Mallory and Liz - Heroes

This little act of heroism may have escaped you. It shouldn’t. Every blog in the country ought to make sure the word gets out.

Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace play softball for Central Washington University. And their good deed was to pick up Sara Tucholsky and carry her off the field during a playoff game.

It happens all the time, you say? Did you know that Sara was injured? Yeah. She blew out her knee at First Base. Still no big deal.

Did I mention that Sara plays for a DIFFERENT team? She was on the Western Oregon team, CWU’s opponent in the playoff game. Still not impressed? That was a nice thing to do, helping an injured player on another team.

Oh, and Mallory and Liz carried Sara around the bases and lowered her so she could touch her left foot on each bag and score a home run. That puts these two women in the hero category for me.

You see, Sara is a Senior. She’d never hit one over the fence before. This was a playoff game. And when she ran to first base, she missed the bag and reversed directions. That’s when she tore up her knee. There she was at first base, unable to walk.

Her teammates could not carry her. That would be against the rules. The second option was a designated runner, but the homer would then be reduced to a base hit.

But there’s no rule against players from the OTHER TEAM carrying her around the bases for a home run.

And they did just that.

By the way, Mallory and Liz and Central Washington lost the game and were eliminated from the playoffs. But in my mind they deserve the biggest trophy.

(photo by Blake Wolf)

Prom

You've seen the high cost of going to prom these days. Professional photographers, the limo, two days worth of parties, the dress, the doo, the shoes, the tan, the nails...

I have a theory.

Prom is the new wedding day. Every girl wants to dress in the gown and have "her day". But how many couples live together for years?

Maybe they get married eventually. Maybe not.

If they do, it is generally after several years of living together. The wedding is low-key. In the back yard, followed by a really nice vacation together. But it isn't often the traditional walk down the aisle with organ music and a big reception.

Sooooo, one way or another a girl is going to have her day with a tux-clad man on her arm. Because she knows there may not be a day in a white dress later on she clings to the notion of the prom and experiences every moment of it.

Am I way off base here? Any thoughts?

Plane sense

My, we’ve had our share of FAA news lately. All this talk of emergency reworks that grounded entire fleets for days at a time. Plus, the Southwest scandal where the inspectors aren’t doing their jobs. Not to mention the ATC safety problems.

Why, we’ve never seen anything like it.

Here’s a tip: The head of the FAA is an appointed position. It has a specified term of five years. Last September the term of Marion Blakey expired.

Since that time the agency has been led by an interim director; a man by the name of Robert Sturgell.

Congress has put a hold on Sturgell’s confirmation hearings until next year.

Now, isn’t it a coincidence that someone else will be in the White House by then? Maybe even a Democrat. Then THAT president can appoint someone else for the five year term.

Does this little tidbit put things in perspective?

The corn conundrum

For decades now we have been trying to create renewable fuels to run our cars and generate electricity. The theory is that oil is a finite commodity but if we can grow our own gasoline we will never run out.

So, Yankee ingenuity and the politicians got together and came up with things like bio-fuels and 85% ethanol. Uncle Sam handed out cash for research and promotional programs. And people started buying flex-fuel cars. And there is steady growth in the use of biofuels. Bio-diesel in particular has done rather well in the last year or two.

We’re hearing these days about the high price of corn, brought about they say by the new demand for it in biofuel production.

Now, corn isn’t just a dinner table veggie. It is used as a sweetener in all sorts of products we buy. Huge amounts of it are fed to cattle. And Orval Reddenbacker can’t get along without it.

Well, these days the corn is high, and I don’t mean in the field. Market prices are up.

Al Gore and his bunch have complained that stealing grain out of the mouths of starving children in Africa was not what they had in mind when they advised us to go green.

But that complaint needs some translation. Here it is: “You guys have taken this alternative fuels thing and made it into a viable energy source. But in the process you bypassed our plan to redistribute wealth to other countries. This will not do. We therefore must attack your efforts with our liberal logic.”

At least one spokesman in Washington made sense of the issue this week. He told Congress that the higher food prices we are seeing has more to do with $4 a gallon diesel fuel than with a portion of the corn crop being used for alternative fuels.

Here’s a quote from the Christian Science Monitor:
"We're not downplaying the fact that there are folks having a tough time buying groceries, but to scare those folks to death [by saying it's] because we're making ethanol is an injustice," says Jon Doggett, vice president of public policy for the National Corn Growers Association in Washington. Just a couple years ago, he notes, he was taking calls from people angry that the low price of corn was feeding America's obesity. "Now they're accusing us of intentionally starving people to death around the world."

Meanwhile, Bush is sending more of our money overseas to feed the hungry. As long as he uses his UN budget, I say go ahead. When he runs out of funds and has to vacate the UN building in New York, then we’ve accomplished something.

15,000

That was the estimated count of pro-amnesty marchers in Chicago at the May Day parade yesterday.

I enjoyed the PR spinning going on by the media, mourning the loss of a cheap story every year.

Some said the crowd was smaller but "spirited", whatever that means. And they were delighted to report that Mayor Daley was dancing around on stage.

Why the lower turnout? One radio station reported that workers were afraid of reprisals from employers. They said some workers were “punished” for attending last year’s rally.

(I was thinking that ought to be BIG news…an employer “punishing” workers for exercising their First Amendment right to protest. Alas, the reporter did not elaborate, nor did he attribute.)

Fear of deportation was another reason given for the low turnout. They obviously don’t know the ICE people in Chicago. You’ve got to be REALLY BAD to get deported around here.

Why, they even expanded their invitation this year to include gays, communists, universal health insurance people, anti-war protesters, and subprime mortgage rescue advocates.

Economics professor Barry Chiswick suggested that May Day might not be the best day to march. It has other connotations deeply rooted in communism, socialism, and “workers of the world” types. He suggests that anarchy is pretty far to the left to be accepted by the mainstream. He’s right.

The protesters and the media did make a confession. When they talked about all the other countries and cultures represented in years past, they were only kidding. It has always been about Mexicans. But this year was different. This year it included a nice mix of people from all nations.

Why, they even made up a huge banner with flags from 30 countries on it. And the media was kind enough to include photos and video of the banner in their coverage. This issue has grown more diverse because the organizers say it is so.

Now, the organizers said one of their objectives was to register new voters. I do hope they were careful to register only citizens; the rest aren’t supposed to vote, you know. Not in my America. Not yet at least.

I’m trying to predict the turnout next year using statistical formulae. 400,000…150,000…15,000... Next year they can hold the rally in my kitchen.

Three kings

(No, this isn’t about a poker game or a nativity play.)
If I understand the story of the American Revolution, the crux of it is that the formation of the United States was motivated by a burning desire NOT to be ruled by a monarch. This grand political experiment was an effort to shift sovereignty away from the throne and into the hands of the people.

I will tell you about three kings right here in the United States today, and they aren’t on Beaver Island. One is in Cook County, one is in Island Lake, and the third is in Carpentersville.

King Todd is the President of the Cook County Board, placed there by decree of his now-deceased father, a decree made when John Stroger was suffering from a stroke that made it impossible for him to serve. So he anointed his son. Todd eventually faced the voters and won.

It turns out that Cook County got tax-happy and added a penny to the sales tax. Residents in Palatine didn’t like it and want to secede from the county. Todd originally agreed to go out to Palatine and meet with the taxpayers out there. But he later withdrew his invitation. Why? “It became apparent the format was manipulated such that the forum would no longer be community based,” Stroger said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “This change in format diminishes the ability of the community to voice their concerns and instead allows for political grandstanding by village council members.” Sorry, King Todd will only appear before loyal subjects.

The second is Island Lake Village Trustee Debbie Herrmann. A gentleman attended a town council meeting recently wearing a T-shirt with the message, “Don't Move. If You Run, You'll Only Die Tired. USMC.” He’s a 60-year-old former Marine. He gave his speech to the town council and sat down. Police say he pointed his finger and Herrmann as though it were a pistol, thus leading to his arrest for disorderly conduct. (By the way, his little speech before the village board was about legal fees.) He does look menacing, doesn't he?

Councilwoman Herrmann signed the complaints against him. Here’s where she gets the KING designation: “We've got a job to do up there and we shouldn't have to worry about residents being adverse to what we are doing.” Huh? Residents are not supposed to be part of the process in municipal government?

King #3 is Carpentersville Village President Bill Sarto. Sarto doesn’t like council member Paul Humpfer. Paul has been a thorn in his side for a couple of years now because they disagree on ordinances to stand up against illegal aliens.

On two occasions Sarto has declared Humpfer’s seat on the board vacant because of Humpfer’s domestic abuse court case. The village attorney and the county attorney are both telling him he doesn’t have the authority to vacate the seat without the majority of the board approving it. But that doesn’t stop Sarto from making his declarations.

The king is dead. Long live the king. Next.

What's your point?

There are all sorts of news stories today about the march for “immigrant rights” going on in Chicago and around the nation. And they are all saying that the marches will be much smaller this year.

Let’s see. 400,000 in Chicago in 2006, 150,000 last year. And it is getting smaller again.

Juxtaposed with this May Day rally is Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is a big day in Israel. A siren sounds, all the traffic stops, people get out of their cars, and for two minutes everyone stands still to remember those who died. Entertainment venues are closed for the day and schools hold special ceremonies.

It is interesting to contemplate the two causes, “immigrant rights” and holocaust remembrance. Sometimes those of us who are against illegal aliens are labeled Nazis or Hitlers. Everything I’ve ever read about The Third Reich indicates that the Jews who were expelled and/or killed were lawful German citizens. Can the illegal aliens say the same?

Or they point to the civil rights movement and claim they are victims of the same treatment. Are they? Were illegal aliens brought here against their will? Have they been denied an integrated public education? It is true that they ride on the shirttails of the 14th Amendment, but it is a cheap ride at best.

Author Robert Fulghum wrote about a holocaust survivor he once worked with. Because Fulghum was constantly griping, this concentration camp survivor put him in his place with this little message: "Listen, Fulghum, you know what's wrong with you? It's not the wieners and kraut; it's not the boss and it's not the chef and it's not the job.

"You think you know everything, but you don't know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire--then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. Learn to separate the inconvenience from the real problems, you will live longer and will not annoy people like me so much. Good night."

So, what is the point of these protests? “Immigrant rights” is a misnomer. “Illegal alien demands” is more like it. Like Fulghum’s co-worker, they’ve got nothing to complain about. But that isn’t stopping them. In the Chicago Tribune today they gave a link to the protest organizers. It is: www.chicagomayday.com

Here are some of their demands:
Legalization for All NOW !
Legalization for Elvira Arellano and Flor Crisostomo
End the War in Iraq, bring the Troops Home
Respect for the Self-Determination of Nations
Clean Up for Vieques
Replace Globalization with Nobilization
Stop the Separation of Families, Stop the Hate, Stop the Violence, Stop the Guns, Stop the Drugs
Health Care for Every Family
Equal, Quality, Respectful Education
A Moratorium on Mortgage Foreclosures
Naturalize Foreign-Born Spouses of LGBT Couples
Refugee Rights for LGBT People Fleeing Persecution
Renegotiate NAFTA
Good Jobs on Both Sides of the Border
(Gee, I’m in favor of some of those demands myself. Somehow they left off “A good 5 cent cigar.” I was almost persuaded to join them until I saw the list of people endorsing their cause.)

Their list of endorsements includes:
Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez
Mayor Richard Daley
Carpentersville Village Trustee Linda Ramirez Sliwinski
Grupo Perverso
Latino Chapter of Rainbow P.U.S.H.
Nation of Islam
L.U.L.A.C. Council 300
Gay Liberation Network
Arab American Action Network (AAAN)
Movimiento Migrante Mesoamericano (Mexico)
Sigma America (Whitewater,WI)
Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice
Illinois Coalition of Immigrants and Refugee Rights
Teamsters Local 743
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 881 and 1546
BCTGM Local 1
SEIU Local 1
SEIU Local 73
Teamsters Joint Council 25
Illinois AFL-CIO
Chicago Federation of Labor
AFSMCE Local 2081
YCL Organization
Students of Loyola University
Students of UIC
(What, no Young Republicans?)

So, that’s the make up of the “immigrant rights” protest in Chicago this year. I thought you might find it entertaining.