This Day in American History — June 12, 1939

On this day 71 years ago, the Baseball Hall of Fame was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York.  The HOF currently has 292 inductees, my favorite of whom is Tris Speaker. The family and I traipsed to upstate New York to visit the Hall on Fourth of July weekend in 2002, and when we were there on July 5, an announcement was made over the sound system that Ted Williams had passed away earlier that day.

Here’s an amazing “Teddy Ballgame” piece of trivia: he won the American League Triple Crown twice—in 1942 and again in 1947—and in neither year was he voted the AL Most Valuable Player. Dimaggio beat him in ’47, but Joe Gordon—JOE GORDON!!—took the ’42 MVP award.  In that year, Williams led the AL in runs, homers, RBI, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and total bases. Gordon, meanwhile, led the league in two offensive categories—strikeouts and grounding into double plays. No wonder Teddy was always pissed at sportswriters. . . .

World Cup 2010, Day 2

Just finished watching Day 2 of the 2010 World Cup–I’m watching or taping every game and will watch them all.

Obviously the biggest game of the day was the U.S. vs. England match. The Yanks took it to the Three Lions in the first half, demonstrating an aggressiveness that they’ve rarely shown when they’ve played better teams in the past. The key to the game, in my mind, was the fact that they didn’t let Gerrard’s early goal get them down.

Yes, the U.S. goal was a “lucky” one–but we’ll take it.  Robert Green will obviously never live down his catastrophic error, but apparently Fabio Capello still has faith in his netminder. As the article at the link notes, Capello’s bigger problem is the amount of space the American forwards found in the offensive third of the pitch.  Do they really miss Rio Ferdinand that much?

Next up for the U.S.–not getting overconfident in the upcoming matches versus Algeria and Slovenia. The draw with England seems like a victory, but it’s only one point. The Yanks need to stay focused against the other two “lesser” opponents; it will probably only take a win and a draw for the Americans to get out of the group, but nothing is a given.

To kickoff the blog’s Cup coverage, enjoy the official video of Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa).” It’s an amazingly catchy song, with great football clips mingled with the dance moves of Shakira and Freshlyground. My oldest daughter and I watched it about a dozen times straight, and I think I’ve got most of the dance moves down (and no, there’s blessedly no YouTube of that!).  Enjoy!!

The African lyrics in the chorus are “Tsamina mina zangalewa,” which translates into “Where do you come from?” and “Waka waka,” which means, roughly, “Do it.”  The five T-shirted footballers shown in the video are, in order, Gerard Pique (Spain), Dani Alves (Brazil), Carlos Kameni (Cameroon), Rafael Marquez (Mexico), and Lionel Messi (Argentina). Marquez shares my birthday, and Messi was the FIFA World Player of the Year for 2009.

The Blog is Back!

I’m back to blogging, having spent a couple of months last year giving it a shot, then getting wrapped up in other things that sapped my interest.  But there’s a lot going on to blog about these days, so I’m going to give it another shot.

Democracy at Work?

Gotta agree with Matt here.  I’ve always had great ambivalence about the way our government works, especially Congress. I know the Founding Fathers created a constitutional system that was designed to make it difficult to get things done quickly—you know, that whole “checks and balances” thing. And I realize that’s generally a good idea.  But Yglesias is right, too—our system, and particularly the undemocratic nature of the Senate rules regarding cloture, is a huge part of the reason why it seems nothing significant gets through Congress to the President’s desk.

I know, I know—I’m supposed to be careful what I wish for:  if I had my way, we’d be just as likely to get something outrageous like No Child Left Behind as we would a decent health care bill or a serious change in the way we address something as “controversial” as global warming. But still, it hacks me off that Obama seems to get the lion’s share of the blame when his agenda doesn’t get through Congress, when the system is so mucked up.

End of rant. . . .

This You Gotta See

How in the world did the French almost lose two world wars with this kind of ingenuity? Gotta see it to believe it.

SOMEONE Had a Happy Halloween!

If THIS doesn’t bring a joyous tear to your eye, you’re a cold-hearted snake, and you shouldn’t be reading this blog.

Just One More Thing I Wish I Had Written

One of the great baseball writers in the country is Joe Posnanski.  He almost always provides insight when he discusses the game, and he’s not a stat-o-phobe like many of his compadres.  I can’t wait to pick up his latest book, The Machine, about the Big Red Machine (it’s gotten rave reviews, and I’m sure it’ll be worth the read).

His latest blog post gets at exactly the feelings I (and many others) harbor about the latest World Series winners.  Of course I hate the Yankees—I think it’s actually built into my DNA somehow. But Joe explains why we shouldn’t buy the Yankee fans’ argument that spending the most money in the game doesn’t guarantee championships—why we should be a lot more outraged by their payroll than I already am. It’s definitely worth a read, especially on the day after the Evil Empire has cashed in yet again.

Teabaggers: Classy to the End!

The teabag right-wing: the gift that keeps on giving.  Keep keepin’ it classy, you guys!

More Right-wingnuttery

Dr. X has it just right—keep all sharp objects away from yourself as you look at this page.

A Beck-tacular Story

Still waiting for the day when most Americans get their news from The Onion—what a better place this would be! Katie Couric and Brian Williams, eat your hearts out!

Keepin’ It Real, Yo

Ah, the Conservative Blogosphere—you can always count on them to keep plumbing the depths of the ridiculous and the offensive.  They truly have no shame.

Outstanding Halloween Costumes

In honor of Halloween, thought you might like this:

And remember, it’s Halloween for your pets, too!!

I Hate to Say I Told You So, But . . . II

How much longer are we supposed to put up with this crap, anyway? Harry Reid, are you listening?  Take this guy’s committee chairmanships and kick him out of caucus, already!!

I Hate to Say I Told You So, But . . .

It’s not like I didn’t warn you—but this should be the straw that breaks Harry Reid’s back and finally gets him to punt Joe LIE-berman the hell out of the Democratic caucus.

Bill Kristol, Leader of teh Stupid

Uber-neoconservative Bill Kristol, who hasn’t been right about anything since he was Dan Quayle’s chief of staff, has a Post column declaring it “A good time to be a conservative.” Um, OK. His argument is that since more Americans identify themselves as “conservatives” than as “liberals” or “moderates,” things are looking good politically for the Rethuglicans, who’ve moved to the right, not the center, since the 2008 election.

Kristol further enthuses that the next leader of the party will be someone who’s currently a “private citizen,” not a GOP officeholder; he specifically touts the status of Palin, Gingrich, Huckabee, and Romney in polls of Republican voters. He believes that given the overwhelmingly anti-government rhetoric emanating from the cesspool known as The Right, a GOP politician is unlikely to be the party’s next standard-bearer.

Speaking of the party’s future, Kristol notes:

The center of gravity, I suspect, will instead lie with individuals such as Palin and Huckabee and Gingrich, media personalities like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, and activists at town halls and tea parties. Some will lament this — but over the past year, as those voices have dominated, conservatism has done pretty well in the body politic, and Republicans have narrowed the gap with Democrats in test ballots.

No, seriously, that’s what he believes–it’d be funny if it weren’t such a pathetic commentary on the state of Rethuglicanism.

Dear God, let him be right this one time. . . .

They Can’t Be This Stupid,

can they? Un-effing-believable. . . .

This Day in American History — Oct. 20

On October 20, 1856, Representative James Robert Mann was born in McLean County, Illinois. Mann, a long-time member of Congress in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is best known for being the author of the White Slavery Traffic Act or, as it came to be known, the Mann Act. The Mann Act criminalized the transportation of women across state lines “for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” Based on Congress’s constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce, the Act became a tool for prosecuting not only those engaged in actual criminal acts, but for those whose intentions were legitimate but objectionable to certain Progressive-era sensibilities.

The first person prosecuted under the Mann Act was heavyweight champion Jack Johnson, the first African American to hold that title. Johnson had a proclivity for prostitutes, both black and white, and he wasn’t shy about being seen publicly with white women. Indeed, Johnson married three white women during his lifetime. Johnson was prosecuted under the Mann Act in 1912; while technically guilty of transporting prostitutes across state lines, it was commonly understood that Johnson’s prosecution was motivated by revulsion at his romantic relationships with white women—intolerable for an African American of Johnson’s status and visibility. It was said that Johnson had committed a “crime against nature” by having sexual relations with a white woman. Johnson was convicted in June 1913, sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison. He immediately skipped bail, fled the country with his (white) wife Lucille Cameron, and did not return to the U.S. until 1920, when he was sent to Leavenworth to serve his time.

Congress has recently passed a resolution urging President Obama to issue a posthumous pardon of Johnson; it is currently awaiting Obama’s action.

Other prominent Americans prosecuted or investigated under the Mann Act include Chuck Berry (convicted in 1961), Charlie Chaplin (acquitted), and Frank Lloyd Wright (investigated but never charged).

This Day in American History — Oct. 19

On October 19, 1781, British and Hessian troops under the command of General Lord Cornwallis surrendered to American and French forces at Yorktown, Virginia.  American commander George Washington and French commander Comte de Rochambeau headed a siege of Yorktown with a combined force of about 20,000 soldiers.

According to Wikipedia,

Cornwallis refused to meet formally with Washington, and also refused to come to the ceremony of surrender, claiming illness. Instead, Brigadier General Charles O’Hara presented the sword of surrender to Rochambeau. Rochambeau shook his head and pointed to Washington. O’Hara offered it to Washington, but he refused to accept it, and motioned to his second in command, Benjamin Lincoln, who had been humiliated by the British at Charleston, to accept it. The British soldiers marched out and laid down their arms in between the French and American armies, while many civilians watched.

Cornwallis’s surrender was the last major battle of the Revolutionary War, but it wasn’t until Sept. 3, 1783, that the final Treaty of Paris was signed, bringing the war to an official end.

This Day in American History — Oct. 18

Bob Beamon at the '68 Olympics

On October 18, 1968, American long jumper Bob Beamon set the world record when he jumped 29′ 2.5″ (8.90m) at the Olympics in Mexico City.  Beamon’s record would survive until 1991, when Mike Powell broke it, but Beamon’s accomplishment was one of the athletic highlights of a Games best remembered by the Black Power protests of John Carlos and Tommie Smith.

Here’s a cool video of Beamon’s jump, along with commentary by Beamon and teammate Ralph Boston.

This Day in American History — Oct. 17

On October 17, 1966, “Hollywood Squares” premiered on NBC. (Sorry for the TV repeat on TDiAH, but this was too good to pass up.) Frequent center-squarer Paul Lynde was my favorite when I watched this as a kid, the double entendres for which the show was known going completely over my head (thank goodness, eh, Mom?).   Still, the show was funny and easy to follow along with.

Here’s a clip from 1971, with longtime host Peter Marshall. Funny to hear the excitement over the $4300 Secret Square prize, isn’t it? These days, that’s what one letter is worth on “Wheel of Fortune”!

Cool Website of the Day

Unfortunate Acronyms.

Pot, Meet Kettle

This is rich: George H. W. Bush argues that the criticism of Obama “sometimes crosses the line of civility.”  While ostensibly a defense of the President, this comment conveniently ignores the fact that Bush was elected thanks in large measure to the efforts of Lee Atwater—you remember, the guy who promised in 1988 to “make Willie Horton his [Michael Dukakis's] running mate” and lied  when he said that Dukakis had mental health problems and that Kitty Dukakis had burned a flag in protest of the Vietnam War. In short, Lee Atwater did more than anyone to stamp out civility in political debate in the last half-century, and now his old boss is boo-hooing the sleaziness of our political discourse. Disgusting.

Hey, Rush . . .

is this what happens in “Obama’s America”?  Or is it the Confederacy?

Poor, Poor Rush

So Rush Limbaugh didn’t get an opportunity to buy part of the St. Louis Rams because of, according to him, “race hustlers” like the Rev. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and other black leaders who unfairly painted Rush as a racist for things he said and didn’t say.

But what if it’s Rush who’s the race hustler?

This Day in American History — Oct. 16

Margaret Sanger

On October 16, 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the first birth-control clinic in American history, in Brooklyn. Sanger was arrested nine days later, charged with distributing “obscene” material, and served 30 days in jail.

Sanger is one of my favorite Progressives. As she accompanied her physician husband on home visits, she was appalled at the living conditions she saw on the Lower East Side of New York, conditions she thought were created or exacerbated by the large number of children in the families. As a result, she committed herself to helping women get information about birth control and access to safe abortions.

But Sanger also epitomizes one aspect of the Progressive movement that has always troubled me (and my students as well):  Progressives often appear to be self-righteous and willing to impose their WASP-ish middle-class values on people not like themselves. Getting safe medical treatment, including abortions, was obviously something poor immigrant women needed and wanted. And Sanger’s assumption that too many (unwanted?) children led to poverty and other social problems wasn’t necessarily wrong. But it was also the case that many immigrant families needed those children. Not only was the infant mortality rate amazingly high in poor neighborhoods, but their poverty demanded that families have as many potential bread-winners as possible in order to simply make ends meet.

So did Sanger misunderstand or ignore the nature of immigrant family life and assume that she “knew best” what was good for them (i.e., fewer children)? Or did she “get it” and simply provide her patients with the safe medical care they might not have gotten without her? My guess is that, as with most Progressives, it was a bit of both. It’ s hard to deny her selflessness—Lord knows she paid an extraordinarily high price for it throughout her life—but it’s also hard to avoid the conclusion that she thought she knew better than the women she helped.