Wooden visits Yankees' clubhouse
By Mark Feinsand / MLB.com

ANAHEIM -- The Yankees had a special visitor before Saturday's game, as Hall of Fame basketball coach John Wooden spent time in New York's clubhouse.

Wooden, who led UCLA to 10 NCAA basketball titles, including seven consecutive championships between 1967-73, visited with Joe Torre on Saturday morning. The 95-year-old Wooden later chatted with players, including Mike Mussina, Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon.

"We talked about the way our teams played in the mid-90s; the lack of ego guys," said Torre, who first met Wooden two years ago during a trip to Anaheim. "He liked that type of thing, guys who work hard to accomplish as a team."

Torre said he carries a copy of Wooden's "Pyramid of Success" in his wallet, and Wooden handed out some copies of the pyramid to some of the Yankees players.

"Everything is pretty simple and basic that he talks about," Torre said. "The most important thing that you get out of his books is the fact that you can play as good a game as you can, but you don't necessarily control the bottom line. The things you can control are the preparation and the commitment you have in playing the game."

Wooden praised Torre and Angels manager Mike Scioscia, most notably for their ability to remain calm in the face of high-pressure situations.

"They accept the ups and downs," Wooden said. "Never get too carried away."

Last fall, when Torre decided to return as the Yankees' manager, he received a phone call "out of left field" from Wooden, congratulating him on his decision.

"He thought it was great that I made that decision," Torre said. "I was very touched by that."

"I think it was right and I was glad he [decided to stay]," Wooden said.

Wooden also had nice things to say about Derek Jeter, calling him "the consummate professional" athlete.

"I've always felt the test of a person's character is the ability to accept both success and failure and not let either one affect you," Wooden said. "His demeanor is always the same."

The coach also checked in with his thoughts on what he called "unjustified criticism" of A-Rod, pointing out that most third basemen would be happy with the year that Rodriguez is having. His advice to A-Rod?

"I would say, forget the past," Wooden said. "Concentrate on today. We're all going to have peaks and valleys."

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

From Commentary:
Terror & Denial

Londonistan
by Melanie Phillips
Encounter. 213 pp. $25.95

Reviewed by
Daniel Johnson

When Americans express anger or frustration at Europe’s response to the global threat of Islamism, they generally make an exception for one country: Great Britain. The strong British presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s staunch support of President Bush, the legacy of a common history, culture, and language—these have reassured Americans that the United States has at least one ally across the Atlantic on which it can depend.

If the new book by the British journalist Melanie Phillips is right, however, this is an illusion, and a dangerous one at that. A highly successful columnist and broadcaster, and at one time the news editor of the left-wing Guardian, Phillips reveals a very different Britain from the heroic nation that defied Hitler. In fact, she compares the mood today with that of the 1930’s, the era of appeasement. As she shows, senior officials and their cultural cheerleaders still refuse to accept that they are confronted by a murderous, expansionist Islamic ideology, or that their own capital city has been transformed (in a term coined by the Western intelligence community during the 1990’s) into “Londonistan.” For Phillips, Britain is a nation in denial—about Islam, about terrorism, about Israel, and above all about itself.

Londonistan is, first and foremost, about the identity crisis provoked by the terrorist attack on London’s transportation system in July 2005. As the British people learned to their horror, the suicide bombers were not foreigners radicalized by suffering or oppression but true-born Englishmen, with good families and good prospects. They differed from most of their contemporaries in only one respect: they were young Muslims who, as Phillips puts it, had “repudiated not just British values but the elementary codes of humanity.” The leader of the bombers, Mohammed Sidique Khan, left behind a surreal video in which, speaking in a Yorkshire accent, he blamed his act of mass murder on British “atrocities” against “my people,” meaning the Muslim ummah. He owed allegiance not to Britain but to Islam.

The British Muslim community numbers more than 2 million, which is less than 3 percent of the country’s total population, but it is growing rapidly through natural increase, immigration, and conversion. How many others might there be like Mohammed Sidique Khan, biding their time before turning on their fellow citizens? Officials estimate that some 16,000 British Muslims actively engage in or support terrorism (not counting unknown numbers of foreigners resident in the country). Of these, some 3,000 have been trained at al-Qaeda camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

No less terrifying is the fact that even the supposedly mainstream elements in the British Muslim community have become more radical in their political theology. As Phillips shows in a pitiless unmasking, many of the “moderate Muslims” to whom the British authorities regularly pay obeisance are themselves hard-line Islamists, differing only by degree from more notorious recruiting sergeants for jihad.

Of particular interest to Phillips is Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain. Sacranie was knighted at the same time as Britain’s chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, evidently for reasons of multicultural balance—though there is no intellectual or moral comparison between Sacks, one of Britain’s most respected religious leaders, and Sacranie, who rose to prominence by supporting Ayatollah Khomenei’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie. Though he is the government’s chief Muslim interlocutor, Sacranie has an avowedly anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic agenda: he justifies Hamas suicide bombings, boycotts Holocaust commemorations, and harasses pro-Israel politicians. When his equivocal attitude to terrorism was exposed by a BBC documentary last year, Sacranie accused his critics of being part of a Zionist conspiracy.

The real wonder, according to Phillips, is not so much that Sacranie and his followers have aired their detestable views, but that their propaganda has been granted legitimacy, even embraced, by British officialdom. Shortly before last year’s bombings, Sir Ian Blair, London’s police commissioner, declared: “There is nothing wrong with being an Islamic fundamentalist. . . . Bridges will be built.” Even after the attack—the worst terrorist episode in London’s history—an assistant police commissioner could tell the nation, “‘Islam’ and ‘terrorists’ are two words that do not go together.” Shortly afterward, the police—for fear of raising tensions—persuaded the government to abandon its request for new powers to close down extremist mosques, as well as its plans to outlaw one of the most dangerous Islamist organizations, Hizb ut-Tahrir.

British security agencies do not understand Islamic jihad, Phillips argues, because they instinctively recoil from the idea of a war of religion. Having grown up in the shadow of Irish terrorism, they believe that, like the Irish Republican Army, the Islamists can eventually be induced, with the right package of concessions, to end their “armed struggle.” To Phillips, this is nonsense: there is no deal to be made with those who want to turn Britain into an Islamic republic.

Phillips’s deeper concern is to show how her country reached this pass in its attitudes toward Islamic extremism. The culprit, she believes, is the ideological constellation consisting of multiculturalism, moral and epistemological relativism, and a perverted notion of human rights—all of which have served to “hollow out” traditional British culture. By encouraging Muslims to see themselves as victims, and by failing to instill respect for the majority culture, the British state, Phillips suggests, has connived in the creation of a minority whose instinctive response to terror is moral inversion. Thus, rather than accept responsibility for the jihadists in their midst, British Muslims have demanded that the government redress their own grievances, whether about Israel and Iraq or about the status in Britain of shari’a law. As Sacranie declared after the attacks on London, “the real victim of these bombings is the Muslim community of the UK.”

Still more discouraging for Phillips has been the readiness of her former political allies to make common cause with the Islamofascists. “The Islamic jihad,” she writes, “has turned into the armed wing of the British Left.” What she calls the “red-black alliance” is especially united in its hatred of Israel. Ignorant of history and theology, the leading lights of the universities, the press, and the Church of England have failed (or refused) to grasp the connection between attacks on Israel and the threat to Britain. Instead of seeing Israel as the victim of the Islamists’ “theological animosity” toward Jews and the West, they blame Israel (and its principal ally, the United States) for provoking terrorist attacks, and turn a blind eye to the prevalence of blatant anti-Semitism among their Muslim compatriots.

Londonistan is very much a cri de coeur. But it is not a cry of despair. Phillips advocates an ambitious program to reverse the process that has left Britain uniquely vulnerable to its enemies and uniquely dangerous to its allies. Abolition of wrongheaded human-rights legislation, tougher immigration controls, prosecution of Islamist radicals in special courts, bans on organizations and individual clerics who advocate extremism, close monitoring of mosques as well as of Muslim charities and schools—all of this and more would go far to remove the immediate threat. More problematic, though no less desirable, is Phillips’s call for a restoration of the primacy of indigenous British culture and Judeo-Christian values.

Some consider Phillips an alarmist. My own view is that she has, if anything, understated the peril that the “Londonistan” phenomenon poses to the U.S. and to Europe, both of which owe a profound debt to the British culture that is now in such disarray. When I worked for the London Daily Telegraph, Iqbal Sacranie and Inayat Bunglawala—the latter, another of Phillips’s subjects, is the media spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain—came to see us several times. They strongly objected to our use of the phrase “Islamic terrorism,” and demanded that Osama bin Laden be described not as an “Islamic” or even an “Islamist” terrorist but as an “international” one. To mention Islam in connection with terrorism, these lobbyists insisted, was “Islamophobic.” Their demands were rejected despite hints that Muslim readers might boycott the Telegraph; but the state has been more responsive. Editors must now tread carefully because the law now punishes Islamophobia as a “hate crime.”

Phillips has written a superb indictment of this frame of mind—an indictment, moreover, that no mainstream British publisher would touch—but will any of her recommendations be heeded? As she admits, “there is very little chance” of it. In fact, the problems she identifies are likely to grow. When the world turns its eyes to London for the 2012 Olympic Games, what it will see right next to the Olympic Stadium is one of the largest mosques in the world, with a capacity of 70,000 worshippers. The funds for this massive project have come from Tablighi Jamaat, an avowedly Islamist global organization that the FBI says is used by al-Qaeda to recruit terrorists.

It is hard to imagine a more potent symbol of the transformation of London into Londonistan. And it is hard to imagine a greater prize for the Islamists than the infiltration of the land that gave birth to liberty. Anyone who cares about Britain, or indeed about the survival of Judeo-Christian civilization, should read Melanie Phillips’s brave and disturbing book.

Daniel Johnson is a columnist for the New York Sun and was formerly a columnist and senior editor for the London Times and Daily Telegraph.

The Monkees Celebrate 40 Years With Reissues Of First Two Albums
As Limited, Double-Disc Editions

Hey! Hey! It's The Monkees' 40th anniversary. The '60s hitmakers revisit their '66 debut and '67 follow-up with limited-edition reissues of the group's first two #1 albums. Rhino remasters and expands both albums for deluxe, double-disc sets that feature stereo and mono mixes of the original releases, rare alternate versions of album tracks, as well as previously unreleased tracks. "The Monkees" and "More Of The Monkees" are now available.

The Monkees formed in 1966 when Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork were picked out of a mass casting call to portray a band on a zany TV sitcom designed to mimic the madcap spirit of The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. The group's first two releases combined for a total of 31 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Album chart and helped the group sell more than 16 million albums between 1966 and 1968-more than The Beatles and Rolling Stones combined.

On the Billboard Album chart for 78 weeks after its release in 1966, The Monkees' self-titled debut unleashed Monkeemania with "Last Train To Clarksville," the band's first single and first #1 hit. The Monkees deluxe edition contains the original album in stereo including the hit single "(Theme From) The Monkees." The first disc's bonus tracks include an unreleased mix of "Papa Gene's Blues"-a song produced by Nesmith featuring additional vocals not heard on the original; plus an unissued take of "(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love" that includes Jones on vocals. The second disc contains the original album in mono bolstered by nine bonus tracks including the unreleased Nesmith demo version of "Propinquity (I've Just Begun To Care)" and an ultra-rare jingle The Monkees recorded for Kellogg's.

The group's follow-up-and second of four consecutive #1 albums-was issued in 1967, the same year The Monkees' television show earned the Emmy® for "Outstanding Comedy Series." Logging 70 weeks on the Billboard Album chart, More Of The Monkees became the third-best-selling LP of the '60s. The deluxe edition features the original album in stereo including the #1 single "I'm A Believer"-written by Neil Diamond--as well as the Top 20 hit "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" and the classic cut "She." The first disc's bonus tracks include an alternate mix of "I'm A Believer" and a mix of "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)" with Tork's narration. The second disc features the original album in mono along with eight bonus tracks including the first recorded version of "Valleri" and a previously unreleased alternate mix of "Tear Drop City."

Both reissues include unpublished photos and interviews with The Monkees along with in-depth liner notes penned by Andrew Sandoval, author of The Monkees: The Day-By-Day Story Of The '60s TV Pop Sensation.


"The Monkees" Track Listing:

Disc One
1. "(Theme From) The Monkees"
2. "Saturday's Child"
3. "I Wanna Be Free"
4. "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day"
5. "Papa Gene's Blues"
6. "Take A Giant Step"
7. "Last Train To Clarksville"
8. "This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day"
9. "Let's Dance On"
10. "I'll Be True To You"
11. "Sweet Young Thing"
12. "Gonna Buy Me A Dog
Bonus Tracks:
13. "(Theme From) The Monkees" - Second recorded version
14. "The Kind Of Girl I Could Love" - alternate mix *
15. "I Don't Think You Know Me" - version one with Micky's vocal
16. "So Goes Love"
17. "Papa Gene's Blues" - alternate mix *
18. "I Can't Get Her Off My Mind" - version one
19. "(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love" - Davy's vocal *
20. "Gonna Buy Me A Dog" - version one backing track *
21. Monkees Radio Spot *

Disc Two - Original Mono Album
1. "(Theme From) The Monkees"
2. "Saturday's Child"
3. "I Wanna Be Free"
4. "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day"
5. "Papa Gene's Blues"
6. "Take A Giant Step"
7. "Last Train To Clarksville"
8. "This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day"
9. "Let's Dance On"
10. "I'll Be True To You"
11. "Sweet Young Thing"
12. "Gonna Buy Me A Dog"
Bonus Tracks:
13. "Kellogg's Jingle"
14. "All The King's Horses"
15. "You Just May Be The One" - TV version
16. "I Wanna Be Free" - Fast version
17. "I Don't Think You Know Me" - version one with Michael's Vocal
18. "I Won't Be The Same Without Her" - 1966 mono mix *
19. "Propinquity (I've Just Begun To Care)" - demo version *
20. "(Theme From) The Monkees" - TV version



"More Of The Monkees" Track Listing:

Disc One
1. "She"
2. "When Love Comes Knockin' (At Your Door)"
3. "Mary, Mary"
4. "Hold On Girl"
5. "Your Auntie Grizelda"
6. "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone"
7. "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)"
8. "The Kind Of Girl I Could Love"
9. "The Day We Fall In Love"
10. "Sometime In The Morning"
11. "Laugh"
12. "I'm A Believer"
Bonus Tracks:
13. "Apples, Peaches, Bananas And Pears"
14. "Ladies Aid Society" - 1966 mono mix *
15. "I'll Spend My Life With You" - version one
16. "I Don't Think You Know Me" - Peter's vocal version
17. "Through The Looking Glass" - version one
18. "Don't Listen To Linda" - version one
19. "Kicking Stones"
20. "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)" - with Peter's narration
21. "I'm A Believer" - alternate mix with different lead vocals
22. "Mr. Webster" - version one

Disc Two Original Mono Album
1. "She"
2. "When Love Comes Knockin' (At Your Door)"
3. "Mary, Mary"
4. "Hold On Girl"
5. "Your Auntie Grizelda"
6. "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone"
7. "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)"
8. "The Kind Of Girl I Could Love"
9. "The Day We Fall In Love"
10. "Sometime In The Morning"
11. "Laugh"
12. "I'm A Believer"
Bonus Tracks:
13. "Valleri" - first recorded version
14. "Words" - first recorded version
15. "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)" - TV version
16. "I'll Be Back Up On My Feet" - first recorded version
17. "Tear Drop City" - alternate mix *
18. "Of You" - original mono mix
19. "Hold On Girl" - first recorded version
20. "(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love" - Micky's vocal

Oliver Stone and September 11
By Paul McNellis

It's been said that what makes the British such good travelers is that they expect so little when they travel. Whether this is true of the British, I don't know, but it sums up well my own relation with the American entertainment industry. Because I expect so little from Hollywood, I'm rarely disappointed when I go to the movies. Over the years I've developed three helpful rules: 1) Don't go to the movies too often, 2) Choose your movie based on the director, and 3) Avoid all Oliver Stone movies.

But I recently broke my third rule. Since Mr. Stone's film "World Trade Center" is only the second Hollywood attempt in five years to address September 11, I felt obligated to see it, if for no other reason than to be aware of what my students will have seen when they return next week. I was prepared to be thoroughly disappointed. At least as far as this movie is concerned, I was wrong about Mr. Stone. He has produced a restrained, respectful, apolitical film that is well worth seeing.

The critics have been generally respectful, though some on both the left and the right disagree with its apolitical approach. They accuse Mr. Stone of failing to put September 11 in "the proper context," by which they mean he should take a stand on Iraq--show us either why we shouldn't be there, or why we need to win. But my question to such critics is: Since when have we expected moral or political guidance from Hollywood? That's what friends, family, and colleagues are for. Besides, since we already know where Mr. Stone stands on this, we don't need a cinematic illustration.

In a way, Mr. Stone's movie isn't really about September 11. Rather, he uses the extraordinary events of that day to narrate the story of two ordinary Port Authority policemen, Sergeant John McLoughlin and Patrolman Wil Jimeno, and through their story Stone shows us something universal about all of us--or, one would hope, true of most of us, most of the time.

For one thing, the duties of the present and the pain of the past pushes us toward forgetfulness. We're busy. We're tired. We move on. We remember what is useful or seems necessary, which doesn't always coincide with what's really important. In watching Mr. Stone's film I realized how much I had forgotten about that day: What a beautiful day it was; that only 20 men were pulled alive from the rubble; the stunned, open-wound look on the faces of my students; the feeling of shared grief and unity with my fellow citizens. It all came flooding back. It was all worth remembering.

This film is not flawless. There are things that don't work, but they are more than offset by the many short scenes that achieve perfect pitch. Stone's attention to detail has a telling, cumulative effect. Take, for example, the opening scene. Sgt. McLoughlin's day begins at 3:30 am, but he turns off the alarm at 3:29, so as not to wake his wife. It's a considerate act that reveals the man. But his wife is awake, though she doesn't let him know--to avoid saying good-bye, perhaps? All is not well. This scene, like so many others, is part of a carefully crafted whole.

This movie is also a surprise, and thoroughly un-Hollywood, in the way it presents men. There are no men cheating on their wives or acting like bumbling fools before their uncomprehending adolescent children. Instead, we see men trying to be good husbands, good fathers, and good policemen. A series of scenes that cut between McLoughlin and Jimeno buried in the rubble, and their families waiting for word of their fate, show us people, who in the midst of their grief, remember that it's not just about them: The pregnant mother who is reminded that her baby is going through this too; the mother worrying about how she will tell her daughter that her father might not be coming home; the son accusing his mother of not caring about his father because she won't immediately drive to the World Trade Center. And yet she is wise and loving enough to know her son doesn't really mean it.

We see people putting others first, on this, the worst day of their lives because they've been doing it every day of their lives. And if you spend your life as a husband and father putting those you love first, then when the crucial day comes chances are that as a policeman you'll put the people in the North Tower first as well. In a pivotal scene, beautifully done, Sgt. McLoughlin says, "We're going to evacuate the North Tower....Who's coming? Step forward." And after an uncomfortably long pause, Jimeno says, "I got it Sarg."

That one scene speaks volumes about the true nature of courage. Courage is not the absence of fear. Anyone present at ground zero that day would have been a fool not to feel fear. We see that these men are afraid, but they overcome it. And fear isn't overcome without leaders. Sgt. McLoughlin asks for volunteers; the others can say yes or no. Jimeno is the first to say yes, and then others follow his example.

Courage as a virtue is increasingly misunderstood in our society, especially among the keyboard class. As our lives become more comfortable and protected, we forget who does the protecting. A better understanding of this might bring solace to those family members whose lost loved ones are not explicitly mentioned in this film.

McLoughlin and Jimeno are courageous not because they survive under the rubble. They are trapped. They don't want to be there. One of them even wonders if the whole day was pointless: they saved no one. But it was their courage that put them there, back when they still had a choice. For the many who didn't survive, their "yes," their "I got it, Sarg," began when they became one of those who protect the rest of us.

By choosing a narrow focus, Mr. Stone has done well something Hollywood almost never does. He's given us a glimpse, a reminder, of people like those we all know, people living good lives by doing the little things day after day that good people do: Loving your spouse, trying to be a good parent, doing your duty. We are surrounded by such people but tend to take them for granted. Often, they're no further away from us than the next room.

Rev. Paul W. McNellis, S.J., teaches philosophy at Boston College.

Buchanan on Immigration
by Joseph Sobran - www.sobran.com

Note: This advanced copy of the column, “Washington Watch” by Joe Sobran will appear in the August 31st edition of THE WANDERER National Catholic Weekly, 201 Ohio Street, St. Paul, MN 55107 http://www.thewandererpress.com It is posted on buchanan.org with permission from the author.

Rarely has a book rocked me as Pat Buchanan’s latest one has. State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, just published by Thomas Dunne Books, shattered my skepticism about the problem of immigration, which I’ve tended to think could be handled by gradual absorption and assimilation, as in the past.

Buchanan argues powerfully that the current wave is radically different from previous ones. In America both the volume of newcomers and, all too often, their attitudes resist the adaptation to our traditions we used to be able to assume.

As Enoch Powell warned a generation ago, when Britain began to feel the impact of limitless immigration, the thing has the character of an invasion; the aliens, he noted, were arriving not as mere individuals, but as whole villages, transforming British culture, and not for the better. Now the same thing is happening here - but on a much larger scale.

Moreover, the Mexican government is deliberately fostering invasion across the Southern border and encouraging the “Reconquista” of the Southwestern states. President Bush has ignored this conscious and aggressive policy, for which Buchanan contends he deserves nothing less than impeachment. (Meanwhile, though this is a separate story, a parallel hostile Muslim invasion of Europe is creating “Eurabia.”)

In addition to crime, often in the form of violent gangs, the invaders come with diseases, some unknown to us, some of which we thought had been almost wiped out - tuberculosis, for instance. Buchanan notes that the immigrants, mostly illegal of course, have put such a strain on California’s medical system that 48 hospitals in the Los Angeles area have been forced to close down. It’s illegal to turn even illegals away if they urgently need medical care.

Which points up a fundamental problem. We are now paying, more dearly than even the pessimists dreamed, for the welfare state. Milton Friedman long ago put it simply: You can’t have open immigration and a welfare state. No system can afford infinite eligibility for finite benefits. Why didn’t we foresee this axiomatic truth? Did it take a Nobel Prize-winning economist to point out what is self-evident? Not that very many people were listening. Liberal opinion generally thinks it’s mean-spirited to do the math.

Buchanan’s book relentlessly cites statistics to curl a reader’s hair. One in every 12 illegals has a criminal record, and in Los Angeles, for example, 95 per cent of all homicide warrants target illegals. Some libertarians reply insistently that the current immigration is a net plus for this country, but even on purely economic terms - setting side such considerations as morality, culture, and national character — Buchanan makes that hard to believe. I can only wonder at anyone who can find a silver lining in this storm cloud.

On the contrary, I wonder if Buchanan isn’t guilty of optimism in thinking the U.S. Government, which has done so much to create and aggravate the problem, can still be capable of solving it. Some of his recommendations, such as a 2,000-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, may retard the invasion, but on his own showing it these measures already seem too late. And that’s supposing this government could muster the will to enact them.

For me, reading this book is like listening to a doctor as he gives you a brilliant diagnosis of your terminal illness. Only a few weeks ago, Bill Bonner’s Empire of Debt convinced me that this country is headed for economic disaster in the next few years. And of course Al Gore is certain that global warming is about to devastate the planet. If all three of these prophets are right, the twenty-first century isn’t going to be a whole lot of fun.

Like Powell, Buchanan has been widely abused for being right ahead of his time. Has any other American commentator, over the years, been proven so right about so many things?

From Burgundy Records:
Great News for America Fans

In the midst of their fourth decade of music making, America have been perennials on the concert circuit for 34 years, pleasing their loyal fan base and attracting new generations of followers. The band's new 2-CD set, "Here & Now" is a spectacular distillation of the group's signature sound past and present, comprising one studio record of all new material and a second live disc taped at XM Radio featuring renditions of songs found on the group's multi-platinum greatest hits album, "History".

Their new studio album is a fresh blast of classic Americana shaped by the contemporary sensibilities of producers Adam Schlesinger (Fountains Of Wayne) and James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and features guests, Ryan Adams, Ben Kweller, Ira Elliot and Matthew Caws (Nada Surf) and Jim James and Patrick Hallahan (My Morning Jacket),Stephen Bishop and Mark Rozzo (Maplewood). "One of the main attractions for Adam (Schlesinger) and James (Iha) was their initial love of the America sound," explains Gerry Beckley. "We have intentionally tried to keep that being the main focus. We're not trying to emulate or go backwards but the initial ingredients have always remained common to us, which were an abundance of acoustic instrument sounds, a lot of vocal harmony and interesting melodies and lyrics in the forefront." Dewey adds, "Adam and James are terrific to work with. We've tried to maintain the elements of our own traditions so those things haven't changed. We're not moving into electronic music but there are a few quirky things on the album. We're doing a few outside tracks including "Always Love" by Nada Surf."

The world discovered America in 1972 when a nameless horse began its gallop across the international airwaves. If this sounds like some sort of fairy tale, it seemed like one for the young musicians who harmonized their way to the top of the charts on the strength of their signature song. "A Horse With No Name" made America a global household name, paving the way for an impressive string of hits following in its wake. Slightly more than a year after launching the group, Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek were bonafide superstars, thanks to a timeless sound that seamlessly assimilated strands of rock, pop and folk elements into a thrilling musical stew.

America's journey has found them exploring a wide variety of musical terrain. Their best-known tunes, which also include "I Need You," "Ventura Highway," "Don't Cross The River," "Tin Man," "Lonely People," and "Sister Golden Hair" were cornerstones of 70's Top 40 and FM rock radio. Yet beyond their impressive catalog of hits, listeners would discover there was always much more to America than surface perceptions. The combination of Gerry Beckley's melodic pop rock and Dewey Bunnell's use of folk-jazz elements, slinky Latin-leaning rhythms and impressionistic lyric imagery contrasted well with Dan Peek's more traditional country-rock leanings and highly personal lyrics.

America's albums--six certified gold and/or platinum, with their first greatest hits collection, History, hitting four-million in sales--displayed a fuller range of the trio's talents than did their singles. Their material encompassed an ambitious artistic swath; from effects-laden rockers to oddball medleys to soul-bearing ballads, America displayed a flawless blend of disparate genres and styles as wide-open as the great American plains.

Enjoying massive success early in their career, America earned their stripes as musical soldiers on the battlefield amidst the excess, craziness and chaos of the 70's. Winning a Grammy for Best New Artist and landing a # 1 record while barely in your twenties came with its own pitfalls and the exacting pressures of their international stardom affected each member of the group.

By the mid-70s, inter-band conflicts combined with an exhaustive touring and recording schedule exacted its toll on the group. With Peek's departure from the fold in 1977, his band mates rose to the challenge and carried on as a duo. Shifts in sound and direction, changes in producers and managers, and a renewed dedication to the craft of songwriting helped rocket America to the upper reaches of the pop charts in 1982 with their smash single, "You Can Do Magic." During this tumultuous time in their career, Beckley and Bunnell immersed themselves in their craft, infusing a newfound maturity into their rich body of work. And their growth as singers, songwriters and musicians has continued unabated into the present day as illustrated by such landmark releases as 1998's Human Nature, 2002's Holiday Harmony, an album comprised of seasonal classics and the live showcases, 2000's 'America - Live' and 2002's Grand Cayman Concert.

America's songs have frequently dealt with themes of travel, displacement and restlessness illustrated on such early compositions as "A Horse With No Name" and "Ventura Highway" through more recent tunes like "From A Moving Train." Issued in 2000, their comprehensive box set, Highway, deftly captured the artistic highlights of a spectacular career.

From their formative years, America has been a band capable of transcending borders with its uplifting music and positive message. Embracing a rainbow of divergent cultures, America's audiences continue to grow, comprising a loyal legion of first, second and third generation fans, all bearing testament to the group's enduring appeal. "I think that the ingredients of the America sound are the basic fundamentals that translate internationally," explains Beckley. "The Italians are huge fans of dance music, but they also love a ballad--they're romantic at heart. It's the same in the Far East. A lot of times in these countries, we see people singing along, and they don't really know what the words mean. Music is truly the international language."

It's been a long ride indeed for these two old friends. "We've grown up in a world of show biz, seen styles change, seen technology change," Bunnell muses. "But basically Gerry and I have stayed very much the same. We still have those standards in songwriting that we were hoping to establish. We've lived pretty full lives and managed to hold on to some sanity, although the world seems crazier every day."

From anonymous horses to fast-moving trains, America's extraordinary four-decade musical legacy of consummately crafted pop/rock songs, trademark lush harmonies and evocative lyrical landscapes will never go out of style.

Obituary: Original Knack Drummer Bruce Gary

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Bruce Gary, the rock drummer who worked with George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Stephen Stills but is best known as The Knack's original drummer on "My Sharona," has died. He was 55.

Gary died Tuesday at Tarzana Medical Center of lymphoma, said Helen Gary, the drummer's mother.

Besides Harrison, Dylan and Stills, he recorded with Cream's Jack Bruce, Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow, Bette Midler, Yoko Ono, Harry Nilsson and The Doors' guitarist Robby Krieger, according to the Web site www.brucegary.com.

Gary also worked with blues masters Albert Collins, Albert King and John Lee Hooker and toured with former Eagles member Randy Meisner and Spencer Davis. He also co-produced a series of posthumous releases from Jimi Hendrix, including the "Blues" compilation.

Gary also produced the CD of drum samples "Bruce Gary's Drum Vocabulary." The drum loops are popular in professional and home recording studios where they can be added to any song.

The Knack was formed in 1978 and a year later hit it big with "My Sharona." The group's debut album "Get the Knack" sold 6 million copies, followed by a second album "... But the Little Girls Understand," which sold 2 million.

From The New York Sun:
Tangled Up in Blues
BY MARTIN EDLUND

August 22, 2006

Besides a reference to Alicia Keys, there's nothing modern about Bob Dylan's "Modern Times" (Sony). On his first new album in five years, which will be released next week, the artist who once gave voice to the changing times has stepped out of the flow of time altogether.

The blues are his means of escaping the present. He borrows willy nilly from them — a line here, a scene there. "I'm going where the Southern crosses the Yellow Dawg / to escape these demagogues," he sings on "Nettie Moore," itself an adaptation of an old folk song. The first line is a reference to the original blues song collected by W.C. Handy; the second could refer to any number of modern figures.

Mr. Dylan has always been a conjurer of old souls. Even in his youth, he could tap the spirits of early American music. The difference now is he seems to have joined them on the other side. The songs on "Modern Times" live out all the old blues storylines simultaneously. He's "the oldest son of a crazy man." He's "in a cowboy band." He's "got a pile of sins to pay for," and he "ain't got time to hide." Though his "mule is sick" and his "horse is blind," he'll "harvest what the earth brings forth." If things break right, he's "gonna make a lot of money, gonna go up North."

Musically, the album is less satisfying than its predecessors, "Time Out of Mind" (1997) and "Love and Theft" (2001), which together constitute his latest return to form. The sound here is more polite. The brushed drums, picked guitar, and swooning strings tend toward genteel jazz and Sunday brunch blues. There's nothing as disgusted as "Love Sick," as haunted as "Not Dark Yet," as world weary as "Mississippi," nor as playful as "Po' Boy."

But the lyrics manage to improve on his recent work — they are simultaneously personal and elusive. In this, they mirror Mr. Dylan's recent career. After years of assiduously avoiding the spotlight, he has lately offered himself up for public scrutiny. With "Chronicles, Vol. 1" and "No Direction Home," he has crafted a mythopoetic version of his own life story. Then there's his weekly XM radio program, "Theme Time Radio Hour," during which he spins records while carrying on about mothers, coffee, weather, and baseball like a cracked, music-obsessed Dr. Seuss. The joke is on us: After all this, Mr. Dylan remains as inscrutable as ever.

The folksy talk and theme-infatuation of his radio show spill over onto the album. Mr. Dylan relishes the colorful, cranky language of food — "I got the pork chops / she got the pie"; "eatin' hog-eyed grease in a hog-eyed town" — and weather, which always seems to be taking a turn for the worse. (There's a "mean old twister bearin' down on me"; "blues is fallin' down like hail"; and "if it keep on raining the levee's gonna flood.")

Mr. Dylan is of two minds about his twilight years. The new album alternates between meditations on the great beyond and songs about earthly delights, especially women "so crazy" he swears he "ain't gonna touch another one for years." But this front porch sage is a backdoor fool. No matter how many times women wrong him, Mr. Dylan keeps crawling back. "Put some sugar in my bowl," he pleads with one wayward lover on the sprightly "Spirit on the Water."

His relationship with faith is no different — he's spurned but he can't stay away. Time and multiple conversion experiences have taught him how little he knows, and the album is infused with a confident doubt. "We live and we die, we know not why," he sings on "When the Deal Goes Down," a country waltz so thick with pathos that it could be an early Tom Waits song. Still, he decides there's "always a reason someone's life has been spared." At this late hour, he's "beginning to believe what the scriptures say."

The only reasonable response to a world so "mysterious and vague," he seems to decide, is to embrace its absurdity. "Modern Times" contains some of Mr. Dylan's strangest lyrics since "Ballad of a Thin Man." "I'm gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of bitches / gonna raise my army from the old religions / I been to St. Hermit, said my religious vows / I suck the milk out of a thousand cows," he sings on the meandering opening track "Thunder on the Road."

But the dreamscape turns nightmarish on the excellent Southern gothic closing track "Ain't Talking." A latticework of chiming guitar and ominous strings evoke the setting: a "mystic garden," with "wounded flowers dangling from a wounded vine." It serves as a kind of purgatory. Mr. Dylan is stalked by unseen enemies and haunted by abandoned loves as he strolls the grounds "with a toothache in my heel."

Peeling off layers of borrowed experience and abstract imagery, a personal core is exposed. "I'm not playing, I'm not pretending," Mr. Dylan sings, sounding for once as if he's speaking as himself, "I'm not nursing any superfluous fears." Whatever era and language he chooses, the songs are ultimately about him.

From Al Jazeera via TimBlair.net:

ALL MUNAFIK AND KAFIRS

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Abu Bakir Bashir—spiritual counsel to the Bali bombers, who’ve recently gone cold on the whole martyrdom concept—explains things to slow-learning liberals:

The principles of Islam cannot be altered and and there is no democracy in Islam or nonsense like ‘democratic Islam’. Democracy is shirik (unbelief) and haram. Here we do not compromise. Those who claim to be Muslims and do not support Shariah one hundred per cent are all munafik and kafirs, they are out of Islam. No need to discuss with these people, they are not part of the ummat anymore.

There is no need to listen to public opinion: kafirs, apostates, liberals, atheists - they are all non-believers.

No need to listen to liberals? They’ll be outraged! Or, more likely, they’ll simply cancel their flights for fear of Islamic terrorism while persisting in blaming the war-mongering West. Although non-mongerers are also targeted:

The planned attack here stunned Germans who thought the country’s vehement opposition to the Iraq war would insulate it from becoming a terror target almost five years after the attacks on Washington and New York.

Memo to liberals: you’re a root cause.

From Tuesday's Post:

THE DREAM TEAM
By JOEL SHERMAN

August 22, 2006 -- BOSTON - Joe Torre thanked his players as they departed the field at Fenway Park yesterday afternoon and made the rounds in the clubhouse, as well. He even took the time to express gratitude to Bobby Abreu in, of all places, the bathroom.

This was the revelry after The Rivalry. And you could understand why Torre was flush with delight and what he kept describing as his "emotion." Recognizing he had so many new players who had never performed in the late-season, road heat of Yankees-Red Sox, Torre had used a pre-series meeting to brace his squad by referring to Fenway as "a snakepit" due to the in-close hostility that can be felt from the stands.

But, by the end, the Red Sox Nation's lone enthusiasm was to boo each time expatriate Johnny Damon caught a flyball. Fenway was a pit no more. It was Snakes on a Wane.

And that is why Torre was so emotional, because it was his entire roster that tamed this beast. If Torre could have given a 25-man hug, he would have done so after a 2-1 triumph gave the Yankees a five-game sweep of the Red Sox, a stranglehold on the AL East and a sequel to the Boston Massacre.

Because this was one of those times in which a manager could have looked at pretty much any locker and found a player who was a factor in this series.

"Everybody on this club did something in a positive way that helped this team win a game," Mike Myers said.

This was a series the Yanks dominated because of both their green and their (Nick) Green, thanks to their rich and their rookies, their stars and their supplements. Both the Yanks and Red Sox headed to the West Coast soon after the game, but with their heads in distinctly different positions. The Yanks were up, with their 61/2-game lead and a can-do sense of winning all types of games, in all kinds of ways with a host of different contributors. The Red Sox were down, almost certainly doomed to yet another second-place finish to the Yankees because they cannot overcome so many problems in so many areas.

"I'd like to think our 51/2-hour flight is going to be a lot more enjoyable than their 51/2-hour flight," Myers said.

On Sunday, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein had tried to alibi away why his team was being throttled in this series by playing the poor card in comparison to the Yankees, as if Boston is the Royals, not an organization that fills its park each game and has myriad revenue streams. The Red Sox could have added Abreu and Cory Lidle at the trade deadline, but were unwilling to pay full price. The Yankees were. So Lidle delivered six shutout innings yesterday, holding Boston hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position, and Abreu knocked in the first run in the only low-scoring game in this series.

And the Yankees stars certainly did come out in these five games. Derek Jeter had two huge hits. Alex Rodriguez quietly drove in five runs and finally played well defensively yesterday. Jason Giambi won a game with his might Sunday and Mariano Rivera was brilliant, of course.

But the Yanks also swept because Myers held David Ortiz hitless in four at-bats, whiffing him with a man on yesterday in the seventh. Scott Proctor pitched multiple innings in four games. Green was superb on defense Sunday night and doubled and scored the decisive run yesterday.

Robinson Cano continued to lay claim as one of the sport's best young hitters. And Melky Cabrera had another wonderful series, culminating it by positioning the Yanks' two runs yesterday with a stolen base and a sacrifice bunt.

"I'll even throw Melky Cabrera in there [the MVP debate]," Damon was moved to say. "He's been incredible."

Up and down the roster, the Yanks ignored tired bodies, interminable games, an unfriendly schedule, an untimely rain delay and inhospitable surroundings to find the will, skill, myriad of players and myriad of ways to sweep five games at Fenway for the first time in 63 years.

"It's a manager's dream," Torre said.

It was enough to make the manager want to hug his whole roster.

joel.sherman@nypost.com

Couldn't resist using this picture sleeve, even though the song blows.

Point of No Return?
By Thomas Sowell

It is hard to think of a time when a nation -- and a whole civilization -- has drifted more futilely toward a bigger catastrophe than that looming over the United States and western civilization today.

Nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran and North Korea mean that it is only a matter of time before there are nuclear weapons in the hands of international terrorist organizations. North Korea needs money and Iran has brazenly stated its aim as the destruction of Israel -- and both its actions and its rhetoric suggest aims that extend even beyond a second Holocaust.

Send not to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.

This is not just another in the long history of military threats. The Soviet Union, despite its massive nuclear arsenal, could be deterred by our own nuclear arsenal. But suicide bombers cannot be deterred.

Fanatics filled with hate cannot be either deterred or bought off, whether Hezbollah, Hamas or the government of Iran.

The endlessly futile efforts to bring peace to the Middle East with concessions fundamentally misconceive what forces are at work.

Hate and humiliation are key forces that cannot be bought off by "trading land for peace," by a "Palestinian homeland" or by other such concessions that might have worked in other times and places.

Humiliation and hate go together. Why humiliation? Because a once-proud, dynamic culture in the forefront of world civilizations, and still carrying a message of their own superiority to "infidels" today, is painfully visible to the whole world as a poverty-stricken and backward region, lagging far behind in virtually every field of human endeavor.

There is no way that they can catch up in a hundred years, even if the rest of the world stands still. And they are not going to wait a hundred years to vent their resentments and frustrations at the humiliating position in which they find themselves.

Israel's very existence as a modern, prosperous western nation in their midst is a daily slap across the face. Nothing is easier for demagogues than to blame Israel, the United States, or western civilization in general for their own lagging position.

Hitler was able to rouse similar resentments and fanaticism in Germany under conditions not nearly as dire as those in most Middle East countries today. The proof of similar demagogic success in the Middle East is all around.

What kind of people provide a market for videotaped beheadings of innocent hostages? What kind of people would throw an old man in a wheelchair off a cruise liner into the sea, simply because he was Jewish? What kind of people would fly planes into buildings to vent their hate at the cost of their own lives?

These are the kinds of people we are talking about getting nuclear weapons. And what of ourselves?

Do we understand that the world will never be the same after hate-filled fanatics gain the ability to wipe whole American cities off the face of the earth? Do we still imagine that they can be bought off, as Israel was urged to buy them off with "land for peace" -- a peace that has proved to be wholly illusory?

Even ruthless conquerors of the past, from Genghis Khan to Adolf Hitler, wanted some tangible gains for themselves or their nations -- land, wealth, dominion. What Middle East fanatics want is the destruction and humiliation of the west.

Their treatment of hostages, some of whom have been humanitarians serving the people of the Middle East, shows that what the terrorists want is to inflict the maximum pain and psychic anguish on their victims before killing them.

Once these fanatics have nuclear weapons, those victims can include you, your children and your children's children.

The terrorists need not start out by wiping our cities off the map. Chances are they would first want to force us to humiliate ourselves in whatever ways their sadistic imaginations could conceive, out of fear of their nuclear weapons.

After we, or our children and grandchildren, find ourselves living at the mercy of people with no mercy, what will future generations think of us, that we let this happen because we wanted to placate "world opinion" by not acting "unilaterally"?

We are fast approaching the point of no return.

Copyright 2006 Creators Syndicate

Hey Kids! Remember what Aydzie sez: "No sharing needles or goin' down those dirty back roads!"

International AIDS Conference Pushes Politics over Health
By Michael Fumento

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Calls for prevention highlighted the opening day of the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto. Alas, it’s too late. On the same day the Washington Post, carried a photo on its front page depicting a man wearing a t-shirt reading: “We all have AIDS.” Toss out those condoms; forget abstinence, and don’t bother getting tested. Or what part of “all” don’t you understand?

Seriously, this bit of propaganda is but one illustration of how efforts against AIDS have always been handicapped by politics. Nobody really believes we all have AIDS. But many have bought into the “Everyone is at risk” nonsense, which clearly works against targeting those truly at risk. The entire science of epidemiology – which began when London physician John Snow mapped out cholera cases in his city and found they clustered around a single water pump – depends on identifying risk factors to ameliorate them. In Snow’s case, he simply removed the pump handle and the epidemic ended.

He was lucky he didn’t have to deal with activists carrying signs reading: “Water doesn’t cause cholera; ignorance and prejudice cause cholera!”

Since 1985, when Life magazine blared in huge red letters: “Now No One Is Safe from AIDS,” activists have fought furiously against the idea that AIDS targets those who engage in selective behaviors. Yet over two decades later AIDS remains in this country overwhelmingly a disease of homosexual males and intravenous drug users. Fewer than 39,000 Americans were diagnosed with AIDS in 2004 (latest data available), and fewer than 16,000 died from it. That’s about one in 770 and one in 1,875 respectively. Fact is, almost everybody is safe from AIDS.

But of course, the focus of this conference is on international AIDS, which we all know is wiping whole continents off the map. A high Ugandan official said that within two years his nation will “be a desert.” ABC News Nightline declared that within 12 years “50 million Africans may have died of AIDS.”

Problem is, those predictions were made in 1986 and 1988. Yet since 1985, Uganda’s population has fully doubled. Nightline’s 50 million dead by the year 2000 proved to be 20 million in 2005, according to the UN’s estimate. Further, “In sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the largest burden of the AIDS epidemic, data also indicate that the HIV incidence rate has peaked in most countries,” according to the 2006 UNAIDS Report.

These figures are from an agency that itself has grossly exaggerated the world AIDS threat. For example, in 1998 it estimated that 12% of Rwandans age 15-49 were infected; now it says it’s only 3%. Whoops. On the other hand, other agencies had estimated a horrific 30% of Rwandans were infected. According to James Chin, a former U.N. official who made some of the earliest global HIV estimates, such concocted figures are “pure advocacy.”

Yet former President Bill Clinton told conference attendees that “It’s difficult to imagine how the world can grow unless we tackle AIDS.” In fact world population growth is fastest in areas hardest hit by AIDS.

As for the bizarre assertion that AIDS remains yet to be tackled, UNAIDS reports that 1.3 million people in low- and middle-income countries received antiretroviral therapy in 2004, up from a fifth that number in 2001. Donated blood is now screened in even the poorest countries. The level of AIDS testing and education in poorer nations has skyrocketed.

Meanwhile, worldwide AIDS spending averaged $1.7 billion between 2002-2004 but reached $8.3 billion for 2005 and is slated to hit $10 billion in 2007. The size of that pie, and the desire to have a slice of it, is all you need to know to understand how the Toronto conference could attract a stunning 24,000 attendees who have been rightly labeled “the AIDS industry.” Nevertheless, insists UNAIDS, that $10 billion isn’t nearly enough.

No matter that even the current AIDS budget swamps spending on malaria and tuberculosis, which together kill about twice as many people annually as does AIDS. Antiretroviral therapy for AIDS cures no one and while it costs relatively little in the Third World – $300-$1,200 per year – compared to North America, TB can be cured with $65 of medicine. Malaria in Africa and Asia can be prevented for a pittance by spraying DDT, yet environmental activists and the European Union have essentially blocked its use in those areas that need it most.

Alas for these victims, they don’t have a politically correct disease. And for that they must die.

From The Washington Post:

Mideast Echoes Of 1938
By Richard Cohen

In his upcoming book about the horrors of the 20th century ("The War of the World''), the British historian Niall Ferguson has a chapter called "The Pity of Peace.'' It is about 1938 when World War II loomed and Britain -- especially and importantly Britain -- did precious little to stop it. The warnings of Churchill -- "believe me, it may be the last chance ...'' -- were ignored and the government under Neville Chamberlain obstinately pursued a policy that forever after has made the word appeasement one of the most odious in history. Somehow, though, it looks like 1938 all over again.

The events in the Middle East are often compared to 1914 and the start of World War I. That war -- the Great War, the war to end all wars -- is actually the all-purpose war. It not only began for what seemed like a trivial reason (the assassination of a non-head of state), but it was fought with tenacity and brutality for what now seems no reason at all. In the end, millions died and the world was utterly changed. Why?

But when it comes to the Middle East, 1938 is also a pretty instructive year. At the moment, the United Nations has committed itself to maintaining peace in Lebanon. It has done so by saying it will interpose an armed force between Israel on the one hand and Hezbollah on the other. At the same time, the Lebanese army will -- as it has already started to do -- invade its own country (gasp!), securing the south for the first time in decades.

A critical part of that plan is the establishment of the international peacekeeping force. It is supposed to have 15,000 troops, which will join another 15,000 Lebanese troops to ensure that Hezbollah is not rearmed with Iranian and Syrian missiles and Israel not only pulls out of Lebanon, but stays out of Lebanon. The backbone of the international force is supposed to come from Europe, particularly France. It was France, in fact, that was most insistent on the establishment of the force.

Now France is having second thoughts ... or cold feet ... or mere questions. If it is the latter, that is understandable. The French military is said to worry about the command structure since this was a problem with the U.N. force in Bosnia in the 1990s. Command structure, though, was not nearly the whole problem in the Balkans. After all, Dutch soldiers were on the spot when Bosnian troops massacred Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica. It is hard to this day to account for what happened.

If only questions about the command structure vexed the French, there would be little cause for worry. But there are ample signs that more is at work here than a table of organization. Maybe the French and other Europeans have just plain lost the political will. The upshot is that now, there is no international force worth its name in Lebanon -- certainly not one willing and able to shoot.

This inability of Europe to get its act together is what suggests 1938. Back then, Churchill was hardly the only one who thought Hitler was intent on war. After all, the German leader was an ideological zealot -- and a murderer to boot. Still, England did little. Similarly, you don't have to have Churchillian prescience to see that what happened once in Lebanon can happen again. Hezbollah's avowed aim is to eradicate Israel. Listen to what it says. Pay attention. It will renew its attacks the first chance it gets. This is why it exists.

When George Bush used the term "Islamic fascists,'' he had a point. But it's futile to use colorful language when, in reality, you're out of the conversation altogether. This is another baleful consequence of the Iraq War. The U.S. is not only preoccupied, it is loathed. The leadership it once was able to exert -- especially in the Middle East -- is a thing of the past. If it is going to have its credibility restored, another president will have to do so. In the meantime, as we always learn, Europe without American leadership is a mere tourist destination.

What's striking about Ferguson's account of 1938 is the almost total absence of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The American president is almost never mentioned -- sidelined by the Great Depression and, more important, American isolationism. That year, too, Europe was left on its own and England, pathetically, was not up to the job. Now, by default, the leadership of Europe has slipped to France. We can all sense war coming and a kind of crazy chronology forming like storm clouds for all to see -- 1938 becoming 1914.

Oui?

From The New York Times:

Yankees 2, Red Sox 1
4 Days Later, Race for First Is a Runaway

By TYLER KEPNER

BOSTON, Aug. 21 — More than 35,000 sad souls had shuffled out of Fenway Park by 5 p.m. on Monday. There were sea gulls circling the center-field bleachers then, but they might as well have been buzzards. In 75 punishing hours, the Yankees had pounded their rivals into little more than a carcass.

With relentless offense, stingy relief pitching and moxie, the Yankees swept the Boston Red Sox in a five-game series, taking the finale, 2-1, on Monday afternoon.

The Yankees, who trailed in the American League East by four games on the Fourth of July, now lead the Red Sox by six and a half games. It was the first five-game road sweep in the majors in 10 years.

“A sweep in Boston?” said Yankees starter Cory Lidle, smiling and shaking his head slightly. “Pretty awesome.”

The Yankees acquired Lidle just before the July 31 nonwaiver trading deadline, along with outfielder Bobby Abreu. The Red Sox made no moves of consequence, and the difference in the teams’ fortunes has been striking.

In three weeks, a division race that was tied on Aug. 1 may now be as good as over.

“It’s emotional,” Yankees Manager Joe Torre said. “A manager’s dream is to have these guys be attentive and go out there and prepare and play their hearts out in spite of being tired and weary and all that stuff. To me, this is a winning ball club. That doesn’t guarantee we’re going to win the division, but I certainly like the attitude.”

The weight of history shadows everything in this rivalry, which peaked in 2004 when the Red Sox marched through New York on their way to a title. This series, too, could prove to be memorable.

Already, it has drawn comparisons to the so-called Boston Massacre of September 1978, when the Yankees stormed into Fenway and swept a critical four-game series. The Yankees went on to a championship.

Ron Guidry, who won one of those games, is the Yankees’ pitching coach now. Yes, he said, this reminded him of ’78.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t,” Guidry said. “If it goes another 20 or 30 years without ever happening again, when I pick up the paper if I live to be 100 years old, I’ll say, ‘I remember both of those.’ ”

It was 1:10 p.m. on Friday when Boston’s Jason Johnson threw the first pitch of a doubleheader, which was necessitated by a rainout in May. And it was 4:13 p.m. on Monday when the Yankees’ Robinson Canó speared a liner to end the series.

“It seems like we’ve been in Boston for three weeks,” the Yankees’ Derek Jeter said.

The games took a total of 19 hours 41 minutes, with 54 players used. The second game Friday was the longest ever of nine innings, and the Yankees thrashed Red Sox pitching for 39 runs through the first three games.

After a rain-delayed 8-5 victory that ended at 1:27 a.m. Monday, the teams played a tight game Monday afternoon. But even a sharp performance by the former Yankee David Wells could not help Boston win.

“It’s not easy to take,” Red Sox Manager Terry Francona said. “We came into this series thinking we could make up some ground. We were playing the team right in front of us. They leave, and everything went about as wrong as it could.

“Today, David pitched so well and we couldn’t generate any offense. It’s not been a very good five days. That’s probably the understatement of the year.”

In a pivotal moment Sunday night, Francona followed the numbers with horrific results. Citing favorable matchup statistics, he used two middle relievers, Mike Timlin and Javier López, instead of his dominant closer, the rested Jonathan Papelbon, to start the eighth inning.

One run scored then, and another scored off Papelbon with two outs in the ninth, tying the score.

Meanwhile, Torre’s decisions kept working. He used the designated hitter spot to give a rest to Jeter, Abreu and Alex Rodriguez. On Monday, he kept Johnny Damon, Jorge Posada and Jason Giambi out of the lineup.

“Joe is unbelievable,” Damon said. “He understands.” Yet when Torre needed a star off his bench he picked the spot right. He rested Giambi and Posada in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, but used both in the seventh inning. With the Yankees trailing, 10-7, Giambi walked, Posada singled, and the Yankees were off and running. They won, 14-11.

“If I had to pick one inning or episode that really got us over the hump, that was it,” Torre said. “We scored those seven runs and basically kept momentum on our side.”

Lidle was not even in Boston for the first three games. He watched on television in California, where he had flown for his grandmother’s funeral. Lidle threw to his brother, a former minor league catcher, to stay sharp, and rejoined the Yankees on Sunday.

He saw just two innings of that game before Torre sent him to the team hotel to rest. A veteran of seven major league teams, the soft-tossing Lidle calmly skirted damage Monday. The Red Sox stranded nine runners while he pitched.

“He did an outstanding job of keeping the guys off-balance,” Guidry said. “They had a lot of bad swings. Guys were reaching out. They had a lot of ground balls and fly balls off the end of the bat that we were able to catch.”

Lidle pitched carefully to the slugger Manny Ramírez, walking him in the first and fourth innings. Then Ramírez, who reached base 20 of 21 times in the series, told team trainers he had a cramp in his right hamstring.

Gabe Kapler replaced him, and with two on and two outs in the fifth inning, Lidle retired him on a bouncer to third.

“Kapler has always hit the ball well off me,” Lidle said, “but without Manny, it made it a little bit more breathable.”

The Yankees touched Wells in the sixth when Melky Cabrera singled, stole second and scored on a double by Abreu, who was 10 for 20 in the series. In the eighth, Nick Green — playing shortstop to give Jeter a day off from the field — doubled off Wells and scored on a wild pitch by reliever Keith Foulke.

Wily Mo Peña homered off the Yankees’ Scott Proctor in the eighth, but he was the last Boston base runner. The save went to Kyle Farnsworth, who closed because Mariano Rivera had worked two innings in the wee hours Monday morning.

For the series, the Yankees’ bullpen had a 3.60 earned run average. The E.R.A. for the Red Sox’ bullpen was 11.50.

“To me, the highlight was the bullpen,” Rodriguez said. “We manufactured runs, we stole bases, we bunted guys over. We slugged and we played small baseball. It was a great series.”

Great for one side, devastating for the other.


Abreu Has Become a Natural Fit In a Patient and Powerful Lineup
By JACK CURRY

BOSTON, Aug. 21 — About 10 seconds after hearing that Bobby Abreu had been traded from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Yankees, Curt Schilling, who is as much of a baseball analyst as a pitcher, was concerned. Schilling said he warned Boston Red Sox Manager Terry Francona that Abreu might be “the best player in baseball the last eight weeks of the season.”

So far, Schilling has been right about Abreu, his teammate for two and a half seasons in Philadelphia. Abreu has been a tremendous acquisition for the Yankees, another patient hitter to slowly, skillfully torment pitchers. Abreu has played 21 games for the Yankees, but it feels as if he has been with them a lot longer. He belongs.

Abreu’s two-out double off David Wells in the sixth inning Monday knocked in the game’s first run as the Yankees stopped the Red Sox, 2-1, at Fenway Park, and swept the five-game series. Over four long days that turned torturous for Boston, Abreu and the Yankees body-slammed the Red Sox and severely damaged their postseason chances.

“This is the right team,” Abreu said. “This is the right time.”

For the Yankees, Abreu is obviously the right player. During the series, Abreu was 10 for 20 with seven walks, five runs scored and three runs batted in, helping pound a team that wishes it had him. He is batting .395 with a .500 on-base percentage since joining the Yankees on Aug. 1.

“He’s slipped in as easily as anybody I’ve ever had,” Yankees Manager Joe Torre said.

The usually unflappable Torre said that he was emotional after the game as he thanked his players for what they had done in Boston. Torre offered his appreciative words to Abreu near a bathroom sink in the cramped, yet giddy, clubhouse.

“With Bobby,” Torre said, “I told him I couldn’t be prouder to have him here.”

Torre said Abreu smiled, shook his head and said nothing, which Torre understood as Abreu’s way of responding that he was thrilled to be with the Yankees.

“It means a lot to me,” Abreu said of the encounter with Torre. “He’s happy to have me here. He believes in me.”

When Abreu made his debut with the Yankees, they were tied for first place with the Red Sox in the American League East. Since then, the teams have taken diverging paths, with Abreu helping the Yankees construct a six-and-a-half-game lead that looks awfully imposing.

Boston General Manager Theo Epstein told reporters Sunday that Abreu symbolized the difference between the Yankees and the Red Sox. Both teams wanted Abreu, but only the Yankees were willing to absorb the nearly $22 million left on his contract with the Phillies.

“That’s not something we can do,” Epstein said. “To upgrade in right field is not worth it to us because we have to spread the money around to execute our plan and build the ’07 team.”

If the Yankees remain ahead of the Red Sox, Torre agreed that Abreu would represent the reason why. Torre said Abreu’s at-bats were so shrewd, so professional, that there were no situations that unnerved him.

“He doesn’t panic,” Torre said.

With Melky Cabrera on first base in a scoreless game in the sixth, Abreu was his calm, disciplined self against David Wells. After Cabrera stole second on the first pitch, Wells did not want to fall behind by 2-0. So he tossed an outside fastball that Abreu hit to left-center field for a double and a 1-0 lead. The Yankees’ other run scored on a wild pitch.

Derek Jeter, who bats in front of Abreu, said Abreu “seems like a perfect fit for this team” and noted that Abreu’s defense in right field had been above average, too. Johnny Damon, who belongs to the Abreu school of irking pitchers by extending at-bats, has been stunned with how Abreu never gives in.

“It’s amazing how patient he is,” Damon said. “When he’s in the batter’s box, it’s almost as if you went up and pushed on him, he’d fall down. That’s how comfortable he is.”

Reggie Jackson, a Hall of Famer who was comfortable at the plate, too, wondered aloud in the clubhouse when the Yankees last swept five games from the Red Sox. After Jackson was told that it last happened 55 years ago, he asked the question a second time to absorb the answer.

Back in 1951, Bobby Thomson’s legendary homer was called the shot heard ’round the world. On Monday, the Yankees’ sweep that Abreu helped propel was the slap heard ’round New England.

While the sweep was not as monumental or dramatic as a pennant-winning homer, it may be the reason the Red Sox evolve into spectators and the Yankees play in October.

We Must Take Back Our Movement
By Patrick J. Buchanan

Home from the beach Saturday last, I picked up The Weekly Standard. Within the magazine some still regard as the parish bulletin of the Beltway Right was an essay by one Noemie Emery furiously contesting Peter Beinart’s claim to Harry Truman.

Harry belongs to us, insisted Ms. Emery. He was “heir to a great wartime president,” she wrote. Would that be the same FDR who “lied us into war,” whose regime was honeycombed with treason, who at Tehran and Yalta betrayed Poland and all of Eastern Europe to the barbarous tyrant he called “Uncle Joe”?

Freedom was “expanded by Roosevelt and Truman, who extended the welfare state,” Ms. Emery continued. Good to know.

As for Ronald Reagan, he was “an original Truman Democrat and New Dealer [who] ... brought the Truman DNA into the Republican Party with a cadre of Scoop Jackson Democrats …” To Emery, Reagan will go down in history as the Moses who led the neocons out of Egypt to the Promised Land: power. Reagan himself used to tell us Barry Goldwater was the John the Baptist of our movement.

And why is Emery “wild about Harry”? Operation Keelhaul? The defense of Alger Hiss? The loss of China to Maoism? The firing of General MacArthur? The offer to send the battleship Missouri to Russia to pick up Stalin and bring him over to respond to Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech? The “no-win war” in Korea?

No. Ms. Emery reveres FDR and Harry because they “planned, executed, and blessed a campaign so completely hair-raising that the horror remains to this day.” FDR and Truman, you see, had the true grit to do Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. And so a “conservative” magazine claims Harry for our side.

What Ms. Emery’s piece reveals is that conservatism today is as shot through with corruption as the Church of Pope Alexander VI, two of whose brood of bastards were Lucretia and Cesare Borgia.

We are in need of a Council of Trent to redefine who we are.

Still “conservative” remains a respected term and the right term for those who devote their lives to family, faith, community, and country. We ought not give up our good name to cross-dressers. As for Left and Right, they retain much of the meaning they have had since the French Revolution. And we are of the Vendée.

A few years ago, when called a “neo-isolationist,” I wrote,

Most of us ... are not really ‘neo-’ anything. We are old church and old right, anti-imperialist and anti-interventionist, disbelievers in Pax Americana. We love the old republic, and when we hear phrases like ‘New World Order,’ we release the safety catches on our revolvers.

As in New Deal days, our Cultural Revolution, and the high times of the Great Society, a conservative today must be a counterrevolutionary. While Bush’s judges and Supreme Court justices have been top of the line and his tax cuts conservative, his democracy crusade and his open-borders immigration policy, his Big Government conservatism and free-trade-über-alles globalism owe more to FDR and LBJ than Goldwater or Reagan.

But the returns are now coming in from the Bush experiment with a Rockefeller Republicanism that he calls “compassionate conservatism.”

The rising casualties and soaring costs of an unnecessary war in Iraq, an overstretched military, immense trade deficits that must bring down the dollar, the loss of sovereignty and economic independence, a bloated federal bureaucracy to which Bushites have added as much as LBJ, an unresisted invasion over our southern border, the selling of the party of Reagan to the money power—all are the marks of an empire at the end of its tether.

What can save this Republic is the restoration of authentic values and policies of conservatism, imposed at some cost and hardship upon a people who may have lost the capacity and belief in the need to sacrifice to save what their fathers gave them.

In 1968, in The Southern Tradition at Bay, some of the writings of the conservative philosopher Richard Weaver were published. In the foreword, Donald Davidson wrote that his friend had, upon reading John Crowe Ransom’s God Without Thunder, been taken with the idea that an “unorthodox defense of orthodoxy” might be feasible.

Weaver “was suddenly troubled by his realization,” wrote Davidson, that “many traditional positions in our world had suffered not so much because of inherent defect as because of the stupidity, ineptness and intellectual sloth of those who ... are presumed to have their defense in charge.”

Conservatives have seen their movement hijacked by ideological vagabonds and hustlers who are redefining it to mean what it never meant. We need to find who sold the pass. Before we can take back our country, we must take back our movement.

Phenomenal article here from the St. Petersburg Times about Bobby Bowden's Christian faith. Kudos to David Glenn for publicizing it on his Saturday radio show.

Relying on faith

FSU's legendary coach believes, with all of his tested heart,
that spirituality is more important to life than any sport.

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer

Published August 13, 2006

TALLAHASSEE

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden didn't jovially greet fans in the lobby at the team hotel or pose for pictures or graciously sign collectibles as he ordinarily would.

Not that afternoon on Sept. 9, 2004.

Instead, he looked lost.

"He was as drained and as dispirited as I'd ever seen him," longtime sports information director Rob Wilson recalled.

But then Bowden had just flown in from Fort Walton Beach after attending the funeral of his teenage grandson, Bowden Madden, and his former son-in-law John Madden, both of whom died days earlier in an automobile accident.

How in the world could Bowden come to grips with such a devastating loss? Would he be able turn his focus on a game, any game, even one as crucial as the season opener against Miami the next day?

He could and would.

Bowden hadn't lost his faith.

"My belief is when we die, we live again," he said. "When I lost my grandson and my son-in-law, my first question was, 'Were they saved?' Both of them were, so my faith let me know they just got there (heaven) before I did. . . . You miss them, but my faith, my belief, helped me get over it."

That night, he wrote a short, poignant letter to his six children that read in part:

Keep in mind, at this time, our family will be together forever if we all TRUST in Jesus and surrender our lives to him. I don't mean change jobs or schools, etc. But just make your life available to Christ as your grandparents did and (as) Ann and I have tried to do.

"That was a defining moment in my father's life with his family and faith in relation to football," said son Tommy, the Clemson coach who furnished a copy of the letter to the Times.

For Bowden, 76, who has more wins than any other Division I-A coach, a pair of national championships, a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame, a field that bears his name, a bronze statue and a glorious stained glass window bearing his likeness at Doak Campbell Stadium, nothing is more important than his faith. Nothing. And certainly not a game.

"Football is a priority; it's big," he said, "but it ain't the priority. No. 1 is God."

That's what makes Bowden the man and the coach he is. He can maintain a healthy perspective when it comes to the head-spinning highs and can find the strength to cope with heartbreaking lows. He believes in trying to save people, which is why he has consistently tried to give ill-behaved players multiple chances, popular opinion be darned.

And he unabashedly and passionately shares his faith with his players, despite criticism that, as an employee at a publicly funded university, he threatens the separation of church and state.

"If you come to Florida State," said son Terry, a college football commentator and a former coach at Auburn, "you're going to get a dose, a good dose, of my dad's faith."

* * *

Bowden likes to tell you that God has no interest whatsoever in his ability.

"He wants my availability," he says.

It's why he's up at 4 a.m., sets up the coffeemaker and then sits for about an hour with his wife, Ann, and reads the Bible or other religious books. That's every day.

It's why, hoping others will follow his lead, he begins staff meetings with daily devotions (one's particular faith isn't relevant as long as the story is inspirational), quotes from the Scripture for the foundations of his pregame speeches and has a omnipresent team chaplain on the sideline.

It's also why each preseason he twice takes his team to church.

During the recruiting process, he tells players' parents that unless they object, the team will visit a church with a predominately white congregation (never his own, First Baptist) and one with a predominately black congregation (Bethel African Methodist Episcopal). In his 30 years at FSU, he can't think of more than a couple of times a parent asked him to exclude his or her son.

"The fact that he brings them here says to them, it takes more than education and the tenets taught through competition to make the whole man," said Darryl Jones, a Clearwater High alumnus and the program manager at Bethel AME. "No other coach or athletic program brings his team to church. That, to us, says a lot about Coach Bowden as a man."

Although some kids may privately fret that going to church is like the so-called voluntary summer workouts, something you better not miss or it will be held against you on game days, Bowden assures them it won't.

It's not about football.

It's about being exposed to spiritual options.

"I've had Jewish boys on my team," Bowden said. "I've had Muslim boys on my team. I've had Protestant boys on my team. I've had boys who don't believe anything on my team. What I'm trying to do is show them that, no matter what their race is, they're welcome. After that, it's up to them.

"I'm just trying to get the word to them and then they've got to decide what they want to do with it. I tell them, 'I'd like you to leave here a better person.' "

"I respect him for his faith," said Jesse Stein, a punter from Shorecrest Prep whose father is Jewish and has a brother who's a rabbi. "His determination, his hard work, all comes from his faith. He was a great mentor. Everything he taught me has translated into my job. I was lucky to play for the man."

Bowden and players will tell you those two Sundays help foster team unity. For some, the effect is longer lasting than a football season or even a college career.

"I was raised in a Baptist church, but I hadn't been really going to church (regularly)," said Larry Key, who was a rising junior running back from Citrus High when Bowden took over at FSU in 1976. "When you get away from home, you more or less do your own thing. . . . What it did for me was it rekindled some of the things I had come up with. It got me going back to church. It sure played a major part in me turning."

These days, Key is a deacon at Christ Gospel Church of Pinellas Park.

"It's an eye-opener," Warrick Dunn said of Bowden's religious overtness.

A Baptist and a product of the Catholic school system, Dunn wasn't attending church often before coming to FSU. His mother had just been killed and he was wrestling with a full range of emotions and questions.

"Coach Bowden being a Christian and sharing things he's been through really helped me," said Dunn, the former Bucs star running back now with the Falcons. "He understands what teenagers go through and he tries to help build and mold us into young men; men of God."

These days, Dunn runs a program to help single mothers buy homes in Tampa, Atlanta and Baton Rouge, La.; in 2004 he was honored as the Walter Payton NFL man of the year for his work on and off the field.

* * *

Not long ago, Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry drew sharp criticism for hanging a banner in the locker room that read, "I am a Christian first and last" and "I am a member of Team Jesus Christ."

Bowden saw nothing wrong with the message, arguing that recognizing faith, even if it wasn't his own, would help heal a society that has "gone crazy." He said so.

He had to.

"To me, being spiritually correct is more important than being politically correct," he said.

Terry Bowden was one of many who said what DeBerry did was inappropriate and that his father was wrong to support blurring the line between church and state.

"He thinks I'm wrong, too," Terry said.

Bobby Bowden's accomplishments as a coach have given him a bully pulpit of sorts, one he knows he won't have once he retires, a day that will come sooner rather than later.

"Believe me," Terry said, "he doesn't want to waste a day."

Still, the elder Bowden doesn't try to force feed anyone. During an hourlong interview about faith, Bowden didn't ask a reporter once about his beliefs.

He simply talks about what he believes and why.

"I don't think people should separate faith from the rest of their life," said Georgia coach Mark Richt, a longtime former FSU assistant, adding Bowden's priorities are inspiring. "It doesn't make any sense. It's a part of who we are, body, mind and spirit. Why should we leave one at the door when we walk out to work?"

Richt doesn't, not since 1986.

That year, FSU lineman Pablo Lopez was shot and killed, and when Bowden broke the news to the team, he spoke of his faith and that eternal life was guaranteed to those who were saved. He invited anyone who wanted to talk more to come by his office. The next day, Richt, then a graduate assistant, walked through the open door and accepted Christ.

As a head coach, he now incorporates many of the same practices he learned from Bowden. On and off the field. This spring, his wife, Katharyn, was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Throughout the ordeal and surgery, the couple said prayers and their faith kept them strong.

"When you start talking about having cancer and you're not sure what that's going to mean, knowing where you're going to spend eternity makes all the difference in the world," Richt said. "We had peace in that."

* * *

Forget the nickname, Saint Bobby. Bowden is the first to insist he's not perfect. That doesn't mean he's not striving for it. The road to the goal begins, he tells you, with faith.

"Coach Bowden is one who makes his life and his faith accessible; that has just been an awesome testimony of his life," said Pastor Hayward Miller of the Living Word Fellowship in Panama City, one of many churches at which Bowden has spoke in recent months. "He has a very clear message and our congregation really received him and the message. Awesome, awesome day."

Seeing Bowden's passion for the subject, hearing him share his own life events and lessons learned all spun with his unique wit and folksy charm, it's not hard to picture him as a preacher.

Actually, he sees little difference between an evangelist, a coach and a teacher. All can be differencemakers in someone's life. That, he sees, is his true calling.

"If you knew the cure for cancer, would you tell somebody? You wouldn't keep it a secret, would you?" he asked a congregation at the First Family Church in Overland Park, Kan., in May. "No. None of you would. . . . Cancer can kill you, salvation can save you so you can live eternally. Isn't that a greater story? God didn't just pick ministers to preach. He picked you. And he picked me."

* * *

He has been a coach for more than five decades.

He has been a Christian his entire life.

On his desk, flanked by a new biography about his idol, Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, or the latest tome about Gen. George S. Patton or Stonewall Jackson, is the Bible.

Always at arm's reach.

Always worn on his sleeve.

"It's awful important to him that he be successful; he's very competitive," Tommy Bowden said. "But one of the reasons he's been successful is because he's been able to have a higher priority than football goals. . . . It's kept him level-headed, and I think it's kept him youthful."

Unlike so many of his peers, Bowden hasn't burned out or showed signs of walking away from his job for a life walking the beach and golf courses. It's not about winning more games or awards to him.

He's after a more important win.

"I think I've finally gotten to the point where I can really help these boys, if they'll listen to me," he said. "I just want to try to help these kids grow to be good people. . . . They have to get their academics, and they have to learn how to live with people. They have to look at life beyond football."

Or as he wrote to his kids that night two years ago:

When I die and go to Heaven (I know I will), if all of you and your family are not there with me when your time comes, I will consider myself to have failed in life. All the statues, trophies, championships, etc. will be in vain. Somewhere along the line, I failed you if you are not there. . . . Now is the time to recommit our lives to Christ. . . . Each night, this is my fervent Prayer.

Love, Dad.

© Copyright, St. Petersburg Times.