The SoapBoxers

This installment of discussions about types of writing and using examples of successful writer will focus on Autobiography. Autobiography should be the simplest form of writing, after all it is the author writing about him or herself. Who better than the author would know what happened and why? Actually almost anyone else is better at capturing real events. Every author writes with a bias. When writing about oneself, the intentions are always pure, the outcome always tainted by a preconceived notion of what is right. It is easy to see in someone else’s writing, but your own is the true.

Autobiographies usually depend on the success of the personality being captured. Some autobiographies define the author who would otherwise be unknown.  The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is one such book. In ways, she avoids the narcissism that is rampant in books by/about politicians. Her youth makes the writing simple, almost as if she is righting a journal for school. That is also what makes it so compelling.

There are autobiographies about entertainers such as Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. This book is almost one of his routines with some insights (or distractions) from his real life. Ozzy Osbourne wrote (?) I am Ozzy. Not to be harsh, but this is not a life with a lot hidden from view. Chelsea Handler has released at least one book that can be considered autobiographical, although most of her books could fall in to the same category as Steve Martin, comedy with some real life.

Recently we have been bombarded with autobiographies from American politicians. Some of these are entrance pieces such as Dreams From my Father and The Audacity of Hope by Barak Obama, while others are exit pieces justifying actions such as My Life by Bill Clinton and Decision Points by George W. Bush. Although these books can be enlightening, they are usually tailored to a specific audience, primarily people who support the author with out additional explanations required.

The autobiographies that remain the most entertaining are written by the most entertaining people in history. Abraham Lincoln actually wrote three separate autobiographies. Benjamin Franklin also penned his own. My Life in France reveals how much more there was to Julia Childs than her cooking show on PBS. Some let you see just how hard life can be and how surprising it can be for someone to succeed. Frank McCourt wrote two books. The first, Angela’s Ashes, could be considered a biography of his mother, but paints a detailed picture of his own youth. He followed up the with Tis about himself as an adult in the United States. Both are very well written, at times you are compelled to talk to the characters to get them to avoid pitfalls and disaster, but to no avail. He is one of the authors who can report the good choices and bad with somewhat less excuse or justification than most.

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A little while ago I wrote the first of what I am sure will be a number of articles regarding the building of our house.  Since that initial announcement, we have been busy cleaning our home. It is amazing how much one accumulates at their house over a period of years. Since we have gone through pretty much every article of personal property that we own, we have been able to move most things that we are not keeping in the house – that we will need every day – to one of 4 piles.

The Garage Sale Pile

This is NOT our crap.

We held a garage sale at our home a couple of weeks back. Items that did not sell were off to my sister’s house for her garage sale. Since that time (and more cleaning) even more items are scheduled to a garage sale to be held at my parents’ house. Those in the Goodman Family call this annual event “The Mother of ALL Garage Sales” My parents are pretty much professionals when it come to the auction/garage/yard sale circuit. They enjoy it, they have a lot of nice stuff, they price it to move, and most importantly, they get a LOT of customer traffic. To date we have enjoyed the spoils of garage sales income of over $1000 from our two sales just counting our cut of the action and not the items that were sold at our sale for some of our friends who had stuff to unload to the public as well.

The I Wondered Where That Was Pile

Not a large amount of goods but these are things that once upon a time entered a black hole void in our domicile to never be seen again…until that is we are going through the entire house and opening up every storage container and bottomless closet space.

The Off to the Storage Unit Pile

Then there is the majority of items. This is the “clutter” around the house that we need to alleviate prior to putting the house on the market. We have our realtor coming to go through our house later this weekend. We are hoping that we have de-cluttered enough that she will not have many recommendations to make. Items already in storage are things that are going to stay there in storage for a while, or are things that are not currently being used (like winter coats and clothing)

The Too Good for the Storage Unit Pile

These are the items that we would not want to chance keeping in the storage unit. Things like wedding photos, some prints and collectible items, personal mementos, passports etc.

Next Up – the Garage!

We pretty much have the house cleaned, dusted, scrubbed, touched up, picked up etc., except…the final man’s domain….that being the garage. That is on the docket for the next several days, as they say…we are saving the best for last.

Looking Ahead – The Next Two Weeks

We have finalized the floor plan with our builder. I cannot say often enough how great they have been to work with. We should see the outside architectural mock up drawings in the next day or two. After that we just wait for the appraisal to come in, the development to approve our house plans through their process, and then can be breaking ground.

In that same time frame we should easily be able to list our house on the marketplace, have the realty listing up with write up and photos, and maybe even have an open house (although not this weekend as it is Mother’s Day weekend)

In my Utopian Society, I would have an open house after a week on the market and would have 4 people competing for full price offers. In reality I am hoping that we have a bunch of “lookers” at the house and find at least one family that would be interested enough in our home to purchase it.

Although I am not real excited about the possibility of having to move two times, I would much rather do that and make sure I have the house sold and avoid having two house payments. Here is hoping we have lots of people looking for a fully finished 4 bedroom,  2 ¾ bath walk-out ranch style home.

The passing of Amendment One in North Carolina yesterday got me thinking about a long-standing law in the United States that gives tax-exempt status to recognized religious institutions. The basic idea is that the US was founded on religious freedom and the surest way to prevent the free exercise of religion is to tax it . Exempting a church from taxes is also one of the best ways to keep the “separation of church and State” as described by Thomas Jefferson in his letter to the Danbury Baptists. This nation was founded on the basis that people should be able to practice whatever religion they’d like, and the government should have no ability to prosecute or privileged individuals for religious reasons – it’s supposedly why the Pilgrims came across on the Mayflower.

Over the past few months many churches in North Carolina have taken a rather active stance in favor of Amendment One, from simply putting up signs in favor of the amendment to having their pastors actively speak to the media that they are supporting the amendment. Beyond that I’ve heard quite a bit of anecdotal evidence that some churches are even telling their congregation that they should vote for Amendment One. One of the biggest Holy Rollers of all time, Billy Graham, came out enthusiastically for Amendment One. By taking an active stance for such a politically divisive issue, these churches are without a doubt getting political – if that’s the case, shouldn’t the rewards for staying politically neutral, tax exemption, be taken away?

A tax exemption is not a right, there is no constitutional mention at all of a religious institution’s right to not pay taxes. In fact, there are forms and qualifications to submit to the IRS that any tax exempt organization has to complete to show that they get the privilege of paying less or no taxes. The whole purpose of the tax exemption in the first place was because churches were believed to “fill in the gaps” in terms of charity and helping the poor and destitute, the gaps that the government was unwilling or unable to take care of. If a church is taking a political stance, then they are intrinsically swaying voters and changing outcomes and results regardless of the original intentions.

The right to not pay taxes is fine for charities, but when a church decides to speak out against individual rights the IRS has the right to veto that church’s application for tax-exempt status.

Photo: The Hunger Games film, starring Jennifer Lawrence, has grossed more than $600 million.

In the past, I’ve never been one to follow the hottest book trends.  I read whatever I felt like reading.  Generally, the authors were well known authors, but usually not the very hottest ones.  Lately, however, I seem to be picking up the latest “hot” books.  First it was Stieg Larsson’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, and now The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  I don’t think this is a case of me suddenly becoming more open to suggestion, but simply a case of my preferred type of books falling into the mainstream.  I found the Kindle version of the trilogy for $15 and snapped it up.  The price has gone up a bit, but it’s still a good deal.

The books

Since it’s a trilogy, you would naturally expect three books (unless you’re a fan of Douglas Adams).  The Hunger Games in the first book, followed by Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

Here is the plot in a nutshell.  The books follow the adventures of Katniss Everdeen. Katnisss lives in the country of Panem, which is a future society that encompasses the modern United States.  Panem consists of twelve districts and the Capitol.  Citizens of the districts are under tight control of the Capitol following a civil war nearly 75 years ago.  People in the districts struggle to survive so that citizens of the Capitol can live a life of excess.

Every year, a lottery is held in each district.  One boy and one girl are chosen to represent their district in The Hunger Games.  The goal of The Hunger Games is simple.  Kill the other 23 children and emerge as the victor.  This brutal “game” reinforces the notion that the Capitol has complete control over the districts.

The world

I like science fiction, but only when there is at least a decent grounding in the real world.  That’s definitely true in The Hunger Games triology.  The people are completely normal humans, much of the fauna and flora is real, and the geography is based on reality.  The mountain range that separates the districts from the Capitol is obviously the Rocky Mountains, and it’s pretty clear that Katniss lives in the vicinity of West Virginia.

When Collins wants to tweak a real life object, she changes the name slightly (morphine becomes morphling) with an obvious clue to the relationship.  Likewise, the names of the characters are simple (generally 1-2 syllables) and often evocative of common current names.  There’s also some pretty obvious symbolism – the “boy with the bread” is named Peeta (pita) and the boy who has a tempest inside him is named Gale.  Many have pointed to deeper symbolism, but I generally read contemporary fiction for pure enjoyment and don’t delve into that too much.  However, the fact that Panem is completely devoid of the concept of God did jump out at me.

There are, of course, some things that are unique to Panem, and not based closely on anything in the “real” world.  Some really weird shit.

Collins does a wonderful job setting the scenes.  It’s very easy to visualize District Twelve, the areas, and many other locales in the books (and there are a fair number of scenes).  I haven’t yet seen the movie, but wonder how well it can compare to the picture Collins has painted in my mind.

The characters

I’ve been reading a lot of books with complex and interesting characters lately.  The Hunger Games, however, far exceeds these other books.  Carried forward by the first person point of view, I am not simply interested in the lives of these characters, I am emotionally invested and actually care about them.  Often times, I prefer third person point of view, but Collins really hits it out of the park by letting us inside Katiniss’s head.  It’s a little (lot) messed up in there, but we gain a lot of interesting insights about life in Panem.  It also allows Collins to take advantage of the information hiding that the first person point of view affords.  This allows the readers to be unaware of twists and turns in the plot.

None of the main characters can be described as simple or boring.  Collins uses some very interesting traits to make many of the characters memorable to the readers, but many of  the “simple” characters turn out to be far more complex than the reader – or Katniss – may have thought.

The verdict

Is there any doubt?  This is a great story with interesting characters and the plot is carried along by a first rate writing style.  If you enjoy reading suspense/thriller books, grab The Hunger Games trilogy.

Photo: I'll Have Another (purple) down the stretch.

The first Saturday in May is always one of my favorite days. It is another large sporting event that brings the casual fan to watch a sport that they otherwise would not normally follow. There are events such as the Daytona 500, The Masters, The Super Bowl, and of course…..

The Kentucky Derby.

The Run for the Roses…I always thought this, and not the Rose Bowl, should be called the Granddaddy of them all.   After all…this has been around a LOT longer than the Rose Bowl game.

Breaking from the #19 post position a horse named I’ll Have Another was the winner, making a game move down the stretch to win the Derby. It went off at 16-1 which allowed for a nice pay-day for the Goodman household as BOTH Mr. and Mrs. Goodman had winning tickets.

I enjoy horse racing, but would not consider myself a “gambler” per se. I like playing poker with the guys on occasion, and will attend some of the live racing meets here in Lincoln. I am not a big wager type of guy. $10 on a race is a large bet for me. Normally it is the standard $2 to win-place–show on a horse.

Yum! Brands who sponsors the Triple Crown holds a contents where the winner that is selected gets $100,000 to drop on one bet – one horse – one chance to win for the Kentucky Derby. This year the guy who got to place the “mystery bet” put his $100K on #11 – a longshot by the name of Alpha.

At the time the bet was placed the horse – had it won the Kentucky Derby, would have paid back an amazing $2 million on that $100,000 wager.

The real comment of the day is when the individual was asked by an NBC reporter, would the lucky contestant like to make the wager or would they rather just take the hundred grand and walk away. Without hesitation the guy responded “I am a horse player “ and indicated he was going for the big pay day and not the “small potatoes of the hundred large.

I can tell you if that was offered to me, I would walk with the hundred thousand without blinking an eye. Guess my risk appetite is a LOT lower than most people at the horse track.

Another interesting tidbit from my gambling experience this weekend. As you can expect, at the simulcasting place in Lincoln, the patron traffic was teaming on Saturday. There was a HUGE crowd watching the races some even all dressed up in their faux Kentucky Derby at the Lincoln Race Course experience. The parking lot was packed and fortunately my father and I basically just went and placed our bets and then took off to do some further work for the day.

When I came back on Sunday afternoon to cash the winning tickets, the place was deserted, you wondered if it was even open…there were about 50 cars in the parking lot, and I am guessing some of those were for the people working there as well.

Needless to say I got in and out of the place much more quickly than I did the day before…and left with a lot more money than I came with.

I am sure the same cannot be said for most everyone else on Saturday.

Murder at the Track

Death is no stranger to the racing crowd, even around an event like The Kentucky Derby.  In 2008, Derby runner-up Eight Belles was put down on the track.

The past two years, however, have seen human death case a cloud over Churchill Downs.  Last year, jockey Michael Baze was found dead in his vehicle three days after the Derby.  The cause of death was accidental painkiller overdose.

This year, 48 year old Adan Fabian Perez was murdered in a barn on the premises of the track (more than 200 people live on the grounds full-time).  There hasn’t been much released about the murder of the horse groom, although there was some arguments in the vicinity on Saturday night.  Perhaps soon we’ll know who killed Perez, and why.

Photo: Bryce Harper

Photo: Cole Hamels

On Sunday night, Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels hit Nationals rookie outfielder Bryce Harper in the back with a pitch.  This was not mere accident – Hamels freely admitted to hitting Harper on purpose.

Why did he do it?

Hamels’s explanation was that he felt that Harper approached the game in a disrespectful manner and that Hamels took it upon himself to give him an old school welcome to the Major Leagues.

It’s true that Harper is a very confident player.  Most observers would even say cocky or arrogant.  It’s also true that he has ruffled a lot of feathers in high school, community college, and the minor leagues.  However, he hadn’t done anything to disrespect the Phillies at this point.  Had he done something to show up Hamels – such as a painfully slow trot around the bases after a home run – Hamels might have a leg to stand one.  However, lacking such motivation, it seems that Hamels simply took it upon himself to launch a preemptive strike against Harper.  If anything, this event could soften the image fans have of Harper, with some people seeing him as a victim in this incident.

It’s absolutely true that Harper needs to grow up a lot.  But it’s also true that he’s still just 19.  If you take a random sample of 19 year olds in the minor leagues, I’d guess that there are a decent number of them with big egos, particularly guys who were picked in the first round.  My thought is that Harper’s teammates and manager are the ones who should work with Harper on his maturity.  Maybe some Crash Davis Bull Durham style tough love.

The Aftermath

Harper took his base and later stole home when Hamels tried to pick off a a runner on first base.  Jordan Zimmerman later hit Hamels with a pitch, at which point the umpire warned both benches (meaning that the next pitcher to hit a batter would be ejected).  I think the umpire handled this the correct way, allowing the Nationals to retaliate before issuing the warning.

Major League baseball suspended Hamels for five games after he admitted to hitting Harper on purpose.  I’m starting to get annoyed at MLB “punishing” starting pitchers with a five game suspension.  In reality, the pitcher doesn’t miss a start – the team just juggles the rotation a bit.  In the Phillies’ case, Cliff Lee will be inserted into the rotation when he comes off the disabled list, so there’s really minimal impact to the rotation.  Personally, I’d like to see a minimum of a 8-9 game suspension for pitchers, to make sure that they actually miss a start.  What’s the point in suspending a player when they don’t actually miss any time?

Around baseball

Albert Pujols finally hit his first homer of the season,   but is still struggling to hit .200.  Don’t worry, Angels fans, he’ll come around.

The Rockies lost yet another pitcher to the disabled list.  Drew Pomeranz was hit in the leg by a line drive last night.  He stayed in the game long enough to hit a 395 foot homer at Petco (notoriously difficult to homer in) before leaving a bit later in the game with a quad injury.  He joins starters Jhoulys Chacin, Jeremy Guthrie, and Jorge De La Rosa on the DL. 

Mariano Rivera suffered a season-ending knee injury while shagging fly balls in batting practice.  The 42 year old says that he’ll return to the Yankees next year.  Only time will tell.  This spring has been tough on closers, with Joakim Soria, Brian Wilson, and Ryan Madson being lost for the yearand a bunch of other closers getting nicked up with less serious injuries.

The Orioles are tied for the best record in baseball, while the Twins are on pace to surpass the 1962 Mets as the worst team in history.  They are 7-21 and have been outscored by 64 runs.  No other team has a run differential worse than -35.

Photo: Sisler (left) and Cobb (right) flank Babe Ruth.

Orioles DH Chris Davis went 0-8 against the Red Sox on Sunday, but was still a key contributor to the Baltimore win.  Davis pitched the final two innings of a 17 inning game, becoming the winning pitcher when Adam “Pac Man” Jones jacked a three run homers off Red Sox outfielder Darnell “Old” McDonald.  In was the first time since 1925 that each team used a position player to pitch in a game.  The two players in that 1925 game?  Hall of Famers Ty  Cobb and George Sisler.  Cobb had two hits and a walk in five plate appearances and pitched a scoreless inning in relief.  Sisler was 0-4 at the plate and allowed no runs, one hit, and a walk and struck out a batter.  Who were the managers who were dumb enough to risk injuries to their star players in such a stunt?  Ty Cobb and George Sisler, of course.

In an effort to cultivate writing among our base of readers, I am announcing the first annual Soap Boxers Fiction Writing contest.

Prizes:

• The first place winner will win a $25 Amazon gift card.  You can buy nearly anything from Amazon, but I’d personally suggest using the $25 toward a Kindle.
• A random voter will win a $5 Amazon gift card.
• Writers for The Soap Boxers, and their immediate families, are not eligible to win prizes.
• There are no other eligibility restrictions.  The winner can be any age, and from any country.

Dates:

• Stories must be submitted by noon Central time on May 21, 2012.  Entries should be emailed to kosmo@observingcasually.com.  I will send an email confirmation within 24 hours.  If you don’t receive a confirmation, please follow up.
• Stories will be posted on May 23.  Voting will end at midnight Central time on May 25.  One vote per person.

Rights:

• The story must not have been published previously, either in print or online.
• By submitting an entry, you grant The Soap Boxers the one time right to post the story.  You retain all other rights to the story.
• Entries must be your own work.  If plagiarism is discovered, your entry will be disqualified and we will fully cooperate with rights holders who wish to sue or have you prosecuted.

Content:

• The story must be set during the summer.  Summer does not have to be the overriding theme, but the action of the story should take place during the summer months.  I’ll be flexible with regards to what constitutes “summer”, but if you write about dragging home a Christmas tree, I’ll have to disqualify your entry.
• The contest is open to any genre, with the exception of hard core porn.  Stories that fall within the confines of an R rating – such as crime fiction – ARE allowed.
• Suggested length is 500 to 2000 words.  This is merely a suggestion, but keep in mind the fact that the site’s readers will vote on the winner.  It can be difficult to get someone to read an 8000 word post on a web site.

Questions?

If you have any other question, post them in the comments section below.

Let your friends know about the contest – share via email, Facebook, and Twitter.  The more entries, the better!

If you’re new to The Soap Boxers, take a look around.  A complete listing of the site’s 1100+ articles can be found in the archives.  You’ll find writing, sports, politics, art, crime, news, and much more.  All of the content is completely free, but if you like what you see, considering using one of our many Amazon links to kick off an Amazon shopping trip.  There’s no added cost to you, and we get a small commission on each sale.

Good luck!

When I write, I am a god.

No, I don’t mean that I believe that my work is as good as the legends of fiction.  I mean that I most often write from the third person omniscient point of view.  The narrator in this point of view is detached from the characters and can see everything – even the thoughts that are inside the heads of the characters.

I tend to kill off a decent percentage of my lead characters, and this is one reason for using third person point of view.  If you’re using first person point of view and the character dies, the story pretty much ends there (unless you switch the perspective, which can be awkward).  More important, though, is that the third party omniscient narrator works with a full complement of information and can describe the action in a completely non-biased way.  Additionally, a third party narrator can include certain content that a first person narrator can’t.  If two minor characters have a private discussion, the omniscient third party narrator can tell the reader about it.  The first party narrator, however, can’t.  If the main character doesn’t know about the conversation then the reader can’t know, either.

Lately, though, I’ve been tinkering more with first person point of view.

Why the change?

I’ve been reading The Hunger Games.  I’ve had an interest in this for quite some time, since the concept was my idea.  Well, perhaps not completely my idea, but about ten years ago I had an idea for a novel that had quite a few similarities to The Hunger Games (to be fair, there are a lot of differences, and both ideas probably were inspired at some level by The Running Man).

I’m about halfway through the third book (Mockingjay) and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it so far.  That’s not particularly unusual.  I enjoy most books I read – it’s pretty rare that I deem a book a complete stinker.

The Hunger Games, though, takes this to a different level.  Instead of simply enjoying the story and having a fondness for the characters, I actually find myself emotionally invested.  It’s not difficult to figure out why.  It’s because instead of seeing the action from the detached point of view of the third party narrator, I see it from the point of view of Katniss Everdeen.  Within the reading session, I effectively become Katniss Everdeen.  I share her thoughts, her feelings, and her biases.  I don’t have the choice of remaining detached from the story.  I am Katniss and MUST be emotionally involved.

As a writer, I’d love to get my readers emotionally involved, as it makes it much more difficult for them to put the book down or have a muted reaction to it.  An additional benefits is that it makes it easier for me to include details of a scene.  This has always been a weakness in my writing, as I skimp on description and try to race along toward the action.  From the first person point of view, however, I noticed more of the surroundings, as I look at the world from the viewpoint of the character.  Even if I discard writing from the first person point of view, I should be able to pick up some good habits in the process.

And you?

I’ll certainly still write a lot of stories from the third party point of view.  However, I’m planning to begin writing a substantially higher percentage from the first person point of view.

I know there are some fiction writers in our midst (even if you don’t self-identify as such).  What point of view do you write from – and why?
 

 

President Obama has his reelection strategy underway.  His campaign slogan “Forward” has been unveiled.  Obama is currently leading Romney in the polls and the money is pouring in to his campaign fund.  The question that a lot of people are wondering though is who will be the running mates to Obama and Romney?

Will Obama Keep Biden?

Is Hillary Clinton in line for a promotion?

Obama has experience with Biden and we all know exactly what Biden’s slip ups provide us; humor.  Really, of all the individuals that Obama could have chosen for his 2008 campaign, he has the horse’s ass of the Democratic Party.  Biden has more slip ups that someone with a severe case of Tourette’s Syndrome.  It makes me wonder if whoever did the vetting of Biden was awake or asleep.

Obama could choose Hillary Clinton who is a hard worker, has well established relations (no, not those type of relations) on Capitol Hill and is arguably much more of a “moderate” than Obama or Biden.  Clinton could help secure the female vote that has been alienated by Hilary Rosen’s comments about Ann Romney never working a day in her life.

Romney’s Options

Christie

Romney has a few more suitors to consider for his running mate.  Chris Christie would win the hearts and minds of many with his true conservatism. He’s the current New Jersey governor and has not ruled out a run with Romney.

Romney and Santorum butted heads a lot in the primaries and there is little doubt that Romney is left with bruises and Santorum is likely still frustrated.  Santorum would bring the vote of evangelical Christian hard-core, traditional conservatives. The question is. “Can each of them get past the heated tiffs from the last 6 months?”

Rubio

Marco Rubio, the Senator from Florida is a high energy up and coming politician.  He is loved in his home state and would certainly help bring on board some of the Hispanic vote.  The tea party loves him and I believe he’d help bring back some of the hard core conservatives that don’t like a lot of Romney’s past.  His lack of experience though is a big deficit. (He’s more experienced that Obama was in 2008, but that isn’t saying much)

Condoleezza Rice is not a new name in politics and is has a great deal of experience with the White House.  Condoleezza was the Secretary of State under President George W Bush and probably has some negative feelings associated with her because some do not view the GW Bush years as favorable.  Condi though is a mainstream conservative with her head on straight.  She’d strengthen the female vote and certainly give some feelings of comfort to those of us that aren’t sure Romney is very conservative.  On top of all that, Condi is hot.

The Endgame Nears

Both candidates have plenty of short comings that they need their VP’s to help overcome.

Obama now has a 3 year record to run on and not much to show.  The recent politicizing of the Usama Bin Laden killing was the only major victory of his term and now that has led to harsh criticism.  Obama is a wealthy man, a lawyer and a member of the 1% that the OWS crowd protests.  He needs this same group to get him elected.

Romney has weaknesses as well.  He governed as more of a liberal than a conservative as the Massachusetts Governor.  His religion (Mormonism) has also upset many traditional conservatives.  He’s independently wealthy making him also a target of the 99% OWS group.  If wealth is evil, Romney is more evil than Obama when you compare his $240 Million to Obama’s $10 Million.  I’m sure Romney’s camp will use this as an advantage in dealing with America’s failed economy and recovery.

One thing is for certain. Obama stepped in it with the SEALs when he politicized their killing of Bin Laden.  I’m also wondering how the Right will use the dishonorable discharge of Marine Sergeant Gary Stein over his Facebook posting concerning Obama. In Sergeant Stein’s situation, there needs to be one more exception placed on the First Amendment for off duty military personnel on social media sites.  Obviously this is not considered protected speech and most certainly has been proven to have serious consequences.

We have some exciting campaigning and debates headed our way over the next few months.  Of course, we also have a lot of annoying phone calls and TV ads.  Hopefully after all that grief we have a conservative president with an intelligent and ready to lead vice president.

Squeaky…

Prince Albert in a slump

Is Albert Pujols a $240 million mistake?

The big news around baseball so far has been the performance of Albert Pujols. Much was expected after he signed a $240 million contract with the Angels. So far, Pujols has managed exactly zero homers. As a point of references, that’s exactly how many homers I have this year.

I caution those who would write off Albert as a washed-up has been. Players have bad months all the time. Look at the early season struggles of David Ortiz in recent years as an example. It’s also important to realize that Pujols is learning the tendencies of an entire league’s worth of pitchers, whereas the opposing pitchers have a relatively smaller pool of league-crossers to study. Remember how Matt Holliday struggled early in 2009 after being traded to the A’s? Then you probably also remember that his May OPS was 250 points higher than his April OPS that year. No? Don’t remember that? It’s true.

Harper, Trout called up

Is Mike Trout better than Bryce Harper?

Over the weekend, top prospects Bryce Harper of the Nationals and Mike Trout of the Angels were called up. 19 year old Harper would likely have spend more time in AAA, but injuries gave decimated the Nationals lineup and they needed another bat in the fray. 20 year old Trout was expected to compete for a roster spot in spring training, but was sidelined by illness and really never got his legs under him.

Trout struggled a bit in a call-up last year, but the organization believes that he will be a great player. It’s probably to his benefit that Harper was called up on the same day. Harper is the most hyped hitting prospects in a decade or so, and this should allow Trout to fly under the radar a bit and feel much less pressure that he otherwise would.

Yu and the Rangers

Yu Darvish is living up to the hype.

In the off-season, the Rangers watched the Angels snap up Albert Pujols in free agency – and also saw them nab C.J. Wilson. This was the second straight year they lost a star pitcher to free agency – Cliff Lee bolted to Phillies after the 2010 season. The Rangers didn’t skip a beat, signing Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish to a deal. While many people didn’t think it made sense to essentially trade a known quantity (Wilson) for an unknown one (Darvish), I personally think the move was brilliant. Darvish cost them only money – no draft pick compensation. On the other hand, having the Angels sign Wilson gave the Rangers two draft pick – one of them coming at the expense of the Angels.

The move has paid off in spades, at least in April. While Wilson has put up stellar numbers (3-2, 2.70 ERA) Darvish has been even better (4-0, 2.18 ERA) and seems to be improving with each start. After allowing 13 walks in his first 17 2/3 innings, Darvish has allowed just 4 in his last 15 1/3 innings.

The “surprising rise” of the Nationals

Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg

The Nationals spent a good chunk of April in first place in the NL East. Their rise has seeming caught many observers by surprise. I’m really not sure why this is the case, when the Nats have been building toward this for a number of year, with some smart free agent moves and by obtaining excellent talent in the draft. And while the front office is getting a lot of credit for building the team, it’s important to note that the reason why they have the cornerstone pieces – Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, and Ryan Zimmerman – is because they were consistent losers for a long period of time and were able to stockpile draft top draft picks. It didn’t take any sort of brilliant scouting to figure out that Strasburg and Harper were the guys to pick in the draft – they were the most highly touted pitching and hitting prospects in a generation. It simply required the Nationals to lose more games than anyone else. So while it’s true that the Washington front office has made some good decision, it might be prudent to mute the praise just a bit.

Around baseball

Matt Kemp

Matt Kemp is off to an otherworldly start, batting .409 with 12 homers and 25 RBI. As a result, the Dodgers are 17-7 and hold a 4 game lead in the NL West. It would seem that the Dodgers, now free from the shadow of Frank McCourt, are positioned for a playoff run. As a fan of the Rockies, I’m operating under the assumption that Kemp is going to cool off at some point, and that the Dodgers will face off their pace at that point.

The Angels are eight games out of first place. I can’t imagine that too many people expected that. It’s still very early in the season, but L.A. can’t afford to have the Rangers stretch out their lead much more.

The Red Sox and Phillies were buried deep in the standings after the first few weeks, but have started to make up some ground recently. The Phillies are now within 2 1/2 games of the Nationals, while the Red Sox are 4 games back in the AL East.

The Devil Rays recently pushed their way into first place, pushing past the … Baltimore Orioles. I have to believe that the 15-9 record of the Orioles is a mirage at this point.

The most competitive division so far has been the AL East, where the Indians, White Sox, and Tigers are effectively tied for the lead. The Indians are percentage points ahead, with a record of 11-10. The division also features the two teams with the worst records in baseball – the Royals and Twins.

Tim Beckham

The Cardinals have managed to hang on to first place in the NL Central, even after losing Albert Pujols. The Cardinals signed Carlos Beltran as a free agent in the off-season, which allowed them to shift Berkman to Pujols’s old position. Beltran’s numbers have been solid – a .378 on base percentage and 5 homers so far. He’s not likely to match Pujols’s season numbers, but his addition allowed the Cardinals to at least patch the hole.

2008 #1 overall pick Tim Beckam (Devil Rays) has been suspended 50 games for a second violation of baseball’s drug policy.