Me thinks we're going to get a new "honoree" in the Countdown Apology Hall of Fame! ;D What a MORAN - nearly to St. Sarah from Wasilla proportions!
And, based upon teh Twitter activity over in Keith's neck of the woods, you'll be able to knock me over with a feather if our resident "Mr. Rain Man of Baseball" doesn't devote a segment to what happened to Armando Galarraga last night.
In my capacity as diarist & life - long baseball fan, let me share my less - than - 2 cents' worth on what should/will happen. Bud Selig SHOULD grow a spine, say the umpire sparked up, and award this poor guy a perfect game; he doesn't even need to sack the umpire. Baseball "purists" SHOULD get the spark over themselves & not have a cow over the prospect & apparent desperate need for instant replay during games - like in every other "civilized" sport in this country. It's called the 21st century, people; catch it! Now, what WILL happen is that Bud will do anything he can to avoid any more controversy over what happened by hunkering down with Mr. Joyce in a secret undisclosed location for the next few weeks (or until the season's over) & not do a damn thing about said perfect game awarding & said instant replay implementation. If I'm correct, contributions to the fund to get me to Cooperstown will be accepted at a post office box to be named later.
And, after another $hitacular day for yours truly, can we PLEASE get some sparkin' golden segments about the newest trial of the century?!
Let's commence with "this day in history," and I pinky swear that I DID NOT intentionally plan one of today's items with what I discussed yesterday; I wish I was that good, but I'm not. On this date in 1888, the poem "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was first published in the San Francisco Daily Examiner. I wonder how many intertube hits THAT particular poem will get TODAY? ;)
On this date in 1937, the Duke of Windsor married American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson, for whom he had abdicated the British throne. How 'bout them prim & proper Brits? The lovely couple may or may not have been Nazi sympathizers but still...DAMN!
After slamming baseball purists above, I'm admitting my own purist tendencies in this next item. On this date in 2001, Mel Brooks' musical comedy The Producers won a record 12 Tony Awards. Hello, I'm CityLightsLover, and I am a Producers purist! I like Matthew Broderick, and I LURVE Nathan Lane. But, the only Leo Bloom & Max Bialystock are Gene Wilder & Zero Mostel.
Finally, to end with the big 'ol coincidence of timing that's already produced a similar reaction to the subject I discussed yesterday, on June 3, 1926, Allen Ginsberg, the "poet laureate" of the Beat Generation, was born. When I was just beginning my Buddhist practice, I stumbled upon video of Allen reciting the Heart Sutra - nearly the shortest yet one of the most important sutras in all Buddhist traditions. I didn't know diddly poo yet at that time, but I recognized what he was saying, and when I found out he'd made the recording within months of his passing, I bawled...and bawled...and bawled...and bawled. You can listen to him here.
Let's Countdown - 45 days since the explosion & sinking of the Deepwater Horizon off - shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
HA! I am getting my no perfect game segment tonight! ;)
#5 "Night Cap" AKA "Drill Captain" AKA "CAP & Containment" - A cap to be attached to the oil well at the bottom of the Gulf is making its way to the site. Robots...is there anything they DON’T know? But, since they weren’t quite as smooth in the cutting as hoped, said cap might not fit so well. Give Tony Hayward the Mr. Obvious Award of today for this brilliance:
What is undoubtedly true is that we did not have the tools you would want in your tool kit.
And, these are the best & brightest minds that President Obama talked about in his presser last week that we’ve been so dependent on that has been handling this spill like putting a kiddie band – aid over a gunshot wound to the heart? YEA!!
Mr. Hayward’s still insisting that little oil has "gotten away." Sure, tell that to the people cleaning up the $hit & to the people on and near those beaches. Journalists have been blocked by BP/BS from taking & releasing pictures of dead & injured wildlife. Gov. Gilligan Jindal has gone from "Help us, too big evil government; you’re our only hope!" to "Don’t pi$$ off the oil companies because they’ll take their ball & go home!" Here we go:
The last thing we need is to enact public policies that will certainly destroy thousands of existing jobs while preventing the creation of thousands more.
Geez Louise...
President Obama assures CNN he’s furious about what’s going on; well, then ACT LIKE IT! Oh Richard Wolffe, you are a sight for sore eyes, balm for sore ears, etc.
Richard said that many of the local populations in the Gulf area are still supportive of off – shore drilling because their economies are so dependent on it. Gov. Gilligan is pandering to those interests while still trying to maintain that everything would’ve been just hunky – dory if BP/BS didn’t have to worry about all those darn pesky government regulations. Say what?! The administration has actually given some approvals for those barrier islands that Gov. Gilligan has been begging for at the same time of this latest round of *itching from the "good" Governor. Keith mentioned his belief that not many of us wanted or wants to hear President Obama go medieval on BP/BS; him going "Chicago style" would’ve been very refreshing! Yea, I know he’s not like that, but we’ve never seen an environmental disaster on this scale like this before, either. The government is getting ready to send BP/BS a big ‘ol bill, but I’d still like to see a little of this – not quite to the "gun and knife degree," but y’all get the point. ;)
Rick Steiner is back tonight; time to put our science caps back on! Mr. Steiner’s offered to be an independent consultant in the forthcoming efforts; his offer’s been met with crickets. But, be assured that plenty of BP/BS & governmental types will be on the scene! We could know as soon as tonight or in the morning how well the current capping efforts are going. Mr. Steiner’s been at the receiving end of being shoved aside by BP/BS officials when trying to document what’s been happening to plants & animals along the Gulf. The loop current could – COULD – take the oil around the Florida panhandle, up the East Coast, along North Carolina, then out to the open Atlantic. YIPPEE! Share the wealt...err...uh...mess! Mr. Steiner thinks this possibility is very probable – especially if this current cap doesn’t work; he thinks some of the oil’s already in the loop current & could actually end up close to...Great Britain!
#4 "Nuclear Option" AKA "Going Nuclear" - Some are suggesting blowin’ up the Deepwater Horizon site real good! Who’s suggesting that – Slim Pickens?!
Yea, throw in some radiation with bubblin’ crude for that fresh lemon scent! Some are saying we should nuke the site because the Soviets did it?! Um, according to right wing Reagan worshipers, didn’t we win the Cold War? And, if we did, we’re going to take pointers from THE LOSERS?! The National Review’s in favor of it; they have a "missile thing." Dr. Michio Kaku is back; he’s less – than enthusiastic about going nuclear with this site, too. Yea! Dr. Kaku made a great point! All these people suggesting nuking Deepwater Horizon obviously haven’t seen Godzilla!
#3 "We Tortured" AKA "The Torture President" - OK, we had DICK bragging about waterboarding; now, GWB’s confessed to it, too. So, these "fine gentlemen" will be arrested...when?
Does AG Holder read a newspaper or catch a new program on the television machine? GWB made this confession last night in Grand Rapids, MI. HEY! THAT’S why Jim Joyce sparked up that call; teh stooooopid was in the air! GWB’s biggest regret of his presidency was FAILURE TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY????!!!! O...M...G...There are so many ways this comment is just sparked up to infinity & beyond – not just because of all the reasons that Keith brilliantly reminded us of – but because of GWB’s presence during the 2008 economic meltdown that would’ve made privatized Social Security funds worth less than those wheelbarrows full of money being wheeled around Germany after WWI. THAT MAN IS AN IDIOT! And, if I could ask one of my "usual suspects" to work up an appropriate graphic, I’d be eternally grateful. ;D
DAMN! We’re getting 2 segments about last night’s perfect – not perfect – sure as $hit should’ve been perfect game! And, since I NAILED how Bud Selig would react to this $hit, I think I’ll number my "Cooperstown Post Office Box" 23 for THIS guy!
Good sparkin’ gawd, Joyce missed that damn call by a country mile. At least he admitted it but DAMN! Both parties involved are acting beyond classy; Bud Selig is acting like...well...Bud Selig.
So, for all you thinking that Mr. Bud will show some chutzpah by moving next year’s MLB All – Star game out of the "Show Me Your Papers" state should SB 1070 go into law, I said before I’ll say again; don’t hold your breath. Ah...the George Brett pine tar game...THAT was fun; I saw that on the television machine live! The Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm, issued a proclamation that Armando Galarraga did indeed pitch a perfect game. Yea, THAT’ll make him feel a whole lot better. She’s wondering why the instant replay isn’t being used in baseball, either, and Keith answered her in a similar way to what I said above! Again...
Ken Burns everyone! He thinks last night’s game will eventually become a "perfect" one, but his supposed fears about "sweater unraveling" in Bud’s mind is, with all respects to Ken Burns, a crock of $hit. All the cases he mentioned in potential unraveling were blatant out – and – out cases of purposeful CHEATING & BREAKING THE LAW. Unless it comes out that Armando Galarraga had used "performance enhancers" last night or that Jim Joyce was paid to throw that call, what happened last night was a stupid mistake that all parties involved have owned up to & expressed appropriate regret and tremendous class – again except for Bud Selig.