I'd rather be a word man than a bird man.

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When all else fails we can whip the horses' eyes and make them scream and bleed.

Go CUBS!

Go CUBS!

Yes... I can be quite snarky. But all critiques of your style and cultural touchstones aside, your piece is very thoughtful and I mostly agree with it, if not entirely, really. As it turns out, the Sci-fi nightmares of the Terminator serial are not too far off from current developments in military science.

Where does humanity go with detached video game killers and robots doing the dirty work while a dominant culture inflicts its will on non-assimilated cultures without consequence? This scenario extends the logic of the death camps. Mo' better mass exterminating with fewer assassins. Less soldiers driven mad from the alcohol to numb the nightmares and guilt. The lower staffing burden making it easier to select from the limited pool of sociopaths who are better suited to the task. We see in our contemporary relatively democratic culture that the security apparatus has frighteningly low levels of accountability and oversight, to speak nothing of the uncompromisingly totalitarian regimes acquiring the New Technology.

Perhaps a more constructive criticism: suggesting you expand your dense blog into a book. Cut the meat into small pieces and remember you're feeding the TV babies.

The right-wing hateocracy is a bunch of smeg-heads.

Hannah Montana's teenage sexuality is getting a little ahead of my 8 year old, I think. Be that as it may... Hannah flaunting her awakening sense of herself as a sex object and music that reflects the same by any given artist... slutty, queer or otherwise, is probably not as damaging as the repetitive messages that violence is a problem-solver, and the inbred racist mentality that so many parents unthinkingly infect their kids with aside from general snobbery and other tendencies to devalue the humanity of others.

I like Taliban Wannabe Jerkoffs as a new brand name... or as they will be known fondly by their reality-challenged supporters "The TWJ"... they will not continue the trend toward TWJ hegemony without a struggle. They will be sorely challenged by "The NTD"... The Not The Democrats... a more secular greed-based faction that will return to the fundamental message that the Republicans "are not Democrats." Perhaps it would be clever of them to swing the intoxicated and other less perceptive members of the Democratic Party electorate away by calling themselves "The UnDemocrats" ---surely resulting in confusion and accidental voter support. Look for Ron Paul to lose credibility when his supporters begin wearing matching Nike track suits and urine tests mandated by the Obama Administration, the Illuminati, and the UN reveal there isn't a single supporter among them that isn't a chronic pot smoker.

I'd at least want to be wearing my flying boots

I hadn't learned of this sad news until reading your article, so I appreciate the heartfelt craft you put into it.

For me, and I suspect for many baseball lovers my age, if not all of them, Mark "the Bird" Fidrych was a special character as he exploded onto the scene as we were making the transition from boyhood into early manhood and embodied the best of both worlds. He was a fierce competitor who carried a sense of fun and playfulness with him.

My condolences to all who loved him and to all of us baseball fans of a certain age who are now suddenly a little older in spirit. Falling on the heels of the Adenhart tragedy, ironically, even the mention of Mark Fidrych in his obituary brings images of an eccentric long haired youth dominating the fierce sluggers of the American League while old Tiger Stadium rocks with cheers and an entire nation takes notice.

In the public mind, even in his later years, I don't think it's a stretch to say a mention of Fidrych evoked those images, and for those of us who saw him pitch, he will remain the memory of those wins and those cheers, forever young. Rest in Peace, Bird.

I sing the laptop electric.

it's like hitting the refresh button on your computer... everything is wiped out and then born again with new content... cosmic recycling.

if you don't comply with the process, sandmen hunt you down and eliminate you... best to show up for carousel at the appointed time, unless you can flee to sanctuary...

feed your soul or feed on your soul?

Cool.

Cool.

I respect the Steelers and always pulled for them in the epic battles vs. Dallas, but the Cards are Chicago and St. Louis refugees and those are two of my favorite cities. Plus Arizona is one of the great sanctuaries for old Chicagoans fleeing the hawk. It was -31 in Aurora a few days ago with a windchill of -51. It was a warmer, balmy -17 by the lake.

Expecting to see the Cubs in the World Series before the (football) Cardinals in the Super Bowl?

Do the Cubs have a starting pitcher who has won Game 7 of the World Series somewhere? Because the Cardinals have a QB, as you pointed out, who has won the Super Bowl.

Here's a few things I expect to see before a Cubs appearance in the World Series.

1. Jews and Muslims sharing pork chops and beer in Gaza.

2. George W. Bush admitting to a mistake.

3. The White Sox moving to St. Louis and then Arizona because of their inability to compete for attendance dollars with the more popular northside team in Chicago.

All of those things will occur within the next 8 months as the Cubs will be in the 2009 World Series.
Next year has arrived. For the Arizona (football) Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. The difference is that
Arizona will lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers while the Cubs will lose to the Arizona White Sox.