Baseball Update: Thome’s 600 HR, Brewers Triple Play, and Zambrano on DQ List
Folks, we’ve had quite the season from my favorite team, the Milwaukee Brewers, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t start out with the story everyone’s talking about (no, not the Brewers’ triple play, though I’ll get to that in a bit): Jim Thome hit two home runs tonight, numbers 599 and 600, to bring him to the 600 HR club — and he’s only the eighth person in major league baseball history to do so.
Here’s a quote:
“To get it over with, what a sigh of relief,” he said. “You work so hard — obviously fought through some injuries all year long.”
But when healthy, he’s still as capable as anyone of putting a powerful swing on the ball.
Rodriguez needed two weeks to hit No. 600 after reaching 599 last year. Thome waited one inning.
After a lineout and a single in his first two at-bats, Thome lifted a drive to left-center off Rick Porcello(notes) in the sixth, breaking a 3-all tie. That homer went an estimated 412 feet. His 600th was shorter. For a moment, it appeared Young might have a chance to make a play on the ball, but Young—who was traded from the Twins to the Tigers earlier in the day—could only watch as his former teammate’s hit disappeared over his head.
Congratulations, Mr. Thome! Way to go!
Next, we get to the Brewers triple play (only the sixth in team history), an unusual one — second to short to first to home (4-6-1-2) — which happened in the second inning. First Josh Wilson at second grabbed the ball, shoveling it to shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt for the first out. Betancourt threw it to Prince Fielder at first base to get the second out, then Fielder in a head’s up move threw it to catcher George Kotteras for the third out — Kotteras ably made a tag on a sliding Matt Kemp to complete the triple play.
It was a lot of fun to watch, and has to be something I can honestly say I never expected to see from this year’s version of the Milwaukee Brewers infield, none of whom are known to be Gold Glove-caliber fielders.
As for the rest of the game, the Brewers had four double plays in this game, one of ’em being a Prince Fielder (3) unassisted one in the ninth to cement the win. The Brewers’ runs were all solo homers by Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy (who pinch hit in the 8th) and Corey Hart. John Axford finished the game with his 32nd consecutive save, a Brewers record he keeps adding to (he broke the old one four or five saves ago), and Randy Wolf got excellent run and defensive support for a change to bring his overall record to 10-8. Dodgers’ pitcher Ted Lilly, who only gave up two hits in seven innings (both to Ryan Braun, one being Braun’s homer to get the Brewers on the board) took a very tough loss, dropping his record to 7-13.
Finally, we get to the third, and much less optimistic, story of the last weekend, that being of Carlos Zambrano’s unusual move of cleaning out his Cubs locker after getting ejected on Friday night for throwing two consecutive brushback pitches to Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones. Zambrano had given up five home runs in that game, and from what I’ve read overall, was very upset that no one — not his catcher, not the pitching coach, not Cubs manager Mike Quade — came out to try to settle him down. Zambrano has been since placed on the disqualified list (DQ list), meaning he will not be paid and cannot report back to the Cubs even if he wants to; the major league players association is appealing this decision.
Zambrano is known to have anger management issues, or in more practical terms, he’s fiery and a hothead. But he’s never cleaned out his locker before, nor left his team in the middle of a season no matter how poorly the team was doing (and the Cubs have looked plenty bad this season with a 54-68 record, and are currently fifth in the NL Central division), probably because he’s one of the highest-paid pitchers around as the Yahoo Sports article goes on to say:
If the 30-year-old Zambrano really were to go through with retirement, he’d leave the $4.7 million he’s owed over the reminder of this season and the $18 million he’s scheduled to make next year. Then there’s the $19 million vesting option for 2013.
So far, Zambrano isn’t speaking directly, which is probably wise; baseball fans only know that the MLBPA is negotiating on Zambrano’s behalf. While I have never really appreciated Zambrano’s antics on or off the mound, he’s an excellent pitcher when he’s concentrating, and I enjoy his sometimes-blistering comments (earlier this year he called the Cubs a AAA team, which was accurate if disloyal in the extreme, something that also amused the professional baseball reporters). I hope for Zambrano’s sake that he’s able to take the time off to figure out why he got so angry, and work on himself in order to change it; if it’s solely due to how the Cubs were playing, or this other issue of no one being willing to help Zambrano calm down in the game that set him off to the point he cleared his locker out and left the team, maybe this “time out” will do Zambrano some good.
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Update: a fourth story has just been posted, this one about the San Francisco fan who got beaten into a coma in Los Angeles at the start of the season. According to Yahoo Sports, the fan’s doctor is optimistic about fan Bryan Stow’s chances of further recovery:
Bryan Stow is awake, breathing on his own, can move slightly and has been able to interact with his family, said Dr. Geoff Manley, the chief of neurosurgery at San Francisco General Hospital. However, Manley said it’s still unclear how far Stow’s recovery will take him.
“His ability to follow commands has greatly increased,” Manley said. “There have been a lot of ups and downs and we still don’t know where he’s going to plateau in terms of his recovery.”
Stow remains in serious condition and has many hurdles to overcome in dealing with his traumatic brain injury (TBI). But this sounds good, much better than I’d expected due to the circumstances regarding how Stow was attacked in the first place. Here’s hoping Stow defies the odds and comes all the way back.
Just reviewed Ryk Spoor’s “Grand Central Arena” for SBR
Folks, here’s the link:
Now, for a bit about GRAND CENTRAL ARENA — it’s a fun book that hearkens back to the early days of space opera. Good science, as far as I can tell — serviceable, at any rate. Excellent characterization. Enjoyable plot.
In other words, “Good guys, bad guys, and aliens, oh my!” So what’s not to like?
Go read my review, then go grab the book.
Recall Fever: Catch It
Today is the day, folks . . . it’s recall time, part 2, in Wisconsin as six Republican state Senators are facing the political fight of their lives. At the end of tonight’s vote, we will know if they’ve been booted out, or if they’ve been retained . . . who will be the victors?
I don’t live in a recall district, so all I’ve been able to do is watch what’s going on. But I know people are furious in Wisconsin; I know, for example, that in Kenosha County there’s a bunch of Republicans that are very strongly for Democratic state Senator Bob Wirch (who’s own recall election is next Tuesday). And I know that people of all parties, races, colors and creeds signed those recall petitions against the R Senators, that many independents are outraged by the Wisconsin Legislature and Governor’s shift to the hard-right, and that this is our first chance to show our Governor, Scott Walker, that we will not be pushed around in Wisconsin.
Look. I wrote a post back in November after the ’10 mid-term elections where I said that what happened then was not a mandate, but instead a repudiation of what was going on.
As I wrote back on November 3, 2010:
. . . the Republicans — including those in Wisconsin, where they won control of both the Assembly (the lower house) and the Senate (upper house) — are wrong when they think they have received a “mandate” to do anything. What they received was the gift of many Democrats who are angry at how Obama was selected in the first place, along with many who were flat-out frustrated at the policies of Harry Reid (who, inexplicably, held his seat in Nevada) and Nancy Pelosi (easily re-elected, but almost assuredly to retire as former Speakers rarely stay in the House after they lose their Speakership).
So if the Republicans think this is a mandate, they are wrong.
What this was, instead, was a repudiation of the tactics of the DNC on 5/31/08, along with a repudiation of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the entirety of the Obama Administration in particular.
If the Republicans take the wrong message from this, and start cutting unemployment benefits, start cutting health care benefits that are already extant, and mess with Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps, or any of the “social safety net” programs that are so vitally needed with the country as a whole having over 9% reportable unemployment (and more like 17% functional unemployment throughout the USA, with some areas having far more), they will be voted out in turn. (Emphasis added.)
I called it then, and I was right. (Well, right about everything except Pelosi retiring. She’s been an effective House Minority Leader.) Because just as the 2008 Ds overestimated their “mandate,” so did the 2010 Rs. And now, the Rs have reaped the whirlwind.
For those of you who do live in recall districts, get out there and vote — this is your chance to make your voice be heard. Do not sit this election out. Catch the recall fever instead.
Monday Morning Movie Break
After all that’s gone on in Wisconsin, and in the United States as a whole the past few weeks, I needed a break.
So I took one, and watched the most recent movie Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, Jr., as the title character and Jude Law as his trusty sidekick, Dr. Watson. I enjoyed it a great deal, as it’s a different take on a character I thought I knew all too well after devouring all of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories and reading all the best science fiction and fantasy “knockoffs,” some of which are diverting in their own right.
See, in this last movie version, Sherlock Holmes is played as a guy who’s not merely cerebral and/or half-touched in the head, but also a prime physical specimen, which I didn’t expect to see at all even though it follows from the text. (How could Sherlock Holmes have done all the things he was said to do without being in excellent physical shape? Especially when you consider all the drugs Holmes sampled, partly for the sake of research and partly to get away from the tedium of daily life.) Downey, Jr., has always been among my favorite actors because he’s obviously not just a pretty face; he’s intelligent, has a sense of humor, and doesn’t take himself too seriously, which all served him well here.
How did I miss this movie when it came out in 2009? I’m not sure. But I’m glad I caught it now, because it’s well worth watching — the only thing that I’m sure was not period was the cleanliness of the London city streets as depicted. (No streets could be as clean as that; not our modern ones with all our technology and lack of horses, certainly not the ones back then without the tech and with the horses.)
Watching this movie helped me to remember that there’s still some things I haven’t experienced in this world that might be worth the time, as I’d really been fretting over the state of the world (and my place within it) again, partly due to whatever cold or flu bug I’ve picked up this time.
There’s a lot of things that are completely out of my control. I’ve known that since I was small, and that lesson was reinforced considerably after two of the most important people to me in the world died (my Grandma in 1999, and my beloved husband Michael in 2004). Watching the political world going wild, not being able to get away from it, and not being able to do very much about it gets to me.
I’m glad, and grateful, when anything can transport me away for a few hours — and this movie did. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves intelligent action movies or appreciates Sherlock Holmes and believes that a really attractive guy like Downey, Jr., can play him as credibly as anyone — or maybe even a bit better.
1996 Petak-Plache Recall Race Holds the Key to 2011 Recalls
Folks, I live in Racine, Wisconsin, so I know full well what happened on June 4, 1996. But for the rest of you, here’s a quick primer.
In October of 1995, George Petak (R-Racine), Wisconsin state Senator from district 21, cast the decisive vote in order to fund the construction of Miller Park in Milwaukee (and keep the Milwaukee Brewers in Wisconsin) by allowing a five county “sales tax” of .01% to go into effect. (In case you’re wondering, the other four counties being taxed on behalf of the Brewers are Ozaukee, Milwaukee, Waukesha and Washington; the sales tax is expected to end sometime between 2015 and 2018.)
Now, Petak had said until the very last minute that he’d vote “no” on this. But then-Governor Tommy Thompson twisted his arm, Petak voted “yes,” and many in Racine County (including Brewers fans) were incensed because Petak hadn’t done what he said he was going to do. (In fact, the Racine Journal-Times’ headline the day after the vote was something like “Petak votes no,” giving us our very own “Dewey beats Truman” moment.)
This palpable anger over Petak’s “bait-and-switch” tactics was the main reason he was recalled, and the palpable anger over Scott Walker’s “bait-and-switch” tactics with regards to the state budget and most especially the fight over collective bargaining for public employee unions is the main reason why the six Republican state Senators have been forced to run in recall elections.
Experts, including political scientists, said in late 1995-early 1996 that Petak would never be recalled, because the two previous recall elections in WI history had retained the incumbents, but they were wrong. While experts, once again including political scientists, didn’t think that nine Senators (six Rs, 3 Ds) would end up having to defend their seats in recall elections — but again, they were wrong.
The reasons why Petak’s decision was controversial were:
1) Racine County had no county sales tax mechanism at the time whatsoever, and getting the mechanism in place in the short run cost more than any collecting of tax.
2) Racine County, while next to Milwaukee County, doesn’t get a lot of business visitors or tourist business from there, so any economic “help” coming from this would be negligible.
3) As previously stated, Petak had said he was opposed until the 11th hour, then switched his vote. This turned the anger over the idea of a county-wide sales tax into white-hot rage and led to Petak’s recall
4) And last but certainly not least, as the Wisconsin state Senate was comprised of 17 Rs and 16 Ds at the time Petak cast his vote, you can see why the big money came out in order to change the composition of the state Senate. Not to mention all the requisite highly-negative ads. (Why do they run those ads, anyway? They only rarely change an informed voter’s mind, and trust me — in Wisconsin, we are informed about these issues or we don’t bother voting.)
Petak, who was primaried by another Republican but fended him off, eventually lost to Democrat Kim Plache and was the first government official to be recalled in Wisconsin history.**
What I saw in 1996 is what I’m seeing right now with the recall efforts against the six Republicans who will face an election on August 9, 2011 (three days and a few hours from now). It’s an election being held at an odd time, where passions must be high to get voters to the polls. There’s lots of money coming in from out of the state and inordinate negative ads on television and radio, some of which bear little resemblance to reality. The control of the Senate is in question, as the Dems need only three of the six seats to “flip” to Democratic control (then to retain the two Democrats who were recalled and need to run on August 16, 2011). And the vitriol on both sides is so deafening it’s nearly impossible to tell who’s going to do what to whom at this point, as it’s now become an endurance contest.
However, there are some differences as well, those being:
1) We’ve never had nine Senators recalled in the same year before (3 Ds, one of whom has already retained his seat, Dave Hansen of Green Bay, and 6 Rs).
2) We’ve never had a Governor who’s this unpopular before. Walker’s been tied to all six Senators (for good or ill) due to all of these votes being taken on Walker’s behalf and due to Walker’s agenda. So these races are as much about Scott Walker as they are about the individual Senators.
3) And finally, the national Democratic and Republican parties have taken a far larger role in 2011 than I remember them doing in 1996. Both major parties seem to believe that if their side wins these six recall races, they’ll gain traction for the 2012 House, Senate, and Presidential races.
As to the tactics of what’s going on in order to get out the vote — well, quite frankly, some of it is highly disturbing. There are allegations that PACs favoring Sandy Pasch (a Democratic Assemblywoman from Sheboygan) gave out free food in exchange for a quick ride to the polls, which is wrong no matter who does it. (I’m all for giving out free food. And I’m all for voting. But the two shouldn’t go together.) Then, there are the allegations (noted in the same article) that the sitting Senator from district 8, Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), Pasch’s opponent, has colluded with outside PACs to send out fake absentee ballots with the wrong dates on them. Under Wisconsin law, doing anything like that — the collusion by itself, mind you — is against the law. While putting the wrong dates on the absentee ballots is just stupid. (Note that in the case of alleged wrongdoing with the “free food for votes” scam, Pasch herself had nothing to do with it.)
Next, in one of the recall races being held on August 16, 2011, the Republican challenger, Kim Simac, refused to debate incumbent Senator Jim Holperin (D-Conover) and didn’t tell anyone she wasn’t going to show up. Not a good move there, no matter how her handlers try to spin it (supposedly Simac “never committed” to this debate; I can’t imagine that excuse is going to go over well with the voters).
Back to the Rs — there’s Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), who said publicly that he was against the “fake Democrats” who entered the Democratic primary in order to give the Republicans more time to fundraise, yet then praised Rol Church, a long-time Republican Party activist, at one of his GOTV rallies. Not to mention that Olsen is the first R known to have Gov. Walker at one of his rallies (even if Walker may have come in via the back door) — most are keeping Walker away like the plague, knowing he’s “box office poison” due to Walker’s unpopularity (Walker is booed wherever he goes, including a recent appearance at the Wisconsin State Fair) — after saying that Scott Walker’s policies are “too extreme” for Wisconsin and saying he wishes he’d have voted differently back in February.
Vacillate much, Senator Olsen?
And let’s not forget state Sen. Dan Kapanke (R-LaCrosse), who said back in May of this year:
“We’ve got tons of government workers in my district – tons,” Kapanke said May 25 at the Cedar Creek Golf Club in Onalaska. “From La Crosse to Prairie du Chien and to Viroqua and to Ontario and to Hillsboro, you can go on and on and on. We have to overcome that. We’ve got to hope that they, kind of, are sleeping on July 12th – or whenever the (election) date is.”
During the candid chat, Kapanke said he was one of three Republicans in serious jeopardy of losing in a recall election.
The other two, he said, are Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills and Sen. Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac.
“We could lose me. We could lose Randy Hopper in the 18th or Alberta Darling over in – wherever she is – the 8th, I believe,” Kapanke said.
Note this was before Luther Olsen’s recent nonsense, as I’d add Olsen to the list of seriously endangered R Senators.
At any rate, here’s how I handicap the upcoming races:
Sure to lose: Randy Hopper and Dan Kapanke may as well pack their bags and go home right now. They will lose, and they will lose big — Kapanke may lose by double-digits to Assembly Rep. Jennifer Shilling, while Hopper will lose by at least six or eight points to Oshkosh’s Jessica King.
Will most likely lose: Luther Olsen has done himself no favors, and is the third-most likely Senator to be packing his bags.
Will probably lose: Sheila Harsdorf has name recognition and has been better than the rest of the six Rs at answering questions and talking to her constituents. Still, she’s parroted the party-line at every turn and refuses to believe any of her votes were wrong for Wisconsin, while her opponent, teacher Shelley Moore, is the person who led the recall effort against Harsdorf. Providing Moore beats Harsdorf, it won’t be by much.
I sincerely hope this Senator will lose: Alberta Darling has big, big money behind her, and the ads in her favor far outweigh the ads against her. However, most voters in her district know that it was Darling who led the committee that first “vetted” Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill that eliminated collective bargaining for public employee unions. Darling, therefore, had all the power in the world to stop this mess before it started, but didn’t. She definitely deserves to lose, but if she does lose to Sandy Pasch, once again it won’t be by very much.
The wild card: I honestly do not know what’ll happen in the Robert Cowles-Nancy Nussbaum race. Cowles has kept his head down and has said very little about his controversial votes; the only reason I think Nussbaum has a chance, aside from the large amount of people who signed to get Cowles recalled, is because she’s a particularly strong candidate (the only stronger one among the six Ds is Shilling) and has articulated a clear vision about what she’ll do once she gets in there. (I think Nussbaum’s done the best job of this of all six Ds, though props go to King and Pasch for their clear and decisive answers in candidate forums and debates over the past several months.)
So there you have it; my gut says that four, possibly five of the Rs will be joining the unemployment line after the August 9, 2011 elections are over.
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** I called it right away that Petak would be recalled; I was working as a cashier at the time, and I knew how angry people were over Petak’s last-minute vote switch. Even Brewers fans — I’m one — were livid due to the lack of a Racine County sales tax prior to that vote. Further, people were outraged that Petak would refuse to listen to his district, who were adamantly opposed in big numbers. This reason — refusing to listen to his district — is why Petak was recalled and Plache went to Madison in his place. It’s also why at least four of these Republicans will lose on August 9, 2011.
Just reviewed George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” for SBR
Folks, reviewing a book that’s over 800 pages long is daunting, but I managed it tonight with my review of George R.R. Martin’s A GAME OF THRONES, which is here:
http://shinybookreview.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/george-r-r-martins-a-game-of-thrones-a-winning-hand/
Note my title. I can’t resist puns, and as Ned Stark is the Hand of the King — and I feel his character is a winner regardless of how his own personal circumstances play out — well . . . you see the result.
If you’ve somehow missed this book in the past and you love epic fantasy or even if you don’t but love stories that are based on medieval feudalism and nation-states, you’ll enjoy A GAME OF THRONES. So go read my review, then hasten to the bookstore or online emporium and grab this book forthwith. (It’s just that good.)
******* UPON FURTHER REVIEW **************
I figured I’d add a few more notes here that I unfortunately had to leave out of my giant-sized review. First, I know full well that the world the cycle of A Song of Ice and Fire resides on has really long summers (several years in duration) and extremely long winters (decades-long, at worst), but wasn’t able to say so. Please know that I do understand this.
Second, some of the characters in any of Martin’s novels are designed to make you hate them. It’s to his credit that these characters are so vile that you actively root for them to get killed off (Viserys is one of those, and there’s more to come in the upcoming novels).
Third and last — Tyrion is by far my most favorite character in the entire cycle, and the guy playing him in the HBO series, Peter Dinklage, got a deserved Emmy nomination.
WI Senate Passes EB Bill on Party-Line Vote; Debt Ceiling Crisis Ends
Folks, I have two quick updates, though if you’ve been paying attention to US politics at all, you know full well that the debt ceiling crisis is over (for now).
First, the Wisconsin Senate passed a bill, 19-14, to agree with the Wisconsin Assembly that new claimants for unemployment will have to wait a week to receive benefits. This passed on a party-line vote, meaning 19 Rs voted for it, while the 14 Ds voted “no” because they don’t like the idea of employers being able to lay someone off for a week, then call them back, without those employees getting paid.
Now it’s up to Gov. Scott Walker (R) to sign this bill so people can start to receive their Extended Benefits. Many people have been out of EB since 4/16/11, and may only receive another week or two — yet any money beats no money at all, and this is something everyone who worked for an employer has paid into.** (If you are an independent contractor and have lost your job through no fault of yours, there’s still no remedy for you. As I am now an independent contractor, I completely understand.)
So now, we’re just waiting on Scott Walker to do his job and sign this bill. Let’s hope he signs it soon, as there are real people hurting in Wisconsin who need this money. (If he doesn’t sign it quickly, well, that’s just another reason to recall the man come January 2012.)
As for the whole debt ceiling issue, I am appalled by the final solution. I know that getting something done was better than nothing at all, but the problem with the solution is that it allowed the most radical, right-wing extremists in the Republican Party to basically hold up everyone else until they got what they wanted. These people ended up winning the argument because they refused to give in; they refused to do their jobs as politicians, trying to figure out what the “art of the possible” is and made everyone else figure out that the only possible action was to give in to these extremists even though giving in was the wrong thing to do.
My biggest problem remains this one: once you pay the Danegeld, how do you get rid of the Dane?
So we have not defaulted, but the world as a whole has been exposed to the ridiculously petty nature of our politics. And the world, it appears, dislikes it as much as American citizens do.
Hard to see any “winners” here, including the radical, right-wing extremists, even though they obviously feel they have won. One would hope once they go back to their states or districts and get a taste of how people are feeling, they will be rudely disabused of that notion, as according to this poll, 77% of Americans feel our elected representatives have “behaved like spoiled children.”
In my opinion, there are no winners in this process; the national debt is still there, and still really isn’t being dealt with, while the lack of revenue in this deal (or, in plain terms, raising taxes or at least allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire) doesn’t help anything, either. Further, if there was more of a focus on jobs, promoting ways of keeping people employed in order to perhaps keep the tax cuts that the businesses and the wealthy like, maybe we wouldn’t be quite as bad off as we are right now.
It seems to me that the folks in Washington, DC, have a very narrow view of the world. Perhaps they can’t help it; they meet up with wealthy lobbyists and wealthy business owners and mostly wealthy people day by day, right? (In order to fund their campaigns, they need these people to help them, because it’s become too expensive to stay in Congress once you’re there without the help of very wealthy people.)
But pegging the tax cuts to the amount of people these businesses employ seems like a very good idea — that way, people would be employed, thus more tax revenue overall would be flowing into the system. And that way, there’s an impetus for businesses that may be sitting on a lot of money (and many are; don’t kid yourself) to hire, in order to keep the tax breaks they love so much.
That, to my mind, would be a “win-win.”
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** Note: A person I respect read me the riot act over Extended Benefits. All I know is what the folks at Unemployment told me; these are programs people have paid into, and their employers alike . . . I agree that no one ever expected people to have to stay on unemployment over a year. Nor that we’d still have over 9% reportable unemployment in the US of A, either, which makes it much more difficult to find work.
Just Reviewed Susan Donovan’s romance “Not that Kind of Girl” at SBR
Folks, here’s the link to my new review:
As always, I had more thoughts than I could cram into any one review — some being irrelevant from a reviewing standpoint — so I’m going to elaborate on them here.
I really liked Susan Donovan’s writing style; it’s perky, blunt, and gets the job done without interfering with the narrative, which is a lot harder to do than it sounds. I also liked her take on the whole soulmate concept, with a matchmaker with a gift (that may be Divinely inspired) to bring two people together who normally wouldn’t give each other a second glance; this being the third in a series and me not having read the other two didn’t stop me from understanding what was going on at all.
All that being said, the way the two at the heart of this story, Roxie and Eli, make love just made me feel sad. Or want to throw things. (Or maybe both.) Because here you have two people who fall in love quickly and are right for one another, but the guy has to always prove he’s dominant at all times, never letting his guard down at all, never being playful, never enjoying the moment for what it is. And that does not ring true to me. Not at all.
Look. I’ve made no secret of it that I found my soulmate in my late husband Michael. The two of us, on the surface, would’ve been much like Roxie and Eli in that Roxie’s passions are all on the surface (me) and Eli’s calm, cool, collected and seems to hold all of himself in reserve unless it’s needed (Michael). Granted, this is at best a rough approximation — I’m leaving out Michael’s delightfully rude sense of humor here, or the fact that I’ve taught a lot of young kids music lessons so if I hadn’t learned a bit of patience now and again I’d have done them no good whatsoever — but I can see enough parallels here to want to discuss why the way these two in NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL don’t behave right in bed.
Simply put, I don’t think a guy who’s always that calm and controlled externally is going to be that way in bed. So I don’t see why someone would insist on behaving the “alpha male” at all times — there’s no need for that between two lovers who wear no masks and understand each other intimately in all senses — nor do I see how a love affair can proceed without some humor in the bedroom, especially as there’s plenty of humorous moments going on outside of it to make me believe the couple at hand does understand when something is funny. (And trust me; down deep, where it matters, the way we make love as human beings has to be about the most inefficient process there is. We may as well make fun of it, and ourselves, as we abandon ourselves to it. Otherwise, why bother with it at all?)
So Ms. Donovan did her job — the couple is realistic enough that I wanted to scream at Eli to knock it the Hell off, thank you — but the way that all happened just did not sit well. I realize some people have relationships like this — psychosexual behavior being what it is, some people must need that, right? — but Eli the dog whisperer had none of the other markers for this personality type. And Roxie — well, I can see why she’d want to get “permission” to be abandoned in bed (this is fairly common), but why would she put up with a guy who’s so damned humorless in the bedroom when she obviously has enough smarts to make a living at her man-hating Web site “I-Vomit-On-All-Men?”
So there you have it; a pleasant, funny beach read that has this one sour note in it. As a musician, I guess I can’t help it that this one sour note keeps drowning out the rest of the harmony and the melody, and as a writer/editor, I wonder why it is that someone didn’t ask Ms. Donovan to please put something in there that showed that to Eli, this was all a game, not to be taken seriously, rather than the dead serious “I am Mr. Macho Man at all times” Caveman nonsense.
Debt Ceiling Action — Write your Senators and Reps Today
Folks, it is obviously up to us to tell our elected representatives what we want, because they need some guidance up there in Washington, DC. (What is it about the air of that place that makes people lose their minds?)
Here’s my letter to my Republican Senator, Ron Johnson, as an example:
Dear Senator Johnson,
When you ran for office, you promised to work on behalf of all Wisconsinites, not just those who voted for you. I write to you now as one who didn’t vote for you but needs your help, as do all Americans.
Refusing to raise the debt ceiling now is wrong. All the debt ceiling does is say to our creditors, “We will pay you what is owed.” There is no reason whatsoever not to do so, so I do not understand your opposition in this matter.
While there is an argument that we as a country shouldn’t be spending so much — something I fully agree with — the fight for a Balanced Budget Amendment shouldn’t be hitched to this particular wagon.
At this point, we are on the brink of utter disaster. If the debt ceiling is not raised, consequences could be catastrophic. I really doubt you wish to do something that is so harmful to every single aspect of our economy, from the highest to the lowest, so please reconsider your opposition to raising the debt ceiling.
Sincerely,
Barb Caffrey
To find your Senators, go here:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Here’s an example of how to write to your elected Representative, my letter to my duly elected Rep, Paul Ryan:
Dear Representative Ryan,
I know you are philosophically opposed to raising the debt ceiling without massive spending cuts as you are what’s known as a “deficit hawk.” Still, you are sworn to do the people’s business, and right now, raising the debt ceiling is the right thing to do.
You have been in Congress for many years now, and you know full well that most of the time, raising the debt ceiling is a bloodless move that no one frets about. I don’t understand why it’s different this time for you or for the Republican Reps. in the House, but I do know that if you don’t do it, the consequences will likely be catastrophic.
I am much more concerned about the economy, why we still have over 14% reportable unemployment in Racine, WI, and why no one’s talking about the jobs issue. If more people were working, the deficit wouldn’t be as bad as it is because more tax revenue would be coming in.
Further, I am disgusted and incensed that the Republicans in the House refused to even consider closing tax loopholes that enrich big business and the wealthy while talking about cuts to “entitlement programs” that the middle class and below need every day — Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. It seems to me that a disproportionate amount of the burden has been placed on the middle class and below; why is it that the wealthy are exempt from sacrifice? And why on Earth do we still need to subsidize oil companies, the wealthiest corporations in the history of the world?
I applaud you for being willing to at least discuss the issue, Rep. Ryan, but I do not appreciate that there is no “sharing” in this sacrifice.
Please vote to raise the debt ceiling forthwith, without any such nonsense as “Cut, Cap and Balance,” as you know that will never pass the Senate. Stop this nonsense, and let’s get on with the people’s business, all right?
Sincerely,
Barb Caffrey
To find your Representatives, go here:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/
And to write to President Obama, go here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Good luck in talking sense to these people; I pray that they will listen to us before it’s too late. (Why they insist on playing petty partisan games until the last possible second, I will never know. Perhaps that’s why I’m not a politician.)
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