… of John McCain. The Senator who doesn’t know what he stands for is 68.
… of Elliott Gould. The original “Trapper” John McIntyre and former Mr. Barbra Streisand is 66.
… of William Friedkin. The Oscar-winning director (The French Connection) is 65.
… of Michael Jackson. He was born in 1958, but who knows what that is in Michael years.
… of Rebecca DeMornay. The actress is 42.
Take The Week Quiz.
NewMexiKen scored nine correct out of ten this week.
Garrison Keillor speaks his mind in We’re Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore. An excerpt:
The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous.
The conclusion of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech in Washington on this date in 1963.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. And this will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning, “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!” And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring — from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring — from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring — from the heightening Alleghenies of
Pennsylvania.Let freedom ring — from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring — from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that.
Let freedom ring — from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring — from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring — from every hill and molehill of Mississippi,
from every mountainside, let freedom ring!And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,
“Free at last, free at last.
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
Starting Monday, Albuquerque radio listeners will be part of a nationwide experiment in talk radio.
Air America Radio Network is coming to the Duke City on KABQ-AM (1350), owned by Clear Channel Radio. …
The format, which begins airing Monday morning, will include Limbaugh archcritic Al Franken, whose show is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., directly opposite Limbaugh on KKOB-AM (770). …
Hammond said the station will be looking for a local talk radio host down the road.
From the Albuquerque Tribune
In the world of terrorism, there’s al Queda, there’s the Chechnyan rebels…
And then there’s Maude.
Bea Arthur sparked a security scare at Logan Airport in Boston this week when she tried to board a Cape Air flight with a pocketknife in her handbag.
The “Golden Girls” star, now 81, was flagged by a Transportation Security Administration agent, who discovered the knife – a strict no-no following 9/11.
“She started yelling that it wasn’t hers and said ‘The terrorists put it there,’ ” a fellow passenger said. “She kept yelling about the ‘terrorists, the terrorists, the terrorists.’ ”
After the blade was confiscated, Arthur took a keyring from her bag and told the agent it belonged to the “terrorists,” before throwing it at them.
As she boarded the plane, she told the TSA employees, “We’re all doomed.”
A spokeswoman for Cape Air says, “Miss Arthur was cracking jokes and was a real character.”
From the Philadelphia Daily News
Louis Menand has written an excellent primer on American voters for The New Yorker. Among the fascinating insights is this:
Seventy per cent of Americans cannot name their senators or their congressman. Forty-nine per cent believe that the President has the power to suspend the Constitution. Only about thirty per cent name an issue when they explain why they voted the way they did, and only a fifth hold consistent opinions on issues over time. Rephrasing poll questions reveals that many people don’t understand the issues that they have just offered an opinion on. According to polls conducted in 1987 and 1989, for example, between twenty and twenty-five per cent of the public thinks that too little is being spent on welfare, and between sixty-three and sixty-five per cent feels that too little is being spent on assistance to the poor. And voters apparently do punish politicians for acts of God. In a paper written in 2004, the Princeton political scientists Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels estimate that “2.8 million people voted against Al Gore in 2000 because their states were too dry or too wet” as a consequence of that year’s weather patterns. Achen and Bartels think that these voters cost Gore seven states, any one of which would have given him the election.
If you want to understand better the phenomenon of the next 9-1/2 weeks, read this essay.
… of German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, born in Frankfurt on this date in 1749. Goethe said, “One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”
… of Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, the first American-born saint, born in New York City on this date in 1774.
… of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, born near Tula on this date in 1828.
… of ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson, born in Jamestown, New York, on this date in 1908.
Chalmers Roberts, age 93, has written a very special essay about life and dying in The Washington Post.
Gregg Easterbrook gets us ready for the NFL season —
As the blessed moment, Sept. 9, draws nigh, bear in mind the number 1,000. That’s how many times you will see your favorite team snap the ball during the coming regular season. Last year, the Panthers ran 1,008 plays, the Raiders had 987 plays, the Seahawks ran 1,017 plays, the Cowboys snapped 975 times, the Chiefs snapped 1,003 times, the Packers had 999 snaps. Good team or bad, everybody in the NFL was within a standard pollster’s margin of error of 1,000 plays.
the 36th President of the United States, was born on this date in 1908.
NewMexiKen is glad the driving test at DMV (or MVD as you prefer) is not a computer game. This is a lot more difficult than parallel parking a real car.
Brought to You By the Sweat Experts at Old Spice (2003 rank)
1. El Paso, TX (28)
2. Greenville, SC (43)
3. Phoenix, AZ (1)
4. Corpus Christi, TX (–)
5. New Orleans, LA (10)
6. Houston, TX (2)
7. Miami, FL (3)
8. West Palm Beach, FL (6)
9. Fort Myers, FL (5)
10. Las Vegas, NV (12)
11. Waco, TX (8)
12. Tampa, FL (7)
13. Dallas, TX (11)
14. Orlando, FL (13)
15. San Antonio, TX (4)
16. Mobile, AL (20)
17. Savannah, GA (15)
18. Austin, TX (9)
19. Shreveport, LA (14)
20. Tulsa, OK (16)
21. Charleston, WV (19)
22. Honolulu, HI (23)
23. Jacksonville, FL (21)
24. Tucson, AZ (24)
25. Jackson, MS (22)
Source: Press release from Procter & Gamble via Yahoo!
From Larry Stewart:
Tim Long, a research scientist for Old Spice deodorant, is known as the “sweat expert” at the company.
He led a study that determined the sweatiest sports at the Olympics. Tennis topped the list with 3.37 liters in a match, though the marathon was not included in the study. Shooting came in last among the 23 sports tested.
The results were based on duration, intensity and body temperature achieved.
NewMexiKen figures they should have measured the sweat on the guys watching women’s volleyball.
Update: The entire list:
1. Tennis (Men’s Singles)
2. Triathlon
3. Soccer
4. Volleyball (Beach Volleyball)
5. Handball
6. Cycling (Road Cycling, Individual Time Trial)
7. Baseball
8. Badminton (Men’s Doubles)
9. Basketball
10. Aquatics (Water Polo)
11. Fencing (Men’s Individual Foil)
12. Table Tennis (Men’s Doubles)
13. Gymnastics (Men’s Artistic)
14. Boxing (Super Heavyweight, 201+ lbs)
15. Rowing (Men’s Double Sculls)
16. Wrestling (Greco Roman, 264.5 lbs)
17. Taekwondo (Men’s Welterweight, 176+ lbs.)
18. Aquatics (Individual Medley, 400 M)
19. Weightlifting (Men’s 231+ lbs)
20. Judo (Men’s Heavyweight, 220+ lbs.)
21. Canoeing (Flatwater K1, 500 M)
22. Athletics (Men’s Track, 400 M)
23. Shooting (Men’s 50 M Rifle Prone)
More Dwight Perry:
Sounds like they made a killing on the Kleenex concession at the Olympic Greco-Roman finals yesterday, after Rulon Gardner took off his shoes to signify his retirement from wrestling.
“Rulon was crying,” wrote Gil Lebreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Rulon’s wife was crying. Rulon’s coach was crying. The Iranian guy that Rulon beat was crying. …
“There were so many teary eyes, in fact … a gymnastics meet almost broke out.”
It won’t make anybody forget that eerie list of Abraham Lincoln-John F. Kennedy coincidences, but there are some startling similarities to now and 1979, the previous time USC entered a football season ranked No. 1.
“In 1978, the Trojans won a share of the national title by defeating Michigan in the Rose Bowl,” wrote Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times. “Last season, USC won a share of the national title by defeating Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
“The quarterbacks then and now, (Paul) McDonald and Matt Leinart, are left-handers.
“There was a White in the backfield then, Charles, and a White in the backfield now, LenDale.”
And John Robinson’s secretary was named Carol, and Pete Carroll’s secretary …
Just kidding on that last part.
“Last Sunday, the WP produced an exhaustive (and by that we mean “boring”) report on the conditions under which Kerry won his medals, though there’s apparently still some question as to the role of the guys on the grassy knoll.”
1. Scented candles
2. Cheap cologne
3. Bath salts
4. Decorative plates
5. Tight fitting clothing
6. Cuddly soft toys
7. Artificial flowers
8. Socks
9. Boxed handkerchiefs
10. Novelty mugs
NewMexiKen likes mugs.
Link via Functional Ambivalent.
The cost of car ownership isn’t just what you pay for the car —
None of the traditional American brands are among the 10 vehicles expected to retain the most value over the next half-decade, according to a new report from Kelley Blue Book, a company that tracks used car values. But American brands dominate the other end of the spectrum, the vehicles expected to lose the most value. …
For instance, a four-wheel-drive 2005 Ford Explorer Limited selling for $40,480 is projected to lose 64 percent of its value in four years, meaning that it would fall to $14,525, according to the Automotive Lease Guide, another company that tracks used car values. By comparison, a 2005 Toyota 4Runner Limited with four-wheel drive, selling for $38,500, is expected to retain 47 percent of its value and resell for about $20,000.
From The New York Times
“Once the darling of Wall Street, doughnut-maker Krispy Kreme reported second-quarter profits Thursday that were less than half what the company earned a year ago, widely missing analysts’ expectations. Shares of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. fell nearly 10 percent on the news.”
Source: The New York Times
If you didn’t watch last weekend’s NEC Invitational (and not many did) you may have missed Tiger’s — dare NewMexiKen say it — shank. Grouchy Golf Observations tells the story well.
The video is here (mov file).
Blogger TBogg lost his father yesterday. Last night he wrote about it. It’s well-worth your time.
From Talk Left
Imagine the feeling. You sit on a jury, convict a man of rape and sentence him to 45 years in jail. 22 years later, DNA proves the man innocent. Jurors in the case of Arthur Lee Whitfieled, released from jail this week, share their reactions.
In the past two weeks, Wilton Dedge left jail after 22 years. Robert Coney was freed at 76 after serving 41 years. And Michael McAllister, who served 18 years.
Reading this from Heather (aka dooce) can’t help but make one sad for the personal heartbreak it describes. But NewMexiKen had another longer-term thought.
Modern life may in fact bring on more anxieties than our ancestors faced. And the constant barrage of drug advertisements and self-indulgent articles and books on this and that and every other ailment surely makes us more self-aware than they were. Even so, I will assume human beings have faced emotional problems beyond their control for centuries — and they were every bit as miserable as us, without any of the understanding, or any of the possible solutions.
It’s a wonder to me that the human race has lasted this long.