An A Capella Star Wars Tribute To John Williams

Obama, Japan

"This is weird. In Japan, officials in a small town called Obama -- there's a town in Japan called Obama -- say they're going to invite Barack Obama to visit. Yeah. And actually, a similar trip happened after Bill Clinton was elected, and he was invited to Horndog, Thailand." --Conan O'Brien

"Barack Obama spent his first day as president-elect putting together his transition team. And if you believe MSNBC, by tomorrow he will have chosen all 12 of his disciples." --Jay Leno

What A Difference One Percent Makes

Obama Headquarters

"And, of course, it was a huge celebration over at Barack Obama headquarters, otherwise known as MSNBC." --Jay Leno

"All the major networks declared Barack Obama the winner at 11 last night, except for MSNBC, which declared Obama the winner six months ago." --Conan O'Brien

"Hey, did I call it or what? Six months ago I predicted Ralph Nader would come in third. Did I call it?" --Jay Leno

"A huge turnout in Hollywood. In fact, for the first time ever, there were more celebrities in voting booths than in rehab." --Jay Leno

"Anybody get a robo-call from Bill Clinton? They had those out there, too. See, I knew it was from Clinton right away, because if a man answers, it automatically hangs up." --Jay Leno

"And in what has to be one of the most ridiculous moments yesterday, it looks like convicted Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska has won re-election. How does that make the guy who lost feel, huh? What's that concession speech like? 'We gave it our best, but the voters preferred a convicted, 84-year-old felon.'" --Jay Leno

Racism On The Hard Left

As I said in my last post, racism isn't dead. But it can be found in surprising places. It turns out that Barack Obama and I have something in common. We have both been called a name by Ralph Nader. As I explained in my very first post to this blog, Nader once referred to me as a fascist child of the ruling class. Now Nader has referred to Obama as an Uncle Tom. In this video, Shepherd Smith of Fox News tries to give Nader a chance to backtrack. But he throws it back in Smiths face.



To my mind, Nader had one redeeming feature. His third-party runs took votes away from the Democratic candidate. Alas, it seems that Nader has no redeeming features left.

A Reason To Celebrate

Let me first say congratulations to Barak Obama.

I didn’t vote for Obama and I strongly believe he was the wrong choice. Not because of a character flaw, but because I believe the policies he will attempt to enact will be the wrong ones for this country.

But there is still good reason to celebrate Obama’s victory, even if you are a Republican. Oh how far we have come. A little more than 3 months after I was born, Martin Luther King was assassinated. 40 years later an African-American has been elected president.

Some will say that this election proves racism is a thing of the past. I wish it were so. Racism is still with us, though much weaker then it was. The power of racism, in my opinion, has been both magnified and exaggerated for some time. I saw it as an employment attorney interviewing prospective clients who believed they were fired because of their race, and I saw it again with my students in the South Bronx. Racial discrimination is often blamed for adversity, even where it doesn’t exist. What is truly awful is when racism is used as an excuse not to try. Why should I work hard if people are just going to discriminate against me?

Obama’s election has conclusively demonstrated that racism and racists are not nearly as powerful as some have thought them to be. I fervently hope that this election will bring the United States closer to the dream of a color blind society.

I wish Barak Obama and our country success over the next four years. I will do my best to help by being a vocal critic of our President elect as I become a member of the loyal opposition.

RIP Don LaFontaine

Don LaFontaine, the voice of what seems like the majority of movie trailers over the past 25 years, passed away on Monday. I had known the voice but not the face until the Geico commercial and a New York Lottery commercial. The good folks at Funny or Die put together a nice tribute video.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

That's Liberal Hypocrisy

There has been a great deal of criticism over Sara Palin’s agreeing to run for vice-president even though she has young children at home. At first I dismissed it, but then I thought a little deeper about it. They may have a point. The children are our future and a parent’s first priority must be raising their children. It is far more important than personal ambition. The pressures of running the country really aren’t compatible with the responsibilities of raising young children. That is why I believe Barack Obama should drop out of the race.

Barack Obama? But he’s not a mother? But he is a father with 2 young daughters.

To be serious for a second, I find the criticism of Palin’s decision to accept the nomination deeply offensive. Remember that criticism is coming from liberals and Democrats with the media scrambling to find conservatives or Republicans that will join in with only limited success. It is the liberals that are being sexist here, that are reinforcing the glass ceiling that Hillary Clinton was trying to tear down.

I consider myself a feminist in that I believe a woman should have the opportunity to pursue any career a man might pursue, though they should also be free without social stigma to choose raising a family over a career. Women should also be free of sexual harassment in the workplace. But obviously I must be missing something because it seems to many liberal feminists are silent or are joining in the piling on of Palin. The National Organization of Women reflexively supports Bill Clinton, accused not only of sexual harassment but of rape, but attacks Sara Palin because she is “not the right woman” Ok, fine they disagree with her on the issues, But they should still be speaking out her right to raise a family and pursue the second highest office in the land.

That’s hypocrisy for you.

The Best Show On Television; The Final Season

Tonight is the season premier of The Shield, in my opinion the best show on television today. This is the last season. It is the beginning of the end for Vic Mackey, the crooked cop with a heart of gold. Mackey has planted evidence, beaten suspects, protected drug dealers for cash, committed arm robbery and murdered several including a cop. Yet, you can’t help but love him and hope he gets away with it, because what really motivates Mackey is a desire to make a difference. He risks his life and his freedom to protect his family, his team, and the innocent people of Farmington. If you have never seen it, start tonight at 10 on FX. Then add seasons 1-6 to your Netflix queue. Trust me; once you pop in that first disc you will be hooked. As it happens until just a couple of years ago I had no access to the FX network and started watching the show on DVD. I am glad I don’t have to wait until Season 7 is out on DVD. But as each episode ends, it will be hard to wait a week for the next. 13 episode left, and all I can do is hope it ends well for Vic. I doubt it will though. Karma is a bitch sometimes.

Here’s a Season 7 teaser.

Sara Palin

I don’t always agree with John McCain but I do agree with his choice for Vice-President. In fact I wouldn’t mind if they switched places on the ticket. Surprisingly, the biggest issue in this campaign is not the war but the economy. One of the largest (if not the largest) problems with the economy is oil is prices. Sara Palin, as governor of Alaska is an expert on oil and drilling. Unlike Dick Cheney, who also was an expert on oil (as CEO of an oil services firm), Palin has been a critic of big oil companies.

McCain should rethink his opposition to drilling in ANWR. T. Boon Pickens is running television ads supporting his alternative energy plans. At the beginning of the commercial he urges the U.S. to “drill drill drill” but also invest in alternative energy. That should be McCain’s message, though he need not necessarily endorse Pickens specific approach. Palin is the woman to make that argument.

That’s one reason I think she is a great choice. Other reasons include her being a pro-life fiscal conservative. She seems to me to be a person of strong conviction and great conviction. She is a great conservative and feminist role model. She has both a large loving family and a high powered career. Best of all she drives the lunatic left positively off the deep end.

Sorry For Months Without Updates

I haven’t updated my blogs in months, and for that I apologize. But as the Democratic Convention is over and the Republican Convention is getting started (after a one day hurricane induced delay) I have some things to say. So here goes…

The Switch Hitter vs. the Ambidextrous Pitcher

Pat Venditte is a minor league pitcher with the Staten Island Yankees. He was selected in the 20th round of the 2008 draft with the 620th overall pick. But that is not his claim to fame. Venditte’s claim to fame is that he is a “switch pitcher” in that he throws both right and left handed. He has a special glove with two thumbs so he can quickly shift the glove from hand to hand.

Only one pitcher of the modern era has ever thrown both right and left handed in a major league game and he only did it once. Greg A. Harris, in the next to last game of his career, alternated between throwing right and left handed (depending on whether the hitter was right or left handed). But he apparently did not face a switch hitter. For those of you who do not really follow baseball (shame on you) right handed pitchers are generally more effective against right handed batters and left handed pitchers more effective against left handed batters. This is why many hitters learn to switch hit (hit from both sides of the plate).

But what happens when a switch hitter faces a switch pitcher? If the pitcher throws right handed can the batter switch to bat left handed? What if the pitcher then switches too? That was the situation at the end of last nights Coney Island Cyclones-Staten Island Yankees game.



There may or may not be an MLB rule that deals with this. But if Pat Venditte makes the majors there will be.