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The Daily Dose/June 29, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around The Human Experience...
I DO SOLMENLY SWEAR TO NOT TAKE A STAND: This is not a bulletin; we've said it before: this country hasn't been led since Kennedy. We've been managed.
You Can't Tell The Presidents Without A Scorecard: Kennedy tried to lead us, but we shot him. Johnson probably meant well, but he got rich while in Washington, and he was overwhelmed with Vietnam and trying to solve a poverty problem that will never be solved. Nixon was evil. Ford could've worn robes, had a beard and turned water into wine and he still would have had no chance. Carter wasn't very good. Reagan knew how to lead, but he was the most managed president in history, setting a precedent that every president - for worse, if you ask us - has followed. The first Bush meant well. With Clinton, it was always something. The second Bush wasn't too bright. Obama talks a good game, but rhetoric is all he's got.
Back To The Future: And the managing continues! Witness Obama try to be all things to all people while speaking at a fundraiser in New York at the very same time the New York legislature was considering allowing people of the same gender to get married.
First, he said he was certainly in favor letting homosexual couple have the same rights as couples that insist on breeding:
I believe that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in the country.
Yay! Good. We do, too. Obama was then given the opportunity to come out in favor of the bill by a couple of hecklers, but Obama declined to express support for the gay marriage bill specifically, though he did marvel at the wonder of the legislative process in New York.
Oh Jesus H: Can someone in a leadership position in this country take a stand without worrying about who it's going to offend? There are 310 million people in this country and not every one of them is going to love every single thing a president does. There's no way. It's not possible. So, please, feel free to take a stand. Honestly, we'll appreciate the leadership.
AND IN THIS CORNER: Then we have the US Congress. All are invited to get their notebooks out because class is in session, as Congress recently gave a clinic on waffling. They're annoyed because President Obama has shunned them in the decision making concerning our role in Libya. Congress seems to think they have the right to butt in and tell the president when we are and we are not at war, while the Administration is insisting we're not at war in Libya, hell, we're not even involved in hostilities, so there is no need for Congress to get too worked up over this.
Cutting To The Chase: We know how much you'd love to read some official Writer's Shack policy on this, but Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole said it best, in an editorial in the Edmond (Oklahoma) Sun:
By allowing operations in Libya to go on, we are in danger of eroding the constitutional war-making authority of Congress and enabling an overreaching executive branch. Congress should reassert its constitutional authority by either authorizing the use of military force or decisively ending it by cutting off funds.
Dry, Technical Matter: Cole's editorial also dismissed the War Powers Resolution everyone is invoking in this mess and, like we did, cuts right to the heard of the matter by going straight to the Constitution, noting Article I, Section VIII's proviso about Congress having the power to declare war.
Get Out Your History Books: The Chicago Cubs, then known as the Colts, set the major league record for most runs scored in a game, defeating the Louisville Colonels 36-7 on this date in 1897. With the win the Colts move to within a game-and-a-half of Louisville in the race for tenth place in the 12-team National League, with Louisville 18 games behind the Boston Beaneaters.
Editor's Note: Gaylon's enjoyment of esoteric (re: dull) baseball history is well known. The following item might take the cake, though. Be careful
Incoming! Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees is beaned and suffers a concussion in an exhibition game on this date in 1934.
Dry, Technical Matter: We noted the game was played in Norfolk, Virginia. Now, like you, we are mindful that exhibition games were common in the big leagues through the 1950's, more or less falling out of favor when both television and air travel came into prominence.
Curiosity Killed The Columnist: But we got curious, maybe too curious, about what the Yankees schedule was like during late June, 1934, that allowed them to play an exhibition game on June 29 in Virginia.
Now You Know: Turns out the day before, June 28, the Yankees began a road trip in Washington, playing the Senators. A quick check of their results shows their next American League game was played in Washington on Sunday, July 1. So what about Saturday? One game trips were common back then, so maybe the Senators hit the road for a game on the June 30 or July 1, but a check of their schedule shows they didn't.
Most Places Have Interns For This: Some more research, and this was not easy to find, shows the teams were scheduled for a game in Washington on Saturday, June 30. This game was rained out, though, and made up as part of a doubleheader in August.
Now Hear This: The US Supreme Court rules that the death penalty, when arbitrarily and inconsistently imposed, is cruel and unusual punishment and is unconstitutional on this date in 1972.
FunFact: The court voted 5-4 in favor of the ruling, but there wasn't a majority opinion and each justice wrote his own concurrence.
FunFact II: The Furman in question, William Henry Furman, had been convicted of murder and was paroled in 1984. In 2004 he plead guilty to a burglary charge and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Play Ball…Again: Pete Rose becomes major league baseball's career leader in games played on this date in 1984, playing in his 3,309th career game, breaking Carl Yastrzemski's record.
Gee, Thanks: Yastrzemski didn't even get to hold the record for a complete season. He had broken Hank Aaron's mark of 3,298 the previous season.
Thought For The Day: Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruit cannot be plucked by them. - Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The United Nations Security Council first met on January 17, 1946, at Church House, in London.
Today's Stumper: Who were the five justices who voted in favor of Furman vs. Georgia? - Answer next time!
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