Bulls Eye on France

So France is a target of Al-Qaida? Weren't they supposed to be exonerated by speaking out against the Iraq War? Sounds like Islam wants everyone to conform to their ways or else...

9/11

I will write more about this later, but I don't know how to memorialize 9/11 adequately. Certainly the travesty at ground zero doesn't do it. Go see "United 93," probably the best tribute that will ever be made.

sigh

I haven't been posting lately because, quite frankly, the state of the world has me pretty bummed out and I don't wish to revel in doom and gloom. However, I had to show this. This is why I can't vote for Democrats despite the Republicans inability to stand on their small government principles, display any fiscal sense or intenstinal fortitude when it comes to fighting a war. The party of '68 has taken over the Democrats and wreaking havoc upon our country. The sooner those who matured in the crucible of the delusional 60's pass from their ruling years, the better this country shall be. Baby boomers delenda est.

Izzy Finished?

Cardinals are appalled at Jason Isringhausen's 10th blown save of the year. Yes, the Cards haven't been good in any aspect this year. But 10 extra wins could have made them somewhat respectable.

Cardinals fans have seen their nightmare come true. Even since Izzy joined the Cards in 2001 he has been a liability. He has saved games in Dennis Eckersley fashion -- load the bases with nobody out, then worry about registering O's.

For years, he couldn't get a 1-2-3 save. It was always a nail bitter when he'd come in. He'd get the job -- but he'd make it interesting as hell.

This year Izzy hasn't struggled -- he's been exposed. Namely his curve ball. When that bad boy isn't on it's hanging right over the plate. Batters have been feasting on it all season.

You can say "throw him out to the sharks." But it's too late in the season. The Cards must use him in the playoffs. The truth is there are just a handful of dependable closers in baseball. It's not because baseball is in bad shape. The true reason -- being a closer is a tough job.

Isringhausen hasn't been good this year -- yet he remains one of the top closers in baseball. It's simply cause there aren't many to go around.

it's been awhile

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I've been extremely busy with coaching and work and personal life and my new puppy. Spewing out half-baked rants just went to the bottom of the list. Here's what interests me at the moment.

Katrina

Yes, that veritable morass of a incompetent governance, pathetic citizens, vampiric media and altruistic outsiders. As we come upon the one year anniversary the whole thing makes me sick. To start with it has become the passion play of sorts for those who wish to bash the Bush administration. Spike Lee has directed a film in which (from all reviews I read, for I haven't seen it) the poor victimized people of New Orleans suffered and died for the sins of white American and W. No mention, of course, that more white people died or that the claims of thousands dying were figment of a collective imagination spurned on by an increasingly sensationalistic and gullible press. The press behaved so shamefully, both nationally and internationally, that their credibility lies just above pimps and just below used car salesmen.

And about New Orleans. I'm sorry, but all the paeans written to it were simply to put a dress on a slaughtered pig. People went to Crescent City to treat it like a sewer. Sure, it had a unique culture (one that I thoroughly enjoyed many times), but outside of the tourist areas, it was probably the worst city in the westernized world and the shame of our country. Drugs, murder, gangs, rampant lawlessness and swathes of burned out buildings defined the non-tourist, non-university areas. The legacy of French law, slavery and dependence upon welfare destroyed the city. When the waters came, the people were too dull-eyed and dependent to take matters into their own hands.

The true lesson of New Orleans is don't look to somebody above to save you if you can save yourself. That thousands of able bodied people would willfully remain in the city despite the fact that they had been warned about the danger either shows a blatant disregard for their own safety or a rank dependence that one expects of toddlers. The people of Mississippi and Alabama got hit just as hard and with just as diverse a population, but ended up maintaining public order and, more importantly, their dignity and will to move on.

In the end the city will rebuild. It's too important to not do so. I fear, however, with the largesse shown by the fed that we will just have been feeding the same dangerous and pathetic monster that reared its head one year ago.