Sunday, October 28, 2007

CBS is a bummer

I have never before used this blog to register complaints about any service provider. If my complaint involved someone who billed my credit card, I contacted MasterCard (or whoever) not to pay them; otherwise, I have settled the matter with the other party. ("Angie's List" is a good website to describe a subscriber complaint--or even better, to search for a service company one might want to use to see criticisms/plaudits from others who have used them.)

However, CBS is beyond the pale, in my opinion. I signed up for their college football website (at $14.95 a month) several weeks ago; this website is supposed to allow paid customers to watch their video of some games and get an up-to-the-minute status on others in progress. Although CBS has billed me, they never recognize me when I log in. When I go to their "Help" link, they say they will e-mail my password to me, but never do. I am just before cancelling.

Today (10/28/07), when I registered to make comments on CBS programming, I was thanked for registering. However, after I spent some time criticising Lesley Stahl's clumsy handling of her interview on "Sixty Minutes" with French president Nicolas Sarkozy--she repeatedly mispronounced his name--when I tried to submit my comments, the website didn't recognize me.

No wonder CBS ranks third among the over-the-air networks.

DO cry for Argentina

Argentinians have a lot about which to cry (or maybe laugh). In their general elections held on Sunday, October 28 there were three women among the fourteen candidates running for president. In the USA there is a huge debate over whether a female candidate can make it to the presidency, Hillary being the only one trying to do so at the moment. But imagine the difficulty of an Argentine feminist having to pick among the three. Of course, with eleven male candidates to pick from, an Argentine voter may have an easier choice as to whether or not to vote for a woman: should Hillary be the Democratic candidate in the U.S. election in November 2008, some voters who would be inclined not to vote for a woman may choose her anyway because they could never bring themselves to vote for whoever the Republican candidate might be (their only alternatives being to not vote at all or to vote for some minor party candidate).

Who are the three women candidates? There is an interesting similarity with the U.S. here--one is Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the wife of the outgoing president, Néstor Kirchner (a Bill and Hillary act). She is 54 years old and was elected in 2005 to the country's senate. The other two are Elisa Carrió, age 50, a member of the house of deputies, and Vilma Ripoll, age 53, a nurse and a member of the Buenos Aires city council.

Should one of these women win the election, she would be the first elected female president of the country. (Eva Perón was put into office as president by her husband Juan Perón in 1974 to follow him; he had not gained that office in a free election.)

An interesting sidelight: All Argentine registered voters age 18 and older are required to vote in these elections (exceptions are those physically disabled, mentally incompetent, or incarcerated). This information, and all that in this posting, is from the 10/28/07 edition of the Buenos Aires newspaper Clarín. The paper doesn't say what the penalty is for violation of this law.

Women as presidential candidates is not something new in South America. When I was in Chile in April 2005 there was a hot debate in the primary elections between two women candidates; one of them, Michelle Bachelet, was ultimately elected as president later that year.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Whom to root for in the World Series

Normally, in the 2007 World Series I would withhout stint or cause root for the Red Sox because:

1. Being nostalgic, I tend to root for a team that was one of the original 16 teams for many years in the two Major Leagues (until the Boston Braves left Boston in 1952 and started a mass movement of teams from their homes bases, plus establishment of new franchises). However that may be, I also recognize the need for evolution in baseball, like everything else in life.

2. I have long been a New England-phile: I love the fall foliage in Vermont and New Hampshire, where my family and I have traveled numerous times on vacation.

3. I have a passion for the New England intellectuals of the past: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Theodore Parker, Margaret Fuller, Henry Thoreau, William Ellery Channing, and others.

So, why do I hesitate to root for the Red Sox this year? Simple: the disgusting behavior of their manager, Terry Francona, with his incessant chewing and spitting while on TV camera throughout a game. It is almost as disgusting as if he were to urinate in front of the dugout in plain view of the camera. (There are several Red Sox players who also chew and spit, but Francona sets a bad example for all of his players.) On the contrary, I have never seen the following managers spit: Tony LaRussa, of the St. Louis Cardinals; Joe Torre, of the New York Yankees; Jim Leyland, of the Detroit Tigers; or Eric Wedge, of the Cleveland Indians. Likewise, I have seen numerous players in both Major Leagues who don't chew or spit.

Defenders of chewers and spitters like Terry Francona, might say, "He has a highly stressful job and he gets results, so why criticize him? My answer: Many leaders in our society have stressful jobs and get results--physicians, mayors, governors, Congressmen, business executives, educators, and others--yet they don't have to chew and spit in public to do their jobs.

As I have said in a previous posting, I would like to see a high-ranking elected official (preferably a U.S. president) undertake to persuade those in baseball (owners, managers, players, TV telecasters) to order those on camera during a game to desist from their disgusting chewing and spitting.

Attention: All Philo Vance fans

This is to let all amateur detective Philo Vance fans (all three or four of them) know that I have added considerable additional content to an existing Wikipedia article on the whole Vance scene. It is accessible at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Vance .

Monday, October 22, 2007

A foolish resolution in Congress

The resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives labelling as "genocide" the killing of over 1 million Armenians by the Turkish military during 1915-17 (House Resolution 106) is, in my opinion, foolish. Certainly it was a terrible event in history, but what is the point of the U.S. Congress taking it up now? Virtually no one involved, as a perpetrator or as a victim, is alive today and, furthermore, it is crassly political. Why needlessly antagonize a friendly nation, Turkey?

Has any resolution been offered in either house of Congress officially designating the Nazi murders or those of the Japanese in China during the 1930's as genocide? I don't know the answer--perhaps such resolutions have been offered and passed; but what is the point? Everyone knows that they were terrible atrocities; we don't need an act of Congress to so define them.

Why stop with the massacre of Armenians? Why not a resolution to deplore the sack of Rome and the attendant raping and killing by the Goths in 410 A.D.?

Or the invasion of Iraq by the Mongols about 1256? (According to The Columbia History of the World, "The Mongols...poured into Iraq and, as they drove toward Baghdad, plundered or destroyed everything in their path..." (p. 278) Sound familiar?)

Or the invasion of Ghana by the Almoravids in 1076? (The Columbia History of the World describes the invaders as "young zealots, the Almoravids...in holy war against all who refused to heed the call to orthodox Islam...(who) overwhelmed Ghana and sacked its capital" (p. 302))

Aren't there more pressing needs for Congress to give attention to?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A foolish resolution in Congress": Here, Here Mycroft. I could not agree more. Of course would you actually expect more from Nancy Pelosi's "Do Nothing Congress"? I would describe Congress as inept as you would describe the Bush Administration. Unfortunately at the highest levels of American government, our elected officials (on BOTH sides of the aisle) are more interested in pointing fingers, assigning blame and launching probes and investigations into the other's party than actually stepping up to the podium with valid input, ideas and solutions to fix what truly needs fixing. I don't need to know that we now officially recognize an event that took place 100 years ago as genocide any more than I need the government to protect me from trans fats.

Well said, Anonymous.
Mycroft
Name:
Location: United States

Mycroft Watson is the nom de plume of a man who has seen many winters. He is moderate to an extreme. When he comes to a fork in the road, he always takes it. His favorite philosopher is Yogi Berra. He has come out of the closet and identified himself. Anyone interested can get his real name, biography, and e-mail address by going to "Google Search" and keying in "User:Marshall H. Pinnix" (case sensitive).

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