Baseball, Jack Robinson, Herman Cain, and These Modern Times

Well, I had an interesting conversation on the way to work this morning about politics, as usual, and all the GOP contenders for the nomination. Herman Cain came up, and we agreed that it would be great to have him as a President, although we disagreed on the 'why" a little.

For the most part, we like him, his ideas, his experiences, and his persona. I joke that it would be great to see the first Black President a Republican (hey, this idea the BHO isn't "black enough" comes from the LA Times) and that I'd want to vote for him to be "a part of history," but the reality is that it would be a great chance to smash that tired liberal notion that conservatives (and Republicans) are a bunch of bigot sexist homophobes. Electing a black Republican would show that it's the ideas that matter (the content of a person's character, if you will) and not the skin.

See, that's a charge that has really bothered me. I know in my heart that I am not racist, bigoted, sexist or homophobic, I was raised right and have lived right. I have walked the walk, I have experienced every race and creed with openness, I have judged people as individuals and not as members of some "group" as defined by others. I maintain relationships with people of all ideological, racial, and sexual persuasions and refused to be accused of bigotry by people that don't know me merely because they have some prejudicial view of "conservatives" or "republicans."

I would suggest to you that the real bigots live on the other side of the ideological aisle, they are the ones that see racism, sexism, and homophobia in every turn, that judge people by the color of their skin and not by the content of their character.

I suggest to you that the Great Society as instituted by the Johnson Administration has hurt black people in this country, if only in the attitude that they must be helped.  Have you seen what Harlem was like, when it was a bunch of successful businesses run by entrepreneurs who just happened to also be black? Before the government started "helping?"

The episode of Ken Burn's Baseball about the 1940's was on last night, and one thing was clear to me. In overcoming racism, we have come so far. I ached to hear the things that Jack (as his wife called him) Robinson endured as the pioneer in the Majors. To see a death threat from my hometown, that if he entered Crosley Field he was dead, pains me immeasurably. Yet, I know that this couldn't happen again, that kids today would be shocked and appalled that grownups acted this way, and that is fantastic. I also see the folks that used to be dressed so well going to games, and long for that type of self-esteem, that type of notion that "if I am going out in public, I must be dressed well," even as I sit at work in jeans....

Jack Robinson fought for his country only to return to the kind of racism that wouldn't let him sit in the front of the bus, and before Rosa Parks, he refused. The gas station owner that wouldn't let him use the restroom changed his mind when Jack turned and stopped the minor league team from pumping gas from this man. At risk of losing a hundred dollar sale (and future sales to this baseball team and its bus), he relented, as did many subsequent gas station owners, as told by Buck Owens.  That he was chosen as "the guy" because of this and because he had the fortitude to withstand all the garbage thrown his way is amazing, and how he handled it is a lesson for the ages, as, like Gandhi in some respects, he showed that that resistance (not exactly passive) moved many mountains.

So, if we moved Jack Robinson in a time machine to 2012, who would he vote for?

Motorcycle Desires Part Two the Sequel

Well, after the post yesterday, it's only fair that I show you this video. Makes me want to make films (like this, i really like his style in this and the other things he has posted on Vimeo) and get a motorcycle! A VW Thing would fit the family, but this would be fun and cheaper, too.


Cafe cowboy from benedict campbell on Vimeo.

If I Wanted a Motorcycle....it would be something like this

Well, thanks to Groosh's Garage for reminding me how much I used to want a motorcycle.

Isn't this nice?

More Green Promises Wither

Thanks to Michelle Malkin for these articles:

Electric cars may not be so green after all, says British study   

Here's my takeaway: 

The study was commissioned by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, which is jointly funded by the British government and the car industry. It found that a mid-size electric car would produce 23.1 tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime, compared with 24 tonnes for a similar petrol car. Emissions from manufacturing electric cars are at least 50 per cent higher because batteries are made from materials such as lithium, copper and refined silicon, which require much energy to be processed.

 

and then there's this about how much methane "biodegradable" products release in landfills:

 

If we want to maximize the environmental benefit of biodegradable products in landfills,” Barlaz said, “we need to both expand methane collection at landfills and design these products to degrade more slowly — in contrast to FTC guidance.

 

Surely we don't really need a lesson in The Law of Unintended Consequences, so we?

 

A List of Tips To Generate Traffic to Your Blog

Spinning your wheels?


Well, there are a gazillion bloggers making money telling people how to make money blogging, most of which tell you to blog about how to make money blogging...

This one has some good nuggets in here, in addition to suggesting you blog about blogging to Insanely Increase Your Blog Traffic.

the first 25:


1. Create lists.
2. Write a tutorial.
3. Give away your very best content and some.
4. Be current – write about tomorrow today.
5. Don’t write about your cats, dogs, boyfriends, kids.
6. Be timeless – write a post that will remain current for years.
7. Write with “everybody is entitled to my opinion” attitude.
8. Write about your kids.
9. Write about other bloggers’ best posts.
10. Make your own “best of the best” list.
11. Become an expert in your niche.
12. Break news.
13. Make news.
14. Write short, laconic posts.
15. Do interviews with the “cream of the crop”.
16. Use polls, giveaways, and other eye candy.
17. Write long, conclusive posts.
18. Answer your comments.
19. Answer your email.
20. Write about pros and cons of an issue.
21. Write on a controversial topic and close comments.
22. Make readers depend on you by sharing your expertise generously.
23. Write about blogging.
24. Blog about writing.
25. Take an alternate position.

I have to tell you, many of the items in the list are totally new to me, since I only do this for fun and have never attempted to monetize this thing. I see no reason to remain so silly about it, so I just may sign up for Adsense and try to become an affiliate for a couple of music sites and some catalogues I like!

Thanks to Ana Hoffman at Traffic Generation Cafe for creating this list!

Brief Weiner Thoughts

What I find most disturbing is that the parents of the High School girls that are a part of all of this willingly parroted the Weiner Talking Points, same as given to the former porn star.

Politics over morals and family, I guess. Disgusting. Yet, it happens every time. Chandra Levy's family loved Gary Condit who, while not a murderer, was involved inappropriately with their daughter. Monica Lewinski's parents just looooved Bill Clinton (well, at first). Yuck.

Wonder what those parents are saying today?



here's the longer version submitted to the Graph:

One observation about the Rep. Weiner scandal that I have yet to hear anyone else make, and one that disturbs me the most is the behavior of the parents of the High School-age girls involved in the initial release of information.
As was covered in great detail, to his credit, by Tommy Christopher at Mediaite, Andrew Breitbart didn't start this, but Christopher got everything else wrong because he believes in Weiner, just like the parents of these girls, the girls, and the rest of the media. Piers Morgan, interviewing Ann Coulter on his show on June 7th, showed the bias and proved her points when he said without irony that the reason the MSM was doing stories about hacking Twitter rather than investigating Weiner's claims was because Weiner was "believable" in his statements. This symptom of 'politics first' is frightening to me as an American, as a parent, and as a thinking human! (good luck finding the video, CNN didn't post that part of the show).
Read these statements from Christopher's article from the girls and the parents, and compare them to what emails with former porn star Ginger Lee say about Wiener's attempts to quell the story.
"When Rep Weiner followed my daughter the one and only message he sent her was welcoming her to his twitter followers and suggested he go to his website for more information. My husband and I were delighted with this message as it furthered our daughter’s interest in learning about government. We were very grateful to Rep Weiner for this and saw nothing wrong or inappropriate with this message.
This was the one and only message that Rep Weiner sent our daughter. Our daughter sent a message thanking Rep Weiner for following her and thanking him for the welcome message. This was the one and only message our daughter sent to Rep Weiner.
We would also like to express our disgust at the harassment of Rep Weiner and hope that everyone remembers this man did nothing wrong.
And concerning a certain adult actress, we would like to add that this girl did nothing wrong. If you actually read her blog it is about politics and chronic illness. My husband and I read it together with our daughter."
"I followed Rep. Weiner with the permission of my parents. I sent a request to Rep Weiner using his WEINER YES hashtag and he followed me back. He sent me one welcome direct message that said to visit his webpage. I sent him a message thanking him.
Rep Weiner never tried to contact me beyond his welcome message.
Rep Weiner is a good person and it’s so mean what everyone is attacking him without any proof."
Emails from Weiner suggest Ginger Lee say this:

"The key is to have a short, thought out statement that tackles the top line questions and then refer people back to it. Have a couple of iterations of: 'This is silly. Like so many others, I follow Rep. Weiner on Twitter. I don't know him and have never met him. He briefly followed me and sent me a dm saying thank you for the follow. That's it.'" and:
"I have nothing to do with the situation involving Rep Weiner. I follow his twitter feed. And for a brief time he followed me. Much has been made of the fact that I have posted about my admiration for Rep Weiner and his politics. All I can say about that is that I'm a fan of his. Rep. Weiner sent me one short direct message thanking me for following him. I have never met Rep. Weiner and he has never sent me anything innappopriate (sic) ..."
So, it seems clear to me, at least, that words were given to all the players here by Weiner or his people. What this tells me is that we have yet another set of Democrat parents willing to sacrifice the truth, theirs and their daughters' credibility for a skeezy congressman that they "admire" and think "has done nothing wrong." Does anyone else remember all the support the parents of Chandra Levy gave Gary Condit, even though, while not a murderer, he had been engaged in an inappropriate relationship with her? Monica Lewinsky's parents?
While it is much more rampant among liberals, this cult of personality isn't just for Democrats, either, as Lisa Baron says about sleeping with Republicans in her new book "The Life of the Party,"
"'To be able to say, 'I'm with the such-and-such campaign,' or 'I work for Senator So-and-So' is to us political junkies what "I’m with the band" is to Pamela Des Barres."
I can't speak for you, but this all disgusts me.

Wind Turbines are Killers! Panic! wait....Where's the Panic?

Well, it's well documented that wind turbines are actual wildlife killers, so why bother reporting it, if you are a journalist in the US? Wouldn't want to get people all riled up when there are Green stories to write, after all.

Thankfully, the UK press is all over this one:

"California's attempts to switch to green energy have inadvertently put the survival of the state’s golden eagles at risk.
Scores of the protected birds have been dying each year after colliding with the blades of about 5,000 wind turbines.
Now the drive for renewable power sources, such as wind and the sun, being promoted by President Obama and state Governor Jerry Brown has raised fears that the number of newborn golden eagles may not be able to keep pace with the number of turbine fatalities."

so, with the perceived Bogeyman of Environmental Disaster, we slaughter wildlife to save what, exactly?

Greenland Was Called That For a Reason

Okay, folks, here's one from Yahoo (new link, old one expired) today, and as noted in the comments, it's an old story, and the writer desperately tries to come to a conclusion that isn't supported by the story, which is funny to me.

"Scientists fear that the 21st century warming is caused by climate change, stoked by a build-up of greenhouse gases from human activities. An acceleration of warming could cause a meltdown of the Greenland ice sheet, raising world sea levels."

Dunce. After recounting all the changes to the climate of Greenland (and therefore the planet) over the centuries, to add that sentence is, well, stupid.