Thursday, December 22, 2005

July 2005: A bad day and an apology later from Kenny Rogers of the Rangers


Image result for kenny rogers camera man images

Back in July 2005, Kenny Rogers had a very bad day over the confrontation with the camera man of a local TV channel.
It was very sad because Rogers pitched great here and elsewhere.   It's a shame that this incident stained his career.

P.S. To his credit, Kenny Rogers apologized later and that was great to see!    



Monday, December 19, 2005

2005: Bush went to Europe




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President Nixon's '72 trip to China was historic and exceptional. It was remarkable watching the President and First Lady on The Great Wall or sitting down with Mao.

President Reagan's visit to the Berlin Wall in '87 was dramatic. He said "tear down this wall".   Two years later, the wall came down and so did the evil empire!

Overall, presidential trips are courtesy calls. They have very little impact here and there. 


So I didn't expect a lot to change from Bush's 2005 visit to Europe. 

The most important part of the trip was the meeting with Putin but it did not get much attention from the Euro-press. Putin and Bush had a lot to talk about. Yet, everyone was obsessed with the dinner that Bush and Chirac having dinner!

Nevertheless, Europe and the US did some fence mending. There are several reasons.

The first one is pragmatic. Bush won with a majority (51.4%) of the US popular vote.
In fact, most of Bush's European critics would love to have his mid-50's approval ratings in the latest Gallup. They wouldn't mind having his 5.2% unemployment rate either!


Bush arrived in Europe in a stronger political position than any of his hosts. Take a poll in France or Germany or Spain. Do you think that the majority of their citizens think that their leader is doing a good job? I don't think so!

The second reason is economic.  As the US moved from recession to 4% annual growth, much of Europe is still stuck in their malaise and 2% growth.  Europe can't create jobs and this is turning into a serious domestic concern for the continent's leaders.


The third reason is the Iraq election:  8.5 million Iraqis put the exclamation point on the removal of Saddam Hussein.

In the end, not much happened but nothing much was supposed to happen. 

Old Europe is in decline as it falls behind China and India in economic terms. Things will never be the same between the US and Europe. 

We are not going in the same direction, as Mark Steyn wrote in his book.

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Thursday, December 01, 2005

Let's meet Nilda Cepero, Cuban American author

Monday, November 14, 2005

2005: A bad for Kenny Rogers


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The 2005 Rangers were a disappointment, specially after the 89 wins in 2004.   They came to spring training with high hopes but everything just fell apart.

We remember a bad series for the Rangers in July.  Off the field, it was a bad day for Kenny Rogers.

Unfortunately, it was left hander Kenny Rogers who stole the show with his confrontation with a Channel 4 camera man.

Rogers' behavior was out of character. He has pitched here since '91 and had never been a problem in or outside the clubhouse.

God only knows what made Rogers act like this.   It was a bad moment in an otherwise good career:   239 wins, 4.27 ERA & 133 of those came here!



Friday, November 11, 2005

July 2005: Rafael Palmeiro joined the 3,000 hit & 500 HR club


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Back in July 2005, Palmeiro joined the ultra selective 500-3000 club

He joined Aaron, Mays and Murray as the only 4 players who have 3000 hits and 500 homers.

It was a great achievement.

Where did he come from?

Palmeiro was the Cubs' first-round pick in 1985.  He got his first hit on Sept. 8, 1986, against Philadelphia's Tom Hume. His first home run came the next day against Kevin Gross.


He was traded to the Texas Rangers after the '88 season so that the Cubs could make room for Mark Grace.

Palmeiro became a complete hitter in Texas. He had 203 hits in '91. He showed power in '93 when he hits 37 HRs. He became a model of consistency collecting at least 38 home runs and 110 RBIs for nine consecutive years. His best year was '99 when he hit 47 HRs and helped the Rangers to 95 wins and the AL West!

He got his 500th on Mothers Day 2003!

Congratulations Rafael Palmeiro.


P.S. Palmeiro was caught in the “substance abuse” scandals.  He killed any chance of going to the HOF.  It’s a shame because he’d reached 3,000 hits without substances.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

2014 podcast: "Cafe Cubano" & recipes with Sonia Martinez & Marta Verdes Darby, authors


Sunday, October 02, 2005

We remember Groucho Marx (1890-1977)

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(You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, click send, and drop a dime here.)
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Julius Henry Marx was born in New York City on October 2, 1890.    Later, he and the Marx Brothers made us laugh and laugh.    
Like many of you, I discovered The Marx Brothers in college.   I fell in love with their humor and watched several of their movies over and over again.    
My favorite is “A night at the opera” but the others are great, too!

Saturday, July 16, 2005

July 2005: Remember the London bombs

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The UK has seen its share of terror lately.   

Back in July 2005, London woke up to subway bombs. 

On that day, London learned that the suicide bombers were not foreign terrorists but local residents.

This is what we learned about the killers from Daniel Johnson:



"One of the suicide bombers, Hasib Hussain, aged 18, had recently returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca, having become a devout Muslim two years ago and grown a beard. According to friends," he never came across as any sort of fanatic."

Shahzad Tanweer, 22, was a cricketer, who apparently told friends that he disapproved of the attacks on America of September 11, 2001.

A third bomber, Mohammed Sidique Khan, was married and had become a father eight months ago.

A fourth man, whose remains are still being identified in the grisly forensic operation in the subway deep below King's Cross station, probably came from a similar background." 



My guess is that most European leaders are scared that they may be next. 

Every European capital has large numbers of these young men. 

Every European country has mosques blasting violent messages to vulnerable young men like the ones who killed the innocent in London.

I guess not much has changed, or gotten better, since that July 2005.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.


July 2005: John Roberts was a good choice

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Back in the summer of 2005, President Bush made an outstanding choice for The Supreme Court.    Judge John Roberts had an excellent background and was well respected.

Unfortunately, the Democrats could not let go of abortion or other liberal issues.   They kept asking hypothetical questions about how he would opine on this or that.  

It wasn't that long ago that Judge Ginsberg was nominated by President Clinton and refused to answer specific questions.  Then Senator Biden did not have any problems with that.  

Our judicial nomination process is way too politicized.   It's not good for the country.

Speaking of The Roberts Court, there is Justice Scalia.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.










Thursday, June 23, 2005

Mercedes, the young girl who inspired a car name

Daughter of Austrian automobile entrepreneur Emil Jellinek and his wife Rachel Goggmann Cenrobert. She is best known for her father having Daimler's Mercedes line of cars named after her, beginning with the Mercedes 35 hp model of 1901. Also, at the 1902 Paris Automobile exhibition, her father hung a large picture of her.
We remember the story of the “Mercedes” automobile today:
“On this day in 1902, German automaker Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) first registers “Mercedes” as a brand name; the name will gain full legal protection the next September.”
Later, he named the car after his daughter:
“In June 1903, Emil Jellinek obtained permission to take the name Jellinek-Mercedes, observing that it was “probably the first time that a father has borne the name of his daughter.”
So we remember the young girl today.
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