Reaction Tiger Woods

I’ve been out of the loop.  I own clubs, but I don’t really play golf, I don’t keep up with the sport.  I’m not really in the market for whatever golfers sell, so this really means nothing to me.

What does interest me is the public reaction.  I waited, and I listened.  Near as I can tell, but for the jokes, it doesn’t matter much to almost anybody.  I expected some racial slant to his behavior, I found none, not even in the jokes.  I expected anger from those who were angry about others’ affairs, but for the most part, I found only sympathy.  Concern for his family, and hopes that the marriage would survive.  These are the opinions of my friends.  Their generosity pleased me.

Tiger Woods is not my type.  But that is not to say that I don’t see why other women would be attracted to him.  Any woman, not just golf groupies.  The attraction would certainly be genuine.  Not for just telling the story to friends.  I don’t think most women would even think of selling the story.  I think most women would just do it for fun.  To be pampered a little bit, and to escape whatever hum drum salt mine that is their day to day.  Believe you me, fun and comfort rank pretty high on any lady’s wish list.

Of course I also read some of the things that were being written.  I read, with great disgust, Susan Estrich’s column.  The contempt she displays for the other women is petty and sad.  It betrays her personal insecurities, of which she has many, and shows an ugly side of feminism.  Whatever the lives of these women, whatever their grade point averages, they are surely not without their charms.  She picks on a waitress in a pancake house, for making eight dollars an hour, and playing with Tiger.    Well if your life was such that you had an eight dollar an hour job, I’d bet you’d let a prince charming entertain and pamper you too.

Estrich laments the hypocrisy that nobody, not his sponsors, not his employees, nobody who depended on Tiger Woods for a living, stopped him.  Huh?  Susan Estrich, a woman who not only condoned Bill Clinton’s many affairs, but also enabled the affairs is now lamenting the same hypocrisy in others.

Tiger Woods is going to be fine.  He’s 33 years old, and has upwards of a billion dollars, that’s plenty of money for everybody.  It won’t matter to his lifestyle if he never does another commercial or endorsement again.  Predicated upon no Juanita Broadderick, or Kathleen Willey showing up, he will continue to do commercials and endorsements, because people buy the things he sells.

You’re fired.

So Steve Phillips has been fired for having an affair with a 22 year old intern production assistant.  The affair is said to have lasted for three weeks when Phillips ended it.  Soon thereafter, Brooke Hundley (I’m unaware if she’s a relation to former Mets catcher Todd Hundley) pretty much went off the deep end.  Anybody even remotely affiliated with sports, knows that Phillips has had affairs in the past, so what’s the lesson here?

Is it that men in general, sports in particular, and ESPN especially,  have a “frat boy” attitude about sex?  That isn’t much of a lesson, it’s a little bit of a given, so what?  Really, so what?

Will the feminists rail against the objectification of women?  Big deal.  It’s been done lots before.

Wouldn’t it be more interesting to refrain from the name calling and the vitriol and come up with a code conduct?  One that addresses these points, on a level of personal responsibility, for both parties?  I mean something more practical then reporting it to a superior.  If you’re being pushed around, it’s sometimes best to just push back.  We should provide a list of plausible suggestions, a measure for a woman to determine if a woman can handle situations herself, perhaps with humor, perhaps spilling a drink, perhaps simply turning off your phone, so he can’t continue to insist you visit him in his private suite.

It’s not my wish to cast aspersions, honestly, who goes that far off the rails over a three week liaison?  A couple of theories; perhaps the Clinton patented (feminists approved) “nuts and sluts” defense applies here, but perhaps not.  Hundley did in fact think things through.  She placed an ad for a third party to be paid to place a phone call to Mrs. Phillips, contacted the teenaged son, wrote a letter and drove to it to the family home, and then, after making all these aggressive moves, filed a restraining order against Phillips.  By the way, in most states, anyone can pretty much get a restraining order against anyone else.  They sound very important, but as they are so easy to get, there are many issued, and they really aren’t worth much.  Not in the real world, not to the people who really need protection.

This sounds to me like a wind up.  An ambitious young woman who doesn’t much care how she gets famous, so long as she does.  Even if it means trying to pass herself off and a new and improved Long Island Lolita.

Regardless, we have got to get something worked out.  It would be really nice, if grown men would simply act like grown ups.  Well it was a shot.  It would be equally nice, for we women to act like grown ups.  We have some responsibility to what happens to us.  We have a lot of tools at our disposal, we should use them more proficiently.  It’s demeaning to have to run to an authority figure with every problem.  Sure there are those times when calling in the Cavalry is the only thing to do.  But that option should be reserved for the most serious of offenses.

Steve Phillips lost a high paying, high profile job over this.  He didn’t do what Brooke Hundley did.  She’ll probably be quietly let go too.  He contract is most likely a considerably more casual one.  She’s probably hired by the day, or the week or the project.  She’ll need a new contract for each new project, ESPN has no reason to renew, her career is over.  She’ll probably write a book, hit a few talk shows, and that’s it.

Would you want her working for you?  Ladies, we as well as the men, should take a lesson.

All Ye Faithful

So Pope Benedict XVI has arranged for Anglicans worldwide to join the Roman Catholic Church, while still keeping many of their favorite traditions intact. Sound familiar?

This is an old and effective tactic that the Church has used before to increase its ranks. The pagans loved their traditions, so the Church adopted them and the pagans into Communion.

Seriously. You didn’t really think that there was a Christmas tree in Bethlehem? What about Easter eggs? The pagans painted eggs in spring, because chickens need to see a certain level of light in order to produce eggs, in winter, the days are shorter, and chickens stopped laying eggs. As we have electricity now we don’t have that same problem, but back then, it was a problem. When spring arrived, chickens would resume laying eggs, and the pagans would decorate the eggs in celebration of spring and fertility. If you have another theory, please bring it up with Peter Cottontail.

The Church is streamlining its conversion process, allowing Anglican priests (although not Bishops) to be married. Traditional, dissatisfied Anglicans will become Roman Catholics, and enjoy a conservative lifestyle. It’s a win/win/win. The Anglation Church can continue to be as liberal as it pleases, its disaffected have some place to worship, and Pope Benedict XVI gets to increase the Church’s numbers.  Smart guy.

the clinton tapes

I have always been a big believer in a soldier’s right to gripe.  But gripes go up, never down.  This is why the generals don’t have that right.  This is why if among equals, you’re considered to be first, there’s no one who should hear your gripes.  Ever.  This is why the fairy tale of the clinton tapes is so deeply disturbing.

According to this, the Secret Service tasked with protecting not only the president, but also visiting dignitaries, didn’t recognize Boris Yeltsin at a time when he was undressed, drunk and looking for a pizza.  As a private citizen, if a guest of mine wanted a pizza, I’d have made the necessary phone call.

R. Emment Tyrrell has publicly complained about the former president’s portrayal of him.  Tyrrell maintains that he was invited to the then president’s table, as were his young female dining companions.  Whereas according to the clinton tapes, the trio crashed the party, and wouldn’t leave.  Truth be told, Tyrrell’s complaints make him seem petty, and sad.  Still, Tyrrell is the envy of most of the targets of The Clinton Machine.

The Clinton Machine, like any engine, requires fuel.  Most of the fuel for The Clinton Machine comes in the form of vulnerable, unsuspecting women.  Many of whom were targeted when they were much younger than Chelsea is now.  They have been the victims of whisper campaigns.  Terrible rumors have been spread about them, including smears about prostitution and substance abuse.  There isn’t a one who wouldn’t rather see whose hand was holding the knife as it twisted.

He’s undermining the professionals tasked with protecting himself, his wife and their daughter.  According to Clinton, the Secret Service is no protection at all.  We all remember, they were unable to protect a sitting president in his own office, from a 22 year-old stalking intern.

We have to hear what a great dad he was, attending on time his daughter’s ballet recitals, and protecting her from the press coverage of his perpetual misbehavior.  A good dad would not have made a point of getting himself impeached.

Taylor Branch has been a long time advocate of Bill Clinton.  He made his money, and his name back in the day when the soul patrol doubled as a generous gravy train.  Now he’s swapped his bone fides for a snake oil franchise.  Branch wasn’t around during the impeachment, the only possibly interesting part of his whole book.  Instead, we all get a wind up.  We’re told that everybody was always wrong about the poor misunderstood lecher.  Ron Popeil never pitched anything with an equal level of zeal.  We’re supposed to believe that these clinton tapes exist.  Also that no simple supeana can violate the sanctity of the presidential sock drawer.  What an interesting little detail.  Who’ll give me odds, that little detail was meant to dog whistle some sweet, young thing?  Perhaps she lacked the necessary metabolism to crawl into a bottle, perhaps she was too arrogant to fall into the gutter.  Whatever the reason, that dirty old man knows he’ll never taste her, so, as is the Clinton habit, he’s spiting her instead.

I understand why R. Emment Tyrrell is angry, but he should not have been surprised.  Yes, he came out and publicly complained, and therefore looks a fool.  But as flim flam men rely on their mark’s pride to not complain, I think it’s better to look a fool, than to be taken as one.  I doubt R. Emment Tyrrell will sue.  If he does, as this book insults everybody, it ought to be a class action suit.  But even still, it would be hard to win.  The way they set it up, the book is a recollection of a recollection.  A built in defense of a faulty memory, either Branch’s or Clinton’s, or the excuse of perception, either Branch’s or Clinton’s.  The Clinton Machine has so corrupted the concept of disclosure, it’s morphed into the perfect double bluff.  The only real surprise here, is that it wasn’t published by the Brothers Grimm.

Mr. Roman Polanski

I just thought I’d chime in. What are we going to do with this guy, and why? There’s no question that he did it, but there are other questions.

The seventies were a much different time, after the pill and a long list of recreational drugs had hit the scene. Law enforcement was playing a game of catch up, trying to identify the recipes to those recreational drugs, because that is what is necessary to make them illegal. It was during the sexual revolution, when educated women shed their usual protectors, on the poorly considered notion that they could and should take care of everything themselves. It was a grey time, where limits were pushed, and in many cases ignored altogether.

But some things should remain constant, including a mother’s obligation that she protect her young. That child did not crawl out of her bedroom window to sneak into a biker bar with the ambition of dancing on a pole. Her mother was in the house, probably high on liquor or drugs or promises of fame or fortune herself. That mama did not do her job.

People on both sides of this tend to speak as though this was a one time thing, I don’t believe that for a second. People who do such things, tend to make it a habit.

Roman Polanski impresses people as arrogant, well, duh. That happens. He knows that he survived the Nazis, when so many others didn’t. He knows he survived the Manson family, when so many others didn’t. It’s hard to be humble when you’ve beaten mammoth odds and so many others didn’t. This is a guy who knows, that it isn’t alway the good guys who win, but he himself survived. Why wouldn’t he figure he’d survive the attentions of Johnny Law too?

He’s going to serve time, here. By the by, it isn’t the fault of his supporters, it’s about politics. Bad, old fashioned politics.  We have him now, whether we should or shouldn’t have picked him up is no longer an issue.

The world is changing, and the Swiss have noticed. Their old system of neutrality is no longer serving them, they need allies, partners in business. The Swiss needed to make a gesture. Also note the timing, Polanski was picked up just as Hillary Clinton wrapped up her international rape is bad tour. She’s seen as being marginalized, she needs to burnish her bone fides as somebody who is relevant. She’s not going to step in on his behalf, his name isn’t Clinton.

Polanski is screwed. I wish it were for reasons of right vs wrong, I wish it had to do with protecting people who need and deserve protection, I wish it could be for setting an example, so that others wouldn’t behave so poorly.   I wish it could at least be about the rule of law, but it’s for none of those things.  There is a shame in that, but we do do what we can, when we can.

Oldie but a goodie

THE VAST RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY is back, or so we’re supposed to believe. Bill Clinton fresh off his recent pep rally, is once again whining about it. Or rather selling it again. The Clintons are valiant when it comes to shadow boxing, the problem is, sooner or later, somebody’s bound to turn on a light. So in a silly attempt to create the illusion that a straw man is a real boy, to aggrandize himself, Bill Clinton has now unleashed his old, imaginary foe, THE VAST RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY onto the Obama administration. Sad, really.

Be polite…

Looks like the democrats want to bring good manners back into fashion. Talk about hypocrisy! I don’t mean all democrats of course, I refer to those out front, presenting themselves as spokespeople for the party, and really American policy. I refer to those who made their professions from spreading vitriol are now, late in their lives, asking for others to be nice.
People like James Carville, whose only accomplishment, getting Bill Clinton elected, sprouted from a victory over his then girlfriend, Mary Matlin; a middle aged woman who had two failed marriages behind her. Together they scripted not just the election process, but over time, taught us how to treat each other.  They coined such terms as the bimbo brigade.  Not attacking policies, or politicians, or people who put themselves in the deep water, but women.  Women too vulnerable, too naive to be able to protect themselves from a cad with an agenda and assistance from the feminist movement.

Because of their own agendas, they manipulated the public into punishing those they chose to scapegoat.  It still stuns me how effective they’ve been making us believe that all of Bill Clintons’ sins belong on the back of a 22 year old intern.  They may have had high minds at one point, but not for long.  Eventually they did what they did, just to show themselves they could.  So impressed with themselves, that rationality left them.  Maiming a woman, for no reason at all, was not thought to be inappropriate.  They became the characters from the movie Network.

They who taught us to turn on each other, are still taking shots at the little people.  Calling them names and criticizing not just their different positions, but them personally.

Mary Matlin and James Carville continue to work (even though neither has their candidate in the White House) as a “point/counterpoint” team publicly exchanging previously agreed to barbs in matches less believable than those brought to us by the World Wrestling Federation.  They (Clinton supporters and their symbiotic dopleganners) have become so acclimated to the controlled, choreographed, mutually beneficial battles, that they are genuinely surprised when an unknown, unscripted actor pushes back.

They are aging bullies, who probably for the first time in their lives, are beginning to appreciate their own frailties.

It’s hard to refuse a plea for mercy.  It’s also very dangerous to consider bullies pleas for mercy genuine.  They are more apt to squeeze off a couple of crocodile tears, only to follow those up with an attack.  If they choose to show the kindness they hope to see for themselves, if they choose to walk away, then fine.  But if their just trying to use our kindness against us to hold ground, then there’s nothing to do but wallop them.

It’s your responsibility to be mindful of where you place your pity.  Ask yourself if you really think you can benefit from a manners lesson from the likes of James Carville?

Tricky Ricky

Rick Lazio is having a terrible time trying to create some buzz about his bid for New York’s next governor. It isn’t working.
He is having press conference after press conference, trolling the state getting himself in front of every official looking building he can find. Pretty funny, also sad. How many people have to announce their announcements, only to announce that they have announced?

Meanwhile, he’s got the current president, along with the former president, undermining the democratic incumbent. By the way, if not for Tricky Ricky Lazio’s poorly run campaign, the former president’s wife probably would be at home baking cookies and having teas.
Politics, who says they’re local?

John Edwards’ affair

I’m completely turned off at the coverage of John Edwards’ affair.  If the media wanted to cover the affair during the presidential race, then fine.  Fair game.  But the media didn’t cover it.  I wonder if they didn’t cover it in part to protect another candidate, known for having a philandering husband.  I don’t agree that Hillary Clinton would have wanted this to come out at the time.  I think she would have been expected to make a statement, and what’s she going to say?  Some generic line about praying?

Now members of the media say they didn’t cover it because they liked and respected Mrs. Edwards.  Because Mrs. Edwards was terminally ill, and they didn’t want to make her last days any worse.  Okay, so what has changed?  Is Mrs. Edwards no longer likable or respectable?  Isn’t she dying anymore?  What’s changed?

Some professional journalists actually knew Ms. Hunter, but they didn’t pick up the phone to ask her anything.

They blame Mrs. Edwards for their refusal to do their job as they saw it.  They say she worked the sympathy angle.  Well, I believe that, I’m just not mad about it.  It’s not her fault that you fell for it.  She has a certain investment in her husband, and her children.  You don’t get to vilify a woman for trying to protect her children, not even a dying woman.

You don’t get to get on some high horse and proclaim nobody has a right to lie to their own children.  They are plenty of lousy parents all over this country, people putting their children in the trunks of cars, turning them on to drugs, beating them up, and you’re going to spend your moral outrage on this?

I’m going to call you on it.  To report on this now, is to hit after the game is over, and the players have left the field.

These are private citizens, and they’re in a rotten position, one that I don’t presume to understand.  I’m told he’s going to admit paternity, I see no reason for him to do that.  The public isn’t owed any explanation.  Whatever adjustments they make, it’s going to be messy, it’s going to be painful.  Leave them to it.

Mock Fight

Has anybody been following the Espada thing in New York?  Okay, So Pedro Espada, is the senator from the Bronx, and the majority leader in the New York Senate.  He helps his son get a job that pays in the low six figures.

Rick Lazio is trying (failing) to make a name for himself by starting fights with the NY Senate.  Most recently he publicly calls for Andrew Cuomo to investigate the hiring of the younger Mr. Espada.

This has dual significance.  Of course Andrew Cuomo was formerly referred to as the younger Mr. Cuomo, or words to that effect.  You see, many years ago, there was this Mario Cuomo guy.  A big deal in New York politics, he used to the governor and he hired his own son, Andrew Cuomo.  But when you have money, and your son presumably has money, and you want him to have a career in politics, you hire him.  You make sure that he’s only paid $1 a year.  That excuses the nepotism.  A grown man working for his father, in a position of an unpaid intern.  But he gets to put a fancy title  on his resume and that gives him access to other jobs in the future.  This is just one example of how the privileged classes take care of their own.  Most Americans actually have to work for a living.

It is also worth noting that Andrew Cuomo shares a stake horse with Rick Lazio.  Alfonse D’amato.  Yep, good old Al D’amato is backing each Rick Lazio and Andrew Cuomo, won’t it be interesting if New York gets to chose its next governor from his those two?

This is just a mock agitation.  Lazio and Cuomo are working together, under Al D’amato in order to elevate each other.  This is nothing more than a stage show, designed to awe the public into believing that a couple of pampered, gutless shadow boxers are actual fighters.