I wonder how many invitations President Obama has received to be a college commencement speaker this year. At the very least I would guess several dozen, probably more than the number of baseball teams that would like to have him throw out the first pitch on opening day. So how many do you think President Obama has accepted? The answer is three, the Naval Academy, Arizona State University and the University of Notre Dame.
Notre Dame, my school, has a long tradition of inviting incoming Presidents to address its graduates. Eisenhower, Carter, Reagan and, yes, both Bushes spoke here as did Senator John F. Kennedy. As I recall from my reporting days Gerald Ford was also here. In fact I remember it well since I tried to get a one on one interview with Mr. Ford by circumventing security which did not go over well with the Secret Service or a particularly mean looking and sounding German Shepard. Continue reading this post…
1. How is it that the Obama Administration can open up stem cell research and a religious war has not broken out in this country. Could it be with the Bushies out of power there is no one around to stoke the inevitable bonfire that would have occurred during those eight years. Those of you who had been hiding your science books behind the bookcase can now dust them off,
Why not I say. Rush Limbaugh for President. Why waste four years going through the pretense and just get it over with. Rush Limbaugh is the titular head of the Republican party already and there is no one on the horizon closed minded enough to head up a challenge. But wait a minute, you say, sure Rush is perfectly right but, still, he is a mere radio entertainer. Well, what was Ronald Reagan, other than a pretty bad actor? And now look at him, on the fast track for conservative beatification. 
I am one of those kids who fell in love with baseball in the 1950’s. You know green grass, ball park cathedrals, the smell of hot dogs and dad buying you your first glove so you could emulate your heroes. Heroes like those memorialized in songs, heroes like The Mick, Willie and The Duke.
At any time in my adult life someone said to me that a new President would make his or her first major speech outside Washington in my backyard, the laughter might have been the end of me.
You can bet on anything for the Super Bowl. That would include the exact sequence of songs Bruce Springsteen will play at half time. Since The Boss has a grand total of 12 minutes you can eliminate Rosalita.
As the Bush Administration walks out the door, and like many of you I hope the door hits them in the ass some day, there are so many messes to clean up it would be easy to miss a pile left behind in the corner or, in this case, behind the television.
1. Felice Brothers “Felice Brothers”
2. Bob Dylan “Tell Tale Signs”
3. Chip Taylor “New Songs of Freedom”
4. The Low Anthem “Oh My God, Charlie Darwin”
5. Matthew Ryan “Matthew Ryan vs The Silver State
6. Alejandro Esvovedo “Real Animal”
7. Joseph Arthur &The Lonely Astronauts “Temporary People”
8. Reckless Kelly “Bulletproof”
9. My Morning Jacket “Evil Urges”
10. Matthew Sweet “Sunshine Lies” (Deluxe Version)
When I was in Catholic grade school in Pittsburgh the Bishop would make an annual visit to our classroom. One of the things he always asked was “what do you want to be when your grow up?” Since this was the 1950’s and we were catholic he only asked this of the boys because the girls, he assumed, would all be housewives who would make mashed potatoes and real gravy every night. Maybe one of them would become a nun. 
