Cuba and Red Herrings

The Miami-based 'Freedom from Writers Hoping to Utter Provocative Thoughts about Cuba to coincide with a Castro Death or Something' [FWHUPTCCDS] organization met recently in my living room. We are exhausted. What with the typical academics, editorial writers and Northeastern and farm-belt US congresspeople, the deluge of the annual 'Spontaneous Reexamination of Cuba Policy' [SPOCP] is off to a clearly hopeful start this year, given a Democrat coming into the White House.

We at 'FWHUPTCCDS' are committed to clear thinking on Cuba issues, i.e. exposing over-aged dilettantes. So we will breakdown what passes for tired comedy among our members. Let's look closely at just a portion of today's LA Times editorial on US Cuba policy and see if you can spot the same red herrings we did:

Since that New Year's night in 1959, 10 U.S. presidents have tried to overthrow, undermine or cajole Castro, to no avail. Covert operations, including President Kennedy's Bay of Pigs invasion, failed to dislodge the communist government. A Cold War standoff with Russia over missile bases on the island brought the superpowers to the brink of nuclear war, but it didn't budge Castro. Diplomatic isolation didn't work. And a trade embargo to protest the expropriation of U.S. property, prevent the export of revolution and press for democracy and human rights has been utterly ineffectual. Rather, it has provided cover for the Cuban government's own deficiencies and served as a pretext for repression.

While it is true that 10 US presidents would have liked to have seen Castro lose power in Cuba, I assume they also would have liked to have cured cancer and brought economic development to the Appalachian region near the White House. In terms of actual deeds to oppose the regime, there was one aborted attempt in 1961 and numerous much discussed and never executed other plans in intelligence circles. But nothing since 1961 has involved troops, which is what the US does when it is serious about the need to effect change, i.e. Grenada and Panama.

Therefore, to suggest that the Castro regime has withstood 50 years of concerted efforts to remove them from power is false. We understand that it is not as sexy to write the Castro regime has withstood 3 years of concerted efforts and 47 years of mostly passive resistance. US policy has mainly sought to create incentives to moderate behavior by denying them the benefit of trading directly with the US [the misnamed embargo]. The fact that the Castro government has chosen to allow the quality of life in Cuba to disintegrate below 3rd world standards rather than moderate their behavior, says more about the Castro regime than US efforts.

The best and most repeated red herring. The Cuban trade embargo been 'utterly ineffectual.' If you define success as removing Castro from power, then it has failed. But only then. Here's what's odd about that sentence in the LA Times editorial; in the first part we are given the actual purpose behind the embargo--'to protest the expropriation of U.S. property, [attempt to] prevent the export of revolution and press for democracy and human rights.' 'Protest, attempt to prevent and press' are what countries do when they would like to see change, but have not fully committed to seeing that change through other means [military] due to many other practical considerations.

As such, the trade embargo has always achieved its limited purpose, to provide economic incentives--direct trade and tourism--in order to moderate behavior. If the incentives prove to be ineffectual because the targeted parties are willing to allow suffering to an unanticipated degree or for internal political maneuvering, then it is unfortunate but not a reason to reward their obstinacy. The reason for retaining the policy is the same for having adopted it in the first place; it is a low-cost, low-risk approach to a belligerent neighboring gnat.

Here's the tricky part, the part used to leave us at FWHUPTCCDS incredulous. Some people see the standoff and blame the US. We know better by know. Cuba is merely a conduit for anti-Americanism in this debate. If the critics of the US policies actually cared about Cuba's cruel regime, they would not celebrate their cultural icons as they often have in the past and still do--the editorial evens mentions Che as a conquering hero, not the executioner. But like we said, it used to leave us incredulous. We know the game now. So we don't get really offended anymore, we just reach for the closest shoe to properly dispose of the latest blattarria. Or better yet, bring in the great GK Chesterton reflecting on another, but not unrelated, struggle:

There are an infinity of angles at which one falls, only one at which one stands. To have fallen into any one of the fads from Gnosticism to Christian Science would indeed have been obvious and tame. But to have avoided them all has been one whirling adventure; and in my vision the heavenly chariot flies thundering through the ages, the dull heresies sprawling and prostrate, the wild truth reeling but erect.

In the other struggle which Chesterton is referring to, there is also much suffering which is not understood. We are called to help those suffering while retaining our truths, else we would not be worth saving. In the case of the train-wreck of a country which is Cuba, my birthplace, but not my country, the 'dull heresies' all point at my adopted country. I disagree. When I look at Cuba, what I see still standing is the evil of men like Castro and political philosophies which exclude God, like Communism.

Those who wish to change the US policy towards Cuba--like our loyal reader Jose Garcia--would argue, don't focus on the regime, focus on the people who have had to suffer its failures. Fair point. I am open to that argument. I may even try to formulate it myself, because my problem is the arguments which favor lifting the embargo always seem to come attached to the red herrings noted above. I consider those arguments to be intellectually lazy and more reflective of their anti-Americanism than their hopes for Cuba.

An argument for lifting the embargo that I could consider would start with these stipulations:

• The Castro regime's willingness to not allow it's citizens basic political and economic freedoms is a failure of that government, not US policy.
• The real effect of the US economic embargo towards Cuba should have been to cause their economy to operate in a slightly more inefficient manner, the cost associated with obtaining US products indirectly through 3rd parties.
• Cuba's economic failures are consistent with all centrally planned economies.
• In lieu of a normally functioning economy--which allows countries to negotiate and pay for products--Cuba's consistent economic failures have led to a barter system using it's own citizens, be they military or medical personnel.
• Cuba today maintains a 3rd world standard of living for its people only because its citizens are subsidized by the family members of those fortunate enough to have escaped it.
• The US will now consider lifting the embargo not because of it's failure, but because in highlighting the economic failures and moral intransigence of the Castro regimes, it has succeeded beyond all expectations, or even hopes.

Now let's talk.

Just another day on the Cuba dilettantes watch.

Article referenced is copied in full at end of post.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-cuba31-2008dec31,0,7611439.story
From the Los Angeles Times Editorial
A new approach to Cuba
Evolving views of the local population and 50 years of failed U.S. policy suggest change is long overdue.

December 31, 2008

Fifty years ago, Ernesto "Che" Guevara led a column of war-steeled rebels into Havana as Fidel Castro took the city of Santiago at the other end of the island and declared a Cuban revolution. This one, Castro said, would not be like Cuba's 1898 independence from Spain, "when the Americans came and took over."

Since that New Year's night in 1959, 10 U.S. presidents have tried to overthrow, undermine or cajole Castro, to no avail. Covert operations, including President Kennedy's Bay of Pigs invasion, failed to dislodge the communist government. A Cold War standoff with Russia over missile bases on the island brought the superpowers to the brink of nuclear war, but it didn't budge Castro. Diplomatic isolation didn't work. And a trade embargo to protest the expropriation of U.S. property, prevent the export of revolution and press for democracy and human rights has been utterly ineffectual. Rather, it has provided cover for the Cuban government's own deficiencies and served as a pretext for repression.

Fifty years of failure is too long. The incoming Obama administration should move quickly to embark on a rapprochement with Cuba and bring an end to punitive policies, especially the economic embargo. The United Nations condemns it, the European Union is trading with Cuba, and Latin America is urging the United States to allow Cuba back into the fold. This policy change will take time and political will, but it is in our national interest and, ultimately, in Cuba's.

The United States' Cuba policy has long been determined by exiles who fled the revolution and settled into a powerful political bloc in Florida. But in the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama won Florida without the support of Cuban American hard-liners, freeing himself from restraints that encumbered his Democratic and Republican predecessors. Obama has promised to lift restrictions on family travel and cash remittances to Cuba -- an important first step. We'd like to see him go further, to resume the people-to-people or "purposeful travel" allowed in President Clinton's first term and to push Congress to lift the travel ban and repeal the 1996 Helms-Burton law prohibiting trade with Cuba. The premise of the trade embargo was that strangling the Cuban economy would cause a popular uprising and regime change. But even at its most vulnerable, after the collapse of the Soviet bloc that had subsidized the island, the Cuban government didn't fall.

When Fidel Castro finally did step down this year, it was to hand the reins of power to his younger brother, Raul. This was hardly the democratic transition the international community had hoped to see. Many people throughout the world admire Cuba's defiance of the United States, and the revolution has brought gains in health and education, but Cuba remains a one-party state without fundamental rights of expression and assembly, and individual freedoms. Its economy is broken; generations have lost faith in the revolution and, lacking prospects, want to join the larger world. Though still in the shadow of the bearded comandante, Raul Castro is more pragmatic than his brother about the need for a well-functioning economy, and he has publicly urged workers to increase efficiency and productivity. Like many countries, Cuba was hurting from high oil and food prices earlier this year, and three hurricanes struck the island in the fall, causing billions of dollars in damage. The subsequent global economic crash and falling oil prices potentially limit the aid that Cuba's main patron, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, can offer. There may be an opening here for economic reforms.

The United States already exports about $700 million worth of food to Cuba annually under a 2000 law allowing agricultural trade for humanitarian reasons. Obama should use his presidential prerogatives to expand this, as well as dispatching officials to talk, as they have in the past, about issues of immigration and security. As part of any discussions, the U.S. government must press for human rights reforms, along with freedom for about 200 political prisoners in Cuban jails. (And yes, explore the prisoner trade Raul Castro has proposed in recent days.) But human rights no longer can be an obstacle to talk and trade with Cuba. The United States does business with many regimes with checkered human rights records, from Egypt to Russia to China, which is officially a communist state.

Peaceful change in Cuba, 90 miles from Florida, is in the interest of the United States. We think communication, travel and trade are excellent ways to push for reform of the one-party state. Tourists carrying books and ideas serve as ambassadors for democracy. Manufactured goods speak for the creativity of an open economy. The Cuban people are highly educated after a 50-year revolution, and extremely resourceful after half a century of economic hardship. Their aspirations are fertile ground for change.
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Accounting For Failure of Nerve

I had an earlier post which described the criticism of the US mark to market accounting rules and the hopes that the controlling US regulatory bodies [SEC and FASB] would amend those rules. As described in the Washington Post article, in effect the the US bodies blinked but didn't break, but the EU decided to double-down on the blink, just in case. It is a good example of how easily an international consensus can break down.

On Oct. 8, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the European Commission met in Paris to discuss the worldwide economic crisis. They issued a statement saying they were working together "within the European Union and with our international partners" to ensure the safety and stability of the worldwide banking system. But buried within the statement was a sentence warning that European banks should not face a competitive disadvantage with U.S. banks "in terms of accounting rules and their interpretation." The leaders added ominously: "This issue must be resolved by the end of the month."

At issue is an accounting standard known as fair value, or mark to market, in which companies disclose how much an asset could fetch on the open market. With the values of assets plummeting, banks were suddenly stuck with paper losses on assets they could no longer sell. With some critics saying the provision was forcing banks to take large write-downs, the SEC and FASB issued guidance in late September that companies could use their own internal models for assigning a value to assets -- in essence, a nod to the principles-based international rules.

But European officials smelled a rat. Under rare circumstances, U.S. companies are permitted to reclassify assets they were actively seeking to trade into long-term "loans," using an accounting rule that was considered weaker than the international equivalent. The international rules did not permit such transfers, and European officials feared that the new guidance was handing the Americans a competitive advantage.

To clarify, once an asset can be reclassified as a loan, that eliminates the need to continuously find the [lower] market value, which is the problem in a market with falling prices. As such, if the implication of the EU / IASB position is true, the SEC / FASB did not need to weaken the mark to market rule, it just opened a back door. Here is a lengthy defense of FASB's position in and about the Financial Crisis.

Speaking of back doors. One Citizen Speaking has an interesting and detailed post about the issue, along with a rather graphic depiction of Euro and Dollar relations and who is getting the worse end of the deal. Puns intended.

Article referenced is copied in full at end of post.

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Accounting Standards Wilt Under Pressure

By Glenn Kessler - Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 27, 2008; A01

World leaders have vowed to help prevent future financial meltdowns by creating international accounting standards so all companies would play by the same rules, but the effort has instead been mired in loopholes and political pressures.

In October, largely hidden from public view, the International Accounting Standards Board changed the rules so European banks could make their balance sheets look better. The action let the banks rewrite history, picking and choosing among their problem investments to essentially claim that some had been on a different set of books before the financial crisis started.

The results were dramatic. Deutsche Bank shifted $32 billion of troubled assets, turning a $970 million quarterly pretax loss into $120 million profit. And the securities markets were fooled, bidding Deutsche Bank's shares up nearly 19 percent on Oct. 30, the day it made the startling announcement that it had turned an unexpected profit.

The change has had dramatic consequences within the cloistered world of accounting, shattering the credibility of the IASB -- the very body whose rules have been adopted by 113 countries and is supposed to become the global standard-setter, including for the United States, within a few years.

Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the IASB, acknowledged that the body needs more protection from political manipulation before it can claim that it has become the global gold standard.

Tweedie said he nearly resigned over the rule change demanded by European politicians. "I was so frustrated by the whole thing," he said. "All the time when we are trying to build a global accounting system, and we are pretty close to it, and then suddenly out of left field this thing appears. It's just absolutely exasperating."

U.S. standards have been set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board since 1973. "Right now, there is no credibility," said Robert Denham, chairman of the Financial Accounting Foundation, which oversees the FASB. "If we are going to have global accounting standards, my view is that is not going to work if the IASB is going to be jerked around by the European Commission. That is the very real risk that is posed by the EC coercion and the IASB's response."

The episode exposes how small, incremental changes in arcane accounting rules can affect billions of dollars in market value and corporate profitability. In turn, the money at risk raises the political stakes, as desperate companies begin to lobby political leaders to insist on changes that normally would come about only after a careful discussion and evaluation by experts.

For years, there has been a disconnect between U.S. and international accounting rules. With the history of corporate litigation in the United States, U.S. standards tend to be exact and explicit, making it easier for companies to defend themselves in court.

International rules rely on broad principles, giving companies greater leeway to make their own judgments. An extensive review of international accounting standards published last month by Moody's Investors Service found significant differences between two French companies on one key issue -- even though they used the same accounting firm.

Nevertheless, more than 110 countries have already adopted international rules since the IASB was established in 2001, with Japan, South Korea, India and Canada soon to make the switch. Tweedie expects that 150 countries will have adopted IASB rules within the next three years. The Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 14 adopted a plan to have all U.S. companies prepare their statements using international standards for fiscal years ending after Dec. 15, 2016. More than 100 of the largest companies would be permitted to adopt the rules as soon as next year.

But the financial crisis demonstrated how vulnerable the fledgling system is to political pressure.

On Oct. 8, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the European Commission met in Paris to discuss the worldwide economic crisis. They issued a statement saying they were working together "within the European Union and with our international partners" to ensure the safety and stability of the worldwide banking system. But buried within the statement was a sentence warning that European banks should not face a competitive disadvantage with U.S. banks "in terms of accounting rules and their interpretation." The leaders added ominously: "This issue must be resolved by the end of the month."

At issue is an accounting standard known as fair value, or mark to market, in which companies disclose how much an asset could fetch on the open market. With the values of assets plummeting, banks were suddenly stuck with paper losses on assets they could no longer sell. With some critics saying the provision was forcing banks to take large write-downs, the SEC and FASB issued guidance in late September that companies could use their own internal models for assigning a value to assets -- in essence, a nod to the principles-based international rules.

But European officials smelled a rat. Under rare circumstances, U.S. companies are permitted to reclassify assets they were actively seeking to trade into long-term "loans," using an accounting rule that was considered weaker than the international equivalent. The international rules did not permit such transfers, and European officials feared that the new guidance was handing the Americans a competitive advantage.

Shortly after the European leaders' statement, Commissioner Charlie McCreevy of the European Commission, who was in charge of the European Union internal market, signaled he would introduce legal changes, overriding the international rules. McCreevy decided to exploit a loophole in the system -- that all accounting rules must be adopted as legislation by the E.U. So McCreevy was going to force the changes on the IASB by threatening to remove -- or carve out -- the existing regulation, leaving nothing in its place.

"We made it clear what the IASB should accept," said Oliver Drewes, a spokesman for McCreevy. "There is always the right, and threat and the pressure, that one could go for a carve-out for European companies."

Tweedie said the rulemaking body had only four days to act before McCreevy pushed through a change in the law, even though accounting changes of this magnitude would normally take months to achieve.

Unlike the U.S. board, the international board has no regulator like the SEC to help shield it from political pressure. So the IASB was at the mercy of the European Commission.

"There had been pressure on him, I suspect, from some of the European leaders," Tweedie said, referring to McCreevy. "It was quite clear it was going to be pushed through and that would have been a disaster. We were faced with this hole being blown in the European accounting, and we just wanted to step in and control it."

But the IASB bowed to demands to let the firms backdate the accounting shift to the beginning of July -- something not permitted under U.S. rules.

In a recent report, Moody's wrote that the backdating provision could distort a bank's earnings and capital position, since "it allows managements to 'cherry-pick' selected assets" and "distort their economic reality," making it more -- not less -- difficult to compare global bank performance.

"The measure does not make much sense in the first place," said J.F. Tremblay, a Moody's vice president. "But the fact that a board can be influenced like that is not good news."
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Recap of 2008 Boxing News

Miami Herald boxing article by Santos Perez

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Pacquiao headlines up-and-down 2008

Posted on Mon, Dec. 29, 2008

BY SANTOS A. PEREZ

Out with old and in with the new. Boxing might have found a fresh crossover attraction in 2008.

And the sport desperately needs it.

Manny Pacquiao's victories over Juan Manuel Marquez, David Diaz earlier in the year and his signature performance against Oscar De La Hoya four weeks ago finally could provide a needed fresh personality to generate appeal beyond boxing's hard-core fans.

Taking advantage of the attention common of De La Hoya fights, Pacquiao stopped the sport's most popular fighter in eight rounds. The native of the Philippines perhaps ushered in a new era and finally cut the emotional chord with De La Hoya.

TURNING THE PAGE

For the past 10 years, De La Hoya, 35, attracted casual followers. The fight against Pacquiao generated 1.25 million pay-per-view buys, but De La Hoya's performance could finally signal the end of a prosperous career.

Based on Pacquiao's three significant victories, most boxing experts and fans considered him the sport's best pound-for-pound fighter at the end of the year.

But Welsh native Joe Calzaghe could pose an argument after his victories against two future Hall of Famers.

Calzaghe recovered from a first-round knockdown and outworked Bernard Hopkins for a split-decision victory April 19. Calzaghe also was dropped in the first round against Roy Jones Jr. but eventually scored a lopsided decision seven months later.

Like De La Hoya, Jones, 39, now seems better suited for life outside the ring. Against Calzaghe, the Pensacola native far from resembled the fighter who was recognized as boxing's best a decade ago.

Hopkins, 43, recovered from the loss against Calzaghe and scored a convincing decision over previously unbeaten Kelly Pavlik on Oct. 18.

Pavlik, 26, has youth and power to dominate the middleweight class and the humble personality to gain crossover appeal like Pacquiao. Pavlik plans to return to the 160-pound division in 2009 after fighting Hopkins at 170 pounds.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. may have capitalized on additional ring popularity following his victory over De La Hoya in May 2007 and appearance on the ABC series Dancing With the Stars. But Mayweather, considered boxing's best fighter before Pacquiao, surprisingly retired in June.

Boxing provided its share of thrilling bouts in 2008, headed by the third consecutive title fight between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez on March 1. The super bantamweights fought at a furious and bloody pace for 12 rounds before Vazquez won the rubber match with a tight split decision.

Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto waged an exciting welterweight title match July 26. Margarito withstood a busier Cotto in the early and middle rounds, countered with solid power shots and eventually finished his previously unbeaten opponent in 11 rounds.

Since its creation in the 1980s, the cruiserweight division was known as one of boxing's least attractive weight classes, serving as a steppingstone for future heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.

But on Dec. 13, Tomasz Adamek and Steve Cunningham made the cruiserweights matter with an admirable test of will and aggression during their 12-round title fight. Adamek scored three knockdowns, but Cunningham's boxing skills kept the fight close. Adamek's knockdowns proved sufficient in dethroning Cunningham with a split decision.

The heavyweight class continued to lack appeal in the United States. Ukraine's Wladimir Klitschko, who won three bouts in 2008, dominates with two of the four major sanctioning body titles.

Klitschko's brother, Vitali, returned from a four-absence and captured a separate heavyweight belt with a ninth-round technical knockout over Samuel Peter.

LOCAL TALENT

Promoters Felix Zabala Jr., Seminole Warriors Boxing and Henry Rivalta kept the local boxing calendar busy throughout the year.

Despite being the aggressor for most of the fight, Miami resident Glen Johnson lost a disputed decision against defending light-heavyweight champion Chad Dawson on April 12.

Yuriorkis Gamboa, a Miami resident and 2004 Olympic gold medalist representing his native Cuba, has won his first 12 professional bouts, including five in 2008. Gamboa has stopped 10 of his 12 opponents and could fight for a featherweight title next year.

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Fans of New York Sports Teams

Not all ignorant and alcoholic sports fans are fans of New York sports teams, some ignorant and alcoholic sports fans change their allegiances upon leaving New York. [In some cases the switch in allegiances is motivated by purely sporting concerns, but a large majority of the switches are apparently based on faulty reasoning as to the requirements for receiving welfare benefits in their new communities, according to a new Harvard study]. As such, ignorant and alcoholic New York sports fans--otherwise known as 'the most knowledgeable sports fans in the world' by commentators who live amongst them and fear the abuse which ignorant and alcoholic sports fans are proud of dishing out--represent a materially significant subset of ignorant and alcoholic sports fans, but not the complete universe.

This little known fact--most facts are little known by ignorant and alcoholic New York sports fans, in effect, that characteristic is the key to their sporting allegiance DNA--is essential to fully enjoy the misery which ignorant and alcoholic New York sports fans are currently undergoing.

Like the demon Pazuzu leaving Regan MacNeil for Father Damien Karras; the weak, timid, under-performing, over-rated, testosterone deficient, male-model effete-like, sorry excuse for a 'heart' which inhabited the Chokeapalooza festival of a team otherwise known as the 2007 and 2008 New York Mets has landed squarely in the upper torso cavity of the 2008 New York Jets.

The job of executioner in the last World Series game played at Yankee Stadium and the three most recent New York sports teams collapses have been Miami-based professional teams. The sports gods are rewarding us in recognition for having provided shelter to ignorant and alcoholic New York sports fans for such a long period of time in our sports complexes.

Bad news, good news

While we will not be the beneficiary of their glorious misfortune much longer--the departure of Isiah Thomas was a Nostradamus-like signal as the the end of the New York sporting equivalent of the Rapture--their next collapse, scheduled for 2010, will be even more crushing than the last 3 combined, so spoketh Zarathustra on the WFAN recently:

man muß noch Chaos in sich haben, um einen tanzenden [David] Stern gebären zu können.

The term 'ignorant and alcoholic' was used eight times in the body of this post. I state this because ignorant and alcoholic New York sports fans will be tempted to say that it was 'like a hundred times, man.' Learning to count will not affect your collective manhood. Realizing how much time you spend in the company of other men in 'snuggle' weather, creating emotional ties to those men and desperately seeking to touch each other immediately after a team success, might however.

All Isiah Thomas insults referenced are copied in full at end of post.

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Isiah Thomas = Worst Pro Sports Executive Ever?

By Bill Simmons
Page 2

... let's discuss the Knicks.

They had Manhattan buzzing as recently as two months ago. That's the way it works in New York. They make the classic panic trade for Marbury, look good for a week in January and naturally everyone starts thinking about the Lakers in June.

You can guess where I stand. Right after Isiah Thomas was hired last December, I predicted in The Magazine that he would run the team into the ground. This franchise was already headed nowhere -- no cap space, no All-Stars, little hope. It was a situation thatcried for patience. Whomever took over for the Artist Formerly Known As Scott Layden needed to blow everything up, create cap room and start over. In other words, the Danny Ainge Approach -- clean house, make some panic trades, ignore the cap -- couldn't possibly work here.

The Jerry West Approach seemed like a much better plan. Take your time. Stockpile assets. Only deal from strength. Think four years instead of four months. And most importantly, don't panic.

Isiah? He panicked.

Unable to wait even three weeks after moving into his new office, Isiah pulled a Jim Fassel and pushed his chips to the middle of the table, dealing his few tradeable assets (two coveted Europeans, two first-rounders and cash) for Marbury and Penny Hardaway -- two more ghastly contracts -- in the process, blowing his long-term cap flexibility to smithereens and insuring that the 2006 Knicks would look exactly like the 2004 Knicks.

Trish
Let's face it, every one of us would keep Trish around.
Seduced by Steph's pedigree and anxious for a change -- any change -- New York fans embraced the trade. It was like the current Bachelor becoming enamored with Trish, the trashy, conniving, homewrecking model who looks stunning in a cocktail dress. You can have a million warning signs, you can even have a friend planted in the house telling you this girl is sleaze ... and you still can't help picking her for the Final Six. Just to see what happens.

And yes, there's something about Marbury's game. He always makes you feel like his team has a puncher's chance, that he can catch fire at any moment, maybe even take over an entire game, win a series by himself, carry you a couple of rounds. Even though it hasn't happened yet. And may never will. But that potential gets people talking about the team. Gets the arena buzzing before games. Gets people calling into the Fan. Gets those blue No. 3 "MARBURY" jerseys moving out of the Pro Shop like hotcakes.

With all this commotion, it was easy to forget that, if this was a Texas Hold 'Em Tournament, Isiah had just gone "all-in" after two hands. Knicks fans happily chugged the Kool-Aid, conveniently ignoring the fact that their GM just mortgaged the next 3-4 years for someone who ...

A. Hadn't won a single playoff series.
B. Was playing for his fourth team in eight years.
C. Monopolizes the ball.
D. Didn't get along in New Jersey with one of the best players on the Knicks (Keith Van Horn), which meant there needed to be a second trade.
E. Only played unselfishly last season (when he was gunning for a contract extension).
F. Ditched a once-in-a-lifetime situation in Minnesota with KG.

Seems like a pretty big gamble just to sell some tickets and make the back page of the Post, right?

Again, New Yorkers didn't care. Back in January, I remember discussing the deal with my Knicks fan friends, spelling out exactly what had happened, then listening to them respond with the same thing: I don't care, I'm just happy they're interesting again. It was like watching a buddy who hadn't gotten lucky for a few months suddenly fall in love with a stripper.

They felt differerently after Isiah hired Lenny Wilkens -- apparently Red Holzman was the second choice -- then gave Van Horn away for Thomas and Mohammed, a classic "I'll give you a quarter for two dimes" trade. This had evolved into a soft, rudderless team built around a shoot-first point guard, flanked by mediocre defenders and guys who couldn't rebound or contend shots. I'm not even sure they run any plays. When Lenny holds up one finger, I think he's signalling that he needs to pee.

Anyway, the inevitable losing streak followed, along with the questions about Isiah and Marbury, as well as the birth of a new face: The Isiah Thomas "If I Look Angry Enough When I'm Watching This Blowout Loss, Maybe People Will Forget That I Brought Most Of These Guys In" Face. Well, you did.

Hey, we know about Isiah, who burned bridges in Detroit and Toronto, bankrupted the CBA and failed miserably with a talented Indiana team. Pretty cut and dry. But what about Marbury? How do you explain last year's remarkable season in Phoenix, when he reached his ceiling as a player and seemed poised to finish his career with the Suns? How could someone fall from "Franchise Player" to "Trading Block" in less than seven months? Could he ever regain the magic?

That's why, with the obvious exception of KG, Marbury was the most interesting player in Round One. Nobody knew what to expect. As Pierce and the C's proved last spring, the right player and the right crowd can be a pretty dangerous combination in Round One. You never know.

Stephon Marbury, Jason Kidd
What do you suppose Phoenix thinks of the Kidd-for-Marbury trade now?
Alas, the Nets looked better than ever. And the Knicks looked downright dreadful. Especially Marbury. He spent the first half of Game 2 launching jumpers, rarely driving to the basket or getting his teammates involved. In the second half, with the game slipping away, he started penetrating and setting up Kurt Thomas and Shandon Anderson -- yikes -- who predictably couldn't hit anything. When he tried to take over the game again, it was too late. It was a kooky performance, one of those games that reminded people why he's been traded multiple times. Even the TNT announcers were calling him out.

Back at MSG for Game 3, Marbury pulled the same schizo routine, displaying little of the toughness he showed in that Spurs series last spring. And yet the Knicks kept hanging around; you could sense the fans clamoring for Marbury to take over the game. Never happened. He missed two threes in the final minutes that would have brought the house down. And that was that. On Sunday, the Nets arrive at MSG with brooms.

Here's the kicker: Thanks to Isiah, this same Knicks team will return intact next season. And the year after that. They don't have any choice. Everyone makes big money. The only tradeable commodity on the team is Marbury, heading into his ninth year, and he isn't going anywhere. So Knick fans will spend two more seasons being tantalized by a potential superstar, someone who should be one of the better players in the league, but he isn't, and there really isn't a definable reason why.

Did Isiah screw the Knicks for the foreseeable future? I think so. It's a not-quite-a-playoff-team led by a not-quite-a-superstar, with no real way of turning things around in the next three years, and the wrong guy calling the shots to boot. Not exactly a recipe for success. Then again, you could say the same thing about the Celtics.

In fact, I think I just did.

Bill Simmons is a columnist for Page 2 and ESPN The Magazine, as well as one of the writers for "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on ABC
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Not Another Frigging Dwarf!

I love CS Lewis' writing. The Screwtape Letters drove home in an unforgettable way how the battle for our souls consists of a series constant and seemingly inconsequential decisions, i.e. when to call your Mom. Mere Christianity is a very readable philosophical case for God. I was aware that he had a friendship with JRR Tolkien. I always imagined them trading notes on Narnia and the Lord of the Rings.

I came across a neat blog post on the relationships between 10 classic authors. There are some things in life that when you hear of them, you immediately believe because you can't imagine who would have thought of it otherwise:

C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were good friends since they first met at Oxford and belonged to the Inklings group together. But they hated one another’s books. When Tolkien was writing a new character for Lord of the Rings and tried to describe the character to Lewis, Lewis famously responded, “Not another frigging dwarf!” Except, you know, he actually swore. But this is a family blog.

All articles referenced are copied in full at end of post.

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Relationships Between 10 Classic Authors

Posted by Stacy in Book & Lit on December 29, 2008 at 8:12 pm

Lots of people know about the relationship between fantasy writers C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, but who know Bram Stoker stole Oscar Wilde’s true love out from under his nose? I didn’t, at least, so I think these relationships between classic authors are terribly interesting. I included Lewis and Tolkien for those who didn’t know about their friendship. There are a lot more where this came from - I might make this a two-parter.

1. Bram Stoker was a frequent guest at Oscar Wilde’s parents’ house. Oscar’s mom, Lady Jane, was a poet who liked to keep literary company. Bram found himself in Lady Jane’s circle, and eventually met Florence Balcombe, who had previously been Lady Jane’s daughter-in-law to be. Yep, Florence was once engaged to Oscar Wilde. At least, by some accounts. Other accounts say they dated seriously and Oscar merely wanted to marry her. At any rate, Florence ended up marrying Bram Stoker instead. When Oscar heard she was engaged, he wrote her a letter and said that he was leaving Ireland and would never come back. He mostly stayed true to his word – he only came back twice for a brief visits.

2. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were good friends since they first met at Oxford and belonged to the Inklings group together. But they hated one another’s books. When Tolkien was writing a new character for Lord of the Rings and tried to describe the character to Lewis, Lewis famously responded, “Not another frigging dwarf!” Except, you know, he actually swore. But this is a family blog.

3. Louisa May Alcott loved Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Really loved them. Like Alcott, they were residents of Concord, Massachusetts, so she had friendships with both. She and Thoreau used to exchange ideas and he would play his flute for her. The Emerson infatuation may have started when Ralph Waldo gave her the book Goethe’s Correspondence with a Child, which involves a young girl in love with a horny old poet. You can see why Louisa may have been flattered and sort of started stalking him – she would leave flowers on his doorstep, write him love letters but never send them, and sit outside of his window and sing him songs in German. He was married and had a daughter just six years younger than Louisa and never returned her affections.

4. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway were just three years apart in age. They met at the Dingo Bar in Paris in 1925, when Hemingway was 25 and Fitzgerald was 28. The Great Gatsby had just been published and looked to be a big hit; Hemingway, on the other hand, was a relatively unknown author. They were close friends for a while – Fitzgerald was notoriously insecure about himself in almost every aspect, and when his wife once insulted the size of his manhood, Fitz actually dropped trou and asked Hemingway if everything looked normal to him. Hemingway assured his friend that things appeared to be up to par. But the friendship quickly deteriorated. As Fitzgerald’s career fell and he descended further into alcoholism, Hemingway’s work started picking up. Hemingway started making fun of Fitzgerald to newspapers and magazines, to the point that Fitzgerald actually pleaded with his old friend to stop. The reason for the sudden cold shoulder? Hemingway was said to have been disgusted by Fitzgerald’s alcoholism, because he would make huge public scenes and embarrass himself and everyone around him when he was drunk.

5. And, speaking of Hemingway, he was also once very good friends with Gertrude Stein. He met her in Paris as well, at the introduction of their mutual friend, writer Sherwood Anderson (Anderson also introduced Hemingway to Ezra Pound). She reminded him of his mother both physically and otherwise. He even openly used Gertrude to try to work out some of his issues with his mother. She ended up introducing him to bullfighting, Spain, and prose. He used her as his sounding board and would completely rewrite something at her suggestion. He even made her the Godmother of his first son, Jack.
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Miami Jai-Alai Opens 2009 Season

Miami Herald Jai-Alai article by Santos Perez

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Miami Jai-Alai opens new season

Posted on Sat, Dec. 27, 2008


Goikoetxea will attempt to tie the all-time Miami record for Triple-Crown championships when the Miami Jai-Alai Fronton opens its 83rd season Saturday afternoon.

A frontcourt player and recognized as one of the best jai-alai players in the world, Goikoetxea has won nine Triple-Crown titles, one behind the retired Michelena. The Triple Crown consists of overall victories and top finisher in singles and doubles.

Goikoetxea will have a better opportunity at the title during the winter season. The 28-year-old Goikoetxea has an abbreviated Miami schedule during the summer and fall months, when he plays in European partido matches.

The 2009 Miami winter roster also will feature backcourt specialists Irastorza and Lopez, who along with Goikoetxea play on the European circuit. Other notable players who will compete in the winter season include Rekalde, Jabi, Lejardi, Erkiaga and Tevin. Tevin is considered one of the top American players.

''Top to bottom the roster is solid and should make for beautiful, competitive Jai-Alai,'' Juan Arrasate, Miami players manager and matchmaker, said in a statement.

Arrasate also looks forward to the addition of two players to the Miami roster. Aspitarta, an 18-year-old backcourt player from Spain, will make his Miami debut on Jan. 1, while veteran frontcourt specialist Bereikua, also from Spain, is scheduled to start the season later next month.

The Miami winter roster will be without Arriaga and Art. The former Miami Rookies of the Year have retired in addition to Lopetegui, Aitor and Dezec.

Statistics from the summer meeting will be kept until Dec. 31. Backourt player Chauderon currently leads with 148 overall wins after matches played through Wednesday.

Saturday's season opening ceremony will feature the traditional players' parade through the fronton and awards presentation of the 2008 winter champions. The parade and awards ceremony will be during the matinee session.

For information, call 305-633-6400.

-- SANTOS A. PEREZ

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Friday Night Boxing

Since today is *Boxing Day ... I wanted to follow up on an earlier post which described my introduction to the local boxing scene. This post is about the actual night of the fights, Friday, December 5th at Miccosukee.

I was there at 8pm sharp, the scheduled start time and I was way too early. There were few people there and the 1st bout wouldn't start until about 8:30. But it was a good opportunity for a novice like me to soak it all in. First impressions. The ring seemed huge. Early crowd seemed clearly to be family and friends, huddled in specific areas. I watched the local media settle into their favorite ringside spots. There were a handful of very attractive women, which I assumed were not aficionados. At which point I invoked the 'no staring at women with potentially dangerous dates rule.' [Among accountants, that rule is adhered to with as much discipline as no fly zones in Baghdad]. The promoter, Tuto Zabala Jr., was there, relaxed and working the room. I also started to recognize some of the faces from the press conference that Wednesday.

You quickly realize that not unlike movie productions, in which people with diverse talents come together to produce a unique product, a night of boxing requires a similar convergence of talent:

• Ring Announcer
• 3 Scoring Judges
• Timekeeper - I prefer the 10 second warning system at Miccosukee - a heavy mallet slammed on piece of wood
• 2 Referees
• Trainers / Cornermen / Cutmen - few of the early card boxers have their own trainers
• Ringside Doctor
• Local Media / Telemundo production crew and on-air talent
• 3 Round Card Models - of course there's a website
• 14 Boxers

Once they all are in place, the boxing show has come to town. The crowd slowly continues to arrive throughout the night. Put yourself in the shoes of the promoter. You have all those people and equipment in place. Your network partners, Telemundo, are hoping for a good show after a rival network [Telefutura] announced they were ending their boxing sponsorship for 2009. Of your total of seven boxing matches, the first four are scheduled as four-rounders.

Murphy's Law seems to kick in. Three of those end in the first round and the other ends in the 2nd round. In between the three minute boxing rounds and minute of rest in between rounds, that's only about 25% of the possible action you bargained for.

It's unfortunate for many reasons. Fans get restless. Round card models don't need to get up or take off their robes when bouts end in the 1st round. Knockouts mean someone could be seriously hurt. In the 3rd fight of the evening, a boxer was knocked out and his head hit the floor hard--usually the biggest concern in knockout scenarios. There was a palpable concern among all the insiders until the word had spread that he was doing fine in the dressing room.

But it's not Murphy's Law, it's why boxing is, at least at the local level, such an unpredictable sport. It's the difference between the sport of boxing and MMA. There were no guarantees on this evening. The 5th bout went the scheduled six rounds. Here is a recap by the Miami Herald's boxing writer Santos Perez:

[Leon] Bobo traveled from his native St. Louis and earned a split-decision victory over Homestead resident Orlando Gonzalez in an undercard bout of a show at Miccosukee.

Gonzalez had a lot of fans there that evening. It would have made economic sense to have Gonzalez emerge with a split decision. By making the unpopular but correct decision, the integrity of the sport was also a winner. 'No guarantees' was reinforced.

The Main Event - Regional Welterweight Title

The Miami Herald's Santos Perez description of the fight:

Mexico's Saul Alvarez overwhelmed Raul Pinzon with a first-round technical knockout victory in the main event of Friday night's show at Miccosukee Resort and Gaming.

Alvarez (23-0-1, 16 KOs) dropped Pinzon with a right to the head midway through the round. Pinzon reached his feet at the count of eight but on shaky legs.

Sensing a battered Pinzon, Alvarez followed with a flurry of combinations to the head, sending Pinzon (16-2) to the canvas again. Referee Pat Russell didn't bother to count the second knockdown and stopped the fight at 2:30 of the round.

With the victory, Alvarez retained his regional welterweight title.

Did you know that professional boxing has an excellent worldwide online database of all boxers? Anyone can go to the Boxing Records website [there are other databases which perform a similar role in much greater detail, but they charge a fee] and search for a boxer's name. You will get a lot of information. You will see that Saul Alvarez has a Global ID #[348759]. You will see that he was born in 1990, that he has fought mostly in Mexico and mostly novices in his first dozen professional fights. Further, the competition in Mexico is considered to be at a very high level and Alvarez has clearly had a steady progression in terms of the quality of his opponents. You will see that his record is now 23-0 including the victory over Pinzon.

But in terms of the sport of boxing, I'm more interested in his opponent, Raul Pinzon. If you search him [or just click on him from the Alvarez profile], you will find that he too has a Global ID #[319416]. You will see a lot of red [defeats] in the chart of his recent opponents and mostly fights in his native Colombia, which is much less competitive than Mexico. Informed observers or those with the time or interest to delve into the records, could have been suspicious of his ability to compete with Alvarez. Then again, might he have been the exception? Which is partly why they fought. But one thing is clear. If a sport was more concerned about hype than establishing credibility, accurate information about fighters like Pinzon would be much harder to obtain.

Transparency

That tells me a lot of good things about the sport of boxing. While I wasn't paying attention, the old sport of boxing responded the way any modern business would when confronted with the problem of a customer base suspicious of the sport's integrity. Boxing turned to the web to disseminate information in a manner which does not lend itself to manipulation. Boxing is moving towards a level of transparency which could not have been imagined in those grainy black and white film clips from it's past or from it's MMA competitors.

Speaking of outdated images. Among my impressions of boxing's past are rough and tumble crowds which heap abuse on the losing fighters--all in good fun of course, as long as you are not the fighter. I was seated ringside and there were a number of 1st round knockouts and yet I heard nothing like that. There was a buzz and noise etc., but I could hear no one calling out insults. Here's what I did see; A Miccosukee security guard stationed ringside made it a point to look each of the vanquished boxers in the eye and thank them for their efforts on their way out of the ring. Both the guard and the evening of boxing surprised me with a level of class and professionalism that I wasn't expecting for whatever reason.

Boxing's Future

The prominent HBO boxing analyst, Larry Merchant, gave an interview last year where he concluded that:

... Boxing is no longer a mainstream sport. It has been in decline for some time and it is what I would call a niche sport with a solid, loyal following that allows around 200 boxing cards to be televised a year.

It is no longer a big deal in the American scheme of things, unless someone breaks into the mainstream and is a celebrity fighter. There are some people doing very well financially, because the television generated revenue at the top of the food change is considerable.

American boxing has problems. Like other sports, primarily hockey, basketball, tennis and golf, it has been globalized. America no longer exclusively dominates these sports. There is globalization and America does not dominate all the divisions in boxing, particularly the heavyweight division.

Buried in those overall pessimistic comments about boxing's future, is the fact that Miami is very well positioned to play a significant role in that future. What's the problem with boxing being a niche sport, if the demographics of the 'solid, loyal following' are our demographics?

All Miami Herald articles by Santos Perez referenced are copied in full at end of post.

*- yeah yeah, I know--not that type of boxing

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Bobo beats Homestead's Gonzalez

Posted on Sat, Dec. 06, 2008

BY SANTOS A. PEREZ

Leon Bobo fulfilled the spoiler role against the hometown favorite Friday night.

Bobo traveled from his native St. Louis and earned a split-decision victory over Homestead resident Orlando Gonzalez in an undercard bout of a show at Miccosukee Resort and Gaming.

Using his height and reach advantage and benefiting from his southpaw stance, Bobo moved effectively and avoided a charging Gonzalez during their six-round lightweight match.

Judges Peter Trematera and John Ruppert scored the bout 58-56 for Bobo, and Michael Pernick had Gonzalez winning 58-56. There were no knockdowns.

''Usually when you come into someone's back yard and finish a close fight like this, at best you leave with a draw,'' Bobo said. ``It was a close fight, but I thought I won.''

With dozens of cheering family and friends on hand, Gonzalez tried to keep the fight at short, and he scored with rights to the head.

But Bobo avoided extensive short-range attacks, repeatedly moved in angles and connected with lefts to the head.

In the third round, Bobo (18-2-2) kept the fight at punching range, pressing Gonzalez to the ropes and landing lefts to the head and combinations to the body.

Bobo (12-2-1) scored again with body shots in the fifth, but Gonzalez was effective with short rights to the head.

However, Gonzalez could not maintain aggression in the final round as Bobo backpedaled and avoided any possible fight-altering flurry.

''Until about a week ago, I wasn't sure if this fight was going to be made,'' Bobo said. ``But I was prepared no matter what.

``It feels great to come into his hometown and get the win.''

In the main event, Mexico's Saul Alvarez overwhelmed Raul Pinzon with a first-round technical knockout.

Alvarez (23-0-1, 16 KOs) dropped Pinzon with a right to the head midway through the round. Pinzon reached his feet at the count of eight, but on shaky legs.

Sensing a battered Pinzon, Alvarez followed with additional flurry of combinations to the head, sending Pinzon (16-2) to the canvas again. Referee Pat Russell didn't bother to count the second knockdown and stopped the fight at 2:30 of the round.

With the victory, Alvarez retained his regional welterweight title.

• In other bouts: Junior middleweight Chris Gray won by unanimous decision over Sergio Garcia; super middleweight Jonathan Cepeda won by technical knockout over Omar Cofi at 33 seconds of the third round; light heavyweight Robert Campbell knocked out Luis Rueda at 3:00 of the first round; lightweight Genier Pit won by technical knockout over Jesus Garcia at 2:33 of the first round; and junior welterweight Derrick Moon won by technical knockout over Amaury Torres at 2:58 of the second round.
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Alvarez stops Pinzon by TKO

Posted on Sun, Dec. 07, 2008

Mexico's Saul Alvarez overwhelmed Raul Pinzon with a first-round technical knockout victory in the main event of Friday night's show at Miccosukee Resort and Gaming.

Alvarez (23-0-1, 16 KOs) dropped Pinzon with a right to the head midway through the round. Pinzon reached his feet at the count of eight but on shaky legs.

Sensing a battered Pinzon, Alvarez followed with a flurry of combinations to the head, sending Pinzon (16-2) to the canvas again. Referee Pat Russell didn't bother to count the second knockdown and stopped the fight at 2:30 of the round.

With the victory, Alvarez retained his regional welterweight title.

-- SANTOS A.PEREZ
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Merry Christmas

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Christmas Spirit?

I picked up my Mom to bring her over to the house for Noche Buena dinner yesterday. I spent the first 7 minutes of the ride--9 in total--explaining to her why she should not give her 2 teenage grandkids money for Christmas. They don't appreciate it I explained. Take them out to dinner one night instead, I begged. I then proceeded to explain--in what I believe to be my most convincing style, the eyes lockdown maneuver, difficult but not impossible while driving--in unsparing detail why she would never cross their minds again once the money was provided.

My mother was horrified. I know this because she said nothing during my dialogue [or diatribe], she just nodded imperceptibly looking straight ahead. I had returned to familiar, but unwelcome, grounds with my Mom. Losing an argument of which I was sure of my facts.

Turns out that my Mom's Christmas gift to her grandkids is not one of the places to take a stand against the commercialism of Christmas. This all came to me during the 8th minute of the ride. The 9th minute of the ride was taken up by my half-hearted apologies. Half-hearted because I was careful not to repudiate any of the facts stated so assuredly in those first 7 minutes.

I will be picking my Mom up again today and attending Mass. I am so blessed to be a breathing Christian, I get two more chances to get it right.

Let us love the Child of Bethlehem. Come souls and love a God who has become a Child, poor and so lovable, in need of our tender love, who has come down from heaven to give Himself entirely to you. If we but ask for pardon and salvation, He has come to pardon us and to save us.

-- St. Francis of Assisi

Today's Gospel reading is copied in full at the end of this post. The Passion of The Christ aside, my favorite biblical movie is The Gospel of John. Here is a 10 minute video of the beginning [literally]. Please read and listen.

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John 1: 1 - 18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God;
3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
9 The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.
11 He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.
12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God;
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
15 (John bore witness to him, and cried, "This was he of whom I said, `He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.'")
16 And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.
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Fr Vallee's Christmas Homily

Below is Fr Vallee's Christmas Homily in its entirety.

Intro
St. John’s Gospel explains the meaning of Christmas with theological depth and breathtaking brevity: On this Christmas night, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” But pay attention here. The Incarnation takes place on many levels and has many different senses. The most obvious sense is the physical and historical sense–Jesus Christ was physically born in a manger at Bethlehem. But there is also a spiritual sense, a poetic sense, a symbolic sense, and even a literary sense of the Incarnation. In other words, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and likewise the Word becomes text and dwells among us.

I. Charlie Brown Christmas
Many years ago, 1972 to be exact, I was in the fifth grade at Holy Family parochial school in North Miami. When Christmas came around that year, we did an abbreviated version of “It’s a Charlie Brown Christmas.” I was cast in the all-important role of Linus, the blanket hugging philosopher. One of the priests I now work with said that it was perfect casting because, as I have gotten older, I have managed to trade in my actual security blanket for more subtle and invisible security blankets [I love, and I mean love, intellectual cheapshots meant to injure our fellow man where they are most vulnerable, all in good taste of course-JC]. In any event, there is one bit of text that I memorized for the play and it has stuck in my head ever since. You recall that Charlie Brown begins to feel very cynical about Christmas, that with all the commercialism and lights and stuff, he thinks we have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. Finally, he blurts out, “Good grief, Christmas is run by a big Eastern advertising syndicate, doesn’t any one know what Christmas is all about?”

II. Linus’ speech
Linus, that is me with my blanket, says “I can tell you what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown. Lights please. And in the same country, shepherds, abiding in their fields and keeping watch over their flocks by night. And Lo! The angel of the Lord was upon them and the glory of God shown round about them and they were sore afraid. But the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be known, henceforth, unto all peoples. For born unto you, this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes ands lying in a manger. And suddenly with the angel, a great multitude of heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.’ And that’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.”

III. Dual Sense of Incarnation: the Word becomes flesh and text
We celebrate this night the Incarnation of Jesus our Lord and God. The simplest sense of that Incarnation is summarized perfectly by the angel’s message to the shepherds. Our God took flesh and, out of love for us, was born in the manger at Bethlehem.

IV. Pray, Cherish, Memorize
But there are more complex and subtle senses of the Incarnation. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. But the Word also became text and dwells among us still. Jesus Christ is actually and physically present in the words of the Gospel. This Christmas Gospel should be prayed over, cherished, memorized even if you do not have to play Linus. Why? Plainly and simply because Jesus Christ, the Word and Son of the Father, took flesh in the sense of becoming text. Hence, he is here, precious and sacred in these words. He is in the text. But the text is only decipherable by prayer. Take this text...hold it dear, pray over it, even memorize it. Because Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior is alive and present in this text. Here, in your hearing, the Word once again becomes flesh and dwells among us.

God Bless one and all!

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Bill Geist is Drop Dead Funny

Thanks to my DVR, the removal of the odious Dan Rather and a great anti-communist segment by correspondent Martha Teichner in August, I have willingly modified my long-standing ideological blanket hatred of CBS and can now readily admit that their Sunday Morning program is a favorite which I rarely miss. The recent segment by the very funny and droll Bill Geist about the Heart Attack Grill is a good example why. A few of my favorite lines:

• Our motto is simple, 'Taste worth dying for.'
• All that's missing is a priest to perform last rites once the potentially lethal bypass burger has been swallowed.
• Instead of a salad bar, there's a Flatliner Fries bar.
• I think my heart's on that side.
• At the Heart Attack Grill, their motto is 'Live for the day,' and if you're lucky, maybe even into the early evening hours.

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George Will on the Year 2008

If you're a conservative, one of the few bright spots in the near future will be reading George Will's analysis of the political and social environment. He writes the way I'd like to think, to think good, if you will. I'll cut & paste his insights in a hit & run format, but the column is attached at end of post.

George Will on:

• McCain/Palin Ticket: "Republicans in Love," a romantic comedy about conservatives who advocate extravagant presidential powers and who favored putting the governor of a national park (the federal government owns 63 percent of Alaska) in close proximity to those powers.
• Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: Compared him to Mrs. Jellyby from Dickens's "Bleak House." With California chin-deep in red ink, Schwarzenegger summoned an international conference to tweak the planet's thermostat.
• Societal Progress? A San Francisco teacher's first graders went on a field trip to witness her lesbian wedding. In nearby Hayward, a teacher asked her kindergartners to sign cards pledging "not to use anti-LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] language or slurs."

Finally, his mini-obituaries for 2008, in their entirety:

Death, as it must to all, came to Jack Lucas, 80, who lied his way into the Marines at age 14, and on Iwo Jima, six days after his 17th birthday, won the Medal of Honor, becoming the youngest winner since the Civil War. Lazare Monticello, 110, was the last French infantryman from the War to End All Wars, which ended 90 years and hundreds of wars ago. Mildred Loving, 68, was a black woman who also was part Cherokee and Rappahannock Indian. Like another Virginian of color, Pocahontas, she married a white man. In 1967 she was the plaintiff in the wonderfully named Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, which struck down miscegenation laws. A lower court had upheld Virginia's Racial Integrity Act on the ground that if God had wanted the races to mix He would not have put them on different continents. That court did not explain why He allowed the slave trade to interfere with His plan.

"Shoot pool, Fast Eddie," said an irritated Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) in "The Hustler" (1961). "I'm shootin' pool, Fats. When I miss, you can shoot," replied Fast Eddie Felsen (Paul Newman, then 36, in the movie that made him a star). Newman, 83, who rarely missed, will be. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, one of the slayers of the Soviet Union, was 89, seven years older than an American soulmate, the principal maker of the American conservative movement, William F. Buckley, whose harpsichord now makes Heavenly music among the harps.

Column referenced is copied in full at end of post.

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2008: Rod, Eliot, Yuck

During the presidential contest between an African-American from Chicago and a plumber from Toledo, eros reared its beguiling head.

George F. Will - NEWSWEEK - From the magazine issue dated Jan 5, 2009

Never a stickler for rhetorical ruffles and flourishes, the president simply said: "This sucker could go down." He was referring to the economy, which took the president's party down with it. In the second quarter, General Motors lost $181,000 a minute. Would you buy a used car company? Didn't think so. But in 2009, you probably will, if you are a taxpayer.

By 2010, you will be able to buy the plug-in electric Chevrolet Volt. Although it is designed to reduce America's dependency on foreign oil, a GM spokesman said: "There is a fear that if we position this as a 'pro-American' car, it will upset some of the environmentally conscious crowd." Heaven forfend.

If 2008 were not divisible by four, this would have been The Year of Gen. David Petraeus. During the presidential contest between an African-American from Chicago and a plumber from Toledo, eros reared its beguiling head, so: Coming soon to a Cineplex near you, "Republicans in Love," a romantic comedy about conservatives who advocate extravagant presidential powers and who this autumn favored putting the governor of a national park (the federal government owns 63 percent of Alaska) in close proximity to those powers.

Cuba being politically primitive, Fidel Castro yielded power to his brother. Caroline Kennedy, because she is a president's daughter, sought the gift of the Senate seat from New York that Hillary Clinton got because she married a president, but Andrew Cuomo, son of a New York governor, might get it, because this is a democracy.

Thanks to Rod Blagojevich, Eliot Spitzer, a.k.a. Client Nine, was only the second-most embarrassing governor. Actually, third-most, considering the lurid mismanagement of California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, like Mrs. Jellyby in Dickens's "Bleak House," practiced "telescopic philanthropy." She neglected her chaotic family so she could devote herself to improving conditions in distant Borrioboola-Gha. With California chin-deep in red ink, Schwarzenegger summoned an international conference to tweak the planet's thermostat.

A San Francisco teacher's first graders went on a field trip to witness her lesbian wedding. In nearby Hayward, a teacher asked her kindergartners to sign cards pledging "not to use anti-LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] language or slurs." For some reason, Californians voted to define marriage as between a man and a woman. "This is not a matter for ridicule, this is serious," said Australia's health minister, whose department urged teachers not to mark grades with red pens because that color "can be seen as aggressive."

Peanut allergy had its 15 minutes as a cause of public health hysteria, long enough for the vigilant schools of Union County, N.C., to ban PB&J sandwiches. In New Haven, Conn., an eighth grader was suspended, removed as class vice president and banned from a school honors dinner because he bought a banned substance from a classmate. The substance was Skittles, the fruit-flavored candy. A food fascist explained that candy sales violate the school system's wellness policy. In Prince William County, Va., police were called when Randy Castro, 7, a first grader, became the subject of an incident report titled "Sexual Touching Against Student, Offensive." While still 6 he had smacked a classmate's bottom. Residents of New York City are becoming obese almost three times faster than other Americans, which is probably partly explained by nanny-mayor Michael Bloomberg's jihad against smoking. Compulsory calisthenics—"Central Park at 6:30 a.m. Be there or be fined!"—cannot be far off.

Even with a bum knee Tiger Woods was the best golfer. No one notified Michael Phelps that it was considered evolution when our Homo sapiens predecessors crawled out of the water.

Death, as it must to all, came to Jack Lucas, 80, who lied his way into the Marines at age 14, and on Iwo Jima, six days after his 17th birthday, won the Medal of Honor, becoming the youngest winner since the Civil War. Lazare Monticello, 110, was the last French infantryman from the War to End All Wars, which ended 90 years and hundreds of wars ago. Mildred Loving, 68, was a black woman who also was part Cherokee and Rappahannock Indian. Like another Virginian of color, Pocahontas, she married a white man. In 1967 she was the plaintiff in the wonderfully named Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, which struck down miscegenation laws. A lower court had upheld Virginia's Racial Integrity Act on the ground that if God had wanted the races to mix He would not have put them on different continents. That court did not explain why He allowed the slave trade to interfere with His plan.

"Shoot pool, Fast Eddie," said an irritated Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) in "The Hustler" (1961). "I'm shootin' pool, Fats. When I miss, you can shoot," replied Fast Eddie Felsen (Paul Newman, then 36, in the movie that made him a star). Newman, 83, who rarely missed, will be. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, one of the slayers of the Soviet Union, was 89, seven years older than an American soulmate, the principal maker of the American conservative movement, William F. Buckley, whose harpsichord now makes Heavenly music among the harps.

URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/176299
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Big 2009 bout suits L.A. well

Miami Herald boxing article by Santos Perez.

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Big 2009 bout suits L.A. well

Posted on Mon, Dec. 22, 2008

BY SANTOS A. PEREZ

Perhaps it is the early sign of a new boxing trend next year. All major fights don't have to land in Las Vegas.

The first important fight of 2009, featuring Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley, will be Jan. 24 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The bout originally was considered for Las Vegas before promoters decided on Los Angeles.

Interest in the fight from Las Vegas casinos reportedly was lukewarm. And, for a change, promoters didn't succumb to the Vegas appeal and will stage the bout in a city that provides a suitable backdrop.

Mosley is from Los Angeles, and Mexican native Margarito should have a strong following from the city's Mexican and Mexican-American fans.

''We were very aggressive with trying to get this fight because it's a great fit for L.A.,'' said Dan Beckerman, chief financial officer of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which operates the Staples Center. ``We are confident the fight will sell out, and it will be a great way to kick off 2009.

``This world championship fight card features two great champions with strong ties to Southern California, making it an ideal matchup for Staples Center.''

Presenting noteworthy fights where fighters hail from or have strong ties connects boxing again with the common fan. One of the liveliest events of the year featured the twin title fights involving Juan Diaz and Rocky Juarez on Sept. 6 in Houston.

Diaz and Juarez, both Houston natives, attracted more than 14,000 fans to the Toyota Center for their victories against Michael Katsidis and Jorge Barrios, respectively. The fights likely would have drawn fewer fans in any of the Las Vegas venues.

Moreover, don't expect heavyweight title fights from Las Vegas as long as Wladimir Klitschko rules the division or an appealing American contender fails to emerge from a current nondescript pack.

A Ukrainian native, Klitschko has served notice that any challenger willing to dethrone him will need to travel to Germany. Klitschko established his professional career in Germany, where he draws huge crowds for his bouts.

After winning his second title in April 2006, Klitschko has made four title defenses in Germany, including a seventh-round technical knockout victory over Hasim Rahman on Dec. 13.

Las Vegas will remain the strong favorite to land megafights, such as the Oscar De La Hoya- Manny Pacquiao bout on Dec. 6. However, boxing could benefit from an infusion of different fight sites, and Margarito-Mosley could play a pivotal role.

LOCAL ACTION

The 2009 South Florida boxing scene opens Jan. 14 with a card at the Hard Rock Live Arena in Hollywood.

Former world cruiserweight champion O'Neil Bell, super-middleweight contender Edison Miranda and junior-middleweight Sechew Powell will fight in the seven-bout card.

Tickets range from $22 to $152 and are available at Ticketmaster outlets.

SIGNING OFF

The Telefutura network signed off on its weekly series with Mike Alvarado's fourth-round technical knockout over Miguel Angel Huerta on Friday night in Denver. The telecast marked the end of Telefutura's eight-year run of Friday night boxing shows.
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Year-End Tax Tips

Some year-end reminders about your taxes from a WSJ article:

• Writing off your loser stocks
• Your options with worthless stocks
• Possible changes in minimum-distribution requirements
• Making a gift from your IRA
• Charging your charitable contributions - easily the most overlooked course of action

I try to include all of Tom Herman's [the WSJ's Tax writer] columns in my blog. Just search by Tom Herman in the box in the upper left hand corner. Article referenced is copied in full at end of post.

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The Big Questions for Your 2008 Taxes
TAX REPORT - DECEMBER 10, 2008, 6:54 P.M. ET

By TOM HERMAN

With only about three weeks left of 2008 -- a year that can't end soon enough for most of us -- investors are especially interested in ways to use their losses to trim their tax bills. Many are also eager for an update on Washington efforts to change controversial rules requiring minimum distributions from their retirement accounts.

Here are answers to some reader queries about taxes in a time of financial turmoil, as well as some additional tax-savvy moves to consider, including what to do if you have near-worthless stocks or bonds, or are planning major charitable donations but are short on cash.
[APPX90 Tax forms with pen] Alamy

Writing off your losers. Investors are allowed to offset capital gains and losses, with no limit. If your losses exceed your gains, you can deduct as much as $3,000 of net losses ($1,500 if married and filing separately) each year. Additional losses get carried over into future years.

Reader Herb Gregory of Palatine, Ill., asks whether there are any plans in Congress to increase the current net capital-loss limit. "With the current economic situation creating potential huge tax losses for individuals this year, it could easily be several years -- up to a lifetime -- before all losses can be utilized," he writes.

During the presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain proposed raising the net capital-loss limit to $15,000 a year. Then-Sen. Barack Obama didn't comment -- and still hasn't. So what are the odds Congress will change the law this year? "Pretty slim," says Clint Stretch, managing principal for tax policy at Deloitte Tax LLP. "Congress will have a hard time agreeing on any tax items before year end."

Separately, suppose you are considering selling stocks or bonds you bought years ago that are now trading for well below what you paid for them. Don't donate those losers to charity. Instead, consider selling them, using the losses to save taxes -- and then donate the proceeds to charity.

What do to with worthless stocks. What if you had the misfortune to invest in a company whose stock now is worthless or nearly worthless?
[tax facts]

If a stock you bought for a taxable account became completely worthless during 2008, report it on Schedule D of Form 1040. Write "worthless" in columns (c) and (d), and enter the amount of your loss in parentheses in column (f). If you don't claim a loss for a worthless security on your original return for the actual year in which it became worthless, file what's known as an amended return for the year it became worthless. Use Form 1040X, available on the IRS Web site (www.irs.gov). You must file it within seven years from the date your original return for that year had to be filed, or two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later, the IRS says.

If the stock isn't completely worthless, consider asking your broker to buy those shares from you for a nominal amount, such as $1, so that you can clearly document your loss. Among those that will do so for clients is Vanguard Brokerage Services, says Rebecca Cohen, a Vanguard Group spokeswoman.

Changes in minimum-distribution requirements. During the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama called for major changes in the rules requiring millions of people 70½ or older to withdraw certain amounts of money from their retirement accounts. Several readers, including James M. Gleason of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., want to know if there's still any chance of action this year.

The short answer is yes. Although time is running short, it's still possible that Congress, the Treasury Department or both will take action. Many proposals are under consideration, including reducing how much taxpayers have to withdraw this year. Don't count on anything happening. But investors who haven't already made their full distributions for 2008 should consider delaying a little longer, just in case Washington delivers a last-minute Christmas package.

Speculation about possible changes rose last month when a Treasury official confirmed the department was studying the subject. A spokesman confirms the department is aware of the issue and is still looking into it.

But relief may not arrive until next year. Several leading senators recently proposed legislation that would place a one-year moratorium on required minimum distributions from retirement accounts, such as IRAs and 401(k)s, for 2009, a Senate Finance Committee staffer says. Among the sponsors are Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa, the committee's ranking Republican member) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.). The legislation would "allow savings to stay put and avoid a tax hit when the market is down," a committee statement said.

Making a gift from your IRA. Meanwhile, some older taxpayers may benefit by taking advantage of a recently enacted law that extended the life of a popular provision that had expired. The law allows individuals age 70½ and older to make direct transfers of as much as $100,000 a year from an IRA to qualified charities without having to count those distributions as taxable income. What's more, the transfer counts toward the taxpayer's required minimum distribution. This provision has been extended through 2009.

"Not all charities are eligible," the IRS said in a statement issued Tuesday. "For example, donor-advised funds and supporting organizations are not eligible recipients."

Charging your charitable contributions. If you want to make a big gift to your favorite charity to nail down a deduction for your 2008 return, but don't have the cash to do it now, consider charging your gift to a credit card. As long as you charge your gift this year, you can deduct it for this year. "Contributions are deductible in the year made," the IRS said. "Thus, donations charged to a credit card before the end of the year count for 2008. This is true even if the credit card bill isn't paid until next year. Also, checks count for 2008 as long as they are mailed this year."
* * *

THE IRS'S CHIEF COUNSEL will leave next month to join Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

Don Korb, IRS chief counsel for more than 4½ years, will become a partner of the law firm and head of its "tax controversy" practice. The IRS chief counsel's post is one of the most important -- and highly coveted -- tax jobs in Washington. A successor has not been named.

Mr. Korb, who will be based in Washington, says he will join the New York-based firm early next month. A formal announcement is expected soon. The tax-controversy practice includes handling disputes with U.S. and foreign tax authorities about tax positions taken by both corporate and individual clients, says Joseph Shenker, vice chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell. Mr. Korb, 60 years old, previously had said he would be leaving the IRS before Jan. 20 but hadn't disclosed publicly where he would be going.

His tenure included an intensified IRS crackdown on tax shelters.
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The Beatles, Wisdom and Mother Mary

Our favorite ethernet homilies come courtesy of Fr Vallee--see his background. This is a good example of the type of insight he provides. As many times as I've heard the Gospel readings he quotes, I never thought of them the way he does in this homily.

A portion of his 4th Sunday of Advent homily:

II. Matthew’s Joseph and Luke’s Mary
But I think the Christmas story makes a really adequate argument that women tend to be a bit wiser than men, a bit more spiritually sensitive and open to the prompting of the spirit. Notice that, throughout Scripture, when angels appear to men one of two things tend to happen. Either, like Jacob, the man fights with the angel. Or, as with Job, the man gets involved in a argument with the angel. In Matthew’s version of the Annunciation, the whole thing takes place in a dream, as if Joseph would not believe such a thing if he were a awake. In Luke’s version, which we just read, the angel appears directly to Mary and she is wide awake. Apparently, unlike Joseph, Mary need not be asleep to talk with angels. But there is more....

Wisdom, my brothers and sisters, is not the same thing as intelligence or education. Wisdom is an openness to the spirit of God. Mary shows us what it looks like to be wise. Wisdom is a matter of the heart and the head. In fact, wisdom functions on the level of the soul which is deeper than emotions or thoughts. Wisdom unites thinking, feeling and the flesh. Intelligence is a perfection of the intellect. Wisdom is a perfection of the whole human being: head, heart and flesh. The Beatles were quoting Luke: “Let it be, Let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, Let it Be.” Let it be done to us even as the angels say.

Entire homily & Gospel reading are copied in full at end of post.

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Fr Vallee 12/21 Advent IV homily

I. Story
There is an old story of three men who were walking along the beach one day, when suddenly they found a lamp buried in the sand. They picked it up and began wiping it off, when suddenly a genie popped out and told them, “I’’ll grant each one of you one wish.”The first man said, “I’’d like to be 10 times smarter. “You are now ten times smarter,” said the genie. The second man said, “I’d like to be 100 times smarter.” “Wish granted,” said the genie, “you are now 100 times smarter. ”The third man said, “I’d like to be 1000 times smarter. “Wish granted,” said the genie…… “you are now a woman.” Women tend to like this joke better than men do.

II. Matthew’s Joseph and Luke’s Mary
I don’t know if it is necessarily true that women are a thousand times smarter than men. Of course, it would depend on what one means by intelligence and of course the particular women and men we are talking about. But I think the Christmas story makes a really adequate argument that women tend to be a bit wiser than men, a bit more spiritually sensitive and open to the prompting of the spirit. Notice that, throughout Scripture, when angels appear to men one of two things tend to happen. Either, like Jacob, the man fights with the angel. Or, as with Job, the man gets involved in a argument with the angel. In Matthew’s version of the Annunciation, the whole thing takes place in a dream, as if Joseph would not believe such a thing if he were a awake. In Luke’s version, which we just read, the angel appears directly to Mary and she is wide awake. Apparently, unlike Joseph, Mary need not be asleep to talk with angels. But there is more. Matthew’s version is all cut and dry. The angel merely convinces Joseph to take Mary as his wife and takes off. Luke’s version is filled with poetry and deep intimacy. The angel says to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will fill you and the power of God overshadow you. And so the child will be called God’s own son. Your cousin Elizabeth is also pregnant in her old age for nothing is impossible with God.” I think it purely delightful the angel Gabriel takes the time to share family gossip with Mary.

III. Much to learn from the women of Scripture
I don’t know that women are a thousand times smarter than men. But I do know this, all of us, men and women have much to learn from the Blessed Mother and her cousin Elizabeth. They do not immediately fight or argue. They have the maturity of deep wisdom, patience and openness to the spirit of God. Mary’s prayer is one of the more lovely declaration in all of sacred Scripture: “Let it be. Let it be done to me as you say. Let the spirit of God have it’s way with me.” Elizabeth recognizes this deep passion in her cousin and makes the virtue of Mary plain for all to see: “Blessed are you who believed that the promise of the Lord would be fulfilled.”

IV. Wisdom is a perfection of the whole human being
Wisdom, my brothers and sisters, is not the same thing as intelligence or education. Wisdom is an openness to the spirit of God. Mary shows us what it looks like to be wise. Wisdom is a matter of the heart and the head. In fact, wisdom functions on the level of the soul which is deeper than emotions or thoughts. Wisdom unites thinking, feeling and the flesh. Intelligence is a perfection of the intellect. Wisdom is a perfection of the whole human being: head, heart and flesh. The Beatles were quoting Luke: “Let it be, Let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, Let it Be.” Let it be done to us even as the angels say.
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Gospel of Luke 1: 26 - 38

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!"
29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.
30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end."
34 And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?"
35 And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
36 And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing will be impossible."
38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

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