Um, Excuse Me? Question? About Mr. Ayers …

Yeah … Um, He’s a Nut

I’ve been reading alot about Bill Ayers lately, and the lack of interest in his career continues to amaze me.

Especially since it is pretty clear that a current candidate for U.S. President has a long, close association with the guy, despite lame attempts to spin it as “just a guy in the neighborhood”.

I’m not as dumb as I look, you know.

But, Mayor Daley says we should forgive and forget, right? Sure, and we should, as soon as Ayers abandons his radical anti-American posture, and stops trying to radicalize and politicize our children from his perch within the education establishment. Bonus points if you then wonder, “how does a nut like that end up in the education establishment?”

It is what it is. Ayers was a radical, and is still a radical, and Obama has been working closely with this guy for over 10 years, and probably much longer than that. And what were they working on? Politicizing our children.

If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, guess what? Duck!

I have much, much more here: Some Radicals from the 1960s are Still Radicals in the 2000s (can also be found via a link on my Essays page). Other people cover this in much more detail, and I recommend clicking on the links for more information.

NLDS Game 2: Dodgers 10, Cubs 3

Wow.

I didn’t think it was even possible for the Cubs to top their ridiculous display of general ineptitude and lack of preparation from the night before, but they did.

Here’s the box score, log, and game story on Yahoo. If you care.

I didn’t even watch this disaster; saw parts of the first two innings, including the unbelievable string of errors in the Dodgers’ half of the second inning that allowed the Dodgers to score 5 runs. First and third, one out, grounder to second, easy double play ball.  E-4, DeRosa. Run scored, and they added 4 more in the inning.  None of them should have scored.

That was enough for me; I have a policy against watching playoff teams that don’t show up. So I watched “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, which is the funniest show on TV, by the way. And I’m glad I did.

Because otherwise, I’d have been watching the Cubs getting their butts kicked for the second game in a row. At home, where they’ve been dominant this year. These two games have easily been, to my recollection, the worst two consecutive games they’ve played all season. Call me crazy, but the playoffs is when you want to play better, generally speaking.

So the whole Cubs organization should be embarrassed now.  If the players on this team have any guts whatsoever, they’ll bring some effort on Saturday, and maybe even, oh, I don’t know, play some good baseball, across the board, like they did all season long, for a change? That would be sweet.

And certain players, whose names rhyme with Soriano, Lee, and Ramirez, had better figure out a way to become effective at offense, instead of offensive, in the postseason. That’s why you guys make the big bucks, after all.

The postseason is when reputations are made.  This 2007-2008 team is making themselves an unmistakable reputation for choking, and they have one game left to begin to right that ship.

NLDS Game 1: Dodgers 7, Cubs 2

Not Real Happy, No

I waited all summer for this?  The same crappy effort they put forth against Arizona last year?

The entire team basically looked terrible: pitching, offense, defense, across the board.  The 1-6 hitters went 3-for-23 with 1 run, 2 walks, 5 Ks, and 9 runners left on base.  Soriano and Fukudome, the 1-2 hitters, were a combined 0-for-9 with 3 Ks and 0 walks, and Soriano gets the award for Most Ineffective Batter, going 0-for-5 with 2 strikeouts and three weak popups to the infield. Soto, at number 5, was 0-for-3 with a strikeout and a walk.  Lee, Ramirez, and Edmonds each managed a single hit.

The 7-8-9 hitters, though, were 6-for-12, with two hits each by DeRosa and Theriot, including the only hit that drove in any runs of the game, a two-run homer by DeRosa in the second.  Even Ryan Dempster managed a hit.

And the pitching was equally bad.  Dempster had no control, and was in constant trouble, and walked 7 in his 4+ innings of work.  In the fourth, he walked the bases full for James Loney, who cashed in the gift by hitting a grand slam.  The relief corps wasn’t much better, except for Sean Marshall, who did a decent job by going 2 and 1/3 innings, striking out 4 and giving up only 1 hit, a homer by Manny Ramirez, but give Ramirez credit, he hit a pitch 6 inches off the ground into the seats,  You can’t hang that on the pitcher.  Samardzija and Marquis pitches the 8th and 9th, and both got hit hard, each giving up a run.

So now what?  Note to Alfonso Soriano … maybe you could put a little more effort into laying off the breaking stuff away, and a little less effort into hopping when you catch fly balls? 0-for-5 isn’t really going to get it done. Perhaps you’ve noticed, you can’t pull breaking stuff away.  So stop trying. Take an outside pitch to right field, or don’t swing at it. The book on you now is “breaking stuff away all day”, and so you have to prove you aren’t going to swing at these pitches in the playoffs, and until you do, that’s all you’re going to see.  You are the leader of this team’s offense, you need to accept that challenge, and become a better team player — especially in the playoffs — by being more disciplined and not giving away 5 outs every game.

And are there any pitchers on this staff that can bring it in the post-season? Dempster looked like he was trying to strike everybody out with one pitch. Zambrano has been shaky for the last two+ months, and has never won a post-season game.  Harden and Lilly, it might up to you two to win each of your starts, to force a game 5 for Dempster to redeem himself.

This level of effort is not going to get it done.  I know Derek Lowe is a good pitcher, and gives them trouble.  And quite possibly, they could rebound tonight and bring a better level of intensity and focus and execution.

We’ll find out over these next 2 games.

So, I don’t know, I’ve just about had enough of watching this October bullsh*t baseball. I think that unless I see some real effort, intensity, and execution pretty quickly here, I’m just about done with this group, with the playing well in the regular season and then looking stupid in the post-season.

I’m not the kind of fan who adores a team and sticks with them in thick and thin; been there, done that, and I finally decided that life is too short to let your emotional state get yanked around by a sports team.  I’m more of a manager-style fan, who demands that a team maximize its potential, and execute, and bring it every game, and play winning team baseball; and what I’m seeing over the last 4 playoff games, going back to last year, is not impressive.  And when I’ve had enough of a team, I “fire” them, which means I might still pay attention, sometimes, when I feel like it, but there is no devotion whatsoever. We’re very close to that point right now.

And so, to this team, and their October performances in 2007-08, let me say this:  you suck, basically.

In October, you need to up the intensity, up the concentration, up the focus, and up the execution!  Use your f**king heads!  Play as a team, like you did all summer, and good things can happen.  Or play like idiots, like you did last night, and cement your reputation as a bunch of choke artists who can’t handle the pressure.

It’s all about the post-season, guys.

Take Bad Policy, Blend with Corruption, Bake 15 Years; When It Fails, Bill Taxpayers

Politics is something I really try to avoid as a writing topic. Mostly because it’s annoying, and venal, and usually showcases some of the absolute worst that America has to offer.

But this recent mortgage crisis, which has morphed into a financial crisis that threatens our biggest financial companies — i.e., our entire financial system, more or less — has really caught my attention.

And it really, really, frosts my gourd. Here’s why.

The root of the whole thing lies in bad policies invented out of whole cloth by people who are driven to “change the world”, and don’t really care if their policies are unrealistic and pretty much guaranteed to fail.

People who either (a) don’t understand free markets, and how government subsidies always push prices up, or (b) who do understand this, privately, yet publicly advocate for these bad policies.

In either case, they should not be deciding how to spend other people’s money. Our money.

And why would they publicly advocate for policies that are sure to fail? Because they know it isn’t their money they’re gambling with, it’s ours.

No Gold Star For You

Q: How many Ed school professors does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: It doesn’t matter!

I’ll clear up this “math wars” thing in ten words or less: kids have to both understand it and get the right answer.

OK, eleven words. Who’s counting?

It isn’t complicated. Teach kids what they are doing, and how to do it, and test them to make sure then can do it.

News We Can … Lose?

The Chicago Tribune publishes something called “Red Eye” which is meant to target the young urban professional demographic. These folks don’t read newspapers, apparently. To fill that void, the Tribune created this collection of trivia — gossip, pictures, videos, blogs, games, and music news — to go along with some “real” news coverage. I imagine most papers have done the same thing, or will, or have at least thought about it.

I’ve looked at the website recently, and it’s OK, I guess, on a very superficial level.

A better name for the site might be pointlesswasteoftime.com — too bad that one is already taken.

Donovan McNabb Was Right — But Only Indirectly

Since nothing important happens until I offer my opinions on it, I guess I should weigh in on Donovan McNabb’s comments about black quarterbacks getting more scrutiny than their white counterparts. I’ve pondered this for a good three seconds or more, so I feel confident when I say …

He’s probably right. And they get more free pub, too. But not entirely because they’re black.

This type of criticism also comes with the “good QB failing to win the Super Bowl” territory. And they get more scrutiny, and free pub, too.

Actually, it applies to any sport, where a very good player who compiles good individual numbers fails to win a team championship, for whatever reason. But we’ll stick to quarterbacks here.

Highway Driving Protocol

Having recently returned from a long driving trip, I’m reminded yet again that many drivers are oblivious to highway driving protocol. Or, they flat out ignore it.

Either way, they are causing trouble.

So to reiterate: the right lane is for cruising, and the left lane is for passing. Please allow me to elaborate on how this affects you.  And therefore, of course, me.

IF YOU … find yourself in the left lane, going the same speed as the traffic in the right lane, get over into the right lane. You are clogging things up.

IF YOU … are intent on cruising in the left lane and never, ever, moving into the right lane, here’s an idea: just stop yourself. Get with the program. The world doesn’t exist to serve your needs.

IF YOU … are intent on enforcing speed limits, by driving the speed limit in the left lane, on the assumption that the world needs your vital input and voluntary enforcement on this issue, just don’t. Nobody elected you, nobody appointed you, you have no legal or moral authority in these matters, so please just stop.

IF YOU … never knew any of this before, well, now you know.

Say it, out loud, three times:  Right lane traffic is for cruising, left lane traffic is for passing.

When all drivers obey these simple rules, highway traffic flows much better.

And don’t bring that “but then you’re speeding, and that is dangerous” argument ’round here.  Going 75 or 80 on highways designed for that speed is not dangerous.  Especially when that is the de facto speed limit.

Also, highway driving is unique, for two main reasons.

It is by far the safest type of driving. The odds of getting into an accident are so low, per mile driven, that to deliberately choose to drive 70 instead of 80, or to pass at 71 instead of 75, because of safety concerns, is like spitting into the ocean. There just isn’t much that can go wrong on a highway (other than a blowout – and if you don’t know what to do when that happens, you better not drive on highways at all, because panic and overreaction can get you just as dead at 45 mph as 75).

It is also the simplest type of driving. You go straight, you stick to one speed, and that’s it. Nobody pulls in front of you from a mall parking lot, nobody jams on their brakes to turn left. No stoplights, no islands, no new lanes appearing and then disappearing. No railroad crossings, no school zones, no crosswalks. No kids on bikes, no runners, no skateboarders. It’s just you, the road, and the other traffic, all headed the same direction, for miles and miles.

So within these constraints, speed is not much of an issue, within reason, and assuming that the driver is paying attention and is alert, and the weather is good, and the car itself is in good working condition (brakes, tires, and steering).

Of course, if you’re driving in the South, speed is always an issue. Everybody goes faster and faster, until they all have to jam on their brakes at the same time and narrowly avoid a 75 car pileup. Instant death is always just a moment away.

I drove the length of Georgia both directions in 2004, with my whole family in a loaded van, and had to panic stop 3 or 4 times. From 80 mph.

Good times!

But that is another issue. My point is that drivers who ignore lane usage protocols, whether out of ignorance or vanity, cause other drivers to react to them unnecessarily, which is always rude and can be dangerous. Blending in with the flow of traffic is the single most important thing you can do on the highway.

Thanks for your attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely, Your Friend, But Seriously, Stop Driving Like a The World Owes You Something,

Jeff

Cub Fans, or Big Fat Weenies?

Since I like to listen to sports talk radio and read the sports blogs and read the sports sections of major newspaper websites and read sites like sports.yahoo.com and talk about sports and am generally, you know, into the sports world … and more specifically, since I live in the Chicago area and have lived here for nearly all of my 48+ years on this planet … and even more specifically, since I have followed the Chicago National League Ballclub for many, many of those years … and even more specifically, since I have learned my lesson about getting emotionally tied to the fortunes of baseball teams, in 1969 … and 1972 … and 1973 … and 1977 … and 1984 … and 1989 … and 1998 … and 2003 … and since I have an analytical mind, and have learned some things over the years … then I feel very qualified to say …

All you Cub fan weenies out there, calling the radio shows, crying “oh I just know we’re going to blow it again, boo hoo hoo” … you really need to grow a pair, and shut the hell up.

Sorry for the bile and anger, but this has annoyed me for years.

Sports is one of the few areas in life where results matter. Games are played, according to the rules, and one team wins and one team loses. It’s a beautiful thing. And this pretty much ends the debate about which team is “better”, in the sense that, “better” means you won the game (or the series).

Note there is nothing in there about ghosts, or curses, or other silliness.

Playing Politics With National Security

To summarize: Lewis “Scooter” Libby gets 2 and 1/2 years for lying to a grand jury, and obstructing justice, in a case involving the supposed “outing” of a covert CIA agent. Yet, Richard Armitage, a State Dept. politico who admitted leaking the name to the press, causing the whole episode, has yet to be charged.

Follow the logic here. The alleged crime, which was never proven in court, was on the one hand so serious that a man must be sent to jail for the crime of not being able to recall exactly, three years later, what he said about it and when; and on the other hand, not so serious that a man who admitted to committing the crime, which was known to the Special Prosecutor early on, should be charged with anything.

There is a word for this, that the media knows well: scandalous.

Now, I am not defending Libby here; I had never heard of the guy until this investigation ramped up. I’m defending common sense, and practicality, and proportionate responses, and not playing politics with national security, none of that is in evidence here.

That’s Funny, Right There

From RangerUp, via Blackfive.

Of course, I don’t really club hippies. Mostly I just make merciless fun of them. But I understand those who want to club them. They are eminently club-abble. On the List of Things Worth Clubbing, they are high. Quite.

And their goofy feelings-centric mantra from the 60s has basically taken over our culture, defeating what used to be known as common sense. Guess what? Back then, they were figuring all this out in a pot- and LSD-fueled haze. It shows.

However, what is not quite as funny is this pretty compelling essay, also from RangerUp, directed at Nancy Pelosi and 217 other assclowns in our United States Congress. It’s called “Ranger Up Unanimously Votes to Send 218 members of Congress to Douchebagistan…“. It’s a gem.

How To Tell When You Are Officially Screwed

A good indication is when lawyers and school administrators start deciding what clothes can be worn by “free” people living in a “free” country.

Biased, Clueless Academics?! Color Me Shocked.

… NOT

Charlotte Allen suggests that one of the factors behind the overzealous rape prosecution of the three Duke lacrosse players is that major segments of the Duke faculty — which helped to push the “metanarrative” forward — are, well, a bunch of raving loons.

OK, my words, not hers. But, walk like a duck, talk like a duck, it’s pretty much a duck.