The paper was at least kind enough to have some good things to say about the band, which will doubtless be of little comfort to Lennon, who had the bad form to be killed 28 years ago, and thus missed the Vatican's pardon. But don't think the Vatican is becoming a soft touch. Phillipe & Jorge understand the Catholic Church still has its eye on that rabble-rouser and Mr. Cheeky Monkey, Charlie Darwin, and his far-fetched views.
HOW TO BE MVP
P+J are baseball purists who despise such things as "pitch counts" and the seeming inability of modern players to lay down a sacrifice bunt. So we were delighted when Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox won the 2008 American League Most Valuable Player award, a well-deserved honor for a dirty uniform kinda guy who has thrived on performing the basics incredibly well. Perhaps the best summation of Pedey's style of play came from his manager, Terry Francona, who put it about as simply as you can in describing why his star won the award:
"We spend so much time evaluating tools, mechanics, swings, bodies, arm strength and all those things. Then this guy [Pedroia] just goes out and basically puts the barrel of the bat to the ball, and when it's hit to him, he catches it. It's very impressive."
Nuf sed. Great job, Pedey, the Champagne's on us.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
We came across a lovely letter to the editor in last Sunday's Journal, from the son of one of our old and sadly departed friends, John Hackett, the old troglodyte warrior and keeper of the far-right flame.
In a classic case of the apple not falling far from the tree, Jim Hackett wrote in to sneer at Linc Chafee for being "a back-stabbing little weasel" for his support of Barack Obama after John McCain had come to Vo Dilun to stump for Chafee in his (unsuccessful) 2006 US Senate reelection bid. Jimbo has good reason to be resentful, as he is a close confidant and advisor to Steve Laffey, Chafee's opponent in the bitter GOP primary that had much to do with sinking Linc's chances in the general.
We are strongly tempted to cheer Hackett, Laffey, and the rest of the free market absolutists on this. We have no doubt it is just this kind of thinking that will drive the Republican Party totally into the ground (a tip of the sombrero to Governor "Laughing Boy" Carcieri for doing his bit in destroying the party). But the fact is that, in Vo Dilun at least, it would be healthy and very good for there to be a vigorous Republican opposition.
We hope that other Vo Dilunduhs who feel the same way read Tom Sgouros's thoughtful op-ed piece in last week's BeloJo, suggesting that the RI GOP dispense with the brain-dead Republican "base" philosophy of the ultra-conservatives who currently rule the national party.
The whole ship is going down gang because the people are wising up to you. Please wake up to the fact that THIS IS (and rightly so) A MIXED ECONOMY! Being a Keynesian is not the same as being a socialist, and you Republican "conservatives" are the extremists with your nut bag free market uber alles yahoo capitalist baloney.
Send quahog stuffing and Pulitzer-grade tips to p&j@phx.com.
