Ball Diamond Ball

We just held a singular election. The winner was by no means obvious, at least to the great cognoscenti, who inform us of our opinions, our interests, and what is “right”. So, we were told, it is OK to vote for a liar, corrupt politician, and obfuscator but it was not OK to vote for a guy who made millions (nay, billions) and has a motor mouth. AND happens to say totally “incorrect” things. Like we need new deals with the world on trade. Or we need to control our borders. Or we need to send out illegals who are causing problems. OR — we need to actually consider what our real interests are and then defend them.

The new cabinet is forming. It appears to be quite … Continue reading →

I thought about calling this, Who wants a piece of me!, but I’m not sure I want an answer to that one! Let’s keep it light instead. I’ve mostly been avoiding taking stands & proffering opinions on events, but I’ve found the yapping the mouth doesn’t go away that way, it just changes to another mode–people have wanted to know about the things I’ve seen & the thinking they occasioned on my American tour, so I’ve said a few things now & again, preferring mostly to have conversations instead of giving speeches. It’s a better mode, all thins considered, less confrontational & it offers more opportunities for people to tell their stories.

Maybe we can do more of that? I was talking with Mr. Devereaux the other day … Continue reading →

… With Rock and Roll!

This song is about as old as I am.  This band is still on tour, playing everything from stadiums to honkytonks.  It’s what they do.

This band is part of the reason the term “Heavy Metal” was coined.  This performance of this song captures about half of the band’s dynamic range, from screeching monster-movie feedback guitars and a stagger-stomping earth-shaking rhythm, to melodic counterpoint and a boogie-woogie toe-tapping dance starter that eventually gets the whole boot swinging.

The band’s character is on display as well, with a mock pomposity and a genuine humility as they play at being oh so terribly dark.  Witness the quiet professionalism of the band members chugging out their individual parts in a well-rehearsed, brilliantly combined whole, and … Continue reading →

Here’s a heck of a song just in time for the, uh … it was 1998 when this came out.  So never mind that.  The lyrics are surprisingly terrible, by which I mean wonderful.   It’s Meet the New Boss meets a touch of the old ultra-violence, eh?  Bolshii.

Regardless of the band’s actual political leaning (I suspect sadly that they are uniformly leftist dolts, saddled with a surplus of talent to burn off before drying out a never shutting up), there’s a message here besides the offer of violence in exchange for profitable and bourgeois falsity.

I’m not displeased with Trump’s picks for this and that.  I know how to take Yes for an answer.  Even if he filled the whole thing with establishment shilss from here … Continue reading →

A master at work.  After the GOP lost to Obama the first time.  This is part one of nine, and this is one of my favorite speeches.   There’s another one from 2012 or so, which I will post shortly.

Good article in Roll Call, describing the soup that the Democrats have landed in.  And that ain’t soup, baby.

Democrats in rural America have a blunt message for the rest of their party: We saw the electoral disaster coming — and it’s your fault.

For now I’ll brush past the obvious snide rejoinders about the media treating this nascent “Tea Party” quite different from the way it treated ours, and I’ll even bunt the title thrust here, which is that this party is likely to be far more white than the Tea Party is.  Media interest not anticipated — fine.

I feel for these people because many of us basically were these people but for a few (major) differences and several years.  I remember how I felt … Continue reading →

Recently there has been a brouhaha over Trump saying that burning the American flag should have consequences. There have been many responses. Perhaps the most common answer is that the Supreme Court has ruled that it’s legal, a part of freedom of speech.

I get that. There is a sense that one should have the right to speak out against the nation and this is one means of doing so. But is it really.

The first thing to remember is that technically the Supreme Court does NOT make law. That is the realm of Congress. It is only since FDR time that the Supreme Court has taken to making law – although Madison vs Marbury can be viewed as “making law”. But it took that bandit Cardozo to unhook Congress … Continue reading →