The real problem is protecting pedophiles in policy and law

In recent years, sexual deviants have been running ruses to protect their own at the expense of the children, and this is a troubling story in our education system, especially when deviants have written policies making "sexual orientation," "sexual preference," or any other form of sexual deviancy a protected class. Such policies can be used to force schools to hire pedophiles, and in the Obama Administration, we've seen Shepard-Byrd and the law that replaced the armed forces with a Department of Social Engineering, Special Rights Division.

We have seen states redefine marriage or enforce "civil union" laws that redefine marriage to the requests of activists, and punishment against churches, which can no longer offer foster children as laws give sexual deviants special protections in violation of the Bible in such states.

The real tragedy in the Penn State case is the push for protection of sexual deviancy by installing such protection of sexual deviants in nondiscrimination clauses, Shepard-Byrd, and the DSE/SRD is that child molesters and pedophiles can hide under such "sexual orientation" or "sexual preference" protections by educational institutions, corporatiosn, and governments. And that is the real problem we face today -- the sexual deviants' agenda has created an atmosphere that is pedophile-friendly, and unfriendly to its victims. For these deviants violate standards in the Bible.

For further research, see the following verses of the Bible: Romans 1:26-32, Leviticus 18:22-30, Leviticus 20:13, 1 Corinthinians 6, and Jude 7-9. ◙

Just Asking

There's no doubt that the situation at Penn State is a horrible one. And yet -

I can't help but wonder whether the same people who continue to decry the abuse of "the most defenseless in our society" show the same concern about the kids who are still in the womb?

Or the elderly?

Or the terminally ill?

Not accusing - just asking. ◙

Opera Wednesday

Aweek ago Saturday the Met broadcast Mozart's Don Giovanni, a spectacular production with Mariusz Kwiecien in the title role.

Don Giovanni is a terrific opera to be sure, but it's not one of Mozart's best, and I think part of that is due to what, in my humble opinion, is a rare mistake in judgement by the great Wolfgang. It comes in the final scene, where the wicked Don is dragged off to hell by the ghost of the Commendatore, whom Giovanni murdered earlier in the opera.

This is a tremendous scene, building to a resounding climax, and it should be the end of the opera. But no - for some reason, Mozart sees fit to stick in a final ensemble in which various characters whom Giovanni has wronged come together to pronounce their final judgement on him. It's a totally unnecessary coda - the music builds to its natural climax in the death scene, the audience is ready to applaud, the lights dim, what more could anyone ask for? We get what the moral of the story is, we don't need to have it pounded into our heads.

In the past, many conductors would leave this last scene out altogether, understanding that the dramatic flow of the opera demands that it conclude with the Commendatore scene. Unfortunately, the opera is rarely performed that way today - directors who seemingly have no problem cutting, moving and bastardizing other productions apparently freeze up when it comes to one simple little cut in Don Giovanni. Oh well. (Although, thankfully, there are exceptions.)

Be that as it may, it's still a terrific opera. But if you want an idea of how it should end, here's a televised performance of that scene, with Tadeo Giorgio as the Don. Now tell me: after seeing this, need anything more be said? ◙

Joe Frazier, R.I.P.

One of the problems with growing old is that the icons of your youth grow old as well, and die, and every time it happens a piece of your youth dies as well, and in the end it reminds you - all of us - of our own mortality.

"The Fight of the Century," as it was called, was one of the seminal sporting events of my young life. It was March 8, 1971, and I was ten years old. It was Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali, and boxing was only part of what it was all about.

It's difficult to explain it to someone who wasn't alive at the time or (in the case of my wife) wasn't into sports, what an event it was. In my 5th grade class we discussed it animatedly, all of us aware of how high the stakes really were. I ran across this description from Yahoo! Sports, and I think it summarizes the atmosphere about as much as anything can:

The occasion itself transcended sports. The buildup to the fight was a cultural phenomenon, splitting America (beyond those who were already fans of either fighter) into two factions: the pro-establishment, pro-war camp rooting for Frazier, and the countercultural, anti-war group pulling for Ali, who was stripped of the heavyweight title and his boxing license in 1967—at the height of the Vietnam War—for refusing to be inducted into the U.S. Army.

It was an iconic event in American history, on a level that could never be approached by any other combat sport. The who's who—from Rat Pack member Frank Sinatra, who served as a photographer that evening for Life magazine, to New York Knicks guard Walt "Clyde" Frazier—were at the Garden to witness Frazier's epic battle with Ali in the flesh.

At least that begins to describe it. Burt Lancaster was one of the announcers on the closed-circuit broadcast, and the artist LeRoy Neiman painted the men as they fought. Everybody who was anybody was there, in the arena that thought of itself as the Center of the World, Madison Square Garden.

There was a deep aura of mystery about the event. There was no home television, so if you wanted to see the fight you had to go to a movie theater and plunk down your money (an early form of pay-per-view). There was no radio, either - only a round-by-round summary that was read from the studio after each round ended. I don't remember the host of that radio broadcast, only that the commentator was the former champion, Floyd Patterson, who refused to call Ali anything other than his given name, Cassius Clay.

And that was part of it too, of course. Ali was a tremendously controversial man, not the beloved figure remembered today through a gauzy film.  He was arrogant and taunted his opponents with a blistering, almost dehumanizing cruelty.  (Called, by writer Tex Maule, a "barbarous display of cruelty.") The memorable 1996 ceremony in which his "lost" Olympic gold medal was replaced, happened in the first place because he had thrown the original in the river after refusing to fight in the Vietnam War.  And there was his association with the Nation of Islam, which resulted in his 1965 title rematch with Sonny Liston being moved from Boston to Lewiston, ME.  (I've been in Lewiston; trust me, you don't hold a heavyweight title fight there just for the fun of it.) 

Patterson called him Clay, and so did many others, as did my mother, who disliked Ali and what he stood for intensely.  I recall us staying up late into the night, far past my bedtime, listening to the summaries on the radio as they were presented, her keeping score by using one of the pages of advertising from the TV Guide (the middle section that was from the Columbia Record Club, I believe), marking down an "F" for each round Frazier won, and a "C" for those won by Ali.  The fight was, everyone supposed, a cliffhanger, and Frazier's 15th round knockdown of Ali figured to be the decisive blow.  It wasn't; Frazier had a big enough lead to have won anyway, but the image of Ali on his back, the tassels of his shoes flying, was imprinted on one's memory.

I didn't know much about Joe Frazier prior to that night, but I was thrilled that he'd beaten the hated Ali (or "Cassius Clod," as one talk show host referred to him), and I was tremendously impressed by the dignity with which he conducted himself in the face of Ali's caterwauling bluster.  From then on Frazier became my favorite fighter, through a couple more title defenses until he was shockingly knocked out by the surly young George Foreman (years before Foreman himself would become a loveable hero).  There was another Frazier-Ali bout, which Ali won, and then the "Thrilla in Manila," in which Ali, now the champ, defeated him once again, a result that left me as bitter and disappointed as had ever any sporting event.)

Frazier was never the same after that fight (nor, for that matter, was Ali).  And for a good while, he never received the credit due him - for being the first man to beat Ali, for being a powerful and proud heavyweight champion.  It was easy to be overshadowed by Ali, especially as his bravado became more and more the mainstream in professional sports.  And then there was that embarrassing episode on SuperStars where he almost drowned during a swimming competition - that didn't help much either.  But he kept on, fighting for a few more years until he was beaten once again by Foreman, in a bout between two former champs now on the has-been trail (or so it seemed for Foreman).  He started a second career as a singer, and made a hilarious commercial for Miller Lite.

And eventually, people came to appreciate that Joe Frazier was a great champion, and a man who'd handled his fame and career with grace.  There was widespread shock last week at the news that he was suffering from liver cancer and hadn't long to live, and when he died Monday night at the age of 67, there was a heartfelt outpouring of grief, including statements from Ali and Foreman, his two biggest rivals.

I realize that much of this seems to have been a celebration of Joe Frazier more for who he wasn't than for who he was, but sometimes that's how you measure a man.  And lest we forget, today people warmly remember Smokin' Joe Frazier as a man who, through it all, never lost sight of what it meant to be a champ. ◙

Wish I'd Written That

When I'm pushed, I shove."

- James Garner, in his new autobiography, The Garner Files. Just goes to show that you don't need a lot of words to make a statement. ◙

Retro TV Friday

The last couple of weeks at the It's About TV site, I've been writing about television coverage of John F. Kennedy's funeral. A fascinating study of the relationship between television and religion - check it out! ◙

Classic Sports Thursday

We're getting down to crunch time in college football, and this Saturday features the first time in five years that the number one and two ranked teams in the country meet in the regular season, when #1 LSU takes on #2 Alabama.

Back in the day, before the BCS guaranteed an annual #1 vs #2 "championship game," a matchup like this would have been called "The Game of the Century." College football has seen a number of these over the years, at least one a decade (which leads one to wonder exactly how sportswriters define a century), but few of them match up to the hype. One that did, in a most unexpected way, was the 1966 game pitting #1 Notre Dame against #2 Michigan State.

Mike Celizic’s wonderful book The Biggest Game of Them All illustrates just how this game profoundly changed the way in which television looked at sports. Among other things, it created a demand for media credentials unsurpassed in sports to that time (it took the Super Bowl years before it became as big a media sensation), caused Catholic churches throughout the nation to change confession times so as not to conflict with the game, and became the first sporting event telecast live via satellite in Hawaii.

It may be hard to believe now, but through the 60s and early 70s the televising of college football was a closely regulated business. Teams were limited to the number of appearances they could make on TV each season, and even the biggest games were frequently seen on a regional, rather than national, basis. The Notre Dame-Michigan State game, which was hyped to a level that would be remarkable even today, threatened to change everything.  College football fans everywhere were on the edge of their collective seats throughtout the game, but nobody was prepared for what wound up happening.  Here are the climactic final minutes of the controversial finish, with Chris Schenkel and Bud Wilkinson calling the action:



Well, that was something, wasn't it? How many of you expected that?

It's hard to imagine now, since overtime guarantees a winner in every college football game. It was even harder to imagine, back then, that the "Tying Irish," as they became known, would let the clock run out rather than go for the win. But there was a method to Irish coach Ara Parseghian's madness - he calculated the AP voters would be unlikely to drop Notre Dame out of the top spot because of the tie, particularly since they had rallied from a ten-point deficit without their star quarterback Terry Hanratty, who had been injured early in the game, and star running back Nick Eddy, who missed the game altogether due to an injury getting off the train in East Lansing.

Parseghian also had another ace in the pocket: this game was Michigan State's last, while Notre Dame would finish their season the following week against USC. (Neither team would play in a bowl game that year; Notre Dame had a longstanding policy against bowls that would not end until the early 70s, while the Big 10 prohibited any team from going to any bowl other than the Rose. Michigan State, which had played in the Rose the previous year, was ineligible because of another of the Big 10's rules, the "No-Repeat Rule" that prevented teams from playing in the Rose Bowl in consecutive years.) Notre Dame crushed USC the next week, 51-0, and indeed won the national championship.

Someday when I've got more time I'll go into the cultural rammifications of this game, which were immense, in more detail. But for now let's just concentrate on the game, for which autumn Saturday afternoons were created. ◙

Opera Wednesday

From Rossini's charming comeday L'italiana in Algeri, The Italian Girl in Algiers, here's one of its many charming arias, with the great Marilyn Horne singing "Cruda sorte." This is from a Met Opera performance in 1986, with James Levine conducting.



And here's a Marilyn Horne encore, with another of her greatest hits. ◙

How to curse someone with class

Where has this been all my life? The Elizabethan Curse Generator - no well-read person should be without it.  ◙

Cost of education increases similar to sports: bidding war on professors similar to ones on athletes

A very common complaint about professional (and to an extent, collegiate too) sports has been the high cost of tickets in order to pay for the extensive salaries of professional athletes, as the two highest salaried stars in sports are Spanish F1 driver Fernando Alonso Diaz of Scuderia Ferrari ******** (Because of censorship laws, the team's full name must be censored) at a $40 million salary, and Cameroon footballer Samuel Eto'o of ФК "Анжи" Махачкала (СОГАЗ Russian Football Championship), who is paid $29 million a year – greater than any MLB or NFL star. The bidding wars on star players has sent ticket prices soaring in sports.

But with complaints about college tuition roaring into massive debt, the nationalisation of student loans passed in ObamaCare, and here in South Carolina, the cost of education soaring after the state government was massively expanded with the mockery called the “state lottery,” there's one issue I haven't heard in the discussion of education costs that is similar to sports, and that is the bidding war on professors.

As schools begin adding further research arms to their institutions, they are needing professors to lead these research divisions. To do so, they often engage in bidding wars with each other in order to hire the best talent, similar to sports. In once case over a decade ago, a professor's pay went from $90,000 to over $200,000 after a bidding war for him. Another case featured Ivy League rivals in a bidding war on a professor. When the bidding wars are as heated in the academic field as they are on an athletic field, the result will be the same. And with the “we must try the latest and greatest experiment” mentality in academics, the new buildings carry the most expensive experimental equipment. All of these are increasing the cost of schools on the level of sports. Has anyone noticed the similarities of academic bidding wars to athletic bidding wars? A generation of protesting students do not seem to understand that, but it's clearly evident with a bidding war, trying to entice professors, building new buildings, housing allowances, extra academic freedom for the professor, and the lure of such, the same things we see in professional sports are there in academic prices. ◙

This Just In

The Peggy Lee campaign

I include the above in order to explain the title of this post, since anyone younger than me probably won't get it. (Your loss; you should get Peggy Lee, at least once in your lifetime.)

I can't help but think, though, that this was the question on the lips of many Republicans after last week's demolition derby of a debate in Las Vegas. It was great theater, at least for people you like David Mamet plays, but does this kind of attack politics really do any good? It made the candidates look small, like the children that fill the stage at the National Spelling Bee. And it leaves me asking one more question: "If this is the best we have to offer, how in the world are we going to beat Obama?"

Are they for real?

Guest post by Cathy of Alex

It's easy to make fun of the Occupy Wall Street and it's offshoot demonstrations in various cities - including one locally in Minneapolis, MN. I'm sure they are still laughing in downtown Tripoli too! Minnesota is usually, at least, a season behind the fashions and the music that are on the streets and on the radio (for those dinos that still listen to the radio) everywhere else in the U.S. so it makes sense while the Arabs had their Spring we are into Fall.

I hesitate to call the Occupy Wall Street a movement. It's not a movement, per se, in that it is not a cohesive and organized event positioning itself toward a common goal. It's almost like a "be-in" (remember those, you folks that are still listening to the RADIO!?) or Summer of Love or Woodstock or even an Andy Hardy film. Hey, kids, let's put on a show!? How about a bunch of us just show up someplace at a certain time and try and get something going, see what happens... It seems like a flash mob but the mob has no flash.

Occupy Wall Street, to me, is part of a current cultural phenomenon that is sweeping the globe. Really, it is - look around. Arab Spring, demonstrations in Rome, Greece, those periodic World Trade Organization dust-ups, the Tea Party, appear, on the surface, to have absolutely nothing in common. But, I think they do. They are all started by disaffected and disengaged youth. It's tempting to yell out: Get a job you hippies! or wonder why these kids appear to have so much free time on their hands that they can camp out in downtown New York for weeks. No kids? No families? Turn on, Tune in, Drop out?

I used to date this super-prog guy about 15 years ago (I was prog then but he made me look like a "Contract with America" supporter) who claimed that Generation Y was going to put the Baby Boomers to shame as far as protesting and radicalism goes. I thought he was full of crap (actually, not the reason we broke up). Now, I wonder if I should find him and apologize.

Except I think neither one of us saw a day when so many young people literally cannot get jobs, don't have a stable home life (if a home life at all), can't afford college, don't believe that they'll ever be able to own a home, are paying child support before they are out of high school, and perceive that education is meaningless as there isn't anything to prepare you for other than debt, unemployment and take-out.

What is different with some of today's youth-started protest phenomenon from those of 3 - 5 decades ago is the resulting demographic of the protesters is not just Gen Y and Millenials - a lot of older, employed people with families have joined in. Perhaps, relieving their protest days of yore, or, perhaps, we have finally seen a day when all generations have the same gripes.

I'm not saying I agree with this new youth-driven phenomenon; but I also acknowledge that I don't see the world as they do. I'm pretty well established. I had a stable home growing up. I have a life full of purpose with Christ. I have a job. I don't have trouble putting food on the table. But, I've also got over 2 decades of head start.

It's true that no two people in the Occupy Wall Street can identify the reason why the collective is protesting. They are not even sure what they are protesting. There are probably some people who don't even realize they are at a protest but it just seemed like a great place to get laid! There is no common platform. However, I just caution us as a society to refrain from thinking Occupy Wall Street is meaningless and nothing will come from it. Revolutions have started this way. We may not have to break out the guns, but new ideas can sometimes be as powerful and scary as any armament. ◙

Occupy Wall Street and related activists: Communist perpetrators

Listening to Neal Boortz discuss he demands of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement reminds states their demands will destroy the economy, with the current realistic unemployment rate of nearly 20% ready to soar if these leftists' agenda is met.

The crazy mandates wanted by the organisers is to raise the minimum wage, which four years ago was raised 40% from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour, to $20 per hour. When the Pelosi Reign of Terror led a 40% hike in the minimum wage in 2007 by a no-debate, no-discussion supermajority forcedown, the beginning of the current American crisis in jobs began, as Walter E. Williams noted in [i]Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed by Discrimination [/i]? Youth unemployment starts at the 15% range and in some groups is over 40%, as noted by Charles Payne this summer on Fox Business Network, as a byproduct of the Pelosi stupidity. James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation noted rescinding the 40% minimum wage hike would encourage such hiring of novices, and create more entry-level hiring. He notes this on the job training results in most workers accelerating skills that result in raises, including interacting with co-workers and bosses. The result of the last severe round of minimum wage hikes led to a lack of entry-level hiring as the value of hiring such workers was lacking. Some states have added further hikes to destroy their states.

A nearly 150% hike in the minimum wage to $20 would destroy jobs for good, and businesses would choose to locate their businesses in Mexico, or worse yet, the rising four nations of the BRIC (Brasil, Россия, India, and Communist China).

A related demand is to guarantee such income – regardless of the person is employed or not. This has no logic. Another is “free college education,” but thanks to ObamaCare, the federal government, not private parties or financial institutions, is the only place for student loans, and we are paying the price for having gambling money subsidise college education in South Carolina after over a decade of such outrageous policies. A government monopoly is the worst possible idea, and the passing of ObamaCare gave us one, and a mandate by these activists is to fully implement ObamaCare by adopting the Canadian-style single payer system that outlaws private industry and kill health care.

Another demand of these liberals is to outlaw oil, gas, coal, and nuclear energy to push the standard liberal mantra of “wind and solar only”. However, as SCANA investors were told at a meeting, wind energy requires a minimum of 3.6 m/s of constant wind, and turbines shut down if the wind speed exceeds 20 m/s. The total demand of outlawing oil, gas, coal, and nuclear, with related “ecological restoration,” reminds me of the Taliban's anti-industry push. Many Communists have adopted the extreme environmentalist movement in order to push the idea of government in control of everything, and Lenin's Birthday (22 April 1870) is celebrated under the disguise of “saving the planet,” which popular culture has taught is more important than anything, and we see it in our trashy schoolbooks, where math, science, history, writing, and classics are ignored, while the fads of the trash are mandated in schools.

These activists demand gross Keynesian economics of spending on infrastructure, and have no regard on how they will pay for this, including a request of forgiveness of all debt, thereby creating a massive “spending without responsibility,” thinking we are a massive credit card that by law they will pay our debt. Money does not grow on trees, and they want spending without paying for it. What lesson does this teach a generation? Spend even past being broke, and get away with it?

Other demands mandate “card check,” which is part of the Left's push to unionise the entire nation, which would likely include a ban on replacement workers and legalisation of closed shops. And of course, we have the sexual deviants, successfully imposing speech codes and replacing the military with an activist organisation pushing their agenda, who want to occupy America to impose marriage laws and adoption policies in their form, banning churches from anything.

Regardless of the agenda by separate activists in Occupy Wall Street and related left-wing events, it's clear they want a utopia reminiscent of the CCCP that will fail. ◙

Las Vegas tragedy

I had just finished some housekeeping chores when I turned on our Vizio HDTV to our ESPN Broadcast affiliate and saw the IZOD IndyCar World Championship had been stopped for what was cleanup.

After finishing our Bible study tonight, on the drive home, I learned the horrifying tragedy of what happened, and saw what was clearly X-rated clips (violence) of the Bowers & Wilkins Honda flying into the catchfence. In the past three and a half years, we've seen fatal crashes in drag racing from various classes of cars flying into netting at the end of drag strips when cars are unable to slow down sufficiently in the sand trap. Now we've had another INDYCAR* fatality with a car flying into the catchfencing, open cockpit first.

The ultimate irony is that INDYCAR was criticised for a Nerf Bar (something that's seen on a NASCAR Modified) style tail for the new Dallara cars that will be used starting in March. After seeing the gruesome tragedy of today, maybe the Nerf Bars are a must. And the Nerf Bar may not be good on aerodynamics, but to prevent cars from flying is the most important issue. Wheel-to-wheel contact, regardless of it being an IndyCar, F1, GP2/3, Modified, or Formula Nippon (built in California), is the most dangerous because exposed wheels in contact with exposed wheels is easily grounds for launch. This bar may have prevented three cars from going airborne.

It was horrifying to see replays of what happened. Our thoughts and prayers go to the Wheldon family.

Réquiem ætérnam dona eis Dómine; et lux perpétua lúceat eis. Requiéscant in pace. Amen.



Let's Flash Back: 2005. 2011.

* The stylebook issued by Indy Racing League LLC states INDYCAR, the trade name of the IRL (the legal name of the organisation is Indy Racing League, LLC). All rule books posted by the organisation in regards to the sanctioning body has the name in all capital letters. ◙

Retro TV Friday

I enjoy listening to talk radio, and often the catchy theme songs on the radio are some of the craziest you will hear. While many hosts will select various tunes they think are catchy theme songs, some are always stuck in your head, associated with the hosts. From "My City Was Gone" (Limbaugh), "Independence Day" (Hannity), "Heart of Rock and Roll" (Boortz), and the local radio talk show hosts, the themes are an integral part of any talk radio programme.

This was the theme song to a news/talk radio show from the mid-1990's. She responded, "Oh yeah. The opening to the show. Been awhile."

But it's Retro TV Friday. Why are you discussing old talk radio? There's a reason. In that time, I owned interest in CBS, including the CBS Cable operations. And I do miss the old Nashville Network, shut down by MTV after parent Paramount purchased CBS and sent the CBS Cable operations to MTV, allowing MTV to use the CBS Cable operations to shut down the outdoor and country channel in favour of a channel that sounds like it's a volleyball-talking channel but is an explicit adult channel.

This was the theme song to the radio talk show in question, as a performance on The Nashville Network's "Prime Time Country," with Gary Chapman hosting. ◙

Mr. Jobs' Eastern Mysticism: was he an advancer of the New Age cause in the nation?

There are some news cartoons that can go over the edge, and in some instance, they are highly inappropriate in light of Steve Jobs' death. One inappropriate cartoon I saw was one of Steve Jobs at the Pearly Gates with St. Peter -- and when I read his belief system and worldview was built in Buddhism, where he becomes dust after death, it was highly inappropriate to draw considering his worldview is built in a religion of nothingness, as I've learned is the view of Zen Buddhism, which he believed, and was married to his wife in a ceremony conducted by a Buddhist monk. Was one of Mr. Jobs' legacies the advancement of Eastern Mysticism to the point even today's Life Enhancement Centres are embracing such "contemplative spirituality" even in our houses of worship where we are supposed to study God's Word?

Forbes found this on his New Age beliefs:

Another perspective of Mr. Jobs. ◙

Opera Wednesday

Opera, as I've learned over the years, is a place where the fun and frolicking can happen. As I've learned from many a round of lessons from Dr. LaRoche in the decade past, we can have humour as I've shown my anger parodying Magda, and even Lauretta. Now the Seattle Opera Blog has found a humourous look at the life of opera. They asked the question, "What would Sevilla look like with Carmen and her friends were on a social networking site?" Oh, this one is funny and it makes us love our opera! ◙

Three stories to steam

Sorry that I've been on the sickly side the past few days, I have not been able to write much thanks to falling ill and being busy at work, as you might expect.

The controversy over Gibson: All the attacks on Gibson aside, I remind myself that Gibson claims to be a victim of political contributions to opponents, which is true, but those who rally for Gibson forget that Gibson shut down the Baldwin piano plants in Arkansas in favour of opening plants in China. I remember the Baldwin pianos in my youth, and in the past five years, Gibson's idea of taking pianos to China and away from the States has now occurred. Where is the discussion of Gibson's piano plants now being in the PRC?

As for my take on Steve Jobs: Earlier this year, I noted how Apple has caused the demise of music stores and even bookstores to the easily manipulated portable file formats of readers such as the iPad and music players such iPod and iPhone concern me. Compression is nary a problem pop music because they do not have the quirks that perfectionists in classical music demand. Furthermore, we are not sitting there with 25-minute pieces (often 10-12 minutes a suite) in pop music when a song can start and finish in four minutes. As for the portable e-readers replacing books, the biggest concern has indeed come true with Amazon's advertiser-supported Kindles. Truly it can now be abused where you may read a conservative pamphlet and see ads for the 2012 campaign for President Obama, or read a Bible on the e-reader and see sexual deviant activists' push for their agenda come. Do "all your base belong to us," as the video game lore states, now?

The White House's recent launch of "We The People" to give citizens petition ideas has shown its Leftist colours. Some of the crazier ideas have included removing "God" from the Pledge and "In God We Trust" from currency, banning churches from tax-exempt status, ban coal mining, releasing drug offenders, legalising prostitution, redefining marriage to appease leftist activists, unemployment benefits for life, and banning the Bible from the country. We also have recognition and praise for those who are blockading Wall Street as another petition. What type of losers do we have on that site, trying to push every leftist cause? It's a dangerous utopia. ◙

Steve Jobs, R.I.P.

Hullo there, remember me? I used to write for this blog from time to time.

I can't say whether or not this represents a permanent return to form, but I didn't want to be the only person in the Western world who hadn't commented on Steve Jobs' death.

Actually, I'm even cheating here, since all I'm really doing is linking to this fine piece by Philip Terzian at the Weekly Standard.  It speaks to me on several levels: the danger of sanctifying the dead, a trap into which we all fall at one time or another; my ambivilence at the technological revolution, which Jobs without a doubt spearheaded; and the ultimate question of how we treat the people with whom we interact.  Is it merely me, or is there a real irony in the fact that Jobs, who did so much through the iPad and the iPhone and the iPod to minimize actual human interaction, was apparently so bad at human interaction himself?  Chicken or egg?

Concludes Terzian, "It does take a genius of sorts to make technology adaptable to a mass market, and to persuade consumers they need to consume. But that is not quite the same as 'changing the world.' It is one thing to influence human behavior -- which might be said of figures as disparate as Sigmund Freud or Jesus -- but quite another to understand human behavior, and profit handsomely." ◙

Cybersquatting by leftist activists on a presidential campaign, and poor Lacey Schwimmer . .

In January, I had the opportunity to participate at my fourteenth South Carolina Citizens for Life March for Life Weekend, with Rick Santorum as the keynote speaker at the event. Mr. Santorum is now officially registered as a Candidate for the Republican Nomination for the President of the United States.

The issue today is something more disturbing that came to my attention but uses the former Pennsylvania Senator who was defeated in the Pelosi Revolution that has led to the current economic crisis. If you type “Rick Santorum” on a search engine, one of the top three links will be to a sexually explicit site run by sexual deviant Dan Savage, best known for promoting his “anti-bullying” campaign, a cover for advancing sexual deviants’ agenda (it has successfully clinched in the 111th Congress both a speech code similar to “progressive” nations that makes the Bible criminal speech, forcing Dr. Laura Schlessinger to pay radio, which was a goal of liberals to throw her off public airwaves, and the elimination of the military, replacing it with the Special Rights Division of the Department of Social Engineering).

Recently, a Catholic minister I know from classical music events promoted Mr. Savage's social agenda on his social networking page, promoting sinful behaviours in violation of Romans 1, resulting in a phone call to the local Diocese, and the local church where he is employed, but they refused to discipline him for his promotion of sinful behaviour that violates doctrinal teachings (and it doesn't matter if it's Catholic or Protestant, sexual deviancy is a sin).

This form of cybersquatting will make people associate Mr. Santorum not to the Presidential candidate, pro-life advocate, and father, but to the explicitness of the sexual deviant activist Mr. Savage. Worse yet, the campaign in question has aggressively pushed the campaign for the deviants on network television during family-friendly programming, and it was responsible for pushing for the redefinition of marriage in many states, including the prohibition of Catholic and Protestant charities from running adoption agencies or foster homes as part of the banishment of faith through these new laws.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen inappropriate searches with common names in the news. A recent image search of a Daytona 500 champion and current Chase driver did not give me the gentleman in question, but of a teen actress few people know. This is a well-known celebrity it seems has been cybersquatted, and the person they show is not known by anyone outside of a few obscure places.

And don’t forget the number of times anyone wants to discuss the corrupt socialised medicine act, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a. k. a. ObamaCare, where searches will advance users to sites promoting the President and his propaganda.

Search engines are selling out to extreme left-wing causes, as we’ve seen with Mr. Santorum and the fight against socialised medicine. But when a Daytona 500 champion’s name can be abused too, this issue is over the edge. Penny Nance has a report on it.

And speaking of sexual deviants’ craziness, I agree with those who believe we should not watch the local version of Strictly Come Dancing. Pity poor Lacey Schwimmer, who has to be partnered with a woman this season. Ballroom dancing is for people of the opposite sex. What is Disney doing? Ron and Diane Miller have seen the betrayal of her father’s company from the start, and this shows what is truly crazy, considering too that the show’s producer, the BBC, has just banned “Before Christ” and “Anno Domini”. Next? ◙

This Just In

Message bodyImplosion of Atlanta National League Ball Club Results in True North Acquiring Team, Renaming it Goldeyes.

WINNIPEG, MB -- Following True North Enterprises' acquisition of the City of Atlanta at a bargain-basement price in June, True North Enterprises has announced Canad Inn Stadium will be the host of the National League's newest team, the Winnipeg Goldeyes, which will replace Atlanta National League Ball Club, Inc.

The Goldeyes will become a National League team and be slotted in the East Division.

"Obviously, True North is excited about having a professional hockey and now baseball team in Winnipeg, and as part of being the new headquarters for Home Depot, Delta, UPS, and other major firms that had been in Georgia until our acquisition of an entire city to be converted to a landfill, we are excited about the continuing growth of Winnipeg," posted officials in Winnipeg. The Goldeyes' 2012 schedule and roster will be announced at a later date.

The death of the United States armed forces

The United States Armed Forces. 1776-2011. Killed by President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Stefani Germanotta, and Tim Gill. Replaced by a secular humanist indoctrination force designed not to defend this nation but to advance the causes of humanism.

Réquiem ætérnam dona eis Dómine; et lux perpétua lúceat eis. Requiéscant in pace. Amen.

Bill Connor on the "jihad" that killed our military in favour of the new left-wing indoctrination force for secular humanism. ◙

Searching for Snoopy

As a veteran space travel buff, this is way cool. The lunar module of Apollo 10 (code name: Snoopy) - the final lunar orbital test run prior to the moon landing - came within a few miles (relatively speaking) of the moon's surface. At the mission's conclusion, the LM was jettisoned to orbit around the sun. Now, astronomers are searching to find that spacecraft! ◙

Opinion Digest

I remember boys complained in schools about the girls' dress code, and they wanted to have the girls' dress code adopted for school, and they won the complaint -- the school was forced to adopt the girls' dress code for boys (only thing that matters is if it touches the top of the knee, but the hem line moved up regardless of gender).

Seems the increased pop culture "flashing" as shown by certain pop culture stars is enough, as are the cases of girls pulling off copycat moves, impersonating their heroines with similar hiking tactics. Officials in some British schools have told girls the boys' dress code will be enforced on them, banning articles of clothing that often are used to create the mess in the first place. Turnabout is fair play, is it?

The censoring of the West, and the enforcement of Shariah are both troubling. Have we seen a rise of Islam since Usama attacked the US? Diana West's thoughts.

Thirty-nine men came to Philadelphia to form a more perfect union two hundred twenty-four years ago this weekend. Yet the courts today are eliminating their document in favour of adopting foreign laws today, and even abolishing the Bill of Rights (1-10 and 27*). Katie Pavlich reports.

Professor Krugman's rude commentary on Patriot Day was seriously offensive to the soldiers and those who lost family members in the attacks of Usama's Henchmen. Michael Reagan's thoughts.

Marc Morano reports a Nobel Prize winner resigned from the American Physical Society because of their embracing of false anti-industry "science" pushed on a generation.

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* There were twelve articles in the Bill of Rights; The first article assigned the House to one representative per 40,000 people, and once it went to 200 representatives, the limit was one per 50,000; thar article did not pass, and it would be compex today, as it's nearly 650,000 people per Representative. The second article took 201 years, and 28 more states that was needed when originally proposed, to ratify and is the 27th Amendment. The third to twelfth articles are the first to tenth Amendments to the United States Consitution, henceforth, the Bill of Rights are actually the 2nd to 12th articles of articles sent to the legislators on March 14, 1789. For historical purposes, the 27th Amendment is part of the Founding Fathers' documents.

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Those words

The words on Fox News Channel on the day have been played every 8:26 AM since then, as usual. We see the 8:46 AM report of the first crash on Fox & Friends, and we see clips of the numerous attacks. Those words said by the newsmen reflect on that day.

"Another plane just flew into the second tower. This has to be deliberate, folks. We just saw on live television as a second plane flew into the second tower of the World Trade Center. Now given what has been going on around the world, Some of the key suspects come to mind, Usama bin Laden, who knows what." -- 9:03 AM, Jon Scott

"We are hearing right now of another explosion that has taken place in the Pentagon. We have the heart of the financial district of America being been attacked now we understand now there . . . has been an explosion in The Pentagon, the heart of the military command center of the United States of America. Jon, it can't be worse I hope." -- 9:37 AM, David Asman,

"As we watch these pictures, the World Trade Center, 110 storeys, literally starting to fall" -- 9:59 AM, Mr. Scott

"It's gone. The whole tower( bleep). They knocked the whole freaking thing down." -- News chopper pilot.

"America, offer a prayer." (Second tower implodes) -- Jon Scott, 10:28 AM

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We Remember The Day. Ten Years Ago. 8:46 AM.

I reflected being behind the wheel of my Buick LeSabre, the infamous "Heather" on the way to the shop when the 8:46 AM attacks took place, and listening to the radio desperately to find out what happened that day.

I looked at the books I've read, and they include a pair of Barbara Olson books, Hell to Pay and The Final Days, both on the Clinton Administration.

I saw the collection of memorabilia of the local (Charleston) ECHL team, the South Carolina Stingrays.

Both fit the day. Both are relics that remind us of what we lost ten years ago. We lost an author, headed to Los Angeles for Bill Maher's television programme when killed on AA77. We lost Mark Bavis, a former Stingrays player, on UA175.

We lost thousands others at the hands of Usama bin Laden, the most wanted man in America, and led to the President's painting of Usama has a desperado who needed to be stopped.

It has been ten years today. Listening to "Evocation: In Memoriam September 11, 2001," a piece of the day by the Upton Trio, makes you reflect what happened.

Here is a clip of the real-time coverage from that day, on WTMA's Dan Moon Show.  ◙

The New Tolerance bans Christians at 9/11 memorial services

The ACLU proudly mentioned when they redefined “marriage” in New York, they removed freedom of religion. It was also removed in the former Armed Forces when the military's goals were changed from a fighting force to defend the country to an indoctrination force for sexual deviants by Public Law 111-321, an Intolerable Act, creating the new Special Rights Division of the Department of Social Engineering.

Now we are seeing New York and Washington, both areas where false marriage is legal because of the sellout to the Gill Agenda, run roughshod over religion because of the new regulations.

In Washington, the Episcopal Church USA, facing a split with many conservative organisations for its theological liberalism, has shown its intolerance of groups opposed to its doctrine under the new intolerance for the traditional freedom of religion by selecting the organisations involved in Sunday's memorial services at Washington National Cathedral, which they own and operate. The organisations chosen for the memorial service Sunday are Episcopal leadership in Washington in both the Bishop of Washington nd the Dean of the Cathedral, a rabbi, a Buddhist nun who is also called the incarnate lama, a Hindu priest, a Muslim musician, and the President of the Islamic Society of North America. There are no Catholic or mainstream Protestant (Southern Baptist Convention, the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council – includes the ARP and PCA , Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod) denominations involved in this “interfaith” service.

In New York, Mayor Bloomberg, who was directly involved in the redefinition of marriage, has outlawed clergy from appearing at the official ceremony remembering the time of the terrorist attacks.

It's clear in a world where sexual deviants are now rewarded with false “marriage” recognition and the changing of the military's purpose into an indoctrination force for deviants, and the abolition of the freedom of religion that was part of the Founding Fathers' call, that this weekend's memorial services display the New Tolerance that is the goal of modern liberalism. When God's Word is eliminated in favour of humanism's agenda, and a new state religion of secular humanism, nothing is sacred, even in remembering over 3,000 who died under the auspices of Al Qaeda, for the want of 19 men whose goal was to make it to paradise by killing thousands of infidels.

Has this nation lost its way when New Tolerance dictates the outlawing of God's Word? Are we pushing Eastern mysticism by force in this nation? Surely it fits with the Obama goal of turning Patriot Day into a community service day, similar to Communism. ◙

The worst of the homers - Galvaão Bueno (Brasil)?

We've long criticsed the "shouters, screamers, and homers trying their hardedst to get on SportsCenter" that are prevalent when we watch or listen a sporting event. I was driving home from church Sunday night when the sports radio station (one of the few stations we can catch, an Eastover station 50 miles away) plays highlights of radio calls, which results in hearing the worst cheerleading during major scores. Some of the worst calls I remember in my youth were Georgia Bulldog broadcaster Larry Munson's homer calls but there are other worse ones on the market today that it makes listening to national calls better when the lead man is not cheering for one team, and one prevalent trend came with the Mexican soccer broadcaster style that seem to be everywhere now (best known for the crazy goal screaming).

In observing Senna (I arrived late thanks to a commitment that ran late) Saturday in Charlotte and the inside story of Ayrton's life (noted the interviews with numerous faces), SBT, which has F1 broadcast rights in Brasil, made the top shelf complaint list we have on the worst types of broadcasters, with homers and screamers look lame. During the film, numerous times they ran the broadcasts of various F1 broadcasts at the time (BBC, SBT, TF1, ESPN) and you could hear the difference between Murray Walker and the Brasilian television broadcasts. When Ayrton won (I later learned it was for any Brasilian driver winning), play-by-play man Galvaão Bueno would turn into those haywire homers and scream, while special music plays and the cheering continued on the winner while the action behind that could play crucial points of the race were ignored in favour of unprofessional behaviour.

That's an extreme homer. Imagine listening to a college sporting match, and after a big score, the engineer cues the winning fight song and the rest of the game discussion is ignored. That is the effect of a Brasilian F1 win would be on SBT, and as I learned later, it was not just for Ayrton -- Rubens and Felipe were treated that way, and if Vivienne's boy Bruno Lalli (who uses the grandmother's maiden name for similar reasons!) wins, SBT would do the same too. Maybe we've seen the worst with Brasilian television. ◙

Opera Wednesday

The NFL season starts Thursday, and the college gridiron just lit up its season last week with a plethora of big games. But why are we talking gridiron in our opera column? Yes, we have former warriors singing on the opera fields. Kari Barbic wrote about it in The Weekly Standard, "Arias in the End Zone," and we'll share a few of those opera singers.

Former University of Colorado running back Keith Miller, who tried out with the Denver Broncos, is now a well-known rising young bass/baritone on the opera field today.

Lawrence Harris, a former offensive lineman for the now-defunct Houston Oilers, is a heldentenor who also with his wife run a management company for opera singers. Originally a baritone, he credits his skills on the front lines to the mentality of the Wagnerian roles he sings.

Ta'u Pupu'a, a Weber State defensive lineman, was drafted by the Cleveland Browns by Bill Belichick the year before they were suspended in the controversial moves in late 1995. But a foot injury ensured he would never play a down, and became a young tenor on the prowl. Still, he credits a great master with teaching him the mind game.  ◙

SAD NEWS - Salvatore Licitra

S
icilian tenor Salvatore Licitra, 43, sufferred a cerebral hemorrhage while riding a Vespa scooter with his girlfriend, and crashed into a wall in Ragusa August 27. He was not wearing a helmet, she was wearing a helmet. The Bern (Switzerland) native was born to Sicilian emigrants, and made his singing debut in 1998 at Parma, and was Caravadossi in "Tosca" in 2002 at the Met when he replaced the man whom many thought he was the next, Luciano Pavarotti. He was rushed to a hospital in Catania, where after a week, he was declared brain dead Monday.

A sad loss for opera, one of the younger singers of this generation is gone so quickly. As a dear friend warns us, we have to watch our health.

Deborah Voigt commented on her social networking site, "So very sad to say goodbye to Salvatore Licitra. I will miss you."

Opera Chic has more here. ◙

The freeloading problem on television and sports

A news commentator recently warned we are fast becoming a nation of freeloaders. Nowhere is it worse than on mass media, especially television.

As pay television consistently has outbid broadcast networks for sporting events, people are growing tired of the high per-subscriber rates for these channels used to pay for these rights fees, and these fees have become the source for advantages of pay-television over networks to the point some sports (boxing) have lost appeal with Middle America because of the pay-television exclusivity of the sport, while mixed martial arts has had a light broadcast network following, with a new Fox television contract coming this fall.

A recent report that News Corp had announced a minimum eight-day delay between the broadcast of any programme on the Fox broadcast network and the time they will stream the show on an online streaming service irked many such "freeloaders," who have been cord-cutting and watch (mostly) SD programming on their HDTV's, and prefer the convenience of a 15.4" screen over the 32" (or larger) high-definition televisions. The freeloaders feel they can watch any show, any time, even if it's illegal, and violate copyright infringement. They do not respect the staff involved in the production of a television programme, and the affiliates of the network involved, as affiliates have to pay numerous fees, and sell advertising to local merchants, with the popular programmes resulting in high 30-second rates that can be charged, which can be influential when the programme is the lead-in to the local late newscast that offers local teams' sports scores. They also disrespect copyright law to have their way. Some (especially the Chinese) are known for copying television formats from the major international format holders and robbing them blind, and claim because it's from another country, US copyright laws do not matter (they do, Berne Convention).

These freeloaders would steal signals and illegally stream the shows are the types who would rob a health food store of its premium groceries, stealing it, and forcing the grocer to suffer a financial loss.

Let's suppose too a pharmaceutical company holds a patent for a wonderful medication, and they hold the patent. After millions of hours in research, they have perfected the perfect drug to cure a serious disease, and have obtained the patent. But before something can be done, a freeloader decides to break down the drug, illegally make copies of it when the patent is live, and give it free. The legitimate company has been greatly punished, but that is what freeloaders on television have done.

A group of sports fans have asked for the elimination of sports blackout rules, which are designed to protect a team's revenue stream by prohibiting the broadcast of a sporting event on television by television markets that may have any part within a 120km radius of the stadium if tickets are not sold out within 72 hours of the start of the event, an NFL rule written in 1973 to eliminate the total blackout rule that was in play regardless of sellout that prohibited a broadcast from reaching a home market. Once again, these "fans" are not fans, but want to betray teams and fans by stopping the incentive to sell tickets to fans. Blackouts are effective because it makes local fans buy tickets to events they want to attend, and by telling the television broadcaster no games are allowed on air within the 120km rule, it forces locals to buy tickets.

I've wondered in college sports, why is there no blackout rule when over 10,000 seats are still available and they still allow the game to be televised in the local market. It's a silly model since there is no incentive to be at the game when it's on air. The NFL's model has worked. Four teams have never had a blackout under current NFL rules (GB, WSH, DEN, PIT), two teams have never had a blackout in history (BAL first game 1996, HOU first game 2002), and another (TEN) has not had a blackout since being in their current home (the Titans' were in Memphis when they last had a blackout). Seventeen NFL teams have not had a blackout in the 21st century.

Freeloaders would want to steal television signals, and ban sports teams from imposing restrictions to encourage ticket sales. Isn't this the problem with society today, with welfare, freeloaders, and people who want something for nothing, and would discourage those who work the hardest to provide the wanted product? That's what we see with illegal streaming, stealing signals, not imposing blackout rules, and the like. ◙

Alpha and Omega: Texas Terry's Florentine Conquests and Mr. Clutch

RRemember, there isn't any Labour Day holiday here in South Carolina. The Ferko lawsuit took it away from us after 2004, our state's big Labour Day festival in Florence was moved to Fort Worth, Texas, in a rude and crude decision that could affect pro gridiron in Minnesota, especially if a California interest decides to sue the NFL or Vikings to force a move to Los Angeles. What happened to the Fourth Major in Florence should be a warning that you can be sued to lose an event.

Let's look back at Labour Day when it existed in South Carolina, with a big Florentine showdown, as it was Terry Labonte's Alpha and Omega . . .

1980: His first Sprint Cup win, in a major, no less. Think of the great golfers whose first career PGA Tour win was in a major, or a tennis star who wins their first ATP or WTA tournament in a major.



2003: Now 46, and a two-time Sprint Cup champion, his last Sprint Cup win, in the same major, in a clutch situation. The state's big Labour Day event was set to move to November the next year, and become a playoff showdown.



And those final moments of Labour Day in South Carolina were on a November evening in 2004, when Jimmie Johnson began his meteoric "Mr. Clutch" moniker, continuing a torrid playoff run that included wins at the oldest and most prestigious events in the playoff.



We want to be in Florence in the fall . . . ◙

What is the next goal?

We're into September now, and I am seeing issues everywhere that have me pondering my reflections headed into this month.

MTV Beats Networks . . . Hmmmm? A degradation of society showed its ugly back Sunday night at the MTV “Video Music Awards” in Los Angeles. Looking at the ratings of the “awards show” full of no-talents who are gong-worthy, 12.4 million watched this utter disgrace, with 8.5 million of it from their core audience of 12-34, which evidently shows how a plethora of youth have discarded the timeless masterworks in favour of the hip and trendy, which has pilfered its way into houses of worship today, with the popularity of GIA, Oregon Catholic Press, the major secular publishers, and rock-based services. It outdrew any broadcast network television program during the entire week, but as should be the disclaimer, there were no pre-emptions caused by Hurricane Irene on MTV, while the networks had Irene coverage on the wall where parts of the populus East Coast couldn't watch the NFL pre-season games, Little League baseball, or the Irwin Tools Night Race.

On the other hand, for sports that count, the disgraceful “awards show” promoting raunchy “music” outdrew combined Brad Keselowski's run to the Wild Card at the Irwin Tools Night Race and Huntington Beach, California's Little League sixth-inning heroics combined. How far have we fallen when the hardest and most prestigious tickets are discarded in favour of the fads of the day?

And don't forget that MTV, not Fox News, is controlling how America moves thanks to a President who prefers MTV to FNC.

The Sexual Deviants At It Again. Sexual deviants have successfully replaced our military with a Department of Social Engineering, Special Rights Division, and it was reported that magazines promoting the agenda are now allowed on PX stores. Combine that with the ACLU boasting of the loss of religious freedom under the new definition of marriage in New York, and activists' goals to normalise pedophilia with an organisation attempting to eliminate all criminal codes relating to this disgusting behaviour, we are living in a dangerous era for Christians. Sexual deviants are now being rewarded, and we who live by an inerrant text of the Bible are now being persecuted.

Poor old Lacey Schwimmer! With apologies to David Hobbs, what can this past So You Think You Can Dance finalist do to catch a break? Now it turns out she will be the unfortunate woman paired with a woman who is acting inside the auspices of another form of sexual deviancy on the US version of the Strictly Come Dancing franchise. Same-sex ballroom dancing? Ugh! Cue the Zonk music!

Tougher Journalist? A ten-year old student asked tough questions than the White House Press Corps, according to a recent report on The Fox Nation. Reminds me of that old programme on the telly we must ask the White House Press Corps, “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” You've shown you aren't, press. ◙

Unlike Mitchell, I've never been that much of a baseball fan - football was always my game (and I don't even watch much of that anymore). But as I read this article, it began to become clear to me just why baseball doesen't cut it for me. Could this have something to do with it?

On Sunday, you could have flown from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., and watched all of Gone With the Wind and quite a bit of Gandhi en route, while simultaneously undergoing -- start to finish -- an in-flight sex-change operation before landing, 4 hours and 15 minutes after takeoff, in an altogether different climate, as an altogether different gender.

Or, in the same 4 hours and 15 minutes, you could have watched the Red Sox and Yankees complete a single game of major league baseball.

You know how whenever people talk about the weather in desert climates they'll mention how it isn't the heat, it's the humidity? Maybe it's true that with baseball it isn't the time, it's the pace. But, like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives (to coin a phrase), and maybe there just aren't that many sands left to cover the infield of a baseball stadium and have anything left over? ◙

Retro TV Friday

OOne of television's most endearing personalities is turning 90 today. Taking a look at some videos of Monty Hall, of things other than the franchise that he is best known for doing (and as last as last year, he even did a segment of that show).










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Today's society of misfits

I am aghast with what I had seen the numerous practices adopted by modern youth who have adopted the culture of the deviants, and is excessively trendy, taken from their sports, entertainment, and other heroes they see on television every day. It has come to a point it seems every superstar in our culture (or so it seemed) has numerous body modifications, with professional basketball stars full of tattoos on their arms, and Major League Baseball even ordering players to wear long-sleeved undershirts to cover some of the most heinous body modifications, and part of the Ohio State scandal was based around discounts at a tattoo parlour. And the hairstyles worn by some figures are far worse than the haircuts you may receive at your local barber.

One teenager who just graduated from high school appeared at an event with a bizarre hairstyle that had me aghast and wondering what he was doing, and I considered was he attending college or going for a position other than an entry level position. At least two other teens were at the same event with multiple tattoos – some covering parts of the body that are usually covered by undergarmets, as an intent to expose their body and advertise something inappropriate. Adults are into this also, with many adults choosing to modify their bodies to show their love of popular culture, accomplishments, or their dates. The result is a trend in sleeveless shirts worn by men, and questionable undergarmets worn by both men and women, especially if their bodies (and in the case of questionable undergarmets, shown on things that normally would be covered by common sense people) full of tattoos in order to show their advertising. A friend from elementary school asked what is with the trend, and will they feel guilty years later?

That leads to the story that former Colts running Back Jerry Richardson, now the owner of Carolina, told his newly drafted star player no body modification (tattoos, piercings, et al) would be allowed. Good for Mr. Richardson.

Body modifications and crazy hairstyles would never be approved at a normal place of work, your local business, or even church. Many venues will not accept people with body modifications to work. Common sense has been lost. The money that people are spending for such deviant work is better off going to church, charity, the commodities, the market, healthy foods, reading books, taking arts classes, playing golf, or attending events. This sad trend has to stop with the craziness of body modification, all of which violates Leviticus 19:28, “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.” ◙

Classic Sports Thursday

Bristol, Baby!"

Anyone in motorsport will assure you that a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol (TN) Motor Speedway is regarded as the toughest ticket in motorsport, even if the recession has stripped it of its sellout status with 160,000 spectators.

One of the most famous feuds in the 1990's at the famous speedplant was the Terry Labonte - Dale Earnhardt battles in 1995 and 1999, with the score ending as a 1-1 battle between the Childress and Hendrick driver. ◙

The first Feud - 1995


Rattle the Cage - 1999

The bad business of business

Is owning a sports franchise bad business? Should it be? That's the provocative question the always-provocative Malcolm Gladwell asks. Of course, I've always thought any sports franchise owner who expects to make a profit - who things, in fact, that a profit should be guaranteed - is not only insane, but is probably doing pretty well feeding at the public trough.

As a side thought, I was listening to someone talking to Jason Lewis about the scam that is higher education today, and how the whole college thing has been perverted into being something that people have to have just to get the most menial work. Fact is, not everyone ought to go to college, and there should be plenty of jobs that don't require a college degree. And this links to my first paragraph how? Well, substitute "life" for "owning a sports franchise" and you get your answer.

Life can't be measured purely in terms of profit and loss. Sometimes there are things in life - such as the old-fashioned liberal arts degree - that only give you what Gladwell called the "psychic" gain. In other words, they don't necessarily make you richer, but they do help make you more well-rounded. And that's a different kind of wealth altogether. ◙

Charity begins - with the government?

Penn Gillette – the “Penn” half of the comedy/magic team Penn & Teller – is an endlessly interesting man. Now, this doesn’t mean that I always, or even usually, agree with him. I seldom agree with anyone that often, including myself. It does, however, mean that within the contents of any given comments of his, there are bound to be words of interest, ideas that bear exploration, repetition, even agreement. And so when he wrote about his recent appearance with Piers Morgan on CNN (catch Piers soon, by the way, before the British phone hacking scandal claims him), there was stuff that was good and stuff that wasn’t so good.

His atheism, for example, has never appealed to me. (I recall once reading about how he and his partner Teller were so adamant on this point that they even removed the Gideon Bibles from the hotel rooms in which they stayed.) I think he’s dead wrong about faith – requiring certainty about anything, including religion, is a formula for paralysis, in my opinion – but at least I understand where he’s coming from more than I did before. And just because I disagree – strongly – with it doesn’t mean that I can’t at least comprehend it. (I think he’s an outstanding candidate for prayer, by the way. The appearance of a divine intervention in his life might be difficult for him to explain away, which in turn might force him to acknowledge it as something worthy of further consideration.)

And just because I disagree with him on some things doesn’t mean that I can’t agree with him on others. He says that his thoughts on politics flow from the same insistence on certainty as do his thoughts on religion; but his demand for certainty, which fails him in the sacred, serves him much better with regard to the secular. Take, for example, his thoughts on government programs:

It's amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give
poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness.

People need to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered, and if we're compassionate we'll help them, but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right. There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint.

Oddly enough, he might find himself in agreement with the great Catholic humanitarian Dorothy Day, who felt that government welfare programs tended to abrogate the individual’s moral responsibility to provide charity themselves. When you can have the government do your charitable work for you, why bother to get your own hands dirty?

Needless to say, there are many liberals, dedicated to taking your tax money from you to do good, who also contribute their own personal time, talent and money. I’m not saying that all they do is steal from the rich and give to the poor from the comfort of their own homes. But Penn’s comment that “There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint” is a profound one. Make no mistake, he says – “When they come to get you for not paying your taxes, try not going to court. Guns will be drawn. Government is force -- literally, not figuratively.” Which leads to this conclusion:

I don't believe the majority always knows what's best for everyone. The fact that the majority thinks they have a way to get something good does not give them the right to use force on the minority that don't want to pay for it. If you have to use a gun, I don't believe you really know jack. Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It's just ganging up against the weird kid, and I'm always the weird kid.

There’s a great deal of truth in that statement. It’s classic libertarianism, and while that’s another –ism that I don’t completely agree with, there’s no doubt that it’s a vital and necessary part of contemporary conservative thought.

And proof, once again, that food for thought can come from surprising places.

(By the way, in the midst of this heavy discussion don’t overlook the hilarious story he tells about a Nobel-winning physicist, a community college teacher, and a talk show host. And no, they don’t walk into a bar together.) ◙

Opera Wednesday

Moses as Bin Laden? Unbelievable but true, in Graham Vick's potentially vomit-inducing (I say that because I have to be fair, having not seen it personally) interpretation of Rossini's Moses in Egypt. Opera Chic has the lowdown here, with additional posts at her site. Here's what Vick has to say about Moses:

"It's true, he resembles Bin Laden -- on the contrary, he's an archetype. Moses summarizes in himself all of the fundamentalists. Let's not forget that every terrorist is also a freedom fighter in the eyes of someone else. And besides, Rossini presents him as always angry and threatening. His war against the Egyptians resembles very much a 'holy war' on which to speculate actual jihad. While rereading the works of Rossini, I felt the need to take into consideration how much had befallen the Middle East in the last ten years."

Doesn't quite sound like Charlton Heston, does it? ◙

Stories of the week

Katie Kieffer takes a shot at the government's fuel economy standards, which are industry-killing ideas to force us into the tiny city cars liberals envision us to be riding as to force as many people into the big cities, where ultra-urban areas are the home of liberalism's biggest pockets.

Seeing too many tiny cars and jacked-up sedans masquerading the jobs of big trucks is senseless.

Colleges are now telling students to attend the Life Enhancement Centres that endorse sexual deviancy, a "proud" goal of colleges trying to tell kids to be indoctrinated into the values of Humanism. Mike Adams finds some disturbing details at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Max Hastings in the UK discusses the London riots, and how "progressive" leftist teachings over generations has led to youth who refuse to have standards.

Tony Sewell believes, as many of us do, the gangster culture, as shown on MTV, is a dangerous poison.

Both kids and adults are extremely guilty in church (of all places) of wearing tee-shirts and jeans, shorts, or anything very unprofessional and rag-tag to church today. When these Life Enhancement Centres even have ragged dress of the band, and ministers follow along, we are truly troubled. Thomas Langford, however, thinks the societal changes of women in the workforce ended the era of the fancy dresses.

Part of the Problem with American Society today? Even the Girl Scouts are betraying values in favour of the latest fads among liberalism. When the Boy Scouts of America is now helping American Heritage Girls, it's clear the new organisation is on the way up. ◙

Classic Sports Thursday

Sunday's INDYCAR race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is the first IZOD IndyCar Series race since 1998 at the 1.058 mile speedway, and the first with Bruton Smith, who has INDYCAR races at Texas and Sonoma, in control.

Here was the last INDYCAR race from 1998, and note who is calling the race -- the man regarded as America's premier motorsport voice. (Courtesy INDYCAR.) ◙

This Just In

News item: Tiger Woods dropped by sponsor Tag Heuer. But don't worry too much.

Of Requiem, hatred of industry, and corruption in Washington

Packing It In! We packed the house literally during the first (Sunday) performance of Mozart's Requiem, and for the first time in my singing career I saw a full house (and more, as it was standing room only) for a concert. Big thanks to Susan Kelly, student conductor, Sarah Rich (soprano), Beth Mears (alto), David (tenor) and Lillian (conductor) Quackenbush, David Stephenson (bass), and Frances Webb (Steinway). Big thank-you to the team here guys. Enjoyed it and cannot wait to sing again!

Sarah, beautiful voice and be praying for you – there's a baby on the way for Sarah and her husband, as I had the opportunity to visit with him during dress rehearsals.

Dies iræ! Dies illa. Solvet sæclum in favilla: Teste David cum Sibylla!

Can You Watch What You Wear? Some singers seemingly forgot how to dress for concert. Our bulletin stated “concert dress” for women and men have to wear a white dress shirt, black slacks, and a tie (it's over 90 degrees outside in South Carolina, but I wore my jacket during pre-concert warmup). Two types of female choral dress violations were detected during the concert – sleeveless blouse was one, and the other was the little black dress and no stockings, but most of the women knew the right hem length (¾th or longer; many of the younger singers chose to wear black slacks, a popular trend in orchestra women, since black stockings are typically not required when the trouser option is chosen). Some men chose short-sleeve dress shirts (something I wasn't taught was permitted), and the big no-no was one singer did not wear a tie. What has happened to proper dress anymore anywhere? Most know the rule, but a this is a societal problem today.

The Downgrade and The Crash. Does it sound suspicious the debt limit issue and the downgrade of the debt of the leadership of the country refuse to see the problem lies within the eighty-year downgrade that President Roosevelt ran us through with John Maynard Keynes' philosophy, which is the problem we have had for the years? The excessive sellout to Keynesian economics, which is built on massive government spending, is the root cause of the problem with our economic system.

And a Hatred of Industry. So Obama has now imposed a 54 MPG standard for cars, effectively striking the auto industry to the same tiny cars in Europe, and electric cars, and he is now imposing new energy standards on trucks, buses, and industrial vehicles, which makes it clear he reminds me of the Taliban in that he hates industry and would love us to return to the Stone Age. Is this the country we want where industry is banned while we worship Gaia? We may see electric vehicles for industrial duty do the same things our current petrol and diesel cars use because of an arrogant anti-industry leadership. ◙

(Not) tickled pink

As Mitchell mentioned yesterday, he's left The Three Stooges (Bobby, Steve and yours truly) in charge while he takes some well-deserved time off. Have a good time, chief, and come back refreshed!

A week or so ago I saw the following story over at Uni Watch, the go-to blog for sports fans obsessed with the aesthetic angle. The money line: "The Harvard Business Review has found that using the color pink in breast cancer awareness campaigns is actually counterproductive."

Hah!

I always have suspected that the pink movement, started by the infamous Susan G. Komen outfit, was more about "Hey, look at me and how much I care!" than anything else. Now, before anyone objects, I'm sure that there are hundreds of thousands of well-meaning women and men out there who wear the pink with an abundance of sincerity. And yet, how much good does it really do? As much good as those red AIDS ribbons, or yellow or any other color ribbon that seems to pop up these days. We have become a nation of ribbons, it seems.

(And by the way, just so you don't think I'm picking only on liberals - I never could understand those red, white and blue ribbons that people wore after 9/11. We have a perfectly good symbol for that already - it's called The Flag.)

Anyway, according to this study we now see that the pink phenomenon doesn't even do much good as a symbol of awareness: "[T]hose who saw a pink ad about breast cancer were significantly less likely to say that they’d contract the disease than those who saw an ad with neutral colors." And "[w]hen the site was geared to women, 33% of women recalled the ads. When it was gender-neutral, 65% remembered."

This is so endemic of our Oprahfied culture - when emotion is the most important thing, when we asuage our guilt feelings with symbolic acts, along with that faintly smug air of superiority that hints that "We're better than you."

So maybe the pink campaign doesn't really raise breast cancer awareness. Maybe it doesn't really encourage women to check for cancer. But really, it's all about looking good, right? Because when it all comes down to it, the important thing is to let people know we care. ◙

Summer winds

I know I haven't had much to say the last few weeks, and the loyal readers we do have deserve better than that. So I'm going to formalize my inactivity, and take a little vacation for the rest of the month.

Depending on what captures my eye, I may pop in from time to time. What significant writing I do manage will probably be over at It's About TV! But for the most part, I leave you in the most capable hands of Drew, Bobby and Steve, who will carry you the rest of the way until just after Labor Day. ◙

Classic Sports Thursday

Today is August 4, and an Indianapolis Motor Speedway legend turns 40 today, despite just falling short of reaching an upper level at the Brickyard of all-time race winners because someone else was smarter on strategy than he was a few days ago. Let's celebrate the career of this now 40-year old legend of the Brickyard with a blast from his past.

A fifteen-year old kid runs rampant during a summer meet for sprint car racing in Australia (remember the seasons flip, so this is December or January).

A Formula Vee test in Clermont's Lucas Oil Raceway, once the home of USAC Championship racing, but the track is now used for club racing along with the signature “Big Go”.

ESPN's Thunder interview.

And someone from the first 400 at Indy shot home video of the first finish.

Happy 40th Birthday today to Jeffrey Michael Gordon. ◙