Conservatives Support Gay Marriage

I was surprised to learn this morning that the conservative political party in Britain is trying to move legislation to support same-sex marriage!
by Charlie Leck (Mobile, AL)

It's quite amazing and I recommend the story in the Washington Post to you. Prime Minister David Cameron, of the conservative party in Britain supports gay marriage because he believes it's the right thing to do and that it has everything to do with equal rights. The British have struggled with understanding what it really means to be a conservative and they, like American conservatives, believe that the less the government meddles in and regulates the lives of the people the better off the people will be.

It's something to think about and reading the Washington Post story will help you understand why we have such a difference in America.

And, oh, by the way, the liberal party in Britain is not so sure that same-sex marriage is really the way to go. They appear to oppose this initiative of the conservatives.

Does it make your head spin? Give it all some thought! The difference between the Brits and us appears to be the lack of a strong fundamental and ultra-conservative Christian movement over there.

These are just some thoughts from the road. I'll be back at my own desk on Monday morning.

Hank Haney's Kiss & Tell

Don't Buy! Don't Read!
by Charlie Leck (Mobile, Alabama)

Surveys of hundreds and hundreds of golfers over the last four days have indicated the opinion that Hank Haney shouldn't have written the book.

We're talking here about The Big Miss by Hank Haney. Haney  was Tiger Wood's swing instructor for six years, in probably the most remarkable part of Tiger's golf career to date.

It's a kiss and tell book as far as I'm concerned and I will not read it. I think Haney is (was) in the same context as a person's counselor and he should have respected Tiger's privacy and not related the kinds of stories about him that he did -- including those of incidents within Tiger's own home, while Haney was a guest. Those accounts surely should have remained private.

I'm told it would have been a fascinating book had Haney stuck to golf and the experience of instructing such a phenomenal golfer. He didn't. Haney turned the book into a gossip piece and dealt with things that will be embarrassing to his former student.

Haney, thanks to Woods, is now famous and has all kinds of "projects" to work on and from which he can make a great deal of money. One of those projects should not have been a kiss and tell book about Tiger's personal life.

A Poem

The Start of Day
by Charlie Leck

How do you start your day?

I like the way my days begin,

Seeing her naked in the dull light,

Lifting her bathrobe from the chair

Fitting herself into it!

With that, I’m able happily to rise and meet the morning

And coffee – hot, with cream and a dash of toffee flavoring

And then the newspaper, for better or worse

And the sun, when it’s ready

Or the clouds and rain should the sun choose to sleep in!

  

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Treyvon Martin

Is Florida different than Minnesota? Could the Treyvon Martin incident have happened in Minnesota, or Vermont, or Wisconsin?
by Charlie Leck (St. Augustine, Florida)

In Wyoming, in 1875, in towns all across the state, most men wore guns in holsters hung from waiste belts and strapped to a leg. Law was often conssidered six-gun law. Men were frequently gunned down and no legal consequences, or even questions, followed. We called it the Wild West.

Guns? I've hated them all my adult life. I fired a pistol one time, at the urging of my brother, a law enforcement officer. It frightened me that day and I abhorred the power of the heavy steel instrument and the way it roared and tore through the target at which I shot.

Someone took me pheasant hunting once and I was required to fire a shotgun a few times (missing each time) at beautiful cock birds. The big gun made me tremble. The beautiful birds dazzled me.

I can't imagine living in a Wild West society -- "out where a man is a man" -- where folk are allowed and encouraged by law to carry pistols with them and are protected by law if they shoot someone who they feel is a threat to their own safety.

Your state, if it doesn't have such a law already, is probably looking at the possibility. The gun lobby is powerful nationally and in most states as well. It is encouraging these laws. In Florida, one of the results of such a law, called there the Stand Your Ground Law, was the death of the handsome, young boy, Treyvon Martin. Now stories come to light about other such deaths in other places around the country -- sad and stunning stories that make me cringe.

If you live in a state that hasn't passed such an asinine law, don't allow the passage of one. Fight against them, as I will in Minnesota. They're not necessary. Work instead for "brotherhood laws" that encourage us to understand ourselves and other people better -- that encourage us to live peacefully and cooperatively.

"But we face such constant danger and dangerous people," the proponents of such laws will say.

It is so easy to instill fear in people and to make them feel endangered and threatened. It is so difficult to instill courage and compassion.

George Zimmermann, who killed Treyvon Martin, was a frightened and confused Man. He'd been in trouble before. He resisted arrest by a police officer in 2005. And, his wife had to file a complaint against him once after a domestic violence incident. Nevertheless, he was a "neighborhood watch captain." He wanted, as a young man, to be a policeman. Failing that, he got as close to the job as he could get by volunteering as a security observer in his own small community.

Don't put a gun in the hands of such a person! It endangers you and me.

Eugene Robinson, a columnist at the Washington Post wrote about the Treyvon Martin incident from the perspective of a black man.

"But the tragic and essential thing, for me, is the bull's eye that black men wear throughout their lives -- and the vital imperative to never, ever, be caught on the wrong street at the wrong time."

Who knows when an over-zealous character like George Zimmerman, carrying a hand-gun, will make racist-based assumptions.

"This guy looks like he is up to no good," Zimmerman said on that fatal night.

Eugene Robinson said it all...

"Please tell me, what would be the innocent way to walk down the street with an iced tea and some Skittles? Hint: For black men, that's a trick question."

Charles Leck of New Jersey

There’s this guy masquerading as Charles Leck and I’m embarrassed about it.

by Charlie Leck

Though I left the state almost immediately after graduating from high school, I hail from New Jersey, so I’ve written some blogs here about growing up in that misunderstood state. I’ve received some comments and emails from New Jersey folk as a result of that.

From time to time, I’m confused with the author of the book, Birds of New Jersey, Their Habits and Habitats (first published by Rutgers University in 1975). I have a copy of it in my library, given to me by someone who thought it would be cute if I owned a copy. Dr. Leck, the author, was a professor of ecological studies at Rutgers. He also served as the State Ornithologist in New Jersey. He received his bachelor’s degree from Muhlenberg College and his PhD from Cornell. He also co-authored a highly respected abstract titled: Long-term changes in the breeding bird populations of a New Jersey forest (1988). You can certainly see why I’d be embarrassed to be confused with this fellow.

I can’t tell you how many times people have written to tell me they came to my blog expecting it would be about birds – probably they found it “for the birds” but never about birds.

Well, to tell you the truth, he’s been bothered a few times by people looking for me too. As 2008 and my 50th high school graduation reunion approached and classmates of mine (Roxbury High School, class of 1958) began looking for me, they naturally began in New Jersey. I guess Dr. Leck is the only Charles Leck in the state and, I hear, he had to protest a few times that he was not I.

Motivation for this blog came yesterday, when a very excited young woman called because she wanted to tell me she’d thought she’d spotted a species of bird in New Jersey that didn’t belong there and, as far as she knew, had never been seen there. She wanted to talk to Dr. Leck about it. We had a delightful little conversation and a few laughs. I told her I’d seen a lot of “strange birds” in New Jersey in my life time but nothing nearly like she was talking about.

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

From the Roads in Florida and Georgia

I’m on the road for another day or two, traveling in Florida and Georgia; it’s surprising to get this intimate take on the news about the tragic, unnecessary death of Trayvon Martin in Florida.
by Charlie Leck


He was just a boy with a hopeful life in front of him. He had a broad, bright smile and glistening eyes. He’d come to this town, Sanford, in Florida, from his home in Miami. He was visiting family. On a perfect, spring evening, he walked to the corner store to purchase a bag of Skittles. What a perfectly, ordinary teenage thing to do. However, on his way home Treyvon encountered George Zimmerman, a self-appointed, vigilant dude who apparently had nothing much better to do with his time than watch for bad guys. Zimmerman carried a pistol with him. He was emboldened by a relatively new law in Florida that was commonly called the Stand Your Ground Law. It’s a dumb law. It may as well be called Shoot to Kill!


Zimmerman contacted the police and told them he spotted a suspicious looking fellow in the neighborhood. Was it because he had never seen this Miami kid in the community before? He described the boy to the police. They told Zimmerman to fade out of the picture. They were coming to check it out. They told him not to make contact.


For some reason, Zimmerman confronted Treyvon anyway. Something went wrong. Did the bag of Skittles threaten the adult? Did Treyvon somehow challenge Zimmerman?


Oh, my!


To the adult, but confused, Zimmerman, Treyvon looked like trouble. Ask yourself: why? “Why did the boy look like trouble?” There is only one inescapable answer: "He was black!"

Had Treyvon been white – a middle class kid by the name of Trey, who was on the debate team at the local, private academy, he would still be alive today.


That’s harsh!


Indeed, it is! Sometimes, the truth is harsh.


Something is terribly wrong in Florida. They passed an obnoxious law that should be immediately repealed. The gun lobby and the people and organizations that sponsored it won’t stand for repeal. They all argue that the law makes sense.


For God’s sake! Use your brains! Make sense and resist nonsense.


Minnesota’s Governor will veto such legislation if it is passed by the Republicans in the state’s legislature. Thank goodness!


All of this reminds me of too many cowboy movies I saw as a kid. My father called them “shoot ‘em ups!” He was right. They were stupid. So is any kind of Stand Your Ground Law.


If you feel a reasonable sense of threat to your life or person, you may use a gun to protect yourself – even if all the kid has on him is a bag of Skittles!


I just don’t know what to say in the face of such stupidity! Veto it, Governor! Tell them to go straight to hell!

A Hymn

We sang this in church a few weeks ago and I’ve kept the lyrics here on my desk, close by, ever since. They both intrigue and please me!
by Charlie Leck

We’ve a terribly talented pastor at our church – several of them, as a matter of fact, but I’m thinking about the senior pastor (though, I’m getting myself in trouble here; for they are all very talented). James Gertmenian is, however, something special. He’s an extraordinary thinker who can also express himself with incredible clarity. That’s a rare combination.

Mind you, Gertmenian is a progressive – or liberal, if you like. To me, it matters not. He’s a man in lockstep with his Lord and he’s a faithful and eager disciple. He preaches quietly, but he’s deeply inspirational. He is Armenian in nationality background and it leaves its mark on him. He’s proud of that and speaks emotionally about it on occasion.

Here, however, I want to let you know that he’s also dabbled in writing a few hymns. We sang one in church on that Sunday a few weeks ago. Jim was obviously not just dabbling when he wrote this one. Hoping I don’t get into copyright trouble, I want to produce the lyrics it here for you, so you might think about them (and perhaps be as intrigued as I by this hymn).

The hymn (based on Romans 8:26), When Creation’s Myriad Wonders, was written by James Gertmenian in 2005.

When creation’s myriad wonders
Stun to silence human speech
Words unraveled, syntax sundered,
Thoughts beyond our hobbled reach.
Hear, O God, our stilled devotion,
Wordless songs of awe and praise,
Psalms of truest, mute emotion,
Music that our yearning plays.

When our prayers find no expression,
Language failing, sterile seed,
When the mind makes no concession
To the soul’s compelling need.

Plant within us Spirit’s sighing,
Prayers of prayerless, fertile sound.
Nuture up our stammered crying;
Harvest hope from rocky ground.

When a love beyond deserving
Comes to us from one we know,
Or when grace, still more unnerving,
Breaks the ice and starts to flow.

Teach our gratitude to follow
Loves bold current where it leads,
Til the heart that languished, hollow,
Fills to brimming and is freed.

When the daunting work before us
Drowns our will to think and plan.
When the needy hungry chorus
Floods each struggling moment’s span;
Be, O God, the rock beneath us,
Holding through the frenzied tide,
Patience, courage, calm bequeath us;
Strength to trust and to abide.

God, your glory shatters bound’ ries;
Time transcended, cups o’er flowed.
How can mind on limits foundered
Fathom such a love bestowed?
So when words are weak and fraying
Or when intellect is strained,
Hear our very bodies praying;
Let our joy rise uncontained.

The hymn was sung to splendid, triumphant music composed by Ian Kellam in 2006. Oh, my! It was wonderful!

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Foraging for Dinner

Though I love to cook, I can’t approach the kinds of things Brett Laidlaw does in his extraordinary cookbook.
by Charlie Leck

Do you like to cook and do unique things with food?
There are hundreds and hundreds of places to go on the web to find extraordinary information about cooking. I’ve culled through many of them. For uniqueness, one blog stands out among the crowd for me. I’ve recommended it before and I’m recommending it again. It is Trout n’ Caviar.

Brett Laidlaw is the blogger there and Brett loves to cook. He can bake French bread as well as the French, but that’s only the beginning. This guy is extraordinary because he loves to go out into the countryside to forage for natural items and turn them into delectable masterpieces.

Sometime ago, Brett came out with a book in conjunction with the Minnesota Historical Society. It’s called Trout Caviar (Recipes from a Northern Forager). I should have told you about it months ago. It is great fun. It is, I guess, only for the adventurous cook who wants to climb to places he/she hasn’t been before. You can find out about the book in the right margin of Brett’s blog or you can go here.

For instance, if you want to find out about cooking pork belly, here is an extraordinary blog by Brett:

“Prior to the era of nose-to-tail/free-range/locally sourced/compassionate carnivorism, before this time of intense scrutiny of all things ingestible, when it seems as if there's a semi-professional charcuterie in every other pantry, pork belly was basically just the punchline in a hoary old Midwestern gag. ‘Pork belly futures up a quarter,’ in the daily radio report from the mercantile exchange (on WCCO-AM eight-three-oh), epitomized all things quaint and farmy, and a way of life which, to the residents of the burgeoning metropolis, was about as relevant as covered wagon days.”

That paragraph alone shows you just how good Brett is with words. Try him – you’ll like him!

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Une Lune de Miel en France

We have all got our fantasies, in which, perhaps, we spend too much time dabbling, but they become more clamorous as we age and, I think, more tumultuous as well.
by Charlie Leck

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle [Hamish Hamilton, London, UK, 1989]

If I had my druthers, I would like to take my wife and our dog and move to Provence – to a small village somewhat near Avignon – and live out the rest of my life there in the south of France. When I tell friends of this secret little desire, they always ask me what in heaven’s name I would do all day! I’ll get to that.

I don’t imagine this as a temporary move – as a long vacation or sabbatical to France. I rather see it as a permanent relocation to one of the most beautiful and civilized places in the world.

I recently read Peter Mayle’s lovely little book, A Year in Provence. I object to those who think that it is Mayle who planted this seed in my mind. It’s not true. I wrote here more than two years ago of my gnawing desire to find a nice place in Avignon where we could live out our lives. However, Mayle relit all this desire in me.

This past September we were in the region around Aix-en-Provence, and in Puyrigard, a little village just north of Aix. It’s a wonderful region, only 20 minutes from Marseille and the Mediterranean Sea – and only an hour or so away from Nice and a two hour train voyage to Paris and less than that to Barcelona, in Spain. It’s much less than an hour drive to Avignon, a community as beautiful and inviting as any place on earth. And, unlike many people who tell me about French people, I find the citizens and inhabitants of France among the kindest, friendliest and most generous people on earth.

A place somewhere in the gentle Lubéron Mountains (la montagne du Lubéron) would be nice – something with a bit of a view, where the sun would greet us boldly in the morning (le matin) and says bonne nuit in the evening. I would even graciously agree to my wife keeping a few sheep on the grounds and a horse at one of the riding stables that surround Avignon.

Our little place would have a study where I could read and write to my heart’s content; and it would have a spare bedroom where guests might come and stay with us for a day or two (provided they abide by the rules not to disturb me during my reading or writing time). A couple of times each week, we would travel into Avignon to have lunch (déjeuner) or dinner (dîner); or perhaps we’d go to Aix, or Montpellier, or Perpignan or Toulon or La Ciotat. And, every few months, we could take the fast train to Paris and stay a day or two so we could visit le Musée d’Orsay and also walk in le Jarden du Luxembourg. Occasionally, while in Paris, we’d spend an evening at l’opéra or have dinner at L’Astrance sur le rue Beethoven.

Of course, from our little home in les Lubéron we could easily visit Avignon and tour le Palais des Papes or les jardin du Rocher des Doms. There are beautiful street markets in Avignon as well and there we could buy our fresh vegetables and fruits for the week. And, in Avignon, I could take some simple classes en gastronomie as well.

Primarily, however, I would sit outside on the terrace (la terrasse), at our home, and read the books by the world’s greatest writers and inevitably peek up from time to time to look out over the gentle, mellow montagne du Lubéron.

When I write, I won’t give even a thought to Rick Santorum, or Rush Limbaugh, or capital punishment, or Mississippi. I’ll write short stories about lovers, about small children who want to be soccer players, about a genius who believes he is a moron, about legions of people who think there is no single way to God.

At the going down of the sun, I’ll have a glass of lovely wine with my wife and her eyes will glimmer as they did on our honeymoon in France so many years ago – in that wonderful room that had been crafted out in the barn that stood behind the inn in Dijon (l’auberge à Dijon).

In a very small village west of Divonne-les-Bains, where we stayed for a couple of evenings, we dined on the sidewalk at a little restaurant called Chez Yvette. The sun was sinking as we concluded our meal. A farmer in the village had finished milking his cows and he gently herded them up the street, past where we sat sipping on our wine, and he guided them out into a pasture behind the café. As it started to get dark, we went inside the establishment to pay our bill (le addition). The owners, their family and some friends from the community were all dining together at one big table, celebrating something or other (our French was not good enough back then to comprehend). They invited us to join them and they poured us glasses of wine and a farmer passed a big bucket of langoustine (un seau de langoustine) to us. They were small, shell fish that looked like baby lobsters – perhaps crawdads in the states. We joined in the celebration.

Eventually I tried to explain that we were on our honeymoon. Miel, I knew, was the French word for honey and lune, of course was the word for moon. I tried putting them together as lune de miel (moon of honey). Everyone looked quizzically at me. It took a terribly long time before one of the party understood and explained to the others who all laughed and shouted. In a flash the proprietor got a ladder and climbed up to a top shelf and brought down a very special, dust covered bottle of cognac and poured glasses all around so that the entire company could toast us.

It was an extraordinary evening that I’ll never forget and, for me, the highlight of our lune de miel. Oh, my!

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

The IRS Leaves Money on the Table

Remember all those cuts the Republicans demanded? Among them was a big one to cut back the IRS budget. That’s costing us billions of dollars that the IRS doesn’t have the staff to collect.
by Charlie Leck

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world isn’t it? I remember someone from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) warning the Congress last year that the cuts they were pushing through on the IRS would end up costing more in federal income than the cuts themselves would save. It appears that those projections are true. The IRS may be failing to collect billions of dollars of unpaid taxes because it hasn’t the staff and resources to do it.

I got the above information from an AARP Bulletin. It appears to be well enough documented (see below) and the IRS doesn’t deny it. As a matter of fact, IRS officials “acknowledge the problem.”

“Budget cuts can lead to noticeable degradation of IRS efforts involving both taxpayer service and tax enforcement and can have a lasting impact on the nation’s voluntary tax compliance.”

If some of you out there are documentation and source freaks, you can read this testimony by Nina B. Olson, a federal tax expert, before the Congress last year. She outlines the difficulties the IRS is having and estimates that we may be losing billions of dollars as a result.

This is one of the cuts that Republicans insisted on in last year’s budget squabble with the Democrats! Does anyone want to suggest that maybe the Republicans don’t want so many IRS agents running around trying to collect money owed the government? Not me!

BTW (I'm getting into these texting abbreviations now), I'm not a big fan of the AARP (the American Association of Retired People). It's too big and deals with too, too much money. Terrible things happen when there's that much money involved in a supposed non-profit. Just ask the Susan B. Komen Race for a Cure Foundation. For starters, the AARP makes an incredible amount of money on the insurance it sells to members. It's difficult to tell whether the insurance sales side of AARP comes before service to its members. The AARP has a very strong lobbying program that always seems to be lobbying for benefits that will profit its own insurance services and income rather than for benefits for older and retired Americans. They took a terribly wrong stand on prescription benefits in Medicare under the Bush administration and were primarily responsible for getting some bad legislation passed that has hurt retired folks ever since.

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

This May Say it All

Goldman Sachs executive, Greg Smith, left the company and blasted it in an editorial piece in the New York Times!
by Charlie Leck

I urge you to read Greg Smith’s resignation announcement in the New York Times. The Times published it on 15 March. I do believe it says a great deal about what American business has become in the beginning of the twenty-first century.

For instance, in reference to Goldman Sachs, Mr. Smith says…

“Today is my last day at Goldman Sachs… I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.”

Goldman Sachs has been blasted an awful lot since the economic collapse of 2008 and it has managed to weather most of it; however, this bomb will be some kind of problem for its PR Department to gloss over.

Smith was in the London office. He accuses the company of “losing its moral compass” and of becoming “a greed-infested corporate culture.”

This, my dear readers, is what the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest was all about. Smith’s comments in the New York Times could have been a speech at one of the OWS’s street protests.

“When the history books are written about Goldman Sachs, they may reflect that the current chief executive officer, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and the president, Gary D. Cohn, lost hold of the firm’s culture on their watch. I truly believe that this decline in the firm’s moral fiber represents the single most serious threat to its long time survival.”

Smith goes on to describe “how callously people talk about ripping their clients off.” Clients, he says, were often referred to as “muppets.” Talk about analysts not about making money for clients, he writes, but about making money “off the client.”

Mr. Smith is not just another guy who happened to work at Goldman Sachs. He’s a former Rhodes Scholar who graduated from Stanford University.

This is not exactly news – this charge by Mr. Smith. Goldman Sachs was blamed heavily for its contributions to the 2008 economic collapse. The company dabbled in ventures that were not in the best interests of its clients and investors.

Of course, Smith is going to reap the expected criticism. “He collected bonuses over the years and hasn’t given any back.”

“He kept his mouth shut until this year’s bonuses were paid and the check was cashed.”

“What you’re hearing is just sour grapes!”

Smith, however, made it clear that he was trying to get the company to take a new and fresh look at itself and to, perhaps, reposition itself and its ethical code.

If nothing else, we can be certain that Smith has opened up a conversation that absolutely has to take place about business in America (and the world) and its responsibility as a good citizen and not as just a money machine. Congratulations to Mr. Smith for that.

Be sure to read the letter.

 _________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

OMG

Everyone is hot with the idea that Mitt Romney will do away with Planned Parenthood if he is elected! I’m not so sure that’s correct. The Democrats want to spend a billion dollars to beat Romney and Romney can’t even beat Santorum!
by Charlie Leck

Somewhere, someplace, sometime or other, Mitt Romney made the mistake of saying, “Planned Parenthood? We’re going to get rid of that.”

Where did he say it? I don’t know! When did he say it? I don’t know. Did he really say it? I don’t know! Romney’s “people” said it was taken out of context by the Democrats! Sure! Oh, sure!

“Is the program so critical that it is worth borrowing money from China to pay for it? And on that basis, of course you get rid of Obama Care, that’s the easy one. But there are others: Planned Parenthood, we’re going to get rid of that. The subsidy for Amtrak, I would eliminate that. The National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for Humanities, both excellent programs, but we can’t afford to borrow money to pay for these things.”

Of course, Romney was saying, above, that he would eliminate federal spending for Planned Parenthood, but, to raise money, a host of Democrats will give us the impression that Mr. Romney is just plain going to put an end to Planned Parenthood all together!

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, tells me he said it. Patty Murray, U.S. Senator from the state of Washington also tells me he said it. They’re both looking for money to help defeat Mitt Romney. So, what’s new?

But, the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities? End federal funding to those and you will end the programs! Why aren’t people screaming about that? You’re talking about the heart and soul of America – it’s arts and literature!

Every time I turn around, someone else is looking for money to beat someone who has pledged to end the world and, with it, the Democratic Party. Ooooh, I’m shaking in my booties!

I keep writing checks for people who tell me the world will end if those damned Republicans win the coming national election. I’ve had five or six letters from the President, telling me how important I am in the plans for his reelection. How do you like that, chumps? I (little ole’ me)… I am important in the President’s reelection plan! His wife has also written to me, including a photograph of herself and the kids and the big guy (the President) that was taken inside their White House residence. It’s signed by Michelle and she’s asking me for (you guessed it) money. It’s not for the heating bill or groceries. I guess they’re doing okay. She wants campaign contributions. She actually addressed me as “Charles.” I’ll bet the first lady doesn’t know your first name?

Money, money, money! Everyone wants money. A woman is running for Congress out here. She wants to be my Congresswoman. So, she wants money, money, money. She’s not cool! There’s no chance she can beat the Republican candidate, Congressman Eric Paulson (Republican). How I wish she could! I wasn‘t born yesterday, however! She hasn’t a tinker’s chance in Minnesota! [A tinker, according to my dictionary, is an itinerant mender of pots, pans and kettles, etc...] We haven’t ever had a tinker or a tinkerer visit our house ever.

One of the serious problems is this: If you give some money to one Democrat, you’ll get on the list! I promise you, you’ll get on this list! Then, everyone from John Kerry to Dudley Bingbat, who is running for dog catch up in Watangobeako County will be asking you for money for the party. I don’t know what to do about it.

I really don’t know what to do about it! It’s starting to drive me crazy. I’ve budgeted a sum for the President’s campaign. The question is: Should I just go ahead and give it all to him now or should I save some for the other little requests that are bound to come?

The President is committed to raise over one billion dollars for his campaign in 2012. Excuse me! Did you hear me? The President’s campaign in 2012 will spend over one (1) billion dollars on his campaign. OMG!

OMG
Are you an old-timer? OMG is what the kids say these days. I think they have a lot of these little abbreviations they use it talking to each other. This is the only one that’s caught on with me. O-M-G! Oh, my God!

OMG, the President is out to raise a billion dollars for his campaign. That’s what politics has come to in the nation. We can’t raise diddley-twat (whatever that is) to fix the pot-holes in our little road that runs up to the highway, but the President’s campaign is going to spend a billion dollars trying to get him reelected.

Someone once said that “politics is a strange bed-fellow!” Whatever! CWYL!

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Baseball Books

I recently blogged about Eric Rolfe Greenberg’s book, The Celebrant, and got a lot of email responses to that blog. Most you had never heard of the book!
by Charlie Leck

Thanks so much for all the wonderful emails and the comments about my review of The Celebrant (The Celebrant and My Old Man). I raised the question about why it was published by the University Nebraska Press. That seems strange to me and I’m sure there is a good reason. I’ve also tried to make contact with Greenberg, the author, but I can’t track him down

Well, in truth, I had never heard of The Celebrant before I got it as a gift this past Christmas – even though it was first published way back in 1983. I immediately caught the marketing blurb across the top of the book by a W.P. Kinsella:* “Simply the best baseball novel ever written!” That was interesting, but I still set the book aside for a few months and picked it up rather accidentally and began reading. Wow! It was wonderful.

Frankly, when I started thinking about it, I realized that I haven’t read all that many baseball books even though I am an enormous baseball fan and I’m terribly interested in the sport at both the small town level all the way through the professional ranks. I tried to think of the baseball books I’ve read in my life. I found the list below of books that have won “The Casey Award” since it was begun in 1983 (The Celebrant was the first winner). Moneyball is the only book on that list that I had read. My bad!

I’ve read a biography about Stan Musial (my childhood hero) and also his autobiography (co-written). What else? I racked my brain! Oh, yes, a book about Ebbets Field by the remarkable historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin. I liked the book so much that I wrote to her about it (no response!). There’s some faded memory about a book about the old “Negro Leagues” also. That’s it! Shame on me! I’ll take a look at the list below and pick out another one or two of these award winners to read.

I’ve sent my copy of the The Celebrant onto my brother and asked him to read it. I sent him Moneyball by Michael Lewis several years ago and he was nuts about that one.

In the meantime, I’m recommending The Celebrant again if you are a baseball nut who also likes to read. It’s a wonderful book. I post this blog only to answer a few of those many questions raised in the emails to me.

Here’s Wikipedia’s list of those books that have won the Casey Award since it was first given out in 1983.

·         1983 – Eric Rolfe Greenberg, for “The Celebrant”

·         1984 – Peter Golenbock, for “Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers”

·         1985 – Roger Kahn, for “Good Enough to Dream”

·         1986 – Bill James, for “The Bill James Historical Abstract”

·         1987 – Peter H. Gordon, for “Diamonds Are Forever”

·         1988 – John Holway, for “Blackball Stars”

·         1989 – Mike Sowell, for “The Pitch That Killed”

·         1990 – Harold Seymour, for “Baseball: The People’s Game”

·         1991 – Bruce Kukllick, for “To Everything a Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia, 1909-1976"

·         1992 – Phil S. Dixon, for “The Negro Baseball Leagues: A Photographic History”^[1]

·         1993 – Michael Gershman, for “Diamonds”

·         1994 – John Helyar, for “Lords of the Realm”

·         1995 – Henry W. Thomas, for “Walter Johnson”

·         1996 – Marty Appel, for “Slide, Kelly, Slide”

·         1997 – Thomas Dyja, for “Play for a Kingdom”

·         1998 – David Pietrusza, for “Judge and Jury”

·         1999 – Neal Karlen, for “Slouching Toward Fargo”

·         2000 – Reed Browning, for “Cy Young”

·         2001 – Tom Stanton, for “The Final Season”

·         2002 – Howard Bryant, for “Shut Out”

·         2003 – Michael Lewis, for Moneyball

·         2004 – Leigh Montville, for “Ted Williams”

·         2005 – Jonathan Eig, for “Luckiest Man”

·         2006 – Peter Morris,  for “Game of Inches”

·         2007 – Joe Posnanski, for “The Soul of Baseball”

·         2008 – Kadir Nelson, for "We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball"

·         2009 – Larry Tye, for "Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend"

·         2010 – Howard Bryant, for "The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron"

I should add that I do have here on my desk a copy of the above mentioned Howard Bryant book about Hank Aaron. It is waiting to be read (and that will happen soon). It was also a gift this past Christmas.

*W. P. Kinsella is the author is Shoeless Joe (1982). He’s a Canadian writer (novelist and short stories). Shoeless Joe, I learn only now from Wikipedia, was adapted into a movie we all probably know – Field of Dreams (1989). You can see a list of his other published works at this Wikipedia reference.

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.