HAPPY THANKSGIVING - COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

What an awesome message delivered by this song. In this season where we are giving thanks for all the blessings that we have, it is important to understand and be grateful for the opportunity to deliver similar blessings to others.

God’s purpose is that his people should be the means of bringing blessing to the
world. As we receive his blessings into our lives, those blessings should also touch others.

When those that freely receive life's gifts also give freely and generously, then all mankind benefits and you are truly living life to its fullest.

Today, I am especially thankful for those special people who have blessed my life and motivate me to be a better person simply as a result of knowing them and having them as a part of my life:
My mom, Ledra and Erik. Thank you.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL.
---------------
THE BLESSING - John Waller
Let it be said of us
while we walked among the living
let it be said of us
by the ones we leave behind
let it be said of us
that we lived to be a blessing for life
let it be said of us
that we gave to reach the dying
let it be said of us
by the fruit we leave behind
let it be said of us that our legacy is blessing for life
this day
you set life, you set death right before us, this day
every blessing and curse is a choice now
and we will
choose to be a blessing for life
let it be said of us
that our hearts belonged to Jesus
let it be said of us
that we spoke the words of life
let it be said of us
that our heritage is blessing for life
(chorus)
for your Kingdom
for our Children
for the sake of every nation
---------------------------
FURTHER FOOD FOR THOUGHT THIS THANKSGIVING:

Thanksgiving and Marginal Utility by Gary North from the website LewRockwell.com

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north22.html

The first official Thanksgiving Day was celebrated on June 29, 1676 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, across the Charles River from Boston. But Gov. Jonathan Belcher had issued similar proclamations in Massachusetts in 1730 and in New Jersey in 1749. George Washington proclaimed a day of thanksgiving on October 23, 1789, to be celebrated on Thursday, November 27. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln officially restored it as a wartime measure. The holiday then became an American tradition. It became law in 1941.

Lincoln was a strange contradiction religiously. He was a religious skeptic, yet he invoked the rhetoric of the King James Bible – accurately – on many occasions. His political rhetoric, which had been deeply influenced by his reading of the King James, was often masterful. For example, when he spoke of the cemetery of the Gettysburg battlefield as "this hallowed ground," using the King James word for holy, as in "hallowed be thy name," he was seeking to infuse the battle of Gettysburg with sacred meaning – a use of religious terminology that was as morally abhorrent as it was rhetorically successful. It is the sacraments that are sacred, not monuments to man’s bloody destructiveness. In that same year, 1863, he used biblical themes in his October 3 Thanksgiving Day proclamation.

"It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord."

He went on, in the tradition of a Puritan Jeremiad sermon, to attribute the calamity of the Civil War to the nation’s sins, conveniently ignoring the biggest contributing sin of all in the coming of that war: his own steadfast determination to collect the national tariff in Southern ports.

In his proclamation, he made an important and accurate theological point.

"We have been the recipients of the choisest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown."

"But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."

This observation leads to the same question that Moses raised long before Lincoln’s proclamation: Why is it that men become less thankful as their blessings increase?

PENALIZE SUCCESS & REWARD FAILURE - A GOOD ECONOMIC SYSTEM??

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C. S. Lewis

Unfortunately, post inauguration, I fear this is the direction we may be heading. Although, to be fair, the Bush administration is clearly reading from the same playbook. They talk the conservative talk at times, but more often walk the big government walk.

A pro-European economic way of thought, more socialistic less capitalistic. More government intervention and tinkering rather than less. One of the most dreaded phrases in the English language--"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help"--becomes reality rather than a casual joke.

Mark Perry over at Carpe Diem is an economics professor at the University of Michigan, Flint. Among other issues, he covers the auto industry with a rightful dose of skepticism....Why is GM (and Ford and Chrysler) seeking taxpayer subsidies when Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Kia, BMW, Daimler, Hyundai and other foreign nameplate producers, who are facing the same contracting demand and credit crunch quietly weathering the storm, are not? Because the latter have costs structures that haven’t been made obsolete and uneconomic by ludicrous union demands. And, of course, they make cars that Americans want to buy.

Can't argue against that logic. But many in Washington will.

The current failures in our economy were not failures of the free-market system itself. They were failures in industries that were the more highly regulated industries. The hedge funds (lightly regulated) were the canary in the coal mine to some degree in that they focused attention on the crisis long before our elected leaders and officials did. If these officials had taken preventative measures when these early-birds were sounding the warning bells, instead of focusing their attention on other, less pressing matters, we would not be in the situation we are in.

If we continue to reward failure rather than success, this thing could get really ugly.

You can file this under "Even a broken watch is right twice a day" or "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile" but many of Bushies comments (made at the Manhattan Institute) were right on the mark. Too bad his administration did not live by these values instead of simply parroting them in a speech once in awhile. The results on Election Day might have been very different.

JAPANESE GIRL DRAFTED TO PRO MENS LEAGUE

THE JAPANESE ARE NOT AFRAID TO BREAK THE MOLD TO FIND NEW PITCHING TALENT

Note: The young lady pictured above is not the girl referenced in the story.

--------------
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/postedsports/archive/2008/11/17/baseball-japanese-girl-selected-to-play-in-professional-men-s-league.aspx

A 16-year-old schoolgirl with a mean knuckleball has been selected as the first woman ever to play alongside the men in Japanese professional baseball.

Eri Yoshida was drafted for a new independent league that will launch in April, drawing attention for a side-armed knuckler that her future manager Yoshihiro Nakata said was a marvel.

"I never dreamed of getting drafted," Yoshida told reporters Monday, a day after she was selected to play for the Kobe 9 Cruise.

"I have only just been picked by the team and have not achieved anything," she said. "I want to play as a pro eventually in a higher league."

Yoshida, 5-foot-0 tall and weighing 114 pounds, says she wants to follow in the footsteps of the great Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

A female professional baseball federation existed for a few years in the 1950s, but Yoshida will become Japan's first-ever woman to play alongside professional male players.
--------------
I have always thought that this would likely be the fastest route for the first woman to play professionally in the "major" American sports at the highest level.

In football, other than as a kicker who was very accurate from 40 and under, I don't see a woman who could crack an NFL roster in my lifetime.

In basketball, maybe a crack three-point shooter--a la Steve Kerr--could be a possibility as the first woman NBA player.

In baseball, a woman pitcher with a killer knuckle ball or a splitter could pitch effectively at any level. I don't see any major league caliber hitters on the horizon anytime soon. Which is fair, because I don't see any major league hitters capable of hitting Jennie Finch.


絵里の3つの歓声!!!!!
which means, three cheers for Eri, according to Google translation.


ERI YOSHIDA - DRAFTED BY JAPANESE MENS LEAGUE

SOMALI PIRATES BELIEVE IN FAIRNESS TOO

"I predict future happiness for Americans
if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people
under the pretense of taking care of them."

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826)
US Founding Father
Drafted the Declaration of Independence
3rd US President

At least if we are to believe the quotes from the article cited below regarding the most recent act of piracy. If we look at the illustration above, this has been going on for some time.

Maybe these guys should be on the new administrations economic team since they appear to share the same philosophy of robbing from the rich, the successful, the hard-working and giving to the poor, less successful, less-industrious among us and justifying it in the name of "fairness".

Read the quotes below from the "recipients" of the ill-gotten gains and they sound eerily similar to the quotes used to justify the Obama tax-policy proposals. Modern day Robin Hoods of a feather......I guess.

For me, I think Thomas Jefferson had it right.
---------------
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081119/ap_on_re_af/af_pirate_boomtown

Somali pirates transform villages into boomtowns

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN and ELIZABETH KENNEDY, Associated Press Writers Mohamed Olad Hassan And Elizabeth Kennedy, Associated Press Writers – Wed Nov 19, 3:03 pm ET

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia's increasingly brazen pirates are building sprawling stone houses, cruising in luxury cars, marrying beautiful women — even hiring caterers to prepare Western-style food for their hostages.

And in an impoverished country where every public institution has crumbled, they have become heroes in the steamy coastal dens they operate from because they are the only real business in town.

"The pirates depend on us, and we benefit from them," said Sahra Sheik Dahir, a shop owner in Haradhere, the nearest village to where a hijacked Saudi Arabian supertanker carrying $100 million in crude was anchored Wednesday.

These boomtowns are all the more shocking in light of Somalia's violence and poverty: Radical Islamists control most of the country's south, meting out lashings and stonings for accused criminals. There has been no effective central government in nearly 20 years, plunging this arid African country into chaos.

Life expectancy is just 46 years; a quarter of children die before they reach 5.

But in northern coastal towns like Haradhere, Eyl and Bossaso, the pirate economy is thriving thanks to the money pouring in from pirate ransoms that have reached $30 million this year alone.

"There are more shops and business is booming because of the piracy," said Sugule Dahir, who runs a clothing shop in Eyl. "Internet cafes and telephone shops have opened, and people are just happier than before."

In Haradhere, residents came out in droves to celebrate as the looming oil ship came into focus this week off the country's lawless coast.

Businessmen gathered cigarettes, food and cold bottles of orange soda, setting up kiosks for the pirates who come to shore to resupply almost daily.

Dahir said she even started a layaway plan for them.

"They always take things without paying and we put them into the book of debts," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "Later, when they get the ransom money, they pay us a lot."

Residents make sure the pirates are well-stocked in khat, a popular narcotic leaf, and aren't afraid to gouge a bit when it comes to the pirates' deep pockets.

"I can buy a packet of cigarettes for about $1 but I will charge the pirate $1.30," said Abdulqadir Omar, an Eyl resident.

While pirate villages used to have houses made of corrugated iron sheets, now, there are stately looking homes made of sturdy, white stones.

"Regardless of how the money is coming in, legally or illegally, I can say it has started a life in our town," said Shamso Moalim, a 36-year-old mother of five in Haradhere.

"Our children are not worrying about food now, and they go to Islamic schools in the morning and play soccer in the afternoon. They are happy."

Meanwhile, towns that once were eroded by years of poverty and chaos are now bustling with restaurants, Land Cruisers and Internet cafes. Residents also use their gains to buy generators — allowing full days of electricity, once an unimaginable luxury in Somalia.

There are no reliable estimates of the number of pirates operating in Somalia, but they number in the thousands. And though the bandits do sometimes get nabbed, piracy is generally considered a sure bet to a better life.

PEDROIA WINS A.L. MVP

PICTURE FROM:
http://djclanc4shizl.blogspot.com/2008_08_24_archive.html

Maybe it was just me, but this is what Pedroia looked like while he was clubbing pitch after pitch into and over the outfield walla during the Sox-Rays series. Personally, it was incredible that they continued to pitch to him. He was killing it.

I meant to cite Pedroia's story at that time, as well as that of Cubs farmhand Matthew Cerda. Both are great stories of the "little" guy succeeding in the land of the "giants" and doing it the right way in spite of the obstacles.

Pedroia wins the AL MVP and Cerda ends up realizing his dream of playing professionally.

MATTHEW CERDA'S STORY HIGHLIGHTED BY ESPN:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=cerda&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

Guys of average size, with above average heart who succeed by doing things the right way. They should be the examples to kids and parents when the discussion turns to how to succeed against opponents who may not be doing things the right way.

Cerda competed against the Little League team from the Bronx led by Danny Almonte. The ESPN story highlights that while Cerda may have been "cheated", he persevered and continued to work and compete the right way. In the end, he was the one who came out on top. Kudos to both Dustin Pedroia and Matthew Cerda for the examples they have set for kids.

MATTHEW CERDA: FROM LITTLE LEAGUE TO HIGH SCHOOL - DRAFTED BY CUBS 2008

GIANTS ADD LHP JEREMY AFFELDT

Good move adding a solid LHP to the end of the bullpen. Two years @ $8M total makes it a good move economically as well. Still need a little more depth in the bullpen, mainly middle innings and long relief duties, but it's a start.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-giants-affeldt&prov=ap&type=lgns

GIANTS FUTURES......LOOKING GOOD

The Giants 2008 draft continues to draw good reviews. According to the most recent edition of Baseball America, Buster Posey is rated as the 4th best pure hitter and 4th best defensive player.

Conor Gillaspie is rated as closest to the majors with Posey ranked 5th closest.

Roger Kiescnick (2nd round) gets good early reviews as a power hitter, albeit a streaky one.

Brandon Crawford (4th round) is noted for his "premium arm strength and solid athleticism and actions to be a plus defender at short."

Juan Carlos Perez (13th round) could be a dark horse as a power hitter. He nearly set the NJCAA HR record. Visa problems kept him out of late season action.

Among the pitchers RHP Jason Jarvis (23rd round) and Aaron King (7th round) were clocked at 97MPH fastballs. RHP Edwin Quirarte (5th round) has a 92MPH fastball, good split finger and slider. Seems like he keeps the ball down pretty well. LHP Scott Barnes (8th round) went 5-3. 1.91 ERA in SAL.

Not a bad haul for Scouting Director John Barr's inaugural draft. I'd rather see them continue to build from the farm system rather than dive back into the free-agent market.

THE SLAVIK PLAN FOR THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS

Note to Pelosi: The Slavik Plan is not a bill, It's a plan. I don't introduce legislation anymore than Paulson does. And this mess is every bit as much your baby as it is Bush and Paulson's. You take the credit, you and yours better damn well be ready to take the blame. Bunch of stupid cowards. We need leaders and they send us cowards.

In the post election euphoria, we seem to have forgotten that the same knuckleheads responsible for the financial crisis are still at it. Incompetently spinning their wheels and swerving the economy all over the road.

Now Paulson crawls out and tells everyone "Never mind" regarding the use if the TARP funds. All that debate, and all that angst and they still don't know WTF they are doing with the money? A real well thought out plan fellas.

It's incredible. The value of peoples homes are vaporizing into thin air. BECAUSE OF THESE NUMB-SKULLS.

The value of their 401K's is vaporizing also, only faster. With no clear solutions in sight from our leaders. Most of who are responsible for putting us here in the first place. BECAUSE IF THESE NUMB-SKULLS.

I would dare to say that these clowns have done more emotional and psychological damage to more citizens then was done in the aftermath of 9/11. They have successfully blow this nations economy right back to the pre-WWII era. AMAZING.

I'm amazed there isn't more anger.

The Dow was at 10,750 when these morons voted on the "Bailout to Nowhere" in the beginning of October.

At that point the market had fallen approx. 23% from it's high. We were technically in a bear market at that point already and entering a recession according to anybodies measure.

By Oct 31st we were down to 9,337 after the "experts" went to work and put their heads together.

On election day we closed at 9,625.28. Once the market knew for sure the results we continued the slide, ending today at 8,283. We're down an additional 15% measure just from Election Day. So much for the Obama bounce. So down 13% after the Dems in Congress took Paulson's three page bill and "improved" it into a 100 page plus boondoggle.

The market is very forward looking so this is really not something that can be laid at the doorstep of Bush. The market is beginning to factor in an Obama presidency and puking it up in the same way it did after it had time to digest the "answer" our leaders brought to the table in response to the credit crisis.

WE'RE ONLY ANOTHER 15-20 DAYS LIKE TODAY AWAY FROM A DOW OF 0 - THAT'S ZERO!!!

I don't know what it's going to take, but if we had an informed electorate, I believe we might very well see some of the leaders meet with same fate of Il Duce illustrated below.

All these steps that are destroying our national wealth step by step is a massive CYA project on the part of these clowns. Would they really be doing this if it was the result of a few rogue Wall Street CEO's? Come on.

BUSH should have told Obama he would resign and take an early retirement back to the ranch in Texas. to help accelerate the healing process and bring an end to our long national nightmare. Wait a minute, that's from the Nixon-Ford pardon era. Once again, more damage here than was accomplished as a result of that crime. And don't kid yourself, this does rise to the level of criminal activity on many levels of government but we all know where the buck stops, right?

PAULSON should be forced to testify in front of Congress again and explain to Henry Waxman why HE earned his $500 million in salary to run Goldamn Sachs out of their long, storied primary business. They want to "claw-back" salary and bonuses from incompetent, greedy Wall Street CEO's they can start here with Paulson. Otherwise, don't go through your other charades designed to deflect blame. He should have to return the money or get the Duce treatment. Those are the only two punishments that fit his crime.

BERNANKE should be fired and forced to live out his remaining years in a nursing home with Alan Greenspan. A high security nursing home, where nobody can get in and nobody can get out. Like the one in One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest is what I have in mind. And return all government salaries earned and paid out.



ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
AN EXAMPLE OF THE FUTURE HOME FOR THE STARS OF THE OUTGOING ADMINISTRATION?

Volcker should be the new Fed head. Nobody even remotely associated with the last ten or twenty years of Federal government bureaucracy should be allowed near the Treasury. Especially not NY Fed head Geitner, rumor has it his fingerprints are all over letting Lehman slide into the abyss, which has caused a lot of the trauma to the system that we are seeing today. I'll bet Ron Paul is available.
-----------------------
FROM FEDUPUSA.ORG - A HISTORY OF THE FAILURE
http://www.fedupusa.org/

This site documents the history of failures, missteps, mistakes and lies that the principals involved made that got us to where we are today. Too many times these guys were asked whether the housing crisis was going to be limited or contained and too many times they were either wrong or lied about what was going on. This behavior continues today to the point where confidence in the system is at risk.

FedUpUSA is your online source for up-to-the-minute events surrounding the
Global Economic Crisis.

# Desperate Actions

A timeline of the actions which have led us to this point. The economic crisis seems to have come out of nowhere. Is there little wonder the American people were back on their heels when one week our President and the Federal Reserve were telling us the economy was 'sound' but two weeks later, we were in crisis and needed to pledge $700 Billion to fix what was wrong? FedUpUSA sheds some light on what the American people have been kept in the dark about.

# Bernanke's lies

A chronological documentation of the lies Ben Bernanke has told the American People and Congress.

# Paulson's Lies

A chronological documentation of the lies Hank Paulson has told the American People and Congress. Mr. Paulson's lies are particularly egregious in that he also has the biggest conflict of interest of anyone involved in this economic crisis. Do you really trust the man who was CEO of Goldman Sachs when they created CDS and CDOs? Mr. Paulson was not only at the helm when Goldman Sachs realized these little 'financial weapons of mass destruction' were failing, but was still there when they decided to take short positions betting AGAINST their own creations in order to protect themselves. Is this the man who should be trusted with the entire United States Treasury? Why do you think he really wants all this tax payer money? Read documented proof of what he has said, much of it under oath in front of Congress and draw your own conclusions.
---------
FROM ANDREWCOSSACK.COM - MUSSOLINI'S FALL FROM GRACE:
http://www.andrewcusack.com/2007/11/18/mussolini-in-his-own-words/



After a summary execution, Mussolini’s corpse, along with those of his mistress and others, were dragged through the streets of Milan before being strung up at a gas station. Il Duce had previously expounded upon the idea:

“Every man dies the death which befits his character.”

MADDON WINS A.L. MGR. OF THE YEAR, PINELLA IN N.L.

Congrats to Joe Maddon of the Rays. It would have been unanimous if whoever the delusional Minnesotan who voted for Gardenhire was sober. What do you expect? They apparently want Al Franken to be their U.S. Senator, so this slides down a little bit on the egregious scale from Minnesotans.

The Twins reporter must be drinking buddies with the Milwaukee reporter who cast a protest vote for Dale Sveum who only managed twelve games. That is just dumb. But what do you expect when you reporters the ballot?
------------------
FROM THE Associated Press:

Maddon And Piniella Named Managers Of The Year

NEW YORK -- Joe Maddon easily won the American League Manager of the Year award Wednesday after guiding the Tampa Bay Rays from baseball's basement to the World Series. Lou Piniella of the Chicago Cubs took the NL honor.

He received all but one of the 28 first-place votes -- the other went to the Minnesota Twins' Ron Gardenhire.

There has never been a unanimous winner for manager of the year.

Piniella led the NL Central champion Cubs to the league's best record and beat out Charlie Manuel of the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies to earn his third manager of the year award and first in the NL.

Manager of Year voting

The Rays' Joe Maddon was named the 2008 AL Manager of the Year, while the Cubs' Lou Piniella was voted as the NL's top skipper in '08.

AL voting Manager 1st 2nd 3rd Total
Maddon, Rays 27 1 -- 138
Ron Gardenhire, Twins 1 15 8 58
Mike Scioscia, Angels -- 12 9 45
Others receiving votes: Terry Francona, Red Sox, 6; Ozzie Guillen, White Sox, 3; Cito Gaston, Blue Jays, 2.

NL voting Manager 1st 2nd 3rd Total
Piniella, Cubs 15 8 4 103
Charlie Manuel, Phillies 8 6 9 67
Fredi Gonzalez, Marlins 5 6 5 48
Others receiving votes: Joe Torre, Dodgers, 45; Tony La Russa, Cardinals, 11; Jerry Manuel, Mets, 10; Cecil Cooper, Astros, 3; Dale Sveum, Brewers, 1.
---------------------

----------------------
UPDATE:

My apologies to Minnesota sportswriters, it was a CLEVELAND sportswriter who voted for Gardenhire. Sorry Minnesota, but you're still on the hook for Al Franken, which may be an even greater crime.

FROM THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
November 13, 2008
Pluto defends voting Maddon No. 2 for AL Manager of Year

Terry Pluto, a veteran columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, has gone through pretty much everything in his 30-plus years in journalism, from winning awards to writing more than a dozen books.

"But this," Pluto told the Times this morning, "Is a new one."

Pluto was the voter who kept Rays manager Joe Maddon from being the first unanimous Manager of the Year Award recipient in baseball history. Maddon received 27 of 28 first place votes, with Twins Ron Gardenhire getting the other, and Angels' Mike Scioscia getting third.

Pluto voted Gardenhire No. 1 and Maddon No. 2, and joked he now has "many fans in Tampa" after getting more than 20 emails from puzzled Rays fans.

But here's Pluto's explanation:

Gardenhire's Twins didn't make the playoffs (they lost in one-game playoff with the White Sox for the AL Central title), but voting was done in the final week of the regular season. Pluto said he has absolutely nothing against Maddon, whom he has a lot of respect for. It was just a tough decision at the time.

"The voting is done in the final week of the season, so I did not have the playoffs to consider," Pluto said. "If they did the voting after, certainly Joe would have got it. I had great respect for both men, and gave the edge to Gardenhire for keeping his team in contention after losing Santana, etc. I had no idea how anyone else was voting. I certainly didn't set out to stiff Joe by being the lone voice not to have him No. 1."
- JOE SMITH
------------------------------
UPDATE II: Writer explains his moronic decision to Rays blogger who seems to be equally clueless.

http://www.bugsandcranks.com/tampa-bay-devil-rays/david-chalk/al-moy-voter-pluto-i-may-be-a-moron/

David Chalk from Bugs & Cranks (a site listed as a favorite) chastises the Cleveland writer who denied Maddon his unanimous MOY award. But in doing so, he continues to refer to the Rays as the Devil Rays!!!!

He even goes so far as to suggest the writer may have had secret religious motives for not voting for a "devil" Ray. PLEASE.

David, did you not get the memo??? They've been the RAYS all year!!!

Even for a blogger, a little bit sloppy, irresponsible and below the belt writing.
Don't you think you should be better than that? A mea culpa may be in order here. At the very least.

To David Chalk and the normally good folks at B&C:
Trust me, on this one, they are laughing at you, not with you..

LINCECUM WINS N.L. CY YOUNG AWARD

WAY TO GO TIMMY!!!!!
At least one bright spot for the G-men.
25% of the teams wins is almost Steve Carlton-esque.
80% win percentage on a team that barely wins 45% of the time.
The G-men only win 40% of the time in games not pitched by Lincecum.
He clearly deserved it.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081111/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbn_nl_cy_young_10;_ylt=A0geujHu.BlJ4RYBBwCspph4

NEW YORK - Tim Lincecum won the National League Cy Young Award by a comfortable margin Tuesday, taking home pitching's highest honour in his second major league season.

The slender kid with the whirling windup joined Mike McCormick (1967) as the only San Francisco Giants pitchers to win a Cy Young.

Lincecum received 23 of 32 first-place votes and 137 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks got four first-place votes and finished second with 73 points.

Listed at five-foot-11 and 160 pounds, tiny by today's standards for a big-league pitcher, Lincecum defied detractors - and the laws of physics - by firing 97 m.p.h. fastballs past one hulking slugger after another.

The 24-year-old right-hander was 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and a major league-best 265 strikeouts, remarkable numbers for a fourth-place team that finished 72-90.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it. - Robert Edward Lee, 1807 - 1870

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. - John Fitzgerald Kennedy

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. - Elmer Davis

Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul. - Michel de Montaigne

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. - Cynthia Ozick


Lord, bid war's trumpet cease;
Fold the whole earth in peace.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

FROM GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER:
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together

and last but not least,
WAR IS A RACKET
by Two-Time Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Major General Smedley D. Butler - USMC Retired
http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

Too much to include all in this post but here are some of the conclusions from the the Major Generals discussion here:

We must take the profit out of war.

We must permit the youth of the land who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war.

We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes.

Sounds like pretty sound logic to me.
================================
About America
The Origins of Veterans Day
By Department of Veterans Affairs
Jul 20, 2006, 2:17pm

The Origins of Veterans Day

In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This site, on a hillside overlooking the Potomac River and the city of Washington, became the focal point of reverence for America’s veterans.
Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an unknown soldier was buried in each nation’s highest place of honor (in England, Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe). These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). The day became known as “Armistice Day.”

Armistice Day officially received its name in America in 1926 through a Congressional resolution. It became a national holiday 12 years later by similar Congressional action. If the idealistic hope had been realized that World War I was “the War to end all wars,” November 11 might still be called Armistice Day. But only a few years after the holiday was proclaimed, war broke out in Europe. Sixteen and one-half million Americans took part. Four hundred seven thousand of them died in service, more than 292,000 in battle.

Armistice Day Changed To Honor All Veterans

An answer to the question of how to pay tribute to those who had served in this latest, great war came in a proposal made by Representative Edwin K. Rees of Kansas: Change Armistice Day to Veterans Day, and make it an occasion to honor those who have served America in all wars. In 1954 President Eisenhower signed a bill proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day.

On Memorial Day 1958, two more unidentified American war dead were brought from overseas and interred in the plaza beside the unknown soldier of World War I. One was killed in World War II, the other in the Korean War. In 1973, a law passed providing interment of an unknown American from the Vietnam War, but none was found for several years. In 1984, an unknown serviceman from that conflict was placed alongside the others. To honor these men, symbolic of all Americans who gave their lives in all wars, an Army honor guard, The 3d U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard), keeps day and night vigil.

A law passed in 1968 changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.

National Ceremonies Held at Arlington

The focal point for official, national ceremonies for Veterans Day continues to be the memorial amphitheater built around the Tomb of the Unknowns. At 11 a.m. on November 11, a combined color guard representing all military services executes “Present Arms” at the tomb. The nation’s tribute to its war dead is symbolized by the laying of a presidential wreath. The bugler plays “taps.” The rest of the ceremony takes place in the amphitheater.

Veterans Day ceremonies at Arlington and elsewhere are coordinated by the President’s Veterans Day National Committee. Chaired by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the committee represents national veterans organizations.

Governors of states and U.S. territories appoint Veterans Day chairpersons who, in cooperation with the National Committee and the Department of Defense, arrange and promote local ceremonies.

LONGORIA A.L. ROY

Great pick here, the kid would score higher in the MVP voting if not for the missed time due to injuries and early season Rays budgetary considerations. Also, he hasn't missed a beat after ringing the cash register with the big contract. We usually notice when guys cash in and stink up the joint. Evan seems like he has much higher aspirations.

Geovany Soto also a good pick on the N.L. side.

LINCECUM FOR CY YOUNG!!!!!

OBAMA WINS - NOW WHAT??

MCCAIN CONCEDES:



Very graceful and dignified exit. McCain and his staff ran one of the worst Presidential campaigns in history. Weak message early, disjointed response to the financial crisis. He should have stood alongside the Repubs who opposed the measure. The market was at 11,750 when they voted, it's been down 20% since then. The campaigns misuse of the Palin bounce was the baseball equivalent of pinch-hitting for your cleanup hitter in the third inning. They certainly didn't deserve to win.

AND OBAMA ACCEPTS VICTORY:






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On a historic night for Obama, I can't say much in the way of negatives. However, it is difficult to believe that Dems expect Repubs to hold hands with them and sing Koom by Yah after eight years of foot-dragging against a Republican administration. For two terms, they've acted the part of petulant, sore losers and now they want the other side to behave like adults. Fortunately, they probably will.

I still don't get the dichotomy in his message. We're not red-states or blue-states, we're the United States on one hand. But Wall Street bad, Main Street good on the other hand. I guess the class warfare struggle continues.

Who is John Galt, where is John Galt indeed.

This may be the second time in my lifetime we elected a President more for what or who he was not. Obama is clearly not George W. Bush as we were repeatedly told. If the transformative figure argument were the overriding theme, he would have beaten Hillary Clinton by more than he did in the primaries.

The last time we did this was Jimmy Carter, who was all that Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford were not. He was not stained by Watergate, not a Washington insider. However, Carter ended up being clearly in over his head in the job. And he had a world of intelligence, great moral character and executive experience as well.

My hope is that Obama ends up governing more like Bill Clinton than Carter for obvious reasons, the stakes are too high at this point.

My fear is that along with Reid and Pelosi and with a perceived mandate, that for at least the first two years, they govern like a bunch of drunken students at a frat party. We seem to have a plethora of constituents that are lining up to get paid back for services rendered during the campaign and who feel they have been under served under previous administrations.

Clinton did not move to the center until the mid term elections of his first term when the Gingrich bunch came in and provided a counterweight of ideas.

Some post-mortem comments from the Cato Institute that are important to note.
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http://www.cato.org/pressroom.php?display=ncomments&id=162

Cato Scholar Comments on Election Landslide

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Michael D. Tanner, senior fellow:

Yesterday's massive Democratic landslide cannot be seen as anything but a repudiation of George Bush and the current Republican congressional leadership. But to suggest that in electing Barack Obama and a Democratic congressional majority, voters were choosing big-government over small-government would imply that either the Bush administration, the current Republican congressional leadership, or, for that matter, John McCain actually supported smaller government. In reality, by almost every measure, government grew bigger, more expensive, and more intrusive under President Bush and the Republican Congress.

Exit polls show that Republican losses were heaviest among upscale suburban voters who tend to be economically conservative but socially moderate. These formally reliable Republican voters did not suddenly decide that they wanted a bigger, more expensive, and more intrusive government. But, faced with the big-government status quo or big-government "change," they opted for change.

Republicans now have two more years in the wilderness to decide whether or not they actually stand for limited government and individual liberty. One wonders, whether they will hear the message.
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Not Just the First African-American President

For two years now, everyone has talked about Barack Obama becoming the first black president, barely 40 years after the civil rights revolution. Obama himself has often said, “I don’t look like I came out of central casting when it comes to presidential candidates.”

But his achievement is even more striking than “first African-American president.” There are tens of millions of white Americans who are part of ethnic groups that have never produced a president. The fact is, all 42 of our presidents have been of British, Irish, or Germanic descent. We’ve never had a president of southern or eastern European ancestry. Despite the millions of Americans who came to the New World from France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Scandinavia, Russia, and other parts of Europe–not to mention Asia and the Arab world and Latin America–we’ve never had a president who traced his ancestry to those parts of the world. Indeed, it’s often been said that “we’ve never had a president whose name ended in a vowel” (except for a silent ”e” such as Coolidge, and with the exception of Kennedy), which is another way of saying “not of southern or eastern European heritage”).

As Philip Q. Yang put it in his book Ethnic Studies: Issues and Approaches, “There have been no presidents of southern and eastern European descent; and none of Jewish, African, Latino, Asian, or Indian descent.” We’ve had 37 presidents of British (English, Scottish, or Welsh) or Irish descent; three of Dutch descent (Van Buren and the two Roosevelts); and two of Swiss/German descent (Hoover and Eisenhower). Of course, these categories usually refer to the president’s paternal line; Reagan, for instance, was Irish on his father’s side but not on his mother’s. But that doesn’t change the overall picture.

In this light, Obama’s achievement is even more remarkable. He has achieved something that no American politician even of southern or eastern European heritage has managed. But I think we can assume that from now on there won’t be any perceived disadvantage to candidates of Italian, French, Asian, or other previous genealogies not previously seen in the White House. For that, congratulations to Barack Obama.

ELECTION DAY - JUST VOTE

http://www.justvote.org/

No matter who wins, the good news that should come out of this election is the sheer number of people going out and voting. Hopefully this will keep those elected on their toes.

Maybe in the high 60% range from reports I'm hearing.

This is where all Americans win. It was an embarrassment recently to see our voter numbers drop into the 50% range. More embarrassing when you would see folks in countries like Iraq exercising their right to vote in spite of threats of suicide bombers or some wack-job lobbing a grenade into a polling place. We have no such worries.

My other hope is that whoever wins, they win with dignity and good grace. We need more good winners.

And the side that loses, should lose gracefully. There's things that can be learned from losing. If you are willing to listen and not make excuses for your losses.

We've seen recently the results, or lack thereof that follow when the losing side digs in their heels and refuses to do what is good for the country.

One thing I will predict, from a sports perspective, should Obama win I think the odds of Chicago securing the 2016 Olympics goes up to nearly 100%. In fact the other entrants should just gracefully withdraw.

We will be witnessing history once again, no matter what the result.

GOD BLESS AMERICA.

Happy 8th Birthday, Beemer. ~;::::::;( )">

ONLY 105 DAYS UNTIL PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT

Missing baseball already, but now is the time for players to make plans for off-season training.

Up here, in the cold weather climates, players head off to other sports like football and basketball. There's a lot to be said for the cross-training, multi-sport athlete approach for younger athletes.

In the sunbelt states, you probably see more baseball players continue to play in organized leagues up until Thanksgiving week. They shut down maybe until the beginning of January. They follow the specialization model a little bit more.

Some pluses and minuses attached to both results and we'll take a look at it in future posts. Generally speaking, whatever you do that improves your Athletic Skills, Baseball Skills and Character (Mental, Emotional and Game Strategy) Skills, is going to make you a better ballplayer. If you play another sport, it is more of a challenge to maintain and develop you baseball skills and specific sport strategy skills. It makes it more difficult, but not impossible. That's part of the trade-off.

For now, I have to make the switch from baseball (umpiring) to basketball (refereeing). Which means I have to lose some weight to take the stress of running off my knees. Good Luck with that one ;).

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