Vanity And Vexation Of Spirit(s)

THE TRAVAIL OF McCAIN ' S CAMPAIGN

2007-07-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

( 1 2 July 2 0 0 7 , Thursday )

While reading some of the news items I regard as ' preliminary ' - -

they that appear on America Online - - I just had to give special attention

to THIS one . . . .

http://news.aol.com/elections-blog/2007/07/12/now-mccain-has-ethics-problems .

FULL DISCLOSURE : This typist greatly dislikes Senator JOHN

McCAIN ( R . - Arizona ) , and I vowed months ago that should Senator

McCain and Senator HILLARY CLINTON ( D . - New York ) receive

their respective party nominations for the Presidency , I will flat

decline to vote for either .

Senator McCain ' s Presidential gambit has been floundering , much to

my pleasure ; fundraising has been disasterously low , expenses ( known

in contemporary political slang as " burn rate " ) have been ruinous , and

the purported Republican front - runner is no better than third now

behind RUDOLPH GIULIANI and the yet - to - announce - his candidacy

' stalking horse ' , FRED THOMPSON .

I can ' t speak for other prospective Republican voters .

I do hope their take on Senator McCain jibes with my own .

I will make bold to say for myself : Senator McCain lost my support and

my respect with his sponsorship of the BIPARTISAN CAMPAIGN

REFORM ACT , known to most of us as ' McCain - Feingold ' .

McCain , once heard to tell an interviewer that he preferred a

government sans corruption to a society without restrictions on

FREEDOM OF SPEECH , needs at the least an undergraduate

course on Constitutional Law with particular emphasis on the

FIRST AMENDMENT .

The preceding Link connects to JOHN MULLANEY ' s blog , as he

reports on McCain ' s misfortunes , including a possible censure for

campaign fundraising violations . My own commentary , thus far the

only respose , is included .

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CONNER , STARS & STRIPES ' 8 7 , WIN AMERICA ' S CUP BACK

2007-02-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

This was the date , twenty years ago , of the decisive AMERICA ' S CUP

Race , concluding the 1 9 8 6 - - 8 7 Regatta . For the first time since

1 8 5 1 , American yachts and their syndicates were challengers ;

the competition was held south of the Equator , also a first .

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No American defender had ever lost an America ' s Cup until

2 6 September of 1 9 8 3 ( a Monday ) , when LIBERTY was

bested in the seventh race by the Australian boat AUSTRALIA I I .

The memory is poignant for this typist : I was in NEWPORT ,

RHODE ISLAND the afternoon of the rubber match .

As a teen , I had hoped to be present for a successful

America ' s Cup defense . To the considerable credit of the

LIBERTY crew and their skipper , DENNIS CONNER , they

very nearly defeated Australia I I in the final race , holding

the lead until the fifth leg .

AUSTRALIA I I , financed by ALAN BOND and skippered by

JOHN BERTRAND , assumed the lead on the fifth leg and

weathered LIBERTY ' s desperate series of sixth - leg tacks

to achieve the unprecedented : a challenger ' s victory

over an American defender in the America ' s Cup .

Prior to 1 9 8 3 , no foreign boat had ever taken more than

two races from an American defender .

The Australian yacht was admittedly faster and more

manuverable , helped by the unusual design of ' winged keel '

created by Australia I I ' s nautical architect , the late

BEN LEXCEN . Only the expertise of Liberty ' s crew prevented

a decisive Aussie win ; the Americans managed to win three of

the first four races before losing the latter three .

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Liberty ' s defeat meant the NEW YORK YACHT CLUB , whose

boat AMERICA won the original " Hundred Guineas ' Cup "

race around Britain ' s ISLE OF WIGHT back in 1 8 5 1 , would

have to relinquish the Cup after one - hundred - thirty - two

years of ownership . Members of the N . Y . Y . C . had long

claimed the losing American skipper would replace the

America ' s Cup with his own head ( ! )

The Cup had been bolted inside a display case at the New York

Yacht Club ' s headquarters , at 3 7 West 4 4 t h Street in Manhattan .

On my lone visit to the lobby of the Club , on 2 4 October of 1 9 8 6

( a Friday ) , I saw the case minus its prized silver chalice .

I rather wished the N . Y . Y . C . could retrieve the Cup from

its new owner , the ROYAL PERTH YACHT SQUADRON , butt

sensed it was unlikely as the Club and Dennis Conner had

parted ways . ( Conner , a member of the SAN DIEGO YACHT

CLUB , formed a new syndicate with his home club . )

Conner and crew prepared for the 1 9 8 6 - - 8 7 Regatta in

Hawaii , where they were spied upon by the former Australia I I

skipper , John Bertrand himself . Conner later said the Stars &

Stripes syndicate was aware of Bertrand ' s presence , and that

Bertrand had duly reported to Royal Perth and Alan Bond

that the boats favored by Conner were massive and slow .

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All part of the plan , said Conner after the fact . Well aware that

the new America ' s Cup course , in the INDIAN OCEAN off of

Australia ' s West Coast , would have far gustier winds than did

Newport , the Stars & Stripes syndicate built yachts that would

be fastest in a strong breeze . Aussies have a fond slang term for

the Westerley winds that buffett the Coast , " The Doctor " .

The toughest competition for Stars & Stripes ' 8 7 actually

involved the other challengers , particularly U . S . A . ( the

representative of the ST . FRANCIS YACHT CLUB of San

Francisco , skippered by one of Dennis Conner ' s most

detested rivals , the late TOM BLACKALLER ) and the

boat alternately known as " KIWI MAGIC " , " PLASTIQUE

FANTASTIC " or simply NEW ZEALAND . Conner and crew

dispatched U . S . A . in the quarterfinal round , four races

to none , and eliminated New Zealand in five races .

ALAN BOND ' s defender AUSTRALIA I V did not reach the

championship round , defeated by KOOKABURRA I I I .

Tha latter was soundly beaten by STARS & STRIPES ' 8 7

in the final , four races to none .

I was at work very early on the morning of 4 February 1 9 8 7

( a Wednesday ) , obligated as I was to start most shifts at

4 : 0 0 A . M . , E . S . T . On the opposite side of the International

date Line - - in Western Australia , at least - - it was still

nominally the Fourth of February , and interested listeners

could ascertain the outcome of the race via the radio .

Long an admirer of Dennis Conner - - I was amongst the people

who applauded him and his Wife as they walked along THAMES

STREET in Newport following the final race of the fateful

1 9 8 3 Regatta - - I ' d hoped he and his crew would return

the Cup to America , and savored the win .

ADDENDA : The America ' s Cup was relinquished by the

San Diego Yacht Club to a New Zealand challenge in 1 9 9 5 .

A Swiss challenger - - Switzerland ? A country sans seacoast ? ! - -

took the Cup four years ago , and will host a Mediterranean

competition in 2 0 0 7 , the first European venue since 1 8 5 1 .

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The Super Bowl And The Presidential Inauguration , 1 9 8 5

2007-01-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

TWENTY - TWO YEARS AGO , on 2 0 January of 1 9 8 5 ,

President RONALD WILSON REAGAN took the Inaugural Oath

for the second time . The second Reagan Inauguration occured , as

is the custom established with the passage of CONSTITUTIONAL

AMENDMENT X X , on the Twentieth day of January at High Noon .

It was one - of - a - kind in that the SUPER BOWL was played

on the same day .

Fittingly , a team from Reagan ' s adopted home State , the

SAN FRANCISCO FORTY - NINERS , reached Super Bowl

X I X ( Nineteen ) - - and all butt hosted the game . That is to

say : the 4 9 e r s did not actually have their home field ,

CANDLESTICK PARK in San Francisco , as the venue ;

they did , however , play the MIAMI DOLPHINS at

STANFORD STADIUM , some thirty miles to the South .

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This Miami Dolphins team was the last of head coach DON SHULA ' s

ballclubs to reach the Super Bowl . Shula , winningest coach in

National Football League history ( 3 4 7 victories in thirty - three

seasons ) , coached six Super Bowl teams butt only won it twice .

The 1 9 8 4 Dolphins had a record of 1 4 wins , 2 losses , butt this

is deceptive ; I myself believe theirs was the least impressive 1 4 and 2

team I ' ve ever seen , a consequence of their unproductive running

game and their abysmal defense . Although the late PETE AXTHELM ,

writing for NEWSWEEK , predicted a Dolphins win over

San Francisco , I knew that was unlikely .

Indeed - - the Dolphins only scored 1 6 points against San Francisco ' s

defense , none in the second half . Miami ' s usually impeccable pass

blocking actually yielded four sacks . Miami led briefly in the first

half , 1 0 to 7 , butt yielded over five - hundred yards in total

offense and lost , 3 8 to 1 6 .

The record shows that DAN MARINO , now in the Hall Of Fame ,

made it to the Super Bowl in just his second season ( Marino was

drafted by the Dolphins out of the University of Pittsburgh in 1 9 8 3 )

and never made it back . Still , no mention of the 1 9 8 4 season

( and post - season ) can be considered complete without an

acknowledgement of Marino ' s stellar sophomore season :

his forty - eight toouchdown passes bested Y . A . TITTLE ' s

previous single - season mark by a third . ( Tittle , playing in

all butt one of the NEW YORK GIANTS ' 1 9 6 3 contests ,

had thirty - six touchdown passes . )

San Francisco ' s head coach , BILL WALSH , likely had his

finest team in 1 9 8 4 - - even without JERRY RICE , who wouldn ' t

be drafted by the team for three more months . Walsh was a head coach

in the N . F . L . for just ten years ( 1 9 7 9 through 1 9 8 8 , all with

San Francisco ) yet he did reach the Super Bowl three times .

All three - - 1 9 8 1 , 1 9 8 4 , 1 9 8 8 - - prevailed in their

respective Super Bowls , with the CINCINNATI BENGALS

victimized twice , albeit by a total of just nine points .

( At The PONTIAC SILVERDOME , Pontiac , Michigan , 2 4 January 1 9 8 2 )

SAN FRANCISCO FORTY - NINERS 2 6

CINCINNATI BENGALS 2 1

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER - - JOE MONTANA , San Francisco

( At PRO PLAYER STADIUM , Miami , Florida , 2 2 January 1 9 8 9 )

CINCINNATI BENGALS 1 6

SAN FRANCISCO FORTY - NINERS 2 0

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER - - JERRY RICE , San Francisco

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In the lineup for the 4 9 e r s when they defeated Miami on 2 0 January 1 9 8 5

was MICHAEL CARTER , defensive lineman , who competed in the 1 9 8 4

LOS ANGELES SUMMER OLYMPIAD . Carter took the Silver Medal

in the shot put .

Lest it seem that I ' m depicting the 1 9 8 4 San Francisco team as a

superior entity , let me point out that the 1 9 8 5 squad , with essentially

the same roster and coach , could do no better than 1 0 wins , six losses ,

which in turn placed the 4 9 e r s one game back of the LOS ANGELES

RAMS in the standings . San Francisco did make the playoffs that year ,

BARELY ( they had to beat the DALLAS COWBOYS in the season ' s

final game ) only to be drubbed in the first round of the playoffs , 1 7 - 3 ,

by their two - time ( 1 9 8 1 , 1 9 8 4 ) victim , the NEW YORK GIANTS .

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Twenty - Sixth Anniversary , Reagan Defeats Carter

2006-11-04T03:20:00.000-08:00

( 4 November 2 0 0 6 , Saturday - -

This Is The 3 0 8 t h Day Of The Calendar Year ; Fifty - Seven days Remain )

INCUMBENT PRESIDENTS almost never lose .

Since the founding of the REPUBLICAN PARTY in 1 8 5 4 , only five ( 5 )

Republican Presidents have lost a re - election campaign .

BENJAMIN HARRISON was defeated by GROVER CLEVELAND in 1 8 9 2 ,

four years after himself usurping Cleveland ;

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT , obliged to defend his Presidency against TWO

imposing candidates in THEODORE ROOSEVELT and THOMAS WOODROW

WILSON , lost badly in the election of 1 9 1 2 ;

HERBERT CLARK HOOVER , saddled with the disasterous STOCK MARKET

CRASH , the SMOOT - HAWLEY TARIFF ( which Hoover unwisely signed into

law ) , and the " Bonus Expeditionary Army " Incident ( wherein Army Chief Of

Staff DOUGLAS MacARTHUR had U . S . Army soldiers forcibly disperse

destitute World War One veterans from the site of a protest ) , was trounced

by FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT in the Election of 1 9 3 2 ;

GERALD RUDOLPH FORD JR . , successor to RICHARD NIXON when the

latter resigned on 9 August of 1 9 7 4 , lost a very close election to Governor

JAMES EARL " JIMMY " CARTER JR . of Georgia on 2 November 1 9 7 6 ;

GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH , like JOHN ADAMS before him both

the President AND the Father of a President , lost to WILLIAM JEFFERSON

CLINTON on 3 November 1 9 9 2 .

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During the same historical passage - - from 1 8 5 4 to the present , with Democratic

and Republican parties competing - - only TWO ( 2 ) Democrats have failed to win

a second Presidential term , have lost a re - election campaign . STEPHEN

GROVER CLEVELAND we ' ve already noted - - Cleveland , first elected in

1 8 8 4 over JAMES G . BLAINE , took the Popular Vote four years later butt

was nevertheless beaten by BENJAMIN HARRISON of Indiana in the

Electoral College tally . Cleveland , from Buffalo , New York and previously

the Governor of the Empire State , actually lost his home state to Harrison ,

who in turn was the GrandSon of the shortest - tenured President ,

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON ( elected 1 8 4 0 / died 1 8 4 1 . )

JAMES EARL CARTER JR . , mentioned heretofore as the candidate who

ousted GERALD FORD in 1 9 7 6 , can plausibly be described as the

Democratic Party ' s version of Herbert Hoover . President Carter was

beaten by RONALD WILSON REAGAN on 4 November 1 9 8 0 ,

twenty - six years ago . A numerical comparison is apt :

1 9 3 2 - - - - HERBERT HOOVER , 1 5 , 7 6 1 , 8 4 1 votes / 5 9 Electoral Votes

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT , 2 2 , 8 2 1 , 8 5 7 votes / 4 7 2 Electoral Votes

1 9 8 0 - - - - JIMMY CARTER , 3 5 , 4 8 1 , 4 3 5 votes / 4 9 Electoral Votes

RONALD REAGAN , 4 3 , 8 9 9 , 2 4 8 votes / 4 8 9 Electoral Votes

Among the ironies of President Carter ' s defeat : the AMERICAN EMBASSY in

TEHERAN was forcibly occupied on 4 November 1 9 7 9 , exactly one year prior

to the 1 9 8 0 Election .

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At the time of the 1 9 8 0 Election , I was a Senior at the UNIVERSITY OF

VERMONT . Among my Fall Semester classes was INTERNATIONAL

RELATIONS , P S C I - 5 1 in the U V M course catalog . Professor

M . M . A . ( initials rather than his actual name , to protect his privacy )

was taken aback by the outcome of the Presidential Election , and

dispensed with his planned lecture in favor of some improvised talk .

Prof . M . M . A . told his class that President Carter met with

pollster PAT CADDELL on Sunday evening , 2 November 1 9 8 0 .

Caddell informed the President of a significant shift amongst

American voters during the final week of the campaign , and that

Mr . Carter was very likely to lose .

I myself , it pains me to admit , had not the slightest impact on the

voting . I foolishly declined to get myself an Absentee Ballot ,

did instead trust one of my underclassman Pals to give me a ride

to the polling place in BENNINGTON , Vermont . Actually ,

my Friend did drive me to Bennington - - only I got to the

polls some three - quarters - of - an - hour late .

I did meet up with an old Friend from Bennington , " The

Shiek " , who watched election coverage at the bar formerly

known as the FOUR SQUIRES . The Shiek , a loyal Democrat ,

was as morose as I ' ve ever seen him .

My Friend ' s partisan distress was appropriate . Not Only did

RONALD REAGAN win handily , so too did Republican

candidates wrest the UNITED STATES SENATE from

Democratic control , arguably just as dramatic an historical

occurance . Democrats had been the Majority Party in the

Senate since 3 January of 1 9 5 5 , some twenty - six years !

Republican victory in Presidential Elections held on the Fourth

of November was consistent during the Twentieth Century .

There were three such convergences of The Event with The Date :

JOHN CALVIN COOLIDGE of Plymouth Center , Vermont

defeated JOHN DAVIS of West Virginia on 4 November 1 9 2 4 ;

DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER , at the time a resident of

Morningside Heights in New York City , whipped ADLAI

EWING STEVENSON , former Governor of Illinois , on

4 November of 1 9 5 2 . Indeed , both Eisenhower and

Reagan were elected on the Fourth of November and

re - elected on November the Sixth .

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An item in to - day ' s paper alerted me to the Fifteenth Anniversary of the

RONALD REAGAN PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY ' s grand opening .

Little did I realize - - the Reagan Library offocially opened on 4 November

of 1 9 9 1 , the eleventh anniversary of Reagan ' s first Presidential Election

victory . You may read about the Reagan Library at . . . .

http://www.reagan.utexas.edu

Allow me to be even - handed and provide the Link to the JIMMY CARTER

PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY as well . . . .

http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org

As a catch - all reference , see the National Archives Presidential Library

Web Site , at http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries .

None of the twenty - nine men who preceded Herbert Hoover as

President have Presidential Libraries , alas . The States that house

Presidential Libraries are ARKANSAS ( Bill Clinton ) ,

CALIFORNIA ( Richard Nixon , Ronald Reagan ) ,

GEORGIA ( Jimmy Carter ) , IOWA ( Herbert Hoover ) ,

KANSAS ( Dwight Eisenhower ) , MASSACHUSETTS

( John Fitzgerald Kennedy ) , MICHIGAN ( Gerald Rudolph

Ford JR . ) , MISSOURI ( Harry S Truman ) , NEW YORK

( Franklin Roosevelt ) , and TEXAS ( Lyndon Baines Johnson ,

George H . W . Bush . ) It is likely that Texas may yet have

a third Presidential Library , possibly in the town of

MIDLAND , perhaps CRAWFORD , maybe even ARLINGTON .

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Two Cheers For The Absentee Ballot ( Part One )

2006-10-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

( The Date Is 2 3 OCTOBER 2 0 0 6 , Monday - -

The 2 9 6 t h Day Of The Calendar Year )

Fifteen days prior to Election Day 2 0 0 6 , it is timely and

fitting to type a bit about things political . . . .

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I vote via ABSENTEE BALLOT . I never miss the opportunity to vote ,

as I don ' t wait until Election Day and I never miss a deadline .

The absentee ballot is a boon for me - - and , evidently , for hordes of

other voters . Some thirty per cent of us here in California vote absentee .

I ' ve been taken to task , GENTLY , by one of my friends for using the

absentee ballot when I presumably don ' t have to . Actually , he dismissed

the absentee ballot as a " gimmick " and proposed to abolish it .

Now , if it is his point , his belief , that able - bodied folk oughtn ' t to USE

the absentee ballot , I ' ll dispute his contention without a great deal of

indignation , as it really is not a big issue for me . It is important to

give the absentee ballot its due , however , as it is INDISPENSABLE

for they that can not travel to the polls on the day of the election .

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I am particularly concerned with active duty personnel of the

United States Army , Navy , Air Force , Marine Corps , the

diplomats of the Department of State , et . al . - - Americans who

simply can not venture to their local polling places because duty

requires they be overseas . This I consider essential , in light of

FLORIDA ' s notorious vote - tally in the 2 0 0 0 General Election .

Quite aside from the matter of the official margin - of victory ,

a mere 5 3 7 votes , it concerns me that certain absentee ballots

were never counted , were rejected by certain of Florida ' s

County Clerks - - all because thay hadn ' t POST - MARKS .

THIS is shamefully unfair . Overseas voters have done their part

once they ' ve filled out the ballot , sealed it , provided a return

address and applied the requisite postage . What becomes of their

ballots after that is the responsibility of the Postal Service .

I DO RECOMMEND to any Americans overseas : take Your sealed

ballot and present same to a Postal Clerk . Insist on a " P . V . I . "

( the acronym stands for " Postage Validation Imprint " ) . As a

further precaution , ask to have the ballot shipped via REGISTERED

MAIL or , better still , EXPRESS MAIL ( the latter is costlier ) .

As time is of the essence , Americans voting from abroad should prepare

and send their ballots as soon as they are able .

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The matter of absentee voting was an opportune prelude to type about voting in

general ; ditto elections . The rate of participation tends to decline during

MID - TERM ELECTIONS , as compared with PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS .

Dismissing one as less important than the other is a mistake .

No fewer than THIRTY - SIX Governorships are at stake during Mid - Term ,

including the ' Behemoth ' States of CALIFORNIA , TEXASS , NEW YORK ,

FLORIDA , ILLINOIS , PENNSYLVANIA , OHIO , and MICHIGAN . All

4 3 5 Congressional seats are contested at the Mid - Term , along with one - third

of the United States Senate .

In the Twenty - First Century , information about candidates abounds : aside from

one ' s own local paper , one can access newspapers and magazines galore on - line .

Allow this typist to try to provide thee a sampling :

http://www.nytimes.com - - The N . Y . TIMES , especially JOHN TIERNEY

http://www.latimes.com - - The L . A . TIMES , particularly MAX BOOT & JONAH GOLDBERG

http://www.chicagotribune.com

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/home.htm - - U . S . NEWS AND WORLD REPORT , notably MICHAEL BARONE

http://www.tnr.com - - THE NEW REPUBLIC

http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish - - ANDREW SULLIVAN

http://www.hitchensweb.com - - CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

http://www.townhall.com - - TOWNHALL

http://www.jonathanrauch.com/jrauch_articles - - JONATHAN RAUCH

http://realclearpolitics.com

http://www.nationalreview.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/willgeorge - - GEORGE F . WILL

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/navarrette/archive - - RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR .

http://www.csmonitor.com - - THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

http://jillstewart.net/php/index.php - - JILL STEWART

http://www.victorhanson.com - - VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.opinionjournal.com - - THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Editorial Page

http://www.americanheritage.com/blog/JohnSteeleGordon.shtml - - JOHN STEELE GORDON

Twenty Web Sites , Magazines , Newspapers , Archives , Blogs - - all in all , not a

bad start . Note the HUFFINGTON POST has abundant links . Although this typist

is of a Conservative bent , I thought it only ' fair and balanced ' to offer

THE NATION , THE HUFFINGTON POST , THE NEW YORK TIMES

and THE NEW REPUBLIC . I would have liked to include THOMAS FRIEDMAN ,

butt unfortunately much of his commentary is available only through a

NEW YORK TIMES subscription .

I should like to include one more , the venerable NAT HENTOFF :

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff1.asp

I would happily include THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY had they more content

available on - line at no cost . Fortunately , JONATHAN RAUCH has his own

blog , the Link of which is listed above .

TO BE CONTINUED . . . .

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The 1 0 2 n d WORLD SERIES ( Part One )

2006-10-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

( The Date is SATURDAY , 2 1 OCTOBER 2 0 0 6 ,

the 2 9 4 t h Day of the calendar year )

For the third time , the ST . LOUIS CARDINALS and the

DETROIT TIGERS will meet in the WORLD SERIES .

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The Cardinals , nine times the World Series Champions ( 1 9 2 6 ,

1 9 3 1 , 1 9 3 4 , 1 9 4 2 , 1 9 4 4 , 1 9 4 6 , 1 9 6 4 , 1 9 6 7 , 1 9 8 2 )

defeated the Tigers in the 1 9 3 4 Series , four games to three . The

two teams played again thirty - four years later ( 1 9 6 8 ) at which

time the Cardinals , having staked themselves to an advantage of

three - games - to - one , dropped games five , six and seven despite

having the latter two games at home AND despite the ultimate

trump ' card ' ( if You will ) , BOB GIBSON , pitching in the finale .

The 1 9 6 8 Series was meaningful for this typist in that I finally

took an interest in sports at the age of twelve . As a long - time

observer of baseball , I regard 1 9 6 8 as a significant year in

Major League history in that pitching so ruthlessly dominated

batting , and the imbalance was near to disasterous .

Consider : American League batting champion CARL

YAZSTRZEMSKI of the BOSTON RED SOX could do no

better than a . 3 0 1 average , the only A . L . batter to manage

that threshold . Four A . L . starting pitchers - - LUIS TIANT

( 1 . 6 0 ) , SAM McDOWELL ( 1 . 7 3 ) , DAVE McNALLY

( 1 . 9 5 ) and DENNIS McLAIN ( 1 . 9 6 ) - - had earned - run

averages below 2 . 0 0 . ROGER ANGELL , a sportswriter I

don ' t ordinarily extol , nevertheless got it right when he said

of Baseball that it was dying , owing to lack of interest .

The game , simply said , had become too one - sided in favor of

the pitcher , had a frightful dearth of runs .

A wise , if controversial , remedy was implemented in 1 9 6 9 :

the pitcher ' s mound was diminished from fifteen inches to ten .

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TIM McCARVER , now a talking head on Major League broadcasts ,

was the Cardinals ' catcher in ' 6 8 . Currently , McCarver is heard to

say the imbalance greatly favors batters vis - a - vis pitchers , and thus

he favors the enlargement of the mound .

I trust McCarver is aware the ten - inch mound has been the standard

since ' 6 9 , meaning we ' ve thirty - eight seasons of experience with it .

The ten - inch mound hasn ' t prevented select pitchers from having

dominant seasons ; just to cite one , RON GUIDRY had an E . R . A .

of 1 . 7 4 , some 3 0 1 stikeouts , and a 2 4 and 3 record with the

NEW YORK YANKEES in 1 9 7 8 . ( Guidry is now the Yankees '

pitching coach . Guidry ' s career statistics are remarkably similar

to those of SANFORD KOUFAX , butt Guidry , alas , is not a

Hall Of Fame inductee , one of many injustices perpetrated by the

schmucks in the Baseball Writers Association Of America . )

Aforementioned Sanford Koufax formerly held the single - season

record for strikeouts , 3 8 2 . It is fair to point out that Koufax

established the record whilst pitching from the fifteen - inch

mound , AND with other teams ' pitchers to victimize every

ninth - at - bat . ( NOLAN RYAN , who bested the old strikeout

mark by one unit in 1 9 7 3 , pitched from the ten - inch

platform and was obligated to face designated hitters . )

NOTE : This is not to demean Sanford Koufax , butt merely

to advance the very real possibility that certain pitchers of more

contemporary times - - after Koufax retired in 1 9 6 6 - - are his

equal or even nominally better . For sure , admirers of Koufax

can not base the Hall Of Fame case for their guy on longevity ,

as Koufax only played tweleve seasons ( 1 9 5 5 through 1 9 6 6 )

and had a mere 1 6 8 career wins , quite modest for a starting

pitcher . Compare that with lefthanded starters WARREN SPAHN

( 3 6 3 ) and STEVE CARLTON ( 3 2 9 ) to cite just two .

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Sanford Koufax did establish the World Series record for strikeouts in

one start , fifteen , against the NEW YORK YANKEES in the 1 9 6 3

World Series , as the Dodgers swept the Yanks . The record lasted

just five years , as aforementioned BOB GIBSON struck out seventeen

Detroit batters in the first game of the ' 6 8 Series .

Gibson ' s overall performance in 1 9 6 8 is astounding : Thirty - four

starts ; twenty - eight complete games ; twenty - two wins , nine losses ;

a minuscule E . R . A . of 1 . 1 2 ; thirteen shutouts ; 2 6 8 strikeouts .

Despite a well - earned reputation as a ' head - hunter ' , Gibson only

hit seven batters with pitches in ' 6 8 . Incidentally , the E . R . A .

works out to be just thirty - eight earned runs allowed in 3 0 4

innings pitched . ( Gibson only yielded forty - nine runs total . )

Gibson , like Koufax before him , was blessed in having a ' pitcher ' s

park ' for his home starts , the ' old ' BUSCH STADIUM ( home field

for the Cards from 1 9 6 6 through 2 0 0 5 ) . The defense was exceptional ,

with a lineup that included Tim McCarver , DAL MAXVILL , JULIAN

JAVIER and the late CURT FLOOD ' up - the - middle ' ( catcher ,

shortstop , second base and centerfield , respectively . )

Hall Of Fame inductee ORLANDO CEPEDA , the National League ' s

Most Valuable Player the previous year , played his second ( and last )

season with the Cards in 1 9 6 8 ; Cepeda would be traded to the

ATLANTA BRAVES for eventual Hall - Of - Famer JOE TORRE .

ROGER MARIS , still the single - season home run record - holder

at the time , finished his Major League career playing right field for

the Cards in 1 9 6 7 and ' 6 8 . LOU BROCK , also a Hall - Of - Fame

inductee , played left field and batted leadoff ; his 9 3 8 career stolen

bases were the most of any Major League player until RICKEY

HENDERSON surpassed it . MIKE SHANNON was at third base ;

RED SCHOENDINST was the manager .

STEVE CARLTON , just four years away from a breakthrough season

with the PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES ( more about that in a moment )

was with the cardinals in 1 9 6 8 butt did not start in the World Series ;

rather , the Cardinals ' rotation had Gibson pitching games one ,

four , and seven ; NELSON BRILES started games two and five ;

RAY WASHBURN pitched the third game , and the sixth .

( As promised : Steve Carlton , pitching for the worst team in

baseball , won 2 7 games and lost just ten times in 1 9 7 2 .

The Phillies had an abysmal 5 9 and 9 7 record in ' 7 2 - -

hence Carlton alone accounted for forty - five per cent of

Philadelphia ' s wins that year . )

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The DETROIT TIGERS had the best record in baseball ,

1 0 3 wins and 5 9 losses , in 1 9 6 8 . DENNIS McLAIN ,

traded by the CHICAGO WHITE SOX to the Tigers for

eventual NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

power forward DAVE DeBUSSCHERE ( ! ) , became the

first Major League pitcher to win thirty ( 3 0 ! ) games in

one season since DIZZY DEAN of the Cardinals did so

in 1 9 3 4 . ( McLain finished 3 1 and 6 in 1 9 6 8 . )

Anxious to maximize their offense , Tigers manager

MAYO SMITH benched shortstop RAY OYLER and moved

centerfielder MICKEY STANLEY to the infield . JIM NORTHRUP ,

who hit two grand slams in a 1 9 6 8 regular season game and would

hit another in Game Six of the ' 6 8 Series , moved to centerfield .

Hall - Of - Fame inductee AL KALINE played right field ; WILLIE

HORTON was in left field ; DICK McAULIFFE was the second -

baseman and the leadoff batter ; BILL FREEHAN was the catcher ;

NORM CASH , 1 9 6 1 ' s American League batting champion , was

at first base , while DON WERT and the aging ED MATHEWS ,

the latter also in the Hall Of Fame , alternated at third base .

The shuffling of the lineup did not help the Tigers at all against

Bob Gibson , as Detroit scored only one run in eighteen innings

in Games One and Four . Ray Washburn was the winning pitcher

against EARL WILSON , and Tim McCarver hit a home run as the

Cards defeated the Tigers , 7 to 3 , in the third game , the first of

three at Detroit ' s TIGER STADIUM .

Detroit did win handily in the second game , 8 to 1 , as MICKEY

LOLICH , Tigers ' left - handed starter , pitched the first of three

World Series wins en route to winning the Series M . V . P . award .

( Gibson , winner of three games in the 1 9 6 7 Series against Boston ,

and Lolich were the last pitchers to attain the trifecta before

RANDY JOHNSON achieved three wins in the 2 0 0 1 Series . )

The clutch pitching of Mickey Lolich was critical in the fifth game ,

as Detroit avoided elimination with a 5 to 3 win . McLain , hurting ,

received painkilling injections before Game Six and pitched the

Tigers to a 1 3 to 1 win at Busch Stadium . Lolich returned to the

mound in Game Seven with just two days of rest ( Gibson had three

days off between starts ) and the two starting pitchers hurled six

scoreless innings apiece in the decisive game .

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The baserunning of the Cardinals , ordinarily a strength ,

betrayed them in Game Seven as both Lou Brock and

Curt Flood were picked off first base by Mickey Lolich .

Still , the likelihood was that St . Louis would win this

game , with the Cards playing at home and with Gibson

pitching . Going into the top of the seventh inning ,

Gibson had hurled twenty - four innings against the

Tigers ' formidable power - hitting lineup , and had

permitted only one run .

Yet the Tigers came through with three runs in the seventh

inning , as Jim Northrup delivered a triple over the head of

Curt Flood to break the scoreless tie . Essentially the

Series was decided on Northrup ' s at - bat - - only Mike

Shannon ' s home run in the ninth inning off Mickey

Lolich prevented a shutout .

Lolich deservedly took the Series M . V . P . , just as

Gibson had done the previous year AND in 1 9 6 4 .

Despite allowing four runs in his final World Series

start , Gibson ' s E . R . A . in the ' 6 8 Series was a more

than respectable 1 . 6 7 . More impressive yet was his

run of seven consecutive wins in three World Series

playoffs - - two in 1 9 6 4 , three in 1 9 6 7 , two in 1 9 6 8 .

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2005-11-22T10:10:00.000-08:00

The Thirty - Fifth American President , JOHN FITZGERALD

KENNEDY , flew aboard Air Force One to LOVE FIELD ,

Dallas , Texas , on 2 2 November 1 9 6 3 ( Friday ) .

Love Field , still a thriving commercial airport to - day

despite attempts to close it and despite the presence of

DALLAS - FORT WORTH INTERNATIONAL

AIRPORT ( D F W ) from 1 9 7 2 ,

was the very last airport President

Kennedy would ever see .

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Jack Kennedy , slain forty - two years ago to - day ,

served 1 , 0 3 6 days as President . Only WILLIAM

HENRY HARRISON , ZACHARY TAYLOR and

JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD had shorter Presidential

terms ( one month , sixteen months , six months

respectively ) . Just forty - three years old at the time

of his successful 1 9 6 0 Presidential campaign and

just forty - six when he died , Kennedy is the second of

two incumbent United States Senators elected President .

( WARREN GAMALEAL HARDING is the other . )

Nine American Presidents left office prior to the end of

their elected terms . All save RICHARD MILHOUS

NIXON ( who resigned on 9 August 1 9 7 4 ) succumbed

to illness or were fatally shot . The short - timers , in order :

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON , 4 April 1 8 4 1

ZACHARY TAYLOR , 9 July 1 8 5 0

ABRAHAM LINCOLN , 1 5 April 1 8 6 5

JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD , 1 9 September 1 8 8 1

WILLIAM McKINLEY , 1 4 September 1 9 0 1

WARREN GAMALEAL HARDING , 2 August 1 9 2 3

FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT , 1 2 April 1 9 4 5

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY , 2 2 November 1 9 6 3

RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON , 9 August 1 9 7 4

Note : Presidents elected at twenty - year intervals - -

Harrison ( 1 8 4 0 ) , Lincoln ( 1 8 6 0 ) , Garfield ( 1 8 8 0 ) ,

McKinley ( 1 9 0 0 ) , Harding ( 1 9 2 0 ) , Roosevelt ( 1 9 4 0 )

and Kennedy ( 1 9 6 0 ) - - all died while serving as

Commander - In - Chief . RONALD WILSON REAGAN ,

elected 4 November 1 9 8 0 , presumably would have been

the next to succumb , butt Reagan defied the " Zero Factor "

and lived through two elected terms , surviving a gunshot

wound from JOHN HINCKLEY JR . on 3 0 March of 1 9 8 1 .

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If You the Reader are significantly younger than , say , myself - -

I turn fifty on 9 March of 2 0 0 6 - - You mightn ' t quite grasp the

extremes of controversy over the death of President Kennedy .

Over two - thousand books ( ! ) have been published on the

topic , most of which are at odds with the conclusions of the

WARREN COMMISSION , convened after the assassination

to investigate Kennedy ' s death . Prominent among the members

of the commission were EARL WARREN , Chief Justice of the

United States , and GERALD R . FORD ( JR . ) , Congressman

from Michigan and , eventually , the Thirty - Ninth President .

The Commission ' s report dismisses the notion of a

conspiracy to kill the President , and names LEE HARVEY

OSWALD as the lone assassin . Twenty - nine years after the

Warren Commission ' s report , GERALD POSNER ' s book

" CASE CLOSED " ( 1 9 9 3 ) reaffirms the conclusions .

Posner ' s book is excellent . " Case Closed " debunks some of

the most cherished myths of conspiracy advocates , among them :

that Lee Harvey Oswald was not sufficiently adept with the

rifle to shoot the President from the sixth floor of the

Texas School Book Depository . In fact , Oswald was twice

cited for accuracy on the gunnery range during his troubled

stint in the United States Marine Corps .

Conspiracy Folk dismiss the MANNLICHER - CARCANO

BOLT - ACTION RIFLE , Oswald ' s weapon , as inadequate .

This , too , is false ; the Mannlicher - Carcano has been

deployed by Elephant hunters , well - regarded for

being light yet powerful .

ARLEN SPECTOR , now the Senior Senator from Pennsylvania ,

has been reviled by Conspiracy Folk for his " Magic Bullet "

Theory , as regards the second of three bullets from Oswald ' s

gun . ( Spector was Assistant Counsel to the Warren Commission . )

As Posner , via computer analysis , depicts in " Case Closed " ,

there is nothing particularly " magical " about the second bullet :

Oswald ' s second shot struck the President in the throat , hit

Texas Governor JOHN B . CONNALLY in the back and exited

through Connally ' s chest , struck a bone in Connally ' s

wrist , and lodged itself in the Governor ' s thigh . The second

shot is a testament to Oswald ' s marksman skill and to the

power of the Mannlicher - Carcano , and is in any event moot

as the third shot was dead - on into the President ' s skull .

Oswald delivered three shots within eight seconds , each of

which produced an ejected shell - casing that fell to the

floor at the Texas School Book Depository , and which were

in turn audible to employees on the Depository ' s fifth floor .

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Director OLIVER STONE ' s film J F K makes a case of sorts

for the Conspiracy Folk , based largely on U . S . Attorney

JIM GARRISON ' s book ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS .

Stone cast KEVIN COSTMUCH , I mean , COSTNER as

Jim Garrison , of whom one reviewer said the portrayal was

done in " dork earnestness " . Fitting , I believe , as Costner

is one of the worst of prominent contemporary actors .

No thespian skill can change the facts about Jim Garrison ,

notorious in New Orleans for jury - tampering and for

bribing witnesses . ( In a bit of amusingly perverse

casting , director Oliver Stone assigned the role of

Chief Justice Earl Warren to Jim Garrison in J F K ! )

Also suspect is " COLONEL X " , depicted in J F K

by actor DONALD SUTHERLAND ; " X " is actually

L . FLETCHER PROUTY , United States Air Force ,

fount of DIS - information too superabundant for this

blog . ( In the film , " X " informs - - if that is the

word - - Attorney Garrison that New Zealand

journalists , on the far side of the International

Date Line , published information about Lee

Harvey Oswald in advance of the assassination

of President Kennedy , implying that reporters

Down Under were prescient about the President ' s

death . IN FACT , the information was already

in the Public Record here in the States , AND for

good measure , Jim Garrison NEVER MET

L . Fletcher Prouty ! )

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" Assassination Conspiracy Theories " clearly have no

credibility with this Typist , although it is intriguing to

speculate . Theorists can ascribe convincing MOTIVES

to PROSPECTIVE conspiricists : that LYNDON JOHNSON ,

Kennedy ' s Vice - President , was desperate to have the

Presidency and saw the removal of Jack Kennedy as the

only way ; that the PENTAGON wanted J . F . K . out

lest he decline to go to war in IndoChina ; that FIDEL

CASTRO , seething over the botched BAY OF PIGS

INVASION ( 1 7 April 1 9 6 1 ) and aware of Central

Intelligence Agency clandestine activity in CUBA ,

was hot to eliminate the Thirty - Fifth President ;

that CUBAN NATONALISTS , frustrated over the

inability of the Kennedy Administration to remove

Castro and incensed about the CUBAN MISSILE

CRISIS ( 1 6 October - - 2 8 October 1 9 6 2 )

might have been collaborators , although Oswald ' s

days distributing propaganda for the " FAIR PLAY

FOR CUBA " group surely precludes this .

The possible participation of the COSA NOSTRA

is the most intriguing scenario of all , if only because

President Kennedy , prolific womanizer , had an affair

with JUDITH CAMPBELL , Mistress to Mob Boss

SAM " MOMO " GIANCANA . President Kennedy

took the Electoral Votes of Illinois on 8 November

1 9 6 0 , helped in part by Giancana ' s support .

Kennedy ' s brother , ROBERT F . KENNEDY ,

named Attorney General in 1 9 6 1 , hadn ' t any

inclination to cultivate good relations with Giancana

and did in fact intend to use the Department Of

Justice ' s prosecutorial clout to jail Giancana ,

who in turn supposedly had the President

" whacked " in retaliation . Giancana , summoned

to appear before the Senate ' s Assassination Investigation

Select Committee and its ChairMan , Idaho ' s FRANK

CHURCH , never had the opportunity : Sam Giancana

was shot to death at his home in Oak Park , Illinois ,

1 9 July 1 9 7 5 . ( One can see an amusing portrayal of

Sam Giancana in the movie SUGAR TIME , which stars

MARY - LOUISE PARKER as Giancana ' s lounge

singer girlfriend PHYLLIS McGUIRE , and JOHN

TURTURRO as Giancana . )

Putting this topic to rest - - for now , at least - -

this Typist believes the controversy over Jack Kennedy ' s

demise is resolved for good when " DALE GRIBBLE " ,

the bug - exterminator neighbor of " HANK HILL " ,

reads the Warren Report and decides for himself that

the facts of the case support the Report ' s conclusions !

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2005-11-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

NOW , seventeen days after the conclusion of the 2 0 0 5

WORLD SERIES , some retrospective . . . .

Who could have foreseen the BOSTON RED SOX and

the CHICAGO WHITE SOX , both into their ninth decade

of championshipless baseball , winning the World Series

in successive years ? What kind of astronomical odds

would bookmakers have offered the wagerin ' Fool

who picked this particular ' Quinela ' ?

As a Fan , I understand well the disappointment other

Fans endure . I comprehend the delerium of long -

suffering Fans of ( fill in the blank ) when at last

their ballclub reaches the summit . When the

White Sox , as the most compelling example ,

FINALLY win a World Series after eighty - eight

( 8 8 ! ) years without , I am mindful that many ' s

the ChiSox fan lived and died without ever seeing

their team reach the pinnacle .

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Certain remarkable parallels become apparent when one

compares the 2 0 0 5 Chicago White Sox , American League

Champions , with the last previous White Sox team to take

the Pennant . ( 1 ) - - THE VENEZUELAN SHORTSTOP /

Actually , manager OZZIE GUILLEN is no longer an active

Major League ballplayer , butt he IS from Venezuela , he did

play shortstop , and he played much of his career with the

White Sox . Forty - six years earlier ( 1 9 5 9 ) , LUIS

APARICIO , Venezuelan National , shortstop , played for

the last White Sox team of the Twentieth Century to reach

the World Series .

( 2 ) - - CUBA / The 1 9 5 9 ChiSox had ORESTES

" MINNIE " MINOSO in the outfield . Minoso was a

native of Cuba , as are two contemporary White Sox

pitchers , JOSE CONTRERAS and ORLANDO

" EL DUQUE " HERNANDEZ .

( 3 ) - - AL LOPEZ / During the decade of the 1 9 5 0 ' s ,

only two teams prevented the NEW YORK YANKEES

from monopolizing the American League pennant ,

the 1 9 5 4 CLEVELAND INDIANS and the 1 9 5 9

ChiSox . Al Lopez managed BOTH of those teams .

Now this , to be sure , is a tenuous connection between

the White Sox of ' 5 9 and the White Sox of ' 0 5 ,

butt is nevertheless worth mentioning . Al Lopez ,

still alive ( Ninety - Seven ! ) at the time of the

2 0 0 5 Post - Season , lived JUST long enough to

see the White Sox win the 2 0 0 5 Series .

( Lopez died 3 0 October 2 0 0 5 . )

( 4 ) - - UNIFORMS / During my Youth the

White Sox wore some of the BUTT - UGLIEST

uniforms in memory ; one writer , R . D . ROSEN

if memory serves , said of the White Sox that they

were baseball ' s version of the Woman who could

never decide what to wear , so often did their

ensemble change , generally for the worse . To

the credit of the White Sox - - and a number of

other Major League teams - - they returned to

their roots ; the Sox reinstated the uniforms of

five decades earlier , white with black pinstripes .

( Why the hell would anyone design a uniform - -

such as that worn by the White Sox in the early

1 9 8 0 ' s - - with numerals on the player ' s

THIGH ? ! Why would anyone need to look just

left of the player ' s CROTCH for his number ? )

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The Chicago White Sox are now the most recent

of the " Second City ' s " ChampionShip teams ,

supplanting the CHICAGO BULLS , whose last

N . B . A . ChampionShip run concluded 1 9 9 8 .

Prior to the White Sox and the Bulls , the N . F . L . ' s

CHICAGO BEARS won their lone Super Bowl

appearance , 2 4 January 1 9 8 6 , over the

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS , 4 6 to 1 0 .

That leaves the CHICAGO CUBS ( 1 9 0 8 ) and

the N . H . L . ' s CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

( 1 9 6 1 ) as the ChiTown teams denied the

longest . The Cubs , ninety - seven years without

a World Series Championship , have no peer in

North American Major Professional Team Sport

for haplessness . The BlackHawks , whose loyal

Fans include this Typist , actually hadn ' t gone

without as long as the NEW YORK RANGERS

and the DETROIT RED WINGS , butt the

Rangers took the STANLEY CUP in 1 9 9 4 ,

their first in fifty - four ( 5 4 ! ) years ,

whereas the forty - two seasons of Cup -

lessness ended for the Wings in 1 9 9 7 .

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Chicago ' s American League Pennant makes a liar of

PETER GAMMONS , who picked the MINNESOTA TWINS

to win the American League in 2 0 0 5 . I don ' t mean to

pick on Peter Gammons , for whom I have a high regard - -

something I VERY seldom say about sportswriters . Rather ,

I mention it because Gammon ' s prediction

seemed so astonishing to hear .

I believed the Twins were NOT a significantly better team

than the White Sox in 2 0 0 4 , and that Chicago improved

its ballclub considerably prior to 2 0 0 5 . As it is , not only

did the Twins finish behind the Sox , they ended WELL -

BACK of the first - place Sox AND the second - place

Indians . Really , the Twins were not much of a factor in

the 2 0 0 5 campaign , in which six very good teams - -

the ANGELS , the ATHLETICS , the INDIANS , the

RED SOX , the WHITE SOX and the YANKEES - -

competed furiously for the four post - season berths .

Chicago ' s playoff run was tremendous - - twelve

games , just one more than the minimum , every one

a White Sox victory save the opening game of the

2 0 0 5 American League Championship Series .

Only the 1 9 9 9 New York Yankees , also 1 1 and 1 ,

have a comparable record in the era of the eight -

team Major League tournament .

Seeing the A . L . C . S . vis - a - vis the World

Series was a very notable contrast : the White Sox

received FOUR ( 4 ! ) successive Complete Games

from their rotation against the Angels . Thus ,

MARK BUEHRLE , JON GARLAND , FRED

GARCIA and aforementioned Jose Contreras

pitched nine innings apiece in games Two ,

Three , Four and Five . Against the Astros in the

World Series , manager Guillen made use of his

bullpen in every game , particularly the fourteen -

inning ordeal of Game Three .

Now , the teams with the lengthiest schneids are :

The CHICAGO CUBS ( 1 9 0 8 )

The CLEVELAND INDIANS ( 1 9 4 8 )

The SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS ( 1 9 5 4 , at which

time they were the NEW YORK GIANTS )

The PITTSBURGH PIRATES ( 1 9 7 9 )

The PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES ( 1 9 8 0 )

The ST . LOUIS CARDINALS ( 1 9 8 2 )

The BALTIMORE ORIOLES ( 1 9 8 3 )

The DETROIT TIGERS ( 1 9 8 4 )

The KANSAS CITY ROYALS ( 1 9 8 5 )

The NEW YORK METS ( 1 9 8 6 )

The LOS ANGELES DODGERS ( 1 9 8 8 )

The OAKLAND ATHLETICS ( 1 9 8 9 )

The CINCINNATI REDS ( 1 9 9 0 )

The MINNESOTA TWINS ( 1 9 9 1 )

The TORONTO BLUE JAYS ( 1 9 9 3 )

The ATLANTA BRAVES ( 1 9 9 5 )

The NEW YORK YANKEES ( 2 0 0 0 )

The ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS ( 2 0 0 1 )

The ANAHEIM ANGELS ( 2 0 0 2 )

The FLORIDA MARLINS ( 2 0 0 3 )

The BOSTON RED SOX ( 2 0 0 4 )

Counting the 2 0 0 5 White Sox , some NINETEEN

different franchises have won the World Series at least

once since 1 9 7 9 , over a twenty - seven season span .

This abundantly reaffirms GEORGE WILL ' s observation ,

in his excellent baseball essay book titled BUNTS , that

Major League Baseball entered its most competitive era

by far with the advent of FREE AGENCY . The

reactionary folk who insisted Free Agency would

benefit just a select few teams , would badly erode

competitiveness , have been proven amply wrong .

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2005-11-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

This particular post is presented one day tardy . This Typist

has been working a great deal of late , a hazard for writers

looking to be productive . Alas . . . . Yesterday ' s date ,

1 1 November , is a Federal Holiday known to this generation

of Americans as VETERAN ' S DAY . Your Faithful Typist

can recall , however , that the Holiday was known

heretofore as ARMISTICE DAY .

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Originally , 1 1 November was formally observed as a

commemoration for the Armistice that concluded the First

World War . The Documents of Surrender were signed by

German emissaries in a rail car , in Versailles , a small

city some eighteen miles outside of Paris .

As KURT VONNEGUT JR . said of Armistice Day in his

novel BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS , the Holiday is a

gesture of homage for a specific moment , supposedly the

eleventh second of the eleventh minute of the eleventh

hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in the

year 1 9 1 8 . Vonnegut , no fan of the transition from

" Armistice " Day to " Veterans ' " Day , laments the

fact that no formal commemoration honors the end of

World War One .

I won ' t actively disagree , although my own admiration

and respect for the Veterans of the United States Army ,

Navy , Air Force , Marine Corps and Coast Guard is

considerable - - the worst I can say of a roster of

Federal Holidays that includes " Memorial Day " and

" Veterans ' Day " is that it smacks of redundancy .

Even that I believe one can justify by designating

" Memorial Day " as homage to deceased military vets ,

whilst " Veterans ' Day " could then be designated as a

most special Day for the Soldiers , Sailors and Aviators

still extant . It does open ' Pandora ' s Box , ' though :

would it be necessary to have a separate " Presidents '

Day for Commanders - In - Chief Ford , Carter ,

G . H . W . Bush and Clinton ?

Perhaps not so splendid an idea , that .

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This discussion of Veterans ' Day makes the Author ponder

some Hallowed Ground , ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY .

I have been to Arlington several times , have taken in a good share

of the Cemetery on foot , and I ' ve a personal stake : my own

Father was buried at Arlington , 2 April 1 9 8 2 ( a Friday ) .

One gets to see " ARLINGTON HOUSE " on the grounds of

the Cemetery . Herein , some very peculiar historical irony :

General IRWIN McDOWELL , the first of the underachievers

to command President Lincoln ' s ARMY OF THE POTOMAC ,

established his temporary headquarters at Arlington House ,

as it had been vacated by its owner - - none other than

General ROBERT E . LEE ( ! )

Tour Arlington with a sharp eye , as I myself tried to do ,

and one finds grave - sites of note . I recall finding the head -

stone of WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT , Twenty - Seventh

President and former Chief Justice ; the special Memorial

to JOE LOUIS , HeavyWeight Boxing Champion for a

record eleven years and twenty - five defenses , who enlisted

during World War Two ; the MONUMENT TO THE

CONFEDERATE DEAD , situated in a remote part of the

Cemetery ; the JOHN FOSTER DULLES Plot , where

DWIGHT EISENHOWER ' s Secretary Of State was

interred after succumbing to cancer in 1 9 5 9 ; ROBERT

KENNEDY ' s burial site ( the Senator from New York and

former Attorney General was not a combat veteran , butt he

was for many years a resident of Arlington , Virginia - -

the city , rather than the Cemetery ! ) Of course the

ETERNAL FLAME has burnt , to my knowledge without

respite , at the grave - site of the Thirty - Fifth President ,

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY , since 2 5 November of 1 9 6 3 .

Possibly my favorite Arlington spectacle is the CHANGING OF

THE GUARD , done every two hours at the TOMB OF THE

UNKNOWN SOLDIER . The Soldiers of the " BlackJack

Pershing " Regiment take turns standing watch over The

Tomb , timing their turns so they occur at twenty - one

second intervals , taking twenty - one strides at a time .

Save perhaps the " Dress Blues " of the United States

Marine Corps , the Uniforms of the Pershing Regiment

are the Miltary ' s Handsomest , methinks .

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Arlington National Cemetery , I fear , has butt a very

finite bit of space remaining , so I think it fortunate the

Nation has other military cemeteries . I am lucky to have

seen the " PunchBowl " , the Military Cemetery on the

island of Oahu . This typist has been to Hawaii just once ,

6 - 7 - & 8 December of 1 9 9 1 , there to take in the

Fiftieth Anniversary of the Attack on PEARL HARBOR .

( Again , a Family Connection : My Old Man was the

' Officer - Of - The - Deck ' aboard the BattleShip

U . S . S . WEST VIRGINIA on 7 December 1 9 4 1 . )

Arlington , for most interested visitors , is more readily

accessable than Hawaii . If perchance You go : the METRO ,

high - speed regional rail in the Capital Area , has a stop

near the cemetery - - convenient , inexpensive , and an

enjoyable means of travel . Those of You who have Relatives

buried at Arlington may request an automobile pass , which

permits those who insist on driving to take their cars on the

Cemetery ' s paved roads . Otherwise , one may ride the

tourist ' s Tram , or do as this devout Pedestrian is wont to

do : walk , and walk plenty more . ( It is , I think , Patriotic ! )

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2005-10-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

( 2 8 October 2 0 0 5 , Friday )

I visited ST . LOUIS on 1 4 April of 1 9 9 6 , a Monday ,

a memorable trip even though I had an unsuccessful

job interview . At last footloose that afternoon , I walked

from the Federal Building to BUSCH MEMORIAL STADIUM ,

home ballpark of the ST . LOUIS CARDINALS from 1 2 May

of 1 9 6 6 through 1 9 October of this year .

I saw the latter three innings of the game between the

Cardinals and the HOUSTON ASTROS that Monday

afternoon , almost nine years ago as I type . ( Houston

victimized DENNIS ECKERSLEY in the top of the

tenth inning and won , 4 to 2 . ) Following the game ,

I walked to the NATIONAL EXPANSION MEMORIAL

PARK , dominated by the loftiest of free - standing

National Monuments , the GATEWAY ARCH .

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Recalling the Arch is a pleasure . It is a glorious sight ,

six - hundred - thirty feet aloft , higher than the

WASHINGTON MONUMENT by seventy - five feet . I

have been to the summit of both structures , and

appreciate both , butt I ' ve a special fondness for

the Arch even though the ride in the interior tram

that hoists one to the top is miserably cramped .

Designed by Finnish - born architect EERO

SAARINEN in 1 9 4 7 , the Saarinen proposal was

based on one of the most basic of structures , the

equilateral triangle . ( The Arch actually looks more

like a parabola . ) The Gateway Arch commemorates

President THOMAS JEFFERSON and the expedition of

MERIWEATHER LEWIS and WILLIAM CLARK ,

appropriate in that the fledgeling city of St . Louis

was a crucial conduit for a newly - enlarged Republic

and for its processionals of Citizens moving West .

Among the things I should like to do , when next I

see the Arch : I ' d like to fling a Frisbee around one

of the " limbs " , as I can throw a curve with a

Frisbee ( not , alas , with a baseball ) . I ' d also

like to bungee - jump from the top of the Arch ,

which will surely be a pipe - dream as I doubt I

could ever procure a permit .

Visitors to the Arch have a museum and a theatre

awaiting them , underground , along with the aforesaid

tram for those hot to ascend to the observation platform

at the top . Looking West , one can see Busch Stadium

and the OLD COURT HOUSE , where DRED SCOTT

petitioned for his Freedom . ( The United States Supreme

Court decided against Dred Scott , by a 7 to 2 tally , in

1 8 5 7 , a disasterous decision that made War - Between -

The - States all butt inevitable . )

Even more impressive is the view to the East , where

one can behold the MISSISSIPPI RIVER in its mid -

Continental immensity . The Mississippi looked very

wide and very muddy on 1 4 April of 1 9 9 7 , with

RiverBoats moored on the Illinois side ; said boats

are floating casinos . The Gateway Arch , by my

estimate a good one - hundred - twenty - million

tons of concrete and steel ( based on data I found

on a Web site ) , was in its thirty - second year at

the time of my visit . To - day , 2 8 October ' 0 5 ,

is the Fortieth Anniversary of the Arch ' s Grand Opening .

Don ' t wait forty years to see it !

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2005-10-27T03:30:00.000-07:00

( 2 7 October 2 0 0 5 , Thursday )

This is the day to pay homage to THEODORE ROOSEVELT ,

Twenty - Sixth President of the United States . " T . R . "

was born one - hundred - forty - seven - years ago ,

2 7 October 1 8 5 8 . Teddy Roosevelt was the youngest

President , successor to the assassinated WILLIAM

McKINLEY on 1 4 September 1 9 0 1 ; Roosevelt was just

forty - two years old at the time .

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There are remarkable parallels between Theodore

Roosevelt and his fifth Cousin , FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT - -

both Harvard grads , both served in the New York State

Assembly , both were appointed Assistant Secretary of

the Navy , both departed politics for a time following

personal tragedies , both returned to politics as

Governor of New York . Each of the two Roosevelts

was nominated for Vice - President , " T . R . " in

1 9 0 0 , F . D . R . in 1 9 2 0 . ( Franklin Roosevelt did

not win the Vice - Presidency , as he and Presidential

nominee JAMES COX of Ohio were drubbed by

Republican nominees WARREN G . HARDING and

JOHN CALVIN COOLIDGE . ) The 1 9 0 5 wedding of

Franklin Roosevelt and his Bride ELEANOR was

attended by the President , " T . R . " himself .

Each day of this new Century , through the Fourth of

January 2 0 0 9 , may be said to be " One - Hundred

Years After Theodore Roosevelt ' s Presidency . "

T . R . , who was said to peruse ABRAHAM LINCOLN ' s

portrait on the Five - Dollar GreenBack while mulling

over difficult decisions , had one common thread

connecting his Presidency with Lincoln ' s : JOHN HAY ,

one of President Lincoln ' s personal secretaries , was

the first of three Secretaries of State who served under

Roosevelt . ( The novelist GORE VIDAL , author of

EMPIRE , claims that Secretary of State Hay presented

Roosevelt with a lock of Lincoln ' s hair , clipped from

the sixteenth President ' s head at the time of Lincoln ' s

death . ) One may see President Roosevelt and Secretary

Hay portrayed by BRIAN KEITH and JOHN HUSTON ,

respectively , in the film THE WIND AND THE LION .

Four American Presidents - - Abraham Lincoln , JAMES

A . GARFIELD , William McKinley , JOHN F . KENNEDY - -

were fatally shot , Lincoln and McKinley during their

second Presidential terms . Theodore Roosevelt ,

at the time of the 1 9 0 0 Republican Convention still

New York ' s Governor , was chosen to replace

GARRETT A . HOBART as McKinley ' s Vice - Presidential

nominee , over the protests of McKinley ' s campaign

manager , MARK HANNA . ( Hanna was heard to say ,

correctly , that " only a heartbeat " stood between

" that cowboy " and the Presidency . )

Newspaper mogul WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST

liked to boast that the SPANISH - AMERICAN WAR

of 1 8 9 8 was instigated by himself , and that

" Colonel " Theodore Roosevelt and his " Rough

Riders " were glorified in the Hearst papers ,

sufficient to insure Roosevelt ' s political fame

and prestige . The near - sighted Roosevelt

stockpiled supplemental pairs of eyeglasses

for the assault on Kettle Hill and , subsequently ,

SAN JUAN HEIGHTS , 1 July 1 8 9 8 . ( Second - in -

command to Colonel LEONARD WOOD , Roosevelt

assumed command of the Rough Riders on 3 0 June

1 8 9 8 when Colonel Wood was promoted to Brigidier

General . New York voters were quick to reward

Roosevelt , electing him Governor just four months

after - the - fact . ) NOTE : Roosevelt was posthumously awarded

the CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR on 1 6

January 2 0 0 1 , almost one - hundred - three years later .

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Roosevelt had no ordinary preparation for leading a

cavalry unit : he had lived in the DAKOTA TERRITORY

following his resignation from the New York Assembly .

Roosevelt ' s abrupt departure from Empire State

politics was prompted by the aforementioned personal

tragedy , the deaths of His Mother and His first Wife

on the same day , 1 4 February 1 8 8 4 .

Two years in the Dakotas gave Roosevelt opportunities

to observe the Flora and Fauna of the American Plains ,

some of which owe their " taxonomy " ( their Latin

names ) to T . R . Ever the prolific writer , Roosevelt

would author some sixty books in his sixty years , some

of which date from his hiatus in what is now NORTH

DAKOTA . ( Have a look at Your RAND McNALLY , if

You have one , and see the Theodore Roosevelt National

Park on the North Dakota map . )

Extraordinarily well - traveled , Roosevelt went to

Africa following the end of his Presidency , and explored

the Amazon Basin after his unsuccessful attempt at

regaining the White House in the 1 9 1 2 Campaign .

( One Brazilian Tributary of the Amazon is known as

" Rio Teodoro " or " Rio Roosevelt " . ) Fifty years old

in 1 9 0 9 , when WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT succeeded

him as President , Roosevelt lived another ten years

despite three grave hardships : a bullet wound , incurred

in Milwaukee on 1 4 October 1 9 1 2 at a campaign stop

( Roosevelt nevertheless delivered the speech ! ) ; a

recurrent fever , which afflicted Roosevelt after the

Amazon venture ; and the death of Roosevelt ' s Son

QUENTIN , the latter a World War One casualty ,

1 4 July 1 9 1 8 . Roosevelt himself died 6 January

1 9 1 9 at SAGAMORE HILL , his Oyster Bay , Long

Island mansion . ( Your Typist visited Sagamore

Hill the day after the 1 9 9 6 Presidential Election ,

6 November of ' 9 6 / Wednesday . )

Theodore Roosevelt mediated the end of the RUSSO -

JAPANESE WAR ( 1 9 0 5 ) , for which he received the

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE ; T . R . was the first American

so honored . A game warrior in his final decade ,

Roosevelt asked President WOODROW WILSON to

allow him to recruit a regiment to fight in Europe - -

permission was denied ; interestingly , Roosevelt ' s

Son and name - sake THEODORE ROOSEVELT JR . ,

at fifty - six years of age , did lead a regiment onto

UTAH BEACH on 6 June 1 9 4 4 ( D - Day ) .

The PANAMA CANAL was initiated on President Roosevelt ' s

watch , and makes for an amusing turn - of - phrase - -

" A MAN - A PLAN - A CANAL . PANAMA ! " The twenty - one

letters are a mirror - image , known in the vernacular as a

" PALINDROME " , spelled identically front - and - back .

( a - m - a - n - a - p - l - a - n - a - c - a - n - a - l - p - a - n - a - m - a )

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2005-10-23T03:39:00.000-07:00

( 2 3 October 2 0 0 5 , Saturday )

A personal remembrance : this was the date in 1 9 7 6 , twenty - nine

years ago , when I attended a campaign appearance by the incumbent

President , GERALD RUDOLPH FORD JR . The Twenty - Third of

October was a Saturday in 1 9 7 6 , and the President gave a speech

at DORTON ARENA , on the North Carolina State Fairgrounds .

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I am grateful I made it to Dorton Arena for President Ford ' s

speech , butt I deserve no credit for going - - I ' d been travelling

with college classmates Goodrich and Drummond , and We Three

went to the FairGrounds only because they were observant , having

seen the item in the local paper , the NEWS AND OBSERVER .

President Ford , in time , contracted laryngitis from the rigors of

the ' 7 6 Campaign . Doubtless he had to make many more speeches

than he ' d ever been called upon to deliver in a quarter - century of

re - election campaigns for Congress . His Wife BETTY had to give

the concession speech following Ford ' s defeat on 2 November of

that year , in retrospect one of the closest and most exciting

Presidential races of my lifetime . ( President Ford , the only

Commander - In - Chief ever to assume the office without being

elected to the Vice - Presidency or the Presidency first , received

2 4 1 Electoral Votes , twenty - nine shy of winning . )

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Gerald Ford is one of a series of American luminaries either born

or raised in OMAHA , Nebraska ; MARLON BRANDO , WALLY COX ,

NICK NOLTE , DICK CAVETT , WARREN BUFFETT , SWOOSIE

KURTZ , HENRY FONDA , MALCOLM X , and BOB GIBSON

also are native , by birth , upbringing or residency , to Nebraska ' s

largest city . Ford , originally christened Leslie King , was re - named

after his Mother divorced and re - married .

Ford played football at the University of Michigan , and declined an

offer to play professional football for the Green Bay Packers - -

he opted for law school at Yale University instead , taking on coaching

duties for the Yale varsity football and boxing teams so as to afford the

cost of post - grad schooling . First elected from the Grand Rapids

( Michigan ) Congressional District in 1 9 4 8 , Ford eventually

became House Minority Leader , and was a member of the much -

vilified WARREN COMMISSION , whose investigators concluded

that LEE HARVEY OSWALD was President JOHN FITZGERALD

KENNEDY ' s lone assassin .

( Gerald Ford , Jack Kennedy , LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON ,

RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON and JAMES EARL " JIMMY "

CARTER JR . , every one a United States Navy veteran , all won

or assumed the Presidency between 1 9 6 0 and 1 9 7 7 . )

Ford was the first of his kind , that is , the very first Vice - President

chosen by the incumbent President ( in this case , Richard Nixon )

and confirmed by a vote of the Congress - - no such procedure

had been implemented until 1 9 6 7 , with the ratification of the

Twenty - Fifth Constitutional Amendment . The Vice - Presidency

had been vacated on 1 0 October of 1 9 7 3 , with the resignation

of SPIRO T . AGNEW , compelled to leave under a very dark cloud

following revelations of gratuities paid Agnew when he was

Governor of Maryland .

Nixon ' s Presidency ended just ten months later , 9 August 1 9 7 4

( a Friday ) , leaving Ford in the unenviable position of succeeding

the much - loathed Nixon as President . This Typist believes President

Ford receives too little appreciation for his performance , under

exceedingly - difficult circumstances . ( Nixon is still the only

American President ever to resign , about which this Typist will

have plenty to say in another Blog . )

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Gerald Ford , the first Vice - President chosen under the terms of

the Twenty - Fifth Amendment , in turn selected the second ,

NELSON ALDRICH ROCKEFELLER , formerly the four - term

Governor of New York . I myself was living and attending school

in New York ( Seneca Falls ) at the time Rockefeller resigned the

GovernorShip , in 1 9 7 3 . Imagine : in less than a year , four

of the most prominent Republican office - holders ( Agnew ,

Ford , Rockefeller , Nixon ) would all resign their day jobs ,

either to assume more prestigious jobs or more ignominious exile .

President Ford was challenged for the 1 9 7 6 Republican Nomination

by the former Governor of California , RONALD WILSON REAGAN ;

the latter ' s campaign was helped considerably by " cross - over "

voting in North Carolina , Indiana , and especially Texas , wherein

registered Democrats participated in the Republican Primaries so as

to boost Governor Reagan . At the Republican Convention in Kansas

City , Reagan attempted to impose upon President Ford with an EX

POST FACTO rule that would require each Candidate to select a

Vice - Presidential nominee before the delegates voted on the

Presidential nomination . ( Reagan himself chose the junior

Senator from Pennsylvania , RICHARD SCHWEIKERT . )

This gambit , definitely NOT one of

Reagan ' s finer or more gracious moments , was contrived by

Reagan ' s alcoholic campaign manager , one JOHN SEARS .

( Sears also worked for a time on Reagan ' s 1 9 8 0 Campaign

before getting the boot . )

While the Ford delegates outvoted Reagan ' s supporters over the

gerrymandered change in the rules , it was nevertheless apparent that

the convention would be unwilling to support Nelson Rockefeller as

the Vice - Presidential nominee . " Rocky " showed little interest in

retaining the job anyway , so President Ford selected the United States

Senator from Kansas , ROBERT J . DOLE , as Rockefeller ' s successor .

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Candidates Ford and Dole would be participants - - for the first time in

sixteen years - - in televised debates , opposite Democratic nominees

JIMMY CARTER and WALTER " FRITZ " MONDALE . Thus began

a trend that this Typist regrets ; I personally regard the Presidential and

Vice - Presidential debates as a waste of time . Little more than glorified

joint press conferences , the contemporary debates do not merit any

serious comparison at all with the confrontations between Senatorial

candidates STEPHEN A . DOUGLAS and ABRAHAM LINCOLN ,

seven score and seven years ago . ( That ' s 1 8 5 8 , friends ! )

Nor is the absurd spectacle of Presidential " debates " the only regret have

I about the ' 7 6 Campaign : at last old enough to vote in a Presidential

Election , having turned eighteen two years earlier , I filled out my

North Carolina absentee ballot , mailed same - - and found it in my

mail on 1 November 1 9 7 6 ( Monday ) , the day prior to the Election .

Under North Carolina ' s archaic electioneering rules of three decades

ago , I had first to have the ballot notarized prior to mailing . Very

disappointed , I cast it aside and lamented how long I would have

to wait before I ' d have another crack at voting for President . . . .

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Ford ' s loss to Jimmy Carter ended his public career , although he was

sought out as a candidate for the Presidency in 1 9 8 0 . Remarkably ,

former President Ford is still extant as of this typing ; born on

bastille Day , 1 4 July of 1 9 1 3 , Ford is now ninety - two years old

and is the second longest - lived President , exceeded only by Ronald

Reagan . ( President Reagan died 5 June 2 0 0 4 , a Saturday , at the

age of ninety - three . Besides Reagan and Ford , JOHN ADAMS and

HERBERT CLARK HOOVER were also nonagenarian ex - Presidents . )

Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller remain the only Vice - Presidents

chosen under the terms of Amendment Twenty - Five , in retrospect a

wise Constitutional modification . No longer has the Republic an

accidental President who hasn ' t any successor - designate ; previous

Presidents who hadn ' t a Vice - President :

JOHN TYLER ( 1 8 4 1 ) , successor to WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON

MILLARD FILLMORE ( 1 8 5 0 ) , successor to ZACHARY TAYLOR

ANDREW JOHNSON ( 1 8 6 5 ) , successor to ABRAHAM LINCOLN

CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR ( 1 8 8 1 ) , successor to JAMES A . GARFIELD

THEODORE ROOSEVELT ( 1 9 0 1 ) , successor to WILLIAM McKINLEY

JOHN CALVIN COOLIDGE ( 1 9 2 3 ) , successor to WARREN HARDING

HARRY S TRUMAN ( 1 9 4 5 ) , successor to FRANKLIN D . ROOSEVELT

LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON ( 1 9 6 3 ) , successor to JOHN F . KENNEDY

Additionally , Presidents THOMAS JEFFERSON , ANDREW JACKSON ,

FRANKLIN PIERCE , ABRAHAM LINCOLN , WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT ,

RICHARD NIXON , and GERALD FORD himself , served for short intervals

sans Vice - President , owing to the resignation of the incumbent

Vice - President , the untimely death of the Vice - President , or the

temporary vacancy of the Vice - Presidency awaiting an appointed

successor . The Vice - Presidency is a post of some consequence ,

as fourteen Presidents held the number two job previously . . . .

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2005-10-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

( 1 9 October 2 0 0 5 , Wednesday )

Eighteen years ago - - the Nineteenth of October 1 9 8 7 , a Monday - - the

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE descended 5 0 8 points , at that

time a twenty - three per cent drop in net - asset - value . ( The Dow reached

a high that year of 2 , 7 2 2 , and the " Correction " of 1 9 October left

the D . J . I . A . at a mere 1 , 7 0 0 . )

PETER LYNCH , manager of the largest and most successful Mutual

Fund ever , the FIDELITY MAGELLAN , was in Ireland at the time the

Market imploded . Responding to a desperate call from his employers at

Fidelity , Lynch left the golf course and flew back to Fidelity headquarters

in Boston , to personally oversee some manner of salvage . Lynch has said

of the experience that it taught him , ( 1 ) to keep more assets in " liquid "

form , i . e . , cash , so it won ' t be so difficult to pay out panicky investors ;

AND , ( 2 ) , that market corrections of this magnitude produce bargain

prices on a number of securities .

Therein lies a lesson for investors , as well : " Buy Low / Sell High " is

more than a slogan . It is a strategy for investors who have some daring .

So - called " Bottom Feeders " await corrections , at which time they

enlarge and enrich their portfolios with stocks whose share prices have

taken a significant hit . Some of us - - this typist , for one - - invest

regularly butt passively , that is to say , We purchase stocks in the form

of Mutual Fund Shares at regular intervals , and invest the SAME

DOLLAR AMOUNT every time .

Called ' Dollar Cost Averaging " in the industry vernacular , this method

yields fewer shares when Stocks are pricey - - AND , more importantly ,

MORE shares when Stocks are underpriced . Don ' t take MY word for

the effectiveness of D . C . A . ; You can read Peter Lynch himself , whose

books include ONE UP ON WALL STREET .

I , mindful that the book BARBARIANS AT THE GATE ( about the merger

of R . J . REYNOLDS and NABISCO ) became a film starring JAMES GARNER ,

find it lamentable that the Dow ' s free - fall of 1 9 October 1 9 8 7 has never been

adapted for film or television . ED BEGLEY JR . might be a fitting choice to

portray Peter Lynch . ADDENDA : the Dow was unusually volatile over four

trading sessions that month of October 1 9 8 7 . First came a 1 5 6 - point decline

on Friday , the Sixteenth ; 5 0 8 points the following Monday ; a 1 2 0 - point

RISE on Tuesday , the Twentieth ; lastly , a 1 8 0 - point surge , at the time a

record , on Wednesday the Twenty - First . Despite the pillaging of " Black

Monday " , the D . J . I . A . was up for the year on 3 1 December some two points .

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With Major League Baseball ' s League Playoffs complete , it is instructive for

this Typist to recall the Most Recent , and most DISTANT , Pennant winning teams :

AMERICAN LEAGUE

2 0 0 5 CHICAGO WHITE SOX

2 0 0 4 BOSTON RED SOX

2 0 0 3 NEW YORK YANKEES

2 0 0 2 LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM

1 9 9 7 CLEVELAND INDIANS

1 9 9 3 TORONTO BLUE JAYS

1 9 9 1 MINNESOTA TWINS

1 9 9 0 OAKLAND ATHLETICS

1 9 8 5 KANSAS CITY ROYALS

1 9 8 2 **** MILWAUKEE BREWERS **** ( See Below )

1 9 8 4 DETROIT TIGERS

1 9 8 3 BALTIMORE ORIOLES

Three American League teams - - the SEATTLE MARINERS ( founded 1 9 7 7 ) ,

the TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS ( 1 9 9 8 ) and the TEXAS RANGERS ( formerly

the WASHINGTON SENATORS , founded 1 9 6 1 ) - - have never been to the

World Series , although Washington has been represented in the Series as

recently as 1 9 3 3 , by the original Senators franchise . ( One Senators

team relocated to MINNESOTA in 1 9 6 0 , while the second Senators

franchise left for TEXAS in 1 9 7 2 . )

The MILWAUKEE BREWERS , formerly the SEATTLE PILOTS for one

season ( 1 9 6 9 ) , represented the American League in the 1 9 8 2 World

Series butt switched leagues in 1 9 9 8 . The Brewers have never represented

the National League in the World Series , and will be listed below as one of

three " Senior Circuit " teams that have yet to do so even though the Milwaukee

franchise has a World Series appearance to its credit .

NATIONAL LEAGUE

2 0 0 5 HOUSTON ASTROS

2 0 0 4 ST . LOUIS CARDINALS

2 0 0 3 FLORIDA MARLINS

2 0 0 2 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

2 0 0 1 ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

2 0 0 0 NEW YORK METS

1 9 9 9 ATLANTA BRAVES

1 9 9 8 SAN DIEGO PADRES

1 9 9 3 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

1 9 9 0 CINCINNATI REDS

1 9 8 8 LOS ANGELES DODGERS

1 9 7 9 PITTSBURGH PIRATES

1 9 4 5 CHICAGO CUBS

Three National League teams - - the COLORADO ROCKIES ( founded

1 9 9 3 ) , the MILWAUKEE BREWERS ( see above ) and the WASHINGTON

NATIONALS ( formerly the MONTREAL EXPOS , founded 1 9 6 9 / relocated

to Washington in 2 0 0 5 ) - - have yet to represent the Senior Circuit in the

World Series . Tonight ' s 5 to 1 victory by the HOUSTON ASTROS over the

ST . LOUIS CARDINALS gives Houston its first National League

championship , following forty - three seasons without ( previously the

HOUSTON COLT . 4 5 ' S , the team ' s inaugural season was 1 9 6 2 . )

The State of TEXAS has never hosted a World Series game , which figures

to change on Tuesday of next week ( 2 5 October 2 0 0 5 ) . The City of

CHICAGO last hosted a World Series game in 1 9 5 9 ; having eliminated

the LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM this past Sunday night

( 1 6 October 2 0 0 5 ) , the CHICAGO WHITE SOX return to the

World Series after a forty - six year hiatus , their first since 1 9 5 9 .

Chicago ' s skien of disappointment is astounding . The two Chicago

teams , alomg with their LONG - suffering fans , have waited the longest

for their teams to win the World Series . Last year ' s World Series victory

for the BOSTON RED SOX ended eighty - six years of futility , butt is

nevertheless just the THIRD - most prolonged wait for Glory .

WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS , Most - Recent / Most - Distant :

BOSTON RED SOX ( 2 0 0 4 )

FLORIDA MARLINS ( 2 0 0 3 )

LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM ( 2 0 0 2 )

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS ( 2 0 0 1 )

NEW YORK YANKEES ( 2 0 0 0 )

ATLANTA BRAVES ( 1 9 9 5 )

TORONTO BLUE JAYS ( 1 9 9 3 )

MINNESOTA TWINS ( 1 9 9 1 )

CINCINNATI REDS ( 1 9 9 0 )

OAKLAND ATHLETICS ( 1 9 8 9 )

LOS ANGELES DODGERS ( 1 9 8 8 )

NEW YORK METS ( 1 9 8 6 )

KANSAS CITY ROYALS ( 1 9 8 5 )

DETROIT TIGERS ( 1 9 8 4 )

BALTIMORE ORIOLES ( 1 9 8 3 )

ST . LOUIS CARDINALS ( 1 9 8 2 )

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES ( 1 9 8 0 )

PITTSBURGH PIRATES ( 1 9 7 9 )

" NEW YORK BASEBALL GIANTS " ( 1 9 5 4 ) / See Explanation Below

CLEVELAND INDIANS ( 1 9 4 8 )

CHICAGO WHITE SOX ( 1 9 1 7 )

CHICAGO CUBS ( 1 9 0 8 )

NOTE : The NEW YORK " BASEBALL " GIANTS departed New York

following the 1 9 5 7 season and settled in SAN FRANCISCO .

TWENTY - TWO MAJOR LEAGUE FRANCHISES have won at least

one World Series . Eight teams - - the COLORADO ROCKIES , the

HOUSTON ASTROS , the MILWAUKEE BREWERS , the

SAN DIEGO PADRES , the SEATTLE MARINERS , the

TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS , the TEXAS RANGERS and the

WASHINGTON NATIONALS - - await their first .

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2005-10-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

( 8 October 2 0 0 5 , Saturday / Day 2 8 1 Of The Calendar Year )

Greetings !

This will be the INAUGURAL Post for " VANITY AND VEXATIONS OF SPIRIT(S) " ,

one week tardy . As the Author is not a professional journalist , it is left up to You , the

Reader , to tout this " blog " if You wish . The content of " V . & V . O . S . " will vary ;

particular favorite topics of the Author are American History , Geography and Travel ,

Numismatics , Physical Fitness , Nutrition , Sports ( especially Baseball , Basketball ,

Hockey , Football , Horse Racing and Boxing ) , Music , Cinema , et . al .

You are humbly invited to read and enjoy . You are welcome to make Your dissent known

if You DON ' T like the Blog ' s content . ( Feel free to respond even if You DO like what

You read . ) I must thank one Friend in particular for suggesting I fashion a Blog , as a

better way to reach potential readers and regular readers alike ; ' J . P . T . ' , if perchance

You are reading this now , YOU merit the thanks ( or the blame ! )

The creation of a personal Blog is also a modestly rebellious gesture - - rebellious , in

that the Author treasures Freedom Of Speech / Freedom Of Expression / Freedom Of

Dissent and the like , and it is OUR Solemn Responsibility to protect same . The passage

of the McCAIN - FEINGOLD CAMPAIGN REFORM ACT , as I see it , is a looming

threat to Our First Amendment Freedoms , is in fact an abomination that need be

eradicated . As this Blog will at times quite unavoidably be Political , MY FREEDOM

OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE is a Must To Preserve And Defend . I do hope You

feel the same way . ( Do YOU want the Federal Government to scrutinize Your

Blogs and impose restrictions upon the content ? )

This new Blog will , I hope , make of me a more disciplined and more productive

writer . ( My preferred term is " typist " ) . It is very possible that much of the work

created by writers is just substandard , that the Reader never sees the dismal schlock

that precedes the publication - worthy culls . Good writing requires ABUNDANT

writing , and an intrepid Editor . Since I haven ' t the latter . . . .

well , You the Reader will have to take Your chances !

Actually , therein is part of the fun . Blogs are generally informal and thus more

accessable ; the Blog one reads might be the product of a Typist very much like oneself .

Thanks to the Web site " Blogger.Com " for providing this Typist with a place to

create and disseminate . NOTE : Had You wondered about the title ? Let ' s just say

I " plagerized " it , although the source material has been in the " Public Record "

for a few millenia . " Vanity And Vexation Of Spirit " is a phrase common to the

OLD TESTAMENT , specifically the BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES .

I , in turn , was first " exposed " to the Book Of Ecclesiastes in 1 9 6 4 , at the age of

eight , listening to the radio while riding in my Family ' s Mercury Monterey . THE

BYRDS ( Roger McGuinn , David Crosby , Chris Hillman , Mike Clark , Gene Clark )

recorded PETE SEEGER ' s tune " TURN ! TURN ! TURN ! " at that time , and

had a fair amount of airplay with Seeger ' s adaptation of Ecclesiates from King

James Bible to Twentieth Century Folk Tune to Contemporary Rock Tune .

While I myself am not particularly religious , I did have a look at Ecclesiates in

1 9 7 7 , drawn by curiosity . At least one subsequent entry in this Blog will address

the Bible . To - Day , though , I am keen to type about an event that transpired

forty - nine years ago to the very day . Read On . . . .

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( 8 October 2 0 0 5 , Saturday )

I appreciate meticulous presentations of Fact that convincingly masquarade

as intriguing story - telling . I will try for both and be content with even just one !

Forty - Nine Years Ago To - Day , the defending WORLD SERIES Champions , the

BROOKLYN DODGERS , faced the NEW YORK YANKEES in the Fifth Game

of the 1 9 5 6 Series . The Dodgers , winners of Games One and Two playing

at their home park , EBBETS FIELD , dropped the Third and Fourth games at

YANKEE STADIUM . As was customary in a best - of - seven series , one team

would host the middle three games ( three , four , five ) , hence the Yankees had

the home field in Game Five , with an opportunity to take the lead in the Series .

The 1 9 5 6 World Series was the seventh to match the Dodgers and Yankees ;

the two teams also played one another in 1 9 4 1 , 1 9 4 7 , 1 9 4 9 , 1 9 5 2 ,

1 9 5 3 and 1 9 5 5 . Brooklyn ' s lone World Series Championship came to pass

the previous year ( 1 9 5 5 ) , under first - year manager WALTER ALSTON ,

as the Dodgers and Yankees took every home game save Game Seven .

Brooklyn ' s 2 to 0 victory in the Seventh Game , at Yankee Stadium no less ,

has to rate as the most euphoric day in the history of the Brooklyn Franchise .

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The ' 5 6 Series would be a mirror - image of the ' 5 5 match , as the home team

won every game butt the seventh . The similarities don ' t stop there : the Dodgers

got a complete - game shutout in the Seventh Game of the ' 5 5 Series from a

left - hander named " Johnny " , JOHNNY PODRES ; likewise , the Yankees

started JOHNNY KUCKS a year later , and he , too , hurled a complete game

in the Series finale without yielding a run .

The most memorable - - improbable ! - - occurance in that 1 9 5 6 World Series

was DON LARSEN ' s performance in the fifth game . Larsen , not an elite pitcher - -

he only won eighty - one games in fourteen major league seasons , while losing

ninety - one - - staked the Yankees to a critical three - games - to - two lead in the

Series with a 2 to 0 win . None - NONE ! - - of the Dodger batters reached base ,

the ONLY Perfect game ever pitched in Major League PostSeason history .

Larsen did not so much as deploy a wind - up , a sweet irony ; pitchers generally

pitch from " The Stretch " only with runners on base , and here was a pitcher who

hadn ' t any baserunners to hold at all ! Larsen , facing a Brooklyn lineup with a

formidable array of hitters ( ROY CAMPANELLA , CARL FURILLO , GIL HODGES ,

PEE WEE REESE , JACKIE ROBINSON ) threw just ninety - seven pitches , the last

of which was a called third strike that retired pinch - hitter DALE MITCHELL .

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DON LARSEN and DAVID WELLS attended the same High School in San Diego .

In an uncanny parallel , BOTH would go on to pitch Perfect Games for the New York

Yankees , Larsen ( as heretofore indicated ) in 1 9 5 6 , Wells in 1 9 9 8 . Perfect Games ,

so named because no opposing baserunners get so far as first base , are exceedingly rare .

In MY lifetime ( 1 9 5 6 - ) , the very short list includes :

DON LARSEN ( 1 9 5 6 , 8 October )

JIM BUNNING ( 1 9 6 4 , 2 1 June )

SANFORD KOUFAX ( 1 9 6 5 , 9 August )

JIM " CATFISH " HUNTER ( 1 9 6 8 , 8 May )

LEN BARKER ( 1 9 8 1 , 1 5 May )

MIKE WITT ( 1 9 8 4 , 3 0 September )

TOM BROWNING ( 1 9 8 8 , 1 6 September )

DENNIS MARTINEZ ( 1 9 9 1 , 2 8 July )

KENNY ROGERS ( 1 9 9 4 , 2 8 July )

DAVID WELLS ( 1 9 9 8 , 1 7 May )

DAVID CONE ( 1 9 9 9 , 1 8 July )

RANDY JOHNSON ( 2 0 0 4 , 1 8 May )

Some notable data : JIM BUNNING , who had also pitched a no - hit game in

the American League in 1 9 5 8 while playing for the DETROIT TIGERS ,

is the fomer Governorof - , and current United States Senator from , Kentucky .

SANFORD KOUFAX , whose nine innings of perfect pitching enabled the

LOS ANGELES DODGERS to overcome BOB HENDLEY ' s one - hit

performance for the CHICAGO CUBS , had already hurled three previous

no - hitters ( 1 9 6 2 , 1 9 6 3 and 1 9 6 4 ) ; his four career no - hit games

comprised the individual Major League record until NOLAN RYAN achieved

seven ( 7 ! ) . MIKE WITT achieved his Perfect Game on the final day of the

American League season . DENNIS MARTINEZ remains the only Nicaraguan -

born player to achieve ' Perfection . ' KENNY ROGERS , You may have noticed ,

pitched his Perfect Game exactly three years to the day after Dennis Martinez did it .

SANFORD KOUFAX pitched his Perfect Game at a curious historical mid - point :

exactly twenty years after the nuclear bombing of HIROSHIMA , exactly twenty years

prior to the death of JERRY GARCIA . LEN BARKER ' s Perfect Game is meaningful

for me personally , in that he achieved it one day prior to my graduation from the

University of Vermont . Barker ' s playing career was not exceptional - - indeed , of

the twelve names on the list of ' Perfection ' , only Jim Bunning , Sanford Koufax

and ' Catfish ' Hunter have thus far been inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame .

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A peculiar historical twist found Don Larsen , veteran of four World Series playoffs

with the New York Yankees ( 1 9 5 5 , 1 9 5 6 , 1 9 5 7 and 1 9 5 8 ) , pitching for the

opposing team AGAINST the Yankees in the 1 9 6 2 Series . The SAN FRANCISCO

GIANTS , like the Brooklyn Dodgers a previous tenant in a New York ballpark ,

faced the Yankees in 1 9 6 2 in one of the most competitive playoffs ever . Neither

team could string together two wins in succession , hence the Series lasted seven

games . Larsen himself was the winning pitcher in Game Four , exactly six years

to the day after his Perfect Game in the ' 5 6 Series . Damn . . . .

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