H2O Man
H2O Man's JournalBoxing (9-1-12)
Sept. 1
At Verona, N.Y. (HBO): Gennady Golovkin vs. Grzegorz Proksa, 12 rounds, for Golovkin's WBA "regular" middleweight title; Sergiy Dzinziruk vs. Jonathan Gonzalez, 12 rounds, junior middleweights; Bryan Abraham vs. Jorge Maysonet Jr., 6 or 8 rounds, junior welterweights; Tony Luis vs. Andres Ledesma, 6 rounds, junior welterweights; Cleven Ishe vs. Taureano Johnson, 8 rounds, super middleweights; Richard Starnino vs. Shawn Miller, 6 rounds, light heavyweights; Borngood Washington vs. Ryon McKenzie, 6 rounds, light heavyweights; Rayshawn Myers vs. Bryan Clookey, 4 rounds, cruiserweights
Professional boxing returns to the Turning Stone Casino in upstate New York on Saturday. The Oneida people who run the casino were able to reach an agreement with Albany on taxes, which opened the way for more of the high-quality cards that take place about a half-hour’s drive from the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
My younger son and I will be there at ringside, in the second row. The last card we saw there featured Shannon Briggs, and was televised on ESPN. Saturday’s co-feature and main event will be on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” (“BAD”), and are definitely worth watching. Each of the fighters in the co-feature have the potential to be top contenders, and the pair in the main event are looking at earning a shot at the world title.
My son and I are going to be scouting the fellows in the first bout. D is likely to turn pro later in the year, if we can find a good opponent for him to make his debut in. He can make cruiserweight easily; however, some of the “smaller” heavyweights these days tend to be overweight cruiserweights, who are both slower and in less-than-good shape. D can fight strong and fast at 212 lbs -- small by today’s standards, but the same size as Sonny Liston or Muhammad Ali. He works hard in the gym, and puts in the miles of roadwork necessary to be able to fight at a very fast pace, round after round. Add to that his explosive punching power, and his love of delivering numerous very hard body shots, and I think we might have upstate New York’s next local drawing card.
Light heavyweight Shawn Miller, from the Albany area, is an exciting fighter, too. We’ve watched him a few times. His father, Bob, is widely recognized as the best “cut man” in the business today. When Showtime features cards from Canada, Bob is virtually always in one of the two corners. He promoted a young Mike Tyson’s first string of fights. ( In the 1970s, he co-managed an undefeated fighter who eventually became ranked in two weight classes; I trained/managed my brother who, in his second pro fight, put the first loss on Clyde’s record. Though Clyde pissed and moaned about the decision -- 4 rounds to 0 on all three judges’ cards -- Bob is a class act, and said my brother clearly won.) Also, Shawn’s older brother Shannon was a good journeyman heavyweight.
Enjoy the fights!
George Schultz: Company Man
One of the books I bought at a library sale a few weeks back is “Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State,” by George P. Shultz (Macmillan; 1003). Although Shultz is among a group of corporate republicans that I believe should never have been given any political authority -- serving in the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush 1 administrations -- I do try to include some books from the “dark side” in my library. More, having reached page 844 (of 1,138) since picking it up last night, I figure that I’m not wasting too much time on it.
Schultz is, like his contemporaries, a snake. It is easy to have my sense of contempt for him reinforced by reading this book. But at the same time, I do not view him as a poisonous snake -- he’s more of constrictive type, that has smothered the breath from our democracy. Several years after writing this book, for example, Schultz was one of the party elders who promoted Governor George W. Bush’s early presidential campaign.
What makes this book worth the 25 cents I paid for it is Schultz’s detailed story of the Reagan-Bush administration’s Iran-Contra Scandal activities. Numerous times throughout these pages, he describes Iran-Contra as an outgrowth of Watergate. Specifically, he writes about the severe damage done to our constitutional democracy by having a small group inside the White House that mix intelligence and policy and political action.
In the book, he freely calls out those who were most engaged in the scandal, including repeatedly documenting the knowing and purposeful lies of both President Reagan and Vice President Bush. Obviously, it would have been honorable to have done so publicly -- say while testifying before Congress -- rather than doing so years later, to sell a book. He knew that impeachable offenses were being committed, but George Schultz is a company man.
Still, for those of us who were outraged by the many illegal operations known collectively as the Iran-Contra Scandal -- and that includes a good many of this forum’s participants, who recognize that it was rooted in Watergate and blossomed into the Bush-Cheney scandals -- it’s worth a quarter.
(Daily Caller) Carlson interviews Mitt
(Daily Caller) On Sunday, August 19, at 10 pm/EST, Fox News will air a 90-minute special, in which Tucker Carlson interviews Mitt Romney. This exclusive interview, which was taped today, will provide viewers with a detailed analysis of the Republican presidential candidate’s patriotic ideology.
The following are highlights from this moving Fox News Special Event:
TC: Every day, or so it seems, Barack Obama attacks you for being successful. Do you think that he hates wealthy Americans?
MR: Mr. Obama despises the American Dream. Instead, he clearly subscribes to foreign concepts, which includes targeting patriotic wealth. And that’s one of the biggest differences between us: I’ve worked hard for every penny, while Barack Obama has never worked a day in his life. ………
TC: In Obama’s daily attacks on you, he has mentioned your lack of foreign policy experience. How do you, as a gentleman, respond to such slanderous, savage attacks?
MR: I am the person responsible for the Olympics. People understand this. They know that all types of foreigners compete in the Olympics. You’ve also seen this fellow O’Biden point out that I have experience in international economics, including with the Swiss. I’ll bank on that, compared to O’Biden’s rumored consumption of non-domestic beer.
And let me add that I’ve resisted all temptations to make O’Biden’s alcoholism a campaign issue. I hope that he successfully completes that Malibu Passages program before the vice presidential debate. ……..
TC: A book detailing the 2008 election, “Game Change,” claims that all of the other republican primary candidates disliked you. Do you think that this was accurate? And did you have the same experience in 2011 and ‘12?
MR: That is foolish on the surface. All of my friends like me. And a lot. Family values. But when you are competing against the democrats, you have to expect such foreign types of attacks on the American system.
I mean, who are we really talking about here? John McCain? Angry old man who will say anything to get elected. Why, just last month, he spoke favorably about my campaign.
Or do you mean Rick Sanitarium? Give me a break. “Little Ricky” always says exactly what he believes. Can you believe he wanted me to put him on my ticket? Loser. …….
TC: How did you come to decide on Paul Ryan for your VP?
MR: Oh, this is classic, Tucker. We knew -- absolutely knew -- that the democrats thought that if I selected anyone of substance, they would overshadow me. We weren’t going to allow that to happen. So I talked to Ann, who said, “How about that little Eddie Munster-looking guy?” Gosh, I knew immediately that she meant Paul Ryan. I mean, Little Ricky is funny looking, with that crooked nose and crossed eye. But Paul Ryan has far less substance, and can answer questions dishonestly. Exactly what I need in an employee for this position. That Ann is a genius. ……..
TC: The democrats have certainly been focused on Paul Ryan’s lack of meaningful experience, and on his plans to end welfare programs such as Social Security ….
MR: Yeah, and he’s a Catholic! Can you believe it? Ann is a sheer genius.
TC: ….and Medicare. Which economic program are you really looking to impliment?
MR: Ann again, Tucker. Ann again. She says that we can play this up as a “Good Cop versus Bad Cop”-type of situation. Either the Congress deals with me, or they are stuck dealing with Eddie. ……
TC: Speaking of Mrs. Romney, what do you make of the far-left lame-street media trying to corner her on releasing tax information?
MR: It always hurts to see your spouse attacked in such an un-American way. It just seems foreign. But let’s take a closer look at the real underlying issue here.
The opposition keeps harping on the 60% of the public demanding I release the very information they could use to fully discredit Ann and I. Well, Tucker, in every school in America, a 60% is a failing grade. Public school, private school. This is why I have pointed out this tax issue is shallow. It fails.
You have to ask: why does my opponent advocate failing grades? Why this un-American attack on education? I’m not going to point out that Muslim schools favor failure, because that is a foreign ideology that this President is thriving for. My campaign will not stoop to such a low level, which I think we can agree is so foreign as to be repugnant to all good American citizens. …..
TC: How do you plan to debate Barack Obama?
MR: Ann has suggested that I “stay classy.” Pretend that the debates are actually a dressage duel. Man-to-man. ”Don’t bring a knife to a horse ballet,” in other words. That makes for the contrast between the candidates that benefits me. …..
Watergate: The Hidden History
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
-- Neil Young
My wife and I spent four days in Boston last week. The highpoint for her was the wedding we attended, closely followed by the hours we spent on the beach. I primarily enjoyed the book stores. And one book in particular stands out.
If other friends on DU have reviewed “Watergate: The Hidden History (Nixon, the Mafia, and the CIA)” by Lamar Waldren, please excuse this OP. But I was unaware that the book was even published this year.
Two of the author’s previous books (with Thom Hartmann) are, in my opinion, essential reading: “Ultimate Sacrifice” (2005), and “Legacy of Secrecy” (2009). This new book is closely related to both of those.
Richard Nixon was a crook. Everyone I knew realized that when he was President. And everyone but Patrick Buchanan knew it by the time he resigned. But the full extent of his criminality -- he was a “mobster” in every sense of the word -- is extremely well-documented in this important book.
It’s important because the disease of Nixon infected so much of what went wrong in America in the 1960s; because it documents how the social and political atmosphere that allowed Nixon to come to power started well before he became vice president; and because it documents how that “cancer on the presidency” mutated and spread throughout our former constitutional democracy. It reads like a forensic autopsy of America.
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