat against the citizens of Arizona."<br /><br />Brewer also weighed in on the brewing political controversy.<br /><br />"The governor is hopeful that these federal Cabinet officials are not threatening to deny Arizona citizens the portion of federal stimulus funds to which they are entitled," Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said. "She believes that would be a tremendous mistake by the administration. And the governor is grateful for the strong leadership and representation that Arizonans enjoy in the United States Senate."ENDQUOTE<br /><br />More of this boot to butt for Arizona's TweedleDum and TweedleDummer, please.<br /><br />bbasilbeastnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-16007324901151959532009-07-16T00:36:55.601-07:002009-07-16T00:36:55.601-07:00Publius-
I too played baseball as a kid, just Lit...Publius-<br /><br />I too played baseball as a kid, just Little League though. Never watched much pro sports on TV, except for Pro Football with my folks, they both loved it and it was nice when I was home to share that with them.<br /><br />I think there is a connection, which you imply between what has happened to baseball and what has happend to our politics (and journalism). <br /><br />Sometime back in the 1980s our political elite came to the realization that the future vision we had been selling ourselves and the rest of the world wasn't going to pan out in the long run and that those with the most would have to pony up and become essentially the same as what had happened to the political/economic elite in Europe (only marginally better off than the middle class).<br /><br />Nobody at the top wanted that, so Reaganomics and Thatcherism came along, and with that entertainment became a commodity to distract and promote mindless consumerism and the "values" behind it. . . what you buy is who you are, if you can buy a lot than you are a success/very important, if you can't your a loser since it's your problem, not the system's . . . <br /><br />If you are in the biz of selling this swindle you can make a lot of money, as in journalism, or more indirectly professional sports. Tell the young that the way to success is throwing a ball around and you preclude a hell of a lot of energy that could have been used to promote political change, especially among the young, who always consitute a threat in this regard. <br /><br />Nobody who counted wanted a replay of the 1960s . . .<br /><br />Btw, feeling much better, typing with both hands.seydlitz89https://www.blogger.com/profile/15431952900333460640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-84622601075384673462009-07-15T12:50:25.719-07:002009-07-15T12:50:25.719-07:00You ask for a prophet to tell you the future, and ...You ask for a prophet to tell you the future, and yet the future is plain as day...<br />http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16457<br /><i>"O how has the city that was once so populous remained lonely! She has become like a widow! She that was great among the nations, a princess among the provinces, has become tributary. She weeps, yea, she weeps in the night, and her tears are on her cheek; she has no comforter among all her lovers; all her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies."</i><br /><br />I have an uncomfortable feeling that Aldous Huxley's was on to something when he wrote "Brave new world."<br />A coworker, as we were discussing this today, sent me a link, which I'll share...<br />http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/1736/200905amusingourselvest.png<br />You need Quicktime to view it, but it is a series of pic's detailing Neil Postman's comparative thesis in his book "Amusing ourselves to death" between Orwell's 1984, and Huxley's Brave New World.<br />Apparenlty, Mr. Postman's thesis is that Orwell was wrong in his main point...that the Government would impose conformity on the people, rather he argues, that people will choose conformity...willingly.<br /><br />Our "future" is here, now...we're living in it.sheerahkahnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16694622087244891222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-34978072048330897932009-07-15T12:04:36.990-07:002009-07-15T12:04:36.990-07:00Powerful words, Sheer, and probably true.
Now tha...Powerful words, Sheer, and probably true.<br /><br />Now that you've adequately described the current situation, I challenge you to look into your crystal ball and tell us what is to come.Plutohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04036751798841079048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-81866877660486821442009-07-15T09:17:35.150-07:002009-07-15T09:17:35.150-07:00Publius,
The only benefit I got from playing baseb...Publius,<br />The only benefit I got from playing baseball was learning how to throw grenades. It was a natural transition, so we should continue the sport to train future little grenade throwers.<br />Well it seems that your enfatuation with Commander O is growing dim. I'm a better person than one who would say -we told you so.<br />Obama has ADHD of the mouth. The man loves to preach and talk. We should pay him by the word.<br />I expected NOTHING from Obama and it appears that he'll deliver.<br />Let's take your dialogue back into our early lives. What did Truman and Eisenhower do for guys like your father and mine? And by extension what did they do for the families of these type of men.?<br />My point is that the Presidency is as big a lie as is the concept and reality of democracy in America. Both of our fathers fought for this country but what benefits did they accrue?<br />jimjim hruskahttp://rangeragainstwar.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-70139984982835752822009-07-15T09:03:46.097-07:002009-07-15T09:03:46.097-07:00And so I think of King David, the prince of excess...And so I think of King David, the prince of excesses who had the temerity to be intellectually honest with himself and G-d, even though that seemed to be the only two he was honest with…<br /><br />(Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV) <br />What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. <br />Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? <br />It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. <br />I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. <br />I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. <br />What a heavy burden God has laid on men! <br />I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.<br /><br />And so I read David’s words, and I wonder as I stare emptily into eternity all the way to the edge of time… really, what has changed since then?sheerahkahnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16694622087244891222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-14709847253452683732009-07-15T09:03:24.635-07:002009-07-15T09:03:24.635-07:00What now do we make of our national institutions t...What now do we make of our national institutions that we have all bought in too, even though the inhabitants therein seem to have no sense that we exist outside their windowless suites unless it’s beat the street for votes once in a grand while?<br />Government…the Congress, the Presidential office, the Supreme court…what are we to make of these institutions who represent only those who can afford the wordsmiths, the plush excesses that only a few of the nations richest can pay for…what are we to do with a Government beholden to the wealthy of the world?<br />We, the citizens, the ones who make the whole damn thing work, we’ve been promised change, and yet change has been the red-headed step child relegated to sleeping underneath the stairs. <br />We, the citizens, the ones who have been duped repeatedly by those we have elected, we’ve been promised institutional openness of our Government, and yet that promise of openness has been treated like typhoid Mary after her second quarantine.<br />We, the citizens, the ones who are manning the military, bleeding and dying, who have said our goodbyes to our loved ones, we’ve been promised an end to the insanity of watching our children and parents spill their blood in a foreign land that has nothing to do with our security, but everything to do with the rich and powerful. And the one land which actually had something to do with our security…treated as another jaunt in the colonies not of our choosing.<br />And so now we come to the truth of our sorry state…the words are empty, the promises meaningless, and the problems are ours to be bear alone because there is no hope of respite from those who have impose these chains of powerlessness and hopelessness on us.<br />What do we do…the dreamer has awaken, and has found it was just a dream…sheerahkahnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16694622087244891222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-38896574831549319052009-07-15T09:02:56.145-07:002009-07-15T09:02:56.145-07:00There is a sense, an idea percolating up through o...There is a sense, an idea percolating up through our consciousness, our collective idealism, penetrating our carefully constructed social mythology that this land, this nation, founded hundreds of years ago by refugees, adventurers, businessmen, and slaves…all dreamers of something grand and majestic…really isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.<br />Oh sure, we have “words” on a piece of paper written by these men extolling the virtues of individuality tempered by social responsibility, which lead to the social construct of the needs of my neighbor is the measure of my help, which even today, we all pay homage too even though really? Come on…seriously, my one new neighbor is a putz, my other neighbor…nice lady, my neighbors across the street…perhaps we’ll speak the same language…but depends if the exchange is civil and the subject neutral. All in all, the creed of the neighbor’s need is now myth, legend, but still nice to pander too at baseball games. <br />So we all resort to our utopian mythologies that this nation has been infected with because it is so much easier to pander to a legend than it is to actually make something tangible from it. <br />Words are so much cheaper to employ than actually sweating the response you get from a person who is wondering “really, why are you helping me…what is your angle?”<br /><br />So now…with the past eight years behind us, we stare at our nation vacantly, much like a newly widowed spouse pondering their future without their mate, wondering, “what now?”<br /><br />What now, indeed.sheerahkahnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16694622087244891222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-76449393804967647872009-07-15T05:45:00.910-07:002009-07-15T05:45:00.910-07:00And as a comment on BB in general - I was a big fa...And as a comment on BB in general - I was a big fan from my school days through the 1980s. But the combination of the ridiculous juicing, the whoring for advertisers, and especially the endless game length finally managed to kill my affection for the sport.<br /><br />Bill James (of course) had a good essay about this, about how there were things that were good for the athletes and the teams that were bad for the sport as an event, and that the endlessly long pace of so many of the games was one, and one that could be controlled if the sport had a real commissioner willing to regulate the thing, instead of a shill for the owners who just wanted to plump up the till.<br /><br />And lets not EVEN get into the state of the professional minor leagues...<br /><br />If MLB ever gets its shit together and reins in the endless diddling around - the repeated throws to first, the stepping out of the batters box or off the rubber (and all the other assorted fiddling and twitching that seems to accompany most at-bats), the multiple pitching changes in the mid-innings of meaningless games - and gets the time back down to 2 hours or less, then I'll be back. But 2:50? That's nuts.<br /><br />If I want to sit on my dead ass and watch a bunch of overpaid prima donnas for three hours, I'll go to the opera.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-81695449586946405672009-07-15T05:38:26.325-07:002009-07-15T05:38:26.325-07:00Every succeeding election drives home the reminder...Every succeeding election drives home the reminder that our Revolution was never about "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" but that a bunch of wealthy to fairly wealthy white guys were chapped that a bunch of OTHER wealthy white guys got to rule them - and tax them - and they didn't like that.<br /><br />The real populist success stories in American politics are few and far between. Most of our rulers have come from the "governing class" or, once elected, have been drawn, by money and power, into that fold. Certainly there have been exceptions...but not many, and certainly not for the past 29 years.<br /><br />We're as stratified and as clas-bound in 2009 as we were in 1899, in many ways, and yet the magic of the electronical television allows us to pretend that those heartwarming Horation Alger stories still happen and really make a difference, as though one Latino becoming a big-league executive cancels out the other 99.6% of the trust-fund kids who make up the owners, CEOs and executives of the large corporations, unions and political parties that run our lives. <br /><br />So the spectacle of a bunch of entitled pols extolling the virtues of good old-fashioned hard work and sacrifice? Mockery, yes, but not unexpected.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-44180806103411570662009-07-14T22:12:44.929-07:002009-07-14T22:12:44.929-07:00The National League has been breaking my heart eve...The National League has been breaking my heart ever since Braves Field in 1948. Yet you gotta love them, they play real baseball instead of a home run derby by a juiced up steroidal DH. I can't understand why they have won only 40% of the World Series series championships since 1903(?), money I suspect. <br /><br />Obama's first pitch did not impress. It had the trajectory of last years stock market. Let's hope he pitches some hard fastballs to Goldman Sachs and their ilk.<br /><br />BTW, make it a real World Series and open it up to Japan, Cuba, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and anyone else who wants to compete.<br /><br />mikeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com