Snoozy Politics

5 Minutes of your life waisted

2005-04-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
A snail can sleep for three years.
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds.
Dogs only have about 10.
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
On a Canadian two dollar bill the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet. The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' , 'radar' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.

Now you know everything!

2005-04-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

And the waiting begins...

2005-04-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

Doesn't get much snoozier then this...

Pope Dies

2005-04-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

ITALY'S SKY ITALIA QUOTING VATICAN SOURCES SAYS POPE'S BRAIN, HEART STILL FUNCTIONING...

Berger to Plead Guilty

2005-04-01T07:19:00.000-08:00

Ex-Clinton Aide to Admit Taking Classified Papers

WASHINGTON, March 31 - Samuel R. Berger, a national security adviser to President Bill Clinton, has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and give up his security clearance for three years for removing classified material from a government archive, the Justice Department and associates of Mr. Berger's said Thursday.

He is expected to enter his plea on Friday in United States District Court here, capping an embarrassing episode that reverberated in last year's presidential campaign.

2005-03-31T13:56:00.000-08:00

Last rites it has been reportered, was administered to Pope John Paul II. For a person who was once named man of the year, he really deserves to be called man of the century.

2005-03-31T06:32:00.000-08:00

My dinner companion last night at a special company event. Mr. Gigot (Editor of the Wall Street Journal) sat to my left, and Dan Henninger (his number two) sat on my right. Among other guests at the dinner, Robert George, James Taranto, Grover Norquist (whom I took a taxi home with), and R. Emmett Tyrrell amongst others...

2005-03-28T22:21:00.000-08:00

Something about Monday made me think of this picture...

2005-03-28T18:11:00.000-08:00

The visual image...

Another Lethal Quake

2005-03-28T18:07:00.000-08:00

Sad, but unfortunately true...another earthquake has hit in the Indian Ocean.

Pray for those who have died, and for those poor people under constant attack from nature.

2005-03-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

As if the battle to save Terri Schiavo's life has not been enough, Terri's death will bring on a new set of bouts between Terri's family and her husband. Michael Schiavo wants the deceased body cremated, while the family wants to have a proper burial service.

What has become of our country? We're off on a crusade in the middle east to establish democracies, but here at home we are in a struggle to deny a human being food. Is there a food shortage supple that the American public has not been aware of? To make things worse, her death will bring more legal fights. Enough already. Give Terri some food. Save her.

Imagine if former Attorney General Janet Reno were Governor of Florida today instead of Governor Jeb Bush. Would she send in the FBI to give Terri food by gunpoint ala Elian Gonzalez?

Ultimately the Courts should be held responsible for the death of Terri.

President Bush seek to change the ways of the Federal Courts by pushing through Congress Judicial nominees that "err to the side of life".

The President must take more radical steps to send a clear and present message to the Courts that protecting life should be their motto.

President Roosevelt undertook radiacl steps in 1930's when the Supreme Court continously tore down many Economic reforms FDR passed through Congress to save the country from the Great Depression. The very threat of packing the Supreme Court with a block of Justices forced the court to alter the way it made decisions.

In 1938, in the case of United States v. Carolene Products , the court conceded to Roosevelt's demands.

Oyez summarizes a footnote from United States v. Carolene Products this way:

"In this otherwise unremarkable case, the Court planted the seeds for a new jurisprudence in a footnote to Stone's opinion for the Court. Here Stone gives a presumption of constitutionality to economic regulation. The Court would no longer substitute its views on economic policy for the views of Congress. Stone went further in footnote four by cautiously asserting that certain types of legislation might not merit deference toward constitutional validity. The most controversial element in the footnote was the suggestion that prejudice directed against discrete and insular minorities may call for "more searching judicial inquiry."

The last line suggest that the Court would no longer rule on economics decisions, instead leaving that to the Congress, but would instead focus on social issues; this would take them down a path of eventually ruling in favor of legalizing abortion in the Roe v. Wade decision.

It is time for the Court to leave matters of life or death to the people, not unelected officials.

2005-03-27T08:46:00.000-08:00

Luke 24
The Resurrection

1But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

2And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing;

5and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead?

6"He is not here, but He has risen Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,

7saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."

8And they remembered His words,

9and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

10Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles.

John 20
The Empty Tomb

1Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.

2So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."

3So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb.

4The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first;

5and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in.

6And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there,

7and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.

8So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed.

Good Friday

2005-03-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

Jesus the Crucified King
John 19:1-16 (NIV)

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.

Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to youto let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe,Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!" As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!" But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him." The Jews insisted,We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."

When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace."Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said."Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" Jesus answered,"You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting,"If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar."

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week,about the sixth hour."Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked."We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull(which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others--one on each side and Jesus in the middle.Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign,for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city,and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write `The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews." Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

When the soldiers crucified Jesus,they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother,his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said,"I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it,put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said,"It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

2005-03-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

Holy Thursday

Maundy Thursday

The feast of Maundy (or Holy) Thursday solemnly commemorates the institution of the Eucharist and is the oldest of the observances peculiar to Holy Week. In Rome various accessory ceremonies were early added to this commemoration, namely the consecration of the holy oils and the reconciliation of penitents, ceremonies obviously practical in character and readily explained by the proximity of the Christian Easter and the necessity of preparing for it. Holy Thursday could not but be a day of liturgical reunion since, in the cycle of movable feasts, it brings around the anniversary of the institution of the Liturgy. On that day, whilst the preparation of candidates was being completed, the Church celebrated the Missa chrismalis of which we have already described the rite (see HOLY OILS) and, moreover, proceeded to the reconciliation of penitents. In Rome everything was carried on in daylight, whereas in Africa on Holy Thursday the Eucharist was celebrated after the evening meal, in view of more exact conformity with the circumstances of the Last Supper. Canon 24 of the Council of Carthage dispenses the faithful from fast before communion on Holy Thursday, because, on that day, it was customary take a bath, and the bath and fast were considered incompatible. St. Augustine, too, speaks of this custom (Ep. cxviii ad Januarium, n. 7); he even says that as certain persons did not fast on that day, the oblation was made twice, morning and evening, and in this way those who did not observe the fast could partake of the Eucharist after the morning meal, whilst those who fasted awaited the evening repast.

Holy Thursday was taken up with a succession of ceremonies of a joyful character. the baptism of neophytes, the reconciliation of penitents, the consecration of the holy oils, the washing of the feet, and commemoration of the Blessed Eucharist, and because of all these ceremonies, the day received different names, all of which allude to one or another of solemnities.

Redditio symboli was so called because, before being admitted to baptism, the catechumens had to recite creed from memory, either in presence of bishop or his representative.
Pedilavium (washing of the feet), traces of which are found in the most ancient rites, occurred in many churches on Holy Thursday, the capitilavium (washing of the head) having taken place on Palm Sunday (St. Augustine, " Ep. cxviii, cxix", e. 18).

Exomologesis, and reconciliation of penitents: letter of Pope Innocent I to Decentius of Gubbio, testifies that in Rome it was customary "quinta feria Pascha" to absolve penitents from their mortal and venial sins, except in cases of serious illness which kept them away from church (Labbe, "Concilia" II, col. 1247; St. Ambrose, "Ep. xxxiii ad Marcellinam"). The penitents heard the Missa pro reconciliatione paenitentium, and absolution was given them before the offertory. The "Sacramentary" of Pope Gelasius contains an Ordo agentibus publicam poenitentiam (Muratori, "Liturgia romana vetus", I, 548-551).

Olei exorcizati confectio. In the fifth century the custom was established of consecrating on Holy Thursday all the chrism necessary for the anointing of the newly baptized. The "Comes Hieronymi", the Gregorian and Gelasian sacramentaries and the "Missa ambrosiana" of Pamelius, all agree upon the confection of the chrism on that day, as does also the "Ordo romanus I".

Anniversarium Eucharistiae. The nocturnal celebration and the double oblation early became the object of increasing disfavour, until in 692 the Council of Trullo promulgated a formal prohibition. The Eucharistic celebration then took place in the morning, and the bihsop reserved a part of the sacred species for the communion of the morrow, Missa praesanctificatorum (Muratori, "Liturg. rom. Vetus", II, 993).

Other observances. On Holy Thursday the ringing of bells ceases, the altar is stripped after vespers, and the night office is celebrated under the name of Tenebrae.

From the Corner...

2005-03-24T15:51:00.000-08:00

GOOD FRIDAY [K. J. Lopez]Tomorrow is Good Friday which means, among other things, Fr. George Rutler's world-famous three-hour meditation on the last words of Christ in NYC (he wrote a book on it, too). It's from noon to three at the Church of Our Saviour on Park, full location details here. Posted at 01:23 PM

2005-03-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

Not a big fan of Rudy...

Bad Day for Rudolph...

2005-03-23T11:29:00.000-08:00

The following little script is from Family Guy:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is located in a doctor's office.

Doctor: Well Rudolph, we finally figured out what makes your nose red.

Rudolph: Is it pixie dust? Or...or leprechaun tails?

Doctor: No, it's a tumor.

Rudolph: You mean, like a magical Christmas tumor?

Doctor: No... a malignant tumor, the base of which is lodged deep within your brain.

Rudolph: Oh.... Like a happy special... ?

Doctor: You're going to die.

2005-03-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

Jon Stewart is warming up to President Bush...

Straight from Weekly Review's Scrapbook

2005-03-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

This past week The Weekly Standard's Scrapbook took pleasure in the great "revelations" that is happening among the might liberals from election year 2004....:

The Scrapbook doesn't make a habit of watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central. And neither (so he claims, at least) does the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto. But he does admit to having watched--and recorded--last Tuesday's edition. Which is how Taranto was then able to produce for OpinionJournal.com his truly amazing transcription of Stewart's interview with Nancy Soderberg.

(Ms. Soderberg was a high-level National Security Council aide and U.N. ambassador during the Clinton years.)

Anyhow, Soderberg was on the Daily Show to promote her new book, The Superpower Myth: The Use and Misuse of American Might--the "misuse" she originally had in mind being . . . well, pretty much everything that George W. Bush has done since Soderberg's party lost control of the White House. It seems that Jon Stewart would very much prefer to think that Soderberg's book has the Bush people dead to rights.

But it also seems that neither Stewart--nor Soderberg, for that matter--is any longer all that confident that Bush isn't actually a genius, instead. Relevant excerpts follow:

Soderberg: I think that there is also going on in the Middle East peace
process--[the Bush administration] may well have a chance to do a historic deal with the Palestinians and the Israelis. These guys could really pull off a whole . . .

Stewart: This could be unbelievable!

Soderberg: . . . series of Nobel Peace Prizes here, which--it may well work. I think that, um, it's . . .

Stewart: [Burying his head in his hands.] Oh, my God! He's got, you know, here's . . .

Soderberg: It's scary for Democrats, I have to say.

Stewart: He's gonna be a great--pretty soon, Republicans are gonna be like, "Reagan was nothing compared to this guy." Like, my kid's gonna go to a high school named after him, I just know it.

Soderberg: Well, there's still Iran and North Korea, don't forget. There's hope for the rest of us.

Stewart: [Crossing his fingers.] Iran and North Korea, that's true, that is true.

2005-03-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

Two years ago on this date, President Bush announced the invastion of Iraq by delcaring:

"Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly -- yet, our purpose is sure. The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder. We will meet that threat now, with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of fire fighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities.

Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force. And I assure you, this will not be a campaign of half measures, and we will accept no outcome but victory.

My fellow citizens, the dangers to our country and the world will be overcome. We will pass through this time of peril and carry on the work of peace. We will defend our freedom. We will bring freedom to others and we will prevail.

May God bless our country and all who defend her."

Two years later how well have things progressed? People are voting in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Peace and freedom are advancing. Thank you President Bush.

2005-03-19T20:10:00.000-08:00

Born in Auburn, N.Y., Cardinal Dulles was the son of U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his wife, Janet Pomeroy Avery Dulles. A Harvard graduate and former lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, he was created a Cardinal of the Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II in Rome in 2001.

The author of more than 700 articles on theology, Cardinal Dulles has been a long-respected source on matters of faith. He is past president of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society. He has served on the International Theological Commission and as a member of the U.S. Lutheran/Roman Catholic Coordinating Committee. He is an advisor to the Committee on Doctrine of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Lunch with a Cardinal

2005-03-19T19:28:00.000-08:00

It was my pleasure to share lunch today with Avery Cardinal Dulles near Fordham University in the Bronx.

The Jesuit Priest joined the College of Cardinals of the Catholic Church in Rome on February 21, 2001 by Pope John Paul II.

By naming Cardinal Dulles a Cardinal, the Pope was offering a life time achievement recognition of the crucial writings Cardinal Dulles has offered over the years in the field of Theology.

Over lunch, the Cardinal shared with me the rich story of his legacy. Cardinal Dulles' Great Grandfather was John W. Foster: Foster fought in the Civil War, first as a major and then as a colonel, but left the military following the end of the conflict. He then returned to his home state, where he worked as editor of the Evansville Daily Journal, ultimately transforming the paper into a forum for Republican politics. In 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant named Foster the U.S. minister to Mexico, a post Foster held for eleven years before being transferred by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 to a similar position in Russia.

Secretary of State Robert Lansing was his Great Uncle: Having been appointed counselor to the Department of State by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914, Lansing took over as secretary of state in June 1915, following the resignation of William Jennings Bryan. Though he was cut out of negotiations involving the House-Grey memorandum, Lansing would be involved in various initiatives, including interventions in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Russia. Wilson asked for his resignation following Lansing's convocation of a cabinet meeting-without Wilson's approval-during the period in which Edith Wilson presided over her husband's affairs. Lansing left the cabinet on February 13, 1920.

The Cardinal informed me that during the election of 1916 between President Wilson and Charles Evans Houghes. Wilson was sure he would lose in that election, despite promises to keep the country out of World War I. At that time, there was a four month period between the election day and the Inauguration. There was also a lack of proper Presidential succession written into the Constitution.

President Wilson devised a plan in the event of losing an election that he and his Vice President would step resign following the election. Secretary Lansing would be acting President, and tap Houghes as Secretary of State. This would allow Lansing to resign and complete the immediate transfer of power over to Houghes.

The Dulles Family continued its political legacy when the Cardinal's Father, John Foster Dulles, became Secretary of State under President Eisenhower.

Apparently, at least according to the Cardinal's mother, it was Foster suggested the plans of the "Marshall" Plan to Secretary Marshall himself on a flight to Europe during the Truman years.

This may not be all that ridiculous of a notion considering how close Secretary Dulles was with President Herbert Hoover, whom helped rescue Europe financially following the first World War:
"After the United States entered the war, President Wilson appointed Hoover head of the Food Administration. He succeeded in cutting consumption of foods needed overseas and avoided rationing at home, yet kept the Allies fed.

After the Armistice, Hoover, a member of the Supreme Economic Council and head of the American Relief Administration, organized shipments of food for starving millions in central Europe. He extended aid to famine-stricken Soviet Russia in 1921. When a critic inquired if he was not thus helping Bolshevism, Hoover retorted, "Twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed!"

Secretary Dulles brother, Allen Dulles, was the first Director of the CIA, fighting communism and the KGB toe to toe.

Before working in the CIA however, Allen Dulles worked with OSS:

"In the 1930s, Allen Dulles becomes active in Republican politics and in May 1941 urges the U.S. to enter World War II out of "enlightened selfishness." Shortly after Japan's December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Dulles is recruited by OSS intelligence chief Colonel William J. Donovan to set up and run an OSS listening post in Berne, Switzlerland. Dulles acquires great expertise on Germany through his law firm during the 1930s. From October 1942 to May 1945, he gathers intelligence information on Nazi Germany and plays an instrumental role in events that lead to the surrender of German forces in Italy.

Working with Dr. Hans Gaevernitz who corresponds with the secret emissaries of the German conspirators, Dulles becomes intimately connected with their cause. Sympathetic to their desperate attempts to overthrow Hitler and the Nazi regime, Dulles repeatedly calls for an active-positive U.S. response to the German conspirators. He believes this will encourage more senior officers to join the conspiracy and thereby increase it's chance of success and the opportunity to bring the war in Europe to a speedy conclusion. Dulles transmits these views to Donovan who shares his enthusiasm for the conspirators and does his best to impress those views on U.S. policy makers. But as is generally the case, the intelligence service carries little political clout, and Dulles's energetic appeals fall on deaf ears in Washington."

Coming from a family of this magnitude, Cardinal Dulles was left with enormous shoes to fill.

He has more then lived up to his pedigree. He is considered one of the world's most important Theologians. The Cardinal will be remembered for his many writings, definitive stances, and dedication to the Catholic Church...especially as a convert.

2005-03-18T07:15:00.000-08:00

Doughnut from Dunkin Doughnuts: $1.50
New York Times Sunday Edition: $3.50
Can of Spam: $4.78
Communist Manifesto: Out of print, worthless
Political Capital Blog: Next to priceless
Snoozy Politics: Absolutely Priceless

Launching Political Capital Blog

2005-03-18T07:07:00.000-08:00

Political Capital LLC has selected a "distinguished," or in other words an "infamous," blogger to launch a new Political Capital Blog. Look for a more serious tone on this blog, and the hope will be to have distinguished guest writers. Feel free to indulge yourself in both blogs. Coffee and doughnut breaks will never be the same!

2005-03-17T14:27:00.000-08:00

If the Eight Ball is correct this time....North Carolina ends up on top at the end of March.

2005-03-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

Love the 80's...

NCAA Tournament: Look for the Tar Heels

2005-03-17T14:13:00.000-08:00

Fellow readers, I am putting myself out on the line in the World of Sports. Over a month ago I made the lofty prediction that the Eagles would upset the Patriots.

Well I was wrong...

Here I go again...My NCAA Tournament picks are in...

You will see that my Final Four teams are Wake Forest, Oklahoma State, North Carolina and Duke.

I have Wake Forest beating Oklahoma State, and North Carolina defeating Duke.

North Carolina will step all over Wake Forest on their way to their first National Championship since 1993.

It will also be the first time since 1985 that one Conference sends three teams to the Final Four. In 1985 the Big East sent Villanova, Georgetown and St. Johns. Villanova won the Tourney in remarkable fashion.

2005-03-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

A Simpsons episode once captured perfectly what today must be like:

Announcer No. 1: Hall of Famer Whitey Ford now on the field pleading with the crowd for ... for some kind of sanity.

Announcer No. 2: Uh-oh, and a barrage of pretzels now knocking Whitey unconscious.

Announcer No. 1: Wow. This is uh ... This is a black day for baseball.

McGwire Says He Won't Name Names to Steroid Committee

2005-03-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

March 17, 2005

By MARIA NEWMAN

An emotional Mark McGwire told a House committee investigating steroid use said that he would not "participate in naming names" in discussing steroid use during his baseball career. In his opening remarks, in front of dozens of cameras and a national television audience, he did not address whether he himself had ever used steroids.

The committee, which spent the morning criticizing Major League Baseball for not doing enough to curb steroid use in its ranks, called on six stars and former stars of baseball to testify today. Four of those players, all active, told the committee today that they had never taken steroids: Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Curt Schilling and Frank Thomas.

Jose Canseco, a former teammate of Mr. McGwire's on the Oakland A's, said that without a promise of immunity from prosecution, "I cannot be candid with this committee."

Mr. McGwire, who was accused of using steroids by Mr. Canseco in his book "Juiced," said he would not be discussing those accusations.

"I've always been a team player," Mr. McGwire said, his voice breaking. "I've never been a player who spread rumors or said things about teammates that could hurt them. I do not sit in judgment of other players.

Five of the players, dressed in business suits, sat at the same table, facing the panel. Mr. Thomas testified by video hookup from spring training.

Mr. McGwire and Mr. Schilling spoke derisively of Mr. Canseco, who was sitting a few feet from them, with Mr. Schilling referring to him as "that so-called author."

Mr. McGwire said, "I do not intend to change just because the cameras are turned on, nor do I intend to dignify Mr. Canseco's book."

While he offered to be part of a program to talk to young athletes about the dangers of using steroids, Mr. McGwire said that his lawyers had informed him that testifying to the committee could "jeopardize my friends, my family and myself." He added, "I intend to follow their advise."

Mr. McGwire broke the major league record for home runs in a season in 1998, hitting 70 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. That record has since been surpassed by Barry Bonds.

Mr. Palmeiro, who was also accused by Mr. Canseco in his book of taking steroids, denied using the performance-enhancing drugs.

"I have never used steroids. Period," Mr. Palmeiro said. "I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never."

The panel, the House Government Reform Committee, chose to focus on steroid use partly because of Mr. Canseco's book, several Congressional aides said.

A nervous and humbled-looking Mr. Canseco told the committee that "I did know that my revelations would reverberate in the halls of this chamber."

Mr. Canseco, who retired in 2001 with 462 homers, asked for immunity so that he could testify fully, but that request was turned down on Wednesday. In his book, he wrote that he used steroids and that he injected Mr. McGwire with them.

He said that he is already on probation from a Florida case unrelated to steroid use, and without immunity, "I fear that my testimony will affect my probation."

Several lawmakers pointed to a report by the Centers for Disease Control that said 500,000 American teens take steroids, partly in an effort emulate their sports heroes.

Representative Henry Waxman of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said baseball was not doing enough to curtail their use.

"We're long past the point where we can count on Major League Baseball to fix its own problems," he said.

The committee also heard from parents of two young athletes who committed suicide after using steroids for several years. One father called the players "cowards" for being "afraid to step on the field without the aid of performance-enhancing substances."

Representative Waxman said that if pro ball players were allowed to use steroids, it was no surprise that younger athletes wanted to use them too.

"There is an absolute correlation between the culture of steroids in high schools and the culture of steroids in major league clubhouses," he said. "Kids get the message when it appears that it's okay for professional athletes to use steroids. If the pros do it, college athletes will, too. And if it's an edge in college, high school students will want the edge, too.

"There is a pyramid of steroid use in society and today our investigation starts where it should - with the owners and players at the top of that pyramid," Mr. Waxman said.

As the spoke, the Major League Baseball commissioner, Bud Selig, who was to testify later, sat with his arms crossed and lips pursed.

Sitting near him was Donald Fehr, executive director of the players' union.

The hearing came a day after lawmakers chided Major League Baseball and the players' union, accusing them of misleading Congress and the public about the new steroids testing policy. The members of Congress were reacting angrily to the disclosure of the policy's details, which they contended were not as stringent or wide-ranging as baseball executives and union officials had said they were.

Mr. Davis and Mr. Waxman sent a 10-page letter to Mr. Selig and Mr. Fehr to express disappointment and frustration with the new policy.

Baseball instituted a steroids policy in 2002 and agreed last year to toughen it. The details of the new policy have not yet been finalized.

Another member of the committee, Representative Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, said that "Baseball's policy needs to be one of zero tolerance and it needs to have teeth."
Several Congressional aides said that the call for hearings on steroid use came about partly because of the publication of Mr. Canseco's book, "Juiced," in which he admitted using steroids and said that Mr. McGwire and Mr. Palmeiro had also used them.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Davis said the players would have "an opportunity today to either clear their name or take public responsibility for their action, and perhaps offer cautionary tales to our youth."

The committee's hearings will come in four different panel sessions. In the first one, they heard from Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky, a major league player for 17 years and a member of Hall of Fame.

"Baseball needs to know we are watching," he said. "They owe it to all of us to prove they are fixing this terrible problem. If not, we will have to do it for them."

Like many of the other committee members who spoke, Mr. Bunning spoke of his love of the game, and of the place baseball has in American history and culture. Mr. Bunning talked about how steroid use had tainted the game for many people, and had made them question the accomplishments of many great record-breaking plays.

"What is happening in baseball now is not natural and it is not right," he said.

"The last thing I want for America's pastime is to make it be the subject of a witch hunt," he said. But Congress has to take action because the owners and players themselves are not, he said.

"It's not their game," he said. "It's ours. They're just enjoying the privilege of playing it for a short time. What I think many of the players do not understand is that many players came before them, and many will come after them. They all need to protect the integrity of the greatest game ever."

The committee also heard from the parents of Rob Taylor, a baseball player from Southern California who used steroids and committed suicide.

"There's no doubt in our minds that steroids killed our son," Rob's mother, Dr. Denise Garibaldi, told the committee. "In his mind he did what baseball heroes like Canseco had done."

Dr. Garibaldi and her husband, Raymond Garibaldi, said that unbeknown to them, their son had been encouraged to take drugs to bulk up by scouts and trainers and coaches since he was in high school. They noticed changes in his demeanor and his behavior, but he had denied to them that he used them, Dr. Garibaldi said.

"He told us, I don't do drugs. I'm a ballplayer," she said.

"Baseball is not life," she said. "Baseball is a game."

Another parent, Donald Hooton Sr., lashed out angrily at the players, saying that their use of steroids had been emulated by his son, Taylor, a high school football player who also committed suicide.

"You are cheaters, you are cowards," he said. "You're afraid to step on the field without the aid of performance enhancing substances."

He said the players who were testifying "should be man enough to face the authorities, admit the truth and face the consequences," instead of "hiding behind the skirts of your union."

"I'm sick and tired of having you tell us you don't want to be considered role models," he said.

"You are role models."

2005-03-17T08:23:00.000-08:00

President George W. Bush and Laura Bush receive a bowl of Shamrocks from Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahren during the annual ceremony celebrating St. Patrick's Day in the Roosevelt Room - Thursday, March 17, 2005.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2005-03-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

St. Patrick's Day (March 17), also known as St. Patty's Day, is the Roman Catholic feast day which celebrates St. Patrick (387-461), the patron saint of Ireland. It is celebrated worldwide by the Irish and those of Irish descent. A major parade takes place in Dublin and in most other Irish towns and villages. The three largest parades of recent years have been held in Dublin, New York, and Manchester, England. Parades also take place in other places, including London, Birmingham, Paris, Rome, Moscow, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, and throughout the Americas.

Because of the importance of the day, the celebrations in Dublin have been extended to a week-long event called St. Patrick's Festival, encompassing a spectacular fireworks display (Skyfest), open-air music, street theatre and the traditional parade. The topic of the previous year's (2004) St. Patrick's Symposium was "Talking Irish," during which the nature of Irish identity, economic success and the future was discussed. Many Irish people wear a bunch of shamrock on their lapels or caps on this day, while children wear tri-color (green, white and orange) badges. Girls traditionally wore green ribbons in their hair (many still do).

The biggest celebrations in Ireland outside Dublin are in Downpatrick, where St. Patrick was buried following his death on March 17, 461. In Downpatrick in 2004, according to Down District Council, the parade, during the weeklong St. Patrick's Festival, had over 2000 participants and 82 floats, bands and performers. The parade was watched by over 30,000 people.
The first civic and public celebrations of St. Patrick's Day in the American Colonies took place in Boston in 1737. The first St. Patrick's Day celebrated in New York City was held at the Crown and Thistle Tavern in 1756. Since then the New York celebration has become the largest St. Patrick's Day parade in the world. The parade itself dates back to 1762, and in 2003 more than 150,000 marchers participated, including bands, military and police groups, county associations, emigrant societies, social and cultural clubs. The parade marches up 5th Avenue in Manhattan.
The New York parade has been dogged with controversy in recent years as its organisers have banned Irish gays and lesbians from marching as a group. Gay rights groups have fought in court to obtain the right to march alongside other organizations, and there have been calls in Ireland (which, since 1992, has some of the most liberal gay laws in the world) for a boycott of the parade. The gay groups and their sympathisers would lie down in the middle of the street at the start of the parade route, and would be arrested when they refused to move; in the late 1980s such arrests averaged several hundred per year, but had dwindled to a dozen or less annually by the early 2000s. A tradition has begun in Queens, New York of organizing a parade the week before the official St. Patrick's Day parade which is open to all organizations wishing to march.

The parade is organized and run by the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) [1] ( http://mill-valley.freemasonry.biz/marin_hibernians_orangemen_royal_black_knights.htm). For many years, the St. Patrick's Day Parade was the primary public function of the AOH. On occasion the AOH has appointed controversial Irish republican figures (some of whom were barred from the U.S.) to be its Grand Marshal.

The New York parade is moved to the previous Saturday (March 16) in years where March 17 is a Sunday. The event is also moved on the rare occasions when, due to Easter falling on a very early date, March 17 would land in Holy Week—this last occurred in 1913, when the parade was held on Saturday, March 15 because Easter that year was March 23 (making March 17 the Monday of Holy Week); this same scenario is scheduled to arise again in 2008, when Easter will also fall on March 23. In many other American cities (such as San Francisco), the parade is always held on the Sunday before March 17, regardless of the permutations of the liturgical calendar.

The Chicago River, dyed green for the 2005 St. Patrick's Day celebration.
Some U.S. cities paint the traffic stripe of their parade routes green. Others, including Chicago, dye their principal rivers green, an act that most native Irish find bizarre.
The longest running St. Patrick's Day parades in the U.S. are:
New York City, New York, since 1762
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1780
Savannah, Georgia, since 1813
Carbondale, Pennsylvania, since 1833
Chicago, Illinois, since 1843
New Haven, New Haven, since 1845
San Francisco, California, since 1852

The longest running St. Patrick's Day parade in Canada takes place in Montreal, which began in 1824.

St. Patrick's Day parades in Ireland date from the late 19th century, originating in the growing sense of nationalism of the period. Since the 1990s, Irish Taoisigh (prime ministers) have attended special functions either on St. Patrick's Day or a day or two earlier, in the White House, where they present shamrock to the President of the United States. A similar presentation is made to the Speaker of the House. Originally only representatives of the Republic of Ireland attended, but since the mid-1990's all major Irish political parties from north and south are invited, with the attendance including the representatives of the Irish government, the Ulster Unionist Party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Féin and others. Sinn Féin was banned from these functions in 2005 [2] (http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=617919). In recent years it is common for the entire Irish Government to be abroad representing the country in various parts of the world. In 2003, the President of Ireland celebrated the holiday in Sydney, the Taoiseach was in Washington, while other Irish government members attended ceremonies in New York, Boston, San Francisco, San Jose, Savannah, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Korea, Japan and Brazil.

In Britain, the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother used to present bowls of shamrock specially flown over from Ireland to members of the Irish Guards, a regiment in the British Army made up of Irish people from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
In many parts of the US, UK and Australia, expatriate Irish, those of Irish descent, and especially ever-growing crowds of people with no Irish connections but who may proclaim themselves "Irish for a day" also celebrate St. Patrick's Day, usually by consuming large quantities of alcoholic beverages, including lager often dyed green, Irish beer, such as Murphys, Smithwicks, Harp or Guinness, or other Irish liquors such as Irish whiskey, Irish Coffee or Baileys Irish Cream, and by listening to Irish folk music. (Former Mayor of New York Ed Koch once proclaimed himself "Ed O'Koch" for the day.)

2005-03-14T18:25:00.000-08:00

Still holding his 9mm Beretta, a seriously injured First Sgt. Brad Kasal is helped from a Fallujah house on Nov. 13, 2004, after killing several Iraqi insurgents and with his own body shielding a fellow Marine from a grenade blast (Photo by Lucian Read/WorldPictureNews).

From an Iowa Town to Marine Corps Legend

2005-03-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

By Nathaniel R. Helms

U.S. Marine Corps First Sergeant Brad Kasal is an American hero. His story is a remarkable tale of bravery, sacrifice and savagery that adds another page to the great book of American military lore.

Kasal may never join the pantheon of Marine Corps legends with colorful names like “Manila John” Basilone, or “Ol’ Gimlet Eye” Smedley Darlington Butler, who won two Medals of Honor, or Master Gunnery Sergeant Leland “Lou” Diamond, who sported a non-regulation goatee and once raised chickens behind his barracks. But he is every bit in their league.

During his three tours of duty in Iraq and Kuwait, Kasal has been wounded multiple times, including being shot seven times, peppered with grenade fragments on several occasions, and wounded by shrapnel during the Iraqi invasion in 2003 and again last August during the Marines’ deadly street fights against Iraqi insurgents in the Sunni Triangle.

According to highly placed Marine Corps sources, Kasal and another Marine who was killed in action at Fallujah, may become the first Marine Corps recipients of the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War. Kasal declined any comment on the report and Capt. Daniel J. McSweeney, a spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., said the Corps’ policy is to not comment on such matters before they happen. The other potential recipient is the late Sgt. Rafael Peralta, who was killed after using his wounded body to shield his comrades from an exploding hand grenade thrown by an insurgent.

“I appreciate your interest in this issue and that the story and photo speak volumes about the courage and commitment of our deployed Marines,” McSweeney said Thursday. “I'm sorry to reinforce that CMC (Commandant, Marine Corps) and other members of HQMC do not offer comments of any kind on awards that are working their way through the system.”

Kasal joined the Marine Corps in 1984 from rural Afton, Iowa - population 941 - when he was fresh out of East Union High School and fresh off the family farm. Nineteen years later, he was a Marine first sergeant leading a hard-pressed company of infantrymen in a desperate fight for an Iraqi city named Fallujah, a place as foreign to most Americans as Iwo Jima was sixty years ago.

“I always wanted to be a Marine, to see the world and make a difference,” Kasal said in an interview this week.

Linda Haner, the deputy city clerk of Afton and someone who watched Kasal and his family grow up, remembers him as a nice boy who did well on the high school wrestling team. “He was quite athletic,” she said.

Haner said the whole town is proud of Kasal and all his brothers who served in the armed forces. Brother Jeff is a retired Army paratrooper who fought in Desert Storm with the 82nd Airborne and now works in Iraq for Halliburton; Kelly, who was in the Army four years and Kevin, who served four years as a Marine, are all known and respected around the Iowa town.

“If you could see all the yellow ribbons and all the red, white and blue ribbons you would understand about this place. People around here are proud of the boys in the service and what they are doing,” Haner added.
Currently Kasal isn’t doing too much except recovering. The 38-year-old bachelor is confined to a wheelchair while he endures a painful medical procedure to put his right leg back together. His lower leg is connected to a metal device called a halo brace that is full of pins and screws that doctors manipulate each day to stretch his battered lower leg a millimeter at a time, trying to extend it to the length it used to be before an insurgent blew it in half with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

“They turn the screws so many notches a day,” he explained matter-of-factly from his home in Oceanside, Calif. “It would be easier if I had someone to take care of me, but I have lots of friends and they help.”

Despite his terrible wounds, Kasal has no regrets. He has seen plenty of the world and made a world of difference to a lot of young Marines placed in his charge during three combat tours in the Middle East as First Sergeant of Kilo Company, and then Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. If he has his way he will be doing it again as soon as he heals.

“I believe in leading from the front,” Kasal explained. “It eases their [young Marines] minds and concerns to see me up their with them. That is where I belong.”

His father Gerald, a retired farmer and six-year veteran of the Iowa Army National Guard in the 1950s and early 1960s, said Brad was a great kid who never posed any problems except his propensity for fighting the boys from an adjacent town who seemed to take a pleasure in beating up the boys from Afton – a practice that came to an abrupt end when Brad and his brothers beat the hell out of some of them.

“After Brad and his brothers showed up a few times, they quit thinking they could beat up the boys from Afton,” Gerald Kasal remembered. “Brad’s oldest brother used to be a bully and pick on his younger brothers and I guess Brad just decided nobody was going to pick on him anymore.”

Whatever the reason for his bravery and resolve, Kasal displayed it in the proudest tradition of the Marine Corps on Nov. 13, 2004 during Operation Phantom Fury, the American attack on Fallujah that began five days earlier with the mission of destroying the insurgents’ stronghold in what was considered the center of their territory in Iraq.

“We were moving down the street, clearing buildings,” Kasal recounted. “A Marine came out wounded from a building and said there were three more wounded Marines trapped in there with a bunch of bad guys (insurgents). As we entered, we noticed several dead Iraqis on the floor and one of our wounded.” Kasal said there was no question of what to do. “If I was a general I would still think my job was to get the wounded Marines out of there,” he said. “So we went in to get them.”

As soon as he entered the two-story stucco and brick building, Kasal found himself in mortal combat. It was fighting to the death, and there was no quarter expected or given, Kasal said.

“An Iraqi pointed an AK-47 at me and I moved back. He fired and missed. I shot and killed him. I put my barrel up against his chest and pulled the trigger over and over until he went down. Then I looked around the wall and put two into his forehead to make sure he was dead.”

While Kasal and a young Pfc. Alexander Nicoll were taking out the insurgent behind the wall, another one with an AK hiding on the stairs to the second floor began firing at the Marines on full automatic. “That’s when I went down, along with one of my Marines (Nicoll). Then I noticed the hand grenade.”

It was a green pineapple grenade, Kasal said. It flew into the room out of nowhere and landed near the two downed men. Kasal now believes that other Marines who were watching their back left the room for reasons he still doesn’t know and an insurgent was able to somehow get behind him.

Kasal said his first instinct was to protect the young Marine lying bloody beside him. He covered the young man with his body and took the full brunt of shrapnel to his back when the grenade exploded. Kasal’s body armor and helmet protected his vital organs but the shrapnel penetrated the exposed portions of his shoulders, back, and legs, causing him to bleed profusely.

“I took my pressure bandage and put it on his leg,” Kasal remembered. “Then I tried to put Nicoll’s pressure bandage on a wound on his chest but it is very hard to get a flak jacket off a wounded man and I was bleeding and fading in and out.”

Nicoll survived the grenade blast and his previous bullet wounds but lost his right leg. “An artery was cut and they had to amputate his leg,” Kasal said. “I have seen him and talked to him several times since we got back to the States. He is doing OK.”

The grenade blast stunned Kasal. He floated in and out of consciousness. But in the back of his mind a voice kept telling him he had to stay alert or the Iraqis were going to come back and finish him and Nicoll off. “They weren’t going to let us live if they knew we were alive. It was kill or be killed,” he said.

Kasal wrestled his 9mm automatic out of its holster and lay on the floor waiting for help. It was thirty or forty minutes before other Marines arrived.

“That’s when I got shot in the butt,” Kasal recalled. “It was the shootout at the OK Corral – point-blank range. I was lying there shooting and somebody shot me through both cheeks. It smarted a bit.”
Kasal did not know the exact extent of his wounds until much later; all he knew was that he was badly hurt. He was floating in and out of consciousness, ultimately losing 60 percent of his blood before he was rescued. After first aid, Kasal and Nicoll were transported to a field hospital in Iraq, then flown to Landstuhl, Germany, where Kasal was hospitalized for a week before arriving at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
“I took seven rounds; five in my right leg, one in my foot and one to the buttocks area. When the grenade went off I got 30 to 40 pieces of shrapnel in my back,” Kasal said he later discovered. Doctors are still fighting to save his leg, Kasal said. By the time this story appears, he will be back at Bethesda for more treatment, but the doctors won’t know for six months whether the Marine will every be 100 percent again. “I know I will walk again, but I don’t know if I will fully recover.”

Meanwhile Kasal experiences almost constant pain.

“I'm missing four and a half inches of the fibula and tibia bones,” he said. “They put that halo brace on my leg to try and make the bone grow together. But there’s no guarantee that will work.”

Despite everything that has happened to him, Kasal still believes America’s mission is Iraq is both important and terribly misconstrued. He harbors special venom for the so-called “mainstream” media reporters who portray the war as a failure and American policy as a gross mistake. He says he has heard reporters say their job is to make President George W. Bush and his policies seem a failure.

“The insurgents are oppressing normal people,” Kasal said. “The press never reports the good things. When we open a school or fix a sewer, the things that make normal Iraqis happy, they never report it. There are plenty of Iraqis, thousands of them, who want to live normal lives. If we can help them it will be all right. The people just want peace and freedom.”

Contributing Editor Nathaniel R. “Nat” Helms is a Vietnam veteran, former police officer, long-time journalist and war correspondent living in Missouri. He is the author of two books, Numba One – Numba Ten and Journey Into Madness: A Hitchhiker’s Account of the Bosnian Civil War, both available at www.ebooks-online.com. He can be reached at natshouse1@charter.net. Send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.

2005-03-09T08:32:00.000-08:00

This picture is just to strange not to post...

Vice President Clowney

2005-03-09T08:20:00.000-08:00

New York Times OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

But Seriously, My Fellow Americans...
By HART SEELY

Syracuse — IT'S not too soon for Hollywood to start thinking about next year's Oscar ceremony - and if the producers want another outrageous, hard-edged host in the style of Chris Rock, they need look no further than Washington. Vice President Dick Cheney can do the job, as evidenced by White House transcripts, which faithfully note his comedic genius. What follows are some of Mr. Cheney's most outrageous bits, excerpted from his speeches.

Thank you very much. I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by and say, aloha. (Laughter.) - Nov. 1, 2004

I bring good wishes to all of you from the seat of power - Crawford, Texas. (Laughter and applause.) - Aug. 29, 2002

I want to thank John McCain. John has been a great friend for 20 years, does a superb job for the United States Senate. (Applause.) And of course, we've got John Ensign - Senator John Ensign with us here today. (Applause.) And when people say "flush the Johns," they don't mean these two. (Laughter.) - Nov. 1, 2004

I've been looking forward to this event. It's a special event. We're all here, obviously, for one very particular reason. And I'm sure you paid more than I did to get in. (Laughter.) - July 15, 2003
Male audience member: We love you. (Laughter.)The vice president: Why is it always the guys who say, "We love you"? (Laughter.) - Sept. 23, 2004

I just like to remind everybody what you say is being recorded. (Laughter.) - Sept. 29, 2004
Lynne and I have a Republican marriage. We got married because Dwight Eisenhower got elected president of the United States. (Applause.) - Sept. 17, 2004

She's known me since I was 14 years old, but she wouldn't go out with me until I was 17. (Laughter.) I'm not sure whether that was her choice, or her father's choice. (Laughter.) - Oct. 20, 2004

Now, Lynne was pretty impressive when she was 14 years old, too. (Laughter.) - July 30, 2004

I'm going to get in a lot of trouble here if I'm not careful. (Laughter.) - May 21, 2004

I get in trouble for that every once in a while. (Laughter.) When I go duck hunting with Nino Scalia, for example. (Laughter.) - Sept. 21, 2004

She's not going to miss that joke when this campaign is over with. (Laughter.) - Nov. 1, 2004

Audience member: (Inaudible.)The vice president: That's a Howard Dean scream I assume.
(Laughter.) Kind of a weak one if you ask me. (Laughter.)- Oct. 30, 2004

I haven't had this much fun since we beat John Kerry. (Applause.) - Dec. 1, 2004
And once again, I delivered the state of Wyoming for the Bush-Cheney ticket. (Laughter and applause.) - Dec. 1, 2004

I was the congressman from Wyoming for 10 years. Wyoming only had one congressman. (Laughter.) It was a small delegation. But it was quality. (Laughter and applause.) - Dec. 1, 2004

Control yourself back there for us, O.K.? (Laughter.) This is my speech, or what? (Laughter.) - Nov. 1, 2004

Don Rumsfeld is back at Defense. He hasn't made any progress at all in about 30 years - same old job. (Laughter.) - Oct. 21, 2003

We keep telling Don - this is the second time he's been secretary - he's going to have to keep doing it till he gets it right! (Laughter.) - Nov. 14, 2001

And, yes, there are a few of us old white guys in blue suits hanging around, too. (Laughter.) - July 26, 2004

This is a good crowd. I may take you home with me. (Laughter.) - May 24, 2004

These days, we don't get many visitors at the cave. (Laughter.) - Oct. 25, 2001

The Waldorf is a lot nicer than our cave. (Laughter.) - Oct. 18, 2001

I'm almost through, but I could give you the whole speech again. (Laughter and applause.) That's a joke. I've got to get home tonight. (Laughter.) - Nov. 1, 2004

The only thing I have to say to that is, I'm Dick Cheney and I approve this message. (Laughter and applause.) - Sept. 24, 2004

Mahalo, and good night. (Applause.) - Nov. 1, 2004

Hart Seely is the editor of "Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld."

2005-03-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

We know how he looked...but how did he sound?

Lincoln's Voice...

2005-03-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

President Lincoln is remembered for not only being a great war time President, but also as an extraordinary speech writer.

A great speech writer does not necessarily make for a great orator. Whether or not Lincoln was a master orator may never be known beyond the ears that lived to hear him during his time.

However, Allen Koenigsberg is hoping to change this reality. He believes that we may actually be able to hear the voice that occupied the White House during our Country's turbulent experience.

It is rumored that Leon Scott, who invented the phonoautograph may have recorded Lincoln's voice in 1863. Mr. Koenigsberg life mission is to find the paper that would be able to let us hear the words and voice of President Lincoln.

2005-03-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

Justice Scalia: Nominated by President Reagan as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court; took oath of office September 26, 1986.

Justice Scalia

2005-03-04T06:59:00.000-08:00

The Supreme Court recently came down with a controversial ruling in Roper vs. Simmons. The Court came to the conclusion that it is Unconstitutional for a juvenile to be subjected to Capital Punishment. The Court's opinion more specifically says: "Held: The Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments forbid imposition of the death penalty on offenders who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed. Pp. 6-25."

The ruling came down as a 5-4 decision. Justice Scalia provided a scathing dissenting opinion. A friend pointed out this particular part, and how Scalia throws previous abortion arguments back in the face of the majority:

'That "almost every State prohibits those under 18 years of age from voting, serving on juries, or marrying without parental consent," ante, at 15, is patently irrelevant--and is yet another resurrection of an argument that this Court gave a decent burial in Stanford. (What kind of Equal Justice under Law is it that--without so much as a "Sorry about that"--gives as the basis for sparing one person from execution arguments explicitly rejected in refusing to spare another?) As we explained in Stanford, 492 U. S., at 374, it is "absurd to think that one must be mature enough to drive carefully, to drink responsibly, or to vote intelligently, in order to be mature enough to understand that murdering another human being is profoundly wrong, and to conform one's conduct to that most minimal of all civilized standards." Serving on a jury or entering into marriage also involve decisions far more sophisticated than the simple decision not to take another's life.

Moreover, the age statutes the Court lists "set the appropriate ages for the operation of a system that makes its determinations in gross, and that does not conduct individualized maturity tests." Ibid. The criminal justice system, by contrast, provides for individualized consideration of each defendant. In capital cases, this Court requires the sentencer to make an individualized determination, which includes weighing aggravating factors and mitigating factors, such as youth. See Eddings, 455 U. S., at 115-117. In other contexts where individualized consideration is provided, we have recognized that at least some minors will be mature enough to make difficult decisions that involve moral considerations. For instance, we have struck down abortion statutes that do not allow minors deemed mature by courts to bypass parental notification provisions. See, e.g., Bellotti v. Baird, 443 U. S. 622, 643-644 (1979) (opinion of Powell, J.); Planned Parenthood of Central Mo. v. Danforth, 428 U. S. 52, 74-75 (1976). It is hard to see why this context should be any different. Whether to obtain an abortion is surely a much more complex decision for a young person than whether to kill an innocent person in cold blood.'

2005-03-04T04:46:00.000-08:00

Jackie Robinson "stealing away home"... The quote on his tombstone reads, "A life is not important, except for the impact it has on others."...This should be engrained in everyone's mind.

Brooklyn Hero

2005-03-04T04:32:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, Jackie Robinson was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. President Bush was on hand, as was the leadership of the Congress...Mrs. Robinson accepted the award.

Jackie Robinson is one of my favorite baseball players of all time. He did more for the civil rights movement in some regards then anyone else. In his first three years as a ball player, he was not allowed to retaliate for any action taken against him. He abided by that rule.

The courage it took for him to play despite the racial injustices thrown at him...made him a hero. On top of this...he was an amazing player. He was the ultimate five tool player, and helped turn around a sagging franchise.

This is Rev. Jesse Jackson's Eulogy from Robinson's funeral (back when Jackson was a good and decent man):

Today we must balance the tears of sorrow with the tears of joy. Mix the bitter with the sweet in death and life.

Jackie as a figure in history was a rock in the water, creating concentric circles and ripples of new possibility. He was medicine. He was immunized by God from catching the diseases that he fought. The Lord's arms of protection enabled him to go through dangers seen and unseen, and he had the capacity to wear glory with grace.

Jackie's body was a temple of God. An instrument of peace. We would watch him disappear into nothingness and stand back as spectators, and watch the suffering from afar.

The mercy of God intercepted this process Tuesday and permitted him to steal away home, where referees are out of place, and only the supreme judge of the universe speaks.

2005-03-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

(I loved these guys)
Statler: You know, this show really improves with age!
Waldorf: Why? Because the jokes get better?
Statler: No! Because my hearing gets worse!
-----------------------------------------------------
Statler: What's the name of that famous song Tony Bennett sings?
Waldorf: "I Left My Heart In San Francisco"
Statler: Big deal! I left my teeth in Minneapolis!
Both: Dooh ho ho ho ho!

2005-03-03T06:52:00.000-08:00

That would be Katie performing her own version of American Idol (I'm at the Piano). There is a strong possibility she will kill me for posting this picture...so this may be my last posting.

American Idol: KMK

2005-03-03T04:48:00.000-08:00

Katie Kaufman resides in Maryland and is currently occupied as both an elementry music teacher, and a graduate student in liturgical music at The Catholic University of America. For the past few years I had the great pleasure of watching American Idol on Fox with her...

This year I have not had the same opportunity given the distance of our location...

Katie continues to be a mega American Idol fan. This past January during the Inauguration ceremonies in Washington DC, I met Ryan Seacrest (the host of American Idol) at one of the Presidential Candlelight dinner. As a favor, he called Katie on my cell phone to surprise her... Katie did not pick up because she was too busy watching American Idol. Insead she had a surprise message on her cell from Ryan Seacrest.

Katie has written a guest blog, giving a full update on her feelings of who may or may not be the next American Idol. Here are her thoughts:

Every year I have been able to pick the winner of American Idol when they get down to the top 24 contestants. This year is a little bit different...the contestants are better looking, have more personality and are a lot more talented than in the previous years. Every contestant is different and unique in his or her own way. Of course, I have a few favorites that I hope make it to the top 10 :).

First, we have Anwar Robinson from New Jersey, and he is a music teacher (now you know why i like him)! He is a great singer and is always in tune and has a great sense of musical style. And, since he's a music teacher he really knows what he's doing haha.

Another guy who I hope makes it far is Bo Bice. He is the twist on the show...he's a rocker...and that is what makes him great. Since they allowed the ages to be extended on Idol, Bo was able to audition, and his age actually gives him a great advantage. He's been in the music scene for years and he knows how to perform.

Mario Vasquez isn't bad, kind of boy-band singer, but I dont hold that against him.

On the girls side my favorites are Vonzell and Carrie.

Vonzell is from Florida and is a great performer as well. Besides having a great voice, she is enjoys being on stage and gets the audience moving. She kind of reminds me of Fantasia, but has a nicer tone to her voice.

Another girl who I am rooting for is Carrie Underwood. She's a country singer, pretty and carries with her a certain innocence that I think the American public will like.

These are my suggestions/predictions...When we eliminate a few more people I will tell you for sure who I think will win! :)

Free Legal Advice

2005-03-02T15:06:00.000-08:00

This assortment of legal advice was passed along from my brother...

ATTORNEY'S ADVICE -- NO CHARGE

1. The next time you order checks have only your first initials and last name put on them.( i.e. R.C. Smith). If someone takes your checkbook, they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your checks.

2. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put "PHOTO ID REQUIRED".

3. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.

4. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS or license # printed on your checks. You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it and use them.

5. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.

Unfortunately I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieve(s) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for another VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more. But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:
1. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them at home and on trips.
2. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

But here's what is perhaps Most Important of all : (I never even thought to do this.)
3. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your Name and Social Security number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks. Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, etc., has been stolen:

1.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271
2.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
3.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
4.) Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289

2005-03-02T15:05:00.000-08:00

Yeah...I'd rather eat them to relieve stress...

Nacho Stress Relief

2005-03-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

A friend of my brother's alerted me to this grotesque way of relieving stress...

Nude man covered in nachos gets probation
March 1, 2005

MARYVILLE, Tenn. --A man caught by police last summer on his 23rd birthday running naked and covered in nacho cheese pleaded guilty Monday to burglary and four other charges.

Michael David Monn of Maryville appeared before Blount County Circuit Court Judge D. Kelly

Thomas and pleaded guilty to burglary, theft, vandalism, indecent exposure and public intoxication. In a plea bargain with prosecutors, Monn was sentenced to three years in prison but was given supervised probation.

He also was given a judicial deferral, which means if he stays out of trouble for the next three years the charges will be expunged from his record. Thomas warned Monn that if he violates the sentencing requirements, he must serve the sentence in a state penitentiary.

Early on the morning of July 18, 2004, Monn "was highly intoxicated, broke into the John Sevier Pool snack bar area, stole some snacks and did some damage and was caught naked with some stolen snacks," Blount County District Attorney General Mike Gallegos told the courtroom.

A police officer found Monn that morning in the parking lot of the pool facility after Monn had apparently scaled an 8-foot-tall fence and was seen running toward a Jeep with a box of stolen snacks and a container of nacho cheese.

In addition to being naked, Monn had nacho cheese in his hair, on his face and on his shoulders, police said. He also had a strong odor of alcohol and was semi-incoherent.

In his Jeep, Maryville officers found clothing and an open bottle of vodka.

2005-03-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

Stop giving me ideas, Garfield...

Feline Stress

2005-03-01T11:49:00.000-08:00

Over the past weeks, I've felt more stress then I have ever experienced. The mirror reveals more gray hair every morning. Anxiousness, exhaustion, and apathy are words that best describe my week days.

Zebbie, my cat, a fat ten-year-old tabby, has kept my peace after long work days. As it turns out, Zebbie may know more about stress then one might think.

Felines are capable of feeling great stress themselves:

"In the absence of relief from the stress, cats may increase their marking behaviour dramatically. Scratching, spraying urine, and middening (deliberately depositing faeces somewhere noticeable!) may be an attempt to regain the security that they once had in the home, while leaving home altogether may appear to be the only option for cats which can no longer face the interior of the `den'.

Occasionally, in our behaviour practice, we see cats which are so overcome by anxiety or stress that they simply give up attempting to fight it or flee from it, and become passive and unresponsive. This extreme kind of learned helplessness is thankfully rare, but can mean that the cat no longer washes itself, loses interest in food and remains almost motionless for long periods of time. In certain respects, this could be likened to the symptoms of severe clinical depression in humans, where any kind of behaviour is suppressed and unrewarding. "

2005-02-28T07:23:00.000-08:00

No it's not an Arab flag... It's the state flag of South Carolina...

S.C. Legislators Making Moves

2005-02-28T07:08:00.000-08:00

My Mom worked for the late Senator Sam Ervin during the early 1960's. When she worked there, the senior Senator from South Carolina was Strom Thurmond, and the junior Senator was Ernst Hollings.

Forty years later, in the fall of 2001, I worked as an intern for Senator Frist in the Capitol. The senior and junior Senators from South Carolina were still the same people...

Finally, four years later, new blood is filling the seats in the Senate from the great state of South Carolina... South Carolina seems to be taking advantage of its new legislators, who are pushing for some new legislation:

LEGISLATION WATCH

• Actual title: Surface Transportation Adaptability to Ensure Safety (STATES) Act of 2005

• More fitting title: “Fix This Road First” Act

• Intent: States now need permission to use certain federal money to improve small or rural state-maintained roads. If this bill passes, states wouldn’t have to get federal authorities to sign off.

• Sponsored by: U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

• Why do it? As DeMint said when he introduced the bill: “No red tape. No federal bureaucracy. Just a decision made at the local level by the people with the best understanding of the situation.”

• Will it pass? It has no co-sponsors yet, but DeMint sits on the Committee on Environment and Public Works, through which the bill must pass.

2005-02-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Big night for Hollywood tonight...

2005-02-27T11:59:00.000-08:00

In the left picture, my sister is to the right of Theron's head. In the picture on the right, my sister is to the left of Theron!

Oscars

2005-02-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

For some, the night of the Oscars is as big as the Super Bowl. Last year, I missed the Oscars because I was on a Tiger Cruise in the Pacific Ocean with my brother and the United States Marine Corps. My sister was on the red carpet, however, with Charlize Theron, escorting her all the way.

However that means little to me... I love movies, but I do not get wrapped up in all the glamour.

The only thing I hope happens tonight is that Jamie Foxx wins best actor for Ray. He was magnificent and captured the role perfectly.

Chris Rock as host should be interesting as well. Not the normal "safe pick" for a host that the Oscars usually go with... Maybe for the first time we'll actually laugh at the jokes told on stage...

2005-02-25T08:41:00.000-08:00

Bush looking over Putin's shoulder literally...and figuratively...

Aren't we a Republic?

2005-02-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, President George W. Bush met with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. My only account for the meeting so far comes from the New York Post.

President Bush pushed Putin on the subject of Democracy, urging Putin to keep Russia a democracy... Putin has been tightening the reins of the Government's control on the people of Russia.

I found this argument by Putin very well put: "Putin claimed his own decision to end direct election of Russia's regional governors — seen as a crackdown — is 'in essence' the same as the U.S. Electoral College, which picks presidents. "

And wow, he really knocked it to Bush.

If you read the Constitution, the word you will not find is the word Democracy. Why do we always use the word Democracy?

We're not even a Democracy! Webster's Dictionary defines Democracy this way:

Main Entry: de·moc·ra·cy
Pronunciation: di-'mä-kr&-sE
Function: nounInflected
Form(s): plural -cies
Etymology: Middle French democratie, from Late Latin democratia, from Greek dEmokratia, from dEmos + -kratia -cracy
1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority
b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
2 : a political unit that has a democratic government
3 capitalized : the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the U.S.
4 : the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority
5 : the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges

The United States is not a Democracy! We do not have direct representation. We do not live in a country where one person equals one vote. We live in a Republic. Athens was a Democracy, we are a Republic!

This is what we really are:

Main Entry: re·pub·lic
Pronunciation: ri-'p&-blik
Function: noun
Etymology: French république, from Middle French republique, from Latin respublica, from res thing, wealth + publica, feminine of publicus public -- more at REAL, PUBLIC
1 a (1) : a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president (2) : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government
b (1) : a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law (2) : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government c : a usually specified republican government of a political unit
2 : a body of persons freely engaged in a specified activity
3 : a constituent political and territorial unit of the former nations of Czechoslovakia, the U.S.S.R., or Yugoslavia

President Bush should focus on spreading Republics not Democracies...and it seems Putin is attemping to design a solid Republic, not a Democracy.

2005-02-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

Should we be afraid?

Is Diet Coke Evil?

2005-02-23T13:01:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, a co-worker gave me a lecture on the evil nature of Diet Coke, and how harmful it can be to the kidneys.

She went as far as to steal the bottle of Diet Coke off my desk and not return it till I finished a full glass of water...

I scoffed at the silliness of her antics...until today...when I heard that the brother of a dear friend of mine is in the hospital for possible kidney failure.

Immediately I did a Google search and found this surprising Diet Coke Test. It seems it may not be as harmful as the rumors suggest... But I think I will limit myself to just two Diet Cokes a day... Just in case...

More on UFO's

2005-02-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

The following web site describes the incident where my friend's parents witnessed the UFO in Norfolk Connecticut!

Heres the summary about it...

Date: January, 2, 2005
Location: Norfolk, Connecticut, United States

Summary:
There was a bright shining light above a field which moved about randomly like a humming bird at an altitutde which ranged from just above the field to 100 ft. When seen from the opposite side of the field(180 degrees difference) about 200 yards away, the light appeared exactly the same--ie. it emitted light in all directions. It was the size of a very large star but smaller than a moon.

2005-02-23T11:46:00.000-08:00

Looks pretty damn real to me!

UFO?

2005-02-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

A good "normal" friend of mine...who is the last person to believe in such things...actually believes that his parents witnessed a UFO in their country home in Connecticut. After doing some research with him...we discovered that the sightings his parents saw are frequent among Connecticut dwellers...

All of sudden, a few weeks later look what is heading up the news cycle tomorrow night with Peter Jennings.

Perhaps theres more to this then we want to believe!

Will o'the Wasps

2005-02-23T11:38:00.000-08:00

In another sort of snoozy website, that friends of mine have put together...the Moderatomaster writes...

2.23.2005

GOLDEN Analysis from WSJ!
Wow - As soon as I post that other article, I come across this one in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, almost defiantly (!) quashing my "developing thought" on DVD sales.

Money quote: Indeed, fundamental shifts in how TV companies make money are starting to complicate cancellation decisions _ and small but dedicated groups of viewers are gaining newfound clout. Of course, audience size still matters a lot in prime-time network television. But now other factors are influencing the cancellation decision. DVDs have become such a gold mine _ profit margins reach 50 percent _ that broadcasters are increasingly open to the idea of keeping a ratings-challenged show on the air, especially one with a fanatical core of fans, in order to generate more episodes to sell later on DVD. Other nascent income streams _ on-demand services, and downloadable episodes sold on the Internet like songs _ also are giving consumers more direct power in programming decisions. So forget writing letters, says James Webster, senior associate dean at Northwestern University's School of Communication. "Show networks how wide your wallet opens," he advises.

Note, too, how Family Guy and its ratings/DVD issues are cited as support for keeping Arrested Development on the air! Is it any wonder we've come to love both these shows?

2005-02-23T07:10:00.000-08:00

Would love for this to happen...

Bring on the Olympics for 2012

2005-02-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

February 23, 2005SPORTS OF THE TIMES

New York: Skyscrapers, Olympics, EverythingBy GEORGE VECSEY

WHAT a beautiful city. Lights blinking serenely, highways and rivers flowing, bridges on guard like giant eagles. And playgrounds, playgrounds everywhere.

New York City is already on the map - specifically, the huge permanent Panorama that takes up an entire gallery at the Queens Museum, displaying all 895,000 buildings in the five boroughs.

The organizers of the NYC2012 bid took the Olympic evaluation committee to the Panorama yesterday to demonstrate what this city would look like during a Summer Games - with just a nip here, a tuck there and, oh, by the way, a humongous stadium that would bring Western civilization and a bigger cash flow to the West Side of Manhattan.

Yesterday these very able organizers trotted out fabled athletes like Billie Jean King, Grete Waitz, Bill Bradley, Nadia Comaneci, Bart Connor, Bob Beamon, Janet Evans and Eamonn Coghlan, who all testified that New York would be a grand host in 2012 and an even better playground in the years afterward.

Even with vital needs for more schools, more hospitals, it is hard not to be tantalized by more sports facilities when King tells how her apprenticeship on the public courts of Long Beach, Calif., led directly to her glories at the United States Open in Forest Hills and Flushing Meadows.

It is hard not to feel the international dynamics of the Olympics when Bradley relates how he used his minimal Russian to trash-talk a Soviet player at the 1964 Summer Games, before he became a member of the championship Knicks of melancholy and ancient memory.
It is hard not to be pulled in to the sporting energy of New York when Waitz recalls her first New York marathon, how she plodded through the quiet streets of Queens before crossing the Queensboro Bridge.

"I'm dying," she said, recalling that wall of sound in Manhattan, which made her think, "Are they talking to me?" They were indeed talking to her, urging her to run faster.

King and Bradley agreed that there was something in the New York air - maybe the legendary New York echo, the one that talks back - that makes people run faster, leap higher, think quicker.

Does any of this mean New York needs to be the host of the 2012 Summer Games? The organizers are putting on an impressive dog-and-pony show in New York. Central Park always looks good in snow, but this time it balances out the gaudy and temporary stunt of the bright-orange "Gates."

Not needing gimmicks, New York already has the heady confidence of a city deeply involved in its sports teams. The International Olympic Committee's scouts are inspecting the city, but most New Yorkers care more about whether Jason Giambi and Mike Piazza get their power back.

The evaluation committee was taken out to Queens yesterday morning to visit the National Tennis Center. Despite the snowstorm Sunday night, the parking lots and walkways at the center were dry.

"I had my five kids out there shoveling at 4 in the morning, paid them $1 an hour," said Jay Kriegel, the executive director of NYC2012, who was, perhaps, joking.

The NYC2012 people even organized a sortie to Madison Square Garden, the proposed site of Olympic basketball in 2012. The Garden is run by the Dolan Cablevision people, who are fighting the three-in-one stadium plan, but the visit was gracious on all sides.

Bradley, the former three-term senator from New Jersey, was at the Garden, where he used to push Jack Marin of the Baltimore Bullets and get free for backdoor layups. This time he shot baskets with the evaluation commission. There is apparently no I.O.C. law against that.

The organizers are planning to build pools and whitewater canoe courses and equestrian centers that would theoretically benefit New Yorkers for generations. They make a very good presentation about the lasting value of the Games to any host city. "The I.O.C. does not want white elephants," King said.

To guarantee a lasting impact, the NYC2012 people have organized a Legacy Foundation, which started with a $75 million endowment.

Andrew Kimball, the director of operations for NYC2012, addressed the evaluation committee and said legacy "is a critical issue for them."

The drawback is that this entire bid is hinged upon NYC2012's insistence on building a multipurpose center with a retractable dome that would serve as convention center, indoor arena and Jets football stadium. "In fact, we are creating an entirely new neighborhood in New York City," Kriegel said while overlooking the low-slung railroad yards and warehouses alongside the Hudson River.

The organizers may have painted themselves into a corner by ignoring the prospect of an Olympic stadium on cheaper, more accessible open space in Queens. New York can always use better sports facilities. But this is one city that does not need the Summer Games to put itself on the map.

E-mail: geovec@nytimes.com

2005-02-18T19:30:00.000-08:00

Viva la Cannes Luke...

The Dark Side

2005-02-18T19:24:00.000-08:00

What a difference a year makes...

Last year the Cannes film festival made headlines for John Kerry's daughter revealing dress...and some fat loser otherwise known as Michael Moore, walking away with the top prize for his fakumentary...

But this year...Cannes will have a little bit more significance....as it will be opening the third, and final (until the postquels) episode of Star Wars .

Imagine one of the most prestigous film festivals being invaded by Star Wars addicts dressed up in all sorts of various life forms! This promises to be the movie event of the year...possibly of the century!

Needless to say...as a member of Generation Y (almost X...but I'm really Y)... This will be Lucas's last chance to redeem for his two previous bogus, money grabbing, not quite the real thing...Star Wars prequels.

I can't wait!

2005-02-18T15:38:00.000-08:00

Finally!

Spring Fever alive during Cold Tempest!

2005-02-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

The temperature outside is dropping faster then Ted Kennedy can down a Martini...

But what has added warmth today is this e-mail I recieved from my Commish of my Fantasy Baseball League:

Ok, after many debates and a ridiculous number of
e-mails, we have results to (almost) everything.

Here we go:
(1) Website will be Yahoo
(2) Draft location is Alex's house
(3) Scoring will be 5x5
(4) 2 keepers; full suplemental draft prior to normal
draft
(5) 3 new people voted in: Brian, Chris and Nick
(6) Therefore, an 11 person league

The only issue left is draft time. So far, no one has complained about the Friday. Please e-mail back ASAP if that is going to be a problem. Otherwise, we are a go for Friday night, March 18th.

I'll set up the league on Yahoo and send out all of
that information.

-Commish

OH HOW SWEET THE SPRING WILL BE!

2005-02-18T13:34:00.000-08:00

A Jack of all trades...

HOP - o - crite?

2005-02-18T13:27:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine who works at the New York District Attorney's office pointed out that when Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings criticized the Postcards from Buster PBS show for its "non traditional" family episode...she may not have been in the best position to be critical...

Turns out Secretary Spellings herself is a single mother of two children, and is divorced. Does this in of itself provide the best enviorment to raise two children?

Conservatives advance are great theories, but they can be difficult to apply practically.

As a conservative myself, I find I walk into many of the same traps that our own Secretary of Education seemingly did the other day...

2005-02-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

Will the USS Kennedy tear apart this brotherly love?

Defense Budget

2005-02-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

I recently asked a friend to write a blurb about the possibility of China being the next world super power (possibly a hyper power) with in the next century. Not even the US would be able to stop China's march to the top of the food chain in the world of Nations...

Already we are starting to see Bush's defense budget reflect concerns over an increasingly more powerful China. This is defiantly a story we should stay in tune with.

In other budgetary news concerning defense...this one shows that Bush's efforts to possibly decommission the USS John F. Kennedy could pit President Bush against his own brother, Governor Jeb Bush. Nothing like a classic family feud.

It may be inevitable however that the age of the great Carriers is becoming the past, and no longer the present... Does this mean that Jimmy Carter and his sub will reward from the new military age we are entering with the Navy?

2005-02-18T08:38:00.000-08:00

The Cup and its splendor...

What of Lord Stanley and his cup?

2005-02-18T08:36:00.000-08:00

This op-ed piece about Lord Stanley and his Cup should be carefully considered. I would be all for awarding the Cup to the AHL if it were possible. This would certainly drive up the ratings for the Hockey minor league, and fans would welcome this as the perfect solution to a ruined NHL season.

CPAC

2005-02-17T19:23:00.000-08:00

Half of my office is out this week...traveling to DC to visit the CPAC convention in Washington DC.

Over the past two years I have attended and it has always been a wonderful time. Last year I was able to sit in the front row and watch Vice President Cheney speak. Two years ago I was able to ask a question of Marc Racicot, the then RNC Chairman.

My co-worker Karol Sheinin is blogging live from the event and has even managed to squeeze in a few radio appearances!

CPAC offers a fantastic oppurtunity for conservatives to get together in a setting beyond the borders of the liberal world...where they can feel free to express and exchange ideas, and rebolden themselves for the battle of ideas in the real world.

I want to be a White House reporter!

2005-02-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

Having supper with a close friend this evening really helped me catch up on some of the news I have been missing while out with the flu...

This story concerning Jeff Gannon is classic! It makes Maureen Dowd's op-ed piece today so much more profound...

2005-02-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (IWR News Parody) - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist today went berserk and attacked the muppet Elmo with his bowie knife at the launch of the Sesame Project in the nation's capital. Mr. Frist was quickly wrestled to the ground and disarmed by a group of third graders. Later a clearly medicated Senator Frist told reporters that he was sorry for the trouble that he caused. He also explained the reason for the attack was that he had confused Elmo with a big red tomcat that has been stalking the senator since his medical internship days .

If C is for Cookie, the M is for money and R is for Ratings...

2005-02-17T10:33:00.000-08:00

February 17, 2005
Conservatives and Rivals Press a Struggling PBS

By JOHN TIERNEY and JACQUES STEINBERG

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 - It was no accident that PBS found itself turning to Elmo, the popular "Sesame Street" character, to lobby on Capitol Hill this week. There were not many options.
Public television is suffering from an identity crisis, executives inside the Public Broadcasting Service and outsiders say, and it goes far deeper than the announcement by Pat Mitchell that she would step down next year as the beleaguered network's president.

Some public television executives said that running PBS was a thankless job, and that managing a far-flung network composed of independent fiefs around the country was a particularly daunting assignment. They also said they were facing larger issues that would challenge any executive, like increased competition from the cable industry.

Corporate underwriters have been less willing to finance PBS programs, which has left the network increasingly dependent on Washington, where Republicans criticize its programming as elitist and liberal.

The network has also struggled to develop popular new shows.
"The biggest problem we've got is the structure we've got," Alberto Ibarguen, the chairman of PBS and the publisher of The Miami Herald, said in an interview yesterday. "It assumes a lot of government funding, continuing heavy levels of corporate image advertising and no competition. But in the world we're in - the world of increased cable competition, less and less government funding and cutbacks in corporate image advertising - it's a significant problem if that's your business model."

Mr. Ibarguen added: "The risk is the tighter your budgets get, the less you can afford to fail. If you can't afford to fail, you can't afford to take risks."
Among the challenges that Ms. Mitchell has confronted is a trend, lasting nearly a decade, in which corporations have scaled back on the so-called "image advertising" through which they had once financed programs like "Masterpiece Theater." According to PBS's financial statements, revenues drawn from program underwriting - which are paid directly to producers, but catalogued by PBS - reached a five-year peak of $221.9 million in 2001, dropped to $179.4 million in 2003, and rebounded slightly to $184.3 million last year.

PBS hopes to relieve some of the pressure by creating a huge endowment from the proceeds of reselling the spectrum used by its stations when they trade their current broadcast positions for new high-definition stations later in the decade. But that will take persuading the same Congressional and administration officials who have objected to its programming.
Conservatives have complained about Bill Moyers's news program (he has since retired from it) and about a recent children's program featuring a rabbit named Buster who visited a pair of lesbian parents.

After Education Secretary Margaret Spellings threatened to retract financing for that program - a controversy that some called Bustergate - Ms. Mitchell decided not to distribute it.
In an interview on Wednesday, Ms. Mitchell, 62, said she had felt no pressure, either from inside her board or outside of PBS, to step aside.

She also said she had not been personally pressured to change programming by Republicans at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides federal money to the system. But she said her programmers had worked with their counterparts at the corporation, which is led by White House appointees, in developing several new shows, including a talk show for the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.

"They certainly want to make sure we are providing a balanced schedule," she said. "We believe we are. We check that with the people we report to - our member stations and the American public."

One high-level executive at PBS headquarters in Washington, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation for PBS, said new managers at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting had been concerned about a perceived liberal bias at PBS as well as difficulties in fund-raising.

"The thing to remember with public broadcasting is that everything is steered by the money," the executive said. "What used to be a unique thing is now in this competitive environment and has to do whatever it can to survive, which means bending in a way it used to never bend."
Now that 85 percent of Americans subscribe to cable or satellite television, PBS's children shows, historical dramas and wildlife documentaries face competitors like the History Channel, Discovery, A & E, the National Geographic Channel, BBC America, Nickelodeon, and The Learning Channel. PBS has responded by forging new alliances, like a recent agreement to show HBO films.

Ms. Mitchell, who was interviewed between lobbying meetings, said she would devote the rest of her tenure to raising money. Officials at PBS and its affiliated stations are beginning to lobby for a share of the windfall the federal government may get later this decade when public television stations and other over-the-air broadcasters stop using the airwaves to transmit analog signals, relying instead on digital signals over cable and satellite systems.

Once the broadcasters' part of the spectrum is open, the federal government stands to collect tens of billions of dollars by reselling it to other users like wireless broadband companies. Lobbyists for public television stations are supporting legislation that would put some of the money in a trust fund for public television.

Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat sponsoring the legislation along with Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, has called for the trust fund to be administered by an independent agency following the sort of procedures used by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Some critics, like Tim Graham of the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group, are reluctant to give PBS any independent endowment.

"They want to create an empire that does not have to answer to the Congress or the people," Mr. Graham said. "Conservatives do not want to give more tax dollars to television stations that attack their ideas."

But there are some sympathetic conservatives, at least among the advisers on the Digital Future Initiative committee created by Ms. Mitchell, which met Wednesday in Washington to contemplate how PBS could put a trust fund to use. Norman Orenstein, a committee member who also sits on the PBS board, said Republicans on the committee believed that a trust fund could pay for socially useful programming.

"We're focusing on education and children and making the case that public broadcasting can do valuable things in a digital age that no one else can or will do," said Mr. Orenstein, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research group. But he did not expect the money to come easily.

"You couldn't have a tougher budget environment," Mr. Orenstein said, "and you're going to have vicious scrambling over discretionary domestic spending." Referring to the recent programming incident, he said, "The timing couldn't have been worse on the Buster thing. This is not a time you want to be in the cross hairs."

PBS is also being criticized by others, like Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy and a longtime advocate of more money for public television.
"I'm concerned that PBS is so desperate for funding and support from the Republican-dominated Congress that they're willing to sell their legacy," Mr. Chester said. "They could forgo their historic mandate to do cutting-edge programming and replace it with Bush administration-friendly educational content."

John Tierney reported from Washington for this article, and Jacques Steinberg from New York.

Negroponte

2005-02-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

President Bush made an excellent choice in selecting John Negroponte to be our Intelligence chief.

Ambassador Negroponte, when our representative to the UN, was the best Ambassador since perhaps Adlai Stevenson in the Kennedy administration to fill that role.

I am dubious however of the idea of an Intelligence chief. It is going to be hell for Negroponte...and the likes of Porter at the CIA, Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, and Mueller over at the FBI will be giving plenty of it to him...

Anyone however who can deal with both the whackos of the United Nation, and survive a period of time in Iraq, may just be qualified to have the toughest new job to come out of Washington DC in years...

Spring is in the air...

2005-02-17T09:50:00.000-08:00

Its that time of year again...

For the 7th consecutive year my buddies and I will be playing fantasty baseball...

Here is a not so snoozy blog getting ready for the big war to come this spring and summer...

http://games.espn.go.com/cgi/flb/frontpage

2005-02-17T09:13:00.000-08:00

This is from our event that Political Capital ran last week...Father Rutler is confering with William F. Buckley

2005-02-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

Packing it up...

No Hockey League

2005-02-17T07:52:00.000-08:00

This blog has been going the way of an extinct species for the past week and a half... my last posting from a week ago stated "I'm back"...might as well have said "I'm here but not really..."

I came down with the great flu, that was even a subject of the Presidential debates back in the fall. Never a good thing...I have suffered through days of chicken noodle soup, ginger ale, and plenty of restless sleep.

In my first day back I will attempt to add something new, some insight to whatever is on the top of my mind, to fill some sort of groove again with this blog.

And alas, yesterday, in my TV and Radio surfing...the news of the day was not Syria's occupation of Lebanon, or the CBS News standoff...but it was the sad, irreversible news...that there will be no professional hockey this year in North America.

Why is this a big deal?

It should really be no big deal. Its about as big a deal as the WNBA being cancelled...no one would really miss either leagues.

ESPN this year has doubled its ratings in the time slots where hockey would regularly be shown...

Sponsors of the NHL have all but given up paying anything to the NHL.

Fans have expressed little passion towards the lockout...nothing compared to the outrage shown during the 1994 MLB strike.

Yet I believe this should be considered a big deal...

9/11 had an affect on New York City in two ways...a personal loss...which can only apply to those who knew people that died...and then there a feeling of violation...something that was taken away, that never should have been taken away.

I fall into the second category. Two weeks after 9/11 I drove up from DC back home to New York for the first time since that horrible day. Seeing the new skyline, and robbed of the normalcy of those twin towers left a visible scar on the normalcy of the New York City skyline. We will never have that sight back...and it was taken away by a human act, that should never have been allowed to occur.

In all my sports life, there has been the Knicks, the Giants, the Mets...and the Rangers...

And now that four is about to become three. There has always been four major sports for the past fifty years at least. Anyone below the age of forty has always had it in their life...

Hockey, should it return next year, will be a shadow of its former self...a minor league...

No longer will we live in a four sport country...it is now three...

That is a tragedy...a normalcy that will no longer be normal....

Rooting for the Rangers in the future will be like rooting for the New York Saints (the local professional lacrosse team) or the New York Metrostars (the local soccer team)...it won't be the same...it won't have the same meaning...there will be no passion....the passion I feel for the Mets, Giants, and the Knicks...will no longer exist.

How sad...

I'm back...

2005-02-10T07:09:00.000-08:00

“It's like my father used to say... when I was a child, I thought as a child and spoke as a child... and when I became a man, I took that child out back and had him shot.” – Newsradio…

"No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison.
We two alone will sing like birds i' th' cage.
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down
And ask of thee forgiveness.
So we'll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too-
Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out-
And take upon 's the mystery of things,
As if we were God's spies; and we'll wear out,
In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones
That ebb and flow by th' moon." -Shakespeare, King Lear, Act V

This past week has been the most stressful week I have ever experienced in a life time. It culminated in a succesful dinner for Father George W. Rutler of the Church of Our Saviour.

The event was a success. William F. Buckley wished Father Rutler happy birthday, surprising the great Priest. The Pierre ball room was filled to the brink with the who's who of New York... Peter Flanigan, Rich Lowry, former Governor Hugh Carey, Cardinal Dulles, Father Richard Neuhaus, Dr. Joseph & Ann English (had too), Wellington & Ann Mara, James Taranto, Joel Mowbray, Robert George, William Plunkett, Liz Stribling, Rita Cosby...including letters from President H.W. Bush, and Cardinal Egan.

Leading up to this dinner, was the stress of preparation, fundraising, logisitics, office strife. Long hours, sleepless nights...self doubts, lack of vision, loss of will...stress...white hair...

But in the end it all pulled together.

Why am I telling you all this?

It was my awakening to adulthood. This dinner was only passing, but all that leads up to it, and all that will follows is life. Events significant...but its how one acts, how one dedicates themself...and how one faces challenges in the face of adversity that will determine the make up of a person.

This dinner was my battle...I survived, and I'm ready to move onward. For now...I pray to sleep...sleeping has been but a dream of late, my hope is to dream again in sleep of the future things to come.

And to one day hide away into my own prison of memories...ala King Lear.

On Hold...

2005-02-07T05:50:00.000-08:00

Readers please be warned I cannot update this blog till after Tuesday. Work is the reason! Please stayed tuned though for great updates starting Wednesday.

Hats off to the Pats though last night...

And, did anyone see American Dad? Thoughts?

Our National Anthem (Is it really worth it?)

2005-02-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Oh say can you say shes hot?...

Okay so I've been really busy these past few days... So I am going to post this article and let you all sumise amongst yourselves...

Singing the blues

Years of timing anthem has me asking why some insist on dragging it out

Updated: Thursday February 26, 2004 10:03PM

While, snug in their clubroom,
They jovially twine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bachus' Vine.

Does it mean anything to you, this verse? Well, it's obviously about a clubby set indulging, if you cut through the classical references, in the combined pleasures of fornicating and drinking.

This was the chorus of one of six verses of the club's song, the club being the Anacreon Society, which flourished among young Londoners toward the end of the 18th Century. The melody might be familiar to you if you substitute for the words above, the following:

O Say does that Star-SpangledBanner yet waveOer the land of the free,And the home of the brave.

That's right, the song is To Anacreon in Heav'n, a paean to indulgence, and the chaps singing it were just the young Britons who, if the mood seized them, would buy a commission and venture across the seas to command a brigade or a battalion against General Washington's Colonial Army in revolt. And that is the tune that is the basis for our National Anthem. Ironic, huh? Our most cherished song a clubroom ditty for young blades from a nation at war with us.

I think I've mentioned before that I time the national anthem before every football game. And every other sporting event. Actually, I time it every time I hear it. If you ask me why, then you'll be like some other people in the press box who have annoyed me through the years with that question. It's so obvious that I don't feel compelled to give them any answer at all, much less a sensible one.

"Say, why do you do that?"

"I do it because I do it, that's why I do it."

"What are you, nuts or something?" a fellow reporter remarked not too long ago. That's right,

"Or something." That sums me up perfectly. I'm an Or Something. Which might explain why not too many people want to sit next to me in the press box. Which is fine with me. But I'm getting carried away.

The tempo of To Anacreon in Heav'n is not geared to the rhythm of marching feet. It's in waltz time, actually 6/4, which is like a speeded-up version of the old one-two-three, one-two-three, 3/4 waltz time. The melody is slightly different from our national anthem, as well. The first three notes, "O-ohh say," instead of being in G-E-C descending order, remain in place at C-C-C, giving it a kind rapid fire launching into the song.

Which adds a kind of rakish charm to the thing. I like this tune better than the way the Star Spangled Banner begins. I searched for the song on the Web and when I finally found the original version, it came on in a kind of hokey, root-a-toot fashion, I put a stopwatch on it, and it timed out in 43.4 seconds. In 50 years of timing the national anthem at sporting events I have never clocked one anywhere near that speed.

But that's the way the song was designed to be sung. It was a ditty, for goodness sake, not the two-minute drill they've turned it into now.

Well, actually I have to take back that claim about never catching one that fast. Remember in the movie, Tora! Tora! Tora! about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when a shipboard ceremony is taking place, and the bombers are approaching and the band members blitz the national anthem so they can get the hell off the deck in a hurry? I clocked that one at 38 seconds, but it gets an asterik, and it also took place at a non-sporting event.

Slow, slow, slooooowwwww national anthems are not correct national anthems. They are personal statements, insults to the song, which, let's face it, is not the greatest thing, musically (Battle Hymn of the Republic, for instance, puts it away), but is all we've got. I make it a point to try to congratulate fast singers of the song, or fast instrumentalists.

How fast can it be sung? Well, my daughter, when she was 12, bet me that she could sing it in under 30 seconds, and I'd still be able to understand all the words. I took the bet, not so much to win but to hear her do it. She came in at 22 seconds, every word clear as a bell. See, it can be done. Try it yourself.

For years, the fastest rendition I regularly clocked was that of the Princeton band. Always around 53 seconds. Then in 1977 I covered a Yankees-Red Sox series at Fenway. The organist was an older man named John Kiley who'd been playing the anthem at Red Sox games for years. The first night he hit the turn ("And the rocket's red glare") in 23 seconds. "Oh my God," I said to myself. "He's on a record pace."

When he reached Heartbreak Hill ("Oh say does that Star Spangled banner yet wave...") he looked like he was going to break five-oh, but the Hill got him, as it does all of them. He staggered in, and held the last note for a couple of counts, but the watch still read 55 seconds. Gosh, if he picked it up at the Hill and got off the last note ... well, I had to talk to him about it.
So I entered the booth, and he was a nice old guy, and when I told him what was possible he said he'd have to think it over. "Some people complain that I do it too fast anyway," he said.

Next night the press box was poised. Everyone who owned a stopwatch had it out. John came through. He took the Hill at a gallop and gunned it at the end, and when he cut off the last note, the readout was 51.0. A big cheer went up among the writers, and I dashed into the organist's booth to congratulate him.

"Mr. Kiley," I said, so choked with emotion I could barely speak. "This is a very big moment for me."

"Well, son," he said, "I must admit I was thinking of you."

No instrumental nor band rendition ever has beaten Kiley's time. Vocals are another matter, because ego figures in here. I'm still waiting for my first sub-one-minute vocal. I guarantee that if someone posted one, it would generate plenty of cheers because the song would gain immeasurable power. I used to love to cover Canadiens games up in Montreal if only to hear Roger Doucet, that legendary little barrel-chested Frenchman with the white hair, belt out O Canada in French. Brought the house down. I mean, people would cry when he finished that song. And it never ran longer than 47 or 48 seconds. Right, I know, different anthem and all that, but the punch is gone when you have to listen to anything too long.

The fastest singer I've ever heard was an operatic chap named Sam Hagen (I think he was a basso but I'm not sure) who turned in a 1:03.4 before a 1977 Rams-Falcons game in Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium. And he hit the turn in 27.5 seconds, which had me dreaming of a sub-one-minute job, but he died on the Hill.

A few years later I was at a Bears game in Soldier Field and I got to the press box around three
hours before kickoff. Some woman was rehearsing the national anthem on the field. No, I don't remember her name offhand, and I'm not going to go look it up because this is a depressing story. She was doing 1:05 practice runs without breaking a sweat. I got down to the field in a hurry.

"Look," I told her, "Just pick it up a little at the turn and don't hold any notes at the end and you can break one minute. It would be a record. I've never seen it done." Foolish idiot that I was, I didn't see Bears' owner Mike McCaskey lurking nearby. He heard everything.

"Never mind about any records," he told her. "You sing the national anthem the way it's supposed to be sung." So she came in at 1:05. In the press box I smacked myself in the head so hard that people jumped at the sound.

New York Metropolitan Opera baritone Robert Merrill has been a fixture at Yankee Games in the Stadium for years. He regularly clocked in at 1:10-1:12, nothing exciting either way. It would be exceedingly quick for a rock star, since they drag the song out to ungodly lengths, but about average for an operatic voice, since the serious singers are more concerned with musical correctness than ego. Then I covered a World Series game in 1981 and on opening night he came in at 1:17.8.

I saw him after the game in the press lounge, having a drink.

"Going Hollywood because it's the World Series, huh?" I said in my tactful way.

"Waddya mean?"

"Well, you came in almost at 1:18 and you're a regular 1:10-1:12." The guy went bonkers on me.

"Like you really know about singing, right? Like you really know anything about music?" And on and on. I just shrugged, but next night, once again, the guys had their watches out in the press box. He clocked 1:07-flat.

Five minutes later he came into the press box. "What was I?" he asked me. I told him 1:07.

"Awriiiight!" he yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

The longest one I ever clocked was Leola Giles -- 2:34.8 at an Oakland Raiders game. People were groaning. I think some fans passed out while the song was going on. It was an awful, awful thing to listen to.

Once, in a New York Knicks locker room I heard Walt Frazier telling someone about the great national anthem he heard Aretha Franklin sing. He said it lasted four minutes. I immediately jumped into the conversation.

"No national anthem in history ever lasted four minutes,"I told him. "The fans wouldn't let it happen. It would be so weird that they'd hoot it off the stage before it was finished."

"Four minutes, man," he said. "I heard it."

"Yeah, but you didn't time it," I said, realizing how ridiculous that sounded, but so did his four-minute thing sound ridiculous, at least to me. Just try dragging it out for four minutes and see what you've got.

The famous Whitney Houston national anthem at the Giants-Bills Super Bowl in Tampa -- the one everybody talked about, because it was so stirring -- clocked out at 1:41.4, a little long for a popular entertainer but nothing exciting. In this last Super Bowl, I got Beyonce Knowles at 2:01.7 That was at the game, live.

But when I shut down my stopwatch, one guy sitting behind me said, "Look, her mouth is still open." Damned if he wasn't right. She was holding the final note. And holding it. And I blew it.
When I got home I prayed that I'd set my tape machine early, to catch the national anthem. I had, thank God. Her real time was 2:09.7, a long, long Super Bowl national anthem. She had held the last note for a full eight seconds. Some people think this kind of stuff is just great. Personally, I can't stand it. Give me that nice 43-second To Anacreon in Heav'n, without all that mooing and hooing and "Oh-oh-0h-oh say-ay-ay-ay?"

But I guess most people don't agree with me, at least the ones who think I'm nuts. "Or something."

Sports Illustrated senior writer Paul Zimmerman covers the NFL for the magazine and SI.com. His Power Rankings, "Inside Football" column and Mailbag appear weekly on SI.com.

The Church of Our Saviour

2005-02-04T06:52:00.000-08:00

Next Tuesday, my firm Political Capital, will be holding a party for Father Rutler, and the Church of Our Saviour's Golden Anniversary. The following is an article from today's New York Sun detailing the event, and the Church.

This Priest's Light Is Always On
BY ALICIA COLONFebruary 4, 2005
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/8728

The priest with the familiar face reached behind the center door of the ornate confessional to get his nameplate, which he then placed into a slot above that door. It read Fr. Rutler. He then unlocked the side compartment and left that door ajar. After he re-entered the confessional, a light went on in his compartment and a green light was switched on above the side compartment, inviting all to the sacrament of Reconciliation, or what used to be known simply as
Penance. I wondered if the congregation waiting for the 1:05 mass to begin knew that the priest waiting to absolve them of their sins, or simply to listen to them, has a towering reputation as an intellect and learned theologian.

George William Rutler is the pastor of the Church of Our Saviour, which was once viewed as the white elephant of Park Avenue. It had great debts, poor attendance, and unpaid bills, but then, shortly after September 11, Cardinal Egan assigned Father Rutler as its pastor. The Dartmouth graduate, author, personality on EWTN (the Catholic cable network), and former Episcopalian priest had big plans for rescuing the parish, and in just a few years, he has managed to transform it into a vibrant center of Catholicism that's attracting many young parishioners.
A true renaissance man, Father Rutler, who is also a composer, writer, and artist, commissioned two artists to create a stunning 24-foot Christos Pantokrator on the wall behind the altar. This is an image of Christ in a typical iconic pose, and there is no way to describe its impact in a short column. It must be seen to be appreciated. Father Rutler's dream is to turn his parish into an art center. "New York has so many talented young people trained in the fine arts, and yet there's no place to showcase their work," he said.

On Tuesday, a black-tie, black-and-white-attire-only event is scheduled to celebrate the golden anniversary of the Romanesque-style church, which was chartered in 1955 and was, Father Rutler believes, the last Catholic church building constructed in the city. While the Church of Our Saviour is a comparatively small church, it is now quite a jewel box, and, judging from the dinner guests expected to attend the affair at the Pierre Hotel, Father Rutler has friends in very high places who probably helped make that transformation happen.

I'm rather grateful for the black-and-white theme, which means I can wear the standard black uniform I keep handy for formal affairs. While it will be fun to hobnob with such stellar citizens as William and Pat Buckley, Avery Cardinal Dulles, Governor Carey, Mr. and Mrs. Wellington Mara, Margo and John Catsimatidis, and scores of other VIPs, the best selling point of the affair is that, Father Rutler has assured me, there will be no speeches.

Father Rutler's parish is where President Bush attended an ecumenical prayer service before he went on to the convention last summer. Father Rutler said his parish was selected because its location, at 38th Street and Park Avenue, is not far from the convention hall. He also has had a longtime relationship with the Bush family, and in 1996, then-Governor Bush named the New York priest an honorary Texan.

I couldn't resist asking Father Rutler about the president. "It's not an act," he told me. "He always prays before an important speech." Father Rutler told me of a striking incident that I believe demonstrates the president's humility. Father Rutler had worked with Mother Teresa for a dozen years in Rome and here in New York, and the president has expressed great interest in her and her work. During Mr. Bush's visit here, Father Rutler offered the president a prayer card that Mother Teresa had given him, but the president declined the memorable gift, saying, "I'm not worthy."

Father Rutler also commented that, at the ecumenical service, the new secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, also appeared to be a genuinely spiritual person.
When I asked Father Rutler why he converted to Catholicism, he answered: "I get asked that question a lot, so now I just tell them, 'It's the dental plan.' " He continued in a humorous vein, saying, "Over the years, I determined that Henry VIII had made a terrible mistake."

Someone who knows Father Rutler rather well told me that this priest knows everybody and is good at everything he does. That may be, but I was most impressed by the simple parish priest who waited to hear the confession of anyone who entered the compartment with the inviting green light overhead. He definitely has his priorities straight.

Eagles 24, Patriots 17

2005-02-04T06:20:00.000-08:00

Almost here...

Before the playoffs began, I joined a football pool with the DA office in Manhattan. I picked the Eagles to win the Super Bowl against the Steelers. I still believe the outcome will be the same, just that the team with the losing score will be the Patriots, not the Steelers.

Its been 44 years since the Eagles last won a Championship. Its been sixty years since during WWII the Eagles were such a desperate team to find players, they had to form a team together with the Steelers, name the "Steagles".

However, this year, they will finally get their 'just' reward.

The Patriots are the odds on favorite to win this game. And why shouldn't they be? They are on the cusp of being considered a dynasty. Quarterback Tom Brady at the age of 27 could be come the youngest player in history to collect three championships... And they're coaching staff is one of the best in recent memory, with both coordinators destined for head coaching positions next season.

However, the Patriots secondary, which has largely been responsible for some of their great wins over the past years...is riddled with injuries. Ty Law will be out, and they are starting players who have barely been with the team for more then a month.

Look for the Eagles to exploit this with Terrell Owens. The Eagles would not allow him to start if he could not be affective. This will not be the equivalent to Willis Reed coming out to play for two baskets with the NY Knicks in 1969, and then sitting on the bench for the rest of the game. Owens will play the whole game...and the Patriots will do everything to hurt him, or take him out.

But in doing so, they will have to double team Owens, creating a whole slew of match up problems. With the need of focusing on Owens, this will free up Brian Westbrook out of the backfield, and Fred Mitchell to make plays against a battered secondary.

McNabb is not a running quarterback (though can be when he must) but instead he will pick apart the Pats defense. And the Eagles offensive line will be able to give him enough time to complete precise passes.

When the Patriots have the ball, they will be difficult to defend. But the Eagles have one of the best secondaries in the league...and they are healthy.

They also contained the running game of the Atlanta Falcons. The Eagles should be able to line up enough people in their front six (or seven) to contain Dillion...and at the same time disrupt Brady's game.

Charlie Weiss, the offensive genious of the Pats will be able to exploit the Eagles, but will not enough to out score the Eagles...

The Eagles will put out of this game as the victor. Although expect this to be a great game. Very similar perhaps to the back and forth game between the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos back in 1998.

Eye Witness in Iraq

2005-02-03T17:41:00.000-08:00

This letter was sent to me from my Father...an associate in his hospital has a family member serving in the Marines, stationed in Iraq...

Greetings all,

The elections here in Fallujah went very & it was an incredible event to bepart of. Many people voted for the 1st time in their lives & many othersvoted with a choice. We had almost 1/2 the voters from the entire Al-Anbarprovince cast their vote in Fallujah. About 5% were women.

My Marines supported the elections workers -- hired & trained them. Anotherteam leader was featured on Nightline, you may have seen him.Currently, my teams are working with the local government, Iraqi securityforces & the municipalities to continue to restore the city.

We seeprogress everyday. Thye terrorists here are on the run & we have uncoveredabout 5 weapons for every person who lived here, higher ratio then even inTexas.

Also, many bomb making factories & rocket caches.I am working my turnover plan with incoming CA detachment, which I hope tohave complete by March 1 for redeployment by March 15. That gives us sometime to clean the sand from everything & rest.

Attached is picture of my Terp Bob from Baghdad & me at one of the pollingsites in Fallujah.

Love to all,
Len

2005-02-03T06:51:00.000-08:00

No denying that she is good looking...

Cheesy Request...

2005-02-03T06:48:00.000-08:00

I received this today in an e-mail from an friend who will remain nameless...

...any of my blogger friends want to include a posting noting that Maura Tierney turns 40 today. 40!! (She was in kind of a presidential movie, Welcome to Mooseport, with Gene Hackman as the commander-in-chief, if snoozypolitics needs a reason to pay attention...)

My Boss on the Big Idea (Her voice is the second female voice)

2005-02-03T00:19:00.000-08:00

"End of Tyranny in our world" - President George W. Bush

2005-02-02T23:23:00.000-08:00

The Transcript of the State of the Union from President George W. Bush.

Tears hugged with freedom...

2005-02-02T23:20:00.000-08:00

The hug between Safia from Iraq, and the Mother of the lost Marine....wow........sublime

Safia and Laura Bush

2005-02-02T22:54:00.000-08:00

I love Safia, the Iraqi representative in the hall during the SOTU....but I love Laura Bush even more.

First Lady Laura Bush must be the only first lady to get hotter as the years go by while she's been in the White House! Way to go Dubya!

Purple finger pointing

2005-02-02T22:50:00.000-08:00

You gotta love the Congressman waving their purple dipped fingers in the air during Bush's speech!

What is he chewing?

2005-02-02T22:47:00.000-08:00

At 9:45 PM during the State of the Union, Vice President Cheney reached into his pocket and placed gum into his mouth. Could he not wait till the end of the speech? Its sort of awkward watching him slowly chew while Bush is speaking...

Is it one of those heart pills? I hope he is okay...yeesh...

2005-02-02T22:14:00.000-08:00

Another great speech in the making!

2005-02-02T22:12:00.000-08:00

Bravo!

Early Highlights of the Speech!

2005-02-02T21:57:00.001-08:00

(From CNN)

"Over the next several months, on issue after issue, let us do what Americans have always done and build a better world for our children and grandchildren," Bush will say, according to excerpts of the speech released in advance.

"Fixing Social Security permanently will require an open, candid review of the options," Bush will say. "I will work with members of Congress to find the most effective combination of reforms."
In his speech, Bush will refer to Social Security as "one of America's most important institutions -- a symbol of trust between generations."

The president will also address the war in Iraq, saying that "our generational commitment to the advance of freedom, especially in the Middle East, is now being tested and honored in Iraq."

"We will succeed because the Iraqi people value their own liberty, as they showed the world last Sunday," Bush will say. "We are standing for the freedom of our Iraqi friends, and freedom in Iraq will make America safer for generations to come."

Bush will also tell Americans that "the new political situation in Iraq opens a new phase of our work in that country."

"We will increasingly focus our efforts on helping prepare more capable Iraqi security forces -- forces with skilled officers and an effective command structure."

"In the long term, the peace we seek will only be achieved by eliminating the conditions that feed radicalism and ideologies of murder," he will say. "The only force powerful enough to stop the rise of tyranny and terror, and replace hatred with hope, is the force of human freedom."

"What President Bush will argue tonight is we have an obligation -- this generation of leaders has an obligation -- to come together and focus on the next generation, who need to retire with more security than the current system can offer," Bartlett said.

He said the Social Security trust fund -- built up since the 1980s to prepare for the retirement of baby boomers -- will start paying out more in benefits than it takes in by 2018.

"There will be a lot of words used -- crisis, problem," Bartlett said. "What President Bush will do is show that the math speaks for itself."