Props to "The Scribes"

A RED LETTER day in my life today, as I officially became "published".

That's right, published. In print. In a magazine. Specifically, the August edition of "Waco Today" magazine--and I'm in good company with many other contributors who have been published a lot more than I have--which brings me to the point: big time props to what I believe are still "the real journalists": what some of us call "the scribes".

Yes, those that write the written word, and that's either for newspaper, magazines or their on-line equivalent(s). These are the people who have to do what those of us in television don't do well at all: they create the pictures in our minds with their words, and spur the imagination. That's why I have had and still have today the utmost respect for the writers--be it news, sports, feature, financial, etc.. To use the old "cake" analogy, those of us in TV are like the frosting, as we deal with more headlines. The writers are like the body of the cake with real eggs mixed in, as they included the details that make the headline what it is. Writers are the real thing, and I think it's high time they get recognized for it.

My first written piece was on "The 5 Central Texas Football Players To Watch in 2009" (check it out at: www.wacotrib.com/wacotoday) . And, let me tell you, writing for print is a whole different animal that writing for TV! Again, I don't have the luxury of moving pictures to tell my story, so I had to draw my own mental picture(s), and then find the best words to describe those pictures so that your mind does the same thing. Trust me--that's not easy. And to think the scribes do that kind of thing every day? Phenominal!

Yes, writing is not necessarily "writing". In TV--and for those of you who need a refresher on my background, I've been a TV sportscaster for 21-years--one writes for what we call "the spoken voice" or "conversational voice". That is, we write the way we talk--basically transferring what we say to our fingers on the keyboard. An anchor is having a conversation with a viewer. In print, one tries to keep it conversational, but it's still more of the written word because the words are in front of you instead of moving pictures--and your words must be gramatically and anatomically correct. If not, the writer look stupid, and if that happens, the writer loses credibility. And once that happens, there's no more writer (or the writer moves into TV--sorry, a little poking fun at my own profession!).

A lot of TV folks don't get along with a lot of the writers, and vice versa. And, that's too bad. We could all learn a lot from each other. But to me, it doesn't matter. My hat is off to the scribes. And, I really don't care if theirs is off to me or not. My work speaks for itself, and it's been generally worthy of respect--TV not withstanding. But I do feel proud that tonight that I can stand with them as one of their own--albeit a rookie.

Trust me--I'll keep earning my spurs. I have that book to write within 3-years, after all!

NEWSFLASH! Big 12 Football Kicks Off Tomorrow!!

That's right tomorrow, and every single one of the conference's teams will play! But, it'll take 3-days.

Yes, it's the annual Big 12 Football Media Days--this year's round table of interviews will be in Irving, TX, with the Big 12 Championship game at the new Cowboys Stadium in December. Now, I'm going to give you some "inside insight" to what'll happen over the next 3-days, and also give you some of my observations from past Big 12 Media Days I've staffed over the last 15-years.

First, here's the format: four teams will talk to print and electronic media each day. Tomorrow, it'll be Texas A&M, OSU, Nebraska and Iowa State. Tuesday, you'll see OU, Baylor, Missouri and Kansas. Then on Wednesday, it'll be Texas, Texas Tech, K-State and Colorado front and center. Each team will also bring three designated players to talk to us media types. They usually have one gigantic ballroom for all the scribes (the print guys--the REAL journalists, in my book), and then split the TV & radio guys up into 2-or-3 groups, with the radio guys along several tables with their gear set up for live broadcasts as well. And, once they start, they just wheel 'em, we ask 'em all kinds of questions about the upcoming season, what happened last season, and anything else we can think of, and then they wheel 'em out. The Big 12 also usually serves up some great food for lunch--we sports guys say we get great perks because they basically don't pay us any money to do what we do.

So, with that all said, here's some of my observations about various things over the years from Big 12 Football Media Days:

1) Best interview: Mike Leach, Texas Tech. Hands down--because you don't know what he's going to say next, and how he's going to say it. He'll be talking football, and all of a sudden you're getting an analogy from his days at Pepperdine's Law School--with a little Howard Stern thrown in. There's not one of us who doesn't look forward to Leach's time on the dais.

2) Worst interview: too many to pick from. Cliche after cliche, how many "you knows" can I count.. just too many to count. So, I won't.

3) The "Tony Robbins" Award: former Baylor head coach Kevin Steele. I believe it was in 2000, when he came in with this analogy of "all the parts of the car are in place here at Baylor University. The engine will be our lines--they're ready to burn things up. The spark plugs will be our skilled people. And, the transmission will be our will to win, which is greater than it's ever been here at Baylor. We're going to win a lot of ball-games with this car, which'll hit on all cylanders."--or something close to that. Well, there must have been some bad gas somewhere, as the Bears stumbled through a 2-9 season. And, the next year? No "car" analogy.

4) Most Brazen Prediction Award: former Baylor cornerback C.J. Wilson, 2005: When asked what the Bears' goal for the season was, he answered very matter of factly, "National Championship. National Championship. National Championship." It wasn't in the cards, C.J., but kudos for the stones to be thinking the right way. Go long or go home, as they say.

5) Closest to the Vest Interview Award: OU's Bob Stoops. He'll give you what you need, but that's about it. He's not going to let anybody get him to way what he doesn't want to say, and there have been folks that have tried.

6) Most Affable Guy In The Joint Award: UT's Mack Brown. Man, the stories he'll tell. "You know, Sally (his wife) and I were out on the boat one day.. ". You could be the biggest T-Sip hater in the world, but 10-minutes with Mack Brown will have him wearing a Bevo pin--he's that engaging and likeable. Which is probably one of the reasons he closes the deal on so many great recruiting classes each year.

7) The Mr. Intensity Award: OSU's Mike Gundy. And, that's not a knock. He's as gung-ho about his team as a head coach as he was an an All Big-12 QB with the Pokes in the late 80s. It's too bad he'll probably never live down the "I'm a man, I'm 40" thing. He's just passionate about his team and his players. And, it shows in his interviews. I'm going to put Colorado's Dan Hawkins in there as a close 2nd.

8) Dont' Fall Asleep On Me, Man! Award: KSU's Bill Snyder. He should be a hypnotist on the side--pretty monotone when answering questions, and he can be long winded. But my goodness, the man knows his football, and as far as I'm concerned, what he did at K-State back in the late 80s and early 90s--taking a program that, historically, was the worst record-wise in NCAA history and turning it into a powerhouse? Call him a miracle worker. But he can put you to sleep talking about it.

9) Mr. Articulate: KU's Mark Mangino. This guy not only knows his football, he knows how to tell you about it to where you understand it like he does, and then illustrates it. He's the same way talking about his players. If it weren't for Mike Leach's comments that sometimes come from foul groud out there in left field, I'd say Mangino was the best interview.

10) Sharp Dressed Men? Stoops always comes looking really clean and polished. Shirt, tie, suit. Very classy. Former Iowa State head coach Dan McCarney always came looking like he just stepped out of the CEO's office--the one he occupied. Those are the two that stand out. A lot of coaches and players wear polo-shirts with their team colors, which is fine. But they guys who dress sharp stand out.

And, I'll leave it that. But this should get your football whistle whetted, and good thing: the season's only about 5-weeks away, with fall drills scheduled to open here in the next couple of weeks.

I can't wait!!

Some Weekend Inspiration.

What was the line from, "The Shawshank Redemption": "Get busy living, or get busy dying!"?

I know that's the line because I've seen the movie a couple of dozen times, and could watch it a couple of dozen more. And, with that in mind, I'm going to pass on an e-mail from my buddy Rick Pliscott of Waco, who fired me this one yesterday--and these are truly words to live by no matter one's situation.

Now, fair warning: the print is REALLY BIG, so don't be alarmed. Enjoy.





A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package:

'This, - he said - isn't any ordinary package.'

He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box.

'She got this the first time we went to New York , 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on , was saving it for a special occasion.

Well, I guess this is it.

He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothing he was taking to the funeral house, his wife had just died.

He turned to me and said:

'Never save something for a special occasion.

Every day in your life is a special occasion'.

I still think those words changed my life.

Now I read more and clean less.

I sit on the porch without worrying about anything.

I spend more time with my family, and less at work.

I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up to, not survived through.

I no longer keep anything.

I use crystal glasses every day...

I'll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if I feel like it.

I don't save my special perfume for special occasions, I use it whenever I want to.

The words 'Someday...' and ' One Day...' are fading away from my dictionary.
;
If it's worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see, listen or do it now....

I don't know what my friend's wife would have done if she knew she wouldn't be there the next morning, this nobody can tell.

I think she might have called her relatives and closest friends.
She might call old friends to make peace over past quarrels.

I'd like to think she would go ou t for Chinese, her favourite food.

It's these small things that I would regret not doing, if I knew my time had come..

Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.

Live for today, for tomorrow is promised to no-one.













Now, back to the small print. Go out there and live for today. Live for your Lord, for your family, for your neighbor, for yourself. Live!

Racism: Two Ugly Sides

Yeah, totally disgusted with both of 'em, and I hope you are too, no matter your ethnic background.

The first one on the very questionable arrest of black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, the second on someone calling Thanksgiving, "The White Man's Holiday".

I will say that the first has me feeling disgusted, and the second one more annoyed and offended.

Gates is one of our country's great intellectuals--no matter what race you're talking about. His creds speak for themselves, with only a partial list here: Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa Yale graduate, 50 honorary degrees, a 1997 Time Magazine 25 Most Influential Americans. This man had earned his stripes. Yet, here's an "Yahoo.com" article account of what happened to him upon returning home from a recent trip:

"The 58-year-old professor had returned from a trip to China last Thursday afternoon and found the front door of his Cambridge, Mass., home stuck shut. Gates entered the back door, forced open the front door with help from a car service driver, and was on the phone with the Harvard leasing company when a white police sergeant arrived. Gates and the sergeant gave differing accounts of what happened next. But for many people, that doesn't matter. They don't care that Gates was charged not with breaking and entering, but with disorderly conduct after repeatedly demanding the sergeant's name and badge number. It doesn't matter whether Gates was yelling, or accused Sgt. James Crowley of being racist, or that all charges were dropped Tuesday. All they see is pure, naked racial profiling."(YAHOO NEWS, July 21, 2009. Headline: Analysis: Gates Arrest a Signpost on Racial Road.)

With 200+ years of history, who can blame this train of thought. Disgusting. Unwarranted. Injust.

But now to number 2, and this took me a week and a half to write about: an African-American calling Thanksgiving "The White Man's Holiday"--strictly because--as this person put it--people of "lighter pigment" who came over from Europe and then raped the land from the natives-- created it. One word for you there: HOGWASH. How about two: TOTAL HOGWASH! Talk about making a judgment strictly on the color of somebody's skin! And, folks, that's racism. And, you know what? It offends some of us "lighter pigmented" folks in our own way.

I told this person that none of my ancestors came over on those boats with the Pilgrims who are credited with creating the Thanksgiving Day holiday. In fact, most of my ancestors either came over in the late 1890s or were the first to ever set foot on the Americas back in the first part of the 19th-century as Vikings. I can also tell you this: NOBODY in my family tree EVER owned a slave. In other words, not all of us white folk come from the same stock. I bet this person never heard of Scandinavia--the part of northern Europe where the majority of my ancestors hailed from. So yes, I took offense at the blanket statement that Thanksgiving was "The White Man's Holiday" for the very reason people of color cry out for their justice: it was a judgment made on the color of my skin.

Furthermore, calling Thanksgiving "The White Man's Holiday" is as absurd as calling the Martin Luther King Holiday a "black holiday". Remember the part of Dr. King's great speech about, "not the color of a man's skin, but the content of his character"? That applies to all white folk, and the rest of the melting pot that is now America. I hold King in the highest regard because he was an outstanding human being.

I also had another person tell me 13-years ago that people of color are incapable of being racist because in general they are disadvantaged economically. I asked this person if that was people of any color--and that included white people. This person replied yes, to which I asked then that some of those economically poor white folks who donned white sheets as part of the KKK were incapable of being racist--based on her own premise. I also asked this person if athletes, entertainers and/or executives who earn ka-jillions for their talents were now racists because they're no longer economically disadvantaged. This person backtracked in a big hurry.

It's those kind of ignorant, blanket dogmas--no matter one's ethnic background-- that get in the way of race relations as well. Yes, I'm Scandinavian-American--"white" if you will. But I grew up going to integrated schools from kindergarten all the way through high school, and count more than a few African-Americans as my good friends. I was the only white guy on my state championship high school basketball team. So don't go playing the race card with me--no matter your background. It just won't fly. Some will try to say that these two instances of racism are not comparable because the atrocities of American slavery was far worse than anything a white man has ever been through. Once again, I counter: nobody in my family history every owned a slave. Again, not all white people are from the same stock. And if you insist on being ignorant, you're going to get called on it with me--no matter if you're red, yellow, black or white. Deal with it.

But if you can't get beyond the color thing, consider this: every single person on the planet has one color in common: red. It's the color of our blood.

I for one will continue to fight for the end of racism, and it's shedding light on ignorance that is the surest way to do it. Professor Gates? You deserved better. But so do a lot of white folk when it comes profiling a holiday like Thanksgiving. Both are instances of racism, and both are simply wrong.

Thanks, Mom!

Today's my mom's birthday--she turned 28. Yes, she really did!

She and I have had a running joke for years now about stopping the birthday candle count at 29, but this year was different. I chose 28 this time because all one must do is transpose the numbers and you get the true number of candles on her cake. And, she deserves every single one of them.

Mom's call in the planet had to be taking care of kids. She had 8 of her own, added a Foster daughter back in 1980. She was also a high school teacher for a good 20-years, which means she can call a couple of other thousand people her "kids". And, that's no joke. She'll be at the store, at a restaurant--heck, even in a distant airport--and she'll invariably hear, "Hey, Mrs. Erickson, how 'ya doing? Remember me from class?" I've seen it happen. She genuinely cares about kids, loves kids, was meant to mentor kids. Including her own.

I posted a thread on my Facebook page today about her birthday, and I meant every single word of it. After rearing all of her children, teaching thousands of others--many of whom remember her 2-3 decades later--tithing faithfully, putting some of us through college, and still retiring comfortably--if that's not good enough for a spot in heaven, then none of us have a chance. If it came down to me or her getting a pass to eternal bliss, I'd give up my spot without a thought--she certainly deserves it more than me.

I figure that's what God meant by the 5th-commandment, "Honor thy father and mother.. ". I know her mom was her best friend once she made it to adult-hood, and to this day my mom is one of my best friends. But you know, I still won't cross her, because the little boy inside of me still has some fear of her (not physical fear, mind you--just the healthy fear that a child has of his parent). Mom was there, was present, and was--and is--the pillar of unconditional love.

Thanks mom, and once again, Happy Birthday.

Now, blow out all 28-of those candles in one breath!

Let's Write A Book!

That's right, I'm going be become an author! And it'll be about 3-years in the making, and about a 10-letter word and about 20-players.

Ooh, I guess I must tell:















B-A-S-K-E-T-B-A-L-L!!

I was inspired to write it after a 2-hour catching-up conversation with a teammate on my high school basketball team this past weekend. We were both part of Oklahoma City's Northwest Classen High School class 5A state championship team, and as we talked, the memories just kept flooding back. And, it seems that I have stored them with digital detail that my former teammate pretty much said he was going to hold a gun to my head unless I wrote a book about it--not only about our experience, but about how a bunch of basic no namers took a title that most everybody else thought was going to go to teams that sported some big names--names that would be recognized today, even 27-years later.

Names like Wayman Tisdale (3-time All-American at Oklahoma, 12-years in the NBA, jazz musician), Mark Price (GA Tech All-American, NBA free-three record holder), Steve Hale (4-year starting point guard at North Carolina right after the Michael Jordan era), and Anthony Bowie (Oklahoma and the NBA). Most say the "Class of '82"--all of the above names played Class 5A basketball as seniors that year--was the most celebrated in state history. Yet, not one of those players tasted the sweet nectar of a state title that year. My teammate and 12-others did, and our story--unlike all of those big names above--has yet to be told. Well, I'm going to tell it. And, I'm going to get some of those big names listed above to help me tell it--or at least I'm going to attempt to. They probably don't remember my team winning the title with as much gusto as I do!

For those of you who don't know me as well as others, you may wonder why something that happened 27-years ago is still etched with laser detail in my mind. The answer is simple: it's still the greatest event sports-wise I've ever experienced--and I have a long list of events I've been a part of as a TV Sportscaster the last 21-years: four major college football national championship games, which includes every major bowl game minus the Sugar Bowl, two Cotton Bowls, a Holiday Bowl, an Independence Bowl, a Final Four, a College World Series, a Women's Softball World Series, an NFC Championship game (Cowboys vs. 49ers, 1993), five Dallas Cowboys Training Camps, a Senior PGA Major, just to name a few.

It also helped that I was part of that 1982 "Knights of the Roundball" team--although I admittedly wasn't very good. I was a step slow, couldn't jump very well, and--even though I didn't know it at the time--still growing (I was 6-foot when I graduated, and 6-2 at the end of my freshman year in college). In fact, I rarely played. 28-game schedule, and I played in a grand total of 8-games. A bench warmer, if you will. Those who suffer from polarized thinking would say "scrub"--but you don't count (and if you don't like it, get off my blog. This is America, jack!). But to be fair, I earned the respect of my teammates--most of whom were 10-times better than me-- and my coaches. In those 8-games I played, I scored in 7 of them. I missed only one shot the whole season (Yes, took 8-shots, made 7 of them). And, in my mind, and most important, never once--no, not once--did my coaches say, "Vince, you work hard, thanks for trying out. We're looking at some other guys for your spot. You didn't make the team." Yes, I earned my spot, and just kept after it even though I felt I was overmatched most of the time.

But I wanted to play so bad that I just wouldn't. And, it's that determination that serves me very well to this day. For those of you who know me through my sportscasting career, you would probably have never seen me on the air had it not been for being a part of this team. All that hard work, all those grueling practices, and the determination to just keep going and competing even though I was overmatched? Taught me the value of courage and determination--two things you must have to be successful in broadcasting. Some have said that being me being the only white guy on the team was the biggest challenge--it wasn't. The color thing was a novelty at best. As a senior, I was "Vince" or "Checkmate" (my official nickname), and they were just "The Guys".

A huge milestone in my life came about an hour after we beat Mark Price and Enid High School 81-69 on statewide TV for the title. I was getting dressed into my street clothes, and was brushing my teeth in the locker room at Oral Roberts University's Mabee Center--and I looked in the mirror, and said the following words: "This is what made all that hard work and pain worth it!".

Now, let's fast-forward 27-years, and ask the obvious question: who's going to read such a book? Most aren't going to care as much as I do, that's obvious. But I also believe that there's a part of a lot of folks out there who love to read stories about other people overcoming the odds, who have uttered that sentence I did back in that locker room back in 1982: "This is what made all that hard work and pain worth it!". And just think, my teammates worked just as hard if not harder, suffered even more pain because most of them played a heck of a lot more than I ever did, and were the leaders in what we all accomplished! That's what great true-story books are made of, and if there's some big names involved--and there are, and some controversy involved--and there was (does anybody remember that 6-overtime game with Edmond in our gym? And, how we were seeded incorrectly at state???). I'll illustrate for you all the characters involved--minus myself because the only thing that stood out about me was my white skin--and weave it all together for what is the cornerstone of the American Dream: no matter your background, one can achieve greatness!! And, the Knights of '82 did.

Some of you might say this is shameless promotion. It isn't. At least it's not shameless. This is going to be a 3-year project, and I'm aiming to release it in 2012 for the 30th-anniversary of winning the title. It''ll be a regional release at best. But you know what? To me, it's not whether this future work gets published or not--it's that it gets written, and written well. Everything else is just gravy. That's how I've approached sportscasting for 21-years, and it's served me me well.

Hey, I already have a title: Knights of the Court. The rest? Well, that's yet to come, and I can't wait to relive it all over again!

Nuttin' Up

Huge disappointment today, as I didn't land a job where I was a finalist. So what do I do?

Nut up.

"Nut up" is a term used by some of us that basically means, "OK, you're disappointed, but get back out there and continue taking your hacks." And that's exactly what's going to happen. Yes, it sucks. No doubt about it. It stings even more, and it's going to sting even worse the next couple of days. But you know what? The world outside of my own disappointment hasn't changed one iota since I got the news that I finished 2nd for a great job. Business is still being done, the economy continues to struggle, and my little girl's potty training continues with the same constancy here on day-5 as it did on day-1. NOTHING HAS CHANGED EXCEPT MY EMOTIONS!! And, part of being an adult is putting one's emotions aside or at least balancing them with one's intellect. And that's why I relish being an adult.

But that's not to deny the disappointment, and some feelings of discouragement. Trust me, they're there. But I won't allow them to override the greater reality of what took place: I am still in the batter's box, and in the game of life, it's not like baseball where it's "3-strikes and you're out". I get as many hacks as I want as long as I draw breath. But I have to stay in the box to do that.

Which brings me to more reality that makes it easier to "nut up": I didn't strike out: I more or less "flew out". I interviewed, and I was told I didn't do anything wrong in my interview-- I just didn't have history with a major player involved that the other guy did. Nothing wrong with that. It's a reality in the world of business. But in this crappy economy, earning an interview is a success in and of itself--I know a lot of folks out there who would kill to get an interview--not to mention getting flown in and put up for two nights like I was. So you won't find me bitching about that at all, and I better now hear you bitch about it either.

Yes, I'm going to hear a lot of, "Well, Vince, you have a real good attitude about all this!", and "Hang in there". The first one I welcome. The second one? I don't. I HATE that. I hate hearing, "Hang in there", more than almost anything meant to be soothing--because it implies that one need pity. Trust me, I'm far from pitiful. Again, I interviewed and finished 2nd. That's all. Life goes on. There are other gigs. And there are other professions. It's just a job, folks. And I refuse to be defined by what I do for a living--or what I'm not doing for a living right now. I'm the same guy I was before I was invited to pack up my stuff and leave my previous job--I haven't changed. But some folks out there have changed since I was let go--and that'd be their problem, not mine. This is also a part of choosing to "nut up".

I don't take this lightly, and it's not something to brag about. Choosing to "nut up" is just that--a choice. And choice is the more noble part of our humanity (the other side being, "I make mistakes--I'm only human.") . We're different from every other being on the planet by our ability to make choices, and then choosing to exercise it. I refuse to over-think it. Stay in the box and get ready to take another hack.

I'm ready!

Celebrating "Liberty" with a "Dirty Word" (to some)

And that dirty word is?

Believe it or not, "liberty" is of the same root word.

Still want to know?

Right-wing nut jobs, hold your collective breaths:












LIBERAL!!

That's right, liberal. Liberal, liberty, library--all come from the same root word.

Now, I'm not going to go down the polarizing route by saying that, "everything that is liberal is right, and everything that is conservative is wrong." That serves no purpose. So, those of you who can't get beyond your narrow viewpoint, stop reading right now and move on--and that goes for the far left and far right.

Truth be told, I'm more conservative than I am liberal. I'm generally conservative when it comes to fiscal matters because free market capitalism thrives without the government taxation and intervention(s) that liberals tend to favor. However, I'm more liberal when it comes to human rights issues. I've gone on record opposing mandated prayer in schools because I believe that forcing prayer violates "The Golden Rule" of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"--for example, if this were a predominantly Islamic nation, I sure bet Christians wouldn't want to be forces to bow to Allah 6-times a day--ergo, we as Christians shouldn't force our prayers upon them. And you Bible Beaters of any faith--don't let the facts get in the way, okay?

But back to "liberty" and "liberal". It's another little fact that we don't like to talk about that needs to be brought to light, and it's this: our now 233-year old American democratic republic is a liberal form of government. Yes, it is. By it's definition, we hold elections that can enable change every 4-years for our president and some congressional seats. In other words, if we don't like what our leaders are doing, we can vote the bums out--CHANGE, if you will. And that's a decidedly liberal characteristic. You don't have that with a traditonal monarchy and/or dictatorship--and those are very conservative forms of government (very little if any change, and keeping of the status quo). In our own revered constitution, there's the right of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", and we have the "liberty" to (relatively) free speech, and to protest what we don't like without fear of retribution of the government. You want an example of the other side of that? Just look at what's going on in Iran. Would you call the Mullahs cracking down on all those protests over the recent so-called election with arrests and bullets liberal? Hell no. But we sure celebrate our "liberties" on this 4th of July weekend, and like it or not, you're celebrating a lot that's liberal, and it's more than okay--it's just plain right.

Now, to be fair, that's not to say that the far-left bleeding heart liberals are any more enlightened than the "Three P Right Wing Nutjobs"--those that believe only what they hear from the "Three Ps": their PA, their PREACHER and their PUNDIT. While I think the far right doesn't think enough, I believe the far left thinks way too much--and their heads are on the verge of perpetual explosion. Far left liberals seem to like boundaries about as much as I like stewed tomatoes, and far right convervatives are pretty much the same way about change. Neither extreme is ultimately feasible. But we can, and do, coexist because of the LIBERTY afforded to both--and the mass of folks in between, and that's what America is all about, jack. And that's what we're celebrating on this 4th of July weekend.

So, for this weekend, let's take some time off from bashing both liberals and conservatives, and celebrating being AMERICANS--citizens of the greatest country in the history of the world.

But just remember that dirty little word that spawned LIBERTY!