Inside/Out

Pau Gasol--Wow!

Pau Gasol
He is SOOOO cute!

I usually write about politics and such on this blog, but I am making a exception here to call attention to my new crush, Lakers starting center, Pau Gasol. Some of you may know that I am an ardent Laker fan. The Lakers, for you non-basketball fans, are the NBA's glamour team. From coast to coast they sell out arenas and occupy the minds of sports writers in every hometown newspaper. They're the LAKERS.

The past few years, however, have been our years in the wilderness. Since Shaquile left in a huff and Kobe stayed in a huff, the team has been divided and divisive, and unable to play as, well, a TEAM.

All the sports talk pundits questioned Lakers G.M. Mitch Kupcheck's competence for refusing to trade young Andrew Bynum for a proven star, and Lakers owner Jerry Buss's sanity for not firing Kupcheck. Kobe bitched and threatened, and even the Zen master, coach Phil Jackson began to hint that something should be done.

This year began with the promise of Bynum's talent, giving the Lakers an early edge, but his knee injury early on deflated our hopes for a team that might make a good showing. The early games showed a team with real promise, but all of us held our hopes in reserve, because the same thing happened last year and we tanked early. When it became clear that Bynum wouldn't soon be back, we all shrugged and said, "Maybe next year."

Then came Pau, born in Spain, seven feet tall, and 27 years old, he's exactly what the Laker's needed--and what I needed. He's not only a talented player who adds depth and breadth to the Laker's lineup, he has added heart. The Lakers stormed through the season and finished with the lead in the West, and now they've swept the Denver Nuggets in the first round. Pau is a large part of the reason. The Lakers have come together into a cohesive, hard-playing team.

Jerry Buss, is a longtime friend (he backed one of my movies in the 1960s) and he always invites me to sit in his VIP suite. I haven't been to a Laker's game for a while, but now that Pau is here, I'm going to start going again. Personal to Jerry: Please make sure that I get to meet Pau!

For sure, the rest of the playoffs will not be as easy as the sweep of the Nuggets, but the Lakers--Kobe, Pau, Luke Walton, Sasha, Fisher, and Vlad--and an ass-kicking bench are going to be a force to be reckoned with.



Mamie on 04.29.08 @ 08:25 PM PST [link]

Hillary Wins in Penn!

It is a good night for Hillary Clinton. I have just watched her victory speech and the exhilaration is contagious. This may be the boost she needs to finally gain the momentum required to win the nomination. She has overcome (and STILL must overcome) some pretty heavy odds to get where she wants to go, but if her enthusiasm tonight is any indicator, nothing will stop her.

Some pundit's comment tonight that white men are voting by a high percentage for Obama rather than vote for a woman got me to thinking about a once-famous murder case before my time and nearly everyone else's. In 1913 in Marietta, Georgia, a teenage girl named Mary Fagan was murdered in the pencil factory where she worked. The general manager of the factory, a Jew named Leo Frank, was accused and ultimately convicted of the crime. The odd twist in the case was that strong evidence indicated that the murder was actually committed by Jim Conley, the black janitor at the factory. However, even in the powerfully racist atmosphere of Georgia some 50-odd years after the Civil War, the community, the judges, and the newspapers ignored the evidence and convicted and ultimately lynched Frank. Even though Conley was black, Leo Frank was from New York and jewish--seen as an outsider and a carpetbagger. Conely, though black, was at least part of the community.

Something similar has occurred with Obama. Even in the still-racist America, Obama is seen by white men as at least a man and preferable to Hillary. But there's a risk that Obama can't beat McCain in November, because who knows how many white men will jump ship and vote for another white man when the time comes.

For my money it's time for a woman or a person of color to serve in the presidency. Even a glance at history tells you that the light skinned males have certainly made a mess of it.

Yes, Hillary has many mountains yet to climb. But she has the experience, brains, and sheer MOXIE to make a great president. Support her. Vote for her.


Mamie on 04.22.08 @ 09:15 PM PST [link]

Hillary versus Barack

Hillary versus Barack has moved into the final rounds with Wednesday's debate in Pennsylvania. My take: Hillary won it hands down. She knows what to do, and, given the mandate of getting elected, she'll damn well do it. Barack, on the other hand, is an eloquent lightweight, long on rhetoric and short on actual solutions. He's pleasant enough when he's not being whiny about the debates, his opponent's criticisms, or the press coverage.

The press, of course, has continued to allow McCain (Gore Vidal calls him "That little fellow from Arizona") to have a free ride, spending instead most of its time covering the Hillary/Barack pissing contest. McCain is possibly MORE incompetent than President Half-wit. When you consider his general lack of knowledge of world affairs, and, today, his assertion that the economy has actually IMPROVED under the current administration, you have to be really, really frightened over the remote chance that he could get into the White House. He could have a nice title though: "The Little Fellow from Arizona" or "The President of Perpetual War". (But he wouldn't be the first one for the latter.)

Face it, those of us with any brain cells left are the Democratic party's bitch. We'll vote for whomever they give us, because we can't take another four years of war, a growing police state, more rape of the environment, and EVEN MORE tax breaks for corporations.

Please vote for Hillary. She needs our help and we need hers.
Mamie on 04.18.08 @ 07:30 PM PST [link]