Under the Fedora CPAC etc…

Well CPAC has come and gone but the GOP seems to have learned little.  Monday the talk is all re-branding and tweaking things to that suddenly the MSM will decide that the Republican Party is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Earth to GOP, your problem isn’t branding it’s principles.  Look at the last few weeks.

At CPAC there were 10,000+ conservative activists ready to fight, all they need is somebody willing to step up.

The poured in to hear Marco Rubio talk about the future and take the attacks of the left in stride, he turned the democrats watery attacks into a flood of fundraising dollars and a packed hall.

Rand Paul stood on principles, he bluntly (and concisely) pointed out the principles of limiting the power of government and defended the constitutional amendments from the 1^st the 2^nd the 4^th and the 10^th.

And Ted Cruz in a speech where he eschewed the Teleprompter walked before the podium and about the stage to tell a cheering audience when it came to drones. And the government asking:  Don’t you trust us?:

The answer is exactly that.  No we don’t trust you and we don’t trust the next guy or the next guy or the next guy whether he’s a democrat or a republican.”

Rand Paul stood up and fought, things happened.

Ted Cruz stood up and fought things happened.

Marco Rubio stood up and fought, things happened.

One you start leading, people will follow, the trick is to be willing to lead.

Speaking of leading Reince Priebus might be doing well on the fundraising side but his gigantic document on “rebranding” the GOP had a glaring omission:

For the RNC to produce a 100-page report and not have a single mention of the need to interact with and support the conservative blogosphere tells me that the RNC simply has rearranged the deck chairs on the HMS Consultant.

We may not be all that, but it’s clear that the RNC doesn’t want us to be any part of that.

Meanwhile look who showed up at Blogbash…

Perhaps that why Ted Cruz is winning and other aren’t.

Note to the GOP listen to Ted Cruz and these people and you will win, fail to do so and you will not only lose, but you will DESERVE to lose.

Speaking of CPAC there were a lot of interesting people there  Pols

Writers

Advocates

Pols

And regular people

Not to mention folks with Cannoli recipes

All the video in the world won’t change the fact that you can’t understand CPAC without seeing it close up.
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The WBC has also come and gone and the Dominican Team went a perfect 8-0 to win it all.  One can look at that killer roster but it was a pitching staff with an ERA of under 2 for the entire 8 games that really made the difference.

That’s what baseball is all about, Pitching, Pitching, Pitching.

I suspect the Red Sox will not have an 8 game winning streak in 2013, but you never know.

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Two weeks away from the series 7 of Dr. Who. I really don’t like this short half season stuff nor do I think they should only have a single episode for the 50^th anniversary (monthly repeat specials not withstanding.  I think they should include as many past doctors as they can in the season and make that anniversary the entire theme.

But it’s easy for me to say,

Is it just me or does the Big Bang Theory get funnier every year?  The character growth has not retarded the show one bit in fact the interaction between Howard & his wife has really added a great dimension to the show.

I really hope they don’t play the “Make Raj gay card”.  Nothing says I’m not edgy more than giving into a social convention in that way.

Speaking of social conventions we have a new Pope and the left is trying to wrap their heads around Francis I, particularly after his initial mass

When he talks about Joseph “receptive to God’s plan and not his own” it is a direct challenge to those who worship the world. That the day after Hillery Clinton changes with the wind on “gay marriage” and Memeorandum trumpets the latest support for it in the polls its chief opponent in the entire world takes the world stage talking about God’s plan which directly contradicts all the media loves.

On CNN the irony became more pronounced as Chris Cuomo brother of the Governor of NY who has been pushing Abortion even beyond the pale in the hopes of the nomination of the Democrat party in 2016 bluntly said there was nothing unorthodox in his message. CNN as soon as the Homily was done pivoted toward the Sex scandal but they couldn’t sustain the conversation in that direction as the Pope’s Homily pushed them in into a different direction.

This Pope’s humility and popularity is going to be a thorn in the media’s side and his weight with the common people will force the media to continue to highlight his every move.

Do not let this fool you.  The media will follow him, will report on him and quote him whenever it serves to advance their agenda while, as Judas did “look for an opportunity to hand him over“  Mark 14:11b

As I said the day he was elected the left will hate Francis the way Satan hats the church.

Finally on  the subject of “immigration” Jeb Bush took a hit for suggesting that people who came illegally go back to the end of the line in terms of citizenship while being made legal to get on with their lives.

You would have thought he killed the Lindbergh baby he was roundly denounced for his words by the left but how could he NOT be.

For the left Amnesty is all about creating democrat voters, period.  To pretend otherwise is to fool yourself.

See you next week.

Under the Fedora Chavez, CPAC & Baseball

Hugo Chavez has died and some on the left are in mourning including some in congress like Jose Serrano

Hugo Chavez was a leader that understood the needs of the poor. He was committed to empowering the powerless. R.I.P. Mr. President.

People were expressing outrage, I don’t’ see why.  The left has supported totalitarians since Vietnam, they tried to hinder Reagan in central America and opposed his standing up to the soviets, they did all they could to protect Saddam, why should anyone be surprised that the Democrat left should support yet another dictator?

That doesn’t fly as well in an internet age and Think Progress is doing it’s best to protect the left from itself when it comes to Hugo

Chavez’ policies harmed Venezuela’s poorest in other ways: the value of the Venezuelan currency dropped while prices soared, making it harder for people to buy basic necessities, and crime skyrocketed…

…Chavez also attacked Venezuela’s democratic political system. Human Rights Watch reported in 2012 that “the accumulation of power in the executive and the erosion of human rights protections have allowed the Chávez government to intimidate, censor, and prosecute critics and perceived opponents in a wide range of cases involving the judiciary, the media, and civil society.” Contra Serrano, Venezuela’s elections were not certified as “free and fair” by international monitors of late: Chavez had not allowed international election monitors to observe Venezuelan elections since 2006.

Alas poor Think Progress they didn’t think of shutting off comments on their post.  They don’t seem to share that opinion.

While the Think Progress crew is seems to miss the dictator there are signs that some other groups are moving in the right direction.  As you might have heard an attempt was made on Lars Hedegaard’s life over his cartoons hitting Islam, what you might now have heard is how the Islamic society of Copenhagen reacted:

When the news broke on Feb. 5 that Mr. Hedegaard had narrowly escaped an attack on his life, recalled Imran Shah of Copenhagen’s Islamic Society, “we knew that this was something people would try to blame on us. We knew we had to be in the forefront and make clear that political and religious violence is totally unacceptable.”

I’ve never been shy about hitting Radical Islam, conversely when you see Muslims do the right thing that needs to be highlighted and encouraged.  If we don’t’ support people willing to object to this kind of thing in the Muslim community the hard liners will roll right over them.

Meanwhile in the US being willing to speak against Radical Islam or it’s enablers will get you banned from CPAC

This year, I applied to speak and was ignored. I tried to get a room for an AFDI event, “The War on Free Speech,” and was ignored. So, for the first time in five years, I won’t be at CPAC. Last year Suhail Khan bragged out loud that he (and his other operatives) had successfully kept Robert Spencer and me from being invited to speak. He went so far as to warn people not to attend our events or read our books.

In fact you might not even be allowed to accept awards that you win:

But as time went by and no announcement was made of this victory, and the voting continued despite my having been told that it officially ended last Friday night and that I had won, and the promised links and other placement promised to the winning blog didn’t materialize, I started to wonder. So I contacted the organizer who had written me telling me I won and asked him what was going on.

He told me that there was a slight problem: the Tea Party group, which co-sponsored this People’s Choice Blog Award, didn’t want to allow me to receive it at CPAC next week unless I promised not to criticize Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan as I accepted the award.

I told the organizer that I couldn’t agree to that. He asked me if I had planned to talk about Grover and Suhail. I said no, I hadn’t, but I had to now.

So that’s that. The People’s Choice Blog Award is now the Grover’s Choice Blog Award. I will not be going to CPAC and will not be receiving this award.

Hugo Chavez might be dead but apparently his spirit lives on, I just didn’t think it would live on at CPAC.

Meanwhile while some try to deny the dangers of Radical Islam others are counting on it.

Mind you the Kimberlin crowd is not doing this because they object to some Muslims being critiqued as murderous barbarian bastards who would kill or threaten a person who objects to Islamic threats. They are doing this specifically because they BELIEVE Muslims to be murderous barbarian bastards who will threaten or harm those who critique them, in fact they’re counting on it!

Just picked up the in the 2^nd Season of the 4^th Doctor Adventures at Mike’s Comics/Anne’s Book Stop of Worcester The Sands of life.

It’s a simply delightful episode the first of two parts, the second being released next month.  While a great pleasure it makes one sad.  How many great Doctor Romana #1 stories could we have had if Tom Baker had jumped on Board with Big Finish in 1999 rather than in 2011.

Not to mention Sarah Jane Stores.

I don’t know if they will do any Lalla Ward stories, her being his ex wife it might be complicated.

BTW David Warner guests in The Sands of life, is there anything at ALL he isn’t good in?

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I’ve been following the World Baseball Classic.  Three interesting stories thus far.

The Dutch Team.  Last time they shocked the world by eliminating the Dominican Republic this time they advanced at the expense of Korea.

Don’t’ think for one minute that performance last time didn’t help build up the team for this time around.

Brazil vs China:  Brazil blew two 8^th inning leads vs Japan and China but the Chinese game was incredible, in the 8^th inning Brazil walked five batters (three ties forcing in runs) hit one and give up the key bases loaded single that gave China a lead they would never surrender.

Did you know China has a General Secretary of Baseball.  She stood behind the manager during the game.  She didn’t react when China took the lead but when they turned a 5-4-3 double play after Brazil put on the first man in the ninth she cheered like a person who didn’t have to go back to communist masters and tell them they qualified for 2016.

Italy is playing in Pool D.  If you are a non-baseball country it’s got to be the worst bracket to be fighting in, Mexico, Canada and the US.  Despite this Italy managed to beat Mexico in the first game 6-5 surviving a bases loaded 3-2 situation in the last of the ninth.

And THAT is why baseball is the best sport ever made.

See you all at CPAC next week

Under the Fedora 2-21-13

I’ve been watching the constant attacks on Marco Rubio for drinking water coupled with the hits on Ted Cruz for daring to question Chuck Hagel and the outside money that he won’t disclose details on.

It’s been fascinating to see the media continue to embrace this while doing their best to shield Senator Mendenez.  CNN actually ran 8 minutes in prime time defending Menendez on the hooker side and downplaying the corrupting side the “everybody does it” argument.

Sissy Willis put out a tweet on Senator Cruz on Wednesday that says it all:

If you want to know why Ted Cruz is hated or feared by the left.  This is why.

On the same subject Morning Joe argued Tuesday that Rush Limbaugh had hurt republicans because Democrats had won 4 of the last six presidential elections.  Actually republicans are 3 for seven in elections since Rush was syndicated but here is a better measure.

Both Joe Scarborough and I are going to be fifty this year.  From the day we were born till Rush Limbaugh went on the air happens to be 25 years, half our lives.  During that time GOP controlled the House of Representatives exactly 0 years and the senate 6 years.  At no time did the GOP control both houses of congress.

During the 25 years since Rush came on the air the GOP has controlled the house for 14 years and the senate for 10 years and for the first time in our lifetimes controlled both house and senate for 10 of them.

Interesting story out of NY,  Katherine Connell at National Review notes  Mayor Bloomberg has “won” in his confrontation with School Bus Drivers in NYC.  The drivers returned to work but apparently He might have done even better for the city if the Bush Strike Continued for a while:

Walcott estimated the city saved $80 million because it wasn’t paying bus companies during the strike

NRO reports the city’s contract pays $7,000 annually per student to get them to school and back.

Personally If I was a New Yorker I’d offer to take 4 Kids to school every day for them at $14,000 a year even at 3 hours per school day that would come out to $25.92 an hour for 3 hours work., but lets get more creative.

$7000 a year per student that works out to $38.88 per school day per student based on a 180 day school year.

If you offered students $20 a day if they got themselves to school and back without city help how many do you think would do so.  In fact how many would make SURE they didn’t miss a day or drop out if they knew, they could get a $20 for just showing up?  Or even better lets say parents had a deal where they could get $3500 deposited annually into an UGMA account for kids if they got them to school on their own.  Over the course of 12 years that $42,000.  Enough for an inexpensive community college or enough for a youth in a trade to start his own business.  Meanwhile NYC  would save $500,000,000

Talking about Schools a while back Massachusetts was debating a “Transgendered Rights” bill a while back.  Opponents nicknamed it the Bathroom bill and talked about girls being forced to shower with boys etc and they were dismissed.  The Transexual rights bill was passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor on Jan 19^th 2012 supposedly with the “shared bathroom ” aspects of it removed.

However with elections safely won by democrats in November what could not be supported by legislation politically has become the rule in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Department of Education on Friday issued directives for handling transgender students, including allowing them to use the bathrooms or play on the sports teams that correspond to the gender with which they identify.

It gets better:

The document said whether a student identifies as a boy or girl is up to the student or, in the case of younger students, the parents.

While the subject is snarkworthy:

Who needs a hole in the wall of the girls shower anymore? In Massachusetts all you need is a teenager desperate enough to see actual naked girls in the shower and viola you have access, and if those girls cover up, or scream or run into a stall to avoid you, remember THEY are the ones being unreasonable:

Scott said disciplining students who won’t acknowledge a student’s gender identity is appropriate because it amounts to bullying

Got that? If you girls don’t totally welcome Pee Wee into your locker room you are a BULLY and we all know how bad bullying is!

these are the actual guidelines issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Education Department!

This bill is the logical extension of Gay Marriage, after you redefine what marriage and INSIST that those who don’t agree are bigots redefining what boys and girls are is no great leap.

People on the left, particularly Mike Barnicle have constantly said with snark “how does gay marriage effect you.”  Well now you know and it only took nine years.

If you are a parent of daughters and send them to a Massachusetts public school my advice is to get them out before high school and perhaps before middle school if you can financially swing it.

I’ve been writing a series on George Washington and why he remains the greatest president and greatest American who ever lived.  The first three parts  here, here and here with one more on the way.

A psychic opened up shop on the Fitchburg Leominster line.  I’ve always laughed at that kind of thing.  I always figured a real psychic would have won a lottery and retired once they figured out they had any such gift but what I’d really like to see is someone open such a shop and as soon as a person walks through the door says:  “Yes he’s cheating on you $20 please”, or “no you don’t want to quit $20 please.”

I have to admit this story made me smile:

The malware had been designed to attack Mac computers.

The same software, which infected Macs by exploiting a flaw in a version of Oracle Corp’s Java software used as a plug-in on Web browsers, was used to launch attacks against Facebook, which the social network disclosed on Friday.

The malware was also employed in attacks against Mac computers used by “other companies,” Apple said, without elaborating on the scale of the assault.

For a very long time, I’ve been a big critic of those who recommend Mac because “they are safe from virus”.  The truth has always been the only reason why you didn’t have a lot of malware for Apples was they were such a small segment of the market and the Willie Suttons of the net went where the computers were.

Now that Mac’s profile has grown they have become targets and a lot of people who never bothered with anti-virus software because they had Macs are going to be burned.

As time has gone by we’ve more details on Pope Benedicts physical condition I find myself wondering less and less why he decided to retire and more and more wondering if he will live to see retirement.

Finally I was pleased to see Bonnie Langford back in on Big Finish doing audios with Colin Baker after a very long absence, but have we really reached the point where we are doing paradoxes inside of paradoxes?

I blame Steven Moffett.  This is his vision of Doctor Who , in small does it’s fine  but as Faye Dunaway said in the Classic Move Little Big Man about working in a brothel:

if I was married and could come here once or twice a week,… …it might be fun, but every night is just boring

I sure hope things change with Dr. Who before it becomes boring.

See you in a week and don’t miss DaTechGuy on DaRadio Saturday Noon to 2 EST on the money matters radio network & FTR radio

Under the Fedora: Syndication DaPope and More

Michael Graham has now gone into Self Syndication in the same way I have, from the same studio I broadcast from, soliciting advertisers in the same way as I am, at the same time of day as me (except during the week rather than Saturdays)  and on all of the stations I’m on as well.

Who says great minds don’t think alike?

Pope Benedict XVI shocked the entire Catholic world by announcing his resignation this week effective February 28^th.  As  Jazz Shaw put it  The last time something like this happened the only Europeans who knew America existed were Vikings.

The news has been a Godsend to Catholic Dissident groups, not because there is any chance of the new Pope being a supporter of Gay Marriage or Abortion etc etc etc, as every voting Cardinal has been appointed by either Benedict XVI or John Paul II.  The odds are better of me being named Rush Limbaugh’s permanent replacement on EIB.

However it does allow them to pretend that they are relevant, get some airtime and generate the money necessary to support their status as leftist gadflies.

People are thinking what should you call an ex Pope.  I vote for Holy Grand Father.

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My co-blogger Roxeanne tells he she’s been having trouble with her internet for 4 weeks.  Comcast has really fumbled the ball on this.  I keep reminding her she has access to a blog now ranked 101 among conservative web sites.  Comcast should consider this too.

As I’m typing this Chris Dorner has apparently been killed by police but not before he took hostages and killed one officer and wounded another.

The celebration of Dorner based no race and ideology has been one of the more disgusting things I’ve seen.  It is in my opinion symbolic of a portion of society where fatherhood is a rare thing but even with that rationalization it’s still a shock, but it shouldn’t be after all there are those who celebrated Charles Manson, but there was a time before the net that people would be ashamed to celebrate evil publicly.

This week’s DaTechGuy on DaRadio BTW will feature Bishop Daniel Reilly in the first hour on the subject of the Pope’s resignation,  and author Dave Carter talking about his book to be released Friday “Che the lost diaries”.   It would not surprise me to see Christopher Dorner to be celebrated in the same way as Che.  On the bright side it beats him being lionized like Muma

It has been announced that the 2^nd Doctor Adventure that will be showed this month for the 50^th anniversary of Dr. Who is Tomb of the Cybermen.

I usually don’t’ have much good to say about Deval Patrick but in my opinion the state did an excellent job with the Blizzard of 13.  The lessons of 1978 and the ice storm seem to have been learned.

He’s still a bad governor but credit when credit is due.

Robert Stacy McCain is used to covering stories others have ignored:

It’s Ash Wednesday, and a 29-year-old kindergarten teacher was laid to rest in Westchester County, N.Y. Her story is now gaining international attention, but the New York Times and the national TV networks can’t be bothered to report the death of a woman who died after a late-term abortion by Dr. LeRoy Carhart. So the story got covered by Viral Read:

Some have objected and he has answered:

Accuse me of disrespecting the Morbelli family’s grief, denounce me for seeking to exploit this woman’s death for the sake of politics and I will repeat what I’ve said before: I don’t care, just stop ignoring this story.

This story isn’t about me or you or Jill Stanek. This story is about an abortionist who left a woman to bleed to death. If you want to target Jill Stanek for a lawsuit, please go right ahead, Bridgette, and I’ll cover the lawsuit, because that will call attention to the shameful enormity of the bloody career of this disgraceful butcher, LeRoy Carhart.

Double-dog dare ya.

No, Bridgette, you wouldn’t dare pursue such a lawsuit, because you know as well as I do that the more Americans learn about what “late-term abortion” really means, the more they’ll be horrified to know that the United States is one of only four countries in the world — along with China, North Korea and Canada — where abortions are legal in the 33rd week of pregnancy.

I’ll have Stacy on the show next week,  I wonder if anyone will bother to report this story by then?

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CPAC & Blogbash is coming, my friend Jerry Wilson is not impressed:

For the uninitiated — you haven’t missed much, believe me — BlogBash is a party thrown for political bloggers during CPAC (an annual gathering of conservatives) by one Ali Akbar, with whom my encounters have been well chronicled, and associates. It’s quite the to-do, with awards and sponsors and special guest star appearances by high rollers in conservative new media and politicians. Gaining admittance to BlogBash is the modern equivalent of trying to get into Studio 54.

Come BlogBash night, you will see scads and scores of blog posts and tweets from those in attendance hanging out with others in attendance, 99 44/100% of which will feature photos of said attendees in various states of inebriation hanging onto other attendees.

Assuming I make it to CPAC (my credentials have been approved) I’ll likely be at Blogbash.  You’ll find me sitting on the floor near an electrical outlet typing away as I always am.

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The GEICO ad of Dikembe Mutombo is simply brilliant.  It’s one of those things you can watch and just smile.  With the political scene being what it is you need a reason to smile these days.

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I hang with a group of friends on Tuesdays playing board games as we have since the 70’s.  Three of us went to High School Together.  The oldest of the three of us turns 50 this week.

This is my least favorite time of the year,  waiting for the start of baseball season.   The snow is on the ground and the first spring training games have yet to start Doctor Who hasn’t yet returned to TV.

Spring can’t come fast enough.

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Some TV?  My wife has started watching Arrow, it’s an interesting re-write of the old Green Arrow comic, its big into the whole Anti-hero theme but no matter how you slice it, you have a bunch of six packed guys doing very manly things.

Women were never big into superhero stuff but once you had movies and TV’s full of hunks you KNEW that was going to change.

Finally I want to thank the readers, when I decided to have a weekly tip jar goal so I could finally start paying myself I was very worried.  When I made my $300 weekly goal the first time I felt good but it’s not the first time but the 2^nd time that makes the difference.  Well Week two raised the $300 and then some.

None of this is possible without you.  I won’t forget it.

Under the Fedora: Courage Models et/al

This morning I was looking at Morning Joe when they said we had the potential for a repeat of the Blizzard of ’78 this weekend.  Apparently there are several computer weather models and the spread is as much as 1” to 16” inches in parts of NY State.

If 72 hours out our computer models have a 1600% margin of error what makes anyone think it’s sensible to base spending on computer models forecasting “climate change” over  30 or 50 years?

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Lost among the talk of the Robert Menendez and the Hookers and the Dominican donors is this story out of New Jersey:

An Elmwood Park man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring with his brother to violate federal election law by steering $21,400 in illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez.

Benedetto Bigica, 45, admitted that he worked with his brother, Joseph, of Franklin Lakes, from April 2005 to April 2008 to make the illegal contributions, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.

And Joseph threw in his share:

Joseph Bigica, 47, an insurance broker, was a prominent Democratic contributor who won millions of dollars in no-bid government contracts across North Jersey. Authorities said he recruited 19 people, including family members and business associates, and used them as straw donors to make 30 illegal contributions to Menendez’s campaigns, totaling $98,600 from 2005 to 2009.

How did senator Menendez describe this?  His office called the Senator a “victim”

I was really excited about Robert Spencer being a speaker at the annual Catholic Men’s Conference for the Worcester Diocese.  It’s a great event, it was the first such men’s conference in the country and spawned a slew of them nationwide and there is no sight like 1000+ men lined up for confession.

Then this happened:

I was scheduled to appear at a Catholic Men’s Conference in Worcester, Massachusetts on March 16, until today, when the Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Robert McManus, directed that my appearance be canceled. McManus was under pressure from Islamic supremacist groups who were calling and emailing the diocese demanding that he cancel my appearance. I’ve been informed that they were asked to call the diocese and demand the cancellation by a Boston Globe reporter named Lisa J. Wangsness, who contacted me this morning and appears to have instigated the entire controversy.

Meanwhile He spoke at the Natick VFW this week I interviewed him afterwards:

I know the Bishop and he’s a pretty decent guy who has not given in to the media in the past.  I suspect he was badly played by the various groups involved but what really confuses me is this:

The Globe has not and likely will not be any sort of ally of the church and when the “new evangelization” gets into full swing the same people screaming for the removal of Spencer will be objecting to Catholic proselytizing .

What will happen when these same people start objecting then?

Karl Rove, Scott Brown and Mitt Romney not withstanding , you can’t win an election attacking your party and you can’t grow a party by treating your base this way.  Perhaps when the GOP figures that out  I’ll come back.

Things continue to go poorly in Egypt, in addition to the issues with freedom now they have an issue with bread:

the government is telling Egyptians (almost half of whom live on less than $2 a day) to eat less. You can’t make this sort of thing up. Egypt lost another $1.4 billion in foreign exchange reserves in January, and probably is flat broke after figuring in arrears to oil and food suppliers, and it imports half its food, so something had to give. In response, Egypt’s Islamist government is emulating North Korea’s approach to food shortages:

But …but I thought with Mubarek out his family wasn’t stealing anymore?  Where is that money going?  Well that’s a good question but the origin of this issue likely comes from another source:

“We need stability to get tourists back. But the Islamist rule is provoking more instability and rage,” said Sayed Abdel Tawab, a 33-year-old tour guide who has seen his daily earnings shrink from $32 per day to $11.

“I have no hope there will be stability,” said Yasser Bahlol, 33, in his own souvenir stand as he idly surveyed what would previously have been a bustling, high-season flow of visitors. Only a few Egyptian visitors wandered past, spending little.

It’s hard to pay for imported calories when you chase away the tourists who provide the capital for them.  As Spengler puts it…

We are watching something unique and terrible in modern history, namely the disintegration of a society of 80 million people, with the prospect of real hunger–a self-made famine brought about by social and political disaster rather than crop failure or war.

I don’t know how unique it is.  There is a certain fellow named Mugabi who managed to turn his country into a land of food shortages.

The Ravens won the Superbowl, that didn’t surprise me, that they were able to strop the 49ers on a goal line stand, that didn’t surprise me either, but I object to the entire philosophy of the entire non-call on the 4^th and goal play.

Either holding is a flagible offense or it is not.  The rule book doesn’t say holding is allowed if it is in the 4^th quarter of the Superbowl with under two minutes to play.

The game has become a lot about the ads, some ads like the Paul Harvey Farm ad will be remembered long after they are done, others like the Go Daddy Kiss will soon be forgotten.

The ad that I will remember most is the Prom Ad.  I hated it and its personal.  I always was told there were plenty of people at the prom alone, but at my senior prom I was the only single there.  A cloth was tied to the empty chair next to me   Single most humiliating experience of my life.

The real irony, my wife to be, same High School Class was at home, wasn’t  asked.

This week on DaTechGuy on DaRadio Noon till 2 EST Lee Stranahan joins us for the 1^st Hour to talk Steubenville while in the 2^nd hour Michael Graham will stop by briefly to tell us about his new show premiering Monday the 11^th on the New England Radio Network.

Join us on the Money Matters Radio network and on FTR radio.  Don’t miss it!

Under the Fedora, Conventional wisdom and boobs

In the MSM this week it’s been all about Hillary Clinton and her inevitable nomination and election to the presidency.  Didn’t we see this movie five years ago?

Don’t count out Joe Biden for a moment.  Goofball image (I think that’s deliberate) not withstanding he served in the Senate for 36 years.  I suspect he has more to do with the Senate “no budget” move and the Obamacare passage than people realize.

Speaking of football the debate on the game continues, Bernard Pollard has this to say about the future of the game as things are done to make it safer:

“Thirty years from now, I don’t think it will be in existence,” Pollard told CBSSports.com. “I could be wrong. It’s just my opinion, but I think with the direction things are going — where [NFL rules makers] want to lighten up, and they’re throwing flags and everything else — there’s going to come a point where fans are going to get fed up with it.”

The pro-bowl was this week, once a year you have a game that is pretty much a flag football game without the flags in Hawaii to celebrate the best players of the year just before or just after the Super Bowl.

I’m sure a lot of people watched as the last game of the year when it comes on after or as the only game of the week before. But ask yourself this:  If every game was like that one would you pay to see it?  Would you buy an NFL package?  Would you go to the bar to watch it?

As these changes continue the viewers of the NFL will drift elsewhere, I suspect to the Legends (read Lingerie) football league.  Did you know there was such a thing with twelve teams in a national league nationwide?  If fans can’t have big hits they’ll just have to settle for big…..em ha well….moving on….

Did you know I have a co-blogger on my site?  I met Roxeanne De Luca in Boston the night of Scott Brown’s victory party back in 2010.  She is a brilliant young lady who has become a friend.  If I had a daughter I wish it would be her and if my sons were older, she is who I’d want them to end up with.

Yesterday she wrote a piece called:  How’s that women-empowering sexual revolution thing working out for you?

The author of this article, Allison Pearson, talks a lot about the porn culture and the ready access to a “virtual world” (online, texting, etc.). But she misses the point.   We could have thrown mobile phones at women in the 1860s, but no man would have dared to ask a lady to perform fellatio on him, because her dad would shoot him.  As in, dual to the death, all members of her family lined up to protest the treatment of their sister.  (I will note that some very backwards countries shoot the wronged woman, not the offending man.)

This is a sexual revolution issue.  Once we started saying that promiscuity is empowering, that sexual experimentation is fun for women, that pregnancy is the only obstacle a woman faces in intimate acts, we gave young men license to treat young women like unpaid prostitutes.  (Actually, worse – a man might understand if a prostitute said that she was off-duty for the night.)

She only posts maybe once or twice a week but she’s a gem.  I’m proud to have her here.

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As the Media continues to push gun control/confiscation/etc etc etc At PJ media Vodkapundit reprints a petition to eliminate armed guards around the president.  If Gun Free Zones are sufficient to protect our children they should be good enough for the politicians:

Of course a lot of definitions can be flexible for example words like “Newsworthy”  for example when one is a US senator and there is word about an FBI investigation concerning say, Underage Dominican Hookers and you’re scheduled to be on a national TV show.  You could cancel but if you can’t or won’t you may consider a strategy of deny, Deny DENY!

I suspect this was the strategy of Senator Robert Menendez as he appeared on ABC’s THIS WEEK two days after news of the FBI investigation of a sexual scandal involving underage Dominican Hookers broke.

Alas for the Senator ABC News’ Martha  Raddatz totally foiled that strategy by cleverly choosing to refuse to ask a single question on the subject

If Martha Raddatz, who we were all assured was an unbiased and professional journalist when questions arose before the vice-presidential debate last year, doesn’t find a scandal involving underage hookers and a US senator newsworthy when it involves a democrat why would any member of the party of Jackson feel restrained in anything?

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Allen West is now working for PJ media doing a feature called Next Generation :  This week talked about women in combat saying

This mission of the United States Military is to fight and win our nations war, fairness is an evaluative criteria.

While the media will ignore his words except to critique it the most significant thing he said was talking about how the enemy can strike anywhere

And as we saw four years ago at Fr. Hood Texas the enemy can strike where our troops should feel most secure their own military installation.  At Fr. Hood a pregnant soldier lost her life.

As a now syndicated radio talk host this might be a dangerous opinion but I’ve never understood the various commercials for testosterone or for erection pills (yes they have a name, but lets face it that’s what they are.

Victor Davis Hanson talked about the state of the state of California this week

Also, when you say, “My God, one of every three welfare recipients lives in California,” or “California schools are terrible,” you mean really, “Not in Newport or Carmel. So who cares about Fresno, or Tulare — they might as well be in Alabama for all the times I have been there.”

 He continues

Thank God for Mississippi and Alabama, or California schools would test dead last.

Somehow, in just thirty years we created obstacles to public learning that produce results approaching the two-century horrific legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. About half the resources of the California State University system are devoted to remedial schooling for underperforming high school students (well over half who enter take remediation courses; half don’t graduate even in six years; and well over half have sizable financial aid). The point of CSU’s general education requirement is not so much any more to offer broad learning (who is to say what is “general education?”), but rather to enter a sort of race, class, and gender boot camp that allows some time off to become familiar with how the culture and politics of the state should continue.

Hey as long as Mexico remains a bigger basket case, California will remain heaven to those who would cross.

As Glenn Reynolds says, “They’ll make us all beggars because they are easier to please.”

Well the first doctor who special is over and done as is the episode The Aztecs, it’s available on Netflix and you should watch it if you can.  It has a great message for today explained here.

See you next week and remember DaTechGuy on DaRadio is now Syndicated every Saturday Noon to 2 EST on the Money Matters Radio Network

Under the Fedora: The Man

Stan Musial died Saturday. 

Youngsters might not recognize the name although their spell checkers will.  Musial never dated movie stars, he wasn’t known for fights with the press, brawls in bars, or bad behavior of any time.  He was married for 72 years to the same woman who died last May and was never known to mistreat anyone expect opposing pitchers whose offering he deposited all over the field or over the fence from 1940 till 1962.

Musial won 3 MVP and was runner up 4 times.  Think of that a second, for one third of his career it was the consensus that he was the best or second best at what he did in the league.

That’s simply incredible.

There have been many tributes to Stan Musial over the last few days, but I think the greatest tribute to him was paid last year by Albert Pujois.

When he was signed by the Angels they put up promotional signs referring to him as El Hombre.  Given his numbers in 11 years he averaged 40 HR & 121 RBI a season while hitting .328. certainly number that would justify being called “El Hombre”, “The Man” but he would have none of it.

"I still have the same respect for him as I had, not just for what he's done in baseball but for what he did for his country. That's something you have to appreciate."

That really says it all doesn’t it?  BTW the Angels took down the billboards.

Best description of Stan Musial I ever read came from Bill James when declaring him the best left fielder of all time over Ted Williams :

Someone not thinking of death these days is Andrew Cuomo.  His latest abortion proposals bid to secure the Democrat left for 2016 are so extreme it produced this exchange between Elizabeth (The Anchoress) and her husband:

“he wants to be president. He is pandering to Planned Parenthood and Emily’s List because there is gold in them thar purses.”

My husband was appalled to ponder it: “a lot more than 30 pieces of silver,” he said, and it’s not going to get him to heaven.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not seeking heaven, just now,” I shrugged. “He’s seeking the White House, and power.”

Nobody is promised tomorrow, Andrew Cuomo might consider that, if he actually believed.  But I don’t’ think he does.

 I have given no pixels at all to Steubenville OH Rape case that has the left and the occupods in an uproar.  Lee Stranahan has and can tell you Everything you know about the case is wrong:

Among the widely reported and false claims:

• Steubenville is so corrupt that no justice is possible.
• There has been a massive cover-up in the case.
• The victim was drugged, put in a car trunk to bring her to a series of parties, urinated on, and left for dead in a field.
• That there a number of witnesses to the assaults who have not come forward.
• The school’s football coaches were involved in the night’s activities.
• That football players were given easy or preferential treatment in this case.
• No media was covering the case except for one blogger until Anonymous got involved.
• That no justice would happen in this case were it not for the intervention of Anonymous.
• The infamous video of Michael Nodianos joking has nothing to do with the legal case.

To reiterate, those claims are rumors that are unsupported by evidence and yet if you click on any link to a story about the case, you’ll find any number of in whichever story you read.

The Atlanta Falcons Tony Gonzalez moved one step closer to being  the Ernie Banks of Football.  A well-loved Hall of Fame player who never made it to the big game.  It’s quite possible Goonzalez is the best Tight End to ever play the game but he has some interesting opinions concerning marriage, (via Wikipedia)

Gonzalez had a commitment ceremony in July 2007 with his girlfriend, October, and considers himself married.

Considers himself married?  Really?  Well why not?  If we can redefine marriage one way why shouldn’t we redefine it any way anybody wants it to be?  After all it’s not like marriage is anything important.

People are laughing at this story about a guy at Verizon who outsourced his own job for a 1/5 of the price and pocketed the difference that he was being paid.

Two thoughts:  If Verizon was satisfied with the work and the price they were paying for it, what do they have to complain about?

Chip Jones at Conservative Report Online has a hell of a question concerning Benghazi:

You see, the Kalashnikov rifle chambers a 7.62 mm round. The US M-4 rifle chambers a 5.56 mm round. What is widely reported and accepted is that at least two of the TDY Green Berets who were assigned by the CIA as ARSO’s (assistant regional safety officers) were badly wounded and were treated for multiple gunshot wounds after they rescued over 20 civilian CIA workers from the compound.

The single question that needs to be asked is: “Were the rounds taken out of the wounded ARSO’s 7.62 mm or 5.56 mm?” And when the answer comes back “5.56 mm”, it opens the door to the proof that the cover up was meant to hide the fact that the Obama administration had been caught once again arming offshore groups that did not have the interests of our country at heart. It would open the door to proof that Benghazi was “Fast and Furious on Steroids.”

Covered a GOP forum on Monday with two of the candidates for Mass. GOP Chair

 Kirsten Hughes

 and Rick Green.

If you are a bit sleepy this from NiceDeb will wake you up:

Dr. Jim Garrow, a renowned author and humanitarian, made the shocking claim on his Facebook page, yesterday.

I have just been informed by a former senior military leader that Obama is using a new “litmus test” in determining who will stay and who must go in his military leaders. Get ready to explode folks. “The new litmus test of leadership in the military is if they will fire on US citizens or not.” Those who will not are being removed.

Garrow noted in the comments that  “the man who told me this is one of America’s foremost military heroes,” prompting this relpy from one of his followers, “if this man is truly a military hero, he had better not be keeping this a secret. Military hero’s (sic) do what’s right, not what’s comfortable for themselves.”

Garrow responded, “have folks forgotten that the word is now out. I believe that the gentleman has done what he should and allowed all of us to sound the alarm.

If this is the slightest bit true it will be very interesting to see the reaction in the ranks.

Jack Mitchel’s book Fireside Chat is becoming more and more relevant

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A bit of a cultural thing, when I wanted that Bill James quote from the start of this piece I didn’t search the net.  I remembered reading it and ran upstairs grabbed the book I saw it in, leafed through it until I found it.  I tend to do that an awful lot when writing.  In this internet age/kindle age it must seem a quaint and amusing thing to do.  I’m sure some of the younger set must laugh at it.  Let them.  I’ll take the printed word over the pixel every time.  With the printed word I can say with 100% certainty that what it says on the page today will be the same thing it says on it tomorrow.

You know you are old when you find yourself using the words “the younger set” in a sentence.

Finally there is huge news concerning DaTechGuy on DaRadio.  Last week was my final week on WCRN AM 830.  Starting Saturday at 1 PM my radio show will be Syndicated by Cameo Productions.  The first stations carrying me will be in Massachusetts from the Money Matters Radio Network, a fourth online station will be added Feb 2^nd and from there, who knows?

Under the Fedora: Saints and Sinners

On Morning Joe Monday I was treated to yet another day of people praising members of the GOP who are willing to attack the party and being told how far to the right Republicans have gone.

Somehow they never note how far left democrats now are. Katrina Vanden Heuvel would never have been considered a mainline guest on a show just a decade ago, now she is on regularly. You never saw people citing the Nation or Mother Jones, now they are treated as mainstream left.

And what ever happened to the DLC that Joe cited when he brought up Bill Clinton? Gone with the wind.

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Speaking of our 42^nd president Bill Clinton has been picked as Father of the Year. Less than 15 years ago that would have been a one liner in a SNL sketch, now it’s reality. I wonder, has there ever been a father of the year whose reputation is such that no mother would trust her daughter with him?

As the 10^th doctor once said: “The World is very strange.”

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If, like me, you are a Doctor Who fan you will want to keep an eye on BBC America. For the 50^th anniversary of the show they will broadcast a special on each of the 11 doctors followed by an episode of Doctor Who from that era. They will be starting with William Hartnell, the 1^st Doctor (or as he was called then: The Doctor). I think today he is often forgotten but if he doesn’t pull it off, the Doctor with no background, no real history and the total lack of special effects there is no show today.

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Last week’s DaTechGuy on DaRadio really caught a lot of people off guard.

Our first guest was Dr. Paul Byrne, he talked about the difference between so called “brain death” and “true death” stating that we are literally cutting brain injured people open alive for their organs for profit.

The reaction from people to his show has been shock. They have never been told the other side of this story and that it’s coming from somebody who is one of the pioneers of neonatal care and a former head of the Catholic Medical association makes it even harder to take.

In our second hour we had Mike Hummell a member of the Hostess Bakers union who rejected the contract offer that led to the closing of Hostess. He presented a case for rejecting the union contract that seemed pretty reasonable to me.

What really surprised him though was his treatment, he wrote to me afterwards that he expected to be “ambush” interview and had his defenses up for a sneak attack that never came.

I think it’s pretty sad that we’ve reach a point where people expect to be insulted or mistreated in a discussion.

Our treatment of him won some praise at the Daily Kos site. I’ve got to say I certainly never thought I’d be typing that, then again I suspect Mike didn’t expect to be saying it either.

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A group of British Bishops talking about Gay Marriage said bluntly that it is going to lead to a new era of Catholic persecution on the island as the Catholic Church. If anyone in England doubts this, see how many children the Catholic Church places for adoption in Massachusetts these days.

People forget that England has a long history of anti-Catholicism dating back to the church’s unwillingness to allow Henry VIII to discard wives at will. In some ways Catholics are still 2^nd class citizens in the UK. It is no coincidence that Tony Blair didn’t convert until he was out of office. The Catholic Church’s ,

The age of easy Christianity for the west is about to end. We are going to be pushed by the secular left, the anti-Catholic right and radical Islam. Keeping the faith is going to come with costs. Outside of the western world it the costs can be fatal. It’s going to be really bad for my sons.

People say it’s not fair, but then I remember this biblical passage:

“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin; but as it is they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me also hates my Father. John 15:18-23

And I remember that no matter how unfair it might be, if you are a Christian in general or a Catholic in particular, you would know it’s part of the job description.

It’s still on Guns all the time on MSNBC and Morning Joe. It’s a great distraction from the economy. On Wednesday they were really upset at this NRA ad

I understand why they are so pissed:

The Democrats won an election by pushing the class warfare line, the 1% line, the idea that Mitt Romney was an elite that didn’t care about you and your families. It was a sell that worked with low information voters.

Now you have the same message being played by the NRA to the same voters. It’s the class warfare argument, the 1%, the argument that the President and the rich Washington elites don’t care about your families as long as their own kids are safe.

The left hates this argument; they just used it and know it works.

The most interesting argument I’ve heard on the subject comes from Ann Althouse:

It occurred to me, after the Sandy Hook murders, that blaming guns is a secular substitute for blaming the devil. People find it too challenging to figure out why a human being would do this terrible thing and they latch on to the idea that the gun made it happen.

The post starts with the question: Don’t I have the right to die? I think that’s one of the most stupid question ever, you have a destiny to die, it’s just a question of when.

A big fuss was made about Jodie Foster’s “coming out speech” for myself the thing that struck me was that she is my age and has been working in the business since she was 43. I have a vivid memory of her in the last season of Daniel Boone as the a ragamuffin girl taken in by Jimmy Dean’s Josh Character. If the series had lasted another year she might have become a regular on the show. She was pretty good even back then.

Hollywood is a nasty environment and a lot of people particularly as the standards of “acceptable” behavior moved closer to the behavior that many in the entertainment industry indulged with relish outside of the eyes of the public paid the price for living in it.

That Jodie Foster has managed to be anything resembling sane with a lifetime of such an environment is an achievement greater than any accolade that the film industry can give her for her work.

That people decide to give additional credence to people from this environment never ceases to amaze me

Finally Football. I’m a baseball guy but the footballs playoffs have been very exciting. The Seattle Atlanta game was incredible, although the pats make it look easy it was still a great game. Baltimore vs Denver was classic, (Baltimore scares me more than any other team) but the greatest irony is in Denver.

Last year Tim Tebow led Denver to their division title and a playoff win before losing in the 2^nd round. One year and 11 million dollars later Payton Manning got Denver a 1^st round bye, but didn’t get the Broncos any farther than Tebow did. Meanwhile the Jets who absolutely refused to start Tebow even as Sanchez tanked and the 3^rd string QB when down managed to go 6-10.

I’m a pats fan so Payton Manning and the Jets are both rivals so I naturally don’t mind them going down but I’d be a liar if I said that the treatment of Tebow by the Jets and Denver didn’t make both of those results sweeter.

I’ll put it on my confession list for this month…

Under the Fedora: Here comes the Hangover

I’m typing this on New Years Eve and while I’m not a drinker I’m thinking it’s is the perfect day to think of Obama’s Second Term.

New Year’s Eve generally is a binge that ends with big headache and on occasion the company of someone you regret the next morning. That is going to be America circa 2013 all over.

The fiscal cliff deal is coming (UPDATE it has come) and Zachary Goldfard at the Post pointed out a change in one part of the argument that is being ignored.

R. Glenn Hubbard, dean of the Columbia Business School and an architect of the Bush tax cuts, said it is “deeply ironic” for Democrats to favor extending most of them, given what he called their “visceral” opposition a decade ago.

Personally I think they still oppose them, By the time you read this we will know if a deal is struck. I figure the re-imposition of those tax increases in such a way that Republicans can be blamed is a two-fer for democrats and their media allies, but if there is a deal and those tax rates are made permanent somewhere in Texas George Bush will be smiling.

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John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman have penned a piece (do people say “penned” anymore?) arguing for our involvement in Syria.

The United States must rally our allies to channel assistance to the newly established Syrian opposition council for distribution in the rebel-held areas. We must provide weapons and other lethal assistance to the opposition military command. And we must impose a no-fly zone in some areas of Syria, to include using the U.S. Patriot missile batteries en route to Turkey, to protect people in northern Syria from Assad’s aerial attacks.

If we remain on the current course, future historians are likely to record the slaughter of innocent Syrians, and the resulting harm done to America’s national interests and moral standing, as a shameful failure of U.S. leadership and one of the darker chapters in our history. That should unsettle us all as we pray for peace and goodwill this holiday season.

I understand the moral argument and it’s a fair point, but on the other end there is the question of aiding an opposition that is highly influenced by Al Qaeda and Islamists. They are likely to bring in a crew as bad or worse as the last bunch.

In for a penny, in for a pound if America goes in it has to be willing to commit the blood and treasure to keep this from happening. Like the fiscal mess with the GOP no matter what America does the Islamists and the left will blame us, so we should do what is in our best interests and, despite the crisis, I think our best interests to not intervene in Syria.

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Slightly related I found this absolutely hilarious:

Essam al-Erian, deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, called on Egyptian Jews to leave Israel to the Palestinians and return to their own homeland…

..”Egyptian Jews should refuse to live under a brutal, bloody and racist occupation stained with war crimes against humanity,” Erian said.

I think Egyptian Jews totally agree, that’s why they are living in Israel instead of Egypt.

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I find one aspect of the entire Gun debate pretty odd:

Given as stipulated [for the sake of argument] the vast majority of the right is one step away from the cliff of slaughter, might saying: “Next year we’ve coming for your guns” less than two weeks after Andrew Cuomo said “Confiscation could be an option“, be the push to send a bunch of heavily armed Chick-Fil-A eating psychopaths over the edge?

It’s gasoline on a fire ready to engulf the country in flames with only the police, the army and power of the presidency to hold back the impending holocaust of good and decent Obama voters.

Liberals, be afraid, be VERY afraid…

If the gun owners were as dangerous and as scary as our liberal friends tell us, those same liberals would not risk provoking them this way.

Strangely enough those same liberals have no problem keeping silent about Islamists who oppress women and slaughter gays.

As Rush Limbaugh said, the left will always tell you who they fear…

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Meanwhile speaking of the left

The privileged daughter of a prominent city doctor, and her boyfriend — a Harvard grad and Occupy Wall Street activist — have been busted for allegedly having a cache of weapons and a bombmaking explosive in their Greenwich Village apartment.

Morgan Gliedman — who is nine-months pregnant — and her baby daddy, Aaron Greene, 31, also had instructions on making bombs, including a stack of papers with a cover sheet titled, “The Terrorist Encyclopedia,’’ sources told The Post yesterday.

I suspect this will get very little play doesn’t fit the template. Maybe in twenty years they will serve in congress as reps from NY, after all in case you haven’t noticed from the Black Panthers to the mentors of Obama Ayers and Dorn the left always seems to embrace their terrorists.

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Speaking of the left and terrorists here is some news out of Saudi Arabia

Saudi religious police stormed a house in the Saudi Arabian province of al-Jouf, detaining more than 41 guests for “plotting to celebrate Christmas,” a statement from the police branch released Wednesday night said.

The raid is the latest in a string of religious crackdowns against residents perceived to threaten the country’s strict religious code.

Why do I get the feeling an awful lot of folks on the left would love to do the same here?

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Some sports? The Washington Redskins (5 -11 last year) took the NFC East with a win over the Dallas Cowboys last weekend. The Indianapolis Colts (2-14 last year) won 11 games and picked up the #5 seed in the AFC North.

On twitter somebody sent out the list of predictions for this year from ESPN’s experts. While the Eagles, Cowboys and Giants were all picked by people to win the division (in fact two “experts” picked the Dallas and Philly respectively to win the Superbowl, not a single person had either Indy or Washington going this far.

The Jets weren’t on any playoff lists but because of the acquisition of Tim Tebow they were all over the media. When Jeff Sanchez tanked NY rather than start Tebow went with 3^rd stringer Greg McElroy. When he went down with an injury before the final game they pleased Tebow haters everywhere by putting Sanchez behind center one last time for one last loss.

One might wonder what harm It would have done for Tebow to start the final game, the answer is simple: What would they say if he won? That 10^th loss is a small price to pay to avoid the embarrassment of Tim Tebow succeeding even slightly.

Just a reminder, Tim Tebow got the Broncos to the 2^nd round of the playoffs last year, as of right now that’s the same place where Peyton Manning has them.

Finally the Doctor Who Christmas special was excellent, the plot interesting, the setup for the next season really worked and the new credits reminded me of a combination of the credits for Jon Pertwee (3rd Doctor) & Tom Baker (4th).

My one issue? I’m getting sick of the constant “Gay Marriage” messages. It’s become obligatory to the point where it’s odd if there isn’t a married lesbian lizard lady in Victorian London, or a Horse in the old west renamed “Susan” from Joshua whose life choices we needed to respect, or “thin/fat gay married Anglican marines.“ It’s almost as bad as the constant time paradoxes lately but in fairness those only became ubiquitous when Moffat became head writer.

Let give everyone a quick history lesson from 1989:

“The idea of bringing politics into Doctor Who was deliberate, but we had to do it very quietly and certainly didn’t shout about it,” said McCoy….Sophie Aldred, who played Ace, the Doctor’s feminist companion, said a shared contempt for right-wing ideology had inspired “a real bonding process” for cast and crew.

I’m not the first to notice, but let me say this: When the writing goes bad and there were some signs of that in series 6, expect them to go all social issues all the time because when the ideas run out there is always the agenda.

It killed off Dr. Who once, let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.

Happy New Year all.

Under the Fedora 1924-2012

In November of 1924 Calvin Coolidge who came to the White House the year earlier after the death of Warren G. Harding, was elected in his own right to the presidency taking 35 states, 382 electoral votes and 54% of the popular vote vs John W. Davis’ 136 Electoral votes and 28.8% popular and Progressive Robert M. La Follete who managed 16.6% of the popular vote but carried only Wisconsin.

Despite the prosperity of the nation and his own personal popularity Coolidge did not choose to run for president in 1928 and would retire from public life dying in 1933 at the age of 60.

Twelve days after Coolidge’s election in the state he served as  governor,  a Sicilian woman named Grazia gave birth for the seventh and final time.  Grazia had come to America shortly before the eruption of Mt. Etna and follow up earthquake that destroyed the city where she and her future husband Antonio had lived.  He had left Sicily before her and after a brief time in Brazil, would settle in Fitchburg Massachusetts There he would become a barber, marry Grazia, and raise their family at the end of a dead end street.

Two of their 4 girls and two boys did not live to see their sister Mary born. Steven died at birth and the oldest girl had died at age three.  Mary would be baptized at the fairly new Italian Catholic Church, St. Anthony di Padua that her parents had been married in and would live her entire single life in the house on Matthews street where she was born.

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On February 22, 1937 Congressman James Paul Buchanan of the 10^th District of Texas died.  His wife was considered a shoe in for the special election but had not yet decided to run.  A congressional aide named Lyndon Johnson, wanted the seat.  He visited his father a former three term state Rep Sam Johnson for advice.  The elder Johnson as Biographer Robert Caro put it, didn’t have to think twice.  “She’s an old woman.  She’s too old for a fight.  If she knows she’s going to have a fight she won’t run.  Announce now—before she announces.  If you do she won’t run.”  Lyndon listened to his father.  Mrs. Buchanan didn’t run and after a hard fought victory he took his first step on the road to the White House.

In August of that year Angelina Garbarsi and her husband came from Boston to stay with their relatives on Matthews Street for two weeks as they did every year for the Annual two day Madonna Della Cava festival at Saint Anthony Di Padua celebrating a 13^th century Marian Apparition in Sicily.

While Mary & her family (including older sister Lucy, Angelina’s Goddaughter) were strong Catholics, the childless Angelina was considered particularly devout and saintly,  even for her time.  She attended daily Mass and had taken the vows of devotion in honor of the Madonna Della Cava including abstaining from meat on Wednesdays for life.  She had spoken to Mary and her godchild Lucy about the faith often during her annual visits and while Lucy’s devotion to prayer and her Godmother would be strong and lifelong, that November it would be Mary who would take that same vow  on her 13^th birthday that Angelina had taken the previous century.  She would never break it.

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June 1942 was a pivotal time for America at war.  Off the Island of Midway the American Navy under Admirals Fletcher and Sprague would win the critical battle of Midway sinking four Japanese Aircraft Carriers and destroying the cream of the Japanese naval air force.

That same month Mary graduated from Fitchburg High School.  Many members of the class of 42’ would go directly to war.  Some would not come back.  Mary’s older brother Johnny was already serving in Patton’s Army and would eventually be awarded the Silver Star for gallantry.  A cousin that Mary corresponded with regularly would be killed in action.   Mary would use her math and typing skills sharpened on a Royal Typewriter that her father skimped to buy her to good effect as a secretary but he drew the line when one of her friends offered her a chance to join her in the program flying military aircraft domestically freeing up the men for combat    It would be one of the biggest disappointments of her life and she would speak of it whenever an air show came to town.

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 In 1946 Winston Churchill gave the speech coining the term “Iron Curtain” to describe the state of countries made puppets under Soviet control at the end of World War 2.  It was a public declaration of the new reality of the conflict between the free west and the enslaved nations of the Communist world that would dominate life on the planet until the end of the 20^th century.

In 1946 Mary would lay out an ultimatum to a 25 year old sailor named Dominic.  They had met through a comedy of errors a few years earlier and when that sailor, who was a hardworking, gregarious carpenter returned from the Pacific he was anxious to marry her.  Mary bluntly refused if he remained in the navy.  Dominic wanted a future in the navy, but he wanted one with Mary more.  They would marry the next year and raise five children in their 40 years of marriage.

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1968 would begin with the Tet Offensive in Vietnam a military disaster for the Communists but a Propaganda victory leading to the defeat of South Vietnam and causing Lyndon Johnson to not seek re-election. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy would be assassinated within a few months of each other and in November Richard Nixon would win his first term as president. 

Just before Christmas in 1968 Mary & Dominic would move their five children to a much larger house built next door to Grazia who had been widowed the year before.  It was largest home the family had ever had with 4 bedrooms three bathrooms to be shared by the children ages 5-20.  Ironically, within a few years 3 of the five children would be married and gone. 

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In 1974 Richard Nixon resigned as a result of the Watergate scandal, a transformative event in American political history that is still felt today.  Nixon was ill in body and mind at the end.  He would recover physically and pols would consult him privately on serious matters but the miracle necessary to recover his public reputation would not come in his lifetime.

It would be a different story in 1974 for Mary.  For the second of three times the miraculous would intervene in Mary’s devout catholic life.  This occasion was in a near empty basement chapel at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church.

After Sunday Mass at St. Anthony’s Mary would attend the healing services of Fr. Ralph DiOrio at St. Bernards making prayer intentions for her ailing mother.

Mary didn’t tell Fr. DiOrio about illness that reduced her to an all milk diet keeping her from the spicy Italian foods that she so loved.  After all she had somehow survived a horrific gas explosion more than a decade before, her terrible burns inexplicably healing without scaring thanks to a cream nobody heard of,  purchased by her husband days before, from a salesman nobody knew that he applied directly afterwards from a jar nobody could find.  That explosion and two unrelated illnesses had brought her so close to death that by age 50 she had already received the last rites three times.  Between that and a life that included some gunplay in defense of her business & children during a long incapacitation of her husband, a limited diet was certainly not going to elicit complaint.

But that particular Sunday after the service ended Mary’s son approached the priest telling him of her illness and asking him to pray for his mother.  Fr. DiOrio calling Mary over declaring:  “You’ve been coming here all these weeks and you never told me you were sick?”  When Mary deferred citing her mother’s illness the priest insisted on praying over her.  At the touch of his hand she collapsed.  When she revived 15 minutes later he ordered her to go home and eat “A good Italian meal” She went home and feasted on Italian food.  To the amazement of her doctor who she visited that week, her illness was gone.

Later that same year she would get a job at the Safety Fund Bank in Fitchburg.  Before the end of the year her experience from the business they owned brought her the position of head teller.  She would stay their till her retirement.

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1994 was a year of political change in the country.  For the first time since the 50’s the GOP controlled the House of Representatives and the country would shortly move from deficit to surplus.  The Republican Revolution and Contract With America would mark a resurgence of the GOP for years.

1994 would be a year of change for Mary.  Her mother had died in 1986, Dominic died in 1987 and her final child would marry and move out the very next year.  With an empty house Mary had thrown herself into her work but at age 70 she decided it was time to leave.  Her life remained busy.  She worked the polls for the city, attended daily Mass, and served the church in the senior’s group, and as a Eucharist Minister to the sick & homebound where one final time the miraclious would visit.

But the biggest change in her life was, for the first time in her life she had abundant free time for her grandchildren.  Most were now teens, some had children of their own, but the two youngest 1 & 3 would get considerable attention from her in their formative years.  By 2006 both of them and their father would take the Madonna Della Cava vow Mary had taken almost 60 years before.  For her it was a source of considerable pride.

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2012 was a big election year for America; Barack Obama was re-elected and in Massachusetts Scott Brown was defeated after winning a special election two years before.

2012 was a full year for Mary.  She watched her youngest grandson graduate from her Alma Mater 70 year after her class of 42.  Her oldest daughter watched over her living in the house Mary was born in 88 years prior helped by a grandchild and his family.  She spent the year surrounded by her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and her older sister Lucy still active at 91.

She still had her New Testament, falling apart from daily reading as two others had before.  She had her pistol, but not her bullets, unknown to most and over her objections her oldest son had taken her ammo. She never owned a computer, a cell phone (let along a smart phone), a credit card or cable TV and she was happy. 

On Nov 6th Mary voted for Scott Brown, Two years earlier Brown was the first member of the GOP she had ever voted for in 64 years and talked of it to Robert Stacy McCain.

This year after voting for a Republican for president for the only time of her life she greeted the poll workers whose tasks she had once shared still angry her Scott Brown sign had been stolen.

10 days later on her 88^th birthday she renewed her license but a few days later took ill.  She was hospitalized.   Her daughters never left her side and her children and grandchildren visited her daily.

16 days after her initial doctors visit and five days after returning home, my mother Mary died in the house next door to the one she was born in.  She lived a long useful eventful life full of faith and family and had positively touched the lives of others.

Her life might seem an anachronism to people today, I think America would be better off if they saw it as an example.