Awesomeness: Rick Barber, Rep Candidate for AL 2nd District

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To ask ... was deemed churlish. UnAmerican. Bigoted.

Richard Fernandez:

[T]he President was presumed a capable executive because he ran a campaign. The proof was entirely circular, but through some peculiar myopia no real questions were asked. To demand the sealed transcripts, to ask about the absence of articles for the Harvard Law review, to raise the non-existent legislative record was deemed churlish. UnAmerican. Bigoted. The fact that he had come so far was proof that he was qualified to come so far. And there the matter rested.

[...]

Barack Obama’s incompetence, if indeed he is incompetent, results directly from a flawed political and media process that allowed such a candidate to go forward. It’s a failure of quality control. It’s an indictment of the gatekeepers and of the media in particular.

"We Con the World", hosted at Eyeblast

b/c YouTube took the video down, and b/c the video is exactly what is needed: hilarious spoofing. Laugh at the enemy. Humorously ridicule, w/o mercy. THAT, they cannot survive.

I don't respect YouTube: regardless of the validity of a complaint, YouTube takes videos down. Instapundit

Who takes aggressive advantage of YouTube's weakness? Answer: the left and the jihadists, i.e. groups which - in quest of power - are frequently willing to take unethical and immoral actions.

http://twitter.com/gcotharn:
Wretchard: The left seeks power. The right seeks to mind it's own business. The right does not see the true left.


Stacy McCain notes PayPal is refusing to allow Pamela Gellar to use their service. They say she has a "hate site". Upon whose opinion is PayPal depending in order to make their determination about Gellar? CAIR, of course. You can't make this stuff up. Wretchard




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Steyn: the left's strange hostility to Hirsi Ali

Mark Steyn:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s great cause is women’s liberation. Unfortunately for her, the women she wants to liberate are Muslim, so she gets minimal support and indeed a ton of hostility from Western feminists who have reconciled themselves, consciously or otherwise, to the two-tier sisterhood: when it comes to clitoridectomies, forced marriages, honour killings, etc., multiculturalism trumps feminism.

[...]

In Terror and Liberalism, Paul Berman wrote that suicide bombings “produced a philosophical crisis, among everyone around the world who wanted to believe that a rational logic governs the world.” In other words, it has to be about “poverty” or “social justice” because the alternative—that they want to kill us merely because we are the other—undermines the hyper-rationalist’s entire world view. Thus, every pro-gay, pro-feminist, pro-black Western liberal’s determination to blame Ayaan Hirsi Ali for the fact that a large number of benighted thuggish halfwits want to kill her.

At Big Hollywood, Mr. Wrestling IV reports:

On May 24th, at Track 16 Gallery in fashionable Bergamont Station in Santa Monica, CA, dozens of marginal works of art were nearly destroyed by the exploding heads of some of SoCal’s finest and most dogmatic liberals, as a roomful of them were injected with some cognitive dissonance when author Ayaan Hirsi Ali spoke.

[...]

If this man had asked Ms. Ali his ridiculous question, she could have answered it handily. So why didn’t he? Why was he huddled in the farthest corner of the room spewing his nonsense to his nodding compatriots? What about Ayaan Hirsi Ali had flummoxed him and his fellow travellers into circles of insular outrage?


Well, she was black, so they could not dismiss her as a racist; she had lived in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands and the United States, so they could not call her an ignorant provincial hick; she was an avowed atheist, so they could not call her a Christian bigot on a crusade against peaceful Islam; and she was multi-lingual, articulate, and brilliant, so they couldn’t just call her stupid. All the pejoratives they usually apply to people who disagree with them wouldn’t work, and so they were left to confront her ideas, and those ideas stripped them naked, rent their garments of superiority and condescension into tatters at their feet, and left them angry and confused, whining to each other in the corners of the room, unable to say anything to her face. Their favorite weapons, ad hominem name-calling and sneering condescension, were disarmed.

From 2007:


Wretchard:

Maybe the reason why the Left hates Sarkozy and that renegade "woman of color" Hirsi Ali so much is ... because both remind [the Left] of the principles they have betrayed.


This secret guilt may stand at the center of the inexplicable hysteria with which the Left regard the neocons and President Bush in particular. [...] the extreme demonization of George W. Bush and the neocons is psychologically necessary in order to restore a feeling of moral superiority to the Leftist universe. They would be guilt stricken without it.


The more intelligent Leftists must be subconsciously aware of how monstrous the enemy is and secretly cognizant of how great is the betrayal of their own ideals. They can't confront this fact; cannot accept that they are delivering children, as Caroline Glick's example above shows, to cruel murderers. And in order to obtain some kind of solace ... it is necessary for them to invent something worse; to make a caricature devil of GWB [...] George Bush must be made nothing less than the moral equivalent of Hitler or else their ethical universe would collapse.


But George Bush is not Hitler. And one day the better men among the Left will face up to the fact that they have failed a huge moral and historical test. And from that memory, there will be no redemption.

Dr. Sanity:

Wretchard rightly perceives that the degree of the left's moral and intellectual bankruptcy is so great; the betrayal so profound, that it is simply impossible they are not aware on some level of the nihilistic traitors they have become to all that is good and worth fighting for in the world.


Like a deer caught in the headlights of reality, they are paralyzed because there is no way to escape their fate; instead they try to make their paralysis a moral virtue; their betrayal an heroic stance. And the rage they feel toward all who remind them of what they have betrayed distracts them from the rush of reality that will overwhelm and destroy them eventually.


The final psychological touch to all this is the projection--where they take the rage they feel and imagine that the object of their rage actually feels it toward them--is that it breeds the paranoia and the utterly nonsensical and histrionic conspiracy theories.


But no matter how carefully they construct their fantasies; no matter how much information they choose to ignore; how tightly they close their eyes; the headlights of the reality train--and not the peace train, I fear--as it rockets toward them only highlights the bankruptcy of the ideology they now profess.

The End Zone:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali at University of Wisconsin, Madison
Ayaan Hirsi Ali interviewed by a cartoonishly anti-American Canadian


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Friday Hot: Sarah Palin's breasts, plus a clitoral study

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My favorite combination of Elvis, Harry Truman, and Holly Golightly has blogs eyeing her breasts:







To me: looks like she's always had em.

Reading tea leaves: not running for POTUS. The white top is Sarah at the Belmont Stakes horse race. Do horse owners at major races dress so casually? Would a horse owner who is interested in running for POTUS dress so casually?




Clitoral study

Ace speculates about Obama having cynical motivation for oil spill inaction

Ace's headline ...

Dutch Government: Hey, Let Us Bring Over Equipment and Expertise To Help Contain That Spill
Obama: Nah, No Thanks Son, I'm Good; I'm Just Going To Sit Back and Keep On Bein' Awesome:

Obama had already been informed the leak would take weeks and weeks to fix, and it was better, I guess, to let it leak and destroy the coastlines if doing so would keep the story underreported and thus merely environmentally disastrous, but not politically disastrous.

Better to pretend there's not a problem, and let the problem destroy the Gulf, than to admit the problem and take action about it, which draws attention to it.

Ace links to The Houston Chronicle:

Three days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, the Dutch government offered to help.

It was willing to provide ships outfitted with oil-skimming booms, and it proposed a plan for building sand barriers to protect sensitive marshlands.

The response from the Obama administration and BP, which are coordinating the cleanup: “The embassy got a nice letter from the administration that said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,'” said Geert Visser, consul general for the Netherlands in Houston.

Now, almost seven weeks later, as the oil spewing from the battered well spreads across the Gulf and soils pristine beaches and coastline, BP and our government have reconsidered.

Also, seven weeks after ignoring Kevin Costner's brothers vacuum machines, suddenly BP wants the machines from Costner. Kevin Costner comments on the tardiness:

“We’re coming to this fight very late,” said Costner. “I think everybody would recognize that....”

“If we want to discuss the ‘what ifs’ looking back, I think you could fill in the blanks of understanding if these machines were already deployed, what we would be looking at,” said Costner. “I could scale this out for you and we would be chasing this oil out at the derrick itself. We couldn’t do anything about the size of the leak but we would be chasing that and we would be keeping that offshore.”

The End Zone: Obama oil spill incompetence

Texas Rangers Potential 2012 Pitching Staff

If the Rangers let all free agents walk, and make zero trades, this could be their pitching staff in 2012:

Holland
Feliz
Hunter
Scheppers
Martin Perez

Alexi Ogando
Pedro Strop
Darren O'Day
Omar Beltre
Blake Beavan
Matt Harrison
Kirkman/Phillips/Beau Jones

That awesome, yet dirt cheap, pitching staff would have 3 arbitration players: Hunter, O'Day, Harrison; and 9 pre arb players.

In addition, coming into 2012, the Rangers could control the following talented pitchers who already have major league experience: Feldman, Nippert, Mathis, Hurley. Depth.

Further, in 2012, the Rangers could control additional prospects who might easily be ready if needed: Michael Ballard, Danny Gutierrez, Evan Reed, Ben Snyder, Ryan "I'm 6'4" and I throw 94" Tatusko, Kasey Kiker, Tim Murphy, plus Main, Font, Brigham, Pimentel, Boscan, Wieland, and more. Fabulosity. Consider: if the Astros, for instance, traded their entire current major league roster for the entire roster of the Rangers High A Affiliate - the Bakersfield Blaze - might the Astros come out ahead in the deal?



The Rangers are probably going to make trades - especially in the off season after 2011 - so as to recoup value from players who would otherwise be left off the 40 man roster and be lost without compensatory return. However, the Rangers do not need to trade for major league talent in order to have strong pitching staffs in 2012 and beyond. All the following have big arms which are perfect for playoff success as starters: Holland, Feliz, Scheppers, Martin Perez. Ogando has a big arm which is perfect for playoff success as a closer. Strop throws 94-95 with deceptive fast arm action which makes his fastball difficult to catch up with. Strop, therefore, also has closer stuff.

I retain patience with the Rangers. I'm not desperate to win in 2010 and 2011. I don't want the big arm prospects broken up and scattered across major league baseball. I want the potential dynasty to remain intact. If it means Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler - both scheduled free agents before the 2013 season - fail to win world championships in Arlington: I don't care. Both those players are underperforming, anyway. If they perform consistently and excellently, they might win here. Cruz and Michael Young (dammit) will be here through 2013; Elvis through 2014; Borbon through 2015; Smoak and Max Ramirez through 2016. The team on the field will not be lacking in talent. Engel "Willie Mays Hays" Beltre, anyone?




Which reminds:

Engel Beltre ==>

Engel Beltre went full Willie Mays Hayes ("Hit like Mays, run like Hayes") on a game winning HR: throwing his bat 30 feet into the air, and thus nearly starting a riot - which riot was averted, in part, due to swift action by Bakersfield Manager Bill Hasselman (who, I hope, will be managing the Rangers in 2012).












Compare: when Vlad Guerrerro reeeaaaallly gets into a HR, he stands at the plate and admires it like Reggie Jackson, then he goes around the bases at no faster than a mosey. It never starts a riot. People don't even get angry. He's Vlad! The league loves him.





Only the home fans love Willie Mays Hayes (er, if he were, you know, an actual, real player).

Oil Spill Obama Incompetence

The U.S. Government needed, and still needs, to aggressively step in and clean up the Gulf; to aggressively step in and protect the Gulf Coast, i.e. to step in and aggressively protect the sovereign territory of the United States, i.e. to step in and aggressively protect American citizens whose livelihoods are threatened, and who are facing potential pain and suffering which the United States Government could either lessen or eliminate. Government inaction and incompetence is assuring that this oil spill becomes the greatest ecological disaster to ever befall the United States of America.


Rather than bringing all the resources of the United States Government to bear upon the problems of clean up and protection of the Gulf Coast, President Obama has allowed BP to take the lead in cleaning up the spilled oil.


Why?


First, could it be that President Obama is reticent to spend money to protect both U.S. citizens and sovereign U.S. territory? Is Pres. Obama only interested in spending money on bribes to unions (taxpayer money which is laundered through unions and then spent to elect Democrats?)? in spending patronage money via the Trillion $ Spendulus?


Is President Obama reticent to spend money to protect Red States? Is Pres. Obama only interested in spending money on blue states, purple states, and illegal immigrants who will be future voters? I don't know this answer. I've wanted to discount this possibility. However, the more I look at it: it can't be fully discounted. It's possible. Barack Obama is a cynical, cynical man who is steeped in Chicago power politics. That's where Pres. Obama's statement to a Repub Congressman: "We won", came from. "We won", and now we get to rob the taxpayers and patronize our people. That's what Barack Obama thinks governing is about. I want to say Chicago power politics thinking is not in play in this oil spill, but cannot. It's possible.


Second, could it be that President Obama is massively incompetent? a deer frozen in the headlights? a ditherer? a slave to rules and regulation who has neither the know how nor the cojones to cut through bureaucratic red tape? an actor who is mainly interested in how to best divert blame, in how best to use self righteous anger and posturing in order to best position his re-election chances?


You would think most anyone would intuit the problems with allowing BP to run the clean up and protection of the coast:

-- corporate CEO's tend to be nearsighted, i.e. more interested in short term public relations than in working problems with an eye towards long term solutions. A company with this interest will be powerfully tempted to lie all along the way (and, in fact, BP has lied all along the way - and the WH has consistently lied, also*).

-- in the matter of clean up and protection of the coast, BP doesn't have the resources of the United States Government.

You would think most anyone would intuit these factors in the equation, yet Pres. Obama apparently did not. If President Obama wants to kick someone's ass, he can start with his own.


What's happening is horrifying, and oil on beaches is not even near the worst of it - not even close to the worst of it.


The worst of it is the damage to the ecosystem of the Gulf itself, including the related problem of killing off the Gulf fishing industry.


The second worst of it is the 6 month moratorium on drilling which Pres. Obama wants to implement. Do you think oil companies can twiddle their thumbs for 6 months? NO! Oil companies will pull their people and their money and their expertise and begin drilling in other parts of the world. And they will not, can not come back to the Gulf easily and quickly. Drilling in the Gulf will be negatively affected for a decade - even longer if Pres. Obama is re-elected. It will be economic devastation for residents of the Gulf States who are in the oil industry - and that amounts, at minimum, to multiple tens of thousands of people, and hundreds of thousands of family members. This amounts to an unforced error by Pres. Obama. His action is clueless and reprehensible.


The third worst of it is the destruction of the wetlands of Louisiana. I've been in South Louisiana many times, and have met and seen many Louisianans who make their living as private fishermen who operate mainly in those wetlands. These are not formally educated people. They don't work for companies, and would rather die than work for companies. Think of them as frontiersmen, as hunters and trappers, and what they hunt and trap is game and fish which is deep inside those wetlands. I mourn for these people. There are a lot of them. You don't need a job in South Louisiana. Everything your family needs is in the wetlands and deep in the bayous: food, plus extra fish which may be sold in order to purchase staples and such. If you're willing and able to manage the bugs and the snakes, you can provide for your family. Barack Obama's inaction is threatening these families' livelihoods.


However, also, and worse on a larger scale: damage to the Louisiana wetlands affects all of us - especially those of us in the southern United States. Those wetlands nurture wildlife and aquatic life and plant life which we all depend on. Barack Obama's inaction thus threatens citizens of the entire southern United States - which citizens, btw, live in deeply Red States. Again, is Pres. Obama's inaction a coincidence? But this is digression, and I don't actually purport to know the answer to the question. It does worry.

Media is infatuated with oil on the beaches. Such is an easy story. However, the significance of oil on the beaches falls somewhere after all of what is listed above.



What should be done?


The United States Government must take over the clean up and protection operation, effective immediately, must bring our massive resources to bear upon the problem. Send the bill to BP, get reimbursed for some of the bill from BP, and taxpayers bear the rest of the burden. This is exactly the type situation for which government exists. It is beyond irony that Barack Obama, i.e. the biggest big government advocate ever, is punting this clear government responsibility to BP.


Specifically, attack the clean up and coastal protection on multiple fronts.


Use government resources and personnel to canvass ideas from other nations; from all oil companies (including ideas re stopping the leak).


Bring in supertankers, as was done in the Persian Gulf in 2004, to skim scores of millions of gallons of oil/water out of Gulf and then dump it at Baton Rouge and Houston refineries. These will separate much of the oil from the water, then send newly empty supertankers out to collect more oil/water. Call in favors. Twist arms. Do what you have to do to collect supertankers from around the world. Cut through the red tape. This is the most important step, and would largely transform a crisis into a mere huge mess. This might still save us, if we begin immediately.


Do everything else. Do everything. The United States has the resources.


Build the sand berms between Louisiana's barrier islands. Despite the current supposed promise to build the berms, the berms remain a hazy dream. Red tape obstacles remain. Insufficient resources have been allocated.


Boom and burn. Also: buy this guy's oil boom!!!!!!! This type entrepreneurship is what made America great. Is the Obama Administration busily killing off greatness wherever it exists?


It's hay season. Send the hay into the gulf to absorb oil, then collect the hay.


Purchase all 50ish of Kevin Costner's brother's machines which can be deployed in the Gulf and which separate and collect oil from water on the spot. Get them out there in the gulf and let them work. Do it. We have a crisis. Why would you not do it?


Do everything. Take the lead. Get BP off the lead. They cannot be trusted. No oil company could be trusted with this problem. Further, BP does not have the resources of the U.S. Government.




Finally, I've left stopping the leak for the end:

BP, properly so, ought be in charge of stopping the leak. However, the White House ought ride herd on BP like a good Hollywood Producer rides herd on a movie director, like Warren Buffet rides herd on a company he owns, like a parent rides herd on their child who is swimming in a pool. Hire or borrow the most skilled oil industry people and get them into every single BP meeting during every hour of every day. BP is in charge, but BP must be in constant, incessant communication with a task force of our best oil industry thinkers (who are also constantly communicating with the best oil industry thinkers from around the world, and about every step BP is taking). Keep the White House intimately briefed and closely involved. The President will need to weigh in and twist arms and prod BP at various points along the way. Many such moments have already been missed by Pres. Obama. Get going.


Also, do whatever is necessary to induce BP to begin drilling a third relief well, and possibly a fourth. Relief wells are tricky, and can miss the mark and fail to stop the problem. The 1979 spill off of Yucatan required 4 relief wells and almost 12 months in order to solve the problem. Technology now is far too similar to technology then. BP's thinking is short sighted: is the thinking of accountants and of a weak CEO. It's in BP's interest to begin drilling a third (and even fourth) relief well. If BP won't be persuaded, threaten them, punish them, twist arms, call in political favors from England, bring in another oil company, do whatever is needed to ensure this problem is stopped in August or September, as opposed to Christmas.


This crisis, this situation, is the reason government exists. The irony of the U.S. Government punting to BP ... its difficult to process the hugeness of the irony, its difficult to process the hugeness of the incompetence, it's difficult to process the hugeness of the tragedy which government inaction is allowing to metastasize.


Consider, for instance: could the cutting of the riser during the Top Hat #2 effort have resulted in SIGNIFICANTLY worse leakage than before? Despite the alleged success of the top hat #2 effort, did the effort actually expand the disaster? Consider this: http://is.gd/cHyEL and this http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2010/06/the-bp-oil-cap-is-actually-working-imagine-their-surprise.html

*Remember when BP initially estimated the leak at 1000 barrels a day? This is knee jerk reaction of public relations novices who are practicing short sighted corporate management, plus bad citizenship. Bafflingly, the Obama White House knee jerk reaction was also to lie: remember "5000 barrels a day"? Remember the White House initial refusal to characterize the oil spill as an “Oil Spill of National Significance”? That declaration was necessary to draw full resources to the problem, and Napolitano didn't make it until almost a week after the incident. Thus, lying was also the knee jerk reaction of a novice and incompetent White House. Hot Air quotes Rolling Stone:

...the administration knew the spill could be far worse than its “best estimate” acknowledged. That same day, the president’s Flow Rate Technical Group – a team of scientists charged with establishing the gusher’s output – announced a new estimate of 12,000 to 25,000 barrels, based on calculations from video of the plume. In fact, according to interviews with team members and scientists familiar with its work, that figure represents the plume group’s minimum estimate. The upper range was not included in their report because scientists analyzing the flow were unable to reach a consensus on how bad it could be. “The upper bound from the plume group, if it had come out, is very high,” says Timothy Crone, a marine geophysicist at Columbia University who has consulted with the government’s team. “That’s why they had resistance internally. We’re talking 100,000 barrels a day."

Trend of modern thinking, such as PC and scapegoating, is in backward direction towards pagan superstition

David Warren:

I like to dwell on the wisdom of our ancestors. It took us millennia to emerge from the primitive notion that a malignant agency must lie behind every unfortunate experience. Indeed, the Catholic Church spent centuries fighting folk pagan beliefs in things like evil fairies, and the whole notion the Devil can compel any person to act against his will -- only to watch an explosion of witch-hunting and related popular hysterias at the time of the Reformation.

In so many ways, the trend of post-Christian society today is back to pagan superstitions: to the belief that malice lies behind every misfortune, and to the related idea that various, essentially pagan charms can be used to ward off that to which all flesh is heir. The belief that, for instance, laws can be passed, that change the entire order of nature, is among the most irrational of these.

Sheer human stupidity is the cause of any number of human catastrophes -- including the stupidity of superstition itself. We need to re-embrace this concept; to hug the native incompetence within ourselves, and begin forgiving it in others.

h/t

Baseball celebrations after scoring a run

<== German Duran went to Paschal High in dear old Fort Worth, then matriculated down the street at TCU.


William Wilkerson:

[Texas Ranger David Murphy's] all-time favorite was a fixture in the dugout two years ago involving German Duran.

"This was a funny one because he was Mexican, 5-foot-8 or so and had a stocky type of body," Murphy said. "So he was like a piñata. He would do a few little claps with Michael Young and then he would jump and hang on the top of the dugout.

"Mike or somebody would hit him like he was a piñata, and it was predetermined that someone would get a handful of gum and throw it on the ground when he'd get hit. Then the whole team would pick up the gum. That was taking it to the extreme."

It has begun: Texas Rangers budding dynasty announcing itself with authoritay

From last summer, this blogpost: http://theendzone.blogspot.com/2009/07/texas-rangers-do-not-trade-justin-smoak.html is looking good, as both Smoak and Max Ramirez are playing well; as the Rangers are embarked upon a month of June in which they will win and win and win.


As if the baseball gods suddenly snapped their fingers: things are going right for the Rangers.


A few weeks ago, Francisco and Chris Ray began to pitch well; Scott Feldman began to show signs of life, i.e. signs of the return of his massively sinking fastball; Michael Young and Josh Hamilton began to hit; Max Ramirez began contributing quietly effective performances.


A week or more ago, other things began to click into place:
Justin Smoak began to hit SCREAMING line drives from the left side. SCREAMING.
Max Ramirez began to hit with more consistency.
Matt Treanor broke out of his slump.
The batting ghost of Julio Borbon began to display some life.


At this moment, the only struggling offensive player is Ian Kinsler ... yet his slump is not disastrous: he draws some walks; he still accomplishes some positive things at the plate; he is not a black hole in the lineup.


In April and May, poor offense was holding the Rangers back from being excellent. Yet, the Gods have snapped their fingers: snap snap: summer is here, offensive players have awakened, the offense is suddenly good.


Then, yesterday: Tommy Hunter sublimely combined a Mariano Rivera type cut fastball with a Burt Blyleven type curve. Hunter's pitches do not equal either Rivera's 96mph or Blyleven's around the world action. However, Rivera doesn't throw a curve, and Blyleven did not cut a fastball. Tommy Hunter can do both. Hunter's cut fastball has very similar action to Rivera's. Hunter also displayed a big, tailing change-up which he could not control, yet with which you know he will get better and better as the year goes on. If a control pitcher like Hunter can make the change-up tail - and he can, then he will eventually harness it. Hunter is a player to watch.


Rangers fans are not recognizing it, yet - b/c they are shellshocked from almost 40 years of futility (which were only broken up by the Will Clark Rangers of the 1990s) - but, beginning 6 days ago, the Texas Rangers are displaying the excellence of the budding dynasty which they are. In another 2 weeks, serious Rangers fans will pretend they knew, even this weekend, that the Rangers were suddenly, instantly good. The casual Rangers fan is so shellshocked that they will not believe it for a couple more months; or maybe not even until January - when, on a cold and gray day, it will suddenly dawn on their shellshocked psyche: "Holy smokes! The Rangers are actually good!"


The Rangers have a 4-1 record in June, plus an easy schedule through the end of the month. I expect the team to go 22-5 for the month. On July 1, I expect the Rangers to have an 8 game lead in the division. In 2020, we will look back to June 2010 as the month when a budding dynasty announced itself with authoritay. It's only been 40 years in the making.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Notes:


What if Rich Harden remains ineffective and has to go?

What if Derek Holland's mystifying arm numbness is actually a career threatening rotator cuff injury which shelves him for 2 seasons?


Here's what:

Move Neftali Feliz into the rotation (preferably in mid July, so as to not overtax his young arm with innings this season ~~ Feliz could be prepped via 4-5 outings of long relief).

Make Francisco the closer and Chris Ray the set up man. These are young veterans who are up to the tasks.

Either
1) make Rich Harden a relief pitcher (he might be a natural relief pitcher, as he is a strike out pitcher who is difficult to hit, and as he would not then have to worry about his number of pitches per inning), or
2) choose a relief pitcher from amongst white hot minor league prospects Pedro Strop, Alex Ogando, Tanner Scheppers, or Omar Beltre. Any of the four might be superior to the current relief pitchers in Arlington.


Francisco and Ray are plenty of relief for the regular season. If you want more dynamic relief for the playoffs: slide Feliz back into the bullpen during the playoffs. Teams only use 4 starters for the playoffs (or, sometimes, only 3 veteran starters - if the team is willing to pitch a starter on 3 days of rest).

Friday Hot: Angelo State University Golf

Rambelles! Here's hoping that prospective 2011 Angelo State CF Korey Wacker owns a battered set of LH clubs...




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Why are the scores so high in the JUCO World Series?

Swinging away in Grand Junction, CO:

Temple College's Korey Wacker -
Centerfielder, Pitcher, Lead Off Hitter, pride of Harker Heights, TX, and pride of the grandmother who raised him - and who traveled to his games to watch and to feel her chest swell with joy. Korey is now headed to Angelo State Univ. in San Angelo, TX.

Photo credit Chris Tomlinson/Special to the Temple Daily Telegram

Temple College Eliminated
Temple College played bravely. They lost their 1st game, then fought to consecutive valiant and close victories in their 2nd and 3rd games. Their 4th game was tied 2-2 in the 8th before Temple lost 4-2. All in all, a solid performance, of which they may be justifiably proud. Bravo.

Video highlights of Temple College's 2nd game. Facing elimination, and down 8-1 in the 6th inning, Temple rallied for an 11-8 victory. Southern Brother can be seen coaching 1B during Korey Wacker's single to RF.



In other news from the World Series: scores have been high from day 1, as typified by a thrilling 19-18 victory in which Crowder College (in southwestern Missouri) eliminated Faulkner State (southern Alabama). So, people went to a baseball world series and a slow pitch softball tournament broke out. Why?

A confluence of reasons:

1. Pitching is at a premium. Fewer players are born with the ability to develop a 90 mph fastball than with the ability to develop into a good hitter. This, combined with the high incidence of injury amongst pitchers, means professional baseball clubs put heavy emphasis on drafting a high volume of pitching prospects. Thus, colleges have a greater volume of good hitting prospects from which to choose, and have a reduced volume of good pitching prospects. Evidence of the disparity may be seen on scoreboards across America.

2. Aluminum bats are amazing weapons. They scare me. College baseball is the sound of pinging and the sight of crooked numbers.

3. Time of year: by the time a world series arrives, batters have had 60+ games to get into a groove, and they are READY. Any batters who are not in a groove have already been eliminated from competition. A world series amounts to a convention of red hot batters who are salivating for another chance at the plate.


Re Grand Junction, CO:

The elevation is 4593 feet. Therefore, baseballs fly a bit further, and - in the thin air - breaking pitches and tailing pitches do not bite as decisively: curves are less sharp and more softly rounded; sliders are more flat; tailing pitches are more straight.

The climate is hot and arid - both conditions are conducive to baseballs flying further. Arid conditions also lessen the sharpness of breaking pitches.

A comparison may be made between batting in Grand Junction and batting in professional spring training in Arizona. The hitters have advantage in both places, and for the same reasons.

Truman Capote anecdotes in "Infamous"

Researching the "To Kill A Mockingbird" post, ran across the following Truman Capote anecdotes from the movie "Infamous". He was a self created American original.

Below, 30 seconds of Capote anecdote. He is in Kansas, with Harper Lee, doing research for "In Cold Blood". If you wish to stay with this, the Christmas visit is fun, and Capote does a funny reaction at 8:20, when it dawns on him that his Kansas friends do not know who John Huston is.

In matters of humor, I often feel out of step with normal. To me, Capote's John Huston dawning realization is the funniest moment of the scene. I laughed with delight. I don't know that most persons would find Capote's reaction quite so funny.

Conversely, I often find that things which cause an entire group of people to laugh do not seem very funny to me. I find myself standing amidst the group and wondering: am I seriously lacking in the sense of humor department? If so, how would I ever know this? A fish does not perceive water. I would not know I am living a weird humor existence. My friends and family are unlikely to say: "Greg, you do not have a good feel for humor; you are a quirky person who laughs at odd, unfunny things."

One more:

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Leftists are screaming at Israel for trying to survive. Can anyone here play this game called reality?

I keep intending to do summer blog vacation, yet keep seeing events and then wanting to get stuff off my chest.

Update: Darleen Click has information we want.

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What is it with the idiot left condemning Israel for interdicting missiles, rockets, bombs, and other weapons from being imported into Gaza so they may be shot into Israel with blatant murderous intent?

I haven't been to Israel. It's my impression that, were I in Israel, Gaza would be no further distance from me than the nearest high school is from me here in Fort Worth. And Gaza would be shooting at me, if they could just get some rockets and missiles in, either through the tunnels from Egypt or via "aid" ships. I exaggerate, a bit, out of frustration at leftist idiots. But I don't exaggerate all THAT much. Before Israel's incursion into Gaza a couple of years ago, multiple thousands of rockets had been launched from Gaza into Israel. One of the major targets: Israeli schools. Jeejackhosaphat the left is stupid.




Deep breath. Let's try and make the case for the leftist condemnation of Israel's interdiction of the "aid" ships. The case:



Premise: Palestinian Arabs wish to live in peace with Jews.

Assertion: If Israel treats Palestinians "fairly", then Palestinians will live in peace with Israelis. Israel ought accede to Palestinian demands for land, goods, services. The result will be peace.



Problem: both the premise and the assertion are fantasy. Stupid, stupid, asinine fantasy. In actuality, Palestinians desire eradication of Israel. Consider: if Palestinians laid down their weapons, there would be peace; if Israel laid down her weapons, there would be no Israel. Palestinian complaints about unfair treatment are actually tactics and strategy which are implemented in service of the ultimate objective of eradicating Israel.



So, when you wonder how the left can condemn Israel for inspecting "aid" ships for weaponry, know that the left condemns any Israeli action which any Palestinians might consider unfair. For the left: if Palestinians complain about an Israeli action, therefore said Israeli action ipso facto is an obstacle to peace. It follows that said Israeli action is likely to create injury, death, suffering ... in the form of formerly peaceful yet newly angered Palestinians conducting future attacks against Israel.


So, every time I begin to say:

what is up with the stupid left objecting to preventing rockets from being imported into Gaza? Why do they even need aid ships for Gaza? No one is starving in Gaza. There's food in every market. Israel lets everything in: they just check for weapons first, and they told the ships they would let everything into Gaza after they had checked for weapons. Why did 5 ships get checked without incident, then Israeli soldiers were beaten with steel rods, knifed, and shot at on a 6th ship? Isn't if obvious?! What is up with the left calling terrorists who beat, knife, and shoot at soldiers "peace activists"? Can anybody here play this game called reality? And exactly WHY has the UN already condemned Israel, and has yet to condemn N. Korea for firing a torpedo and SINKING a S. Korean ship? Anyone? We know the UN hates Israel and wants it shoved into the sea. However, isn't the double standard a bit blatant even for the UN?

Anyway... rather than saying all the above with maximum exasperation, I need to repeat a mantra: ipso facto aaahhhhhmmmmmmm ipso facto ahhhhhhmmmmmm ipso facto if we want SERENITY NOW! Because, for the left, it's not about importing weaponry, its about angering those wonderful humanitarians known as Palestinians.

As far as the idiot left is concerned:

allow all the weapons into Gaza which anyone wants. The weapons will not be used unless you anger those Palestinians who just wish to live in peace and fairness. So: stop with the interdiction and all the other futile efforts. It doesn't matter whether or not they have rockets and launchers. The only thing which matters is whether or not you appease them. Give them what they want, and everyone will live in peace. And, Israel, DON'T do anything to make anyone mad! Ipso facto till you die, Israel.


Could the left actually believe that incredible pap??? I kinda think maybe not. I think, maybe the left, quietly, in places deep inside and which they never allow to be known in public: just wants Israel to die. Maybe the left thinks: if Israel dies, then the world will have no more problems with Islamic terrorism. Which type of hoping and appeasement is what Churchill called: hoping the alligator will eat you last. Israel is not a sacrificial virgin which will appease the Volcano gods and prevent disaster. Israel is the canary in the coal mine. Israel is the warning: GET OUT OF THE MINE!!! POISONOUS GAS!!!! GET OUT!!!!!! Israel is the warning that the problem must be dealt with by the free world; that the problem is coming. Poison gas will not be appeased. The problem is coming for our children. We either take effective action, or our children die in tragic numbers. It's that simple.



Wretchard, aka Richard Fernandez, is ... I don't know. I started to say exasperated, but, unlike me, maybe he's too enlightened and spiritually balanced to be exasperated. So: he's piquant, urgent, focused.

I am not. I am frustrated and want to scream that this whole thing is insanity.

Wretchard the piquant and focused:

Both cases [Israel interdiction and N.Korea torpedo] demonstrate that nothing is more paramount either to the establishment nor to the politically correct sections of the media than the maintenance of a lie. For the lie is in the service of the greater good. High reasons of policy will be invoked to explain why the truth should not be so. But the extreme reliance on fantasy by parts of the Western establishment goes well beyond surrounding a kernel of the truth with a “bodyguard of lies.” Instead it is the lie itself which is guarded by even more falsehoods. Gradually and inexorably, an entire political class has staked its existence on continuation of falsehood. The greater good is the fiction. Deception has become a necessity in itself.

As a result, any moderately well informed individual knows that there is no Islamic extremism, nor even terrorism. There are only man made disasters. Everybody knows that we can borrow our way out of debt, that the welfare state is the sustainable wave of the future; that Egypt has no border with Gaza through which it can provide supplies if it wanted; that the UN has kept Hezbollah from importing hundreds of missiles into Lebanon; that the thought of a handful of Jews has kept hundreds of millions of oil-rich Muslims from attaining prosperity; and that Global Warming is the main danger facing the planet Earth. That these assertions are untrue hardly matters; that they are indisputable is what seems to count. For who shall dispute them?

Reality might. And therein lies the problem.

Here’s what is going to happen with one hundred percent certainty. All of these lies will explode with considerable force in the faces of political establishment. Nothing can prevent it. Just as reality eventually exposed the hollowness of the financial bubble and showed that nothing was “too big to fail,” eventually it will demonstrate to our extreme cost, that no lie can be maintained forever. That is the real reason anyone should really care about what happened on the “peace flotilla.” We are as corrupt as a preacher in a whorehouse. It ain’t what we don’t know that will hurt us, it’s what we know that ain’t so that will drive the dagger into our hearts.