The Democratic Response, or, I hope I don't piss John off too much

My presentation went well last night. I do well with PowerPoint because the slides keep me focused on points, but I can also be free to talk about other things that aren't on the slides as well. Now comes the hard part, writing the paper.

The title of this post has to do with John's friend Ken's post on the subject of Fahrenheit 9/11 and his reaction to it. I will lay this on the line: I've never met Ken in my life. When he was here last fall I believe I was probably at work, or looking for work, or in Kalamazoo. I know of Ken, only through what John, Karen, Jean and Rhea have said. I know we believe vastly different things politically. I read Ken's blog every now and then, as it's linked from John's. I do not know if he reads mine, as he has never met me. Presumably he disagrees with a lot of what I say if he does, and obviously that is his right. Unlike Ken, I have not served this country in uniform. I thank and admire Ken for doing so, because I likely wouldn't go myself. If that makes me a coward, fine, then I'm a coward.

I don't have problems with what Ken says about the film itself, I haven't seen it, and thus cannot speak to its merits. I know that unlike Ken I can't give you my experiences about what life was like on the front during the war.
Michael Moore is what he is, a documentarian. He admits freely that this film is more of a filmed version of an op-ed piece than straight documentary. He has his points to make and he makes them. Can he seem condescending? Yes, but then nearly every documentary is. Michael Moore has spent the last twenty five years living and writing about politics. He founded one of Michigan's first alternative newspapers, he edited one of the leading liberal magazines, Mother Jones. He has gone after the corporation that literally built and then destroyed the city of his birth. His weekly TV series that used to air on Fox made being a muckracker and a gadfly cool. Not many people would have the DC Gay men's chorus show up at Jesse Helms' door. Moore made one of the funniest black comedies of the post-Cold War era, Canadian Bacon. He's published books, campaigned for Ralph Nader, done a ton of work to investigate the fascination our country has with guns, attack both parties and, of course, go after GWB. Can Michael Moore talk down to his audience? Yes. Does he often make his subjects, particularly those of lower social classes, subjects of humor? Yes. These are his failings as a film maker, not as a person.
Michael Moore is well within his rights to paint George Bush any way he wants to, so long as he doesn't say anything libelous. Bill Clinton has nothing to do with George Bush and his presidency. Everyone knows Bill Clinton lied, its been well established. George Bush promised to restore honor and dignity to the White House. He is himself, I will admit, very likely an honorable and decent man. His journey from Prince Hal to Henry V is incredibly interesting. But on the left, we will still see him as a man governed too much by a seemingly Apocalyptic Christian worldview, one that doesn't allow him to see the world in shades of grey. Steadfastness and doggedness are admirable qualities in a leader, but so is the ability to admit mistakes and change course if poliy isn't working. Bush has not shown the ability to do this. His obsession with his own ideological purity doesn't give the opportunity for nuanced poicies or compromise, the very bedrocks of our government.

Moore uses Craig Unger's book "House of Bush, House of Saud" to source his claims about the link between the Bin Laden family (which disowns Osama), the Saudi royal family and the Bush family. As far as I know, the only people who believe truly that 9/11 was staged are those in the Muslim world, who believe it was done by Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. Getting Bush out of the classroom wouldn't have necessarily meant projecting his own cowardice or panic. If he had left, it would have said to the nation that the commander and chief is ready to get back to DC and do his job. The Bush team had to know that once the planes hit, the coverage would be from New York, not his appearance in Florida. The networks literally would have said what the President was doing, that he was at a school, he heard about what happened, and that he and the Secret Service left immediately, to try to get back to DC, or the bunker. If Bush had left, it wouldn't have said anything negative about him at all.
Iraq had never been a threat to attack the US. Saddam's plan to kill Bush's father was to be sprung when he visited Kuwait, after Bush had been out of office for a year. He wasn't trying to kill the sitting president of the United States, that obviously would have been cause to attack, and killing a former president would have been as well. Assassination plots are hatched daily and never get off the ground, or are foiled, these aren't direct attacks on the United States.

Was Saddam an awful man who did incomprehensibly terrible things to his opponents? Ye she did. The Iraqi people suffered terribly under his rule, especially during the sanctions, when Saddam took the aid given to the nation and built palaces for himself and his sons. There are terrible men like this all over the world. But we didn't go to war with them. Were Saddam's crimes, as terrible as they were, justification for invasion. Yes, they are, but only now. This is the only time we have preemptively invaded a country on the basis of liberating its people from suffering under tyrannical leadership. We didn't go after Japan and Germany until after being directly attacked and Germany declaring war on us. We didn't go after Mao, after Stalin, after Pol Pot, or Idi Amin (Who Ate People). I find, and for 99% of our history, our country has found,preemptive war to be a moral evil. Republicans opposed operations in Bosnia and Kosovo for these reasons. The church condemns it as such. The Pope condemned this war because of it. We are currently allies with a military dictator who seized power in a coup (Pakistan), a man who tortures political opponents and is rapidly becoming a despot (Uzbekistan), and others who commit terrible acts. It typically has taken a lot to get us to go to war, and no matter how terrible Saddam was, his brutality against his own people would not have justified war in past generations.

I do not believe the administration lied about what they saw as Iraq's capabilities as far as WMD's. What I do believe is that those in power at the Pentagon, the civilians at DoD, not the Joint Chiefs, selectively took the intelligence they wanted, and used it to justify war. WMD's, in general, is a more compelling case to present to Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public than Iraqi atrocities. Had the UN been able to complete the inspections process, perhaps hundreds of American lives, and thousands of Iraqi lives would have been saved, because the idea of Saddam as an imminent threat would have been extinguished. I simply believe that we rushed into war without exhausting all diplomatic opportunities. The neocons at the Pentagon operate under a dangerous worldview that the projection of American power abroad can only be made via force. They believe, I firmly think, in the idea of an American empire. This is an anathema to everything our foreign policy, and our country, has stood for for 228 years. They are the danger. The troops are heroes. The military acted bravely and brilliantly. Lives have been lost in Iraq because the civilian leadership in Arlington didn't do its job, because "men go to Baghdad, Real men go to Tehran" is the way they think. The Powell doctrine of overwhelming force has been cast aside. Perhaps its use would have saved many lives.
It generally is liberals who point out the undemocratic way the military is structured. In an all-volunteer army, the underclasses are more likely to go because in a lot of places, its the only opportunity to get out, to get a college education, to see the world. Children of privilege, on both the left and the right, I doubt too many children of Fortune 500 CEO's, Heritage Foundation board members, or kids getting sent to Hillsdale are in the military, have more opportunity. The military becomes like the priesthood for many of these people, a calling only to be undertaken by only those truly called, not the doorway to a future career or education. We on the left don't want to see anyone fight, and if they have to only at an instance of last resort. We love the troops, well most of us anyway, the Chomskyites generally are pushed to the periphery anyway. It's he people at Heritage, at the National Review, in the Pentagon who don't do the troops the service they need. They put them in harms way, needlessly.

I hope I haven't made anyone upset, especially John or Ken. I've tried to be even handed. If you feel I've attacked you, I'm sorry, I haven't gone out of my way to do that, I've only stated my own opinions.

Regarding the state of conservatism today, Mr William F. Buckley (Founder of the National Review) said there was an ongoing debate about the war in Iraq which clashed with the traditional view of the right that American foreign policy should only seek to protect its vital interests. "With the benefit of hindsight, Saddam Hussein was not the kind of extra-territorial menace that was assumed by the administration one year ago," he said. "If I knew then what I know now ... I would have opposed the war."

Starting the long week, by talking about the weekend

This week will probably be my toughest, academically, since last fall. Both my classes this session are ending, and so stuff is coming due. I have a 12 page paper due Thursday, and a presentation tomorrow. I also need to write some reviews, including one that will force me to go out to eat Wednesday night, or I suppose, Thursday afternoon.

I was kind of split on the weekend. On the one hand, I got to spend more time with my Grandma Graham, I hadn't seen her since the funeral. She seems to be doing well, but my aunt Mary and her daughter Grace stayed for more than a month after my grandpa died, and so now she has to face waking up alone everyday. She talked about doing little things, turning the radio on when she gets up, to avoid silence, as well as treating herself to things, in her case half and half as opposed to skim milk in her coffee. On the other, we were at a family reunion, and therefore there were people I have seen maybe once in my life, and yet we're family so I don't really know what to do. The Scofields are a bit different from our family, and there were lots, and I do mean lots, of kids running around all over. One interesting thing though, as a means of keeping the kids busy, as well as a means of getting to know one another, the Ferlito's (My dad's sister Annie, my uncle Kenny, and their kids Dominic, Jodi and Ricky) came up with this idea to play "bingo" where people would initial little bits of info about themselves on a board. Every 5 in a row got them a "Ferlito Dollar" which could be given to the kids in exchange for them doing a chore. The kids then got to buy toys and other things with the money later. My brother and my cousin Ben, through what means I don't know, came into possession of a large cache of Ferlito dollars, and made the kids do things like feed them grapes (Robert) or cut up their food into bite size pieces (Ben).

The administration really must have been scared about handing over sovereignty on the 30th. They've effectively wasted potentially great PR by handing over sovereignty when they did, this morning at about 2:30 Eastern time. This means that it happened while all of us werea sleep, we could only hear about it this morning, not watch it. It was not the "event" I'm sure the Bushies wanted it to be. Instead, Bremer's on his way back, almost looking like he's trying to get back as fast as he can because who knows what happens now.

I did not get a chance to see Fahrenheit 9/11, but obviously the fact that it was #1 at the box office, with only about two weeks of promotion, and being that it is a documentary and such a controversial film, it really was surprising. Hopefully, enough of the audience will be people who are undecided about whether they will vote for Bush or Kerry that it will make a difference, particularly in Ohio, or in Pennsylvania or Florida, states that might tip the balance come November. Great job by the right-wing in promoting the film by talking about it ceaselessly,giving Moore all of the free press he needed.

Two Pictures, and other things

First which picture would you rather look at, this, which has Alex looking like he's thinking hard and about to say something, or this because it has PTM in a ridiculous hat?
Email your responses to jimshilander@yahoo.com or just comment below by hitting the comment dealie.

I got hit on while walking back from my car tuesday night by some young women in a Ford Explorer, I believe they were inbibing alcoholic beverages at the time, so it was the equivalant of construction workers hooting at passing women, I just thought I'd share this information.

I went to a concert at Metro, which is kind of a club/small concert venue near Wrigley last night, to do my music review for class tommorow. I saw The Streets which is this hip hop/ dance group from Birmingham, UK. I really didn't know how to describe them at first, my initial impression was kind of a British Everlast, but now I'm thinking more like a Multi-racial and British version of Jurassic 5. I enjoyed the show, even if it did start an hour and 40 minutes after its scheduled start, I guess they had a lot of late arrivals or something. Good show, I may by their CD or ask for it for my birthday coming up, or I'll just recommend it to you good people.

I also worked on my rewrite of my theatre review, and I called the play "a beached whale of a show. Like the sea mammal on land, the script flails about for something to swim in, but instead dies a slow, agonizing death." I figure that is about as mean as I will get, but frankly it deserves worse.

Draft is tonight, the 'Stones don't pick until the second round, where I figure they'll either take a Euro and leave him over there for a year or two, or maybe a senior like Arthur Johnson, or Bernard Robinson, Jr. who went to a fine institution for his basketball and academic career. I would take Okafor #1, but I'm suere the Bobcats would be pleased to get him at two, because he'll be a solid player for the 12 years or so, someone that gives the franchise a good start.

Indiana and the Bulls are said to be nearing a deal to get the Seventh pick to Indiana for Al Harrington, and Indiana would take Luke Jackson from Oregon. Last time the Bulls made a deal with the Pacers they traded away Ron Artest, Ron Mercer, Brad Miller and other stuff for Jalen Rose and Travis Best. That worked out really well didn't it.

I really don't have a ton to talk about today, which is why I am kind of blathering on. I will try to blog tommorow, I will be going to Cleveland for a family reunion this weekend, I'll be back sometime Sunday. Then I have a really busy week next week including a 12 page paper, two reviews and a presentation, plus stuff for work and therapy, and I will be ratcheting up my search for an internship for the Fall. Of course after next week I won't have to drive again for probably a month, which is a huge bonus, plus I get the day off Monday, sweet.

I'll blog again Monday for sure, maybe tommorow. Have a good night, I hope everything is going well for all of you and give me a call sometime.

I Alienate my Entire Sex, and Rant about What Coaches Stink and who Should go to School

I had my counseling session downtown today, we're starting to talk about why I am so hard on myself, meaning, why I say or think things about myself that I don't other people. In this vein, I need to tell a story about my ride home last night:

I got on the 156 and sat near the back, the two women sitting ahead of me either were friends or worked together, or obviously, both, and were talking about their relationships. One of the women talked about how she just assumed, unless the man she dated told her that he wanted to date exclusively, that she would just assume he was dating several women, and so she didn't feel bad about seeing several men. Both women, one was 22, the other 29, seemed to be in agreement on this point and both seemed extremely cynical about men and the kind of men who still dates like that.

Now I realize that I am not exactly the poster child for dating experience, and that I have been called a traitor to my gender on occasion. But seriously, why is it that we as a gender are such bastards when it comes to monogamy? I don't condemn these women for what they do, they are just doing the same thing men have done for time immemoriam. There's nothing, after all, to condemn, I don't know them, I don't know who goes into their beds at night, nor is it my business, nor do I care. But why is it that seemingly the vast majority of us (men) don't seem to understand that monogamy really is not that hard or understand that the women we love aren't toys to be used for our amusement. The men in these women's, and in suspect in many women's,lives let down the rest of us. They let us down because they gave proof that we're not good people as a gender, that our entire sex is hard-wired for relationships that we don't take seriously and that we don't care about the person inside the dress, just about getting on our bedroom floor. Seriously, the situation is getting so bad that all men may need to be taken into a room A Clockwork Orange style and have their minds warped to not hurt women and to be sensitive to their feelings, I don't know how, maybe show some movie with a one night stand and that makes you violently ill or something.

Ok, now the long promised rant on Butch Davis: While walking last night I came to the conclusion that there are simply a lot of coaches perfect for college and some perfect for the pros's, they can't do the other. Pete Carroll, for one, he was terrible in stints with the Jets and the Patriots, but he has almost single-handedly brought USC (the real USC, the other one is just South Carolina) back from the dead. Butch Davis was the one who did this at Miami. The recruiting scandals that put Miami on probation nearly destroyed the program, it was Davis' emphasis on character and finding guys who "got it" that brought them back. Then he was hired in Cleveland and it just hasn't worked. A college coach is his own GM, he goes out personally and gets the people to fit his system. In the NFL, this isn't necessarily true. There are people above you who do that. Butch Davis doesn't like this. He drove out Dwight Clark, he drove out Carmen Policy, he drove out Ron Wolf, the man who built the Packers, because Policy brought him in, and he only brought him in a few months ago. He released all of the starting linebackers from the playoff team of two years ago and replaced them with rookies or Eagles castoff Barry Gardner. The cap is still too high, and the Brown can't maneuver to get what they really need, an offensive line that will keep the quarterback, whoever it is, vertical. It was assumed Davis would be a great pro coach because he comes from the Jimmy Johnson Cowboys staff, but then again, so did Norv Turner, Dave Wansttedt and Dave Campo. Look at all of the success they've had and tell me this wasn't a brilliant idea the Lerners had to hire Davis.

The caveat to my Pro/College comment is this: there are certain guys in the NFL right now who I think would be great college coaches, chief among them, John Gruden (sorry John) and Jim Haslett. Both are fanatically hardworking, Gruden famously gets to the office at about 4:30 am every morning during the season, and so would likely never be outworked in recruiting or in getting players to play the way they want them to. Gruden in particular would bring instant credibility to a program, like say North Carolina or Syracuse, or keep a great program great over a long period. Plus, by the time players might tune you out, which they are less likely to do, college coaches are one step below gods to a lot of players, they'll be ready to leave, and you keep bringing in fresh blood. I really think this would work. Haslett has been mentioned as a possible successor to Paterno when he leaves Penn State, so I'm not alone in that feeling.

Self-Awareness and Making Amends
Not that busy a day here, nor weekend for that matter. I got to see Saved! which I eill be reviewing for my class on Friday. It was very good and I'd really recommend it to anyone frustrated by the right-wing's use of religion as a weapon. I also did a lot of walking and thinking, about life, my current situation, a lot of things.
I know that I've had a relatively easy life, and that the "hardships" I've endured have not been anything too demanding or troubling. I've only lost one grandparent, and that loss has been made easier because of the way my grandfather lived his life, he lived a happy one, surrounded by friends and family. I know that I am not not loved in the same way my grandfather was. I know that in many ways, I'm not a terribly lovable person. I am almost painfully introverted in most social situations, enough so that if I'm in a large group of people I don't know, I either shut dowm, go into a mild panic attack or immediately retreat to be on my own. I've even done that, in high school mind you, with groups of people I knew well. I know that I can be painfully slow on the uptake when it comes to the normal social rules of society. I know I can be scatter brained and difficult to deal with or get a handle on. I know that I shrink from any confrontation like a mouse, because I have this irrational fear of confrontation. I don't look out for my own needs at all, because, very often, I don't even know what they are. I just want to believe that for some people, my being in their life has had a positive effect, that my thoughts, feelings and actions have left their mark on the people I love with all of my heart, my friends and family. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about what I'm writing, this is not a suicide note or anything like that. I know that I have been Incredibly self-absorbed over these past few months since the breakup, and I just want to apologize to everyone. I have had to confront a lot of things, some of which I still don't understand or haven't made peace with. That being said...

To Laura, Susan, Amber, Andy, Steph, Audrey, Karen Green, Alison, Amy, Nick, etc.,

I'm sorry about being so wrapped up in myself the last few months. I care about all of you a great deal, and I'm sorry if my inability to deal with my own situation frustrated you or made you think less of me. You are all incredible people, not just for who you are and the friends you are, but because of your compassion, your grace, your belief in me and everyone around you. I can never thank you enough for all you've done to help me in this time.

To John,

I'm sorry about the clearly untenable situation I've put you in so often lately. I know that I've been too needy, too clinging, because, well, you've had to be my confidant when you didn't want to be. I'm sorry about asking so often, about not being a real friend when you have a life too. Thank you so much for the way you have helped me through this time, and I'm sorry I didn't do this til now.

To my family,

I'm sorry about being so distant, about not working on the things I should have been because I've been too wrapped up in myself. Obviously its been difficult the last few months with everything, and my feeling sorry for myself has not helped anything. I will do my best to be a better son, brother, grandchild and whatever else from now on.

Most importantly,
To Karen Marie Steeno,
I'm sorry about the way I've treated you these last few months. I have been scared, frustrated and confused, emotions that have hurt my bid to recover and move on, so that we can try to be friends again. I have have fouled up time and time again and I've done you wrong, because you shouldn't be having to worry about me right now. I am doing my best to work on the things I was lacking, the maturity, the life skills, the self-awareness. Thank you for being the most wonderful person to ever be in my life, for changing my heart, for being good to me. You did what you felt you had to do, and I'm sorry if I've made you feel guilty about doing what was best for yourself. I hope that someday soon, we can have our friendship again, and that I will grow to be the man you thought I could be.


Thank you for sitting through that, the Butch Davis rant will come tomorrow, in case you really care.

Listening...and Why the Browns stink

I just finished my reviewing the arts class. We got our theater reviews back, I didn't do as well as I thought, but I will be able to work on it to go for a better grade, not that anyone really cares, I just thought I'd actually tell you, dear readers, what happened.

We did an exercise where we just sat and listened to the sounds that surrounded us. We all did this individually during our lunchbreak. I hadn't really listened like this in a while, especially the last few months, I've been busy and too self-absorbed to really stop and listen to the sounds of the city. It was really interesting to hear the way the cars cut through the air, the way the brakes squealed, that sort of thing.

As most people who know me well realize, my NFL fanness (I know I just made that word up) is divided between the Lions and the Browns. John already gave his take on the Packers getting Couch, so here's my feelings from the other side. The Browns, when they were originally constructed were in a difficultposition. Obviously, the city of Cleveland had been hungering for football ever since Modell moved the team, and in the intervening non-football years, both Carolina and Jacksonville's expansion teams had done extremely well very quickly. The Browns brought in Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark, who had experience building the 49er's dynasty, and so we thought everything would be ok. However, after that every move they made has just seemed to be a mistake. They hired Chris Palmer, who had been a coordiantor with the Jaguars as their first head coach. Frankly, for everyone who watched and commented on how lousy Marty Morninwheg was with the Lions, Palmer was basically just as bad. They had no line and when the front office put together the team, they failed to take advantage of the natural advantages they had, as far as free agency, the Browns didn't get one player in either FA or the expansion draft that made people say "wow". Still, the biggest mistake was the decision to take Tim Couch with the #1 pick in the 1999 draft. Compounding this mistake was that the debate in the Browns front office was vbetween Couch and Akili Smith, who had one good season at Oregon before becoming one of the worst busts ever as a pro. Couch had a lot of the things that make you wary of taking a quarterback high, but the Browns did anyway. He was a "system" quarterback, Kentucky threw all the time and threw short passes that relied on recievers to make long runs to gain yardage, this is a system that doesn't usually translate into producing NFL QB's (see Ware, Andre, Klingler, David, and Kingsbury, Kliff). The second quarterback chosen that year was not Smith, instead it was the one out of Syracuse, Donovan F. McNabb, who has appeared in three NFC title games and made some of the more amazing plays of the last few years made by quarterbacks.

Then came the hiring of Butch Davis...but I'll get to that monday

Have a good weekend everyone

The 'Stones, Saddam, and the use of torture

I just had my fourth, I think fourth, session. I'm going to have to change times soon, because my class in the B session, which goes from the start of July to mid-August, was cancelled, and I've been placed in a similar class downtown. This means I won't have to drive after the 4th, except for when I'm going home. In my session we talked a lot about my family, and about my abhorrence for confrontation.

A lot of people have been talking about where the Pistons go from here, or where they rank. I feel like they will probably be the New Jersey Devils of the NBA, they will always be there, and they will probably will a few titles, but probably not be considered a Dynasty. If you look at the Pistons, the easy comparisons are to the teams that won titles in the 70's, sort of cvollections of talented but underrated players who play together. Will they be the greatest dynasty ever? No, but that doesn't matter. The team, and the title are still incredibly special, especially when you consider the state the franchise was in only a few years ago.

I remember about a year ago, when we couldn't find the WMD's, that some thought that e had found them, but that the announcement would wait until before the election. Obviously, this has proven not to be the case. Now the administration is doing something similar with the Saddam/Bin Laden link. They are now saying there were contacts, which the 9/11 commission says there were, but not nearly the kind of contacts that they said existed. They implied the Saddam was one of the principal backers of Al-Qaeda and that the two were almost married to each other. Obviously, if anyone knows the facts about the two, this is not the case. Bin Laden saw Iraq, a secular state and enemy of theocratic Iran, as a bad thing, the kind of government that would be toppled when Radical Islam took hold across the Mid East. Saddam feared Al Qaeda, in fact the meetings that operatives had didn't lead anywhere because the two sides could not get along.

The memo stories are just getting worse. It's obvious that higher-up's were trying to find ways to get around international treaties banning torture, this is really making me, and should make everyone who cares about our standing in the world, sick.

John is off to BR for the weekend, I hope you have a good time John, and say hi to everyone for me.

I'll post again tomorrow, promise.

Alex..Yes Alex

As much as I make fun of him, possibly out of jealousy, it is nice to see Alex do well

First, we lost a true giant of sports writing a couple of days ago when Ralph Wiley passed away at 52. Check out the tribute to him at ESPN.com's Page 2(it's linked on this page at "the mothership". In addition to the way he wrote and how he inspired a generation of black journalists including Wilbon, Jason Whitlock, Stephen A. Smith and others, Wiley's writings taught me a lot about basketball, boxing and the craft of writing itself. If you read some of his work, like this, where he understands a week and a half before the finals started, what would happen between the Lakers and Detroit. May his family, friends and peers be comforted in this time.

Did anyone catch the glowing things GWB said about Bill Clinton yesterday at the unveiling of Clinton's portrait? I wonder, seriously, if this might damage him with some of the fringe members of the Clinton-loathing right, enough, perhaps to cost him a few hundred or thousand votes in states like Arkansas, Missouri or Florida.

Obviously tonight's game is big. We'll see what happens, the first quarter should tell us how the game will go. If there is a big Laker run, we may still have a series, if it is close, like last game, look for the third quarter to decide it, and if the Pistons get up early...

I need to point out a couple more things, one, Colin Cowherd, the guy ESPN Radio got to replace Kornheiser when he decided to stop doing radio, is a hack. He admits to openly rooting for the Lakers, making him about the only national radio figure to be doing so, judging by the shows I hear at night, and has continually ripped on the Pistons since before the series began. He has said the Pistons would roll over, that they played a "greco-roman" style of basketball, that they're winning would put an end to basketball as a beautiful game. Lately, with the Pistons in command, he has set about calling them the "worst NBA champion of the last 25 years". Obviously, he is a putz, not as clahssic as Mr. Tony and basically just one step above Jim Rome.

George Bush went to Rome last week, and met with the Pope. While there, he seems to have approached some of the top officials at the Vatican, if not the Pope himself, about the American bishops " complained that the U.S. bishops were not being vocal enough in supporting [Bush] on social issues like gay marriage, and abortion," a Vatican official privy to the discussion said. (CNN) Ok, I unerstand the Karl Rove thinks he can woo Catholic voters by pressing the differences between John Kerry and the church on issues like, and probably almost exclusively, abortion. We have had Catholics of both parties run for office and support abortion. Jennifer Granholm did, though her home parish, our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, was picketed by the usual anti-abortion folks, and shescewered by the Monaghan people for taking communion. But that was a state campaign, and relatively few people cared about it. Now, with bishops publicly saying they would deny Kerry communion, as well as groups like the rainbow sash people in Chicago, being denied communion because of their disagreement with the church on issues, we face the real possibility as a church of becoming intertwined with politics. I have always believed that my Catholicism made me a liberal, that Christ's concerns about social justice and the needs of the poor pointed naturally to concern for them and their issues. Others, including many of my high school classmates and their families, see it differently. But that is a point to be debated. For the hierarchy of the Catholic church, who have about the same moral authority as the guy in the trenchcoat in the back row of a movie theatre right now, to make judgements about whether the average American Catholic, who does disagree with church teaching on abortion, contraception and the ordination of women, let alone politicians is absurd. The righties are really opening up a can of worms because they don't understand the Catholic electorate. We do NOT act as a unified group, we tend to vote the way everyone else does. But by targeting Kerry, by making political statements and turning the most sacred act of faith, the transubstantiation of the Eucharist and the act of communion, into a political issue will only drive more Catholics, fed up with the Church leadership, to John Kerry, as it should.


As the Bush crowd worked shamelessly last week to wrap their man in the holy shroud of Ronald Reagan, the dead president's son, Ron Reagan, delivered an eloquent eulogy that discreetly signaled his conviction that Bush is no Reagan. "Dad was ... a deeply, unabashedly religious man. But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage," said Reagan at the burial service for his father on Friday, and there was no mistaking the meaning of his words.

Sorry about the length between posts, but I don't have the internet on weekends and thursday and friday were a little crazy for me.

Couple of things... Obviously the Pistons have completely destroyed any semblance of Laker invincibility and inevitability with the way they have frustrated the Lakers, especially Kobe Bryant. Bill Plaschke made the point in the LA Times today that the fact that Shaq did not have 50 last night cost the Lakers the game, and the person most responsible for that was Bryant. Credit Larry Brown for single covering Shaq, he is dominant, and you can't help that. But Shaq is a very good passer from the post, and if he's facing constant double teams, he can find people open very easily. But Shaq becomes more dominant if you think he's going to dominate, and you make special efforts to curtail that dominance, which you can't prevent anyway. What the Pistons have done is make Kobe a volume shooter, forcing him to take as many, or more shots, as he has points. Kobe is selfish and stubborn, and therefore just keeps putting up shots, while Shaq just sits down low, waiting to score. The Pistons offense was something I don't think anyone was prepared for, especially with the scores of the Eastern conference finals. But the East and West play different styles, and so the Pistons offense is far freer facing a Western team than it was facing Eastern ones. The reason the Nets were slaughtered the last two years is that they played Western style basketball, and the Western teams were ready for it.

The Reagan stuff. Ok, I realize every liberal has had their say as to why he is undeserving of the kind of canonization RWR has been receiving lately. I will boil it down to two reasons why I feel he isn't, AIDS and South Africa. Obviously, much ink has been spilled on ho Reagan ignored the AIDS crisis and did not publicly acknowledge it for several years after it was a known illness. In the meantime, thousands died and millions were infected. Reagan prominently supported the white government of South Africa in the 80's when much of the world was condemning apartheid. Reagan advocated tha we lift sanctions, vetoing a Senate bill that would have placed sanctions on the nation. The veto was overturned. Understand it takes 2/3, 67 senators to do this, it never happens, except here.

The dollar issue: Reagan shouldn't be on any currency. I realize that people are pushing for people to put him on the ten, but come on, did he really do more for the nation than Alexander Hamilton did? If you must put him on something, put him on the 2, its rarely used, Jefferson already has the Nickel, and the R's can have their prize and Democrats save face. This does however lead me to one complaint, that Chief Justice John Marshall, the man the made the Supreme Court the powerful entity that it is, is not on any currency. Perhaps the next dollar coin should have Marshall, with the Supreme court of the reverse side. I feel this would pay tribute to a man long ignored for his contributions to American government.

Ok, here's the thing about what happened last night. I felt like I was hit in the gut, I seriously knew the minute Bryant got the ball that he was going to make the shot. I was surprised that the Pistons couldn't get anything better with more than 2 seconds left on the clock. There are just certain teams I hate, and this Laker team has always been one of them, dating back to when Shaq and Kobe first got there and there seemed to be this sense of entitlement about them. By the way, does anyone who actually calls a game remember that Bryant is potentially going to be on trial for rape, and has admitted adultery? I realize that I'm old fashioned in this regard, but I find adulterers to be one step above rapists and child molesters on the scale of who the worst type's of people are. I realize that there are degrees of adultery, ie, your wife has terminal cancer and is a vegetable is not as bad, as say, Scott Peterson cheating on his pregnant wife, but still its wrong. Its why I rarely have sympathy for those who cheat on their bf/gf and then breakup, they deserved to get caught, they violated a trust. If are a spouse, you made a contract before God, or the state, that this would be the person you would devote your life to. That's a thing not to be trifled with, let alone tossed off like an empty liquor bottle when it suits you.

Sorry, I really don't know where that came from.

Anyone who reads this and is interested in politics/gossip should click on the link I added yesterday for Wonkette. Its a really dishy political gossip site that's fun to read.

Anyone with suggestions for a play can email, and please do, I'm not sure what to write about so any help would be appreciated, just don't do anything silly like this guy.

I just wanted to post some thoughts on who Kerry's Veep choice SHOULD be, since the campaign has been not at the top of the news cycle this week with RWR's passing. I know a lot of people are saying it looks good for Edwards, because Kerry has him going around raising money right now, and I saw in the Sun-Times today that Tom Vilsack, the governor of Iowa is being considered. Both have obvious appeals, Edwards because he's an optimistic character and potentially would look good contrasted with Dick Cheney, and Vilsack because Iowa is an important swing state. Gephardt would bring union votes, but probably not Missouri. Let me argue hard for someone else, however. John Lewis is a congressman from Georgia who worked with the SCLC and Dr. King in the 60's. He's a veteran of the civil rights era who has gone on to serve hi constituents in Congress. Josh Marshall makes a good point about the way the black vote is an automatic for the Democrats. My opinion is, if you look at the people maddest at Bush, you have the intellectual Left, the anti-war people, unions, military families, obvious groups that will turn out heavily in November. I would argue that putting a real hero like Rep. Lewis on the ticket would turn out millions of new voters, including Hispanics to the Democratic side, and that could mean the difference in states like Ohio, Michigan, Nevada, Missouri, Florida or Georgia. Contrasted with the Bush team, Lewis has real accomplishments and has spent a lifetime fighting discrimination and intolerance, just the message the Dems need against the ticket that wants to write discrimination into the Constitution.

Obviously the big story of the weekend was the death of Ronald Reagan. We've heard a lot over the past two days about how Reagan made the country feel good about itself again and how he changed American politics. It's difficult for me, or anyone of a similar age to mine to judge the former, simply because we didn't live through it. Obviously, the cumulative effects of the long defeat in Vietnam, the embarrassment and corruption of Watergate and the Nixon administration (remember, Gerald Ford was appointed VP because Spiro Agnew was a common grafter, and was as Vice-President, never trust Maryland politicians), and then having the joy of the bicentennial counteracted by oil shortages and the taking of hostages in Iran had America down. Reagan's brand of conservatism, equal parts Goldwater's western libertarianism, John Birch Society type anti-communism, and an appeal to evangelical Southern Christians did seem rosier and genuinely more appealing than the malaise of Jimmy Carter or the depressing style liberalism of Walter Mondale. The "It's Morning in America" Spot is still one of the great ads ever done. Obviously, Reagan was the Great Communicator" and most people genuinely thought him a good man, on both sides of the aisle.

On the other hand, Reagan brought to Washington a new kind of conservative. The kind of conservatives who worship Reagan today because he did everything they would love to do, project American power through bombings and invasions (Libya and Grenada), lower taxes AND increase spending on defense, and cut sopcial welfare programs. George Bush has onsciously tried to emulate Reagan more than his father. Bush 41 was never trusted by conservatives, he was from the northeast, went to Yale, seemed a member of the eastern establishment they so hated. When Bush failed to do what the conservatives wanted, they simply stayed home in 1992, or voted for Perot. Bush 43 has done nothing but appeal to the religious right, perhaps alienating many Republicans more concerned with fiscal discipline than the end times.

Reagan was a good man, and probably history will remember him as a good, but not great president. He will be credited, unjustly, with winning the Cold War, though he only continued a policy begun with Truman and pursued by every president afterwards. He created huge deficits. But he did inject a sense of optimism into the country when it needed it.

The Pistons win last night was surprising, especially because of the way they did it in the second half. The Lakers have won their series by winning the third quarter, either taking teams out or erasing leads and taking them in the fourth. Larry Brown brilliantly realized that Kobe and Shaq will score, and its very difficult to stop that What they can do is make Kobe a volume-scorer, force him to put up as many shots as he gets points, and stopping everyone else. No other Laker scored more than 5 last night, and the other Lakers had a total of 16 points, that is insanely good defense on everyone else. They have no answer for Shaq, but that's probably ok, so long as the supporting cast is kept in check.

I saw a rather odd play yesterday for my reviewing the Arts class. It featured lots of very short scenes in this young Chicago man's apartment, and the various people in his life. The problem was that none of the characters weren't very well developed because of the style of the show, and because we only saw the main character against all these other characters, we ended up not really caring about him very much.

I will leave you with the following thoughts:

"Von Braun developed the V-2 during World War II for Hitler, emigrated to the USA to create rockets for NASA, and became something of national hero in the space agency's heyday of the 1960s. Mort Sahl once quipped that von Braun's autobiography 'I Aimed For the Stars' should have been subtitled "but Sometimes I Hit London."

Rank
Team
Win
Loss
Tie Games Pct. PF
PA
Delta

1
Michigan
833
274
38
1145
0.744
27898
11774
16124

2
Notre Dame (IN)
796
258
41
1095
0.746
27391
12631
14760

Just finished my second session, I talked a lot about myself and my own insecurities and how they've made me the man I am today. Afterwards, I heard the always bright tones of the voice of Mrs. Susan Southard, which as always, brought a smile to my face.

George Tenet resigned today, as I am sure you are all aware, citing personal reasons. I do know that Al Gore called for his resignation a week ago at his speech that has been taken way out of context by the right wing and their media outlets. The speech was for the most part very calm and cerebral. I don't mind Al Gore being upset and shouting, I don't question his sanity as the right wing does in an attempt to marginalize his views. Do I think he's bitter about 2000? Yes, but then he likely has a right to be. He knows that with him as President, we likely would still have had September 11th, but the response, and the way we have used the good will of the world, would have been far more tempered and even handed. I've seen other speech makers do far worse.

The PBS station in Chicago has a wonderful nightly program called "Chicago Tonight" which runs for an hour at 7. Every PBS station in the country that can afford to should consider doing something like this, because a long form show like this can really explore issues that the commercial stations won't discuss. Last night the show featured a panel discussing the senate campaign in Illinois. It featured a higher up from both the Ryan and Obama camps, as well as a veteran journalist, all being interviewed by Phil Ponce, who does a very good job moderating these discussions. I don't know how many of you from not Illinois saw this, but the Jack Ryan campaign has a man who follows Obama's every public step, up to the men's bathroom. The Ryan campaign is hoping to get inconsistencies from Obama in terms of what he says "in Springfield and in Chicago". The aide has a small digital camera, its really quite weird. Obama has taken to asking people if they would like to meet his stalker.
I'm telling you about this to illustrate one thing. This is really stupid. Jack Ryan has a bunch of things going right for him, he's young, good looking, has a good story (he left his investment firm to teach at a South Side High School), and is very rich. But he also has some things going against him. He has mysteriously sealed divorce records from his marriage to Jeri Ryan (by the way...YOU WERE MARRIED TO MARRY TO JERI RYAN AND GOT DIVORCED? HOW F****** STUPID ARE YOU?)George Ryan was the last governor and has been indicted on charges of patronage, and the last name might make people wary in a statewide race. More than anything though, Ryan is very conservative in an increasingly Democratic state. The senator that Barack Obama and Ryan are running to replace, Peter Fitzgerald, is a Republican, but he's more liberal on a lot of issues that the standard Senate Republican. I don't believe a conservative like Ryan can win in Illinois. Even if he gets 75% of the vote downstate, he still will lose huge in Chicago, just because of the R next to his name. The Tribune poll last night had a figure of 52% to 30% for Obama with the rest undecided. That means that if all the undecideds went to Ryan, he still would not win. The defense the Ryan man made was that it was early, and maybe the support for Obama was soft. But...both candidates had to face primary battles. Each are known to a lot of people because they saw them on TV early. Obama got more votes in the Democratic primary than all the Republicans put together got in their's. Ryan is a desperate man doing desperate things. I really think he has a bright future, just not here. Obama has too much star power, to much appeal to blow it. And Jack Ryan being an idiot doesn't help him at all.

Ok, so the Pistons won last night, getting back to the finals for the first time since beating Portland in 1990. Was it ugly? Good lord yes. The fact that neither team reached 70 makes it very easy for pundits and others nationwide to dismiss the Pistons chances against the Lakers. While I don't think they will win the series, many people are predicting an easy sweep or a quick five game series. Frankly, I don't see it. The two teams played two relatively tight games in the regular season, both when the Lakers had the big 4 at the same time. Here's how I see the series breaking down:

The key for the Pistons to have any shot at winning the series is Chauncey Billups. In both games against the Lakers this year, he was the leading scorer, and his is the only matchup that the Pistons potentially have a big advantage. Small forward is essentially a wash between Tayshaun Prince and Devean George. The other matchups, especially if you combine the two "big" positions into a sort of mish-mash the way the Pistons do, go the Lakers way. They need to try and contain Shaq, and if necessary, either employ the Hack-a-Shaq or offer little resistance to him to score most times he gets the ball down near the basket and a shot can't be contested, disrupting the other player's offensive flow. Billups needs to take advantage of Payton's declining defense, assuming that he is being Guarded by Payton. Rip has to stay within 10-8 points of Kobe's total, hoping that Rip's style of play will tire Kobe in the 4th quarter. The Pistons should be able to limit the contributions of the Lakers role players offensively, and I am including Malone and Payton in that group. The team needs Billups to come up big, to be an offensive option that will open up the floor for Rasheed and Rip. He needs to hit his shots. Prince needs to outplay Devean George, and I think he is capable of doing so. But I still think the star power of the Lakers will be difficult to overcome.

Hopefully may problem with the Haloscan comments will be fixed soon. If you want to comment on a post just click the Comments that are already there and follow the instructions.

That's it, hopefully another good drive tomorrow. I have my second counseling session, and I will try to get more sleep after being exhausted last week.

I'll post again tomorrow, everybody be good to each other

There really hasn't been a lot to discuss about the weekend, I went back to my family's house Friday, making incredible time by the way, and then just sort of sitting artound until Sunday when we went to my Granparent's house in Cleveland. We stayed there the night, and ate breakfast in the morning, and I came back last night. That's pretty much it. I didn't have a chance to watch the Sunday morning shows, though I was able to keep up my Buffy and Angel fixes. One significant thing today that seems to have gone underreported is that a court over turned the ban on Partial birth abortion, which leads me to my rant.

My old High school, frankly, has gone insane. While I was there things seemed pretty normal. A catholic high school is a catholic High school, and while we were obviously stricter on things like dress code or language then say Community High just down the street, we were for all intents and purposes, a normal high school. Only in my senior year did things start to get a little weird. We had drug testing put in, on a sort of, "if we suspect you we'll test you basis" which seemed a bit fascist, but I guess understandable. I objected at the time, and still do, but I do understand the reasoning. After I left, and I heard my brother's stories about how almost a third of his class was either kicked out or asked not to come back after a school year, it got me to thinking that Richard may be going a bit to far. Then came two events that really set things in motion as far as the wrong people being out in front: the principal, Richard Bayhan, resigned after the diocese refused to back him after he suspended a student for giving a shaving kit to a female teacher, and the new school was built, on land donated by Tom Monaghan and kitty corner from Christ the King Parish.

I'm sure most of you know who Tom Monaghan is. He founded Domino's and later bought the Tigers. Well, he has always been a religious man. He founded missions in other countries, he built Catholic schools. And he funded Operation Rescue, the radical anti-abortion group in California. This earned him a boycott from many liberals, who refused to order from Domino's. About a decade ago, he sold Domino's, and the company that bought it, in addition the the hundreds of millions they gave him for the company, paid him an additional hundred million NOT to start another pizza chain. Needless to say, Tom Monoghan is a very rich man. And a man of deep faith. And he lives in Ann Arbor. This is not a good combination. The schools he has set up tend to be from a stricter model of Catholic education, which is different, but I suppose he knew there were people who wanted it. The troubling part comes later, when he began setting up the following things Ave Maria University, a four year school now located in Florida, Ave Maria School of Law, which is a very conservative law school set up because he believed law shools at places like Notre Dame and BC weren't "Catholic enough", and scariest of all, the Thomas More Law Center, set up to be the "Catholic" answer to the ACLU. Monaghan also gave Richard the land to build the new school on the Domino's Farms property. This was before he proposed to build the crucifix that would be taller than the statue of Liberty on the property.

Christ the King Parish is a part of Opus Dei, the conservative Catholic movement that uses evangelical worship techniques anmd holds the Bible and strict adherence to church law to be sacred cows. The kids I went to school with who attended Christ the King were always a bit more hardcore about their faith, but could also be like Mandy Moore in "Saved" the kind of Christian who uses their faith as a bludgeoning device. Well, not suprisingly, after my class left, and especially after Bayhan left in 2001, the school seemed to be virtually controlled by the Opus Dei people. They seemed, and still seem to have, a grip on the school that seems unchecked. They have the power to review what songs come on at dances, what dances are danced at dances. They have the power to see that their views are the only ones seriously taught in theology classes, and social behavior in and outside of school is regulated. This brings me to the heart of why I am ranting here.

A recent school newsletter contained a note from the Chaplain, Fr. Richard Lobert, who started at Richard the same year I did. It talked about how, with Prom season coming, parents needed to raise "their alert levels" about sexual activity by their children. They equated this alert to the one the Dept. of Homeland Security raises about terrorism. Only then did I find out about the people behind the alert being issued, the SIC (Sexual Integrity Committee), made up of mothers and other people involved in the school. They had brought in Chastity lecturers, sent home notices about other things. The group was headed by the mother of one of my high school crushes, the one that I wrote about in the play that was performed at workshops, and from which my blog now takes its name, junior year. The idea of a committee like this is scary to me for one reason: the possibility, and probability, that it would create a "Crucible" type of atmosphere around sex, and make life especially difficult for kids who might be gay. I can imagine them outing people is what I am trying to say.

This is something no one should want, obviously. I have seen what my friends have gone through, especially when it comes to mixing their sexuality and religion. I know that one person in particular had a very difficult time trying to attend and perform at chapel at Albion because certain close minded individuals did not want them to be able to. I don't want this to happen in high school. I don't want a group of religious zealots branding students with the Scarlet letter 'G' or 'W' or anything like that. I want the teens of Richard to be taught about their sexuality, to talk about it openly with their teachers and parents. They can be taught about saving it for marriage, and the great gift from God that it is, but also to understand what is going on physically, and to understand that you don't go to hell because of who you are or mistakes you have made. That isn't happening know. The board, the faculty, the PTG, it all seems overrun with zealots. I just hope this might help some of them come to their senses and breathe.

Sorry to bore you.

Jim