Ocassional Thoughts of an Independent Progressive Atheistic Humanist
Katherine Miller resigned from West Point in 2010 in protest of the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy. She resigned rather than lie to continue her military career. She was ranked 9th in her class at the time. Her story made national news which included being a guest of singer Lady Gaga at the MTV video music awards on September 12th 2010. Graduated from Findlay High School.
It is my pleasure to add her to my Famous Findlayians web page
The Little League World Series final is today 8/29 with Japan vs Hawaii. Whenever I see the game each year it reminds me of the movie “The Bad News Bears” and my own experience in Little League back when I was 11 to 13 years old.
I played for the GM Red Sox and our coach when I was 12 was Robert Nichols who would later be my Phys Ed teacher in Junior High and even later became a Findlay City Councilman – which I notice he is serving again as a councilman from the 5th Ward.
I played outfield and batted 9th because I was such a great player… NO… I stunk as a hitter. During my “career” I had 2 hits. Just 2 over three years.
Coach Nichols tried to help me be a better hitter. One day during practice he came up to me at home plate and held a ball in his hand.
“I want you to hit this ball out of my hand,” He said.
“What?” I said.
“Take your bat and hit this ball out of my hand.”
“Okay.”
I took my stance and he held the ball on the palm of his hand.
You know where this is going, right?
I took a full power swing at the ball and the bat crashed into Coach Nichols hand completely missing the ball. He immediately started screaming words that I wouldn’t really learn until I got to Junior High. He held his hand and was in intense pain.
“Why did you do that for?” he screamed at me.
“You told me to!” I yelled back.
I so wanted to go home at that point. I figured that was it – kicked out of Little League. I slunk back to the dugout while all the other guys on the team laughed at me.
Coach Nichols paced around for a while shaking out his hand occasionally glaring at me. Then when he calmed down he came to the dug out.
“You’re right I did tell you to hit the ball out of my hand. I should have been more specific about not taking a full swing.” He said and smiled slightly
“I’m sorry…” I said.
“It doesn’t seem broken so I’ll be okay. Get out in the field for some pop fly practice.”
At the next game I hit a walk off grand slam to win the league championship all thanks to Coach Nichols… Sorry I made that last part up. Never happened. I still stunk, played outfield, and batted 9th.
What did happen was I found out I needed glasses.
Me on the GM Red Sox in 1981, year after events in this story. I still stunk.
I try to avoid arguments on twitter as the 140 character limit isn’t good for the kind of thought out rational arguments I like. Today I got into one by mistake and in the end the person agreed with me so it was a lot of heat for no reason.
This is how it started. A progressive I follow had this to say after the Glenn Beck “rally” farce:
Today, 8-28-10, we witnessed, first hand, the regression of our nation.
The word “regression” threw me off because the whites who fear minorities and change have been around for hundreds of years so the Beck rally was just proof that bigoted whites who hate change exist. So I tweeted:
Beckapoloza wasn’t proof of regression only confirms some white people afraid of change
Then my like minded opponent said:
Sorry but I disagree.The Teaparty is a sign of regression & actively promoting it;feeding off of ignorance & bigotry.
So I needed more than 140 characters to explain myself so I used 3 tweets:
it would be regression if it didn’t exist before but it has always been there under the radar during Bush but open now
Tea Party type people have always been bigots and voted against their best interest in the name of social issues
and the GOP and other conservatives have used the Tea Party types to win office
At first she agreed but then sent:
The regressive state of mind has a political movement now;it’s called the teaparty. Is there no RWNJ around to argue with?
Which I responded:
No argument just your word “regression” threw me thats all I don’t follow nut jobs because I don’t like talking to a brick wall
So she sent a final tweet:
For there to be regression there must have been progression. Definition: http://bit.ly/9PjXq9 You’re wrong, sorry.
It was at that point I just sent a tweet saying:
Okay Cool Thanks
Well I wasn’t wrong. She made my point. For the tea baggers at Beck’s rally to have regressed there had to have been progression. However the bigoted white minority who fear change have always been there. For it to be a regression they would have had to not been bigoted and afraid of change until Beck and his right wing pundits came along.
I don’t think it has gotten worse only more media attention makes it seem it is increasing in volume.
People who attended Beck’s “rally” are those who are the most committed people, who fall for his “Lonesome Rhodes” act. These people never venture outside their Beck bubble to become better informed about the issues. These people also seem to always vote against their own interests and the GOP and cheap labor conservatives like Glenn Beck feed on that.
Sorry twitter friend, I was right.
Good news. I have updated my “Famous Findlayian” web page. I include more people of note with sections on Medal of Honor recipients and Congress critters.
New to the page includes Clyde “Diz” Kirkendall a softball pitcher, Bernie Little owner of the former Unlimited Hydroplane boat “Miss Budweiser”, and Marie Dressler who won a best actress Oscar in 1931.
I also updated some the pictures and information for people who were on the list already.
The political debate concerning the economy includes the usual idea from the privilege elite that wealthy people need Bush’s tax cuts to be extended, that the unemployed will stay unemployed unless the dole is cut, and that the market will save us all. Those ideas are a load of crap simply based on history and as philosopher George Santayana once wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
A simple look at how Herbert Hoover dealt with the start of the Great Depression shows us the truth:
Never say that Ryan or Hoover didn’t want to end the economic crises they lived through. But they both believed that government should have balanced budgets with low taxes above all else, and that the people needed “tough love” or they would decline into indolence. They thought that businesses always knew best and they would voluntarily “do the right thing” (although I would argue that Ryan actually believes they cannot possibly do the wrong thing.) Hoover scrambled after it was too late to put some more rational policies in place, but not in time to halt the Great Depression of his own political ignominy.
The difference is that Hoover didn’t know any better and didn’t have the lesson of the Great Depression to fall back on and Ryan does. He apparently missed class that day (or made it up by reading Amity Schlaes puerile garbage for extra credit.) And anyone who knows better can do nothing but scream at the TV — “he’s actually trying to put us into another Great Depression” — when they hear him say these things, as I just did.
In conclusion – been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. Thanks Herbert Hoover!