"So thanks for giving me your love..."

We start this extra day of the year -- not really a freebie I guess, as there's still work and school -- with these Shaggy lyrics, running through my head these past few days:

Life is one big party when you’re still young
But who’s gonna have your back when it’s all done?
It’s all good when you’re little: you have pure fun...
Don’t be a fool, son, what about the long run?
Looking back, Shorty always mention
Said me not giving her much attention.
She was there through my incarceration;
I wanna show the nation my appreciation

Girl, you’re my angel, you’re my darling angel
Closer than my peeps you are to me, baby
Shorty, you’re my angel, you’re my darling angel
Girl, you’re my friend when I’m in need, lady

You’re a queen and thats how you should be treated
Though you never get the lovin’ that you needed
Could have left, but I called and you heeded
Begged and I pleaded, mission completed
Mama said that I and I dissed the program
Not the type to mess around with her emotion
But the feeling that I have for you is so strong
Been together so long and this could never be wrong

Girl, you’re my angel, you’re my darling angel
Closer than my peeps you are to me, baby
Shorty, you’re my angel, you’re my darling angel
Girl, you’re my friend when I’m in need, lady

Girl, in spite of my behavior, well, you are my savior
(You must be sent from up above)
And you appear to me so tender, well, girl I surrender
(So thanks for giving me your love...)


Here's a piece I wrote for Mal's hometown newspaper earlier this week, which I understood they ran without any edits. Unfortunately, I blew the lede; the girls' game Saturday starts at 12:10pm I learned in yesterday's program, with the boys' championship game immediately following...

A familiar face from New Richmond will be on the ice this weekend at the WIAA boys' and girls' state hockey championships: Malcolm J. S*****, 49, will be driving one of the two Zamboni's that will be simultaneously resurfacing the ice between periods and games. Saturday's championship games will be televised at 11a.m. and 1p.m. on channel 18 out of Eau Claire on local cable.

Mal has been employed part-time by Dane County as an LTE (limited term employee), helping to maintain the ice and facility at the arena commonly known as "the Barn", adjacent to the Alliant Energy Center/Dane County Coliseum where the state championships annually are held. He demonstrated his skills in providing the best sheet of ice possible for the University of Wisconsin Badgers' practices, and various local teams who rent ice time there for weekend games and practices.

Although some of his co-workers have been more formally trained -- attending classes and studying manuals on ice-making in recent years -- Mal credits his time at the New Richmond hockey sports center for helping him practice the skills of shaving, flooding, edging, maintaining the equipment, and dealing with "trouble spots" to make a hard yet smooth sheet for the skaters to excel upon. He worked as building manager in New Richmond alongside Bob Hansen in the late 1990's through the 2001 season.

One of Mal's fondest memories this year was receiving a literal "thumbs up" from Badgers' Coach Mike Eaves, pointing at the ice during practice time. Mal has also enjoyed observing some of the Badgers' drills, and seeing up close the play of Badgers' standouts like Kyle Turris and Patrick Johnson, Davis Drewiske and Andy Bohmbach of Hudson, Josh Engel of Rice Lake, and Podge Turnbull of Hayward.

In his own game, Mal served as high school goalie and defenseman, representing the Class of 1977. Back in those early years of New Richmond hockey, his teammates played outdoors with parents coming together and pushing shovels between periods to clean the ice. Mal is the son of Norm and the late Ruth S*****, and an uncle of New Richmond varsity boys' coach Adam S*****.

Mal would especially like to thank his former classmates, teachers, neighbors, and family friends for their love, patience and encouragement in pursuing his goals throughout the years. In turn, he would like to encourage young New Richmond and other local players to continue working hard, as he'd really like to watch more of them play on ice he helped take care of, one day.

So thanks for giving me your love... (It's not something he would write necessarily, but I read him the whole piece before submitting it, and he was impressed.) His father asked him yesterday who his P.R. agent was... Men like that, they don't necessarily think to say it, but they're not necessarily so cold they don't think it, in their subconsciousness somewhere. Props to the warm-hearted guys like Shaggy for showing us the way to share the love, sometimes as easy as saying, "Thanks for giving me your love." Try it out yourself on this "extra" day of the year? Nothing to lose really...

On to the hockey semifinals recap:
And then there were Four...

I paid $8 for the first session of the two early games; skipped the $5 to park as Mal drove my car in and flashed his employee badge (he got a ride home later that night from a nearby co-worker around 11p.m.); invested $3 in a tournament program, and paid $2 for a coffee that McDonalds brew puts to shame. And like the kids say, seeing the pure emotion out there on that ice... Priceless.

The first game pitted Madison Edgewood, a well-regarded local Catholic high school, with an impressive west side campus that includes fine athletic facilities and the grade schools as well. Their head coach is assisted by his three brothers (biological, not the religious distinction.) They had an unbeaten streak for a long time this season, until Stoughton bested them 6-0, one Friday night a few weeks ago.

The goalie obviously got frustrated at letting shots in, so the final score surely reflected the fact it was their first loss. A week or two later, competitive Monona Grove beat them 3-2 in OT. Edgewood, it looks like, had set their schedule late in the season to include a Friday night game, followed by Saturday play, to ensure some experience on playing back-to-back games.

Yesterday, they came out strong pointswise, and were up 5-1 on "always scrappy" Mosinee who pulled replaced their goalie goaltender starting the 3rd period. That's the story I want to focus on here...

Edgewood led, despite being outshot on goal in the first period. It wasn't that the kid was a sieve (and thankfully, there were no chants of that from Edgewood in this pretty much classy game), just that the shots Edgewood put up were more disciplined: they were really working something, not just shooting when they could as Mosinee seemed to be. Their shots were more credible, and they went in.

The Mosinee goalie had a funny style; he was putting his whole body into it, which made it harder for him to get back up and block the rebound. He was deflecting more than trapping and covering, which stops the play. Still, a strong effort and nothing to be ashamed of. His defensive teammates weren't giving him much help really. All were skating hard, some decent checking, but too much play in Mosinee's side of the ice for it all to rest on their goalie, imo.

Then I check the always invaluable program. Turns out, the kid's a freshman. What is that, 15? Fresh from 14 years old? Playing in the (correct name =) Veterans Memorial Coliseum (see the inaccuracy you get with submitted stories?), on a beautiful sheet of ice in front of a crowd of thousands. Both teams sent sizable contingents, including bands, though Mosinee's section was definitely louder in showing school spirit.

I like to sit up high, with the mostly men who return year-after-year to watch some good competition, whether their sons/local teams are represented or not. It's a good healthy tradition, and I must say, it's nice to be around that level of clean-cut seeming masculinity. But back to the game on the ice...

Down 5-1, the goalie #30 was replaced by the more standard goalie number, #1. A senior. I'm not sure of the back story: maybe the senior got hurt and #30 stepped up to replace him due to injury. Maybe the freshman consistently outplayed his elder all season long and for the good of the team, he took the top spot. The program tells you how many games, how many minutes played, and #30 had more than half for the season, but with #1 logging his share too. (Most other teams who stuck with only one had that goalie -- usually the upperclassman -- logging much more, about 90% to say 10%).

At one point, I turned to the teens behind me when the score was racheting up in favor of Edgewood, and said: "That kid's a freshman." Since one had just borrowed my program a few minutes earlier, he responded, "I know." (I guess you have to be older to see the impressiveness of such a young man's play.)

After about the fourth goal scored against him, #30 too showed frustration, whacking the pipes with his stick. When he was benched coming into the 3rd, he stood crouched in the team box with his head hung over the ice as one teammate, and then an assistant coach came over to console him. The good thing about the protective facewear: you can't see tears behind the mask.

But lo and behold: the Mosinee offense found their feet in the 3rd. Nothing to do with the replacement goalie really; Edgewood was not taking as many shots, perhaps content to play conservatively with a 5-1 lead. First one, than another, then yet another goal with less than 2 minutes to play. This truly might have been a case of not losing, the clock just running out on your efforts. Final score 5-4, with the crowd riled up, and the fans treated to an excellent opening game.

I hope that #30 comes back to state in years to come, and I hope the bus rides home were full of some proud young Warriors. "Never give up. Never, never, never".

For those reasons, and because the victor of the next game -- Appleton United co-op, making their first trip to state for the boys' team (the girls were champions last year) -- had a hot senior goalie, quick to cover and get back in position on the pucks he deflected, I think Edgewood will see their season end tonight.

Wisconsin Rapids could do nothing against them, so systematic was Appleton's defense and their passing efforts in setting up their own shots. Appleton knocked off last years' champ Fond du Lac in the playoffs, and Mal picked them to win the whole thing.

Still... unbeaten Eau Claire Memorial is ranked number one in the state, and beat Janesville 3-2 last night. And Superior beat University School-Milwaukee on a power play in OT. Eau Claire and Superior will face each other in the appr. 7:15 game tonight, with the winner facing either Appleton or Edgewood.

It's hard for a season to end, and of course, only one team will go home truly happy. But when you play hard, and give the fans their money's worth, you should be proud. No excuses: time to shine and play your hardest. And love your teammates, even if you don't see it as that until many years later...

"Thanks for giving me your love..."

A preview of things to come...

or, Why the game is not called "Redoing History"


McCain mocks Obama's Iraq comments
By LIBBY QUAID
Associated Press Writer

TYLER, Texas (AP) -- Republican presidential hopeful John McCain mocked Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday for saying he would take action as president "if al-Qaida is forming a base in Iraq."

"When you examine that statement, it's pretty remarkable," McCain told a crowd in Tyler, Texas.

"I have some news. Al-Qaida is in Iraq. It's called `al-Qaida in Iraq,'" McCain said, drawing laughter at Obama's expense.

Obama quickly answered back, telling a rally at Ohio State University in Columbus, "I do know that al-Qaida is in Iraq."

"So I have some news for John McCain," he added, saying there was no al-Qaida presence in Iraq until President Bush invaded the country.

...

McCain said he had not watched the Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday night but was told of Obama's response when asked if as president he would reserve the right to send U.S. troops back into Iraq to quell an insurrection or civil war.

Obama did not say whether he'd send troops but responded: "As commander in chief, I will always reserve the right to make sure that we are looking out for American interests. And if al-Qaida is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad."
...
"And my friends, if we left, they (al-Qaida) wouldn't be establishing a base," McCain said Wednesday. "They'd be taking a country, and I'm not going to allow that to happen, my friends. I will not surrender. I will not surrender to al-Qaida."
...

In the debate, Clinton did not answer the question about whether, as president, she would order a re-invasion of Iraq. "You're making lots of different hypothetical assessments," Clinton said.

Poor pundits...

Remember that old riddle? It starts out, "You are the bus driver. At the first stop, 5 passengers board: 2 schoolkids with backpacks; a mother with a bag of groceries in one hand, a toddler in another, and a baby snoozing in the 'cudddlecarry' on her chest. At the next stop, one person exits for the junior high; 4 more students board, along with a businessman dressed in a suit, two women, and an elderly couple..."

And on and on and on through the daily stops, as the narrator gets more and more creative in inventing passengers coming aboard and departing at each stop. Then you ask the kicker, "What color is the bus driver's eyes?"

If it's the first time the listener has heard it, chances are they've been concentrating on the counting: trying to figure out how many people are aboard the bus at any given moment. You know you've got them if their eyes glaze over, and they look at you like, "What the hell kind of question is that -- what color are the bus driver's eyes??"

To me, the pundits covering this campaign -- some of them -- are much like those trying to figure out who's all on the bus. In then end, they've lost all track of just who the bus driver has been for these past 7 or 8 years.

To me, those pundits who were all giddy about GWB forfeited their political credibilty years ago. Fool me once, shame on you... Fool me twice... well by then, most have probably figured out it's best to just turn off, and not listen to what the talking heads think.

There is one alleged journalist I've been reading lately, solely for kicks -- if you follow this blog regularly, you can even name the name. It's for entertainment value really. Due to connections from the past, and the push to artificially integrate women into the field during the feminism heydays, she's been riding that bus a long long time herself. But what passes for a non-humorous column actually tackling the issues of the world went to the wayside long long ago.

Now, here's what she has to say today, in her apparent long-standing competition to help ensure no Democrat takes the White House next January:

It’s a hard sell for Hillary to say that she is the only one capable of leading this country in a war when she helped in leading the country into that war. Or to paraphrase Obama from the debate here, the one who drives the bus into the ditch can’t drive it out.

Now, who knew it was that evil Hillary driving the bus these past years, steering the country into a ditch? I mean... who knew?

Know something?
Though never his biggest fan, I already miss Wm. F. Buckley, Jr. Say what you will about his crusty personality, the man was intelligent in his thinking. And honest. Two traits that plenty of our pundits apparently tossed out the back window long long ago...

Here's help, Hillary...

I still say, she should keep on fighting. Remember Cool Hand Luke? Just refuse to stay down, woman. Keep getting back up, come what may. You don't have to be powerful so much -- or angry -- just refuse to quit. Do what you can with what you have. Play the cards you've been dealt to the best of your ability. That's all we can ask... That's what I mean about fighting until the end. Then you can rest easy, if need be, knowing that you truly gave it all you got: that you just would not stay down and let yourself be beaten by perhaps a Bigger lesser... Time will tell; it always seems to work like that.

Now I'm not exactly sure how those debate formats work. If you have to stick to the silly little issues the moderators bring up (and it's Tim Russert tonight, no? Whenever I see that round talking head I think, "Tim. Who died and made you a deep political analyst? Stop telling me." His research and reporting skills are obviously weak, as are so many of these modern-day journalists who think that ratings/blog hits = solid journalism -- "they like me, they really like me!", and that entertainment and not accuracy is what the American public needs.)

Wonder why we're declining in our bullshit-detection abilities? You can't really put all the blame on the modern-day educational system for that one -- the generational loss of critical-thinking skills ...

Anyway, if you get to steer the discussion at all tonight, and if any of you Hillary folks happen to read my humble advice, let me offer an intelligent angle to play. Take the high road, my friends. Even if it doesn't "work" because the average Obama supporter thinks like this (Amba currently is an Obama supporter*, correct? Or will she change her mind -- again -- to be in with the in crowd? :) That's what happens when you've got no capacity for independent life judgment, just tend to do what you're told and fall for anything if the words today sound promising.

It's really not about who likes who. This group, or that. It's okay -- sometimes indeed the honorable high road, in fact -- to have an educated, deeper understanding of what makes a neutral "ref". Sure, it's tempting to want to choose somebody who you think will have your special back. Because everybody wants to win, right, no matter the ultimate price?

But if I've learned one thing in my continually plodding life, one is really much better off putting their faith in a person of solid principles. That is, if you have to trust your fate to the hands of another, it's better to choose someone not biased for you, but capable of exercising independent judgment based on some higher principles.

Why? Because if you choose the opposite, once you start to play that way, surely one day you will be in the minority, the "out" group, the one who can't get a fair shake because the refs are biased -- this time perhaps, against you. Better to go with an honest judge, not operating out of sympathy for this one or that. Don't take the cheap advantage, looking to game the system, so to speak. You might not win as much, or immediately, but if you have a shot at controlling your own destiny, earning your way up, so to speak, you won't be so discouraged and find that one day the tables are indeed slanted against you. And even if you think that is the way the game has always been played in the past, make tomorrow a better place for all. Including yourself; you and yours...**

Here's Orin Kerr, writing in today's Volokh blog:

Who Would Barack Obama Nominate to the Supreme Court?: When asked back in a November primary debate to say what kind of Justice he would want to nominate to the Supreme Court, Barack Obama responded:

I taught constitutional law for 10 years***, and . . . when you look at what makes a great Supreme Court justice, it's not just the particular issue and how they rule, but it's their conception of the Court. And part of the role of the Court is that it is going to protect people who may be vulnerable in the political process, the outsider, the minority, those who are vulnerable, those who don't have a lot of clout.

...[S]ometimes we're only looking at academics or people who've been in the [lower] court. If we can find people who have life experience and they understand what it means to be on the outside, what it means to have the system not work for them, that's the kind of person I want on the Supreme Court.

---

You know to me (Mary), that is some mighty scary stuff. We really have been down that road before judicially, and it leaves a hell of a mess that others in society are called upon to deal with, clean up. Usually, they're not the powerful elite who are affected either it seems, if you're a student of history and capable of analyzing from a less biased, real-world perspective.


----------------------------------
* Quoting amba: "Obama getting awfully friendly with Jews in Cleveland. Tsk tsk. ... Read the whole thing. It lets Marty Peretz at the New Republic sleep peacefully, but some of his commenters are trying to kick him awake."

I don't care what your group identity, or past history of discrimination or victimization, your game surely will be better for the honest competition, having to earn your way in and not play the special treatment card. In fact, I truly believe in the long run, that only continues to hurt the "disfavored" group, who believe themselves "owed" advantages because of that legacy. And you know what? That's what I think regardless of the particular group in question. So please don't try and play the racist, or anti-Semite card on me.

**In my humble observation, nothing does as much harm as those people well-meaning and determind, out to correct the wrongs of the past by aiming ill-advisedly and causing more damage to innocent others today with their good intentions...

*** Note: Barack Obama was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Chicago, if you can recognize the distinction. I suspect it is important when considering his judgment for helping select who would serve as a quality judicial mind for lifelong appointment to highest Court in the land. "Know Your Role", so to speak...


UPDATE: I just realized, this post dovetails nicely with my reasoning of why football fans shouldn't be content to just allow Bill Belichick off with a Half Million Dollar slap-on-the-wrist, or be satisfied with a Superbowl loss. It's all in how you play the game, man. And the message on display to those still coming up...

Girls' state hockey tournament

Truth is, they still haven't updated the WIAA website with the girls' brackets, so I didn't include the schedule of their state tournament games when posting the boys' scores here last night. It was in today's paper though...

So if you like to see young women competing athletically -- in a sport that is growing since the first state championship was played 7 years ago -- here are your Friday games at the Dane County Coliseum:

Chippewa Falls v. Fond du Lac co-op at 11a.m.;
Northland Pines v. Mosinee co-op at appr. 1:15p.m.

The state championship game will be played at noon on Saturday, and will be televised.

Previous State Champions:
2007 Appleton United
2006 Fond du Lac/Waupun
2005 Superior
2004 Fond du Lac/Campbellsport/Waupun
2003 Hudson
2002 Hudson

I clicked on her column today...

only to see if there was any acknowledgement of this error by Maureen Dowd that David Kopel, of the Volokh blog, corrects:

Several years ago, I suggested that Maureen Dowd's columns ought to be dropped from the Denver papers. For whatever reasons, she no longer appears so often in the Denver papers, and that's a good thing.

Last week, Hillary Clinton, told a Texas audience that the president was "all hat and no cattle."

Last Sunday, Dowd took the anti- Bush quote, claimed that Clinton had been speaking about Obama, and then insulted Clinton for using the phrase. Seeing less of Maureen Dowd is a silver lining on the cloud of recent changes at the Denver dailies.

Nope. Just another anti-Hillary screed. Say Maureen, you didn't happen to see that SNL bit last night about the mainstream media drooling over Obama and penalizing the woman candidate, did you?

Because come on. From one woman to another, this is getting kind of embarrassing, don't you think?

Hillary was so busy trying to prove she could be one of the boys — getting on the Armed Services Committee, voting to let W. go to war in Iraq, strong-arming supporters and donors, and trying to out-macho Obama — that she only belatedly realized that many Democratic and independent voters, especially women, were eager to move from hard-power locker-room tactics to a soft-power sewing circle approach.

Less towel-snapping and more towel color coordinating, less steroids and more sensitivity.

Please, don't lump us all in your desires to go back to the days where the women's role was in the sewing circles, and doing the towel color coordinating. Somehow, I think if you had a daughter, you would be embarrassed to put that into print.

Why not just retire gracefully and let your mental abilities decline in private, and not continue to put your personal jealousies -- and desires to solve the world's problems with "sensitivities" -- on show for all to pity?

Somewhere along the line, young women learned honest competition and people of all genders are starting to see through the pretty little games you're still playing. You really ought to just go and take the bench with the rest of the cheerleaders, not that there's anything wrong with that necessarily... The squad might just need your color coordinating tips, and twistily flexible moves and all... Just take care not to get dropped on your head.

Why "mandatory" matters...

Listen, as someone who chooses when self-employed not to carry health insurance, and as someone who has been covered by employers yet never made a single claim and has been somewhat resentful toward paying premiums for everybody and their family who seems to run to the doctor every time they sneeze or get a minor cut or something*...

I can totally understand why people in good health, and with a bit of savings under their belt, might choose to keep that premium money in their pockets and invest it on preventative maintenance-like health services that are not covered under the insurance plan anyways (ie/good food, massage services, exercise programs, etc.) If/when you do need to visit the doctor, you just pay out of your pocket -- and it's at higher prices to say, set a broken leg, than the insured are billed. (The insurance plans have worked out a "quantity" discount on the base prices as they cover so many.)

It's a gamble one takes, sure, but often it pays off if indeed you are young and healthy, and watch yourself on icy sidewalks say, so you don't break a leg or something (aside: I'm always amazed at the dumbish things young people with insurance do, the risks they seem to take, perhaps because in the back of their minds they know it won't cost them anything aside from the physical toll should an "accident" occur. Kind of like those who pop a cholesterol pill, yet keep on eating poorly because they think they are "covered".)

But if the country is going to support "mandatory" insurance, I totally understand the reason that you can't let some go without. Because then, you won't really solve the problems the "mandatory" is supposed to cure. That is, you'll still have free-riders -- the poor people who will show up at emergency rooms with their complaints knowing they will not be turned away. Without insurance and no way of collecting the bills over time from those without savings, jobs, or tangible property (or permanent addresses even), you really won't have solved the problem that the "mandatory" is aimed at fixing. What you'll really do is just enlarge the pool of the rest of us who will be subsidizing the emergency care of those people, because most will be forced to carry insurance under the "mandatory" plan.

That's why Hillary's healthcare plan makes more sense than Barack Obama's. Either it's "universal" -- mandatory for all to be insured, or why bother tinkering with the current system?
----------------------

*Once, I did have to visit a primary care physician when I somehow had a bug that I couldn't shake, even with time, rest and nutrition. So you pay out of pocket for the visit from savings, and for the antibiotic prescription. Still, if you keep yourself healthy overall and have a good family medical history when you're young, you can still come out ahead if you bank the premiums you've saved for such situations. And yes, I can hear some of you say: What about "accidents"?? Truth is, many of those can be controlled too if you're reasonably risk averse. And the worst most young people face -- car accidents -- can also be covered if you choose car insurance with higher PIP coverages and higher deductibles. Just like in my state, farmers and those with significant assets are not required to carry anything but liability insurance on their vehicles to be driven on the roads, so too can one choose to structure your finances in such a way that health "insurance" might not be needed, depending on one's lifestyle.

But as you age, and find yourself in clustered in communities with more chances of picking up bugs, health insurance can be a good thing. I'm just saying, there probably are a lot of people in their late teens, and early to late 20s who are uninsured by choice -- and not freeloading off the system either -- when they are no longer covered under a family plan. But the only way I can see for the mandatory health insurance for all to work is if, indeed, you "force" the poorest amongst us to pay their way as well. Otherwise, what problem is really solved?

Just happened to be watching the local news on NBC, and caught the opening of Saturday Night Live. Now that was funny. Haven't really seen that show in years, but they did mention... the writers are back. Good stuff.

And just to update you on the Wisconsin prep hockey scores, heck I'll even throw in the brackets below so you don't have to click the link:

Fond du Lac got knocked out by Appleton, 4-3;

the Germantown Ice Bears -- alas -- had their season ended by University School, 3-1;

locally, Edgewood advances to state (they haven't been able to get past this round in the past few years, not sure if it's their first trip ever) by beating Middleton, 4-0;

Superior again makes a showing (though they're really not all that strong this year, so we'll see... but somehow that Minnesota competition, plus they seem to know their role is to represent the North in this tournament... can you see why I don't bet/predict? Must be the Libra in me...) anyway, Superior over River Falls, 6-1;

Eau Claire Memorial over Lakeland, 5-0;

Wisconsin Rapids over Sparta (remember, who knocked off Onalaska), 3-2 in OT;

and Janesville eked past Stoughton, 2-1 in OT.

Mosinee is still alive, pushing past Wausau West, 6-3;
and that's 8.

Here are the brackets, and times the puck(s) drop Thursday:

Mosinee meets Edgewood at 11a.m.
Rapids and Appleton Co-op at appr. 1:15;
and for the evening session...
Eau Claire Memorial vs. Janesville at 5p.m.;
and then, Superior (who's travelling the furthest) v. University School at appr. 7:15pm.

Mr. Having-It-Both-Ways...

or, Free Barry!

Because I just don't see how, in good faith, you can prosecute Barry Bonds for perjury and allow Roger Clemens a free pass. Either it's both, or it should be neither at this point. (and I think most would vote for the latter. If baseball at the time quietly condoned it, and it's human nature to shake your finger and deny, let's all move on already?)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Roger Clemens' lawyer was told a photograph exists that shows the pitcher at a party hosted by Jose Canseco, an issue that was disputed in Congress this month.

A June 1998 party at Canseco's house in Florida was one of several topics discussed during Clemens' testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Feb. 13.

Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee, said the seven-time Cy Young Award winner was at the party. Clemens denied being there when he gave a deposition to congressional investigators on Feb. 5, then testified eight days later that it was possible he could have stopped by after playing golf.

In the Mitchell Report on doping in baseball, released in December, McNamee alleged that Clemens spoke with Canseco at the barbecue and soon after approached the trainer about using performance-enhancing drugs.

McNamee said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone at least 16 times, possibly more, between 1998 and 2001. Clemens has vehemently denied those accusations several times, including under oath before Congress.

Congress is deciding whether to ask the Justice Department to investigate the contradictory testimony given by Clemens and McNamee under oath.

Now Bill Belichick's alleged cheating, I wouldn't be so quick to let that pass. Imo, he really shouldn't be allowed to coach again, as more and more evidence comes out proving the allegations true... (and I'm not even a Rams fan, or a Vegas bettor who lost on that game... and others, but there's nothing at all to show that "everybody in the sport was doing it". And if the charges prove true, his is not really a victimless crime... Plus, they said Barry's actions and demeanor made him unlikeable?!? If that's the distinguishing factor, Belichick really takes the cake...)

I wonder...

if, after the convention controversies are resolved regarding seating the Florida/Michigan delegates and the use of superdelegates to determine the candidate...

if the Democratic party candidate again loses the Presidential race in November, we might see something akin to the birth of the Republican party when the Whigs proved so ineffective over time way back when.

If this one too is lost in November running either current candidate (Clinton or Obama), then surely some might begin to question whether the Democratic party as it has evolved over the past decades with odd bedfellows -- working-class voters and elite liberals; ethnic conservative traditionalists and the more social radicals -- will hold and continue as a unified coalition.*

If so, then perhaps Barack Obama, who is certainly a young man with a political future ahead of him either way, will play more a Lincoln-esque role with a new party than even he conceives right now.

If another loss accrues in the (D) column, perhaps it might indeed prove a good move letting the former party fade away, if something more competitive and effective comes in its place. Because one-party dominance surely is not good. (and yes, I know the recent Congressional elections were all about balance, but really, how effective has the Democratic-majority Congress proven lately either?) I suspect a lot might depend on how well the country fares under a McCain presidency, following 8 years of GWB. If things get bad enough, and the Democrats still are unable to pull together and be effective in their policies, it might be a wise move, no?


(Like I said, just a bit of Saturday wondering...)

-------------

*especially considering the large numbers of cynical citizens (plenty young)** we'll see should a Democratic loss occur -- not to mention the expected rise in citizenship of those currently unrecognized, in this country illegally and not voting.

** Even with an Obama win, I wonder how long it would take to also see that rise in young cynics, much like the huge numbers seen in the 70s and 80s when they realized that the hopes and dreams and promises of the 60s did not fare so well, or occur so quickly, in reality. I might not be articulating it well, but I do suspect we will see that phenomena in years to come. Which is why some of us definitely caution making promises that can't be kept... who wants to experience that "coming down period" all over again? Best not to get so "high" in the first place...***

*** All speculation, of course, but put me on record as urging all: come what may, let's all resolve no matter how bad it gets, we won't strike out by dressing our kids in plaids and stripes... on the same day! (It's a cliche sure, but "Think of the children!")

The dawn was breaking... the world was waking...

Any dream will do.

(Lyrics in my head today:)

I closed my eyes,
drew back the curtain
To see for certain
what I thought I knew

Far far away,
someone was weeping
But the world was sleeping
Any dream will do

I wore my coat,
with golden lining
Bright colors shining,
wonderful and new
And in the east,
the dawn was breaking
And the world was waking
Any dream will do

A crash of drums,
a flash of light
My golden coat
flew out of sight
The colors faded into darkness
I was left alone

May I return
to the beginning
The light is dimming,
and the dream is too
The world and I,
we are still waiting
Still hesitating
Any dream will do

A crash of drums,
a flash of light
My golden coat flew out of sight
The colors faded into darkness
I was left alone

May I return
to the beginning
The light is dimming,
and the dream is too
The world and I,
we are still waiting
Still hesitating
Any dream will do

Trivia note: Joe Cuddy's version was a number one hit in Ireland in 1974.

Minnesota mourns.

Woman charged in fatal bus crash; she's using alias, in U.S. illegally

Woman who gave her name as Alianiss Nunez Morales

By CHAO XIONG, Star Tribune

COTTONWOOD, MINN. -- The van driver involved in the school bus crash in southwestern Minnesota that killed four students was charged today, and federal authorities say she is using an alias and in the United States illegally.

The woman, who is using the name Aliannis N. Morales, is charged with four counts of criminal-vehicular homicide, running a stop sign and driving without a license at the time of the crash Tuesday afternoon near Cottonwood.

Lyon County Attorney Richard Maes confirmed today that the woman ran a stop sign when she hit the bus, which then fell onto a pickup truck. The truck driver, James Hancock, of Marshall, told the Star Tribune that the van ignored the stop sign.

The woman has a court appearance scheduled for 11:30 this morning.

Federal immigration investigator Claude Arnold said that Morales is not the woman's name, and she is not revealing her real name. He added that she is in this country illegally, probably from Mexico.

Federal immigration spokesman Tim Counts said that the woman has been of "minimal helpfulness" to investigators, but "we will get to the bottom of matters."

...

Lakeview School, where the students attended, will be closed Monday for the funerals of brothers Jesse Javens, 13, and Hunter Javens, 9, both of Cottonwood. Also killed were Reed Stevens, 12, of Marshall; and Emilee Olson, 9, of Cottonwood.

There were 28 students on the bus. In addition to Hancock, eight children remained hospitalized Thursday in Sioux Falls, S.D., Marshall and Rochester.

Kalahari...

wet and wild!

Today I changed my socks... tomorrow too!

(And the crowd goes wild!!)

by John McCormick

DALLAS – It's probably safe to say that you have arrived as a politician when your audience applauds when you blow your nose. Yes, just a day before a debate in Texas, Sen. Barack Obama has a head cold.

And about a half-hour into a speech here, the Illinois Democrat announced that he had to take a quick break. "Gotta blow my nose here for a second," Obama said.

Out came a Kleenex (or perhaps it was a hankie), and he wiped his nose. The near-capacity audience at the Reunion Arena, which his campaign said totaled 17,000, broke out in a slightly awkward applause.

Amba has cleaned her glasses...

and is starting to catch on that -- even though it's fun to go with the kids thinking you're part of the "future!" -- it pays to play it wise and think: What does this "Change" and "Yes We Can!" meme really mean, short of electing the first black man as president? She quotes this excerpt from the Washington Post:

Political candidates routinely indulge in exaggeration, pandering, inconsistency and self-serving obscuration. Clinton and McCain do. The reason for holding Obama to a higher standard is that it's his standard and also his campaign's central theme. He has run on the vague promise of "change," but on issue after issue -- immigration, the economy, global warming -- he has offered boilerplate policies that evade the underlying causes of the stalemates. These issues remain contentious because they involve real conflicts or differences of opinion.

The contrast between his broad rhetoric and his narrow agenda is stark, and yet the media -- preoccupied with the political "horse race" -- have treated his invocation of "change" as a serious idea rather than a shallow campaign slogan. He seems to have hypnotized much of the media and the public with his eloquence and the symbolism of his life story. The result is a mass delusion that Obama is forthrightly engaging the nation's major problems when, so far, he isn't.

And Susan Estrich today weighs in on the recent plagarism charges, offering up some hard-earned wisdom from her own work experience. Read the last two paragraphs with your newly cleaned glasses, a few times over, if need be:

What gives is this is politics, and in politics, copying lines from someone else, even if it's only the result of having the same writer or handler, can be deadly if it goes to your character.

Just ask Joe Biden. He got knocked out of the presidential race in 1987 by the notorious "Biden tape," which showed British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock and Sen. Biden using the same phrases to describe their boyhoods and come-from-nothing paths to leadership. One front-page New York Times story and one Des Moines Register story later, and Biden was history.

Or ask me, for that matter. I got my job as the manager of the Dukakis campaign in September of 1987 because then-Gov. Dukakis swore up and down that no one from his campaign could possibly have played any role in the dastardly deed of making and distributing that tape — hardly dastardly at all, by my lights — and then was forced to eat his words and fire my predecessor, whose fingerprints were, figuratively speaking, all over the tape.

Cut to 20 years later, and the Clinton campaign doesn't even bother to use a third party to charge Obama with the crime for which Biden was beheaded.

Why bother? Howard Wolfson, the Clinton communications director who raised the charges against Obama, isn't risking his job in doing so; he's doing his job.

David Axelrod, the extraordinarily smart strategist who has been with Obama since the beginning, was also Deval Patrick's strategist in his run for governor of Massachusetts. Maybe the lines are his. Who cares?

That's really the only question. Does anyone care? The charges of plagiarism hurt Biden 20 years ago because, with 20 fewer years of foreign policy experience than he has today, there were questions about his depth and gravitas as a candidate, whether he was just a pretty face or a serious leader. So the words, coupled with some overstatement on his resume at the same time, hurt grievously.

In Obama's case, the concern is, or should be, different. Does anyone really doubt that Obama is a skilled rhetorician? They'd have to be nuts. The real question is whether there's more to his candidacy than that. It's not the focus on the borrowed words but the focus on words themselves that makes this an appealing target for the Clintons.

The real comparison with Deval Patrick, the one that could hurt Obama, is the one people in Boston have been drawing for some time between two inspirational candidates who talk big change, but then, as in the case of Patrick, face the hard light of reality when they win. Deval had a rough first few months in office, and while he's now settled in, his governorship is, according to many observers, not so different than those of his predecessors, who did not promise major change. He's fighting for casinos, not a revolution.

Indeed, a number of people have been circulating articles and arguments that one of the big reasons Obama lost Massachusetts handily, notwithstanding his endorsement by every living legend in the state, was because Democrats there are disappointed with the last candidate who promised change, Gov. Patrick. That's the comparison worthy of examination, and it's based on actions, not words.

Meanwhile, Maureen's NYT column today again focuses solely on criticizing Hillary Clinton, something "clever" about the candidate playing Laverne and Shirley, with no Lenny and Squiggy in sight... (Because that's what we all think of nowadays when we think Milwaukee, donchaknow?)

In my book though, Maureen ties for campaign analysis inanity today with this observation from Ann "oversensitive mom?" Althouse, who sees criticism of Obama's silver-tongued speechmaking as ... homophobia? (No Ann, use your dictionary. See, there's a difference between "thespian" and a lesbian, and pretty much by now, even the working-class folks know it. Oh, and if you think all "poets" are gay, tell that to Seamus Heaney, for one.)

THIS RHETORIC FROM THE CLINTON RALLY verges on homophobic. Machinists' union president Tom Buffenbarger, speaking before Hillary Clinton last night, called Barack Obama a “thespian," a "silver-tongued orator," a "man in love with the microphone," and "a poet." And a Harvard Law Review editor.

And you know Ann, Susan was a Harvard Law Review editor once upon a time too. And she's on record as well, as saying that experience -- however worthwhile -- in no way qualifies one to lead as Commander-in-Chief.

Look up, everyone... look up!

The living room window faces east, southeast-ish, and the full moon was bright in the sky earlier on another cold, clear evening here. Passing by later, I noticed the eclipse has started... about halfway covered in shadow.

I called my sister, who said my 7-year-old niece was still up, thanked me briefly for the reminder and hung up. I called and spoke with my Mom in Florida, who had earlier e-mailed eclipse details. "Oh, I was just out there, but let me go look again. Was thinking it was at 10:36pm, but it's already started..."

Mal called his 90-something Dad, he'd just hung up with an hour earlier. He too had heard the precise time on the news, but went to find a window to sit by...

We could hear the neighbor kids fussing, getting ready for bed, so Mal knocked and the Grandmother come over to peer outside the windowglass by the building's front door. (Their apartment faces west, so no view from inside). Thinking it worthy, she called the boy and girl, aged about 8 and 9 (with him older so they're about the same size -- almost like twins really) out into the hall in their pajamas. They just looked for a minute or two out the open front door, but long enough to speak of seeing it in class tomorrow, I hope...

Think of all of us out here tonight, everyone looking up at the same time, same moon, watching something truly amazing. Breathtaking even, if you step outside in the cold to further witness. I don't know why, but it really does lift one's spirits, no?

"... wishing on the same bright star! Somewhere Out There, if love can see us through..."

Grieving schoolchildren in Minnesota.

By ABBY SIMON AND CHAO XIONG,
Star Tribune Staff Writers

COTTONWOOD, MINN. -- A day of grieving and investigation unfolded today after a school bus accident in southwestern Minnesota left four students dead and several others injured.
...
The attempt at healing began with a prayer service late this morning at Lakeview School.

The Department of Public Safety released the identities of those killed this afternoon. They are: Hunter Javens, 9, Cottonwood; his brother Jesse Javens, 13; Emilee Olson, 9, Cottonwood; and Reed Stevens, 12, Marshall.

Eight students remained hospitalized this afternoon in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Marshall, one in critical condition, authorities said during a news conference in Cottonwood. They are in grades 5 through 9.

The drivers of the van and the pickup truck suffered injuries that were not life threatening. They are also hospitalized.

The van driver was identified as Alianiss N. Morales, 23, of Minneota, Minn. The pickup driver was James M. Hancock, 45, of Marshall.

The State Patrol declined to reveal any details about the crash. An official from the National Transportation Safety Board was on the way to the state to assist in the investigation.

At the news conference today, Superintendent Johnson said that "when a tragedy like this impacts a community, it's tough to even come up with the words to describe it."

He said that the demand for grief counseling at the school today "was overwhelming." School will resume Thursday, and a memorial service is scheduled for Thursday night in the gym.

Johnson also read a statement from Kandy Stevens, Reed's mother, saying that "she wants people to know that Reed was a young man who loved God, his country and his family. We know that he is with the Lord, and we ask all parents to give their kids a hug tonight and every night."

Carol Kompelien, 61, who knows families of three of the fatalities, said today that "we're all in shock right now. I don't think anybody knows what to think or what to do next.

"It'll take a long time to recover from this. Oh, heavens, there's no time limit on that. It'll be forever. It will never be the same."

The 53-year-old bus driver, Dennis Devereaux, issued a statement today through his wife, Kathy: "We would like everyone to keep the children and their families in our thoughts and prayers."

Asked about Devereaux's effort to get kids off the bus safely, she said her husband's "highest priority is the well being of the children, and he was doing what he needed to do at the time to assure the safety of the children."

Kompelien said she knows Dennis Devereaux, adding that he has a daughter who attends the school. He's also a part-time janitor at the school.

"He's probably the most conscientious bus driver we have," she said. "If the speed limit says 55, he isn't going to go 56."


The crash happened about a mile south of Cottonwood at 3:30 p.m., said Lt. Mark Peterson of the State Patrol. The bus was carrying 28 students from Lakeview, a K-12 school, was driving south on Hwy. 23 when it collided with the van going east on County Road 24, he said. The impact tipped the bus onto its side, and it struck or fell on the pickup truck, witnesses said. The drivers of the van and truck were both alone in their vehicles, Peterson said.

He said an intense investigation was underway and it was not clear who, if anyone, was at fault.

Carol Kompelien said she travels that intersection regularly, adding that there are train tracks across Hwy. 24 and drivers should slow down enough that they don't blow through the intersection, as this van's driver is suspected of doing.

State Patrol officials today, when asked, declined to say whether Morales had a valid driver's license.

Last night (Monday)...

we went to the rescheduled Hillary Clinton rally at Monona Terrace. Now this was my second political rally, as I'd seen Gary Hart at Northwestern, just before the Monkey Business/Donna Tart bit hit the news. He was still on the ballot, so I voted for him in the Illinois primary that year. First time voter and all... So I guess I can't be too hard on these idealistic Obama voters, some also voting for their first times this year.

(Update: Correcting my memory by reading up on the events of 20 years ago on Wikipedia, I see my memory indeed failed me. I remember "wasting" my vote in that Illinois primary, but it was well after the "Monkey Business" story broke, and immediately after the Super Tuesday losses that had Hart dropping out of the race... again. Meaning, he was still on the Illinois ballot on which I voted, but no longer a candidate. I was just ticked, I think, that no matter someone's platform or ideals, his womanizing would keep him from pursuing his career. Incidentally, the Hart's have been married for almost 50 years now, according to Wikipedia.)

The speech last night was nothing new to me really, as I'd been following her platforms. Some I agree with, some not necessarily so, but I still think she'll do a better job than either Obama or McCain. It was cool seeing the local politicians, plus Hillary and Chelsea in person. And best of all was talking to the people standing nearby me, an older couple, the Davisson's (sp?) -- he 83 (we got to talking; he told me) and his wife, plus their friend Mrs. Addams (sp?) who had worked with Hillary years ago on childrens' rights issues, and whose husband (I think it was) was a sociology professor at Wisconsin. Just wonderful, very interesting people, who shared a bit about themselves, and their backgrounds. (The Davisson's had met her before, had a picture taken, when she was running for the Senate in New York, where they spend their summers.)

It was good standing near these older folks, and stand we did for the full hour chatting and waiting, and the approximately 40-minute speech. I really do like society's elders -- I think they help me keep things in perspective, and often have the most to offer in terms of conversation.

Mal hung back a bit with the camera*, though I introduced him to them all as we were walking out. Mr. Davisson: "Oh, are you an attorney too?" Me: "Naw, he drives a Zamboni; you know what that is?" -- (Duh; this to a guy who lived for a long period of time in Buffalo, which incidentally did you know, has about 10-20 less inches of snow than Madison this year?)

Well his eyes lit up, a very kind and down to earth man, I surmised in the short period of time I knew him: "Oh, you're the guy everybody wants to take a ride with!" Bless your heart, Mr. Davisson...

Here are 3 pictures from the event:









--------------------

*Later, Mal mentioned it was mostly "hippies" standing by him. "With bad b.o.", he said. Well, it was late in the day and crowded in there, but I kinda know what he meant, living a few years myself in Madison and all...

Promises, or just speech-making?

or, You Be The Judge...

"I opposed this war in 2002. I will bring this war to an end in 2009. It is time to bring our troops home," he declared.

In other news...
It's time for our annual prep hockey roundup here on Subsumed; just one more game until we know who's all going to state. We caught the Monona Grove-Middleton game tonight at Capitol Ice Arena: Middleton advances 2-1 in overtime to face Edgewood, who beat Oregon convincingly 6-1.

Superior beat New Richmond 2-0 in Superior tonight, and will face River Falls, who shut down Hudson convincingly, 6-1.

The upset of the evening had to be Sparta 3-2 over Onalaska, who had been ranked fourth in the state. They'll face Wisconsin Rapids, who knocked out Black River Falls 3-2.

Number 7 ranked Arrowhead also saw their season come to an end, losing 2-0 tonight to the Germantown Ice Bears. (Talk about coming in under the radar -- I never heard of the co-op team either.) To make it to state though, they'll have to get past University School-Milwaukee, who edged Brookfield 4-3.

My personal favorite still alive now has to be Stoughton, who beat Catholic Memorial tonight 6-1. They'll take on #3 ranked Janesville on Saturday, who beat Kettle Moraine/Mukwanago tonight, also by a 6-1 score.

Who have I left out... ? Ah, sectional number 5 -- always mighty mighty. Only one of the two can advance: will it be Fond du Lac, who beat Neenah 6-0, or Appleton, who beat Green Bay United, 7-4? Smart money says Fondy again, last year's state champ, currently sitting at number 9 in the state rankings. (number 9... number 9...)

Number one ranked Eau Claire Memorial, sitting pretty with a season record of 20-0-0, will see Lakeland next, who took out Chippewa Falls 3-1. (Memorial beat Rice Lake 10-1 tonight.) And finally, Wausau West ended Antigo's season 4-1, and will play always scrappy Mosinee next, who beat Northland Pines 9-3.

So there you go. Sixteen teams still alive, cut down to 8 by late Saturday night. At this level, anything goes.

The website hasn't fully updated the girls' scores from tonight yet, so I can't tell you what 8 teams are still standing there. The St. Croix Valley co-op team is top-ranked this year with a 19-0-1 record, and faced New Richmond tonight, but no score called in just yet.

University School-Milwaukee co-op ended Appleton United's season 2-1. And Badger Thunder got beat bad by (Stevens)Point-(Wisconsin)Rapids, 7-1, as did Rhinelander who lost to Northland Pines 6-1. No scores yet on Superior-Hayward, Menomonie-Chippewa Falls or Onalaska-Central Wisconsin Storm.

Only 4 girls' teams will advance to state, whose play begins -- I think -- a week from Friday morning. The first round of the boys' tournament begins next Thursday at 1p.m. (I always figured, heck, even if you're not a hockey fan, those high school kids have to be cheering on the team, as if they advance, usually the school gets the day off to send a bus or two to support the team.)

And on a personal note... if you happen to attend the state tournament this year at the Dane County Coliseum/Alliant Energy Center, for any part of seven boys' games, or three girls' games -- or even catch the televised championships on Saturday -- be sure to check out the Zamboni driver. (They always have two on the ice for state; I was going to say, the one with the obvious case of alopecia, but he'll probably be wearing a knit hat, come to think of it...)

Yes, Mal will be driving this year, going in at 7am tomorrow to start making the ice. He's been working at the arena next to the Coliseum (aka, "the Barn") this season, shaving the ice for the Badgers' practices, and a variety of local teams who also rent icetime there. Still, working state at the Coliseum is big-time, and not just for the athletes. So, GO MAL! Give 'em the most beautiful sheet you can so the players can really turn it on as some of them end their high school careers.

Nevermind politics right now; I've found following hockey in the winters up here really does make the season speed by. For the price of admission (and seeing that fabulous Zamboni driving between periods/games), consider coming out for a session next weekend? (The Birkebeiner is this weekend; state hockey championships the next.)

The smiles returning to their faces...

Nothing political, just an honest observation of what an absolutely beautiful day it is here. Not crisp so much, but downright cold and clear, letting that beautiful beautiful sun shine on down.

Everybody I've passed on the streets today has been wearing a smile, and if you don't think weather contributes to our general state of mind, heck even the crazy crimes rate, you haven't been following the patterns...

It IS a beautiful day in the neighborhood, and the white fluffy stuff only adds to the beauty. Special thanks to all those who've been keeping up with the snow/ice removal so as not to make for an impossible job on these salt-ineffective, rainy and icy conditions of late.

Shoveling/blowing -- it really is an art form, and practice does help to make perfect. Shine on, you crazy diamond!

Forewarned is forearmed.

64. February 18th, 2008 3:04 pm

If you were from Massachusetts, as I am, you would recognize that his entire campaign is borrowed from the Deval Patrick playbook. I was an active supporter of Deval Patrick when he ran for governor–and one of those who is hugely disappointed by his mistakes and general lack of performance–and this is with a democratic legislature. One of the reasons I am NOT supporting Obama is that I don’t feel we can afford to have a Deval Patrick experience in the White House–a candidate who has rhetorical skills but has no idea how to get things done.

— Posted by Ellen

"Just words? Just words?"

or, Ignore that man behind the curtain!

Here I was mentioning how I thought his references to "I Have a Dream" and "We Hold These Truths to be Self Evident ... All Men are Created Equal" were just empty allusions to his race...

Turns out, they're not even original allusions, but copped from another black candidate, the current Massachusetts governor!

Lol -- maybe that would play better were he only running, say, for Illinois governor, and not commander in chief. Because surely America isn't ready to elect somebody president just because he's black and you can just wind him up and feed him lines, right? We're smarter than running that at this critical time, right? So much for freshness, and change... and character.

Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign's communications director, today accused Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) of committing “plagiarism” in a speech in Milwaukee on Saturday night.

“Sen. Obama is running on the strength of his rhetoric and the strength of his promises and, as we have seen in the last couple of days, he’s breaking his promises and his rhetoric isn’t his own.”

C'mon, I know the Kennedy's plagarized too, but surely this will get a mention in the biased press... right? Make you wonder if the color thang is really all that important just to show how unprejudiced we are, how much we hate the Clinton's? Hello, hello Maureen? Professor Schwartz You really want to go down on record as liking this stuff, and thinking he's better prepared than "Ms. Clinton"?

Remember, the reputation you save might be your own. And isn't it better to find out the man's weaknesses now, rather than when he's trying to lead the country? ("psst... Deval, what you got on Kosovo?")

I believe there is hope yet.

"Based on exit polls, among the approximately 16.3 million people who identified themselves as Democrats, over 678,000 more voted for Hillary Clinton than Barack Obama."

What, you mean some of those voting Obama in the Democratic primaries, or turning out for the stadium rally parties, will be voting for the (R) in the fall?

Say it ain't so!

And of course you acknowledge the voting preferences of Michigan and Florida voters, the latter of whom turned out in great numbers in the primary. Ignoring them, two potential swing states in the general, is just stupid strategy. Unless you're gunning for McCain to win...

And while legitimate arguments can be made on both sides of the “super-delegate” debate, there is simply no question that the system was not set up to allow the nominee to be chosen based in very large part on primary and caucus victories in states that Democrats aren’t truly competitive. The very idea that a 12 delegate advantage from a state like Idaho trumps an 11 delegate advantage from a swing state like New Jersey should be anathema to the party. Nor should racking up a combined 449,000 vote advantage in the “practically impossible to win” states of Georgia and Alabama be considered more important than a 416,000 vote advantage in a competitive/must-win state like California.

Yet this is exactly what the Obama campaign is arguing --- that the reality of the electorial college map should be irrelevant, and that only raw vote totals, “pledged” delegates, and the number of states won should matter to the super-delegates. And the media simply repeats this argument without question.

Kristol on Orwell on Kipling.

…For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.

Orwell offers a highly qualified appreciation of the then (and still) politically incorrect Kipling. He insists that one must admit that Kipling is “morally insensitive and aesthetically disgusting.” Still, he says, Kipling “survives while the refined people who have sniggered at him seem to wear so badly.” One reason for this is that Kipling “identified himself with the ruling power and not with the opposition.”

“In a gifted writer,” Orwell remarks, “this seems to us strange and even disgusting, but it did have the advantage of giving Kipling a certain grip on reality.” Kipling “at least tried to imagine what action and responsibility are like.” For, Orwell explains, “The ruling power is always faced with the question, ‘In such and such circumstances, what would you do?’, whereas the opposition is not obliged to take responsibility or make any real decisions.” Furthermore, “where it is a permanent and pensioned opposition, as in England, the quality of its thought deteriorates accordingly.”

If I may vulgarize the implications of Orwell’s argument a bit: substitute Republicans for Kipling and Democrats for the opposition, and you have a good synopsis of the current state of American politics.

Having controlled the executive branch for 28 of the last 40 years, Republicans tend to think of themselves as the governing party — with some of the arrogance and narrowness that implies, but also with a sense of real-world responsibility. Many Democrats, on the other hand, no long even try to imagine what action and responsibility are like. They do, however, enjoy the support of many refined people who snigger at the sometimes inept and ungraceful ways of the Republicans. (And, if I may say so, the quality of thought of the Democrats’ academic and media supporters — a permanent and, as it were, pensioned opposition — seems to me to have deteriorated as Orwell would have predicted.)

Ooooohhhhh-bama!

Just sharing, draw your own conclusions:

On last night's local news, there was reporting on the ice and snowstorms that forced both Democratic candidates to cancel yesterday's appearances, and also footage from Saturday night's Democratic party dinner in Milwaukee that both attended.

Hillary looked sharp and rested in a royal blue suit (just thought I'd note, for those of you solely into fashion and appearance coverage.) The newsclip from her speech sounded strong to these ears: all about how you can't bank on a soaring speechmaker making every promise in the book, but why it's best to elect someone with the wherewithal to fulfill the carefully chosen promises that are made. Results over rhetoric, so to speak.

Obama's clip (no fashion or appearance notes; he looked the same as always) surprised me, I must say. He was responding directly to Hillary, it seemd... "Just words? Just words? I Have a Dream: just words? ... We Hold These Truths to be Self Evident: just words?"

The funny thing was, you could pick up on just a bit of shock in the pause between the two phrases, when the room seemed silent. Surely he's used to an outroar of support there, and looked around as if "Gee, that usually works when I pack the stadiums." Then we he went on with the "We Hold These Truths" bit, again there was no obvious outcry of passion.

Nevermind what you think him hitching his bandwagon to Dr. King's dream that his children would be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Nevermind that some would say he's gotten a lot of support, cheaply at that, just for alluding to the fact that he's potentially the first black man to serve as president.

It just struck me, in the brief moment he was delivering and maybe not getting the passionate applause and Amen's he's used to, that maybe he's starting to wise up that what plays in Iowa and Utah maybe won't work so well in Ohio or Texas. Or Wisconsin, where many have learned to be discerning customers who don't automatically think that black is better, and content-free cant can't sweep you in as commander-in-chief. He'd be better if he were made to work for it -- not just cribbing famous words of the past and delivering them in a practiced voice.

Hillary's right: in the end, it doesn't matter the tone or sound of your voice in getting the job done. Give me an ugly boss anyday, or a professor with a grating sound quality who know's what they're talking about over an empty suit with excellent delivery but not much to back it up. The "I'm black" tricks that have helped his career along thus far surely won't work everywhere, where people are used to working alongside and competing against people from different backgrounds and races. Again, just because you won those Red States and smaller Blues in the primaries, doesn't automatically translate to unthinking support of all areas in the general.

Aptly named, "Holeman"

or, "With supporters like these..."

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
CANTON, OH -- Robert Holeman came to Timken High School here today with a message to deliver to Bill Clinton. He did -- and he said the former president wasn’t happy about it.

Clinton spoke to a capacity crowd in this Northeast Ohio town, the third of five events today in the Buckeye State. He told voters that the contest was “the power of speeches against the promise of solutions by a world-class change maker.”

Throughout the event, as Clinton made his case for his wife, Holeman’s dissenting voice could be heard. At times he simply shouted Obama’s name. When Clinton would set up a sure applause line, Holeman could be heard heckling. As soon as Clinton finished speaking, the Canton native made a beeline to the ropeline to give Clinton a piece of his mind.
...
Holeman said he did support Bill Clinton during his campaigns, but that now the country wants a “new perspective.” “I think the president’s trying hoodwink us, bamboozle us, put us back in the okie doke,” he said. “He had eight years to do what he was supposed to do. All the things he said that she’s gonna do, he had the same authority that he wants her to have. Now if one Clinton, the male Clinton can’t get it done, how is Ms. Clinton [going to].”

So much for peace, love, and kumbaya'ing... Gotta love that last line especially, "Ms. Clinton". C'mon -- how old is this guy?

I wonder: do people really believe in Barack Obama's foreign policy dreams enough to put him in the White House, now that it appears a showdown with Putin's Russia is looming over Kosovo? Might not be the best time to run the newbie who apparently advocates pulling the U.S. into its shell, like a defensive turtle. Can I get an "Amen" on that one, Mr. Holeman?

Smells like '68

or,
Look away, look away, look away, Maureen Dowd.

Remember when I told you my high school observations, that the kids who were truly popular and drank moderately and other such activities on the weekends were secure enough they did not "brag" on it? That it was those feeling insecure who felt the need to trot out their weekend exploits to impress others?

Today, Maureen Dowd for some inexplicable reason, feels the need to remind us of her expertise: the seven odd presidential campaigns she has covered, and just how little she's learned. (Covering seven presidential campaigns has made me realize that when it comes to predicting how presidents will perform, “nobody knows anything,” as William Goldman said about Hollywood.)

No mention of Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain's positions on the issues, just a psychological analysis that it's hard for folks to change after 40. Redemption runs out, it seems. Nobody can learn new tricks past a set age. Of course, she ends with her fears of President Hillary on "Day 2".

Fear not, Maureen. Maybe you're ... projecting or something, always focusing on the face of that familiar female candidate, not venturing far from the campsite to have a closer look at those policies being advocated by Mr. South Side of Chicago, whose friend Oprah is know for her Great Giveaways. Seems Dowd'll swallow what the fellas offer up, but damned if that Clinton dame is going to have a shot at leading, if she has anything to say about it.

Maybe she too wants McCain to win. Maybe she's so busy looking backwards -- at Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, and all those campaigns she's personally covered as a glamour journalist -- that she really can't see what's coming. Well here's another, who clearly can:

The TimesOnline says the right wing is set to attack Barack Obama as the ultimate "liberal socialist" in the mold of George McGovern.
...
I was struck earlier by Obama's statement that the solution to the Florida primary election is to hold caucuses. Of course he would say that, since he does best in caucuses.

So say some, did George McGovern. Especially, like Obama, in red states that are unlikely to go blue in November. That's how the superdelegates came about -- so the Dems could avoid a repeat of that failed strategy.
...
The inference is that by winning the small red states with caucuses, but not the big blue states like California and New York, Obama is likely to repeat McGovern's blowout in the general election.

Why not a column taking a closer look at Sen. Obama's background: that "activist" community role playing he did in Chicago? His flip-flopping stance on gun rights? His sad lack of experience, thinking he can kumbaya his way to peace and goshdurnit, get everyone to just like and follow him along the primrose path?

Sadly, too many folks seem to think McCain can just be branded as a combover coot, and that the young people will all fall in line and turn out, and that who knows? Maybe Utah will go Blue this year, for the charming fella?

I suspect the reason so many like Dowd and Sullivan are backing Obama is not only because they're sheltered and comfortable enough they can't see the nasty fight the Republicans will put up, and that truly this Clinton is a much stronger fighter at this point in the game than Obama -- who thinks he can win as a lover and uniter, not a fighter ... but because: they personally as journalists burned their bridges under the last Clinton administration. Bad blood. Both are celebrity journalists, not in it for the job, but the lifestyle. Like Tom Petty says, "Oh my my, oh hell yes, please put on your party dress..." They like rubbing elbows, being in with the in crowd. And an Obama/Oprah Giveaway Administration, fresh faces they can impress, suits them just fine.

This Clinton administration, I suspect, won't be so fun. Won't be so much about the parties and mingling and making nicey-nice, as it would be about keeping your eyes on the ball. Getting the job done, and not promising the moon if you know you can't deliver. ("Out of Iraq by the end of 2009?" Why doesn't somebody just call Obama a liar on that one? It's okay to play the skeptic on the new guy, no? Take off the pleasant smiles and nicey nice talk and actually, you know, question him on the facts?)

The reason is: if Obama falls flat on his Democratic face after he is elected, at least there will be social invites showing up in the mail, eh? Nevermind how the soldiers in the field fare, or those working who don't favor "giveaways".

Really, it makes one long for the days of smoke-and-a-shot journalists who knew their roles. And it wasn't telling us about how they felt personally betrayed when the Clintons refused at the time to go to the mat against the military on gay rights, or spinning on whether or not their name would be on the Do-Not-Invite-To-The-Social-Party lists. Use your salaries, buy lives on your own times, and think about actually getting the job done? Letting your work speak for itself, and not recapping the highlights in pretty prose?

Thanks a bunch, and remember to gird those loins: I think we're gonna really see a fight, this time around, and I'm telling ya... those defensive games are way underrated. But the crowds love 'em, last man standing and all...

Youth culture...

it's so finicky!

One day GloriaVanderbilt/VidalSasson/Jordache/SergioValente are what you want to cover your ass, the next thing you know it's Calvin's and Guess jeans. Who can keep up?

One year, a barely-out-of-baby-fat Britney Spears is the cat's meow for prancing around half naked in her parochial schoolgirl's costume, the next thing you know she's a big slut for parading her after-baby body (but still looking good all things considered) on the Mtv Awards. What gives?

We've seen it before: New Kids on the Block are hot, hot, hot!, until they're just a punchline. Ditto say, Ricky Martin. (Ricky who?)

Myself, I learned early not to play those games. To like what you like for it's own inherent worth, not because it was the hot thing at the time. (Levi's say, when they were American made of thicker denim and nice and dark looking. They fit good, lasted long, and looked nice. Now with the China-made thinner material and stonewash cheaper look, no good.) Listening to music you liked, no matter if it wasn't the hot ticket at the time. If you choose that way, you're more likely, kids, to still be able to listen years down the road.

In many ways, being an out-of-the-mainstream immigrant's child helps. You can't compete with the popular trends all the kids are into, but thankfully you look back and there are no pictures of you in the 80s with your hair moussed to the high heavens or tight jeans that you had to use a pliers to pull up. (I kid you not -- it was like a competition amongst girls in those days.)

Now this Obama-mania... they say it might be fading too among the young. The empty platitudes, the everybody's-on-board! trendiness. If you've got sufficient elders you respect in your life, or even practice old-time religion and spiritual values, you're probably not so needy for the lastest big thing and have to grab on to whatever seems new and hip.

My beef with Obama, I've stated before. Were he Barry O'Brien, first-term Illinois senator, no way would we even know his name. But inject the historical race thing (yes we can!) and the strong rhetoric skills, and good-looking(?) candidate and wife... and suddenly you've got a contender, no matter the lack of leadership track record.

I was taught it comes slowly: hard work, saving, sacrifice, postponing pleasure until you can handle the accompanying responsibility, making the right choices, working for what you want and not letting failure or the myopia of others shake your path. But some think they're owed. That if you collect enough credentials -- often helped by affirmative action helper programs -- and "network" with the in crowd, you can jump ahead without putting in the practice and hard work necessary to mature and make it on your own. Instead of sticking it out in one area, you jump around to maximize your own opportunities without caring much about loyalties.

If he's so good, why can't Obama apply his unifying bipartisan skills in the Senate first to demonstrate his leadership potential? I don't get it. Why he's somehow "owed" based on America's legacy of slavery and disenfranchisement.

Like most pan flashes -- and I'm definitely not saying the man has no potential, just that he hasn't really achieved anything solid yet -- it sounds like the kids might be catching on. No suprise... if you understand the patterns, and learn to recognize the short-term needs of youth.

Filling stadiums with chanting youth, dressing sharp and looking good while you're young, playing at the time what people want to hear... you might rise, but you tend not to stay up too long. Better to figure out who you are, what you realistically can accomplish and set to it, and why you don't look down on those who have put in their time in the trenches and might not look so pretty for it years later. That's a leader for the long term, not a joke quickly forgotten and dismissed when the next hot thing is up for sale...
---------------------

Here's a list of all my recent political posts, if you want to track my mindset. My fear? The Dems again will run somebody who doesn't have it in them to win the whole enchilada (in the general election). Then we'll point fingers (racism! bigotry!) and lick our wounds and be treated to another 4 years of Republican rule. Again, the more liberal weathier Democrats who jump on these bandwagons are kind of insulated from the consequences of Republican rule, so they're more willing to risk it all on a hope and a dream.

There's still time though to wise up, swallow your pride and come together in putting forth a credible candidate who can perhaps challenge McCain's more common sense conservatism. Immigration, McCain-Feingold, his flip-floppedness... there are plenty of ways still to fight Sen. McCain on his record. Somehow, I don't think just calling him "an old coot" as Paglia did, or yukking it up about his "combover" is going to defeat him.

But if you still can't get over the Clinton sex scandal, or that a woman personally might choose to forgive and stay with the cad in their marriage, then McCain wins by default. More illegal immigration, more money budgeted for miltary excursions overseas... I'd hold my nose and vote for him if necessary, over the redistribution schemes of Sen. Obama, who really has no clue how he'll pay for all these promises, but isn't hitting upon sacrifice, savings, hard work, and "earning" your way up. Nope, he thinks folks are owed, from what I can gather. That you manipulate the market because "it's not fair" that workers make less than CEO's. No thanks. I'd rather wait and make it the old-fashioned way: We eaarrrrrrrnnnnnn it.

Remember the Jimmy Carter years? The promise of "change" in Washington DC, as if mouthing the words are all that's needed to make it happen? Remember how long it took to rebound from the Carter years and elect another Democrat? No thanks, Sen. Obama. It's nothing personal... Please, go back to the Senate and fulfill your promises, turn the potential into reality. Then come back, ready to lead, and with a little more weight behind your words. Right now, we need somebody who gets how hard it will be, and isn't making promises without understanding the work needed to fulfill them. A little growing up for the childish short-term needs, so to speak.

UPDATE: I forgot to say... I too was very moved when I first heard Obama speak, it was the 2004 speech at the convention nominating Kerry. Paraphrasing: "We've got gay friends in the Red States, and we worship an awesome God in the Blue States too." Magnificent stuff. Very honest, and promising in building a coalition. But instead of knowing his role in 2008 = putting his rhetorical muscle and unifying message behind the Democrat's team, he decides he should run for President himself. Hello? With that record, not even a term completed in Congress, it's too soon, man. You should have been content to be a player -- a star player -- on the team this year, instead of jumping in and assuming you can be the manager. Simply put, it's better to work with your teammates when you're younger and reinforce your obvious strengths putting them to good use on behalf of the team, and learning new skills from more other teammates who have been around longer than you. Hard lesson, but one I hope we've all learned. It's not too late to stop thinking about the name on the back of the uniform, and spend more time working together to finally come up with a team win. Again, nothing personal, nothing racial, and I assure you, if you can help the team win now, these aren't the same as days past where the color of your skin means you'll never get your shot at managing the team. I know it's hard to be patient, but keep working and waiting and contributing... you'll get your chance, and you'll be better for having worked with others, and waited patiently for all you'll pick up in the meanwhile...

Thumbs up, people.

...
One man, Brad Blauser, has vowed to try to make life a little easier for these families by organizing the distribution of wheelchairs, donated and paid for by his charity, Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids. He first came to Iraq in 2004 as a civilian contractor. Struck by the abject chaos surrounding him and seeing helpless children scooting along the ground, he pledged to find a way to help.

His first step was to consult an Army medic to find out what hospitals really needed. "He surprised me with his answer about pediatric wheelchairs. We've got so many children out in the city that the ones who can get around are following their friends by dragging themselves around on the ground, which is heartbreaking to see," he says.
...
Blauser has partnered with a nonprofit group called Reach Out and Care Wheels, which sells him the chairs at a manufacturing price of about $300.

The chairs are made by prisoners at the South Dakota State Penitentiary and ultimately delivered in Iraq by the U.S. military.

"Getting these prisoners involved, it just means the world to them," said Andrew Babcock, the executive director of Reach Out and Care Wheels. "Even the prisoners. I've been there and visited, and they're so excited. They come up with different design ideas and ways to make things better for the kids. They want to know where the chairs are going and what kids we're helping."

"The most affecting thing about this whole wheelchairs for children is when the parents realize the gift that is being given to their children and they reach out to hug you." he said. "The tears are running from their eyes and they say, 'We never thought that you could do this.' "

...

It's a sentiment that is echoed by Samira Al-Ali, the head of the Iraqi group that finds the children in need. On this day, she tells the soldiers she hopes that this humanitarian act will give them a different image of Iraq, not one of a gun and war, she says. Her words are simple but effective.

"I wish the world would see with their own eyes the children of Iraq and help the children of Iraq, because the children of Iraq have been deprived of everything," she said. "Even a normal child has been deprived of their childhood; a disabled child and their family is dealing with so much more."

The children also show gratitude, even those who can scarcely move. Blauser remembers one boy's father who dressed him in a three-piece suit, with the trousers hanging off his motionless legs.

"He couldn't move his legs or his arms. But when we sat him in his chair, he gave us the thumbs up."

Iraqi parents will go to any lengths to improve the quality of their children's lives. Blauser points to one of his favorite photographs, of a father carrying his son in his arms, an endless desert road behind him. He had carried his son more than 6 miles to get a wheelchair.

"In August 2006 we had a distribution in northern Iraq," Blauser remembered. "We watched him [the father] come forward, and people rushed to take the boy from his arms. And he said, 'No, I've been carrying this child all my life. I can carry him the last 100 yards to receive his wheelchair.' "

"Hold that woman, hold that man..."

We're so glad to see so many of you lovely people here tonight, and we would especially like to welcome all the representatives of Illinois law enforcement community who have chosen to join us in the Palace Hotel ballroom at this time. We do sincerely hope you'll all enjoy the show, and please remember people, that no matter who you are, and what you do to live, thrive and survive, there are still some things that make us all the same. You, me, them, everybody, everybody...

Everybody needs somebody
Everybody needs somebody to love (someone to love)
Sweetheart to miss (sweetheart to miss)
Sugar to kiss (sugar to kiss)
I need you you you
I need you you you
I need you you you in the morning
I need you you you when my soul's on fire

Sometimes I feel
I feel a little sad inside
When my baby mistreats me
I never never never have a place to hide
I need you

Sometimes I feel
I feel a little sad inside
When my baby mistreats me
I never never never have a place to hide
I need you you you
I need you you you
I need you you you
I need you you you
I need you

You know people when you do find that somebody
Hold that woman, hold that man
Love him, hold him, squeeze her, please her, hold her
Squeeze and please that person, give em all your love
Signify your feelings with every gentle caress
Because its so important to have that special somebody
To hold, kiss, miss, squeeze and please

Everybody needs somebody
Everybody needs somebody to love
Someone to love
Sweetheart to miss
Sugar to kiss
I need you you you
I need you you you
I need you you you...


On the version that appeared on the best of the Blues Brothers album, Elwood starts with another intro:

Were so glad to see so many of you lovely people here tonight, and we would especially like to welcome all the representatives of the california highway patrol, who are waiting for me and jake after the show. We sincerely hope that you all will enjoy the show, and please remember people, that no matter who you are, and what you do to live, thrive and survive, there are things that make all of us the same: you, me, my brother jake, wilson picket, solomon burke, everybody people, everybody.

Sunny day.