Focused on the Association -- The 2012 NBA Playoffs

We're off!

We've learned a few things during this bastardized, truncated, lockout-shortened season.

--Playing 66 games in 89 days is reckless.
--Playing 66 games in 89 makes for some exciting playoff races.
--Letting five guys walk in free agency is a poor title defense strategy.
--Los Angeles has two NBA teams.
--Charlotte still lacks one.
--The playoffs will be fun!

The Awards:


MVP

As much as we want to give it to Kevin Durant -- or anyone else -- we've got to give it to:

LeBron James, Miami Heat


GARY'S MVP

Vince Carter, Dallas Mavericks

We grunted when he was acquired this summer.  He proved us wrong.  Vince the Malingerer no longer, he is henceforth The Malingering Menace!


ROOKIE of the YEAR

Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers

And it wasn't even close.  Sorry, Ricky Rubio.


SIXTH MAN

James Harden, Oklahoma City Thunder

Again, not even close.  There's not even anyone close enough to apologize to for not selecting.


MOST IMPROVED

A strong case can be made for Ryan Anderson and Marcin Gortot (we told you that guy has skills).  Andrew Bynum took a smaller step forward, as did Nikola Pekovic.

But.

If you say you knew who Jeremy Lin was before this season started, you're a damned liar.

Jeremy Lin, New York Knicks

Yeah, we know he got hurt and missed games but there was a lockout, so everyone missed games.


DEFENSIVE PLAYER of the YEAR

Tyson Chandler, New York Knicks

A guy who cashed in on a free agent contract and delivered the goods.  Serge Ibaka also had an excellent defensive season.


COACH of the YEAR

All props to Frank Vogel  and the job he did in Indiana aside -- you lead the cast of Cocoon to the league's best record, you get Coach of the Year.

Greg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs


PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS

EAST

(1) Chicago Bulls vs (8) Philadelphia 76'ers

Philly started the season strong then faded.  Chicago steamrolled to the league's overall Number One seed.  Doug Collins might be able to coax one win out of his group.  But we doubt it.

Bulls in 4

(2) Miami Heat vs (7) New York Knicks

We'd love to see the Heatles flame out in the first round but it ain't gonna happen.  They are sufficiently weak-minded to lose a couple of games but the talent level is just too disparate to warrant an upset.

Heat in 6

(3) Indiana Pacers vs (6) Orlando Magic

Poor Ron Jeremy.  Dwight Howard is faking hurt for the playoffs and his team is in a tailspin.  The underrated Pacers will make quick work of them, with the talents of the aforementioned coach willing the Magic to any wins they get in this series.

Pacers in 5

(4) Boston Celtics vs (5) Atlanta Hawks

This is a reputation pick.  We hate the Hawks and their fans.

Celtics in 5


WEST

(1) San Antonio Spurs vs (8) Utah Jazz

Utah played over their head all season and surpassed their talent on paper. Tyrone Corbin picked up right where Jerry Sloan left off as the coach you don't bet against.  That'll get them a win.  Maybe.

Spurs in 5

(2) Oklahoma City Thunder vs (7) Dallas Mavericks

Records be damned, this series is still overwhelmingly tilted toward the Thunder.  The Mavericks have looked old and uninspired all season long.  We don't believe there is a "switch".  Having a ring helps.  Being the obstacle OKC needs to get past, a la the Pistons to Jordan's Bulls, the Spurs to Dirk's Mavs helps, too.  But those teams eventually got past their obstacles.  Will it take OKC two or three years?  Our bet is on two.

Thunder in 6

(3) Los Angeles Lakers vs Denver Nuggets

The Lakers will be missing Metta World Peace and the Nuggs are always tough in the playoffs.  Still, we're gonna give another reputation win here. in a long series.  If there's one we're gonna be wrong on though, this one's it.

Lakers in 6

(4) Memphis Grizzlies vs (5) Los Angeles Clippers

Hands-down the first round series we are most looking forward to.  Lob City vs the proverbial Team No One Wants to See in the First Round.  Griffin and Paul will do something Amazing and Vinny the Hair will get outmaneuvered by Lionel Hollins.  It'll be a long series and there will be no blowouts.  We cannot wait to watch this series.

Grizzlies in 7


FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD

Bulls over Celtics, Pacers over Heat
Bulls over Pacers

Grizzlies over Spurs, Thunder over Lakers
Thunder over Grizzlies

Bulls over Thunder.

But we reserve the right to update these after the first round.  :)

Also -- after the shit the Lakers pulled by sending Lamar Kardashian to the Mavs as a double agent, if Derek Fisher "blows an ACL" against LA in the second round -- or misses a key free throw -- or is hit by a fucking bolt of lightning, we are DONE with the NBA.  Forever.

Enjoy the playoffs!

Until next time,
Keep the Faith

Focused on The Hilltop

We're off!

Item:

We're doing the happy dance here in Dallas, for the Greatest Basketball Mind of Our Time has signed on as head coach of the men's basketball team at SMU.  We'll be able to literally walk to see our basketball idol do his thing.  Welcome to Dallas, Mr. Brown!

~~~
Item:

Here's some food for thought.

If Mitt Romney is elected President in November, the poor will not be cast out to starve in the streets, women will not be stripped of all their rights, the environment will not spontaneously explode and rich people will not get over on the rest of us...well, ok, they will -- but they will no matter who is in the White House.

Conversely, if Barack Obama is reelected to another term, we will not go bankrupt the next day, the government will not show up at your door to take your guns, gas will not cost $37.00 a gallon and there won't be people who game the entitlement system...well, ok, there will be -- but there will be no matter who is in the White House.

The point is, don't let the radicals on either side scare you.  We have had great presidents and we have had horrible presidents -- and none of them has managed to take away all our problems or drive us into ruin.  So take a deep breath, do your own research and vote accordingly.

And most importantly, don't be a douche.  Get behind whoever wins -- even if he wasn't your guy.

~~~
Fare thee well, Mr. Clark, we'll see you on the Other Side. Save us a teenager.

~~~
Item:

Our buddy Michael Hahn turned us on to this article.  It's a good breakdown of why North Korea goes pretty-much unchecked, despite all the saber rattling of the West.

~~~
Quote of the Week:

“You people take your shit way too seriously -- you're a bag of meat and fluid, you eat, shit, piss, fuck, sleep, and die.  Anything outside of that is a bonus and you should be happy for it."

                                                       --Responsible Johnny front man Rob Michaud, on entitlement.
~~~
Internet Video of the Week: 

We don't know whether he's funny, brave, racist, insane or absolutely correct.  You decide, here.

~~~
Ridiculous Story That Actually Appeared in a Publication of the Week:

Here.

Because that's just what elected officials should be focusing on -- proposing satirical bills.

BONUS!

Here.

Paging Slut, party of one.  Well, now two.

~~~
Idiot Criminal of the Week:

Lawrence Deptola, of New York City.

Here's why.

~~~
Vintage Album Review of the Week:

Janet Jackson
Control
1986

Coming next week.

Until next time,
Keep the Faith

Focused on The Arena, Vol. 1

We started to make this simply part of a regular posting but quickly realized the Political Rant deserves its own category.  We know we can get wordy.  We also want to make them easy to skip for those uninterested  :)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So we're trying to follow Vice President Joe Biden's logic here.

As almost everyone now knows, President Obama signed an Executive Order requiring that any entity receiving federal funds also offer healthcare insurance to its employees and that coverage include free contraception for women.  Many people -- granted primarily (but not exclusively) Republicans -- are against the EO, for a number of reasons, highest among those being concerns about its constitutionality and potential infringements upon religious freedom.  According to the Vice President, this constitutes a, "war on women's rights".

Huh?

Let's look at each of the primary concerns some folks have with this EO and see if we can make sense of Mr. Biden's claims.

CONSTITUTIONALITY

The Executive Order is a powerful tool in the hands of the president.  Although never explicitly granted in the Constitution, the power has traditionally been an accepted implied power, derived from Article II, Section1, Clause 1 therein, which states the President will, "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed".  As such, a Presidential Order is generally deemed to be acceptable if it either clarifies a law or dictates a procedure for the following of a law.

This commonly-accepted definition was clarified in the 1952 US Supreme Court Ruling in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company v. Sawyer, in which the Court struck down Executive Order 10340, signed by President Truman, ruling that the Order, which would have placed the nation's steel mills under federal control, would have made new law, not clarify or assist in the enforcement of an existing one.

While most Executive Orders barely merit a blip on the political radar, there are exceptions -- both beneficial and shameful.  Integration of the Armed Forces was enacted by President Truman via Executive Order, as was desegregation of public schools (Eisenhower) and the creation of interment camps during World War II (Roosevelt).  All three were major changes to policy and were viewed by some to be circumvention or actual creation of new law.

A presidential Executive Order is almost impossible to reverse.  The Supreme Court has only struck down two in its history and even strengthened the Executive Order in a 1983 ruling in Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha, where the Court essentially removed the ability of Congress to pass a law that conflicts with an EO, without a supermajority vote of 60%.  The Court's reasoning was that the EO is a de facto Presidential veto, so the supermajority would eventually be required nonetheless.

So political game playing ensues.  Congress cuts off funding for programs effected by an EO and the President calls them out on it.  In the end, while not the most popular of tools in the President's box, it is amongst the most powerful

How does this apply here?

Pretty much like it does in all other cases.  The President will claim he is merely clarifying that which was originally intended in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the opposition will claim he is overreaching.  Considering Congress was overwhelmingly Democratic at the time of its March 2010 passage and that contraception and abortion rights are primary planks in their platform, chances are President Obama is right on this one and was, in fact, clarifying the intent of Congress.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Here's where it gets a little less cut and dry.

Despite the fact that President Obama sees this Executive Order as a mere clarification of a law passed by Congress, that does not mean that an Executive Order pertaining to the law -- or the law itself -- is constitutional.

We'll leave the second question out of it for the purposes of this conversation and focus n the first: is the Executive Order constitutional? A strong argument can be made that it is not.  Again, for the purposes of this conversation, we're going to focus on the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to the EO, as that has been the most-publicized.

The Roman Catholic Church is morally opposed to artificial birth control.  It's as simple as that.  Whether it is a man using a condom or a woman popping the pill, the Church is morally opposed to contraception.  It doesn't matter whether you or I are opposed to it.  The Church is and as such, feels that the government compelling them to provide contraceptives to its female employees is in direct violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which states the government shall not pass any law, "...impeding the free exercise of religion...".

The Church believes that by invoking this Executive Order forcing them to offer health insurance plans that provide contraceptive services to its female employees, the government has violated the Constitution.  That is the argument in its entirety.

And we agree.  This executive Order clearly compels the Roman Catholic Church to provide services it is morally opposed to.  In our opinion, this clearly unconstitutional..

Getting back to the Vice President's remark, how exactly does this constitute a, "war on women's rights"?

Exactly -- it doesn't.  This is blatant pandering to the hard left, twisted into a women's rights issue, which makes absolutely no sense.  No one is taking away the rights of a single woman.  Show us where in the constitution that contraception is a right.  It's simply not.  If one wants contraception, they are free to pay for it themselves -- or get a job that has an insurance option that covers it.

The irony here is that, if anything, men would be the ones discriminated against if this EO were to stand.  While women get free birth control pills, there are no such provisions in the EO for men's condoms.  The way it reads, women's reproductive rights are more important than those of men, by Presidential Executive Order.  This, of course also makes it unconstitutional but we'll stick to our original premise here.

Most problems in life -- including political ones -- really can be solved with a little common sense.  The simple fact is, if you accept a job at a Catholic institution, you should assume there are going to be policies and procedures within the workplace that you will be expected to conform to, specific to that Church's beliefs.  If you work at your local JCC, they'll probably not have pork chops in the employee cafeteria.  If you teach at a Baptist elementary school, you'll probably be signing a morals clause upon hiring that will make such things as extramarital affairs terminable offenses.  If you are unwilling to conform to these restrictions, then you are welcome to seek employment elsewhere.

The bottom line here is that health insurance is a benefit.  An employer can choose to offer whatever benefits they want -- or none.  Potential employees are free to choose a job that offers the benefits they desire and turn down offers that are not up to their standards.  That's how the system works.

Now, here is the truly sad part of all this -- if the executive order is to stand, the Church will be left with three choices:

1) Stop offering health insurance to its employees.

2) Stop accepting federal funds. Sounds good, right?  Well those federal funds are Medicare dollars, which are paid for services rendered at a rate of about 10 cents on the dollar compared to what the actual rates for the services are.  It's not like the Church is making money on the transactions.  But the Veep didn't  mention that, did he?  

3) Compromise its principals.

An often-used argument in favor of the President's order is that birth control pills are sometimes prescribed for purposes other than contraception and that taking that away would be a disservice to women.  We agree.  So does the Catholic Church -- which is not opposed to the prescribing of these medications for the treatment of conditions such as endometreosis.    As a Roman Catholic, the Vice President knows this and should be ashamed of himself for contributing to the deliberate  spread of misinformation.

This is not a women's rights issue.  This is a religious freedom issue.  You may not have a dog in this particular fight but some day soon, a similar fight just may come along where you do.

Do you want this to be the precedent your fight is decided on.

Until next time,
Keep the Faith

Focused on the Metroplex, Vol. 2

The second in a periodic series of posts about the things we love about Dallas/Ft. Worth.

1. The Katy Trail

In May of 1870, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company, or MKT,  was incorporated, with the New York Stock Exchange symbol KT.    The name soon evolved into Katy and the railroad was commonly referred to by than moniker henceforth.

After a number of acquisitions and building projects, the Katy became the first railway to enter Texas from the North, in 1885.  The following year, it reached Dallas.  Expansions to Waco (1888), Houston (1893) and San Antonio (1901) followed.

As with any turn of the (20th) century railroad, the Katy had a number of interesting events occur in the small towns that popped up during its construction.

In 1896, the Katy's owners staged a publicity stunt, wherein they intentionally collided two locomotives (inexplicably pulling fully loaded cars in their wake) into one another.  The resulting crash and conflagration killed three of the over 40,000 spectators and send scores of others to the hospital.  The incident served as the inspiration for Scott Joplin's, "The Great Crush Collision March".

In 1889, a young man named David Eisenhower, of Hope, Kansas, having lost his store to an economic downturn, got a job building the Katy and moved his wife Ida and two young sons to Denison, Texas.  The following year, Ida gave birth to the third of an eventual seven Eisenhower boys and named him David Dwight.  Since the oldest son was already named David Edgar Eisenhower, they changed the baby's name to  Dwight David and gave him the nickname Ike.

The Houston suburb of Katy, Texas was renamed for the railroad when it came through town in 1893, leaving behind the original name of Cane Island which probably makes sense, since the town is a good 45 miles from water.  The expanded Katy Freeway (Interstate 10 between the city of Katy and Houston) also lies in the former right-of-way of the MKT.

The railway reached its peak in 1944, recording revenue freight and passenger traffic of 7,256,000,000 miles.  The number dropped to under a billion by the early 1980's. Passenger service, once thriving on the line, had ceased in 1959 and the writing was on the wall.  The Katy was cannibalized and absorbed into the Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific railroads and by 1989 was virtually unused.  Abandoned and decaying, it eventually went the way of many of the nation's railways that have outlived their usefulness.

That is, until folks rediscovered the National Trails System Act of 1968, which set aside money for, among other things, the conversion of unused rail beds into hiking and cycling trails (commonly known as Rails to Trails).  The longest such trail in the US, the Katy Trail State Park, runs 237.7 miles, from Machens to Clinton, Missouri.  Another trail to arise from the ashes of the Katy is  Houston's 4.62-mile Heights Bike Trail.

The one we use though, and one of the Top 50 things we love about Dallas/Ft. Worth, is the Katy Trail, which currently runs from downtown Dallas, north for 3.5 miles, to the intersection of US 75 and Airline Dr.  With the American Airlines Center at one end, Highland Park and Mockingbird Station at the other and the Knox-Henderson restaurant and bar scene in the middle, the trail is perfectly situated for access to many of the best things Dallas has to offer.  There's even a bar along the way now, with the opening of the Katy Trail Ice House.

Tree-lined and perfectly paved, with a slight South to North incline, this is an oasis in a city that can get pretty hot in the summer.  With connections to two major city parks and Turtle Creek via plentiful entryways, runners, walkers, roller bladers and cyclists alike use the Katy heavily.  While this can cause occasional congestion and, on one occasion, a tragedy, the addition of separate jogging-only trails and better signage has helped alleviate many of the issues.

We use the Katy as a component of almost all of our long-distance rides, either as a nice warm up into an urban ride or a leisurely cool off as we head home at the end of one.  Proximity to the SMU campus also provides a whole other kind of scenery we enjoy on our trips.   With Victory Station at the terminus of the trail, we also used it as part of our daily commute for four years, prior to taking a job working from home.  Truth be told, we miss that daily commute into the office.  A morning ride can be done but it's just not the same when it's exercise and one cannot delude one's self into thinking of it as transportation.

Alas, some of our best rides have taken place on the Katy Trail.  And the best is yet to come.

Currently, an extension is being built that will connect the Katy Trail to the White Rock Trail System, allowing for travel to White Rock Lake, North Dallas and Frisco (some 25 miles away) possible, without ever touching a surface street.  That connector will be done within the year and will literally mean we will be able to pick up the Trail from our parking lot.

Additionally, if the Trinity River Project ever really does get completed, there are plans for a spur to run from the Katy Trail, over Interstate 35E and the levees, into the Trinity river bed, where it will connect with the proposed trail system that is planned to stretch as far East as the Great Trinity Forest and as far west as Ft. Worth's fabulous Trinity Trails.

For cycling enthusiasts, this is great news.  Still, even if you do not ride a bike, if you can walk, you need to take a stroll sometime on the Katy Trail.  One trip and you'll see why it's one of our 50 favorite things about Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Until next time,
Keep the Faith.

For more information about Missouri's Katy Trail National Park, go here.
For more information about Dallas' Katy Trail, go here.

Focused on Derek Rose

We're off!

Item:

While we were worrying about China taking over America by buying us up, the Vietnamese apparently beat them to it, literally buying an entire US town.  Granted, they purchased Buford, Wyoming, Population 1 but that's how it starts.

Next up, Detroit!


~~~
Item:

Here's some food for thought.

Back in the day, bigger kids beat up littler kids on a pretty regular basis.

Now the little kid would go home crying to his parents and one of several things would happen:

--His parents would teach him how to fight
--His parents would say, "stay away from that kid"
--His parents, in exceptionally egregious cases, would talk to the other kid's parents or the school (which again, was rare, lest the kid get his ass kicked AND be a rat).

--Or the parents would be of no use whatsoever and the kid had to learn to improvise, which often involved some mixture of evasion, bluff and enlistment of a protector.

By and large, one of these four things resolved the situation.  The littler kid didn't go home and kill himself.  He didn't go get a gun and come back blasting.  He realized that, although it sucked, it was part of growing up.  And most of those kids -- or kids like them -- really are now in positions of professional authority over the former bullies.

Thing is, the kids who were bullied learned a valuable lesson -- that sometimes in life, there is no one there to have your back -- you need to figure shit out on your own.

So what is different now?  Sure there is the internet and cell phones and all other manner of ways in which bullying can be more prevalent.   Kids have many more avenues of torment to utilize.  But most of them aren't even real!

The whole concept of cyber bullying is, to us, ridiculous.  Someone posts something on your Facebook?  Who cares?!?  Delete it.  Delete them.

Someone is harassing you via your cell phone?  Block them,  Change your number -- then don't give it out!

Sticks and stones, people!

We blame the parents.  Facebook is not an inalienable right.  Neither is popularity.  The first thing you hear when one of these cyber bullying cases in the news is the parent bitching to high heaven about how their poor little darling is being treated horribly online.  Well, either teach your kid some self esteem or tell them to delete their account.  Bam!  Problem solved.  Trust me, your little darling will survive without Facebook until they are old enough to stand up for his or herself.

Therein lies the problem.  The parent will argue that their child shouldn't have to close their Facebook account.  Well, it's a pretty basic choice -- teach your kid some self esteem, shut down their account or be the reason something much worse happens.

Wanting to protect your child from the bad stuff is admirable but they have to have a realistic picture of the world around them.  Not all adults are popular.  Not all adults are smart.  Not all adults are attractive.  And the world most certainly treats adults differently based on their level of popularity, intelligence and attractiveness.  In addition to that, while hard work and clean living are generally rewarded, the world is not a strict meritocracy.  Life is not fair.  Never has been, never will be.  Hard workers will get screwed on occasion.  Idiots will succeed.  Liars and cheats will get the girl while the nice guy will, despite his best efforts, occasionally finish last.

And sometimes, people will pick on you.  Undeservedly.  Relentlessly.  And sometimes, you just have to suck it up and get through it.

Teaching your children differently is a disservice to them.

~~~
Fare thee well, Jim Marshall, we'll see you on the Other Side. Save us an amp.

~~~
Item:

In this crazy 99%, Occupy Earth, "us against them" day and age, we found this to be an exceptionally well-written, balanced take on the state of current class warfare.

~~~
Quote of the Week:

“Frank McCourt is usually vilified as a terrible owner, but was he really? In the eight seasons he owned the Dodgers, Los Angeles played in the NLCS two times, won the NL West three times and reached the postseason four times. The Dodgers also got their first postseason series win since the 1988 World Series. Even in his final year with bankruptcy hovering over the team, the Dodgers had a winning record. Magic Johnson may be a far more appealing person, but after investing $2 billion in a team many analysts believed was barely worth half that, his ownership group will be fortunate to win as often as McCourt did. ."
                       --espn.com's Jim Caple, reiterating something we've been saying for months.


~~~
Internet Video of the Week:

Could it really be anything other than this?  That was about 10 miles from the casa.

~~~
Ridiculous Story That Actually Appeared in a Publication of the Week:

 Here.

Umm, dude -- you bought your tickets with a credit card.  They could have simply reissued them to you.

~~~
Idiot Criminal of the Week:

Timothy Moll of Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

 Here's why.

Sexting with a 16 year-old girl?  Nothing bad can come from that, right?

~~~
Vintage Album Review of the Week:

Whitney Houston
Whitney
1987

I Wanna Dance with Somebody - (4:51)*
Just the Lonely Talking Again - (5:32)
Love Will Save the Day - (5:21)*
Didn't We Almost Have It All - (5:05)*
So Emotional - (4:36)*
Where You Are - (4:10)
Love is a Contact Sport - (4:19)
You're Still My Man - (4:16)
For the Love of You - (5:31)
Where Do Broken Hearts Go - (4:37)*
I Know Him So Well - (4:30)
-(5:11)
* - singles

It's hard to slam a record that debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart, had four consecutive Number 1 singles and made a mockery of the alleged Sophomore Slump jinx.  But I think we're kinda going to.

Whitney Houston's eponymous 1985 debut album changed music -- it was that relevant.  Anita Baker never happens without that album.  Nor do Toni Braxton, Sade or any other number of singers see anywhere close to the level of success they do if that album does not get recorded.

Whitney Houston was the perfect vehicle for soul music's next progression: pretty, clean, fresh-faced and blessed with an amazing voice.  The fact that everything was pretty much handed to her probably had a lot to do with how her story ended.  But in 1987, coming off the biggest debut album of all time, she released her second, entitled Whitney.

As we said, it exploded from the gate and made Whitney Houston a worldwide superstar.  Filled with familiar hooks and pristine production, it was the epitome of a late 80's slick set.

But that was the problem with it.  It was too slick, too clean.  Soul music has its roots in a true, honest, emotional base.  While this album in fact featured a single named So Emotional, the record itself lacked that every element.  It was a clean, professional set, delivered as is by rote.  And for that we blame the producers, most-notably  Narada Michael Walden who, instead of taking Whitney to new places, rather than maximizing that incredible voice, simply returned her to verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus -- CRESCENDO!!!!!!!, fade -- basically the exact same pattern of every Whitney Houston song you remember.  Sure the formula works.  That doesn't mean it's not crap.

The record company didn't help, either, as some of the songs that actually seemed to breath a little and slip a bit outside the "formula", never made it to the radio.  The O'Kelly and Marvin Isley-penned For the Love of You, in particular is a pleasant, not-over-produced song that is one of the better tunes Whitney ever recorded.

In the end, this album is a microcosm of Whitney Houston's life and career.  Having Dionne Warwick as a cousin and Clive Davis as a benefactor, she never had to really work for the success she achieved.  Now, that's not a disparagement of her; it's just how it was.  When given a chance to expand upon her talent, to challenge herself and become something greater, she either didn't want to or didn't know how to make her producers let her.  So while Whitney is a great example of late-1980's pop, it could have been so much more.

Where may see a multi-platinum smash album, we see an opportunity lost and the high water mark of an artist's career and, sadly, life.

Music:  3 (of 5)
Lyrics: 3 (of 5)
Authorship: 0 (of 4)
Production: 2 (of 3)
Packaging: 2 (of 2)
First Blush: 2 (of 2)
 Aging: 2 (of 3)
Videos: 1 (of 1)
Total: 15 Stars: 3.0 (of 5)

 ~~~
Parting shots:

We're still on sabbatical as regards political commentary for a few more days, as we gave it up for Lent.  Be glad, because many of you are being jackasses -- on both sides of the aisle...The coolest thing about MLB expanding the playoff field by one more team in each league?  The fact that while they pleased the masses who want more teams, by making the Wild Card a one-and-done, truly win or go home scenario, they have returned winning the division to its previous place of importance.  Think about it -- if you're in the Wild Card, you have to throw your ace, right?  Then if you win, you have to go on the road the next day and throw your number 2 guy against the opponent's ace.  It's gonna make for some cool strategy decisions...And Finally, big props to Connecticut, for becoming the fifth state in the last five years to abolish capital punishment.

 And with that, we bid you adieu.

 Until next time,
 Keep the Faith