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Had an interesting talk with my buddy Captain Cancel the other day. Many of you may know him as the Crown Prince of St. Vincent, and a few of you know him by his legal name. Either way, he had complaints about the last little ditty about Coondoleezza Rice (typo? maybe…).
“That piece was atrocious, man.”
CC wasn’t too keen on the lack of subtlety, which I can understand. However, that prompts me to make this warning…
Those of you that have met me more than once know that I’m not the biggest fan of conversational subtlety, and I intend this to be a conversation. There’s a comments page because I want to start dialogue.
Look here…talk is cheap. In that spirit, I do this here blog for free. But subtlety…that costs money. And since I’m not getting a check for this, don’t expect too much subtlety. For subtlety, check the links on the side. I’ll give you whatever intelligence I have, but that’s all I promise. Should you really want subtlety, holla atcha boy…and send a money order.

So what’s new? Not too much. Life’s turning into Groundhog Day. They all seem pretty similar. But this is the life of a graduate student getting ready for exams. After smacking the alarm, it’s pretty easy to tell what’ll come next.
A lot of math.
***
I’m kinda interested in Carlos Delgado’s refusal to recognize the playing of “God Bless America” at baseball games. It’s a pretty interesting issue, really. As you may surmise from his name, he’s not American. He plays for the Toronto Blue Jays, a team based in that country north of the US.
His issues are not about citizenship, though. They’re all about his opposition to American involvement in Iraq. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf–nee Chris Jackson, owner of the quickest first step I’ve ever seen. So quick that he only had one move and still couldn’t be guarded–refused to face the American flag during games in the mid-nineties. A Division III female basketball player turned her back to the flag a year or so ago during the national anthem. Nothing new.
But how long Delgado’s actions be tolerated? When’s the last time you saw Abdul-Rauf on television? If you have, you’ve either got the uber-duber package from DirecTV or you’ve been hanging out in Europe recently. He couldn’t have played for free in the league had he wanted to after his actions became known. Yes, things like that do happen. Ask Craig Hodges.
Delgado’s a different case because he’s too good to banish. Mahmoud never was the pro many thought he’d become–just too small–but Delgado is an upper-echelon power hitter with a guaranteed contract. It’d be a helluva feat to banish him without anyone noticing. That he plays for the Blue Jays and his name is still recognizable says a lot. Plus, it don’t matter who it is…if a team owed Karl Marx tens of millions of dollars that must be paid rain or shine, he’d be lining up in right field everyday no matter what he did or said.
“Workers of the world unite!”
“Yeah, and there’s a spectre haunting Europe, yadayada…you bat third, commie.”
“Good lookin’ out…get paid on Friday, yes?”
Whether you agree with his stance or not–and I do, largely because I find the nation-state to be a foreign concept that shouldn’t necessitate allegiance–you’ve got to respect his conviction. Dr. King said the same thing about Ali in the ’60s, and that was in spite of his place as a Christian and Ali’s as a Muslim.
Not standing for the pledge, the anthem, or even daring to say something bad about John Wayne, apple pie, or Hulk Hogan can come with foul consequences. My old man only stands for the anthem at games because people used to throw shit at him when he didn’t, and it’s a tall order to have to fight every joker in a stadium section. I tend not to stand for anything because my knees are made of confetti, but I rise for the anthem to avoid the stress. Plus, I’ve got rules about people throwing things at me, and all of them lead to litigation. Now that I’ve got something to lose, litigation is all bad. And now that I’m kinda grown, litigation costs me money. The parental unit ain’t got nothin’ on bail, and neither do my friends.
Lots of ’em know the good bail bondsman, though. That’s good for something.
But isn’t it a bit much to ask non-natives to stand for “God Bless America?” Regardless of politics, religion, or anything else, I don’t think Tina Turner is in Berlin throwin’ bows when the German national anthem comes on. Perhaps many see standing as a show of respect, but people aren’t taking off their hats and bowing their heads out of respect. It’s out of something that borders worship, and worshipping another nation is called treason in most places.
Assuming any nation is to be worshipped, but that’s another post for another day. (My good buddy Ashy Larry, the Happiest Married Man on Earth, has been recommending I read an interesting book that posits that the state religion of the US is actually American nationalism. If that topic interests you, I’ll get the title from him and pass it along.)
Oh yeah, and there’s a really foul war going on, but you already knew that.
***
Not to downplay the war or anything, but what more is there to say about that? But while I’m on it, is “Fahrenheit 9/11” becoming Roots for liberal white folks? White folks have been coming out of that mad, burning with the anger that comes from having abstract atrocity put into a tangible, digestible package. It’s the same way that slavery was undeniably nauseating, but that point really gets hammered home by watching Kunta have his foot cut off. People were mad enough to help the film gross more than $100 mil.
And Moore didn’t even have to pay any movie stars. That’s how to make that dollar, jack.
***
How to waste that dollar? Go see “Catwoman.” Went to see it with this Dookie I know from Virginia (put your lip back in). I paid for dinner, and she paid for the movie. Now, we were definitely in the right frame of mind to enjoy a movie. We really were. Halfway though, she looks at me and says, “I’m not allowed to pick the movie anymore.”
And it was her money, not mine.
It’s the worst movie I saw this summer. And yes, I did see “Soul Plane.”
***
Yeah, longer than I’d expected, but you’ll be a-ight. Next entry…maybe something about the convention(s), definitely something about the column (coming August 6th…drop me a line so I can make sure you’re notified when it goes up), and probably lots of the rambling that comes from too much studying.
Tomorrow’s another day, but it feels like it’ll be a lot like today. Dammit.