We remember Michael Jackson (1959-2009)

It's still hard to believe that Michael Jackson died in 2009 at age 50.  What a shock!

Like so many others, I loved The Jackson 5.  They were great.

In recent years, Michael Jackson really turned me off.   I did not enjoy his image, music or anything about him.   Frankly, I thought that he was repulsive.

Nevertheless, we do recognize his contributions to pop music.     He had some great solo songs in the 1970's, such as the "Off the Wall" album.   His best solo work was probably the "Thriller" album from the early 1980's.   It sold lots of copies!

I always did like "I'll be there" and the other Jackson 5 songs.

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August 2013: The world is not respecting or fearing President Obama

(My new American Thinker post)   

 We can safely say that most of the world does not respect President Obama.    His "red lines" are useless.  His "threats" are laughed at.   We are closing embassies around the world after President Obama told us that the war on terror was as good as over.

And he looks so weak when there is a thug like Putin on the other side of the table. 

For example, the Cold War and USSR is history but Putin is boosting military ties with Cuba.  What for?  This is what "thugs" do when they sense weakness.  

Putin is having a good time insulting Obama, as Michael Crowley reminds us today:   

"The Cold War may be over. But America's relationship with Russia is about as warm as a Siberian pool party. And there's not much Obama can do about it. Some commentators are urging him to "man up and punch back." But Putin is not an easily intimidated man. Indeed some close observers openly wonder if he's altogether rational. One former senior Bush administration official recently described Putin to me as having transformed from confidence to arrogance to outright megalomania. (That's not to mention the well-publicized, often-shirtless "nonsense jackassery.") And much like China, Russia simply isn't a country America can bend to its will. Especially not when oil, one of the country's prime exports, are well over $100 a barrel, giving Russia the cash and comfort to project. And especially when America's reputation around the world remains, shall we say, problematic."

Yes, our options are limited but we would have a few more of them with a stronger president! 
 
We are back to leadership 101.  The US president must be respected and feared.  Otherwise, he is useless on the world scene no matter how many times they scream "yes we can" in Paris or "we love you" in South Africa.
 
It's all about having "cards to play" and keeping your opponents guessing.
 
Unfortunately, President Obama does not have any cards to play, as Benny Avni wrote today:  

"There are always excuses: America is broke; voters no longer want us to be the world's cop. And even if we did want it, what can we do? And so the onetime leader of the free world, the globe's only superpower, has no cards left to play -- not even to bring a wayward fugitive for trial."

Yes, that's the dilemma.  He is not very respected!     

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We remember Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on this day in 1899 and died in 1980.   He made some of the greatest films of the 20th century,  from “The birds” to “To catch a thief”.   

He clearly had a knack for suspense.

 

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The A's and Charlie Finley baseball

Between 1969 and 1975, the Oakland A's has one heck of a team.   It started when Charlie Finley recruited players like Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Jim Hunter and others in 1965-67.

In this book, Nancy Finley, his daughter, tells the story of one of the most amazing teams ever.   After all, they did win 3 World Series titles in a row:  1972,1973 and 1974.  

Wonder how many more they could have won if Finley had kept the team together?  Also, why did Finley move the team to Oakland in the first place?   They would have drawn a lot better in Kansas City, a much better baseball town than the crowded Bay Area.

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Were the 1970 Orioles the best team of the last 50-something years?

From 1966 to 1971, the Baltimore Orioles won 4 AL pennants and 2 World Series.   The 1969-71 team won 318 games over 3 seasons with incredible pitching, defense and hitting.

Were the Orioles the best team ever before free agency changed everything?   

I would say yes with all due respect to the Oakland A's who won 3 straight World Series titles.   (By the way, the A's had to beat the Orioles in the 1973 and 1974 ALCS to make it to the World Series.

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2014: "THE TRAGEDY OF FIDEL CASTRO", A BOOK BY JOAO CERQUEIRA

2014: "THE TRAGEDY OF FIDEL CASTRO", A BOOK BY JOAO CERQUEIRA.......Listen in now at http://t.co/n3zObACjBl. #BlogTalkRadio
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) August 26, 2014

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We remember Chris Haney 1950-2010

Who does not like to play "Trivial Pursuit"?    Well, I do and usually do fairly well when the topic is sports or history.    I don't do well when it's arts.

We remember Chris Haney.   It was Mr. Haney who created "Trivial pursuit"    I have played "Trivial pursuit" hundreds of time and had no idea of how it came together.   Great story!

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Chris Haney 1950-2010 and "Trivial Pursuit"....... https://t.co/TAHli6YObg via @amazon

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) August 9, 2017

August 7, 1960: Castro banned all religious TV and radio broadcasts in Cuba

On this day in 1960, Fidel Castro banned all religious TV and radio broadcasts.   It was a reaction to The Catholic Church condemning the rise of communism in Cuba.

Not much later, the Catholic schools were closed and I remember that.   Our beloved Maristas was closed and some of the clergy expelled.    I lived through all of that.

Years later, I learned that the school grounds became Villa Maristas, or the place where political prisoners like Armando Valladares were tortured.

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Hiroshima 1945: President Truman made the right decision

We remember another anniversary of one of the most consequential days of the 20th century.

Back on this day in 1945, many people heard about Hiroshima on the radio or perhaps saw the scenes on one of those newsreels.

In the summer of 1945, President Truman was confronted with one of those decisions that only a president faces.  He looked at the horrible options and made the right call, as my friend Bill Katz explained.   The bomb stopped the war and the killing:

Of course we regret the lives that were lost, as we always regret death and destruction in war, but guilt is not required.  In what is sometimes called the  bloody arithmetic of war, the nuclear bombs reduced the ultimate death toll of World War II dramatically.  And as the late historian Paul Fussell, a soldier in the Pacific at the time of Hiroshima later wrote, recalling his thoughts when he learned of the atomic bomb's use, "We were going to live.  We were going to grow to adulthood after all."  For that we can be grateful.

We will probably hear the usual criticism of President Truman's decision, specially from those who were not alive back then nor have taken the time to study the real options on his desk.   In other words, President Truman was not choosing between war and peace but rather war and more war.   He also knew that there would be huge casualties on both sides, if he decided to invade Japan.

Today's anniversary reminds us that presidents often face awfully difficult choices.  In this case, President Truman made the right decision. 

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