Wednesday, October 16, 2013

NBC Sports: MLB 1984- St. Louis Cardinals @ Chicago Cubs: Game of The Week


Source:NBC Sports with the MLB Game of The Week.

Source:The Daily Press

“MLB 1984 06 23 84 Cardinals at Cubs”
The baseball game that seemed like it would never end. A classic game in this great Cardinals-Cubs rivalry, great rivalry even though the Cardinals are traditional winners and champions. And the Cubs generally are not only losers, but tend to finish way out of contention.
This was a great game, if you hate pitching and perhaps see pitching as an inconvenience to slugfests and perhaps as a necessary evil that is necessary so that baseball games actually come to conclusion at some point.
This game was essentially a home run derby where the team that could find away to get more outs and scored last was going to win. But not a great game in the sense that it was a great all around played game with good pitching, defense, and with timely hitting, that went down to last outs and into the ninth inning not knowing who was going to win at the end.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Foreign Affairs: Francis Fukuyama: ‘The Future of History: Can Liberal Democracy Survive the Decline of the Middle Class’


Source:Foreign Affairs- welcome to Washington.

Source:FRS FreeState

“Something strange is going on in the world today. The global financial crisis that began in 2008 and the ongoing crisis of the euro are both products of the model of lightly regulated financial capitalism that emerged over the past three decades. Yet despite widespread anger at Wall Street bailouts, there has been no great upsurge of left-wing American populism in response. It is conceivable that the Occupy Wall Street movement will gain traction, but the most dynamic recent populist movement to date has been the right-wing Tea Party, whose main target is the regulatory state that seeks to protect ordinary people from financial speculators. Something similar is true in Europe as well, where the left is anemic and right-wing populist parties are on the move.”


I saw a blog post last night on The Dish with Andrew Sullivan which is also on WordPress (if you are interested in The Dish) and Sullivan’s piece was called: “Why hasn’t there been a Liberal version of the Tea Party” I’m paraphrasing, but that is pretty close to the title of it. Referring to groups like Occupy Wall Street (As if these are liberal groups)

When I see writers even intelligent columnists and bloggers like Andrew Sullivan refer to left-wing, especially Far-Left groups like Occupy Wall Street, MoveOn, the Green Party, the so-called Progressive Caucus, as liberal groups, to me that’s just another example of how ignorant the so-called mainstream media (which Andrew Sullivan is a member of) is when it comes to Liberals and liberalism. They view Liberals and liberalism as leftist, when the fact is they’re really talking about Socialists (or Social Democrats, if you prefer) but the s-words scares the hell out of them.

Liberalism is based off of liberal democracy, which today is called classical liberalism, but the real liberalism is based off of liberal democracy, which includes all sorts of individual rights and freedoms that all Americans and is the basis for our form of government.

Free speech, free press, freedom of religion or freedom from religion, freedom of choice, limited but responsible government, federalism, property rights, equal rights, equal justice, judging people by the content  of their character, not by the color of their skin (to paraphrase the great Reverend Martin L. King) these are the real liberal values in America.

The reason why leftists (Socialists-Social Democrats and Communists) get called Liberals, is because the mainstream media identifies them as Liberals and we still have a lot of trapped in the closet Socialists in America, because of how terrified Americans are of the words socialist and socialism, because they automatically think of Soviet Russia and the totalitarianism that came from that Communist State. And leftists in America generally don’t want to be associated with Communists.

So perhaps Andrew Sullivan’s blog post should’ve been titled something to the effect: “How come there hasn’t been a left version of the Tea Party” because liberal and left are not the same things and never have been.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Jack Scalia: Torch Song (1993) Starring Jack Scalia & Raquel Welch


Source:Jack Scalia- Hollywood Goddess Raquel Welch and Jack Scalia, in Torch Song from ABC.
Source:The Daily Press

"Paula Eastman (Raquel Welch) with an alcohol problem goes into rehab where she meets a fireman, Mike Lanahan (Jack Scalia) with similar problems.  Visit Jack Scalia's official facebook page at:Facebook."

From Jack Scalia

I’ll be the first to admit, Torch Song is not a great movie. It was probably one of the last made for network TV movies, which were all but gone by the late 1990s. But Raquel Welch and Jack Scalia are great in this movie and I believe Alicia Silverstone is as well.

Raquel plays an alcoholic actress whose career is now suffering as a result. The last straw with her alcoholism and what gets her to admit it, is that her daughter not only catches her drunk one night, but catches her drunk on video tape and shows her. That is what gets Raquel’s character in alcoholic rehab where she meets a man there another alcoholic played by Jack Scalia. And they start a relationship.

Even drunk Raquel is still a hot baby-face goddess who is also pretty funny.

Monday, October 7, 2013

The NBA History: NBA 1979-Christmas Day-Philadelphia 76ers @ New York Knicks: Highlights

Source:NBA History- the 76ers and Knicks from 1978.
Source:The Daily Press 

“Dr. J, Henry Bibby, ”Jellybean” Bryant and Doug Collins took the floor against Earl ”The Pearl” and the Knicks.” 

From The NBA History

Philadelphia-New York, is a great rivalry in any sport. Eagles-Giants in the NFL, which is probably the best one. Flyers-Rangers, in the NHL, Phillies-Mets in MLB and yes the 76ers-Knicks in the NBA. Which today is not nearly the rivalry it was twenty-five or thirty years ago. But it was a big deal in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

But now both franchises, especially in the 76ers case, haven’t been very good for a long time. The 76ers, have only been to the Conference Finals twice since winning their last NBA Finals in 1983. And the Knicks have struggled just to make the Eastern Conference Playoffs for the last ten years or so.

As far as this game, the 76ers were still one of the best teams in the NBA at this point. They lost in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1978 and got to the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1979.

Dr. J Julius Erving, certainly the best forward in basketball at this point and arguably the best all around player in the NBA as well at this point. Trying to lead the 76ers under head coach Billy Cunningham back to the NBA Finals. This was a bit of a homecoming for The Doctor who played for the Nets on Long Island. And the fact that he now played for the 76ers in this game was on Christmas Day, 1978 and they Sixers won big, made this game much more special.

What is also interesting about this game, is that Bob McAdoo, one of the top power forwards in the NBA in the 1970s was playing for the Knicks in this game. That were a pretty bad team in the late 70s. After leaving Buffalo in like 1976, he ends up playing for like three teams in four years. Here’s one of the best players in the NBA at this point getting shipped around from bad team to bad team in the late 70s. Before finally finding a home where he could finish his career with in Los Angeles with the Lakers in 1982.

There was a lot of talent on both teams in this game, especially for the 76ers, but they were clearly the better team.

Friday, October 4, 2013

CBS Sports: NBA 1988-Chicago Bulls @ Detroit Pistons: Fourth Quarter


Source:CBS Sports- the start of a great NBA rivalry.

Source:The Daily Press

“NBA 1988 Chicago Bulls vs Detroit Pistons”
The Chicago Bulls weren’t that bad in 1988, they were actually good winning fifty games, but were still developing as a team and still not good enough to beat a team like the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers.
The Bulls had Horace Grant developing at power forward with Charles Oakley still having that position, who was very solid and very good for them. But the Bulls by the late 1980s were moving to become a quicker, more athletic, trapping type of team on defense. That moved the ball a lot on offense to the open scorer.
The Bulls traded Oakley in the offseason. And made Grant their starting power forward for the next season. Scottie Pippen wasn’t even starting for the Bulls during the 1988 season.
So the Bulls were still about Michael Jordan on offense, with Orlando Woolridge as their second option. Who at times was very good, but not a great player. 
And the Pistons were one of the teams that they had to get by in the Central Division to accomplish what they wanted, which was to win the NBA Finals. And this was the start of the Bulls-Pistons rivalry, which is still alive today, but not as strong. 
The Pistons in 1988 were an NBA Finals contender, but better than they were in 1987. Because they had already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals and lost it and knew they were very close to what they wanted which was an NBA Championship. 
And if Isiah Thomas doesn’t sprain his ankle of game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals, who knows maybe they win the championship that year. The Celtics were getting older and no longer had a good bench and the Pistons already knew they were good enough to beat the Celtics.

Colgate University: 'Liberal Democracy and Its Limits'

Source:Colgate University- talking about liberal democracy.
Source:FRS FreeState 

"As a regime type, liberal democracy is defined in terms of its limits - respect for personal freedom; reliance on market mechanisms; governance through the rule of law, articulated through representative government, responsive to the peopel in periodic elections. It also limits its aspirations - it seeks to secure rights, rather than to save souls or mold the character of its citizens. Through limited, could liberal democracy be the "final" form of government, the end of history?" 


"Slides regarding Liberal Democracy for an undergraduate course in Political Thought that I taught between 2003-2005." 

Source:Slide Share- with a look at the real liberalism.

From Slide Share

I’m not sure there is an actual limit or limits to liberal democracy, other than the fact that people who aren’t fans of liberal democracy and individual freedom have the same freedom as people who believe in freedom. Even as much freedom that comes from liberal democracy. Whether they are on the Left or Right and because people who have more of a statist, or authoritarian beliefs when it comes to government. And can and do use their freedom to work for, donate, work and elect people whether they are on the Far-Right and Far-Left to put in their authoritarian form of government in place.

But the whole ideas and notions of liberal democracy and the liberal form of government and constitution, is built around a Constitution and Bill of Rights. And I would argue that it is built around the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. That is the people have a basic set of constitutional rights built around free speech, free assembly, right to privacy, freedom of press, the right to be educated, the right to practice, or not to practice religion. And that religion is separate from state in the sense that society isn’t governed based on religious beliefs.

But the best available facts not faith on the ground and the United States Constitution as well as the right to self-defense. And what separates liberal democracy from social democracy or majoritarian democracy, is that the constitutional rights that individuals have are constitutional and can’t be taken away from us, because they may seem to be unpopular at the time. That we are essentially guaranteed these basic rights our entire lives.

Just to add one more, property rights and self-ownership: that the people and not government own the economy and own their own property including themselves. And what comes with that is not only economic freedom, the right for one to chart their own course in life and make out of life what they can make of it and keep the rewards of what they produce for themselves. And society and not government collecting most of what people produce and giving it to other people, or spend that money for the people because they believe they better know what people in life need to live well.

And where a limited government comes in is to see that everyone has the ability to access freedom in their lives. To do for the people what they can’t do for themselves, or not do as well. And that we all have access to get the tools that we need to be successful in life and to live in freedom. And to me that comes with education, regulation to protect workers and consumers, not run business’s. And law enforcement and defense so the society has the freedom to move around and operate with a certain level of security.

You want to know what liberalism and liberal democracy is about, it’s these things. Individual freedom and rights and not having a superstate that is there to take care of us for us. And to protect us even from ourselves. Like having to see or hear speech that they may offend us to use as an example. Someone who believes in a superstate is not a Liberal, but a statist, or a paternalist whether they come from the Right or Left.

Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democracy