It isn't simply his death; it's a culmination of personal things crashing in on a week that always promised to be hectic as all get-out (Florida A&M trying to pull of a huge Homecoming week simultaneously as they try and pull off a huge week of Inauguration festivities surrounding the installation of their 10th President). Definitely a form of madness when your worker bee's are already maxed out but there were certainly extenuating circumstances making this weekend the best choice. But the death of Dean Barnett has genuinely stopped me cold. Funeral services are today at 1 p.m. in Massachusetts and The Weekly Standard has many reflections. Wretchard did a nice piece, so did Hugh Hewitt, and I'm sure many others have as well.
I had hoped to pitch an idea to Pajamas Media that would take me to Orange Park on Friday. This is my hometown, a suburb of Jacksonville, and the place that threw a parade for John McCain when he returned home after being a prisoner of war in Vietnam. The Orange Park High Class of 1978 has a 30-Year reunion this weekend (it's Homecoming at Orange Park High, too) and my younger brother was their Class President way back when. I may have mentioned before that I was Senior Class Prez in 1977 and my older brother held the same title in 1974. At a school that was the largest in North Florida and had to be 95% white at the time.
As a family, we love the town and the school. I thought it might be interesting to crash one of their informal get-togethers and see if anyone wanted to discuss McCain and Obama or (as I suspect) people are tired of the whole damn thing and ready for it to be over whatever the outcome. If so, it would still be worthwhile to catch up on old friends from long ago, watch an Orange Park High game for the first time in years, and visit with all kinds of OPHS Raiders as we beat the hell out of those boys from the Beach, Ponte Vedra High.
Of course, Florida-Georgia is also in-town this weekend and it would also have been interesting as hell to get over there on Saturday and talk football or politics (or both!) out around the stadium.
While in this stopped cold period, however, I've been thinking of my past and present while wondering about my future. There are color-coded parallels (stay in Tallahassee, or head over to Jax?) at play that I have to sort through. There may even be a temporary escape to South Florida. Tonight, however, a major production will be held on campus that wifey is responsible for. Until that is completed, the world stands still. I'm not ignoring my eMail or this blog but I am thinking about "First Things" in more ways than one.
No doubt about it, last night was a very bad omen for the Rays. Until then, we had three games decided by four runs. No big deal. But this Blanton fool? Pitching well and hitting a homerun? Not good. Ryan Howard clearly hitting his stride? Not good at all.
Most problematic, most unbelievable, most bewildering is the lack of performance by Evan Longoria. No, the umps aren't quite being straight with the Rays. That's going to happen; they're human too and know -- like everyone else -- the Rays are already ahead of the curve; they're already in the history books. It shouldn't be, but it is -- how does the ump miss that tag call when Longoria smacked the man right on the middle of his behind??? They haven't stolen these games, though. They've just made them a bit more difficult. Deal with it. But Longoria? He sees the ball so well, and seemed so patient against Boston, that it is odd to see him flailing at the plate.
And he is flailing.
I hate defeatism in all forms and I have not given up but we need to come out and put the fear of God into Cole Hamels quick, fast and in a sho 'nuff hurry in this next game.
The time has finally come, the game is finally here, and please make no mistake -- it's the Florida-Georgia game and not the Georgia-Florida game.
The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktain Party. And it's in Jacksonville F.L.A.
Personally, I can't really get enough of this game and I'm probably not going to have any time this week to really take it in and enjoy it. So, how about a little artistic crying from a Dawg fan? I think it was last year when I first saw this video and I give all props to the guy, Corey Smith -- he did a good job. And, naturally, he's in concert in Jacksonville on Friday night because the Dawgs get one measly win and lose their minds. Well, it's time for the Dawgs to do some more crying after talking far too much junk in those Florida Bars:
Yes.
There will be more crying for the Dawgs this week. Knowshon? No, son! The law firm of Demps, Rainey, Harvin, Murphy & Tebow will litigate the case.
Kill them with humor, ladies and gentlemen, kill them with humor!
Barack Obama is presently lying his butt off in commercial after commercial (just saw the "Barack Obama protects gun rights" nonsense); negative blowback, baby, negative blowback. They aren't going to know what hit 'em.
To my North Florida sensibilities, the dreaded realization that Winter will surely arrive is once again here. We had a tremendous amount of steady rain in Tallahassee yesterday. A sure sign of a dastardly cold front looming out there somewhere. As I write, it is 61 degrees this morning, the temperature is still dropping, it's in the 50s up in South Georgia, and it's very wet outside although not raining.
There is not the hint of warmth; instead, there is the certainty of cold weather. Yes, I said it; 61 degrees and I can feel the cold. I'm serious!
It's 71 degrees this morning in Gainesville.
You see, this is what many of us on the North end of the state do; look for some nearby Florida locale just a bit further South to see if it's . . . WARMER there. We are culturally trained in this state to be ashamed of our cold weather (especially so if you're Black). Jacksonville has a climate as good or better than Houston, New Orleans, Savannah or Charleston but is constantly made to apologize for its weather. Tallahassee is so ashamed of its cold weather, the local weather folks talk incessantly about, and minimize the importance of, our cold spots.
The airport is in a cold spot, don't you know? That's the not the real temperature here.
Well, hell, there are cold spots all over this town and real people live there. Moreso than in some supposed heat pocket around the Capital. It is weird, however, how our temperatures can get remarkably low in the winter and compete with cities hundreds of miles further North for low temperature in the region. The difference is those locales don't warm up in the day nearly as much as we do. I think the lowest average high temperature for any winter day in Tallahassee is 61 degrees or so and the coldest average low temperature is around 39 or 40 degrees.
To me, that's not bad. I still remember being in the Army up at Fort Bragg. One especially cold winter day the weather man said it was going to be a gorgeous sunny day with a high temperature around 34 or 35 degrees. I swear, I wanted to kill the fool. For the rest of the day the outrageousness of that statement floated in and out of my mind.
Gorgeous!?!
Somehow I survived that and Nurnberg, Germany. Don't even get me started talking about that winter weather over there in Europe -- okay? Okay. Well, it seems another local harbinger of winter has also arrived; Homecoming at the University of Florida. Here a few more nuggets from Florida's homecoming. Next week is homecoming at Florida A&M and the installation of its 10th President, James Ammons. Soon thereafter, the presumed beginning of the official coronation of Barack Hussein Obama (Sweet Jesus, what did I just write!?!) will commence.
Winter, winter, winter! I'm telling ya, it does funny things to a man. I have two more entries on the campaign I want to post but Thursday and Friday didn't provide the time I thought I'd have to finish the fourth entry. Sunday or Monday is more likely. The Obama people are superficially confident. Extremely so; like the fatted calf before the slaughter. But, who be you Obama? Consumer, or the consumed? Whatever the case, time to kick back, thank the good Lord for another day in creation, and watch some football. Most everyone in the state seems to be playing today. Go Florida!
Finally, I did a post on the Rays victory yesterday but yesterday was quite hectic, my router crashed and I lost the post. Big Game James came through, B.J. came alive, and Price did what he had to do out on the mound. The Rays won without getting a single hit from Evan Longoria. That lack of hitting from him will not last and I look for Longoria to be the big story in Game Three whenever it is played. Go Rays!
I've always found it curious when Americans use something (anything!) European as a club over the American head. During the Olympics, I noticed this oddity with respect to the Euro versus the Dollar. Especially when discussions arose of Kobe Bryant going to some FIBA club (yeah, right).
It may have been me but it seemed that some folks were quite pleased that this currency seemed to be riding high against the venerable USD.
Months ago, while visiting South Florida, I sat down with a friend at some Palm Beach County restaurant and we commenced to talking about conservative politics. And drinking beers. Hours passed. A good time concluded without me overindulging (thank the Lord) but during the conversation I mentioned a post I made on my old site centered on Rush Limbaugh. He had written what I thought was an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal on American Conservatism.
Written during October 2005, in the wake of the debate over the suggested placement of Harriet Miers on the federal Supreme Court, Rush Limbaugh's opinion piece in the Journal contained a Reader’s Digest version on, generically, what conservatives believe. Although I've played with it stylistically in presentation, the text has not been altered. He wrote:
We believe in:
individual liberty, limited government, capitalism, the rule of law, faith, a color-blind society and national security.
We support:
school choice, enterprise zones, tax cuts, welfare reform, faith-based initiatives, political speech, homeowner rights, and the war on terrorism.
And at our core we embrace and celebrate the most magnificent governing document ever ratified by any nation – the U.S. Constitution. Along with the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes our God-given natural right to be free, it is the foundation on which our government is built and has enabled us to flourish as a people.
It's a compelling summation, or so it seems to me. Although I like Rush Limbaugh, I don't often listen to his program. I presume he did not support the nomination of Harriet Miers but I could be wrong. I fully supported her nomination and thought it outrageous the way she was summarily dismissed by many of the same people who now want to abandon Sarah Palin (David Frum, in particular). I thought conservatives and Republicans in general were too dismissive of the wishes of their President with respect to her nomination and too blind to what they were communicating through their actions to the opposition. I thought then and I think to this day that we unnecessarily emboldened the opposition to do just what they wound up doing in 2006 -- manufacturing phony scandals so as to take back control of Congress. They are extremely good at this form of throwing rocks and hiding their hands. Republicans forget this fact at their peril.
At this moment in our history, however, when Republicans and conservatives must close ranks in order to stop the single-most unqualified nominee for President in my lifetime from attaining his socialistic goals, it seems appropriate to go back and reflect on that Rush Limbaugh column once again.
True, the Miers debate didn't represent a "crackup" but what did it truly represent? Because it wasn't a crackdown or discipling event -- not with Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid and Barack Hussein Obama all the direct result of said event. No, if we're fortunate, it signaled the last controlling tantrum from what AJ Strata calls the Political Industrial Complex and its disproportionate influence within the Republican Party. I'm asking; is that the real deal?
Quite possibly so.
A governing party must win elections to govern. And voting blocs that insist on trying to teach lessons by witholding their vote ultimately neither teach nor govern. They merely hand the reigns of government over to the other side and become passive observers dependent on that side making fatal mistakes years down the road.
Man oh man. There I was; I was settling into the game and the reality of it all (still kinda unbelievable to me). There was Kazmir in the first inning; one on, one out.
Chase Utley. Boom!
Oh. Hell. No.
Unfortunately, it was an "oh hell yes" night as that Cole Hamels looked mighty good and stunted the magic of B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria at the plate. Two devastating double plays turned off the suddenly feeble bat of B.J. Upton. B.J. left five men on base and garnered no hits. The amazing Evan Longoria had three strikeouts and garnered no hits. That was the ballgame, ladies and gentlemen.
The Phillies earned the win; they were the aggressors and they had men on base all night long. B.J. Upton showed off his cannon (reminding me once again of the absurd TV comment from days ago, wondering why in the world Upton chunked a rocket from deep Centerfield to first base) and let the Phillies know -- do not challenge B.J Upton's arm.
Advantage Philly, 1-0.
The Rays, however, are trend breakers. Such a young team is not supposed to achieve this level of prominence. And, please remember, they lost the first game against the Red Sox and still prevailed. The Phillies, we hope, are no more imposing than the Red Sox and I certainly hope the remaining Rays pitchers handle those Philadelphia hitters better than Kazmir did.
Big Game James is up next and will likely get the job done.
[1] Because I am such a big sports fan, and the Rays have captured my imagination, I'm behind on my From Within The Veil series. The next entry, "Operation Connect the Dots: Communist, Marxist, Socialist, Barack" should be finished by Friday or Saturday and will take a different approach than the current focus on Bill Ayers, etc. The final entry, "Operation Seal the Deal: How McCain Will Win" will explain, through use of a scientific study [I'm going to borrow heavily and make no apologies for doing so], the silent majorities that will put McCain-Palin 2008 over the top.
[2] I wanted to highlight a comment on White Guilt by one of my readers, Alexis, because it deserves serious discussion. I'm hoping, in the aftermath of this election, for major conferences and studies on this very issue. Alexis wrote:
Self-flagellation is a form of moral exhibitionism. Whether one is talking about physical self-flagellation by Shi'ites and Filipino Catholics, the “spiritual athletes” during the early Byzantine Empire, or the more figurative variety of moral athleticism called White Guilt, the seeming self-sacrifice actually says, "Hey look me over. I’m better than you."
I think that white guilt was never intended for the good of black people in the first place. White guilt is a means of showing off one's moral superiority and perfection, so those who ask whether white guilt ever helps black people are asking the wrong question.
White guilt is never about helping non-white people and it is never about seeking justice for those who truly are abused. It’s about using masochism to show off one’s moral superiority. Whether white guilt ever helps anybody is irrelevant; what matters with white guilt is the solipsism of white liberal racism and condescension.
As far as I can tell, racial guilt and empathy for other people are mutually exclusive.
Naturally, I agree. As my wife is fond of reminding her students, no one rises to low expectations. These folks, the majority of whom I'm still willing to say (for now) mean well, are killing us with the lowest of expectations.
[3] I love, love, love Mary Katharine Ham (just found out the other day that her father, Jon Ham, is a Georgia Dawg -- arrrgggghhhhh ! -- just kidding, Jon). Although she now works for The Weekly Standard, for some flavor of the woman, take a look at this video she did to a song written by her brother.
The question is asked: what do I make of the Colin Powell endorsement of Barack Obama? Well, here's what I make of it. This post will address the question from the "top" and the "bottom."
First point, from the top.
I don't think it's about race. I do think it's about your social station. Call that "social class," if you like. Essentially, Colin and Alma Powell (as a couple) may be asking themselves and a certain circle of friends, "Who is this Cracker, Sarah Palin?"
Barack has peaked in popularity and will never be as popular as he was two or three months ago. The primary reason for this occurrence will be the hard lesson Hillary learned in her primary race: the bottom line in America is that race trumps gender. Unfortunately for Barack's enablers on the left, the great progress we've made in this country (unattained anywhere else, I maintain) in the last forty years is that we've been allowed to go at least one step further: class trumps race. In my book, that makes America essentially race-neutral.
That is the factoid which is going to really cook dear ole Barack. Another column for another time will be the observation that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness trumps class -- which, in my personal opinion, Europeans so often fail to comprehend about America along with far too many on the American left.
With a phenomenal cash advantage and the entire mainstream media desperately trying to drag him home, Barack Obama is going to lose the election for the above-listed reasons. No one in New York or D.C. wants to act as if they understand this probability but they damn sure fear it. The problem, obviously, is that from a class perspective -- there's far more of the folks who kinda like and respect Sarah Palin as opposed to the elites offended by the most popular Governor of any American state.
That's why they are desperately trying to drag him home by any means necessary.
You see, the problem we have in the black community (and the problem the nation has overall) is the universally accepted academic concept known in the black community as the Talented Tenth (and associated with W.E.B. DuBois). It took me years to realize this concept has no faith in the average man or woman (this is why DuBois opposed Booker T. Washington, who had complete faith in the average man and woman). It dictates that we be led from above. By our betters, and betters is defined as the more book-smart.
Do you see the problem here?
Do you see the plantation?
The susceptibility to totalitarian instincts and the requirement to act as a herd?
And it runs contrary to the concept of America, does it not?
Peggy Noonan, George Will, David Brooks, David Frum et al. -- they have that same mentality. There is a vibe in the black community that is completely rattled by Sarah Palin. In actual, objective fact Sarah Palin is far more representative of black American women than (for example) Hillary Clinton ever will be. Understanding the talented tenth myth explains the apparent "mind meld" with the far left reaction to Sarah Palin as well as the elite reaction to her.
Admittedly, all of us (as humans) are tribal in one way or another. To the detriment of this nation, no American political bloc is as tribal as African Americans. And without black folks content on the political plantation, we would never have heard of Howard Dean and the absurdity of Bill Ayers being this close to a nominee for President would never have occurred.
The liberal left desperately needs us and we're apparently too complacent to take a step back and do an objective assessment as we view an ever growing population of saggy pants idiots languishing all around our communities, young men with no real concept of respect for women, females who don't know how to respect themselves, and although black adults will never admit this to you -- secretly, we're horrified at the recognition that we have an epidemic of black kids acting out some crazy-ass liberal and completely foreign concept of what real black kids act like. The problem isn't that it is an inauthentic representation of a slice of black culture. Instead, it is proffered as the representation of black culture. And all out proportion and context.
It is bizarre to witness, it is pure minstrelsy and it is heartbreaking. Our only "out" is to assume personal responsibility and begin the hard work that must be done. But our entire political class is enslaved to the bitch-and-moan shackles of the liberal left, 24/7/365, and so we do their bidding instead of ours.
The result? A "can-do" people who consistently had to make a way out of no way during the entirety of our existence in America has been infantilized at the very moment of greatest opportunity in our history.
And it is a self-inflicted wound; truly heartbreaking.
Second point, from the bottom.
Before you view the YouTube clip below, yes it is unfair and not scientific and it's put out by a man I consider to be part of "a" problem in America (more later about that perhaps). He may have even done a similar bit with McCain supporters; you can chop up audio and make it represent what you want it to say. I know this. I also know that Bill Kristol is correct, all politics in this constitutional republic -- because it is a form of democracy -- is vulgar by definition. But man, this nails the African American slide into unthinking herd mentality regarding Barack Obama. I think it also reflects a conversation going on in many white households (and those of many other non-blacks) in response not only to the black unanimity on Obama but the demand by the elite that we bow down to the superiority of Barack:
What do you make of that?
Man on the street: But hey, man, none of those folks are sellouts like you, RattlerGator -- you race-traitor, cracker-lovin' bastard!
RattlerGator: I know. I know. And good day to you, sir.
Race-traitor numero uno, signing off. But first . . . if I'm a race-traitor, what are all those non-black people supporting Barack Obama? Especially them there white ones?
Naturally, I agree. As my wife is fond of reminding her students, no one rises to low expectations. These folks, the majority of whom I'm still willing to say (for now) mean well, are killing us with the lowest of expectations.
[3] I love, love, love Mary Katharine Ham (just found out the other day that her father, Jon Ham, is a Georgia Dawg -- arrrgggghhhhh ! -- just kidding, Jon). Although she now works for The Weekly Standard, for some flavor of the woman, take a look at this video she did to a song written by her brother.
Now, it turns out she's a contributor to The Comprehensive Argument against Barack Obama. Make sure you check it out and spread it around.
[4] From the James Madison Institute, and courtesy of Ed Gamble at the Florida Times-Union daily newspaper in my hometown of Jacksonville, a timely cartoon:
That's all for now. Go Rays, Beat Philly!