Cuba: Those Who Speak Outand the Catholic Cardinal Who Won't

Every now and then, someone in the political arena make a point so seemingly simple and effective, you wonder how the other side can rebut it. I thought that the WSJ columnist, Mary Anastasia O'Grady, made one in addressing the issue of whether to lift the U.S. ban on travel to Cuba. She wrote:

With so much risk involved, any policy change will depend heavily on being able to trust the motives of U.S. leaders. Recall that it was Nixon who went to China. That's why efforts to change policy that are being led by the current crop of Democrats make so many Americans uneasy. After all, if Mr. Peterson wants to boost commerce why not push for passage of the Colombia free trade agreement? Why is he so interested in doing business with a dictator?

The congressman she was referring to, Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson, opposes the Colombia free trade agreement.

O'Grady also brings into question the actions of the Roman Catholic cardinal from Havana, Jaime Ortega:

... Several sources reported to me that the Roman Catholic cardinal from Havana, Jaime Ortega, was on a secretive trip to Washington last week to lobby for an end to the travel ban. ... Other sources said that the cardinal reached out to members of Congress....

... if Cardinal Ortega has decided to intervene on behalf of the regime's needs, it would not be surprising. He has long been viewed by human-rights advocates—such as former political prisoner Armando Valladares, a practicing Catholic—as more a tool of the regime than a champion of the oppressed. A kinder assessment of the cardinal suggests that he's trying to boost the Church's power on the island. In either case, acting as an emissary to Washington right now would make sense.

Many people I know and read, who pay much closer attention to Cuban politics, have been similarly critical of Cardinal Ortega for a while now. Having the example of John Paul II's time as a bishop and cardinal in Communist Poland, I've always thought that since we really don't know what's going on behind the scenes, I should extend someone like Ortega the benefit of the doubt.

No more. If the Church in Cuba had been biding its time for the right opportunity to protest openly, it's hard to believe people of good faith would not have stepped forward in the past few months. So while my faith guides the motivation to extend the benefit of the doubt, it also also teaches me that priests are human too. Sometimes appearances are not deceiving. So aside from Cuba's many other misfortunes, having Catholic leadership which is more whiskey-type priest than a Wojtyła-type priest, is yet another.

The O'Grady article referenced is copied in full at end of post.

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Why Lift the Travel Ban to Cuba Now?
Waves of Canadian, European and Latin American visitors haven't changed a thing. - by MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY - JUNE 28, 2010

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Honduran Supreme Court's decision to order the arrest of Manuel Zelaya, a power-hungry Hugo Chávez acolyte who tried to remain president for life.

It's something to celebrate: Thanks to the bravery of the court and the Congress, which voted to remove him from office, democracy was saved.

Yet a nagging question remains: Why were the Obama administration and key congressional Democrats obsessed, for seven months, with trying to force Honduras to take Mr. Zelaya back? Why did the U.S. pull visas, deny aid, and lead an international campaign to isolate the tiny Central American democracy? To paraphrase many Americans who wrote to me during the stand-off: "Whose side are these guys on anyway?"

Such doubts about the motivations of the party in power in Washington will be hard to ignore this week as the Democrats try to put U.S. Cuba policy back on the legislative agenda. Specifically, Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson will try to pass a bill in the House Agriculture Committee that would lift the U.S. ban on travel to Cuba without any human-rights concession from Castro.

The end of the Cuba travel ban would mean a bonanza in tourism to the island at a time when Fidel and Raúl are in desperate need of new revenue. But the push to lift the ban has anti-Castro supporters too. They argue that it is isolation that preserves the dictatorship and that a barrage of gringo tourists would weaken the dictatorship.

Proponents of the ban point out that a wave of European, Canadian and Latin American visitors since the mid-1990s hasn't changed a thing. They worry that American sun-seekers will only prop up a dictatorship that is most famous for slave labor, jailing dissidents and sowing revolution in the hemisphere.

With so much risk involved, any policy change will depend heavily on being able to trust the motives of U.S. leaders. Recall that it was Nixon who went to China. That's why efforts to change policy that are being led by the current crop of Democrats make so many Americans uneasy. After all, if Mr. Peterson wants to boost commerce why not push for passage of the Colombia free trade agreement? Why is he so interested in doing business with a dictator?

The dictatorship is hard up for hard currency. The regime now relies heavily on such measures as sending Cuban doctors to Venezuela in exchange for marked-down oil. But according to a recent Associated Press story, "Cuba's foreign trade plunged by more than a third in 2009," perhaps because Caracas, running out of money itself, is no longer a reliable sugar daddy. A sharp drop in nickel prices hasn't helped, and neither did three hurricanes in 2008, which devastated housing.

Cuba owes sovereign lenders billions of dollars, according to the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, and according to a June 23 Reuters report, it is so cash-strapped that it had "froze[n] up to $1 billion in the accounts of 600 foreign suppliers by the start of 2009."

Now there is a serious food shortage. This month the independent media in Cuba reported that a scarcity of rice had the government so worried about civil unrest that it had to send police to accompany deliveries to shops.

This has the regime scrambling. Several sources reported to me that the Roman Catholic cardinal from Havana, Jaime Ortega, was on a secretive trip to Washington last week to lobby for an end to the travel ban. One of his meetings was rumored to be with the State Department's assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Arturo Valenzuela. The State Department declined to tell me if this was true or not.

Other sources said that the cardinal reached out to members of Congress, including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman and his staffer Peter Quilter. I queried Mr. Berman's office but got no reply. Regular readers of this column know Mr. Quilter's politics. As I reported in April, he traveled with Sen. John Kerry's staffer Fulton Armstrong to Tegucigalpa to warn Hondurans who backed the removal of Mr. Zelaya that they are still in the doghouse.

While Castro relies on the embargo to explain Cuban poverty, he does, it seems, badly need gringo tourism, which he could control. And if Cardinal Ortega has decided to intervene on behalf of the regime's needs, it would not be surprising. He has long been viewed by human-rights advocates—such as former political prisoner Armando Valladares, a practicing Catholic—as more a tool of the regime than a champion of the oppressed. A kinder assessment of the cardinal suggests that he's trying to boost the Church's power on the island. In either case, acting as an emissary to Washington right now would make sense.

But for those interested in Cuban freedom it is bizarre. For the first time in history the Castros are cornered. Yet rather then negotiate from a position of strength, Democrats seem to want to give relief to the dictatorship.

Write to O'Grady@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A19
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Northern Ireland's Example For Cuba

Opening lyrics to the U2 song, Sunday Bloody Sunday:

I can't believe the news today
Oh, I can't close my eyes and make it go away
How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long? How long?
'Cause tonight we can be as one, tonight

Those lyrics are about an incident in Northern Ireland where British troops shot and killed Catholic civil rights marchers in 1972. There was some closure to that incident recently when an inquiry [Bloody Sunday] begun in 1998 by the British government culminated in a statement of apology from British prime minister David Cameron in the House of Commons on June 15th 2010. The reaction from U2 lead singer, Bono, in a New York Times Op-ed:

Thirty-eight years did not disappear in an 11-minute speech — how could they, no matter how eloquent or heartfelt the words? But they changed and morphed, as did David Cameron, who suddenly looked like the leader he believed he would be. From prime minister to statesman.

Joy was the mood in the crowd. A group of women sang “We Shall Overcome.” There was a surprising absence of spleen — this was a community that had been through more than most anyone could understand, showing a restraint no one could imagine. This was a dignified joy, with some well-rehearsed theatrics to underscore the moment.
...
Figures I had learned to loathe as a self-righteous student of nonviolence in the ’70s and ’80s behaved with a grace that left me embarrassed over my vitriol. For a moment, the other life that Martin McGuinness could have had seemed to appear in his face: a commander of the Irish Republican Army that day in 1972, he looked last week like the fly fisherman he is, not the gunman he became ... a school teacher, not a terrorist ... a first-class deputy first minister.

The best way I can summarize what happened, for those of us who don't know much about the history there, is to compare it to an event in US history. Suppose the US Marshals and federal law enforcement sent to ensure that James Meredith could attend the University of Mississippi had ended up attacking civil rights workers. This from Bloody Sunday Inquiry Report:

2.1 Londonderry in January 1972 was a troubled city with a divided society, in a troubled and divided country. Throughout much of Northern Ireland there were deep and seemingly irreconcilable divisions between nationalists (predominantly Roman Catholic and a majority in the city) and unionists (generally Protestant and a majority in Northern Ireland as a whole). In general terms the former wanted Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and unite with the rest of Ireland, while the latter wanted it to remain part of the United Kingdom.

2.2 This sectarian divide, as it was called, had existed for a long time. Among other things, it had led in the years preceding Bloody Sunday to many violent clashes between the two communities and with the police, then the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). The police had become regarded by many in the nationalist community not as impartial keepers of the peace and upholders of the law, but rather as agents of the unionist Northern Ireland Government, employed in their view to keep the nationalist community subjugated, often by the use of unjustifiable and brutal force.

2.3 On 14th August 1969, after there had been particularly violent clashes between civilians and the police in Londonderry, the authorities brought into the city units of the British Army as an aid to the civil power, in other words to restore law and order. The British Army was in the city in this role on Bloody Sunday.

Now it wouldn't take much imagination for those of us with a Cuban background to identify with the U2 lyrics above. After taking the time to learn about 'the troubles' in Northern Ireland with more of a historical perspective -- provided mainly by Norman Davies amazing book on Europe -- I wouldn't attempt to make that comparison. Cuba is fortunate compare with Northern Ireland. Why? Cuba's problem is communism, a terror-based totalitarian form of government with an impressive string of failures to its credit. Norman Davies on the mother of all Commie collapses:

The Soviet Union was not, like ancient Rome, invaded by barbarians or, like the Polish Commonwealth, partitioned by rapacious neighbours, or, like the Habsberg Empire, overwhelmed by the strains of a great war. It was not, like the Nazi Reich, defeated in a fight to the death. It died because it had to, because the grotesque organs of its internal structure were incapable of providing the essentials of life. In a nuclear age, it could not, like its tsarist predecessor, solve its internal problems by expansion. Nor could it suck more benefit from the nations whom it had captured. It could not tolerate partnership with China which once promised a global future for communism; it could not stand the oxygen of reform; so it imploded. It was struck down by the political equivalent of a coronary, more massive than anything history affords.

The generation who advocated and in whose interests it remains to perpetuate communism in Cuba are about to die off. The Raul Castro era represents bypass surgery. Thankfully -- in keeping with the analogy -- strokes, heart attacks, graft failures, and serious bleeding are likely to follow. So Cuba will likely get a chance to hit a reset button in the not so distant future, while Northern Ireland can only dream of that type of opportunity. Their struggles run much deeper.

I look forward to the day when I will be 'embarrassed over my vitriol towards those I've learned to loathe.' To quote another U2 lyric, "a change of heart comes slow." For now, being aware that my faith asks for much more than that, is where I'm at. Learning about the strife which affects their homeland, adds to my appreciation and understanding of the people behind U2. It also means that I now know where I want to see them in concert next. The day they play in Cuba, the day they play Bloody Sunday in Cuba, their thoughts will likely run to Londonderry and 'The Troubles,' I know mine will.

In case there are others whose knowledge of the Northern Ireland issue resembles mine, I've outlined what I learned about the history of Ireland and Northern Ireland from the Davies book at the end of the post. Please click on the "read more" below to see the outline.

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History of Ireland excerpted from the Norman Davies book on Europe:

• 432 - Ireland was evangelized by St Patrick, a Roman citizen from western Britain and disciple of St Germanus. At Tara in Meath he confronted the High King, Laoghaire, kindled the paschal fire on the hill of Slane [in case you too think you've heard of Slane before, you have, so prepare to be elevated -- by the way if you think Edge is wearing a Mickey Mantle shirt, you're an ol' piece of ... -- JC] and silenced the Druids.
• 563 - Irish missions, a counter-measure to combat the inroads of barbarians, began with the arrival of St Columba on Iona. Irish monks followed practices which were out of step with Rome. Major problems were to arise in reconciling Celtic and Latin traditions.
• Tenth century - While the English battled the Danes, the rest of the British Isles witnessed a long, complex struggle between Vikings and Celts. Irish end up ruling the whole of Ireland for 150 years.
• 1534 - Henry VIII declared himself 'King Of Ireland.'
• 1598 -The Kingdom of England was targeted for reconversion in a campaign that spawned the Forty Catholic martyrs led by St Edmund Campion. Ireland was confirmed in Catholicism, especially after the brutal Elizabethan expedition.
• 1602 - Cormack McCarthy, Lord of Blarney in County Cork repeatedly delayed the surrender of his castle to the English through an endless series of parleys, queries, and time-wasting speeches. With McCarthy's act of defiance, 'Blarney' passed into common parlance as a synonym for the 'gift of gab.'
• 1611 - Planting of a Scottish Presbyterian colony in Ulster.
• 1641 - A Scots army arrived in Ireland to protect their Protestant co-religionists; multi-sided warfare proceeded unchecked during the 'English Civil War.'
• 1649-51 - Ireland brutally conquered and annexed by Cromwell.
• 1691 - Protestant supremacy was bolstered within the British Isles by draconian laws which denied Catholics the right to office, property, education, and intermarriage.
• 1707 - Ireland was excluded from the Union of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland. The two were previously separate states but with the same monarch. That created the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain.' While Ireland retained its own Parliament, it was still subject to the king's ministers in London.

Davies details the effect that exclusion had on Ireland:

Unlike Scotland, Ireland was not allowed to benefit from free trade with England. Unlike Wales, it did not experience any any sort of national or cultural revival. With the sole exception of Protestant Ulster, where Huguenot refugees started the prosperous linen industry, it did not participate directly in Britian's industrial revolution. A rising population made rural distress a fact of life. The famines of 1726-9 and 1739-41 foreshadowed the disaster of the 1840s.

• 1761 - Ferocious 'Whiteboy' gangs made their appearance in the countryside.
• 1798 - Reform movement led by Henry Flood and Henry Grattan failed.
• 1801 - Ireland forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom through the second Act of Union. Promised Catholic emancipations are postponed for thirty years.
• 1829 - The Catholic Association of Daniel O'Connell achieved religious toleration, e.g. allowed to buy land.
• 1845 through 1849 - Irish potato famine caused one million deaths and drove another million to emigrate. Reduced population of the island of 8.2 million by 25%. Sufferings of the Famine included witnessing corpses in the field and children dying in the workhouse, while grain continued to be exported to England under guard.
• 1858 - Irish Republican Brotherhood formed.
• 1879 - Land League formed to protect rebellious tenants from government -backed landlords. Absentee landlords had typically used the military to enforce evictions. The military customarily razed or 'tumbled' the houses of defaulters.
• 1880 through 1912 - Irish Home Rule was supported by Gladstones ruling Liberal Party at various stages, but three different efforts were blocked in the House of Commons.
• 1890s - Cultural awakening of the Irish was evidenced by the founding of the Irish Literary Theatre, the Gaelic Athletic Association and the Gaelic League.
• 1905 - Sinn Fein formed.
• 1914 - Onset of World War I pushes back determination on Irish Home Rule. Millions of Irish serve in the British army.
• 1920 - Ulster turned into autonomous province of the UK.
• 1922 - Irish Free State formed after Irish defeat British paramilitary group, the 'Black and Tans.' The dominant personality, and many times Premier, Eamon de Valera, was a half-Cuban Catholic born of an Irish mother in New York City [hey Grady, how do ya like dem apples].
• 1937 - The Free State, a national republic, declared itself the Republic of Eire.
• 1949 - Ireland severed all ties with Great Britain. The Irish Constitution treated the counties of British Ulster as an integral part of the Republic. But the IRA was regarded as an illegal organization on both sides of the border.

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What Passes For Locust In Miami

What if the presence of so many obnoxious New Yorkers [Northeasterners really] in our community is not just the result of an aging population seeking warmer climates? For wisdom, we turn to the Word, Exodus 10:13-15

And the locust went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.

For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

Thursday morning I saw pictures in the local papers of the next non-interim manager of the Florida Marlins. The clothing he was wearing openly, complete with a cap, was the costume of a professional New York baseball team. The stinking Mets. I felt physically ill.

Our future Marlins manager decked out in the garb of the gonads-less Mets! The choking-dog of a franchise that the Fredi Gonzalez led Marlins had the pleasure of knocking out of playoff contention in two consecutive seasons. In domestic abuse terms, those seasons, the glorious years of 2007 and 2008, ended with the Marlins grasping the Mets by the loose skin at the back of their necks and dragging them in a casually destructive manner through their home and tossing them dismissively out their own front door as though they were playing horseshoes in a zero-gravity environment [thankfully, they landed on jagged rocks infected with MRSA].

There are few pleasures in sports which can match watching a truly hated opponent suffer gut-wrenching loses. The agony on the face of Met fans at the final game in Shea stadium is something that I still draw strength from in difficult times. The thought that Bret Farve's last pass for three consecutive seasons have been throws which he either reacted stupidly or cowardly and cost his teams playoff games or a chance to make the playoffs, still brings a tear now and then.

But still, ... a future Marlins manager pictured while covered in feces? Physical illness soon led to depression. What if the presence of so many Northeasterners in Miami represents some type of Biblical punishment? What if the sins of Henry Flagler and Julia Tuttle are now having sporting repercussions? Parcells [Jersey], Riley [Schenectady], Loria & Samson [Joffrey Ballet]; to paraphrase Philip Bosco in The Pope of Greenwich Village [we do irony too here at 2TG], 'we're surrounded!' Depression deepens.

What if the wretched Northeasterners represent only half of the swarm of locusts? Wait a minute, what if ... those of us ... from parts ... south of Miami, represent the other half of the swarm cursing Miami? I scream out with a Roddy McDowall Twilight Zone like anguish, 'I am not a locust!,' even as I double-check limbs.

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Dishonest Florida Marlins Management

Jeffrey Loria makes Nick Saban look like an amateur. See Saban -- who has an uncanny resemblance to a screeching, squealing, rapacious swamp sow when his lies are played on videotape -- lied when cornered [see Tim Graham's post]. Loria lies as if the Marlins revenue sharing monies were dependent on the absurdity of his public comments.

Part of the fun of being an owner should be that you don't have to lie so blatantly about why you want to change your manager. But Loria approaches telling the truth as a kind of beguiling vice, cautious that it might be habit forming. Forbes has well documented his lies about the financial performance of the Florida Marlins, which I have converted into basic financial statements. But those lies are obvious. It's what MLB and their owners do, especially those on the receiving end of revenue sharing monies.

Telling such obvious lies about why you want to replace your respected Cuban-born manager prior to relocating your franchise into a predominantly Cuban-American community is different. It's more revealing. Their intentions have been public since last October.

The Marlins project, look and play like a .500 team. They are 2 games under .500 seventy games into the 2010 season. Loria on why he fired Fredi Gonzalez in the Sun-Sentinel:

"It is never easy to make a change in managers. Fredi has been with our club for four years. We have become close, and I am extremely fond of Fredi. I, along with all our fans, am grateful for Fredi's contributions. At the same time, we can't let personal feelings get in the way of taking steps that we believe are necessary to improve our ballclub.

"Decisions on individual personnel cannot supersede our overall goal, which is to win. We believe we can do better and be better. We owe it to our fans to put this team in the best possible position to win. Everyone knows how I feel about winning. That's the reason we're making this change. We still have a very long season in front of us, and plenty of time to turn things around. Everyone, our fans, our team, our organization, and myself wants us to win. That continues to be, and will always be, the goal."

No one believes that is the truth. Just like no one believes that the reason Forbes considers the Marlins so profitable is because, "Forbes assumes that player expenses are the Marlins only expenses," my favorite example of David Samson's efforts at dissembling.

All this for a 60 year old New York Mets managerial retread? Bobby Valentine last managed the Mets to a 5th place finish in 2002. I guess Don Zimmer isn't available. No, I know, he's just not New York enough for South Florida. How about we think outside the box -- outside the Boroughs? -- for once. Why limit our managerial retreads to MLB? Can't we add Bill Fitch and Mike Fratelo to the interview process?

Montreal Expo fans reading about Loria's latest move must feel like SEC investigators trying to warn people about Bernie Madoff way back in 2007. Jeffrey Loria, to paraphrase Miguel Angel (Cordero) Gonzalez, has much cash [for Yale, not middle relievers], but little class.

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Paul McCartney: What's Fair To Say?

Paul McCartney turns 68 today, June 18th. Recently, he took a kinda of girly swipe [is he capable of any other?] at Bush 43. Republicans trying to score political points, asked him to apologize. McCartney, thrilled to be in the news, has refused, stating that he meant it as a joke.

I say forget the apologies route. In keeping with McCartney's example, humor could be a more effective response. My top reasons that former President George W. Bush should not be bothered by McCartney's jab are:

• McCartney's a 68 year-old male who colors his hair.
• McCartney's a 68 year-old male who colors his eyebrows.
• McCartney had plastic surgery on his face when he was 65 years-old.
• McCartney had his plastic surgery shortly before his open heart surgery. Shouldn't the order of those two have been reversed?
• Rumor Mills have it that since 2002, McCartney has been obsessed with getting a leg up on bush.

Others?

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World Cup Diary: USA v England

My World Cup diary on the game between the USA and England.

0:00 - Game begins. Normally when you say a game has a tremendous buzz, that's a good thing. Not here. Game already marred by what sounds like an attack of bees in the broadcast booth. I learn that the buzz is coming from South Africans using 'vuvuelas' [plastic horns]. Apparently it is a form of protest. They want all the tourists out of the stadium and spending money among the locals.

0:30 - While clock is clearly moving, we may be in some sort of warm-up period. Action very low-key.

1:15 - ABC announcer just assured us viewers that the action is "not low-key" despite appearances.

1:47 - OK, this has to be a warm-up. Ball went out of bounds at 1:27 and they could not find another ball to use until 1:47. The USA player waiting to in-bounds, Carlos Bocanegra, was not even bothered, i.e. 'hey, this is soccer, so what if the clock is running, nothing is really gonna happen when we do get the ball anyways.' The NBA could have fit 4 commercials, 5 possessions and 6 free throws into those 20 seconds.

3:47 - England's captain, Steven Gerrard, scores around 3:47. His slide ends around 4:47. Really inappropriate use of broken glass enters my sub-conscious. ABC commentators debate whether the US team still has a chance.

9:10 - USA goalie, Tim Howard, has apparently been added to the team right before the game. He seems shocked how bad his defense is and he is determined to alert soccer fans the world over that they, not he, are to blame for whatever English scoring may occur during today's game. I think I spot a Kobe Bryant tattoo on his left arm.

11:47 - Buzzing continues unabated.

18:37 - USA misses on scoring opportunity. A Landon Donovan pass near the goal just missed being a header by Jozy Altidore.

22:40 - In an ominous sign, announcer describes history of 10 year old stadium the game is being played in. Buzzing continues unabated.

25:30 - USA gets free kick off foul and yellow card on James Milner. Altidore just misses header. Altidore, is very tall [6'5"] and features a Milwaukee Buck-era Abdul-Jabbar beard.

28:25 - England just misses on another scoring opportunity. The USA goalie Howard has apparently had enough. He pulls the by now classic soccer player 'I'm going to exaggerate how hurt I really am although you can't even tell in the replay how it happened' stunt. His agent, disguised as a trainer, comes out to urge him to remain in the game. When the 'trainer' returns to the sideline, he gives the USA Coach the universal Jerry Maguire to Generic GM 'you owe me' glance. Replays show that Howard was actually spiked in the chest on the play. Everyone is shocked.

38:35 - USA ties game 1-1 on a Clint Dempsey kick. England's goalie, Robert Greene, allows a goal which would have gotten him pulled even from a weekend co-ed corporate game played between HR and Accounting which features a condensed field and cones. Good time to note that England has a coach names Fabio who wears the type of glasses featured by a young Michael Caine.

38:36 - Howard tweets that "he is embarrassed to be on the same field with his defense and the other team's goalie."

42:14 - England's Emile Heskey takes fake injury to another level as he interrupts the game for a couple of minutes to allow everyone to debate whether the Dempsy goal was the worst defended goal in World Cup history. Fans urge Heskey to rise since there was an immediate consensus brokered by Greene's parents. Man, there must be some kind of feud between Heskey and Greene.

45:01 - 2nd half begins, buzzing continues unabated.

48:10 - England just misses around the goal. Howard punches teammate.

50:55 - On a breakaway, Heskey kicks the ball right into Howards midsection as a way of highlighting Greene's earlier failure. The thing between Heskey and Greene must involve the wives.

59:58 - England's Gerrard is yellow carded on a foul on Dempsey. In a breach of protocol, Dempsey gets up after an embarrassingly brief ground-writhing routine and seems to be laughing.

64:00 - Altidore just misses scoring on a rush which resulted in the ball being deflected off the left goal post. Greene gets partial redemption. Heskey seems upset.

65:05 - Game stopped because England's Glen Johnson was bleeding from the lip. Johnson was offered an opportunity to fall to the ground, but declined.

71:15 - Buzzing continues unabated.

74:30 - Another point blank save by Howard. His Trainer/Agent is seen taunting Coach Bradley.

75:33 - In an embarrassing example of the dangers of live TV, a cut-away to scenes outside the stadium revealed the Argentinian coach, Diego Maradona, either selling or purchasing a crack pipe in the background of one shot. [Apparently, as a way of combating aggressive police tactics, drug lords have turned to the use of midgets in public drug transactions since there is a dearth of little persons in law enforcement, especially under-cover.] On the positive side, it afforded his son, Diego Sinagra, a rare opportunity to see his father.

80's - Nothing good every happened in the 80's.

91:15 - Buzzing continues unabated despite everyone -- players, crowd and announcers -- seeming very tired. I begin to wonder if there is an actual crowd or one of those fake crowd backgrounds featured in Droopy Dog cartoons involving sporting events. An English fan yawning answers my question.

93:35 - Viewer mercy rule invoked and game ended in a 1-1 tie. Apparently, everyone wanted to get an early start in ruining the rest of Robert Greene's life.

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Wenski Has Much Currency On Immigration

In the first chapter of his book, Money Mischief, Milton Friedman relates an example of how some islands in Micronesia used round stones, anywhere from one foot to twelve feet in diameter, to represent currency. [It is unknown whether this is where the phrase, 'he's got stones' originated.]

In one case, the German Government, on purchasing the islands, attempted to get the island chiefs to repair the roads. The locals resisted. The Germans levied a fine which was extracted by marking a number of the most valuable stones with a black cross. The act impoverished the chiefs and forced them to fix up the roads. The fine was recognized as paid when the officials washed the black mark from the stones. Wealth had been temporarily taken and then restored by affecting their currency.

The point of the story is that currency can take on many different forms. Currency is merely a tangible representation of wealth. Wealth must be created by the land or labor of society. If governments create currency unrelated to the actual wealth being created in the society, then we get what we have today; TARP, Ireland, Greece, Spain, and ....

Take a look at the picture above. The love and respect shown Archbishop Thomas Wenski represents currency in the immigration debate. In the parlance of the day, the dude in the black cape is seriously loaded. He was not given that currency, he earned it. This from the Miami Herald's article about his return to Notre Dame d'Haiti:

As he entered the Little Haiti Catholic church he founded 29 years ago, a crowd of thousands, some with tears of joy, quickly gave the Most Rev. Thomas Wenski the treatment of a rock star on Sunday. Waving their hands in the air, they snapped photos, held out tape recorders and clutched portraits of him.

``Byenvini Lakay Ou,'' they said, ``Welcome back home.''

For the estimated 2,500 Haitian Catholics from across South Florida who came to Notre Dame d'Haiti -- a crowd typically reserved for Christmas or Easter -- the event was not to be missed. The beloved Polish-American priest, one who had guided the region's Haitian-American community since its early days, had returned, this time as the new archbishop of Miami.

``Many of us are who we are because of you,'' the current pastor, the Rev. Reginald Jean-Mary, told a teary Wenski, who celebrated Mass in perfect Creole for more than two hours in the standing-room-only church.

On Sunday, after celebrating two English Masses and a Spanish Mass days before, Wenski proudly slipped back into the role he has long played: a champion of Haitian Catholics, who represent a majority of the island nation's vibrant community in South Florida. ``Notre Dame, this church here, it represents the Haitian community,'' Wenski said to parishioners, many who skipped work and some who traveled from as far as West Palm Beach to meet the pastor they still affectionately call Pè, or Father.

An overflow crowd jammed the church's courtyard and hallways and packed hundreds of outdoor chairs as a closed-circuit TV system broadcasted the 59-year-old's remarks. It was his first stop at Notre Dame since he was tapped to lead the region's 800,000 Catholics in late April.

The celebration, full of upbeat hymns, dancing and praiseful ``hallelujahs,'' brought together faithful churchgoers as well as those for whom church isn't always a Sunday ritual. There were grandmothers who had not seen Wenski for years, teenagers who he had baptized and those who had only heard of him through word-of-mouth.

``This is a good Haitian friend,'' said 55-year-old Jean Bourgiquot, who had never met Wenski, but echoed a common refrain: Wenski isn't just a man that knows Haitians, but ``a Haitian.''

Archbishop Wenski, has weighed in on the immigration debate. This from his Op-Ed in the Miami Herald:

Victor Hugo's 19th-century novel Les Miserables tells how pride and neglect of mercy represented in the bitterly zealous legalism of Inspector Javert ultimately destroys him. Today, modern-day Javerts, on radio and TV talk shows, fan flames of resentment against supposed law breakers, equating them with terrorists intent on hurting us. However, these immigrants ask only for the opportunity to become legal -- to come out of the shadows where they live in fear of a knock on their door in the dead of night or an immigration raid to their work place. Like Jean Valjean, today's migrants only look for the opportunity to redeem themselves through honest work. Today, many take umbrage at the Catholic bishops' advocacy on behalf of these ``illegals'' -- but, in doing so, we stand in a proud moral tradition, like the novel's benevolent Bishop Myriel, who gave his candlesticks to the desperate Jean Valjean and protected him from arrest by Javert.

While I myself am sympathetic to the Arizona law -- i.e. what are border states supposed to do when their urgent concerns are not shared by their federal government? -- my thoughts and votes on this issue can be affected by those who come to the debate with serious moral currency.

In this sense, and this sense only, Archbishop Wenski is the anti-Crist.

Back in Novemebr 2008, there was an interesting article about seminarians at St. John Vianney by one of the writers of the Wenski article, Jaweed Kaleem. One of the most positive [i.e. fair] articles on Catholics, was possibly written by a Muslim [my assumption based on his name]. As the old saying goes, only in Miami.

Wenski's Op-Ed in the Miami Herald on Immigration Reform is copied in full at end of post.

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Let `illegals' stay, earn their citizenship - BY THOMAS WENSKI

U.S. BISHOPS - www.miamiarch.org

To those who accused Jesus of breaking the laws of his day, he replied, in Mark 2:27: ``The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.''

This teaching underscores the point that positive law, even Divine positive law, is meant to benefit, not to enslave, mankind. The patriots who broke the law by tossing tea into Boston Harbor understood this -- as did Rosa Parks, who broke the law by refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. When laws fail to advance the common good, they can and should be changed.

Our immigration laws need to be changed: They are antiquated and inadequate for the promotion and regulation of social and economic relations of 21st-century America. On this point everyone seemingly agrees. However, the solutions proposed should not make the situation worse. Outdated laws, ill adapted to the increasing interdependence of our world and the globalization of labor, are bad laws. Proposed changes, however, must take into account both human dignity and the national interest.

For this reason, the U.S. bishops and a broad bipartisan coalition ranging from unions to chambers of commerce have supported broad comprehensive immigration reform that, while addressing future needs for labor by providing for a legal guest-worker program, also offers an ``earned'' path to legalization for those 10 million or so workers already in the country as well as fixing the unacceptable backlogs for family reunification visas that keep families separated for intolerable lengths of time.

A narrow, restrictive legislation focusing on solely ``enforcement'' will only make matters worse. Indeed, a billion dollars has been spent on border enforcement over the past 10 years -- and yet, until this current recession, illegal immigration had increased because the labor market demanded willing and able workers. Illegal immigration should not be tolerated. It leads to abuse and exploitation of the migrants themselves; and, ultimately, businesses that rely on their labor -- and, in doing so, help fuel the growth of the American economy -- would prefer and benefit from a reliable, legal work force.

But, fixing illegal immigration does not require the ``demonization'' of so-called ``illegals.'' America has always been a land of promise and opportunity for those willing to work hard. We can provide for our national security and secure borders without making America, a nation of immigrants, less a land of promise or opportunity for immigrants.

Victor Hugo's 19th-century novel Les Miserables tells how pride and neglect of mercy represented in the bitterly zealous legalism of Inspector Javert ultimately destroys him. Today, modern-day Javerts, on radio and TV talk shows, fan flames of resentment against supposed law breakers, equating them with terrorists intent on hurting us. However, these immigrants ask only for the opportunity to become legal -- to come out of the shadows where they live in fear of a knock on their door in the dead of night or an immigration raid to their work place. Like Jean Valjean, today's migrants only look for the opportunity to redeem themselves through honest work. Today, many take umbrage at the Catholic bishops' advocacy on behalf of these ``illegals'' -- but, in doing so, we stand in a proud moral tradition, like the novel's benevolent Bishop Myriel, who gave his candlesticks to the desperate Jean Valjean and protected him from arrest by Javert.

For this reason, we call upon Congress to seize the opportunity for a comprehensive fix to our broken immigration system. To date, its failure to act has contributed to neo-nativist anti-immigrant sentiment and to ill-advised initiatives like Arizona's recent immigration law that usurps what is the purview of the federal government.

A nation that honors lawbreakers like the patriots of the ``Boston Tea Party,'' a nation that can allow the dignified defiance of Rosa Parks in her act of lawbreaking to touch its conscience, is a nation that also can make room for modern-day Jean Valjeans. We can be a nation of laws, without becoming a nation of Javerts. As Jesus reminded the embittered zealots of his day, laws are designed for the benefit -- not the harm -- of humankind.

Thomas Wenski is the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Miami.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/06/1667159/let-illegals-stay-earn-their-citizenship.html#ixzz0qAqb65aE
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President Reagan on 40th Anniversary of D-Day

From remarks delivered by President Reagan celebrating the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1984 Normandy, France:

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.

The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They fought -- or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4:00 am., in Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying, and in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.

Something else helped the men of D-day; their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer, he told them: Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do. Also, that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."

Check out Douglas Brinkley's book about the assault on Normandy and how Reagan and his speechwriter, Peggy Noonan, combined to make a tribute 40 years later - The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion

President Reagan's entire Normandy speech referenced is copied in full at end of post.

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Remarks delivered by President Reagan celebrating the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1984 Normandy, France

We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here, in Normandy, the rescue began. Here, the Allies stood and fought against tyranny, in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.

We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but forty years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here, and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.

The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers at the edge of the cliffs, shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only ninety could still bear arms.

Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them here. These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war. Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your "lives fought for life and left the vivid air singed with your honor."

I think I know what you may be thinking right now -- thinking "we were just part of a bigger effort; everyone was brave that day." Well, everyone was. You remember the story of Bill Millin of the 51st Highlanders? Forty years ago today, British troops were pinned down near a bridge, waiting desperately for help. Suddenly, they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they were dreaming. Well, they weren't. They looked up and saw Bill Millin with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and ignoring the smack of bullets into the ground around him.

Lord Lovat was with him -- Lord Lovat of Scotland, who calmly announced when he got to the bridge, "Sorry, I'm a few minutes late," as if he'd been delayed by a traffic jam, when in truth he'd just come form the bloody fighting on Sword Beach, which he and his men had just taken.

There was the impossible valor of the Poles who threw themselves between the enemy and the rest of Europe as the invasion took hold, and the unsurpassed courage of the Canadians who had already seen the horrors of war on this coast. They knew what awaited them there, but they would not be deterred. And once they hit Juno Beach, they never looked back.

All of these men were part of a roll call of honor with names that spoke of a pride as bright as the colors they bore; The Royal Winniped Rifles, Poland's 24th Lancers, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, the Screaming Eagles, the Yeomen of England's armored divisions, the forces of Free France, the Coast Guard's "Matchbox Fleet," and you, the American Rangers.

Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief. It was loyalty and love.

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.

The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They fought -- or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4:00 am., in Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying, and in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.

Something else helped the men of D-day; their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer, he told them: Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do. Also, that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."

These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies.

When the war was over, there were lives to be rebuilt and governments to be returned to the people. There were nations to be reborn. Above all, there was a new peace to be assured. These were huge and daunting tasks. But the Allies summoned strength from the faith, belief, loyalty, and love of those who fell here. They rebuilt a new Europe together. There was first a great reconciliation among those who had been enemies, all of whom had suffered so greatly. The United States did its part, creating the Marshall Plan to help rebuild our allies and our former enemies. The Marshall Plan led to the Atlantic alliance -- a great alliance that serves to this day as our shield for freedom, for prosperity, and for peace.

In spite of our great efforts and successes, not all that followed the end of the war was happy or planned. Some liberated countries were lost. The great sadness of this loss echoes down to our own time in the streets of Warsaw, Prague, and East Berlin. Soviet troops that came to the center of this continent did not leave when peace came. They're still there, uninvited, unwanted, unyielding, almost forty years after the war. Because of this, allied forces still stand on this continent. Today, as forty years ago, our armies are here for only one purpose: to protect and defend democracy. The only territories we hold are memorials like this one and graveyards where our heroes rest.

We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars. It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent. But we try always to be prepared for peace, prepared to deter aggression, prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms, and yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation. In truth, there is no reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with the Soviet Union, so, together, we can lessen the risks of war, now and forever.

It's fitting to remember here the great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World War II: 20 million perished, a terrible price that testifies to all the world the necessity of ending war. I tell you from my heart that we in the United States do not want war. We want to wipe from the face of the earth the terrible weapons that man now has in his hands. And I tell you, we are ready to seize that beachhead. We look for some sign from the Soviet Union that they are willing to move forward, that they share our desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways of conquest. There must be a changing there that will allow us to turn our hope into action.

We will pray forever that someday that changing will come. But for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it.

We're bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs. We're bound by reality. The strength of America's allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe's democracies. We were with you then; we are with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.

Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."

Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their valor and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.

Thank you very much, and God bless you all.
Page Printed from: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/06/06/the_boys_of_pointe_du_hoc_105873.html at June 06, 2010 - 06:52:14 PM PDT
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John Wooden, RIP

A man of great Christian faith and a great American passed this Friday. The Christian in me is happy for his Judgment Day and much anticipated reunion wife his wife of 53 years, Nellie. Just how anticipated was that reunion? He has written her a love letter [see video by clicking on John Wooden Love Letters from Video Playlist] every 21st of the month, the date she passed -- which remain unopened literally on her side of the bed -- for the last 25 years.

In a November 2004 Science of Mind article by Mitch Horowitz, Wooden describes how their relationship got started:

I was baptized with the young woman who was to be my wife later on, the only girl I ever dated, in 1927. We were juniors in high school and she was the only girl I ever went with and we had a relationship and she suggested that we join at the same time. I don’t want to say that I accepted Christ at that particular time because of the fact that I did this primarily because she wanted me to. But my acceptance came gradually as time went by.

Also in the Horowitz article, Wooden's religious faith is discussed:

Wooden took great solace from the Bible, a copy of which sits in each room of his home today. His favorite passage, 1 Corinthians 13, reads in part: “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” It is yet another theme that marks his life: “I do believe that adversity makes you stronger,” he says, “And I do believe in many ways, perhaps not in financial ways, that adversity from hard work does make you able to accept the more difficult things as they would come along later in your life.”

Today, religion continues to be major factor in Wooden’s life. He reads Scripture daily, attends the First Christian Church of his childhood, and professes deep admiration for evangelist Billy Graham, who is a personal friend.

In a January 2009 Sporting News interview interview, Wooden was asked about his greatest day:

WOODEN: The day I married Nellie. That's the greatest day. She said, "I do."

SN: What was that day like?

WOODEN: We were married on a Sunday. On Saturday, I went to the bank—I had saved up, played a little pro basketball; I had $900 and a nickel—but the bank was closed. We were going to have difficulty getting married on Sunday. I got a call from a fellow by the name of Snyder; Nellie's closest friend was his daughter. He asked me to come see him, and I did. He said, "What are you and Nellie gonna do?" I said, "Well, I don't know, Mr. Snyder, but something will work out." He said, "Pay me back whenever you can, but you and Nellie go ahead," and he gave me $200. So the next day, my brother and his girlfriend, who had a car, drove us to Indianapolis, and we were married by a pastor that had married Nellie's older brother and older sister. My brother and his girlfriend stood up, along with the minister's wife, and after we married we went to eat at the Bamboo Inn on the Circle in Indianapolis. And from there we went to the theater where the Mills Brothers made their very first appearance in Indianapolis. They've always been my favorites.

SN: Why have you lived this good, long life?

WOODEN: That's very hard to say. I honestly feel that one of the reasons could be that I've practiced moderation in almost everything. I never used alcohol in any way. Does that have anything to do with it? I don't know. George Burns had a lot of it every day, and he lived to be over 100. I smoked a little bit when I was in the Navy, but that's all. Did that have anything to do with it? I don't know. But I do know this: I am very much at peace with myself. I'm not afraid of death. I'm at peace. Certainly as I get older, it's hard to … (long pause) I'm ready. I wish it would happen now. But I'm not going to try to hurry it. I'm not afraid of death. I'm not going to intentionally hurry it up, but I'm not afraid. I've been so blessed in my life. I'm thankful for so many things. My children, my 13 great-grandchildren, all live within an hour or less, and I see them all regularly. How many times does that happen? Within an hour or two, I can see the ocean, I can be in the mountains, I can be in the desert, I can be at Disneyland, I can be at an athletic event. There are so many things. I have been so blessed. And out yonder, I'll be with Nellie again.

SN: She's waiting for you?

WOODEN: Oh, yes, I believe so. Sven Nater has written me maybe 100 poems. A few years ago, he wrote me one poem just from hearing me say that one word, yonder. It says:

Once I was afraid of dying, terrified of ever-lying, petrified of leaving family, home and friends. Thoughts of absence from my dear ones, brought a melancholy tear once, and a dreadful fear of when life ends. But those days are long behind me, fear of leaving does not bind me, and departure does not hold a single care. Peace does comfort as I ponder, a reunion in the yonder, with my dearest one who is waiting for me there.

SN: "I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't test me so much." Do you know whose words they are?

WOODEN: They are Mother Teresa's.

SN: How often do you speak or think them?

WOODEN:Almost daily. Do you see those words over there (pointing to a daily calendar of sayings on his dining room table)? "I pray thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within." On the last day before Nellie went to the hospital and passed away, that's what she turned to. I never changed it. (Long pause.) She was beautiful within. And this is important.

The only mention of faith or religion in John Wooden's 2,091 word obituary in the New York Times was to note that:

Wooden was a religious man whose strongest exclamation was “Goodness gracious sakes alive!” Still, many opposing coaches thought he was not always a saint.

Rich ain't it. The one mention of religion is tied to a disparaging 'he's no saint' reminder. The secular world constantly diminishes the role of faith in society. They are free to do so. But those of us who don't share their disbelief, have a duty to note their lack of generosity by attempting to sanitize the part of history they are uncomfortable with. This is important to document.

I noticed the same effort to diminish the role of faith with the New York Times obituary of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn when he passed in 2008. It's also important to ask, where is the secular world's version of a John Wooden? Or is grace too important a factor in the making and makeup of a John Wooden? It's important to ask.

Finally, an example of great sports writing. Jim Murray on John Wooden from August 1972:

John Wooden is American Gothic to the collar button. You meet him and you're tempted to say, " All right, what did you do with the pitchfork, John?" You can smell the hay if you close your eyes. Players might call other coaches "The Baron" or "The Bear" but they call John "The Reverend."

His walls are awash with homilies, exhortations of the spirit, words-to-live-by. He's as homespun as calico, as small-town as a volunteer fire department. He doesn't juggle oil wells or cattle deals or tax shelters. He doesn't even own his own house. He has turned down $100,000 contracts to coach the pros.

He looks like the kind of guy you could get to guess which walnut has the pea under it. The eyes are a kind of a guileless blue, and the conversation is sprinkled with "Oh, my goodness!" and "Gracious!" and you bet he could never figure out how they sawed the lady in half, or got the rabbit into the hat. They run carnivals for guys like this, you feel sure. He'd buy a watch from an 8th Avenue auctioneer, or a vegetable slicer from a sidewalk pitchman.

It is a conceit of our times that kids are supposed to be manageable only by their peer groups, that they are in headlong rebellion from any other authority and, the postulate has it, there is no way a street kid from Philadelphia or a blacktop player from Lexington Avenue could relate to a Bible reader from Indiana who coaches by wall motto. In a time when training table mutinies are as commonplace as any other forms of campus unrest, Wooden has managed to put together title teams from elements as diverse as a Democratic ticket. People thought the playground players would take one look at Coach Wooden and say, "Is that a name or a description?" and take the next bus back to where the words on the walls aren't out of Edgar A. Guest.

Please click on image above to enlarge or print.

Click here to see Bill Walton's web site and tribute to John Wooden.

Click here to see John Wooden's web site.

The Sporting News interview is copied in full at end of post.

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John Wooden: 'I'm not afraid of death'-- The legendary UCLA basketball coach tells SN's Steve Greenberg he's at peace with himself

Sporting News [This story first appeared in the Jan. 5, 2009, edition of Sporting News magazine].

The little condo on Margate Street in Encino, Calif., wouldn't pass many eyeball tests, not that the old man who has lived there since 1972 has any intention to sell it. If you want it, you're simply going to have to wait for John Wooden to die.

Sadly — and beautifully — you wouldn't be the only one. Wooden, perhaps the greatest American coach in any sport, never thought he'd live to the age of 98. And he never thought living without his beloved wife, Nell, whom he lost in 1985, would be so hard for so long. Of all the love in his heart — for the three generations of family who surround him and the dozens of former players who keep him as close as ever — most of it still belongs to her. All he wants is to see his Nellie again.

Meanwhile, Wooden's loved ones want for him. Tony Spino, the UCLA trainer who has looked after him for years, sleeps at the condo five nights a week. Jim Wooden, 72, the coach's only son, sleeps there on Thursdays and Fridays. Wooden's granddaughter Caryn Bernstein, 48, shows up at 7 a.m. almost daily. Caryn's 74-year-old mother, Nan Wooden, who is Wooden's only daughter, is a regular factor in an equation of constant companionship and care.

They wish he would sell the place — packed with decades-old furniture, books, photographs, and other mementos — and move somewhere nicer.

"We try to tell him, 'Daddy, Mother would not like this,' " Nan says.

But he won't.

John Wooden will be here until the end — a happy man at peace with dying, whenever that moment comes. He spent a morning with Sporting News' Steve Greenberg at the place lovingly referred to by UCLA great Bill Walton as The Wooden Mansion on Margate.

SN: You've certainly not been abandoned in your old age.

WOODEN: There's always someone here. They don't want me to be alone because of the falls that I've taken. I think it's ridiculous, but I know why they don't think it's so ridiculous. My worst one, I fell and broke my arm, my collarbone and a wrist, and I lay on the floor from 9 o'clock in the evening until 7 o'clock in the morning until Tony got here. I can't get up when I fall down. I like to think maybe I could get along by myself if I tried it, but I guess I'd better not. But I have a wonderful family. I've been blessed so much. So much.

SN: There is much love in this house, isn't there?

WOODEN:Yes, there is. My late wife, the only girl I ever dated, the only girl I ever went with, picked it out to be closer to our daughter. Every picture on the wall, every room, my late wife picked out. And now they want me to sell it. But I wouldn't leave here, because it's her. And that means a lot to me.

SN: Many things here are just so: the books, the photographs. And also many things that belonged to Nell—even the little things, like her lipstick. Are you holding on to her still?

WOODEN:Yes. All the things that she used, like her makeup. And her side of the bed. Her gown is stretched out on her side of the bed since I lost her. And once the sheets are changed, then we put everything back the same way. So I wouldn't want to leave here.

SN: Your family speaks with emotion about the letters you write to Nell every month, a simple act that is profoundly touching and romantic. How does it make you feel when you write to her?

WOODEN: It makes me feel closer to her. It brings back many feelings ... (long pause) ... that we had between us. It makes me feel better.

SN: Will your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren read them someday? Or are they just for you and Nell?

WOODEN: They are between us.

SN: You had that frightful fall in February, and there have been others. Are you in much pain?

WOODEN:No, I'm not. The worst pain I have is in my knees. (Doctors) won't do anything about it. Both of them have to be replaced, but I'm too old. Those other things healed very well, all except the wrist. But otherwise, no pain.

SN: All that night and through the early morning after you fell, what were you thinking as you lay on the floor? Were you afraid for your life?

WOODEN: No, I never thought about that at all. I knew in the night I couldn't get up. I was cold. In that time, I was between laughing and crying, but that was all. I was just going into the bathroom before going to bed, and going in I got my walker stuck on the rug and I fell over. I tried to catch myself, but I couldn't. For a few minutes, I was kind of in shock. I had pain from the breaks. I was awake the whole time. More than anything else, I got cold. I couldn't crawl and get to a blanket or anything. I just had to stay there.

SN: Would you ever leave this home for anything?

WOODEN: No. My children would like for me to. I'd like for my daughter to sell her home and live with me. She's been alone for a few years. She's a breast cancer survivor, she has artificial knees, artificial hips, an artificial shoulder, and she's going to have to have the other shoulder replaced.

SN: Do you worry for her?

WOODEN: Yes, of course I do.

SN: She's still your little girl?

WOODEN: Yes, she is. (Pausing to control his emotions.) I would like for her to live with me, but it would be a chore for her. She wants me to live with her.

SN: We should talk about happier things. What do you love about basketball these days?

WOODEN:Well, more than anything else today, it's the fact that at the place where I have breakfast almost every morning, one of my ex-players will show up. Mike Warren, Keith (Jamaal) Wilkes; Bill Walton drives up from San Diego, and that's nice. I love my memories about the time that I taught these players. I think about it. And I like the game now, but I don't like the game as much. I have never cared for the showmanship, and I think there is too much showmanship in the game today. While I think the players today are just unbelievable—their athleticism—I don't think team play is as good as it used to be.

SN: What's it like for you to watch UCLA play?

WOODEN: The interest that I have had over the years is still there. When I retired, I was so concerned about the players who had played for me that I really couldn't enjoy the game as much. But when they were all gone, then I could enjoy it a little bit more. UCLA is doing well. I'm impressed with the coach that we have now (Ben Howland). The last three years, he's been in the Final Four, and not many have done that. He's an extremely impressive defensive coach.

SN: So many of your players love you dearly. How wonderful does that make you feel?

WOODEN:You may have heard the story of Andy Hill. He played for me and won two national championships for me, but he didn't get to play a lot. He didn't like me. And after he graduated, a very bright youngster, he didn't speak to me; he would actually avoid me, for 25 years. And the whole thing was because he didn't get to play much; he thought I didn't like him. But I had a lot of respect for him. After he graduated, he produced Touched By An Angel, Walker, Texas Ranger, Caroline in the City and some others, and finally, he said he thought this on the golf course: "Well, I've been successful, and Coach Wooden taught me things that have served me very well." So he called me and said he'd like to see me. Now I'm probably as close with Andy as I am with any of my players. He's a regular for breakfast. He is very special to me. Forgiveness sets you free.

SN: Eighty-one years ago, you won a high school state championship as a player in Indiana. Do you still remember that team, and that championship game, well?

WOODEN: The year before that, we had lost to the championship team. The center of that team—it was Marion High School—was Charles "Stretch" Murphy. He was 6-6, and there was no question he was easily the best player. We both went to Purdue. He was a senior when I was a sophomore, but we got to play together and that was a great thrill for me. The next year, we won the championship against Muncie High School. They were always strong. I remember that game very well.

SN: You were a Navy lieutenant during World War II. How did that experience help to shape your life?

WOODEN:Well, that's difficult to say. I was blessed in many ways. I was at North Carolina—I'm a 90-day wonder; they make you a gentleman, an officer, in 90 days—and then I was sent to Iowa Pre-flight, and I was there for about a year. I had orders to support the USS Franklin, and on my way to report to the Franklin in the South Pacific, I got very sick; I was in a lot of pain in my stomach. They checked me and my appendix had burst, so my orders were canceled. And the fella who took my place on the Franklin was a fraternity brother and a friend of mine. He was killed by a kamikaze. If I hadn't gotten sick, I probably would have been in the same place that he was.

SN: A lifetime later, in 2003, President Bush awarded you the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Where does that rank among your countless honors and achievements?

WOODEN: Maybe No. 2. When I graduated from Purdue, I received the Big Ten academic medal for graduating with a high grade-point average. That's the one thing I earned. A lot of the other things, the championships, they were earned by teams. If you don't have outstanding players, you can't do it, I don't care who you are. You have to be honest with yourself. I could name so many people who truly deserved the Medal of Freedom far more than I did.

SN: Your home has photographs of Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa. Are they heroes of yours?

WOODEN: Abraham Lincoln is my favorite American, and I have many, many books and pictures of him. And the person who has lived in my lifetime for whom I have the most admiration and respect is Mother Teresa, and I have a lot of pictures and books of her, too. I just missed seeing her. I had received the Medal the year after she did, and she was going to come back and be the presenter to me, but she wasn't able to make it. I would have loved to meet her.

SN: What about Lincoln moves you?

WOODEN: I've been called by some a common man. Lincoln was a common man. He had love for everybody. He had as much sympathy for the Southerners who had lost their lives as for the Northerners who had lost their lives. And his Gettysburg address is one of the greatest things ever written. And I think his second inaugural address—"With malice toward none, with charity for all"—was really something. At the end of the terrible war, when they were discussing reparations to the South, the Secretary of State, who was critical of Mr. Lincoln, said, "You're supposed to destroy your enemies, not make friends of them." And his answer was, "Am I not destroying the enemy when I make a friend of him?" That's a statement.

SN: Did you ever believe you would live to see the election of America's first black president?

WOODEN: No, I never thought I'd live this long under any circumstances.

SN: If you could give advice to Barack Obama, what would it be?

WOODEN: Be like Lincoln.

SN: And what if you could give advice to a young basketball coach who is struggling to make his mark?

WOODEN: Well, I think one of the most important things of all is patience. You have to be patient. Good things take time. Don't expect too much too soon. And then try not to make things too complicated. Basketball is not a complicated game, it's a simple game. Get the players in good condition, and teach them how to keep balance—floor balance, physical balance, mental balance, moral balance. Very simple things.

SN: Speaking of young coaches, Joe Paterno is only 83. Do you marvel at his longevity?

WOODEN:Yes, very definitely. We both gave commencement addresses at our alma maters. He had done it before me, and I talked to him about it. He sent me a copy of his address, which I got good thoughts from.

SN: Is there a part of you that wishes you hadn't retired, rather abruptly, after winning the national championship in 1975, or wonders what would have happened had you coached longer?

WOODEN:No. I don't know why, but it was the right time. It came upon me extremely suddenly, I'd say 10 seconds before I decided to do it. Ten seconds before, I thought it would be two or three more years. Suddenly, it just came upon me as I was going into the media room, and for the first time ever—I won't say I enjoyed it, but I didn't mind it—but this time I didn't want to go. I didn't want the same questions asked over and over; I just didn't want to do it. And just to myself, I said, "If you feel like this, it's time to get out." Instead of going into the media room, I went into the dressing room, got my boys, who were getting into the shower, and called them all together. I told them how proud I was of them that particular (semifinal) game against Louisville, which I thought was one of the great games I ever saw two teams play. And I said, "I don't know how we'll do Monday night against Kentucky. I think we'll do all right because I know we're quicker, and you know how I feel about quickness, and I think we have enough size to contend against their unusual size. But regardless of how the game comes out on Monday night, I want you to know that I've never had a team of whom I've been more proud. You never gave me any trouble, any one of you, on or off the floor, all year long, and that's a pretty nice thing to be able to say about the last team you'll ever teach." And then there was dead silence. Nobody knew. I've heard other people say they knew I was going to retire. I don't know how they knew it. My wife didn't even know. I didn't even know.

SN: If you could relive any one day of your life, feel those feelings again, which would it be?

WOODEN: The day I married Nellie. That's the greatest day. She said, "I do."

SN: What was that day like?

WOODEN: We were married on a Sunday. On Saturday, I went to the bank—I had saved up, played a little pro basketball; I had $900 and a nickel—but the bank was closed. We were going to have difficulty getting married on Sunday. I got a call from a fellow by the name of Snyder; Nellie's closest friend was his daughter. He asked me to come see him, and I did. He said, "What are you and Nellie gonna do?" I said, "Well, I don't know, Mr. Snyder, but something will work out." He said, "Pay me back whenever you can, but you and Nellie go ahead," and he gave me $200. So the next day, my brother and his girlfriend, who had a car, drove us to Indianapolis, and we were married by a pastor that had married Nellie's older brother and older sister. My brother and his girlfriend stood up, along with the minister's wife, and after we married we went to eat at the Bamboo Inn on the Circle in Indianapolis. And from there we went to the theater where the Mills Brothers made their very first appearance in Indianapolis. They've always been my favorites.

SN: Why have you lived this good, long life?

WOODEN: That's very hard to say. I honestly feel that one of the reasons could be that I've practiced moderation in almost everything. I never used alcohol in any way. Does that have anything to do with it? I don't know. George Burns had a lot of it every day, and he lived to be over 100. I smoked a little bit when I was in the Navy, but that's all. Did that have anything to do with it? I don't know. But I do know this: I am very much at peace with myself. I'm not afraid of death. I'm at peace. Certainly as I get older, it's hard to … (long pause) I'm ready. I wish it would happen now. But I'm not going to try to hurry it. I'm not afraid of death. I'm not going to intentionally hurry it up, but I'm not afraid. I've been so blessed in my life. I'm thankful for so many things. My children, my 13 great-grandchildren, all live within an hour or less, and I see them all regularly. How many times does that happen? Within an hour or two, I can see the ocean, I can be in the mountains, I can be in the desert, I can be at Disneyland, I can be at an athletic event. There are so many things. I have been so blessed. And out yonder, I'll be with Nellie again.

SN: She's waiting for you?

WOODEN: Oh, yes, I believe so. Sven Nader has written me maybe 100 poems. A few years ago, he wrote me one poem just from hearing me say that one word, yonder. It says: "Once I was afraid of dying, terrified of ever-lying, petrified of leaving family, home and friends. Thoughts of absence from my dear ones, brought a melancholy tear once, and a dreadful fear of when life ends. But those days are long behind me, fear of leaving does not bind me, and departure does not hold a single care. Peace does comfort as I ponder, a reunion in the yonder, with my dearest one who is waiting for me there."

SN: "I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't test me so much." Do you know whose words they are?

WOODEN: They are Mother Teresa's.

SN: How often do you speak or think them?

WOODEN: Almost daily. Do you see those words over there (pointing to a daily calendar of sayings on his dining room table)? "I pray thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within." On the last day before Nellie went to the hospital and passed away, that's what she turned to. I never changed it. (Long pause.) She was beautiful within. And this is important.
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