Barry Bonds : 715

Well, it's over! For me, the Bonds Watch has culminated with him becoming Number Two on the all-time home run list behind Hank Aaron. ESPN.com reports that at 2:14pm on May 28, 2006, Barry Bonds connected on a 90 mph fastball from Byung-Hyun Kim of the Colorado Rockies to send #715 (a 445-foot rocket) into the stands.

plez sez: All together now, "Barry! Barry! Barry!"

Don't worry, Bonds doesn't have enough juice left in those legs to carry him past Hank Aaron (a personal favorite of mine) on the home run list. I'm just glad he got the "Babe Ruth Monkey" off his back, since that 714 number is sooooo damn old and Babe Ruth dominated an inferior game complete with inferior pitching, smaller ballparks, and by many accounts, not even the best pitching available during that time (remember, Blacks were relegated to the Negro Baseball League until 1945).

Oh yeah, the steroids thing looms large over this accomplishment. Two things to keep in mind; (1) Barry Bonds has NEVER tested positive for using the stuff and steroids were only banned by baseball a few years ago, and (2) I'm not a medical doctor, but steroids may help you hit the ball farther, but they do nothing to improve hand-eye coordination or help one in getting the bat around to hit the ball.

Barry Bonds is a pariah with the media and this is the ONLY reason he is being pilloried with this trumped up steroids non-issue! If this was Mark McGuire (a media darling), every media outlet would've been broadcasting that historic home run. I hope Barry Bonds' knees hold up so that he can play another 2 years just to rub the sports writers' noses in his prowess as the Greatest Baseball Player Ever!

9/11 - Pentagon Attack Video

For the first time, the Pentagon released images of American Airlines Flight 77 crashing into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the images, recorded by Pentagon security cameras outside the building, were made public in response to a December 2004 Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch, a public interest group. Some still images from the video had previously been leaked and publicly circulated, but this was the first official release.

You can view the video on the Freedom of Information Act page on the US Department of Defense website. Click on the links for Videos of American Flight 77 striking the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 (they are the sixth bullets on the page).

plez sez: After viewing the on-line video "911 Loose Change 2nd Edition" and then seeing this footage of a something crashing into the Pentagon, the whole scenario of 9/11 becomes very fuzzy for me. I'm not normally prone to conspiracy theories, but if you look at the Pentagon footage, you will see that there is no way that it was a commercial airline hitting the Pentagon. It is a small silver streak in one frame and then a large fireball. But the fireball quickly burns out and you see large billows of black smoke. Commercial planes (especially a 757) are huge and even at 350 mph, you would expect to see a much larger presence on the screen and a much larger explosion (a la the planes that hit the World Trade Center) than what shows up in the Pentagon surveillance video.

The American public has been had. I have no doubt that something much smaller than a commercial airliner - like a cruise missile - crashed into the Pentagon. I'm beginning to believe that much of 9/11 was planned by the Bush Administration to provide fodder for the war machine and our eventual invasion of Iraq. I'd love to be proved wrong.

Barry Bonds Watch: 712

With a three-run lead in the eighth inning, the Padres finally decided to take a chance on pitching to Barry Bonds. Returned the favor by belting home run number 712 out of the park. Bonds is now three shy of eclipsing the 714 marck that was set by Babe Ruth.

plez sez: I'm going to keep my eye on this one. Anyone offering bets on when Barry Bonds hits number 715?

All together now: "Barry! Barry! Barry!"

"Birth of A Nation" on TV

I've heard about it. I've read about it. Now, I'll get to see it with my own eyes.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that "The Birth of a Nation," D.W. Griffith's 1915 epic about the genesis of the Ku Klux Klan, is getting a rare national broadcast Tuesday night (May 2, 2006) on Turner Classic Movies. The movie depicts the fall of the Confederacy and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. The major black characters (sic) are played by white actors in blackface. The title cards for the three-hour silent film include offensive dialect and the N-word.

plez sez: I recorded the movie on my DVR and will view it when I have a spare 3 hours to watch it. I'll update this post after I've viewed it.

plez review:
Over 90 years and some things haven't changed much. D.W. Griffith appears to have been the master of the propaganda film with his portrayal of shufflin' and grinnin' darkies in stark contrast to the upstanding virtuous white folk in "The Birth of a Nation." Every device and stereotype is vividly displayed with great fanfare: the watermelon stealing bare foot black children, the nappy-headed and undisciplined black soldiers, the one white-loving mammy, the deceitful and untrustworthy mulattos, the shucking and jiving blacks legislators, a would-be lustful black rapist of white women, and the ignorant and inept black businessmen. The sad thing is that many of these stereotypes find their way into many current movies and television shows that are produced by Black folk (i.e. the Blaxploitation films of the 70's, the weekly lineup on the UPN Network, BET music videos, BET's Comic View, etc.).

Set against the backdrop of the Civil War and the ensuing period of Reconstruction, D.W. Griffin's epic tells the story of and glorifies the creation of the Ku Klux Klan, which was created to protect the sanctity and virtue of white southern women. Blacks took over the South, took away the White man's right to vote, and literally ran the entire region into the ground with their ineptitude and lazy ways. In the grand finale, an army of 400,000 white robe-clad men ride to the rescue and restore the South to its rightful place of peace and antebellum glory (with Black people resuming their subservient position in society).

It was a 3+ hour recruitment film for the Ku Klux Klan ... I now understand why the NAACP lobbied so vigorously to have the film banned. It has no redeeming social value and denigrates an entire race of people by painting them with a broad brush laziness, lust, and sloth. The most laughable part of the whole flick is a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie that states that the film in no way is meant to denigrate any particular race AND then it goes about denigrating the entire Black race with impunity.

The movie was very difficult to view because it was a silent film. Being conditioned with the fast cuts and non-stop action of today's movies and television, it was difficult to concentrate on a set where the camera NEVER moved and the actors moved in and out of camera shot. It took me 4+ nights to watch the entire 3+ hour movie that was decidedly slow in most parts. Something like this could never compete with the constant interruption of cell phones, text messages, and the lure of more interesting fare that has been produced in the last 10-15 years.

Post updated with my review on June 7, 2006

Georgia Tech Has Three Selected in the NFL Draft

On Saturday and Sunday of this past weekend, three Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were drafted by teams in the NFL. This is a big jump from last year, when NONE were selected in the draft.

Gerris Wilkinson - Linbacker - New York Giants (3rd Round)

P.J. Daniels - Running Back - Baltimore Ravens (4th Round)

Dawan Landry - Safety - Baltimore Ravens (5th Round)

Damarius Bilbo - Wide Receiver - Arizona Cardinals (Free Agent)

Eric Henderson - Linebacker - Cincinnati Bengals (Free Agent)

Gavin Tarquino - Deep Snapper - Atlanta Falcons (Free Agent)

Click to hear the Ramblin' Wreck Song Medley.

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Why news from Georgia Tech? I received my degree in electrical engineering from there and I've had football season ticket for over 15 years!

Quote of the Day

I gleaned the following from Digby's Hullabaloo:

Please tell us again why the Spanish translation of the National Anthem is making wingnut heads explode when they all but genuflect at the waving of the Confederate Rebel flag?

Tell me please, which of these was meant to turn hearts to America, and which is meant to tear the country apart?