Alabama Farms Go Unharvested

I have lately been following in the news how Alabama farmers are losing a lot of money because their ripe fields have too few willing to harvest them. Why is this happening? Apparently, a new Alabama state law is coming down very hard on undocumented immigrants and they are moving out of the state en masse. Many of these had been providing the migrant farm labor these farm owners had been using for many years to work their crops. And they can't find enough "real" Americans willing to perform the low-wage, difficult work that the mostly-Mexican migrant workers consistently did.

After hearing this news, I had two different reactions...

The first is the "obvious" one that the news presenters may have wanted me to have. Which is that Americans are too soft and whiny about their "poor" economic situation. After all, when there are jobs out there, they don't want to do them. Of course, with regard to the Alabama farm worker situation, that's nonsense: we're talking about illegal, under-the-table sub-minimum wage labor, aren't we?

My second reaction is to wonder how many of these "unfortunate" Alabama farmers, with the prospects of failed crops spoiling in their fields, passionately went to the polls and voted for the very same people that passed these restrictive and punitive laws that drove away their labor pool. I think that, once again, we see an example of a segment of the electorate being swayed on emotional hot-button issues to vote for one party against their own better interests. When, if ever, are the people going to awake and realize how they are letting themselves be manipulated??!!

Florida Gators "Settling" Into Season

Now that the University of Florida football team, as expected, have lost their last two football games to conference powerhouses Alabama and LSU, they can reassess their prospects for this season. And incredibly, the fact remains that, even with two consecutive Southeastern Conference losses, the Gators have, as the old cliche goes, "control over their own destiny" regarding their annual goal: winning the SEC championship. Of course, that notion would completely go up in smoke with their next loss, as early as their next game against defending (but much weaker this year) national champion Auburn. Still, most Gator followers will probably be content if they can just win their own division.

This annual process of continual evaluation of the Florida season is interesting to me. After all, optimism abounds at the beginning of the season, even in those years (like this one) in which the team isn't expected to do all that well. The first couple of games are traditionally scheduled against "softy" smaller colleges, so by the time in week #3 when Florida actually plays Tennessee, their first major college opponent, Gator statistics are usually pretty impressive, both offensively and defensively. And lately, Tennessee hasn't had that good of a team either. And the next opponent, which often is Kentucky, usually represents relative mediocrity within this very competitive conference (although on a national level, they're often quite good). So even with only an average squad, the Gators can often start out impressively with a 4-0 record, usually accompanied by high national rankings. This year they did just that, climbing to #12 before being jarred back into reality by their next two opponents.

So what kinds of seasons do Gator fans generally get from their team? Here are some categories:

--Highest expectations: national championship or bust. This happened in 1996, 2008, and 2009, with the last being the "bust" season.

--High expectations, with a national championship or "very close" being the result. 1995 and 2006 were examples of these seasons.

--High expectations, generally met but with disappointing rivalry losses and season endings. This has been the general trend with Florida's seasons, especially since 1990 when Steve Spurrier began as coach. I regard 2001, Spurrier's last season as Florida coach, with Rex Grossman as quarterback, as the consummate season of this type.

--High expectations, average seasons. This is probably what will happen this year, but I think it is the high expectations that are open to criticism, if anything. I think every Gator coach has experienced these types of seasons. During Ron Zook's three-year tenure from 2002-2004, that's all we got.

--High expectations, poor seasons: Many of Doug Dickey's teams, especially that horrendous 1978 season that finally put an end to his coaching stint at UF.

--Low expectations, awful season: Charley Pell's inaugural 1979 season, when UF went 0-10-1.

So let's just enjoy each game this year as they come and appreciate that we have such a strong football winning tradition here without setting too high a standard for a brand new coach and his staff to be able to meet in his first season.

السلام عليكم

The introduction of new foreign language vocabulary may or may not become a regular part of this blog, depending on how useful this exercise is to me. Sometimes, with a language such as Arabic and its exotic script, I'm doing a little more than just listing words and their meanings: I'm also familiarizing myself with how to type out a new script using a new template. The text I'm using to study Arabic is Teach Yourself Arabic by Jack Smart and Frances Altorfer (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., 2003). In the list below, each line consists of the Arabic writing, the transliteration, and then the meaning. A new page where vocabulary appears is indicated by a number at the end of the line.

Unit 1 Vocabulary in Teach Yourself Arabic

السلام عليكم...as-salaamu :alay-kum.....hello, 24
و عليكم السلام...wa- :alay-kum as-salaam.....hello (in reply)
صباح الخير...SabaaH al-khayr.....good morning, 25
صباح النور...SabaaH an-nur.....good morning (in reply)
مساء الخير...masaa' al-khayr.....good afternoon/evening, 26
مساء النور...masaa' an-nuur.....good afternoon/evening (in reply)
كيف حالك؟...kayfa Haal-ak.....how are you? (to a man), 27
كيف حالك؟...kayfa Haal-ik.....how are you? (to a woman)
الحمد لله...al-Hamdu lil-laah.....(response to above)
أهلا وسهلا...ahlan wa-sahlan.....welcome
أهلا بك...ahlan bi-k.....(reply to a man)
أهلا بك...ahlan bi-ki.....(reply to a woman)
وأنت...wa anta/anti.....and you? (sing. masc/fem)
بخير...bi-khayr.....well
من فضلك...min faDl-ak.....please, 30
تفضل...tafaDDal..... here you are, welcome
شكرا...shukran.....thank you
نعم...na:am.....yes, 31
أو...aw.....or
ﻻ...laa.....no
ب...bi-.....with
بدوب...bi-duun.....without
بكم هذا؟...bi-kam haadha?.....how much is this
الأهرام...al-ahraam.....the pyramids
شمس...shams.....sun, 32
نور...nuur.....light
قمر...qamar.....moon, 33
بيت, بيوت...bayt, buyuut.....house, 34
صغير...Saghiir.....young (person), small (thing)
ولد, أوﻻد...walad, awlaad.....boy
طويل...Tawiil.....tall (person), long (thing)
كتاب, كتب...kitaab, kutub.....book
كبير...kabiir.....big
جميل...jamiil (fem. jamiilah).....beautiful
هرم...haram.....pyramid, 35
قهوة...qahwah.....coffee, 36
بعيد...ba:iid.....far, distant, 39
قريب...qariib.....near
جديد...jadiid.....new
قديم...qadiim.....old (things)
لطيف...laTiif.....pleasant, nice
كريم...kariim.....noble, generous
صحيح...SaHiiH.....correct, right

Starting On Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series

Sometimes I find myself pulling into the parking lot of my preferred Books-a-Million on Newberry Road (as opposed to the NW 13th Street location) to check out the books there. I tend to browse throughout the store, but often focus on the science fiction/fantasy section. One author who has intrigued me by his enormous amount of material displayed there is the fantasy writer Terry Goodkind. Among his works is the twelve (lengthy) volume series The Sword of Truth, which he published over a span from 1994 to 2007. Goodkind, according to the Wikipedia article I read about him, is a fan of Ayn Rand and her objectivist philosophy. He has apparently incorporated this into the Sword of Truth series. I find the idea of placing objectivism into a fantasy setting, full of magic and the supernatural, pretty intriguing and want to discover how he pulls this off (or whether he actually does pull it off).

I have begun reading Terry Goodkind's Sword series with the first book Wizard's First Rule. Just to be on the safe side, though, I saved my money (for now) and just checked it out from my library. After the first chapter, though, it is clear to me that Goodkind is a good writer who at least knows how to begin a long work by spurring the reader's interest from the very beginning. Let's just hope that he can sustain that interest for me! Ultimately, though, I need to feel some sort of bonding with the characters he presents. They don't necessarily have to be likable (as is the case with Lev Grossman's Magician series protagonist Quentin Clearwater, quite an unlikable dude). But they do have to be believable and show some complexity.

I understand that this series of Goodkind had been adapted to a short television series titled Legend of the Seeker. "Short" because it was unceremoniously cancelled after a couple of seasons, apparently from general disinterest. Hopefully, I won't later feel the need to "cancel" my reading of the books from disinterest, too...

Apple's Steve Jobs Will Be Missed

Computer innovator and entrepreneur Steve Jobs has died at age 56, presumably from complications arising from his pancreatic cancer of several years. Being an original founder of Apple Computer and seeing the introduction of the graphics-friendly, user-friendly Macintosh personal computer in the early 1980's, he then left the company in 1985 after a conflict with others in high management. Later he returned in the late 1990's and revitalized the then-floundering company, introducing the "i" line of products with which we are so familiar today.

Many today are paying tribute to how Jobs changed the information and communications industry. Others see him as a shining example of a creative entrepreneur, someone on whom Americans and others worldwide can model themselves to create their own new companies and products that that can, in turn, revitalize the flagging economies we see all around us today.

Steve Jobs will be sorely missed, but his example will endure for a long, long time...

Controversial Drone Attack on American

With the drone attack on American-born Al Qaeda terrorist leader Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen has arisen a stirring debate about the propriety of the U.S. action. After all, al-Awlaki was an American citizen and hadn't been legally charged with any crime (at least by the U.S.). Didn't that mean he had a more privileged status than non-nationals who are deemed to be a national threat?

Sometimes it is very hard for me to trust my own government when it claims to have special intelligence that implicates a specific party as being a threat to our nation, especially in light of the misguided justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Al-Awlaki had been implicated as being a spiritual adviser for two of the 9/11 hijackers, encouraged and praised the Ft. Hood shooter, and abetted if not planned recent terrorist plots in the U.S., including the failed May 2010 attempt to set off a van bomb just outside Times Square, New York City. Yemen had itself issued a "wanted dead or alive" announcement against al-Awlaki for alleged terrorist activities against that country and its people. But shouldn't our government have pursued a judicial course before acting as it did?

The way I see it is this: If the police see someone walking down the street shooting off an automatic weapon randomly at people, they are not going to wait to obtain a arrest warrant before subduing the individual, very likely with deadly force of arms. That's because the police, an arm of our executive branch of government, are mandated to protect the public from harm. In like manner, on a national level it is the executive, not judicial, branch that is empowered to protect the nation from its enemies. And as for the task of identifying which parties constitute our enemies, judges play no role.

Now in that context, if those entrusted with our national defense concluded that al-Awlaki constituted an imminent threat to national security and was a danger to Americans while making himself personally unapproachable for capture, then they would be in a very similar situation to that police/gunner scenario earlier alluded to.

The real question we have here is how far we are willing to trust those with executive power to accurately identify enemies and their threats to us, and to then act appropriately to deal with them in an effective, timely manner for the national good. Ron Paul, who sees conspiracies of power everywhere he looks, naturally was bitterly opposed to the drone attack. But like it or not, I want my government to protect me from those who mean to harm me and my family. After all, the Times Square attempt occurred at the exact spot where we were staying less than a month earlier. Our visit there came too close to being part of this ordeal.

Hopefully, at some time in the near future, we will get some information that further clarifies the drone attack and which explains it more compellingly in terms of protecting us from terrorism. In the meantime, we need to recognize that depending on our judicial system alone in matters concerning national defense and international (and domestic) terrorism would be disastrous. Yes, the judiciary does need to come into play and have an appropriate role. But it cannot tie up those whom we are entrusting with our defense, either.

Hank Williams, Jr. and His Remark

Hank William, Jr. has a carefully-crafted reputation as being the "bad boy " of country music. As such, perhaps he felt that the public would pretty much hand him free rein over everything he said. And, to be perfectly honest, he IS an American and entitled to the protection of the First Amendment regarding his speech and opinions. But he was also making money representing a private media company (ESPN) with his weekly opening appearance on the Monday Night Football program. So his recent equation of President Obama with genocidal mass-murdering tyrant Adolf Hitler, while constitutionally-protected as free speech, still went way over the edge in regard to its propriety. Thank you, ESPN, for immediately dumping him. Had you not, though, I was preparing to launch my own personal boycott campaign against your company and sponsors...

One aspect to Junior's unfortunate diatribe that I haven't yet heard discussed was the fact that he made it while a guest on Fox News' Fox and Friends show. Evidently, ol' Hank felt real brave and cocky sitting around a bunch of like-minded right-wingers when he let loose his slime bomb. But didn't the dude realize that EVERYONE was going to hear him, not just his little insulated bubble of political "friends" who just sat there emptily grinning at him?

I've seen the same going on in political campaigning as well. In 2008, a surging Mike Huckabee, while trying to ingratiate himself with Christian fundamentalists in South Carolina who wanted nothing less than a Christian theocracy (with THEIR doctrine, of course), espoused to a sympathetic crowd that he wanted to change the United States Constitution to conform more closely with the Bible. Yes, he won points with that crowd, but his words went nationwide, scaring the hell out of millions and effectively torpedoing his presidential aspirations. Other examples of candidates saying objectionable and/or controversial things in ostensibly sympathetic settings... without regard to the fact that in today's instant-mass-communication age, EVERYONE is the real setting...abound without anyone seeming to understand what they are doing at the time they make their ill-chosen remarks.

Politicians and celebrities can no longer play to their extremist bases with inflammatory rhetoric and then turn around and claim to be more reasonable in other settings. Because, well, it's all out there now for everyone to see and hear!

Today's Eight-Mile Gorillaz Run

Today I had a breakthrough with my running, easily covering 8.05 miles in 1:13:28. Two factors contributed to my success: (1) I had eaten a lot the previous day, including a big pasta entree at Olive Garden, and (2) the humidity (as well as the temperature) was low. At the start of the run, it was 70 degrees with 41% humidity. By the end, the temperature had climbed to 79 but the humidity had plummeted to a heavenly 26%.

At the start of my run (which I accomplished as usual going up and down my neighborhood streets), I felt stiff and tired. If I had gone on my feelings alone then, I wouldn't have tried to reach 8 miles. But I knew I had energy reserves and, for once, the weather was actually on my side. So I kept plugging away. I never tired, and my running became smoother as I stretched my distance. By the end, I knew I could go further, but decided to give myself another chance at a (hopefully soon) future date to accomplish that on another run. During my post-workout recovery, due to the relative dryness of the air, I wasn't even sweating at all. Quite a contrast from that earlier near-disastrous 4-mile run I stumbled through a couple of months ago in Hollywood, Florida, when the temperature was comparable but the humidity was an unbearable 80-plus percent...

Throughout today's run, I listened exclusively to the alternative group Gorillaz in shuffle mode on my MP3. This act's sound worked perfectly with my running to make it a truly pleasurable experience.

Frodo, Quests, and Me

I an currently in the middle of a number of long-term self-improvement endeavors, some of which may pay financial dividends in the future. This is good, seeing that regardless what happens at my current place of employment (the post office), I am also approaching retirement anyway. And there's no way I want to spend it idly sitting around or doing some menial work for pocket change. So in my various quests, looking for an edge into a paying marketplace is definitely in my mind. But having said that, it is important to note and emphasize the value of the journey itself.

The quest of Frodo Baggins to dispose of the Ring of Power in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings resonates with me as I go about my own quests. As with the deep uncertainty about Frodo being able to ultimately accomplish his crucial deed, my goals also leave a lot of room for self-doubt. It would be easy to become very discouraged and give up, especially if I look too far ahead and become obsessed with how far I still need to go. But as was the case with Frodo, I am focusing more on taking on my quests one step at a time, with me firmly established in the present, putting one foot in front of the other in the directions I need to go. There will be times of great progress; there will also be times of stagnation, even crisis. But that's just part of the journey...

I look around me at other people in my life and discover that many are just drifting along from one day to the next, completely mired in the small details of their daily existence and without any consistent theme to where they want to take their lives. For better or for worse, I am not like them and hope that I never will be. And like Frodo the Ringbearer, this sometimes sadly means that I will often find myself alone in my journey...

Weather More Pleasant

Today's weather has been so remarkably autumn-like that I have to write about it. The humidity is very low and the temperatures might not even reach 80. For Florida this is an unusual treat, even for October. Especially on the first day of October!

To mark the occasion I dragged out my my jacket and sweater to take with me for the nighttime, when it's supposed to plummet to around 50.

I went running for a couple of miles around noon today. I could have gone on much longer, but today was a "low mileage" day (I have been alternating how long I run for about three weeks). Good news, though: tomorrow's forecast is for more of the same wonderful weather. Let's see how far I can run then!

Potential 2011 World Series Pairings

Now that the eight teams are set for this year's Major League Baseball playoffs, I look at them and envision what the best World Series match-ups might be.

The most-anticipated finals are either rematches of previous Series or have a special geographical twist to them. Not that either of these implies a great series. And often a great World Series will happen between two teams with little to connect them to each other. As an example of the former, the 2000 "Subway Series" between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets promised much but delivered little, with the Yankees sweeping the Mets in only four games. But 1982's contest between the American League's Milwaukee Brewers and the National League's St. Louis Cardinals produced an exciting, see-saw series that went down to the final game.

This year Milwaukee is once again in the playoffs as is St. Louis. But the two teams won't be facing each other in the World Series since the Brewers have jumped over to the National League, actually in the same division as the Cardinals. For Milwaukee I see no match-up with the American League entrants (NY Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers, or Texas Rangers) that would pique my interest. The same goes for Texas up against any of the National League teams (including the Philadelphia Phillies, St.Louis Cardinals, and the Arizona Diamondbacks). I suppose, though, that a Texas-Arizona series might be deemed as the "Southwestern States Series"...

I see only four interesting scenarios for World Series match-ups this year:

1) New York Yankees vs. Philadelphia Phillies: A rematch of 2009 that the Yanks took sees a much stronger Phillies team with an almost invincible pitching rotation. This is the best pairing to me since these are clearly the two best teams in baseball over the span of the regular season this year.

2) Tampa Bay Rays vs. Philadelphia Phillies:
Another rematch, this time of 2008, when then-upstart Tampa Bay couldn't pull off the miracle finish they had envisioned against the Phillies. This year would be even more of a miracle if they won this Series.

3) New York Yankees vs. Arizona Diamondbacks:
Right after the 9/11 attacks on Manhattan in 2001, the Yankees played out (and ultimately lost) one of the greatest World Series ever against Arizona, a seven-game classic full of close, cliffhanging games. Now ten years later, this is another interesting possibility.

4) Detroit Tigers vs. St. Louis Cardinals:
In 1968, a year that saw pitching so dominate baseball that they lowered the pitcher's mound the next year to give hitters a better chance, Detroit game back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Cardinals four games to three. This was also the last season without divisions and playoffs.

Of course, we might end up with an unanticipated Series like Texas vs. Milwaukee, too. And that one could turn into something memorable for the future. Although New York and Philly are the tops in baseball, anybody can win a short playoff series. So who knows who will make it to the end...

P.S. I suppose you could also go back to the early 1960's series between the Yankees and the Cardinals...but seeing that I didn't follow the World Series until the 1965 series between the LA Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins (I had just turned nine), I'm not counting them.

Appointment for a Lousy Day

Today has not been one of my favorite days, to put it lightly. As a matter of fact, I had been dreading its approach over the past week. You see, I had an appointment to have a lousy day today: I was going to see my doctor as well undergo a scan by a specialist. In all, I was jabbed with needles three different times and the various appointments ended up taking most of my morning. But if just getting stuck was all there was to it, I wouldn't have had any problem. Ditto for investing some of my time in something worthwhile. And I have no complaints against my doctor or the specialist. But...

I really detest having anything to do with doctors' offices, hospitals, medical examination rooms,... even pharmacies leave me cold! I suppose it has something to do with the atmosphere of these places: they are oriented toward sickness, and the concept of sickness permeates them. Not only do I see sick patients all around me, but the workers themselves seem to be focused on sickness. Well, you might say that this is what they're supposed to be doing. And you'd be right. Of course, the doctors and their assistants are actually helping me to maintain my health. But going to them seems irrationally dangerous and repulsive to me...

Coach Muschamp a Wild Man on Sidelines

Every football coach has their own personal demeanor while on the sidelines during games. Some, like the New England Patriots' Bill Belichick or the Florida Gators' former coach Urban Meyer, seem stone-faced and rigid, no matter what is happening on the field. Others like Steve Spurrier pursue a middle ground: Spurrier uses disgusted facial expressions and throws down his visor to express his reactions. Then there are those "wild men" who completely throw themselves into the game, yelling at officials, grabbing players, and even jumping up and down and running back and forth. In this category I put Rex Ryan of the NY Jets and the Miami Dolphins beleaguered coach Tony Sparano. As well as current Florida first-year coach Will Muschamp.

Before this season began, I saw film clips of Muschamp working the sidelines while an assistant coach or coordinator at other schools. And he was very, very emotional, animated and physically involved in the games. I told a couple of my friends to expect to see Muschamp repeat this role of a "wild man" on the sidelines during the Gator games. For a while, though, it looked as if he had settled down a bit. Then again, the first two UF games were against smaller schools. But once Florida began their Southeastern Conference schedule, first against Tennessee and then Kentucky, Coach Muschamp resumed his own theatrical antics. Quite an entertainer, I might say. But, once the game is over and it's time for an interview or press conference, his cool, professional demeanor returns and he becomes a gentlemen once again.

Yesterday I read an article critical of Muschamp's sideline activity written by some young dude working for the Independent Florida Alligator newspaper. He pretty much laid out his objection: Muschamp's antics could be his undoing. But I think that writer missed the point entirely. Will Muschamp is no Bobby Knight, the hot-tempered former Indiana and Texas Tech basketball coach who displayed poor sportsmanship both at courtside and in front of the press microphone. Not that we won't see a little testiness from time to time from the new Gator coach: he does have a right to be human, after all...

Will Muschamp is completely appropriate in his behavior and tailors it to fit the occasion. Sure, he lets himself go during games: that fires up his players to perform better and excites and entertains the fans watching the game. Then, away from the action he assumes the role of leader and spokesman for his team and the University of Florida. I have found no flaws in his behavior: this guy seems to "get it" with how a coach needs to present himself.

Arabic Language Learning Difficulties

The Arabic language is quite a challenge to learn. Just consider some of the following:

--It is written from right to left.

--The script is completely different from Latin script.

--A letter is written differently, depending on whether it is initial in a word, in the middle, or final.

--Short vowels are omitted in standard text, ensuring that readers have to know in advance how a word is pronounced before they can read it.

--Standard Arabic contains some guttural sounds not found in English or other languages. And some are pretty difficult to pronounce.

--Plurals of nouns are irregular and unpredictable, needing to be memorized in advance.

--There are a myriad of different verb forms, each with its own special rules of conjugation.

--Verbs are conjugated by a combination of prefixes, suffixes, and changing vowels and doubling consonants within the roots.

--Unlike English, which shares a great deal of vocabulary affinity with related tongues like French, Spanish, Latin, Italian, Dutch, and German, Arabic belongs to a completely different language family. As such, a learner cannot "cheat" by building up vocabulary from cognates or discern meanings from familiar root forms that cross from other languages to English.

--Arabic as it is routinely spoken varies greatly from country to country, and diverges as well from the standard literary form used in radio and TV. Hence, for example, the multiple transliterations of Libyan's Gadhafi (or Qaddafy, etc.) largely reflect differences in local pronunciation.

--The quality of instructional material for studying Arabic often leaves a lot to be desired. For example, I recently bought a pack of 1000 Vis-Ed Arabic vocabulary cards. You might think that they would have had enough sense to either transliterate the Arabic text into Latin script or insert the traditional Arabic diacritics to indicate short vowels and doubled consonants in their words, but then you would be mistaken. And there are too many Arabic textbooks that also fall short in omitting the needed short vowels from the words they introduce in their lessons.

--Words in traditional Arabic-English dictionaries are ordered by root and not pronunciation, making finding whatever word you're looking for often very difficult.

--Doing anything on the computer in Arabic necessitates a completely different script and keyboard template.

So in studying Arabic, I am facing quite a few hurdles. But that's O.K., I suppose. I did find a different vocabulary card set that gives the Latin transliteration for each word, along with diacritic marks. And the textbook I study, Teach Yourself Arabic, has both the Latin transliterations for their vocabulary and a word glossary at the end arranged in a reasonable manner. I can pick up BBC in Arabic on the computer, not that I can understand what's being said yet. So I do have some things going for me in my endeavor to learn Arabic. One obstacle, though, stands firmly in my way: time!

Sports Comments

--It looks like a great football game ahead between Florida and Alabama this coming Saturday, to be held here in Gainesville. Funny though, the sports media pundits don't seem to give the Gators much of a chance against the Crimson Tide and instead are looking far ahead to Alabama's showdown contest against #1 LSU in November. This in spite of the fact that Florida is playing at home and is ranked at #12. Who knows, maybe Alabama will breeze through this game, but I wouldn't bet on it...

--My Miami Dolphins are showing their usual mediocre regular season form, sporting a "perfect" 0-3 record after a promising 4-1 preseason record. I heard on ESPN radio today someone say that, with parity in the NFL creating so many close scores, teams that collectively have a winning culture will find ways to win those close games, while those with an expectation and history of losing will find ways to lose them. Teams like Buffalo and Detroit, "losers" in the past few years, have recently found that winner's culture and turned out victories while the Dolphins are apparently convinced that they WILL lose the close ones...

--In baseball, there are two teams in each league vying for final wild-card playoff spots: Boston or Tampa Bay in the American League and Atlanta or St. Louis in the National League. At this writing Boston and Atlanta are each one game ahead in their respective races with only three games to go in the regular season. There's no way to tell how things will end up, but for the teams involved there is one thing for certain: the de facto playoff system has already begun for them! I'd like to see Atlanta and Tampa Bay make it into the playoffs, but then again, nothing would beat a New York Yankees-Philadelphia Phillies World Series for excitement...

--Sexagenarian long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad has once again failed in another of her many attempts to swim the Florida Straits between Cuba and Florida. This time she was caught in a flotilla of Portuguese man o' war jellyfish, which inflicted so many painful stings on her that her life was deemed to be in danger. It's interesting to me how an obsession like Nyad's of crossing that one particular body of water can take hold and utterly dominate one's existence. I think that she might just consider stepping back and letting someone else have a go at it. She's surely convinced me (and much of the world) of her athleticism, courage, and tenacity. But I think she may believe that adopting such a reasonable attitude would be the sign of a "quitter"; but people need to be realistic as to their own limitations, too...

Perry Favorably Surprises Me

With the recently held Florida debate between the Republican presidential wannabes, I was hoping that front-running teabag sympathizer Rick Perry would finally get his comeuppance as the others desperately ganged up on him. Well, if that was my original wish, I think it was fulfilled. Kind of...

It seems that, as governor of Texas, Perry allowed children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at Texas public colleges. This infuriated others at the debate, with the charge that this was unfair because "real" Americans from other states had to still pay the much higher out-of-state rates. And the crowd, a general reverse barometer to the validity of anything spoken at these GOP events, loudly agreed with these criticisms. I didn't, and actually came, albeit slightly, to a grudging appreciation of the Texas governor.

People living in Texas, be they "legal" or not, are also immersed in that state's tax structure, which thoroughly permeates its economy. If you live there then you WILL be paying state taxes, like it or not. And the undocumented who live there are no exception. That their children should be thus treated as in-state residents is therefore reasonable to me: besides, they really ARE in-state residents! If out-of-state red, white & true-blue, card-carrying Americans want Texas rates, I have a suggestion for them: MOVE TO TEXAS!

Rick Perry responded to the criticisms that other candidates leveled at him on this issue without retreating one step. He said that he did what he did because he felt it was the right thing to do... and he still does.

Maybe I should take back that remark I had made a few weeks ago about Perry being a "malevolent clown". It seems the man has a heart after all. I just wish he would show it more often...

My Running Picking Up Again

It hasn't been an easy go of it this summer with my running. After all, I remember the great progress I made last year, far surpassing the endurance running I even did back in my late teens in the mid-1970's. And much of this was done in excruciatingly hot conditions. This summer, I have had more severe issues with upper respiratory problems. To make things worse, it has also been consistently more humid this year than last. And a very high humidity is a hindrance to my running, much more so than high temperatures. But here I am now at the end of September and the beginning of autumn. And, without planning it at all, things seem to be picking up with my running in spite of a continued lack of cooperation from the weather.

The idea that, in the middle of a shift away from heavy running, I would end up with a 15-day streak of daily running, is something that I couldn't have foreseen. But two weeks later, I have gotten back to integrating this activity into my life on a habitual level. Some of my runs have just been around my block (2/3 of a mile), but most are longer. I have taken refuge during really adverse weather conditions in the air-conditioned sanctuary of my local YMCA, running on the treadmill there on a couple of occasions during this streak. I haven't yet returned to the longer distances that I ran last year, but I am confident that I'll gradually build up to around 7-10 miles for two to three times a week. And yes, I once again see competing in half-marathon races as a viable prospect for the near-future.

R.E.M. Calls It Quits

R.E.M., one of my all-time favorite rock bands, has finally announced its retirement after three decades in the business. Frontman and lyricist Michael Stipe, lead guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry (through 1997) comprised this alternative group originating from Athens, Georgia. Although they had their first release, an EP titled Chronic Town, in 1982, it took me a few years to catch on to how high-quality this act was. Of course this is partially due to their improvement over the years, but also because they received very little radio air play until the late 1980's. But by the 1990's R.E.M. had become my favorite musical act of that decade. The first R.E.M. tune I ever heard was their 1984 classic South Central Rain (I'm Sorry), courtesy of MTV and featuring lead singer Stipe actually sporting some hair on his head...

After the turn of the century, R.E.M.'s music became generally slower and even moodier than it already had a tendency to be. They tried to move back to their older sound with their last two albums, and I appreciate their efforts. But by that time I had moved on as well with my own musical tastes.

I wish the members of this talented band well with their "retirement", which I put in quotations because I can't imagine them ever stopping with their highly-talented passion for music. I see them individually going off with their own projects and collaborating with others as well. Plus, especially with Michael Stipe, they tend to be active with social issues.

For a change, instead of listing my favorite songs of R.E.M., I'm listing their studio album releases, from top to bottom as I liked them, with a little commentary on the side. Here goes...

1 Monster [1994] ...by far my favorite, their brief flirtation with hard rock
2 Automatic for the People [1992]...their "Sgt. Pepper", produced by John Paul Jones
3 Out of Time [1991]...the album that made R.E.M. a mainstream super-group (for a while)
4 Reveal [2001]...their final great album (to me)
5 Green [1989]...the album that made me notice them
6 Murmur [1983]...full of wonderful songs, should have been a bigger hit
7 Up [1998]...great album with the wrong singles releases
8 New Adventures in Hi-Fi [1996]...disappointing as follow-up to Monster, but E-Bow the Letter a great track
9 Chronic Town (EP) [1982]...every track powerful and memorable
10 Document [1988]...beginning of shift away from their early folk-rock
11 Collapse Into Now [2011]...I'm still in judgment over this one, mostly good songs
12 Accelerate [2008]...gutsy effort to regain their mojo after previous album
13 Life's Rich Pageant [1986]...#13-15 were their mid-80's folk-rock albums, gradually building up their following
14 Fables of the Reconstruction [1985]
15 Reckoning [1984]
16 Around the Sun [2004] ...by far my least favorite, a tribute to dreariness

Oh, here is a link to another article I wrote about R.E.M. three years ago, listing my favorite songs of theirs. Interestingly, that list still holds up pretty well for me...

Don't Ask Don't Tell Ended

It's funny how a policy can be enacted with the higher motive of allowing a group to escape persecution and yet, because of the prejudice of other people, be used ironically to further persecute members of that group. Such was the case with the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy that President Clinton signed off on in the 1990's. Initially designed to allow gays to engage in military service without the military authorities automatically singling them out for disciplinary action, instead the military used the new rule to intrude even more heavily into its members' sexual lives, with many drummed out of the service or forced to keep their sexual orientation underground. Now that rule has been rescinded. Good riddance. I wonder what devices the homophobes in our military will use now to bully gay people serving in its ranks. After all, a rule change may be good but it doesn't signify a general attitude change.

I have discovered, through my often tortuous walk through life, that if you are out of the mainstream in any way, sooner or later some aggressive, intrusive element in society will call you out and try to persecute you for it. Even if your "deviation from the norm" is simply an intrinsic part of your own basic makeup, with little or no effect on others, no matter how trivial it may seem. And even more so if you appear to be all alone, which is really the prime driving force in all cowardly bullying and highhanded criticisms, not the actual "deviation" itself. Gays since 1969 have discovered that there is strength in unity, organization, and numbers, so for them I am glad that this abused rule for military service has ended. Still, I think persecution will continue: as mentioned earlier, you can't change people's hearts with just the stroke of a pen...

Electorate Responsible for Government Impasse

It seems that our president nowadays can do nothing without reaping scathing criticism from one side or the other. The more he tries to work with Republicans, the more they attack him, without showing any of the give and take that our political process needs to function in this country. If he lays out plans in accordance with his own political perspective on things (his recent jobs bill and his current $3 trillion debt reduction plan), the pundits rip him for pushing unrealistic proposals just to better position himself politically for next year. His own party chastises him for trying to at least get SOMETHING done by reaching consensus with a very intransigent and irresponsible political opposition and is beginning to move in the direction of abandoning him in favor of an potential alternate candidate (namely Hillary Clinton, who has repeatedly and vehemently stated that she isn't at all interested).

But from where I'm standing, President Obama is the reasonable, sane element in our political system working to promote the best interests of the country and its people; the other parts are what needs to be fixed. However, seeing that the American people collectively don't seem to "get it", they'll continue, I suppose, to lambaste Republicans in Congress in the public opinion polls while at the same time keep voting for them over and over again at the election polls. And since the GOP's refusal to work to any reasonable degree with the duly elected president keeps being rewarded by voters, why then would they ever consider changing? If you are rewarded for your behavior, good or bad it may be, you're going to repeat it.

A lazy, easily manipulated electorate will get what it deserves: a mediocre, dysfunctional government. And we currently are suffering from both. As far as I'm concerned regarding today's political impasse and dysfunction, the politicians themselves aren't the main problem, regardless of what the "experts" are saying: it's the ELECTORATE!