MATT VEASEY

Baseball America's Prospect Handbook

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Outfielder Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels organization makes the 2012 cover

The end of January always brings a sense of excitement for baseball prospect geeks such as myself as we await the arrival of perhaps our most anticipated publication of the year. Today in my mailbox the yellow package arrived from the folks at Baseball America. Contained inside was their annual Prospect Handbook product, the Bible for following baseball prospects.

Published annually, the Prospect Handbook contains the Top 30 prospects for each organization in Major League Baseball as evaluated by the staff of Baseball America. The book contains a full page spread on the #1 prospect in each organization, shows a thumbnail photo of each of the top 10 prospects, with a bio and brief scouting report on every one of the 30 listed.

A new feature with the 2012 edition is the inclusion of both a scouting numerical "grade" and a "risk factor" for each evaluated prospect. The scouting grade will reflect the state of the player's current physical skills. The risk factor will show whether that player is more likely at this stage of his career to maximize those skills and to reach his potential.

The scouting grade is based on the traditional baseball 20-80 'OFP' (Overall Future Potential) formula in which players are rated on their power, hitting ability, arm, base running/speed, and fielding ability. The highest ranked players, those in the 75-80 range of the scale, are impact talents that can change the face of an organization. Most prospects will fall into the 50-55 range. You will rarely see players at a 30-35 or lower level make it into the book.

The risk factor was developed by the folks at Baseball America, and includes ratings of "Safe", "Low", "Medium", "High" and "Extreme" that will reflect their opinion as to how likely it is that a player with a certain skill set is to maximize his potential and translate those skills to the big league level. A "Safe" player is one that has already demonstrated they can play in 'The Show, and only four players were given this rating in this initial roll-out of the designations.

At the current time, almost all talent evaluators in baseball would be in agreement that the top 3 prospects in the game overall are outfielders Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals and Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, and pitcher Matt Moore of the Tampa Rays. Trout and Moore were 2 of the 4 players awarded the "Safe" designation, because each player has performed at the MLB level and has shown that his skills do indeed translate to that level of play.

The highest-rated overall prospect is Harper of the Nats. Well known by baseball insiders for years, and by even the most casual fans by this point, Harper was a Sports Illustrated cover subject back in June of 2009 when he was just 16 years old. Now still just 19, Harper is poised to become the latest teenage phenom to take the big league stage. His prodigious power and overall skill set have led Baseball America to hand him their only '80' grade. Coupled with a "Low" risk factor, only some freak injury would appear to be standing between this young man and baseball immortality.

Baseball America is the single most respected publication in the game today in the area of young player information. The writers and researchers key on the minor leagues, college and high school ball, the business side of the game, stories of general interest in the sport, and even into foreign leagues to keep fans and insiders alike abreast of the latest news and information on players and teams. Of course, there is some Major League Baseball coverage as well, particularly when it comes to the annual First Year Player Draft.

The 2012 Baseball America Prospect Handbook is available at this time through their website at www.baseballamerica.com for the price of $32.95, and ordering through them also gets you their upcoming 'Top 100 Prospects' issue and a bonus supplement showing extra prospects for each organization that just missed the Top 30 lists.

The book will be available in a few weeks through places such as Amazon and in book stores. Wherever you prefer, if you are a baseball fan, make sure that you pickup the book, and while you're at it, get a subscription to the magazine, the website, or both. The input of Will Lingo, Jim Callis, John Manuel, J.J. Cooper and others from BA will undoubtedly increase your own knowledge of the game. Baseball America and it's publications are must-haves for anyone who wants to call themselves a true baseball fan.

Rallying 'Round Romney

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:35:00 +0000

I've been a fan of Newt Gingrich for a long time. At the same time that Gingrich was leading the Republicans to victory in the 1994 congressional elections with his "Contract With America", I was making my own shift from lifelong liberal Democrat to social conservative Republican.

Gingrich is a brilliant man, a superb debater, and perhaps the single most informed individual in the entire Party on the entire range of issues. His performances in the early candidate debates were outstanding. So it was with hope that I began to support his candidacy for the Presidency last year, and with excitement that I watched him bolt to the polling lead a month or so ago.

But as the weeks pass, the first states begin to cast their primary and caucus ballots, and the candidates are exposed to one another in more focused debates and to the press and public at campaign stops that now matter more than ever, Mitt Romney has taken a commanding lead. The former Massachusetts Governor became the first Republican in modern primary history to capture both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.

Romney's doubleheader sweep in the Heartland and in New England show that he has a wide range of appeal. That has always been one of Mitt Romney's strengths. He has never been considered an ideologue, never been considered a part of the 'Vast Right Wing Conspiracy', never been beholden to the 'Tea Party' or any other particular group. He appeals to many people on many issues, and makes almost as many wary on almost as many issues.

The problem for Republicans like myself who label ourselves as true Conservatives, and who have been searching for a candidate to face off against Barack Obama in the fall, is that we have been looking for "Super Conservative" - a candidate who fits that label on both social and fiscal policy issues. We want a candidate who paints a stark contrast to Obama's near-socialist liberalism.

But in our haste to find the perfect candidate, we need to remember two very important things. First, that candidate does not seem to exist. No one is perfect. When viewed from the standpoint of true Conservatives, all of the contenders who actually want the position as the Republican nominee have weaknesses ranging from personal to experiential to their past legislative and governing records.

The second thing that we need to remember then becomes the single most important - we need to get rid of Obama. As the single most liberal President in American history, Obama has blown the deficit through the roof, stagnated the economy, threatened taxation increases on the very people and businesses that drive that economy, bailed out large corporations with our tax dollars and on the backs of our grandchildren.

God help us all if he actually gets to appoint a Supreme Court Justice this year. The damage that individual is likely to do over the next few decades, for many of us covering the rest of our lives, would be unimaginable.

The most important thing that every Republican across the country, especially every Conservative currently backing Gingrich, or Rick Santorum, or Rick Perry, or Ron Paul needs to remember is that we simply cannot allow ourselves to be pulled apart by our differences. We have far too many more similarities to let that happen. More importantly, we have far too many differences with Obama and his socialist-style cronies to allow our nation to suffer through another four years.

I have backed off my support of Newt Gingrich and thrown my hat fully into the camp of Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination and for the Presidency of the United States because I believe that he legitimately offers the Party the best chance to defeat Obama and socialism. I also believe that, with a Republican congress supporting him, Romney will produce a far more truly Conservative administration than any in the last twenty years.

From his own website comes the Romney vision: Mitt Romney will rebuild the foundations of the American economy on the principles of free enterprise, hard work, and innovation. His plan seeks to reduce taxes, spending, regulation, and government programs. It seeks to increase trade, energy production, human capital, and labor flexibility. It relinquishes power to the states instead of claiming to have the solution to every problem.

Romney is also born again hard on a number of social issues, including continually emphasizing of late that he has become staunchly "pro-life" in his view on abortion. On military matters, Romney has stated publicly that he wants to grow the defense budget to allow for modernization of the aging Navy and Air Force fleets. He has attacked Obama for not doing enough to counter the greatest military threat to ourselves and our allies, a nuclear Iran.

Mitt Romney has earned a record as a 'moderate' Republican. However, he is leaning towards more Conservative positions now. I believe that is not simply due to wishing to earn the nomination, but also because he has genuinely grown or been pushed towards those positions. Either way is fine with me, all that matters is where he is now, and where he will take the nation.

I am asking any one of my fellow American Republicans currently supporting another candidate, or currently holding back their support for anyone, to strongly consider throwing your full, outward, vocal, strong support to the campaign of Mitt Romney for President of the United States.

Low Times for Catholic Highs

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:11:00 +0000

(Originally published here on 10.10.09)

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced the other day that two of its long time iconic high schools, North Catholic and Cardinal Dougherty, would be closing at the end of the current school year.

The reaction from students and their families at the two schools, which were each once the largest Catholic high schools for boys by attendance in the world, as well as from alumni of the two schools, came swift and strong.

Many of the students had dreamed of graduating from North and Dougherty, some of these students as 'legacies' who were the sons and grandsons of alumni. The loss of the schools would break family traditions going back for generations. There would also be issues for the students such as new travel arrangements to new schools and trying to fit in socially in a new environment.

For alumni the issues included the loss of tradition and a perceived elimination of a large slice of their own teenage memories. These former students and graduates had walked the 'hallowed halls' at North and Dougherty, competed for the sports teams, participated in the clubs, attended the religious services, and got their groove on at the dances and proms.

When North Catholic opened in 1926 it enrolled approximately 450 students. By the post-World War II years the school enrollment had swelled to more than 4,000 young men. By 1953 the enrollment was over 4,700 students, and North Catholic was recognized as the largest Catholic high school for boys in the entire world. It was all downhill from there as far as attendance figures.

By the late-1970's with the school celebrating its 50th anniversary, total attendance fell to about 2,700 students, and then dropped below the 2,000 mark by the early 1980's. Though there are now approximately 40,000 alumni of North Catholic high school, the actual 2008 attendance had plummeted to 750 total students.

The story is similar at Cardinal Dougherty which opened in 1956. By the 1960's, Dougherty enrollment had swelled past the 6,000 mark as the school took over the title of largest Catholic boys school in the world. But attendance plunged in the same way it did at North, and by 2008 there were just 784 total students at Dougherty.

When you consider these figures, it is really not that hard to figure out why buildings and facilities that were originally created to hold between 4,000-6,000 students and now hold a little more than 700 each can not continue.

But many students and alumni are placing the blame with other things, including the rise in tuition costs and the cost of legal defense for Catholic priests accused and convicted in the sex abuse scandals. These Catholics are completely missing the real reasons why enrollment has plunged to the point that schools need to be closed.

For the America of the 'Baby Boomer' years, in particular the two decades immediately after World War II, the Catholic Church was a major institution and a concrete part of family life. Families were still together, large, and thriving as well. Divorce was almost unheard of, and a typical Catholic family would have 4-5 children or more. These kids grew up to attend the neighborhood Catholic elementary and high schools as a matter of course.

Tuition in the 1960's was approximately $200-250 per student at most Catholic high schools in Philadelphia. Today those figures have risen into the thousands, in some cases to more than $10,000 per year. But of course, people who earned a salary of $5,000 per year back in the 1960's are now making $50,000 in those same jobs today. Few people ever consider this fact when harping on tuition rises.

The fact of the matter is that costs have soared for most of the same inflationary reasons that salaries have soared over the past five decades. Catholic schools have an additional burden in that they continue to provide the best educational opportunities in teachers, facilities, programs, and overall learning environment. The cost of providing that quality is, however, now spread out over hundreds of students rather than the thousands of students attending in earlier generations.

There is one major reason for all of the problems that have led to not only the anticipated closings of North Catholic and Cardinal Dougherty high schools here in Philadelphia, but also to closings and mergers of other Catholic elementary and high schools in recent years. This one major reason applies to the merger of my own alma mater, St. John Neumann boys high school in South Philly, with St. Marie Goretti girls high school in 2004.

The one major reason is that Catholic families have fallen down on the job.

Catholic families began to have fewer and fewer children, to the point now where most Catholic families have approximately two children rather than the half dozen or more kids that was common a half century ago. Reproductive demographics is only a part of the problem, just a symptom of the bigger problem that I personally believe is spiritual in nature.

Catholic families have not drifted away from the Church over the decades, they have sprinted away. According to the results of a Gallup Poll released in April of 2009, attendance at Catholic churches has leveled off at approximately 45% after falling slightly below that figure in the immediate aftermath of the priest abuse scandals. In 1955 that figure was a full 75% attendance for weekly Mass services.

The fact was, if you were a Catholic in our grandparents day, you went to Mass on Sunday - it was obligatory. The sad fact today seems to be that people take Mass attendance far too casually. Where in those previous decades the idea of divorce was almost unheard of, today approximately 21% of Catholic Americans have been through a divorce according to religioustolerance.org figures.

The combination of the deterioration of Catholic family size, structure, and practice is at its core a spiritual problem. Many Catholics have become more self-centered, more materialistic, more cynical and more willing to surrender to or flee from the problems posed by evil in the world rather than standing by their faith and fighting back. They have fled to other Christian denominations, or to no religious practice whatsoever, and have taken their smaller families along with them.

It is easy for people who want to assign blame, whether it be in the current struggles of the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia or in any other area of life, to point at others. There may even be some validity to such accusations. But those same people need to sincerely look themselves in the mirror and ask some hard questions of the person looking back at them.

Do you go to Mass every week, or at least most weeks? Do you make it a priority for you and your family? Do you receive the Sacraments, especially Communion, but also including Confession/Penance? Are you committed to your family, and especially if a young Catholic, are you committed to growing that family in number and raising your children as strong Catholics? Did you, do you, or will you send your children to Catholic schools? Do you find a way to support the Church outwardly and proudly despite the shortcomings of some of its leadership?

If you can look yourself in the mirror and answer all of these questions positively, then congratulations, you are not really a part of the problem. But unfortunately you are also not in the majority of American Catholic families over the past few decades.

The answer to the problems which are now requiring the closings of North Catholic and Cardinal Dougherty, that required the merger of Neumann and Goretti, and that have required the closings and mergers of other Catholic elementary and high schools can be found within ourselves, not in protest or in demonstrations. We the people who make up the body of the Church need to return to our basic fundamentals of faith, prayer, and support for the Catholic Church.

If we are not willing to do that, then more and more Catholic schools will meet the same fate in future years. The official school motto at North Catholic is "Tenui Nec Dimittam" which translates to "What I have, I will not lose" which should be taken on as the new motto of all Catholics in Philadelphia and all across the United States of America.

At Penn State, Joe Had to Go

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:28:00 +0000

Sandusky and Paterno

It's a sad day in Happy Valley, the home of the Penn State Nittany Lions, a University now rocked by one of the very worst kinds of scandal. Former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky stands credibly accused of raping and sexually molesting a series of young boys, some at least as young as 10 years old, and of doing so in some instances inside the football facilities while he was still a coach.

Sandusky stands to be judged on his own for these heinous, monstrous actions. But now comes the important issue of who else knew, may have known, or where made aware of what was going on, and did little or nothing to protect these children.

Last night that fallout spread to school president Graham Spanier and head football coach Joe Paterno, both of whom were fired by the university board. For Spanier it is the end of a 16-year run, and for the iconic 'Joe Pa' it marks the ignominious end to a 46-year head coaching career.

I could write all day long on the circumstances that led to this point, and the guilt, culpability, and responsibility that Sanduskay, Spanier, and others hold in this situation. But I'll leave that to the countless articles arleady out there, already well written.

Here, I want to cover a couple of simple points about Paterno, points that highlight the reasons that for days my own mantra was "Joe must go!" Now that he is rightly gone, the issue of his responsibility needs to be addressed.

At the time of the raping of children inside the football team facilities, Paterno was the head football coach. The man doing the rapes was a good friend of Paterno, and fellow coach on his staff. Paterno was given specific information about the rape of a young boy, that information coming from a credible person. Paterno took this information to his Athletic Director.

In taking the information to the Athletic Director, Joe Paterno did the right thing, to that point. It's what he did not do next that got him fired last night. Joe Paterno is a coach and teacher of young students. He is also the iconic face of the football program. He had a responsibility to not simply do the least expected of him by law, but rather to continue to research and investigate his program and specifically the accused coach.

But Paterno chose to simply leave it at that. 10-year olds raped in his locker showers, and he tells somebody, and that's it? Sure that was it. That was it because anything else would destroy his football program in general, the reputation of his good friend in particular.

The problem is that Paterno's loyalties were misplaced. The problem is that by his position, he was obliged to do more. Maybe not stand at midfield at halftime and call out Sandusky, not call a press conference. But he should have stayed with the accusations, followed up with the AD as to what specifically was being done.

Had Joe Paterno and others done the most, which is what needs to be done when accusations are that children are being raped, then perhaps some children would never have been harmed. And perhaps being more pro-active, he could have looked heroic personally and saved some of the University's reputation as well.

People do indeed have an obligation to step forward when they see crimes and wrong-doing. They also have an obligation to report allegations of such things brought to their attention. Further, when those allegations are so heinous as to be potentially endangering of our children, people need to not simply do the minimum, but need to aggressively pursure truth.

In the outstanding Tom Cruise/Jack Nicholson/Demi Moore military courtroom drama "A Few Good Men", the two accused Marines, Dawson and Downey, are found guilty at the end of the trial and face Dishonorable Discharges from the military court martial. Downey self-righteously shouts "We did nothing wrong!" Dawson replies "Yeah we did. We were supposed to fight for people that couldn't fight for themselves."

Exactly. And that is what Paterno, among others, was supposed to have done.

What happened at Penn State was cover-up, concealment, and enabling, by Paterno and others. Everyone who knew, or should have known, needs to be fired. Some may need to be prosecuted along with Sandusky. But one thing is obvious, that Joe had to go. Now he is indeed gone, and it's only the beginning of this sad state of affairs.

Meeting Jessica

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:34:00 +0000

Jessica Liversidge was just 18 years old when she laid down to sleep in the early hours of Sunday morning, October 23rd. She never woke up. She was my niece through marriage, the only child of my wife Debbie's sister, Vickie, and Vickie's husband Joe.

I had only seen Jess in person twice since she was a very little girl, both times in her pre-teen years. Once their family visited our home in the Somerton section of Philadelphia. Another was at the funeral for her maternal blood grandmother, Alma Marshall, Debbie and Vickie's mother by birth.

I say "by birth" because the whole family relationship story is kind of unique, reminiscent of an "Oprah" episode where family members who were long estranged or never knew about one another are suddenly united or reunited.
Alma had 4-5 children already when she discovered that she was pregnant with Vickie.

This was the early 1950's, still the post-World War II years, and times were tough in the household. Knowing she was carrying a life inside of her, but believing they could not afford another child, she and her husband Bob decided to give Vickie up for adoption.

Incredibly, it turned out that Alma still wasn't done with mothering. About two years later, my wife Debbie came along, and the couple decided that it must be God's will to keep expanding their family. They kept Debbie, and even ended up adding two more children to their family after that.

Vickie was adopted by what all accounts seem to indicate was a wonderful couple who raised her in the area in and around Downingtown, Pennsylvania, about 40 miles to the west of the Marshall home on Huntingdon Street in Philly.

I am not sure of the exact circumstances, but from what I have learned, a part of the adoption agreement directed that the records would not be opened until Vickie's mother had passed away, or until Vickie had a child of her own. Both of these events ended up happening within a short time of one another.

Meanwhile, back in Philly, Vickie's older brothers and sisters were very young at the time of the pregnancy, and were kept out of the plans. Vickie's birth was not known by them, and was never made known to them. The same happened when my wife Debbie and her younger siblings came along. It was simply a chapter of life too difficult for Alma to talk about.

Debbie and I met in late spring of 1992, and so I was around the family when suddenly one afternoon in early 1993 a phone call came to the home of Deb's younger sister, Arlene, one of the kids born to Alma after Vickie's adoption. It was from Vickie, breaking some pretty big news to the family - the "Oprah" moment.

That phone call began a series of telephone and in-person meetings between Vickie and her blood family, Debbie's family, the Marshalls. When Deb and I got married in the fall of 1995, we asked Vickie to be in the wedding as one of our bridesmaids. It was a great period of getting to know one another, and a part of that was Vickie's husband, Joe, and their beautiful little daughter, Jessica.

Jess was an always smiling little bundle of sunshine and light. She would always seem to skip into a room, often bobbing her head from one side to the other, blond hair bobbing back and forth as she walked. I am sure she was a challenge as she got older, but around our family as a little girl she was always a joy to be around.

We saw their family at our home, at Arlene's home, and at a number of other family social occasions over the next few years. Jessica wasn't exposed to the drama of the family reunion situation as a young child. She knew our family only as what it was, hers, from the time she was born. She was around us pretty regularly right up until she was about 7-8 years old, maybe a little older, when visits got less frequent.

Lots of things happen with family and friends as our kids get older, and our lives gravitate more around what the kids are doing. When you live any kind of distance from one another, it makes those visits even more difficult and less frequent. We just simply didn't get together much, and didn't seem to have major family events come up.

Vickie and Joe fell into some marital problems that resulted in a separation, and eventually Vickie began a new relationship with a man named Bob. We saw Vickie and Bob at a couple of family functions, and eventually it just seemed like another casualty of modern family times. But somehow, and I don't know most of the details, Vickie and Joe ended up drifting back together, which was something that our family was happy to learn.

By the time early 2010 rolled around, I probably hadn't seen or heard from Jess in a few years. Then one day out of the blue I received a message at my Facebook account from her. She asked if I remembered her, and began to ask me for some law enforcement advice (I'm a Philly cop by profession.)

My first response was that, duh, of course I remembered her. She was my niece for God's sake (said in completely humorous tone with the requisite :) internet smiley face.) And I took her "my friend recently got in trouble, what should they do?" question as most cops do when confronted with this kind of thing, wondering if the "friend" was actually Jess herself.

I answered whatever her question was as best I could, we did a little chit-chatting to catch up, and then both said that we would talk with our respective families about getting everyone together soon. Over this last year and a half, I have probably had that same kind of exchange with her on Facebook 2-3 other times, but we never did actually get the family together.

Having Jessica as a Facebook 'friend' was a bit of a challenge for an uncle in that the language used and the pictures displayed by her and her friends was not always, shall we say, family appropriate. But I always took it as simply a young girl growing up and finding her way in a new-media world.

I got to know some things about Jess through those words and pictures that would often pop into my Facebook feed. She was obviously a pretty, fun-loving girl with many interests. She loved hanging out with her friends, and she loved her parents even as she challenged them. She seemed to flit effortlessly between her life at home in Pennsylvania, and up in Maine where her father Joe's family was from, and where she spent a good amount of visiting time.

There were pictures and descriptions of her waterskiing, and she talked about loving opportunities to go flying with Joe, who is a pilot, as well as boating with the family. From these pictures and her writings, I was largely able to fill in a representative picture of her life in the few years since I had last seen her.

Then just a couple of weeks ago, I happened to be off from work and in my bedroom in the morning when I heard the phone ring. Our daughter, Melissa, who is Jess's cousin and who, at 25, always seemed closer in age with her than the 7 years that actually separate them, walked down the hall from her own bedroom to answer the phone.
I knew that she wasn't going to get there before our answering machine picked up, and she didn't, and I heard a female voice leaving a message. I couldn't hear the words at all, but when Melissa started to break down crying out loud I knew that it could only be one kind of message.

Vickie and Deb's father, Bob Marshall, is now 86 years old, and so when I realized this message was the worst kind of news, Bob was where my thoughts went. I looked at Melissa and said "Poppy?", but she shook her head and said "No" through her tears. That probably made me even more worried, and then she told me it was Jess.

I played back Vickie's message, which was heart-breaking. I find it difficult to leave any kind of message on someone's answering service, let alone trying to pass on a message to my family that my teenage daughter had just died. I called Deb, Arlene, and their sister Joanne. Then I passed the word to my two older daughters from my first marriage, Chrissy and Kelly, who also knew Jess. I let the message spread out to the rest of the family from there.

Last Saturday, Deb, Melissa and I drove out to Downingtown for the open-casket viewing and the funeral service. No matter how professional a job a funeral home does, and this one did well, they can never capture the glow of life found in a teenage girl. The service after the viewing, however, was a completely uplifting experience.

Directly next door to the funeral home is the Downingtown Friends Meetinghouse. Vickie was raised there, went to school and attended their services. Personally, I had never been to a Quaker meetinghouse for any kind of ceremony. My first impression, with the bare walls and the stark, old benches, was cold and skeptical. Boy, was I wrong.

The premise of the Quaker ceremony is to celebrate the life of the descedent through anectodal recollections of times shared, events celebrated, and life lived with the person who has passed. A moderator stands and gives a brief introduction, and then invites others to begin sharing, should anyone feel moved to do so.

At first, just a young cousin of Jess' got up and shared a pre-written piece on their lives together. It was very warm and heartfelt, recalling a relationship that was obviously close between two young girls of the same age growing up together. The young lady obviously took time to think about what she was writing, and did an outstanding job both in her writing and in telling the stories through her tears.

A lengthy period of silence followed, and I started to get a little uncomfortable. I looked over at Joe and Vickie and hoped that someone would find something more to share. There were dozens of people in the hall. Someone had to have something to share about Jess.

When it wasn't happening, I decided to get up myself. I spoke on behalf of Deb's family, mostly recounting the things that I've now shared here in this piece. I ended by imploring her young friends and family members present to realize how precious is this gift of life. I asked them to realize that, even if on the wrong path now, or making some bad choices now, they still can make changes. Their whole lives are in front of them. I hope even one person that might need such a message was listening, and took it to heart.

Slowly, more and more got up to speak. At first it was older family members, and parents of her friends. But more and more her younger family and friends got up to speak. Many of the stories brought Jess' spirit back to life in that room, and filled it with warmth, even putting a smile on our faces and filling the room with laughter a couple of times.

One young female cousin told the story of how Jess had taught her to drive: "I was 12 - and she was 11." The place cracked up. She went on to share that Jess told her that the peddle on the right was for the gas. When the girl asked which one was the brake, Jess said "You don't need to know." That was Jessica right there, full speed ahead, no brakes.

In her lifetime, I probably spent no more than two weeks worth of days in the actual company of Jess. But she touched me with her loving spirit, which from the stories I heard that day was nothing unique. She touched everyone that way.

Jess had a substance abuse problem. She used drugs, and she drank, and she partied far too much. Her family tried very hard to get her help, but in the end it was not enough. We lost her from her own choices, there was nothing anyone else was going to be able to do. But as one uncle related, she lived life on her terms.

Jessica Liversidge left us with many memories. She left a warm spot in the hearts of those of us who got to know her on any real level. She lived her life in a way which taught us lessons, good and bad. She made a difference, she will be missed, and she will be loved. And it was really nice getting to meet her again in that Quaker meetinghouse.

War is Not the Answer

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:15:00 +0000

President Obama announces complete U.S. withdrawal from Iraq by end of 2011

One thing that should be fairly clear from Soviet involvement in Afghanistan in the 1980's, and American involvement in both Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000's, is that waging war in the Middle East is not a winning long term strategy.

In the short-term, deposing dangerous regimes and tyrannical rulers with military force is something that may indeed be necessary. Sadam Hussein certainly was tyrannical, torturing and killing his own countrymen. The Taliban and al Qaeda certainly were dangerous, deadly entities. All had to go.

But in the end, there is certainly one truth that has to be faced up to: the United States of America cannot be expected to place large numbers of troops in any foreign country forever. There comes a time when we need to bring our troops home or redeploy them. I believe that President Obama is right in bringing our troops home from Iraq by the end of 2011.

Now, I don't agree with this President on very much. He is likely a Socialist, certainly an ultra-liberal, big government, anti-capitalist. But to say that he is wrong about every single thing the man does on every issue at every turn is to simply be a partisan contrarian yourself.

The important this is the balancing of the mission against the costs. The mission was to remove Hussein, to help Iraq establish it's own sound alternative governmental process, and to provide the security to allow that process to grow. We have done that. We have done it at the cost of more than 4,000 American lives, more than 30,000 more injuries, and more than a trillion dollars.

The sign displayed on the USS Abraham Lincoln back in 2003 when President George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier to give a speech at the end of the first phase of major combat operations, the infamous "Mission Accomplished" sign, was correct at that time. The subsequent Iraqi guerrilla insurgency led to another phase, and here we are, eight years later.

Our American troops, along with those from Great Britain and a number of other allies, have done an outstanding job throughout these Middle East conflicts. Their work has been one piece in helping to keep the U.S. homeland free from further Islamofascist terror attacks following 9/11.

But the sad, truthful fact is that the world will never be completely free from these threats, and we can never do enough policing to ensure such safety. And the economic ramifications of continuing to dump tens of billions of dollars in the Middle East? Simply irresponsible at this time.

Now don't get me wrong, I am no dove. There is a time to stand up and fight. The United States intelligence services need to stay vigilant. The U.S. military needs to remain prepared to respond to any actions against our nation's security interests. And our leaders need to remain committed to encouraging and supporting freedom and democracy around the globe.

But the Iraq War is over. We won. It's time, past time actually, for our troops to come home, at least in this man's opinion. In the short term, yes, mission accomplished. But in the long term, war is not the answer to the problems of the Middle East. It is likely not going to be avoided in the future, but as history has shown over thousands of years, it will likely settle nothing permanently. That ultimate peace will take an act of God.

Welcome home, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for your service from an eternally grateful nation. We hope that it is a long time before you are called into active combat service again. God bless America.

Phillies: Where Do We Go From Here?

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 16:07:00 +0000

What rabbit might Ruben pull out of his hat this off-season?

I'm writing this on the day after the Philadelphia Phillies ended the most successful regular season in franchise history with one of their most devastating playoff losses. The team of the "Fantastic Four", the "Four Aces", lost to the Saint Louis Cardinals last night, at home, by a 1-0 score. Shutout by Chris Carpenter and sent packing for the winter, where do the Fightin' Phils go from here?

Let's begin with the basics. Who will be back in 2012, who will not be back, and what are the biggest question marks as far as the current players on the roster. After that we can do a little gazing into a crystal ball to see who, if anyone, GM Ruben Amaro might target in the Hot Stove League.

The list of who will be back begins with Amaro himself, who is signed to a contract through the 2015 season, and whose time with the team must be considered nothing short of a complete success. As the Assistant GM to now MLB Hall of Famer Pat Gillick and former GM Ed Wade, he was highly influential in building the 2008 World Series champions. As the GM, he has made bold moves that have kept the club in strong contention.

Next on the list of those coming back is manager Charlie Manuel, who signed an extension taking him through the 2013 season. Manuel's steady hand and generally easy-going manner endear him to today's ballplayer. He is the club's all-time winningest manager. He led the team to that 2008 World Series. Unless the soon to be 68-year old finds his tenure cut short by health, he will man the helm for at least two more years.

On the field, those returning include Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Placido Polanco, Carlos Ruiz, Shane Victorino, Hunter Pence, John Mayberry Jr, Michael Martinez, and Domonic Brown. Every one of those players will be returning and will make up the bulk of the Phillies position players on offense and defense for the 2012 season.

On the mound, returning will be Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Vance Worley, Joe Blanton, Antonio Bastardo, Jose Contreras, David Herndon, Michael Stutes, and Michael Schwimer. Hamels has a club option that the Phillies are certain to pick up, and he will likely be the target of a club attempt at a long-term contract this off-season.

This takes us to the question marks among the current crop of players, and there are a handful of big ones as well as a couple of smaller but possibly important ones as well. These players include Jimmy Rollins, Roy Oswalt, Ryan Madson, Brad Lidge, Brian Schneider, Wilson Valdez, Ben Francisco, and Kyle Kendrick. Let's take the biggest names one at a time.

Jimmy Rollins has been the heart and soul of this franchise for at least a half dozen years. It's senior member, 'JRoll' has been a Phillie his entire career, which began really with his first full season back in 2001. He was the 2007 NL MVP when his proclamation that the Phillies, not the then-powerhouse New York Mets, were the "team to beat" in the NL East proved prescient.

The arguments to bring back Rollins are emotional. He is the acknowledged leader. There is not a single fan who grew up as or became one in the past decade who can imagine the Phillies without JRoll at shortstop. Thing is, I've already been here, done this. I went through the same with Larry Bowa almost 30 years ago. The day will come, and that day may indeed be here.

The rub with Rollins will be the contract. He is a free agent for the first time in his career, and he is well aware that this will be his final shot at big bucks. He can still spark a team as shown by his 16 homeruns and 30 steals, and he was perhaps the team's best hitter in the 2011 playoffs. But he turns 33 years old next month. How many years, and how much money, do you give the guy? And how much of that is for what he has done, rather than what you believe he will do?

My guess is that Jimmy Rollins will be looking for at least a 3-year contract worth at least $40 million overall. At least that, and he is rumored to be seeking a 5-year deal. Freddy Galvis is the Phillies organization minor league Player of the Year. He turns 22 years old next month. He is already considered Major League-ready with the glove, an exceptional defender. He would probably be an all-glove, little-hit guy for at least a couple seasons. I am guessing that he is the Phillies 2012 starting shortstop, and that we are watching the final weeks of the JRoll era.

Roy Oswalt is another toughie. He just turned 34-years old last month, and the club has a $16 million option for 2012. A couple months ago, it looked like his balky back might lead him to retirement, especially if he could go out on top with a championship. But he got healthy, said he felt great at the end of the season, had his fastball popping again, and is looking to return. It says here that starting pitchers of his experience and pedigree do not grow on trees, and that the Phils should pickup that option and bring back the "Four Aces" intact for one more shot at the brass ring.

Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge have been at the core of the Phillies back-end bullpen for the past four years. The iconic scene of Lidge dropping to his knees after his strikeout and perfect season clinched the 2008 World Series will forever be etched in the hearts and minds of the team and it's fans. He will get free dinners around this town, justifiably, for decades. But his time is likely up. The club has an $11.5 million option on him for 2012, but with Lidge turning 35 in December, and a bunch of young relievers ready, that money can be spent better elsewhere.

Madson is a far more interesting situation. He is a free agent. His agent is Scott Boras. He will definitely be looking for big money as a closer with some team. He has been a career-long Phillie, and did a strong job for the club in his first full season as the full-time closer this past year. At age 31, he should still have a few strong years in his right arm. My guess is that he is going to look for a 4-5 year deal in the $50 million range. That might be difficult for the club to take on. But if they really believe that he is a shutdown closer, it might also prove to be money well spent. I call it 50-50 on Mad Dog returning.

Brian Schneider is a good, reliable, talented backup catcher. Same on Wilson Valdez as a backup infielder. Both should be back if they don't price themselves out of town, which is doubtful. Ben Francisco, despite his big NLDS pinch-homer, is likely gone. He is eligible for arbitration, but the club saw enough from Mayberry and thinks highly enough of Brown to make Big Ben disposable. I say they don't offer arbitration here. The final question then is Kyle Kendrick, also arbitration eligible. Another one that I see as 50-50. He has grown, has some talent, could start for many teams. He may be a trade piece.

So it says here that your 2012 Phillies will have an infield of Howard-Utley-Galvis-Polanco, Chooch behind the plate, the Flyin' Hawaiian in centerfield, Pence in right, and a platoon of Mayberry/Brown in left. Michael Martinez wilil be the main man off the bench, both Schneider and Valdez back for depth. I also believe the club may look at bringing in a big bopper-type veteran bat to come off the bench, though they may start the season as-is and try to add that in-season.

In 2012, your rotation will be the same as this year: Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Oswalt, Worley. You might see Joe Blanton and/or Kyle Kendrick back if the decision is made not to keep Oswalt. You also might see one or both of them dealt away. Hard to imagine the club bringing all 7 back again if healthy. The pen will be Contreras, Bastardo, Stutes, Schwimer and Herndon, and I believe the club either brings back Madson, or signs a proven shutdown free agent closer such as Jonathan Papelbon or Heath Bell.

You will definitely be saying goodbye for good to Raul Ibanez and the werewolf chants. I wouldn't expect to see Ross Gload coming back either. I also wouldn't expect to see Ruben Amaro Jr pull another rabbit out of his hat this winter. His most important work will be signing Hamels to a longterm extension, and making the difficult Rollins, Madson, and Oswalt decisions.

The Philadelphia Phillies won the NL East in 2007, and have now won the division title five straight years. They won the World Series in 2008, and have won more regular season games each year since winning that crown. They have proven to be a great team. But a combination of age and contracts are catching up to them, at least to the point where change will come. They have shown to this point that they can weather the changes and keep on winning and contending, but this will most definitely be the most interesting winter yet.

NOTE: After the writing of this article, it was learned that an injury suffered by Ryan Howard in last night's Game #5 loss was possibly one that will keep him out for all or a significant portion of the 2012 season. If that is the case, Mayberry is your 1st baseman, Brown gets a full shot in left field, and it may mean new life for Ben Francisco if the Phils want a platoon or depth option. More needs to be learned about Howard's injury going forward, but this one hurts - literally and figuratively.

The Ending Always Comes At Last

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 01:33:00 +0000

In 1973, Art Garfunkel marked his debut as a solo artist separate from his longtime partner, Paul Simon, with a song titled "All I Know" that included these haunting lyrics:

"But the ending always comes at last, Endings always come too fast, They come too fast, But they pass too slow"

For everyone of us, there is an ending coming. Not the end of the year, of a job or career, a relationship. An ultimate ending. And none of us ever wants to talk about it. Very few of us even want to think of it much. But we will all face that ultimate ending to our lives.

I am going to ask you to just take a moment to be morbid. Think about the people that mean the most in your life. Your family: parents, spouses, children and more. Your very best friends. The people that you count on to be there for you through your worst times. They will all be gone one day. The only real question is, who will go first, you, or them?

It has been said that there are no atheists in a foxhole. The implication being that if you are truly faced with death, the very real possibility of it, perhaps even the likelihood of it, then you will abandon your atheism or agnosticism for an outreach to a God that to that point you shunned.

This article isn't about morbidity. It is not about negativity. It is not about giving up. It is not about hopelessness. It is about the truth of this life.

The truth is that this life is not all there is to things. You, the essence of you, your "soul" if you will, will never be placed into a box and lowered into the ground. It will never be placed into a flame, burned to ashes, and poured into an urn or scattered to the wind.

God speaks to us all, if we will only listen. In the moments that I have opened my heart and my mind to listen, he has spoken to me plainly. One thing that he has told me is that this is not the end for you.

This life will end, and you have no idea when that time will come. It will not come for most of you when you are in your 80's in the peace of sleep, or in a hospital bed after a brief stay following a sudden age-related illness. For some of us it will come tomorrow, maybe even today. This year, perhaps, or in the next decade. But it will come, probably sooner than you know, and definitely sooner than you would like.

What God has told me about death is that you must not fear it's coming. In fact, you need to stop fearing it right now. You need to begin to face it as you live. You need to prepare for it while you still can. I am not talking the preparation of wills and burial plots and insurance. I am talking about your immortal soul.

Your body will die, and when it does, then it will be too late for you to do anything about the disposition of that soul. You are being given a chance now, right now, this very moment. There is a reason that you are reading this, a reason that you are thinking about these words and the truth behind them. It rings true to you because it is true.

Don't get morbid. Don't go negative. Just begin to think about where you want to spend eternity: in God's loving grace with many of your loved ones, or in the darkness and emptiness and utter hopelessness and despair of an eternity without his light. Eternity is a long time to spend alone in the dark for the heartiest of souls.

If you have turned from God, turn back. He is still there. Talk to him, he will listen, and he will answer your questions if you ask with earnestness and openness, and if you allow yourself to be still and hear his answer. If you have the courage to both do this, and act on his answers, you will have nothing to fear when your time comes.

The ending always comes at last. Endings always come too fast. They come too fast, but they pass too slow. Garfunkel's song ends with this: "I love you, and that's all I know." That's as good a place as any to end this...

9/11: Are We Expected to Forgive?

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:15:00 +0000

Father Mychal Judge lost his life ministering at the Twin Towers on 9/11

One of the most basic foundations for any person of faith is the notion put forth by 18th century English poet Alexander Pope in that "to err is human, to forgive divine", and that we should love even our enemies. But how far does that go?

Are the families and friends of those killed in the Islamofascist terror attacks against America on September 11th, 2011 expected to forgive the terrorists who carried out the attacks and those who helped plan it, including people like the now-deceased Osama bin Laden?

Are the families of Holocaust victims to be expected to forgive their Nazi captors and murderers, including Adolf Hitler? The families of Sharon Tate, the Labiancas, and their other victims expected to forgive Charles Manson and his followers? The families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman expected to forgive O.J.?

Would the widow of murdered Philly cop Danny Faulkner, Maureen, and his fellow Philadelphia police officers be expected to forgive Mumia Abu-Jamal? Would all of the jPhilly police officers' families who had their husbands, wives, sons, daughters, parents, friends and co-workers taken from them in recent years, even over the department's history, be expected to forgive those who murdered or were otherwise responsible for the deaths?

There is an easy answer to what is basically one question: should we be expected to forgive people for the very worst things that they could possibly due to us and our loved ones. That answer is an unequivocal, resounding, empowering "Yes".

In the New Testament Gospel of Matthew (18:21-22), Peter approaches Jesus and asks him "Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?" Peter is asking Christ what are the limits, how much can some one wrong us before it is okay not to forgive. Jesus' answer: "Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven!"

Jesus has just told Peter that there is no limit to forgiveness. A great number and variety of crimes against us, "seven" crimes against us, is not enough for unforgiveness, we need to be prepared to forgive at least as many as "seventy-seven", some unimaginable number, of crimes against us.

In the Bible's book of Sirach, 27:30 into 28:1-7 reads as follows:

"Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the LORD’S vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Should a man nourish anger against his fellows and expect healing from the LORD? Should a man refuse mercy to his fellows, yet seek pardon for his own sins? If he who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins? Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; of the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults."

Jesus Christ taught: "You have heard that it has been said that you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies: do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that persecute you."

Remember who we are when considering this question that, for many humans, seems so difficult on it's face in those worst situations. Remember that we are Christians, called to be like Christ, called to learn from his Word and his example lived. We are called to be more, to be better. We are called to love.

Now, does this mean that we are to be pushovers, stepping stones? Hardly. Remember, we are called to "forgive" and to "love", but we are never told to forget. On this, the 10th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11 on our nation, we are specifically reminding one another not to "Never Forgive!" but instead to "Never Forget", and this is entirely appropriate.

Grieve your losses and bury your dead. Question your enemies and protect your families, homes, property, neighborhoods, and nations. But you will never, ever heal from any wrong or hurt, any lie or misdeed, any rape or murder or genocide, from any hate unless or until you forgive.

That means to fully forgive in your heart, all the way through. Pray, reflect, read the New Testament, seek spiritual guidance. Do whatever you need to do in order that you can find a way to truly forgive those who have wronged you and yours. Then do the smart thing, never forget. Do not leave yourself or yours: family, community, nation, open to such a crime or hurt again.

To err and lie and mislead is human, unfortunately. To commit crime, rape, murder, genocide is a monsterly abomination inspired by Satan himself. But to forgive, even in the face of those worst atrocities, is divine. It is from God, is taught by Jesus Christ, and is what is expected of His followers in all circumstances. God bless you.

God Speaks to You Personally

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 20:08:00 +0000

So many of us, believers and non-believers, search in our lives for some direction or path to follow, one that will lead to our best chance for happiness, peace, and love. We know that nothing is guaranteed, that even the best laid and followed plans can be scuttled by any number of circumstances outside of our control. But how do we give ourselves that best chance to find what we are all looking for in life?

I would suggest to you that your best chance lies in listening to the voice inside of you that has been there since your youngest moments, that has travelled with you throughout your life, and which will speak to you right up until the moment of your death and beyond.

God created you in His image and likeness. He gave you at least one special gift as well, many of us more than one. To some he has entrusted great intellect. To others great physical beauty. To some he instilled the ability to lead others. For some it is the gift of oratory, or art, or writing, or singing. Analytical abilities, mechanical abilities, technological proficiency.
In bestowing upon you whatever gift it is that He granted, there comes with it the responsibility to use that gift to make the world in which we live a better place for ourselves and our fellow man, to whatever extent we can achieve such a goal. Even those who have been challenged with disabilities have been given a gift, at the very least a gift of life, a life that touches and changes those around them.

As we grow and set out upon the journey of our lives, we look for inspiration and education to help guide us. Our parents and families have the first, and usually the greatest, opportunity to inspire and educate. Our teachers in school, our friends and business associates, our priests and pastors take their turns. We gain some amount of inspiration and education from entertainers, politicians, business leaders, writers, athletes and other public figures.

As we move into and through life, we take all of these inputs and sort them out, many times through trial and error, often adjusted by actual real experiences that we have, both positive and negative. At some point we begin to develop skills, experience, and our own sets of habits, traits, beliefs, standards, and morals.
With all of this input from varied people of many age groups and every type of life experience, you would think that almost everyone would turn out 'good', or would almost always make the 'right' decisions. So why do so many of us, the vast majority of us, make so many poor decisions, choose so many wrong paths, and in the end make our lives and often the lives of our loved ones so much more difficult than need be?
To return to what I mentioned earlier here, I would suggest to you that it's because we fail to recognize and listen to the voice inside of you that has been there since your youngest moments, that has travelled with you throughout your life, and which will speak to you right up until the moment of your death and beyond.
At every choice that you have ever been faced with, God was there with you and gave you direction. He whispered into your heart, mind, and soul the correct path you should take, the correct action you should take. It doesn't matter that you are a Catholic, a Protestant, or even a Christian at all. It doesn't matter whether you, in that moment, even believed that He existed. He spoke to you just the same.

Should I take this money from my mother's purse or father's wallet without asking? Should I cheat on this test, tell this lie, fabricate this story? Should I smoke this cigarette, or marijuana joint, pop these pills, snort this drug? Should I sneak out of the house when I'm not supposed to? Should I have sex with my boyfriend or girlfriend, or worse, some acquaintance or random stranger? Should I spend this money in this way, stay out late for 'just one more', sleep in on Sunday instead of going to church?
Every decision of your life, and in particular every major decision that was going to affect your future in a permanent or significant way, every time you were put into a situation of moral and/or legal peril, God was there, whispering to you the correct path or action or word.

And you heard Him. You knew the right thing to do, the right word to say, the right action to take. You knew if you should go forward or walk away. You knew whether you should 'just say no', or 'no thank you', or place yourself in jeopardy. You knew, but you didn't always listen. You decided to 'just say no' to God, or to whatever you wrote his voice off to as your conscience, or some leftover guilt trip of your parents, or whatever else you called that 'little voice' inside you that was keeping you from your fun.
Sometimes when you didn't listen, you got away with something. You dodged a bullet, got lucky. Maybe you sweated out some situation for awhile, but you weren't caught, or you paid a price but it was one you could handle - that time. You even knew it, that you had gotten off easy. You promised that it wouldn't happen again, that you wouldn't let yourself get into that kind of mess again. How many of us have repeated past mistakes, lessons we not only should have learned, but did indeed learn?
In the Old Testament's 'Book of Kings', Elijah takes shelter in a mountain cave. God speaks to him saying "Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will be passing by."

The Bible goes on to tell how "A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord - but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake - but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire - but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a tiny whispering sound...."

When he heard this whispering sound, Elijah hid his face in his cloak, and returned to stand at the entrance to the cave. He understood that in this whisper to him was the true voice of the Lord, who may indeed come in a grand cacophonous blast, but who much more often speaks in a hushed tone inside our hearts.

The challenge for us is to be like Elijah, and be open to God's voice. To sift through all of the loud inputs from social media, from entertainment and political influences, from imperfect family members even though they mean well. We must be willing to tune most or all of that out, and listen to the voice of God inside of us. He will be there every time, speaking to you personally. Ignore His voice at your own peril, and blame only yourself when you do and things go wrong.

Church Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:41:00 +0000

There are some who will tell you that they don't believe it is important to attend formal church services, such as the Catholic Mass. They will tell you that their relationship with God is private, between them and Him, and that they talk and/or pray to Him on their own.

People who use this excuse to avoid regular church services do so for a variety of reasons. Let's leave out the atheists and the agnostics, we already get why they don't go to church. The people that I am most interested in addressing here are the Christians of the world who stay home on Sundays.

The church avoiders include those who believe in "something", but feel that there are many religions around the world, who is anyone to say that theirs is the one, true church, and thus refuse to commit to any one set of beliefs, staying away from church for this reason.

The avoiders also include the obvious, the true lazy excuse-makers. They just don't feel like getting up early on a Sunday morning, or setting aside time on their days off from work to feel obligated to give up some of that free time.

The church avoiders also include those who are angry with their church, such as Catholics who stay away because of issues such as the Church position on abortion, or gay marriage, or because of the recent explosion of priest sexual abuse scandals.

In the end, all of these people who are avoiding church, making excuses for what they feel are valid reasons or ways of thinking, are getting it wrong. In the case of the "something" believers, they are missing the Truth of Christianity. For the lazy, they are thumbing their nose at God, who asks only one hour of the 168 in your week. For the angry, they are committing the mistake of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

The Truth of Christianity is found in the person and the teachings of Jesus Christ. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me" is what Jesus said. You have only a couple ways to confront that statement. You call him a crazy man or a liar, or he was telling the truth.

The laziness of true excuse-makers who are otherwise believers is perhaps the worst of them. These people know they should be in church, but they would rather sleep, or go out to breakfast, or read the paper, or watch a ballgame. Again, God's own words as given to us in His most basic commands: "Remember to keep holy the Sabbath". He asks you for an hour of your week. Christ suffered on the cross for hours for you. That is too much for you? Really?

For those staying away out of anger, you are only punishing yourself. Your anger should be directed at priests who committed these heinous sins, and at the bureaucrats who protected them. But your experience at Mass on Sunday is your chance to overcome these sins. Coming together as a community of believers in worship shows that, no matter what, you will not lay down, your Church cannot be laid low by men.

In his "Why Should I Go to Mass on Sunday?", William J. Bradley says it well: "When we go to Mass we tell the world around us who we are and what we represent. Simply by going to Mass makes us all evangelists to our family, friends, neighbours and the community in which we live."

At Mass we are encouraged by God's words in the Bible, we are strengthened by our Lord's gifts in the Sacrament of Eucharist, and we are uplifted by our fellow parishioners prayers. Find a schedule of Catholic Mass at your local church. Walk in and slip into a pew. Listen. Pray. I believe that you will be surprised at what God will open in your heart, mind, and soul.

Christ Will Come Again...When?

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 18:16:00 +0000

This weekend marks Palm Sunday, the beginning of one of the two holiest weeks in the Christian calendar. On Palm Sunday we remember Jesus' entering the city of Jerusalem in Triumph to an explosion of good will, palm branch waving, and shouts of "Hosana" before undertaking the most important activities of his life.

These events included the overturning of the money-changers tables at the Temple and driving them out of that holy place, and resulted in some of his most famous teachings:

"Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive"

"Many are invited, but few are chosen"

"Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God"

"Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted"

He also was asked a question during these final days in Jerusalem regarding which was the greatest of the commandments, and famously replied: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself."

He even foretold the coming of Christianity itself when he lectured the Jewish chief priests and the Pharisees that "the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit."

The week which began in triumph and proceeded on through inspiration, challenge, and controversy would ultimately move to his betrayal, arrest, trial, persecution and would end with his death on the cross for all of our sins.

Christians also believe that Jesus Christ is destined to come again in what many refer to as the "End Days", the "End of Time", the "End of the Age", or in the "Apocalypse" period at the end of time. This belief doesn't come from a teaching of men, but from the promise of Christ himself in those same final days of his life.

But when will Jesus return? At what time, on what day, in what year and in which generation of history? Many generations of men, even within the Church itself, have believed that they themselves were living in the end of times, that Christ would be returning in their lifetimes. They have all been wrong, as may those who believe so today.

What did Jesus say of his returning to us? Much, including some signs in the final moments that would signal that he had indeed returned. But the most important thing that Christ taught about that time was this: "of that day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." Jesus himself did not have the exact information as to his return. That information was and is held in the heart and mind of God the Father alone.

But because no one but God knows the exact hour, that does not mean that we haven't been given clues and signs to watch for that will signal at least the beginning of the end. We are told by James that there will be great economic calamities near the end. Timothy tells us that many men will turn from God and towards physical pleasures, paganism, and selfishness towards the end. Mark tells us that in the final years, Christians will be turned over to authorities, put on trial, and even put to death for their beliefs.

Mark also gave us one of the most important clues when he wrote that before the end times come "the gospel must first be preached to all nations." This simple message in and of itself ruled out all prior times of mankind before our current time. Only now, with the developments over the past century of air travel and the internet, have missionaries been able to reach every corner and every people on the planet with the gospel of Christ.

Christ himself taught that "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven."

Perhaps one of the easiest signs to look for that the world is beginning to enter into the period of the end of times would be the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, an event that is viewed as an impossibility by many in the world today. This event will indeed come to pass, however, if any number of Old and New Testament prophecies are correct. In fact, it is that very Temple that will be at the center of many of the final events involving the anti-Christ and his period of rule just before Jesus' return.

So when will Christ return? As he himself said, no one knows. But we can look for increasing natural disasters, incredible celestial events, the Jews rebuilding of the Temple, and for public persecutions of Christians all around the world as sure signs. If these things happen, you better be ready to get your self and your house in order. If these things have not yet happened, we have not yet likely reached the end of days.

But are we correct? Am I reading these teachings correctly? Are the Christian spiritual leaders? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe on some items, not so much on others. Maybe we just have learned to understand pieces of the final truth. The important thing to understand is that the end will indeed come, and Christ will indeed come again, and you need to love and accept him and try to remain ready. Remember Jesus' most important words: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Without faith and belief in and acceptance of Jesus Christ, you will not make it to heaven.

Jesus taught "Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come...be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come...stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

MLB 2011: Philadelphia Phillies

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 01:07:00 +0000

Charlie Manuel, new contract in hand, skippers the N.L. favorites

Whatever you may want to call the Phillies starting pitching rotation, and there have been at least a half dozen nicknames tossed around town over the last few months, it will be those arms that make or break this particular version of the Fightin' Phils as they shoot for a 5th straight N.L. East division title, and a 3rd World Series berth in the last 4 years. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels make for the best starting pitching rotation that baseball has seen for years, perhaps ever.

Halladay will turn 34 years old in mid-May, and he is clearly the Ace among Aces. The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner last year in his first season with the Phils (it was his 2nd career Cy Young), the man known as 'Doc' tossed a perfect game last season, and then pitched a no-hitter to open the playoffs. He has been an all-star in 7 of the past 9 seasons. He has logged more than 220 innings pitched for the past 5 straight seasons.

When Cliff Lee turned down the Yankees tens-of-millions in order to return to a place that he claimed to love, he immediately renewed what was becoming a passionate affair with Phillies fans over the last few months of the 2009 season. After leading that Phils club to the World Series, Lee moved to Texas and led that club to it's first-ever Series appearance last year. He has been comfortably above the 200 innings pitched mark the past 3 seasons, and won the 2008 A.L. Cy Young Award. He won't turn 33 until Labor Day weekend.

Roy Oswalt turns 34 a day before Lee turns 33, and would be the lead Ace on almost any other team in the Majors. Oswalt has been over the 200 innings pitched in 6 of the last 7 seasons, and was the 2005 NLCS MVP when he led the Astros into that franchise' only-ever World Series appearance. Cole Hamels is the kid of the group at 27 years of age, and is the only career-long member of the franchise. The 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP, Hamels has been over the 180 innings pitched mark for the last 4 straight years, and may be in line for a dominating season pitching out of the #4 slot in the rotation.

Put those four arms at the front of any team in baseball, and you have a contender. But that's not all the Phillies have at their disposal on the mound. There is the current 5th starter, Joe Blanton, who is a legitimate #3 for most teams and solid #3-4 on any contending club. The 30-year old righty has been over the 170 inning mark in every single full season that he has pitched. 26-year old Kyle Kendrick pitched over 180 innings last year. Clearly the Phils have more than enviable depth that not only would serve them well throughout a long season, but it also can make for valuable trade bait should any holes develop in the everyday lineup or bullpen.

That everyday lineup has previously been the Phillies calling card. The booming bats and lightening legs combination in the batting order of Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth and supporting players such as Pat Burrell, Placido Polanco, Raul Ibanez and others led the Fightin's to their early successes in winning the 2007 division title and the 2008 World Series. Longtime cornerstones Burrell and Werth are gone now (Pat the Bat having won another World Series last year with the Giants) and both injuries and age are creeping up on some of the rest.

Let's start out with the apparently healthy guys. Ryan Howard is believed to have had a down year last season. But the 31-year old slugging 1st baseman bashed 31 homers and drove in 108 runs despite missing nearly a month with an injury. In his prime, healthy, and in shape, Howard should be primed for another big 35-40 homerun season out of the cleanup slot. At 30 years old, the dynamic Shane Victorino has now won 3 straight NL Gold Gloves in centerfield, and he was 3rd in the league last year in both triples and stolen bases. Left fielder Raul Ibanez will turn 39-years old in early June, and is likely beginning his final season in Philly. He is a supporting bat now, still fully capable of a .270-20 homer-80 rbi season. Carlos Ruiz is the catcher, and one of the best in the game at both handling a pitching staff and in his catch-and-throw skills. He is also a tremendous clutch hitter.

The rest of the bats may make or break the entire Phillies season. At the start of spring training it was expected that top prospect phenom Domonic Brown would battle veteran Ben Francisco to replace the productive Werth in right field. But Brown broke the hamate bone in his hand early in camp, and Francisco had a strong spring to apparently nail down the job, at least to start the season. His ability to be productive in his first real chance as a starting regular in the Majors will be one key, as will Brown's return from injury by mid-summer. 3rd baseman Placido Polanco is now 35-years old and coming off a solid season in which he was limited by an elbow injury. He has been slow this spring to recover fully, but should be healthy and the Phils should be able to expect a little more than last year's 6 homers and 52 rbi.

The biggest questions and answers in the Phillies lineup concern the mega-talented Keystone combo of 2nd baseman Chase Utley and shortstop Jimmy 'JRoll' Rollins. Both players turned 32 years old this winter, missed major chunks of the 2010 season with injury problems, and are going in completely opposite directions this spring. For JRoll it appears to be a year of recovery and a return to being the dynamic, driving force at the top of the team's batting order. For Utley, it's more injury concerns, this time a chronic, cranky right knee that has just not responded thus far to simple rest. Chase has not played in a game during spring training, will start the year on the DL, and is likely out at least until May.

The Phillies can likely get by with Utley out even for a couple of months. As long as Rollins, Howard, Ibanez, Polanco, Victorino, Francisco and Ruiz remain healthy, the lineup will have plenty enough offensive strength to compliment the outstanding starting pitching. 2nd base will likely be professionally manned for defensive purposes by Wilson Valdez, who was excellent spelling Utley, Rollins and Polanco last season during their various injuries. Veteran Luis Castillo has been brought in at the end of spring for a quick look-see, but must seriously impress to stick. The bench has talent and experience in Ross Gload, Brian Schneider and John Mayberry. Either Michael Martinez or Brian Bocock are also likely to help as depth.

Besides the big losses of Utley and Brown, the bullpen is where the 3rd big loss has developed. Closer Brad Lidge is now scheduled to begin the season on the DL for the 3rd time in his 4 seasons with the Phillies. The man who was "Lights Out" and perfect for the '08 World Series champs collapsed in '09, but then rebounded nicely last year. Until he is ready to go, the end of games will likely fall to either perennial back-end guy Ryan Madson or wily veteran Jose Contreras. Veteran lefty J.C. Romero is also back. The rest of the pen will come from some combination of righties Danys Baez and Scott Mathieson, and lefties Antonio Bastardo and Mike Zagurski. All may be needed at one time or another to get the club through, though with the Big Four starters all burning up major innings totals, that will alleviate a need for middle-innings relief most nights.

Fortunately for the Philadelphia Phillies, they are being guided by one of the most professional players managers in the history of the game in Charlie Manuel. The man who has gone from a talk-show joke to the beloved "Uncle Charlie" thanks to his success was rewarded this off-season with a contract extension. Manuel's calm hand and down-home style guided the team through last year's injury debacle, and he is the perfect man at the helm of this ship to guide it through almost any type of storm. He is likely to ride the big horses in his rotation and whatever regulars in the lineup are healthy as far as they will take him, which should be pretty far once again.

In my previous two MLB predictions articles here, I tipped my hand that I was predicting the Phillies to win their 5th straight N.L. East crown, their 3rd National League pennant in 4 seasons, and then lose a dramatic and exciting World Series to the Boston Red Sox. The Fightin' Phils could just as easily win that Series if all of their starting pitchers are healthy and clicking come October. However, the one big thing that could keep the team from even meeting that ultimate goal is injuries. The fans who will once again sellout every date at Citizens Bank Park have to hope that the Utley, Lidge and Brown situations don't end up becoming a harbinger of things to come.

MLB 2011: National League

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:20:00 +0000

Call them what you like, because they've had 'em all hung on them at one time or another over this past winter. The "Phab Four", the "Four Aces", the "Four Horsemen", whatever. Just as long as Charlie Manuel can call on them every fifth day, the Philadelphia Phillies will win their 5th straight N.L. East crown and their 3rd National League pennant in four years before falling in one of the best World Series in decades to the Boston Red Sox. At least that's the call here.

I'll cover the Fightin' Phils and all the specific reasons in my next article here in the coming days. Let's spend some time talking about who will be doing the chasing, and who can take their place should those injury woes become overwhelming. Last year I said that the Atlanta Braves might be the one team that could give the Phils a run for their money in the N.L. East, and I was right on there. In Bobby Cox' final season at the helm, Atlanta stayed with the Phils for most of the season, even leading the division for awhile, and made it into the playoffs as the N.L. Wildcard before bowing to the eventual pennant-winning Giants in a tough playoff series.

The Braves may have an intimidating lineup if everything goes right. If Chipper Jones stays healthy. If rookie 1st sacker Freddie Freeman is a Rookie of the Year contender. If their young rotation and bullpen arms all hold up and produce. With newcomer Dan Uggla and catcher Brian McCann joining last year's phenom Jason Heyward, the Braves should again contend for the division and playoff races.
I just don't believe that Jones can hold up, and that every single thing will go right in Atlanta. Behind the Braves, the dropoff to the Marlins is significant, and even more so to the sinking Mets and the growing Nats.

Last year in the N.L. Central, I said that Cincinnati was a "dark horse" contender. The Reds got more pitching than I thought they would, and put together a division-winning season before running into Roy Halladay and a veteran Phillies team in the playoffs. I also picked Milwaukee to win the division a year ago. I'm going to do it yet again. The Brewers will edge out Cincy in a final weekend battle for the division crown in what will be the best rest in all of baseball, with both the Cubs and the Cardinals staying in it into the final month. Milwaukee strengthened it's pitching rotation this off-season enough to make their lineup led by free agent-to-be Prince Fielder and all-star outfielder Ryan Braun the favorites. Houston and Pittsburgh will be after-thoughts here.

Out in the N.L. West is where the World Series champion San Francisco Giants reside. Led by Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and closer Brian Wilson, the GMen overcame a mediocre offense to win it all. Last year, that is exactly the recipe that I said they would need if they wanted to do it, and it happened. It won't happen again. Last year I picked the Colorado Rockies to win this division, and as with the Brew Crew in the Central, I am going to do it yet again. The Rox have a legit MVP contender in Carlos Gonzalez and a ton of talent behind him. In fact, I even think that the Dodgers may have enough to beat out San Fran this time around. Those three should battle hard all season, into the final month, with both Arizona and San Diego lagging way in back of that contending pack.

So let's call it the Phillies, Brewers, and Rockies to win the divisional races. I see five clubs as serious N.L. Wildcard contenders here: the Braves, Reds, Cubs, Dodgers and Giants. I'll say that enough things do go right that Atlanta edges out Cincy for the Wildcard playoff spot. I'll take the Phils and Rockies to reach the NLCS, where Philly's "Four Whatevers" dominate the Rockie hitters and lead the Fightin's into another World Series appearance.

For the National League award winners, I'll go with my pick from a year ago to actually win the MVP race this time, and that would be Milwaukee's Ryan Braun. In the Cy Young race, I'm going to take Cole Hamels pitching out of that #4 spot for Philly. As the Rookie of the Year, let's go with Cincy's flame-throwing reliever (for now) Aroldis Chapman. And as the Manager of the Year, I'll take the Cubs Mike Quade for a surprise contending job. Just what specifically it is that I like about those Phillies, what I think can cause them trouble, and why I think they fall short to Boston in the Fall Classic are all topics for the next post.

MLB 2011: American League

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:45:00 +0000

I wonder how Philadelphia Phillies fans would feel about Terry Francona (above) managing his club to a World Series title for the 3rd time? Especially if this time those Boston Red Sox defeat the Fightin' Phils for the world championship, as I am predicting is going to happen in late October of 2011.

The American League's East Division is where you can find the greatest blood feud in baseball history, that between the Bosox and their hated southern neighbors, the dynastic New York Yankees. Both clubs have had recent success, with the Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004 and 2007, and the Yanks winning it all in 2009. For this coming season, I am picking the two clubs to battle for the A.L. East crown, and for Boston to come out on top.

The Red Sox struggled through an injury-marred 2010 and missed the post-season. But over this past winter the club was reinforced with a pair of game-changing offensive talents in 1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez and left fielder Carl Crawford. AGonz will bang the ball all over Fenway Park, and Crawford's speed paired with that of Jacoby Ellsbury will give the Bosox' game something new with which to challenge opponents. Add in 2nd baseman Dustin Pedroia, 3rd sacker Kevin Youkilis, and veteran right fielder J.D. Drew and Boston has some of the best offensive talent in the game. On the mound the Sox are deep and talented in both their rotation and in the bullpen, with a tremendous mix of veterans such as Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon and kids such as Jon Lester and Daniel Bard. This is, given reasonable health, clearly the team to beat.

The Yankees lineup is aging in spots, particularly on the left side of the infield where future Hall of Famers Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez perform. But both of these players will be back and should perform well in the coming season, and Jeter should become the first Yankee in history to reach the 3,000 career hits milestone. With Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano, this may be the best all-around infield in baseball. The Yanks appear to be a little short on outfield pop, and their starting pitching has serious depth problems.

However, the bullpen has the best closer in baseball history in Mariano Rivera being setup now by one of the best in recent years, Rafael Soriano. The Yanks also now have shutdown lefty relievers, and have plenty of cash with which to eventually shore up any weaknesses. They will contend once again.

In 2 of the past 3 seasons, it has not been Boston or New York that has won this tough division. Instead, the Tampa Bay Rays have vaulted past both and finished on top. However, the small-market Rays began to lose talent to free agency this off-season, including Crawford to Boston, and do not appear to have the firepower beyond all-star 3rd sacker Evan Longoria to stay with those top two dogs this time around. The Rays pitching should keep them ahead of both Buck Showalter's improving Baltimore Orioles and a slugging Toronto Blue Jays squad to round out the A.L. East standings.

In the A.L. Central, I can see a case being made for any one of three clubs winning this race, but I am going to put my money down on the Chicago White Sox at this point. Manager Ozzie Guillen has a multi-talented club with a strong bullpen. If they get any kind of reasonable production out of Jake Peavy, they may win the division comfortably. Even if not, they still get my nod to win in a squeaker over the Minnesota Twins. The Twinkies are always dangerous, but may be facing some health issues with franchise cornerstones Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. If both of those guys find some way to get and stay healthy the majority of the season, look for the Twins to again be serious division title contenders.

The team that might surprise here in the A.L. Central is the Detroit Tigers. Skipper Jim Leyland feels he has talent and depth. He just might have enough to make a run at the club's first title since moving to the Central Division in 2008. Since reaching the 2006 World Series as the division's first-ever Wildcard team, Leyland has generally had the club in some form of contention. It will be largely up to the pitching staff if this current club wants to return to the post-season. Both Cleveland and Kansas City appear to be after-thoughts, although before the year is out we may begin to see the first signs of the Royals' top-rated farm system bring some long overdue excitement back to KC.

Out in the American League West Division we find baseball's only 4-team alignment. Legendary pitcher Nolan Ryan fronted a bid to buy the Texas Rangers last season, and his group emerged victorious in that battle. His team then emerged victorious in the division and playoff battles, reaching the World Series for the first time in franchise history. It says here that despite losing ace Cliff Lee, the Rangers and A.L. MVP Josh Hamilton will still have enough to hold off the always dangerous Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Halos still look to be clearly the only team that has the firepower to keep up with Texas. The Oakland A's have some strong young pitching, enough to perhaps keep things interesting on their side of the Bay for awhile this summer, but neither they nor the Seattle Mariners should provide much competition in the end.

So with Boston, Chicago, and Texas all picked as divisional winners, the only race left would be for the A.L. Wildcard spot. I see three clubs as serious contenders for that, and would rank them in this order: the Yankees, the Angels, and finally the Twins. The dark horse contender team is the Detroit Tigers, with the Tampa Bay Rays also being a potential longshot playoff contender if all of their questions are answered right. I am going to call it a "Battle of the Sox" in the ALCS, with Boston's red downing Chicago's white, and with the Bosox then taking home their 3rd World Series title in 8 years.

For the award winners, lets go with Adrian Gonzalez of Boston as the A.L. MVP, with Tampa Bay's David Price as the Cy Young Award winner, and with the White Sox' outstanding young lefty arm Chris Sale as the A.L. Rookie of the Year. Guillen will win the Manager of the Year for guiding those Pale Hose to the Central crown. Aside from the real battles between the contenders, real baseball fans should pay attention late in the season to both Baltimore and Kansas City, as each young club should be showcasing some excellent kids who may bring those two former contenders back to the glory days some season soon.

TV Watch: "Shameless"

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 19:15:00 +0000

William H. Macy and Emmie Rossum star in Showtime's new hit "Shameless"

The problem with cable television series is that they tend to show a lot of sex, especially among non-married individuals, drug and alcohol abuse, crime commission, and the entire array of man's worst and basest actions. "Shameless" has all of that.

The greatness of cable television series is that they don't hide from any of those very real elements of the struggles, tragedies, and triumphs of modern men and women. It would be nice if families were perfect, whatever that is, but as human beings we are imperfect. To ignore rather than explore that imperfection would be a disservice.

Showtime has become perhaps the leading television network for presenting quality series, and it's new creation "Shameless" gives it yet another hit. The Gallagher family is certainly shameless in their actions. They are willing to and do lie, cheat, and steal in an effort to keep their dysfunctional, lower-class "white trash" family afloat.

The family is also shameless in their love, affection, and dedication to one another individually and the entire family as a unit. In this regard they do what so many other cable television series have been able to do, they draw us in and get us to sympathize, empathize, and root for their efforts to overcome the great obstacles that are thrown in our life paths by both circumstance and our own poor decisions.

The "name" star of the show is veteran actor William H. Macy playing family patriarch Frank Gallagher. Calling Frank an alcoholic is an insult to alcoholics everywhere. Frank is a fall-down drunk, saved from homelessness only by his inspired children. The back story says that the family was once intact until the mom left for reasons that have yet not been fully explored. When she took off, leaving him with six kids to raise, Frank instead took to the bottle, leaving the kids to largely raise themselves.

The job of raising those kids has fallen on eldest daughter Fiona, played by the edgy-beautiful Emmie Rossum, the real star of the series. Fiona works dead-end jobs, organizes the household, juggles the roles of big sister and surrogate mother, all while also trying to find herself as a woman. Besides her family obligations, the show also highlights her relationships, particularly with hustler boyfriend Steve played charmingly by Justin Chatwin.

The eldest Gallagher son is Phillip, known as 'Lip', played by Jeremy Allen White. Lip is a high school genius who has decided to utilize his intellect to make money for the family in illegal pursuits such as charging other students to take their SAT exams for them in exchange for money. The middle son, Ian, is played by Cameron Monaghan as a teen exploring emerging homosexual feelings. The youngest son, Carl, is played by Ethan Kutkowsky as an early serial killer, the kind of dark kid who tortures animals and draws pictures of his family dead at his hands.

The youngest daughter, the tween Debbie, is played by Emma Kenney, and is probably the most sympathetic character to this point. Deb seems to have a good head on her shoulders, wants only the best for her family, and is always trying to help others. She clearly has a good heart, and is beginning to struggle with the reality of her dysfunctional family while doing everything she can to help the clan individually and as a group. She is basically a tiny Fiona, without the worldliness of maturity.

The supporting cast is good as well, especially Shanola Hampton and Steve Howey as mixed-race neighbors Veronica and Kevin. As best friend to Fiona, 'V' and her live-in boyfriend Kev are almost members of the Gallagher family, not always to Kev's liking. Lara Slade Wiggins has a regular role as Lip's girlfriend, Karen, whose family is going through it's own issues. Playing her kooky mom is veteran comedienne Joan Cusack.

The show airs original episodes every Sunday night at 10pm on Showtime, with replays during the week and the series available to subscribers via OnDemand services. It is currently approaching the end of the first season. The show features outstanding acting turns by both the adults and the kids involved. Despite having plenty of action involving those kids on the show, it is in no way for kids to watch. This is an adult TV-MA series all the way with sex, drugs, booze, and mature themes and situations dealt with on a regular basis.

For some reason, cable series seem to have a fascination with the gay topic. There are absolutely more gay characters involved in cable series than you will ever run into as a percentage in real life in most families. In that regard, "Shameless" is no different in featuring the issue with one of the Gallagher sons. But aside from that, there is much to like here. The acting is top notch, the issues are real ones faced by many in America's oft-neglected underclass, and the togetherness of the family is commendable.

Some who are a bit more squeamish and sensitive than I am about showing even hetero-sexuality and dealing with mature, serious issues will cringe at the shamelessness of "Shameless". For me, this is yet another homerun for cable television in general, and for Showtime in particular. I am looking forward to watching the Gallagher clan battle their demons for years to come, and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new show to enjoy.

NOTE: this is a continuation of the "TV Watch" series of articles, all entries of which can be read by clicking on that below label. Also, as always, the title of this post is a link to further information on the main topic.

Priestly Bad Apples

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 19:22:00 +0000

It is an old saying that I have often reminded folks of in the past, that being "don't throw the baby out with the bath water." The meaning behind this simple old saying is that it is the baby which in the end is by far the most important, precious thing. It may be sitting in a pool of filth, scum, and slime. So what? Toss the water, keep the baby.

The same theory can be applied to many things in life, but most especially must always be remembered when dealing with the most important things. One of those most important things is your spiritual life. Christians throughout history have far too often thrown the baby, in this case the Church, out with whatever bath water was mucking things up at any particular time.

In the past, Christians have left the Church, the only one founded by Jesus Christ himself, because they didn't like things that were going on within the hierarchy, or because they didn't believe in some matter of doctrine, or because they had been let down or felt betrayed by some scandal. This is exactly how Protestantism and Orthodoxy began.

The splits, or schisms, within the Church have left many wounds unhealed after centuries, and have left hundreds of millions of true believers in Jesus Christ susceptible to heretical teachings and practices.
The scars may never fully heal, and the Church may never be truly reunited, until the return of Christ himself in the final days.

There is a lesson to be learned here for Philadelphia-area Catholics in particular who are digesting and reacting to the news this past week of further revelations of sexual abuse of children at the hands of some in the Priesthood. Current priests Charles Englehardt and Edward Avery, former priest James Brennan, teacher Bernard Shero, and sex-abuse investigator Monsignor William Lynn were all charged in the latest chapter of the scandals.

The lesson is that these unholy and abusive actions by people who claimed, to quote the Rev. Joseph Garvin in his homily today at St. Christopher's Church in Somerton "to represent God but who in actuality represented Satan" were not representative of the Church, it's priests, it's teachers, or it's vision. Rather they are, as have been all abusers uncovered in recent years, criminals and deviants who used the Church to destroy Christian lives and fracture the Church itself, Satan's own avowed goal.

Priests, teachers, and other Church representatives who are the actual abusers need to continue to be weeded out and prosecuted. And it is not enough at the current time to simply fall back on the position, as Cardinal Justin Rigali has in his letter to parishioners this week that "..there is no admitted or established abuser in ministry." That is an obvious defensive copout at a time when the Church needs to go on the offensive against it's rogues.

The Catholic Church has promised to, as stated by David Clohessy in today's Philadelphia Inquirer, "remove credibly accused clerics." Clohessy is the executive director of the Chicago-based "SNAP" (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests", and he is absolutely correct when he calls on the Cardinal to identify and suspend accused priests in furtherance of the protection of our precious children.

We as Catholics have a role as elements of this long-standing scandal continue to unfold. We must continue to insist that Church hierarchy aggressively investigate any and all allegations of abuse, be they past or current. We must insist that the Church always err on the side of protecting children in every allegation case. We must also remember to hold ourselves accountable for our own conduct in representing our Church to outsiders as well as to other Catholics.

But perhaps most importantly we must remember to not "throw the baby out with the bath water" in this situation. The Church is still the family and faith founded by Jesus Christ, and as such it is the single most important institution in all of our lives, including our own families. We must stand by the Church, not flee from it. We must pray for and embrace the Church, not abandon it. We must strengthen the Church with our lives and our faith, not allow the devil to weaken it further.

Tough times don't last, tough people do. The Catholic Church has lasted for over two millenia because we are a tough people, that toughness forged on the cross by Christ himself in our name. For the steadfastness in suffering that he undertook for our sakes on that afternoon at Calvary, we must willingly suffer and boldly overcome today.

As of 1995 there were almost a billion Roman Catholics spread throughout the world. As of 2005 there were more than 400,000 Catholic priests serving them. There have been over 4,000 American Catholic priests accused of abuse over the past half century, just 4% of the more than 109,000 American priests serving during that time. There is no way that we are going to allow these Satanic priestly bad apples spoil our entire bushel of a beautiful Church.

Birth Pains of the New Caliphate

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 19:20:00 +0000

It's been a couple of years since I've seriously broached this topic. The recent riotous uprising in Egypt, categorized by the usual American media suspects as attempts at "democracy", bring the topic clearly back to relevancy. In actuality, the topic has always been relevant, but it always takes something major to wake up the American public.

For the great unwashed, and for those media talking heads who nearly lost their own heads this past week at the hands of these alleged democracy-loving demonstrators, let's do a quick refresher on just what exactly is the Islamic "caliphate", and why we all should be concerned about it.

A very long story begins in the first half of the 7th century A.D. with the birth of Islam under it's founder, Muhammad, a man believed by followers of that faith to be the greatest and final messenger of God. Muhammad first spread this new faith by peaceful preaching and teaching, but he and his followers eventually turned to violent and forcible means.

In the aftermath of Muhammad's death in 632, physical and spiritual battles arose for control of Islam by two groups who we continue that struggle today, 1,500 years later - the Sunni and the Shiites. The Sunni were larger and stronger, and overall Islamic power was centralized under a leader who was known as the 'Caliph', the successor to Muhammad. The lands and peoples over which the Caliph held control became known as the Islamic Caliphate.

For centuries this Caliphate spread by conquest known as 'Jihad' throughout the lands of the Middle East, across northern Africa, and into both Spain and eastern Europe. By the end of the 17th century, just before the emergence of America as a nation and culture, the Caliphate controlled an area as large as the old Roman Empire.

The end finally began to come for the Islamic Caliphate on the eve of the American birth when, in 1774, it surrendered large portions of control to the emerging Russian nation. Then the Ottoman Empire, which controlled the Caliphate over it's final four centuries, went into World War I on the side of the Axis powers, the losing side.

In the aftermath of defeat in World War I, secular power took charge in Turkey, and the Caliphate was formally abolished. Ever since that time, various religious and military leaders have vowed to return the Caliphate to power, most notably the Muslim Brotherhood. That has been and remains the goal of the worldwide movement known to many today as "radical Islam", to take control first of the Middle East, and then begin to spread the Caliphate around the region, to neighboring nations, and eventually around the entire world.

The Muslim Brotherhood is at the very core of the troubles in the Middle East today. The Brotherhood has for decades been sparking, fomenting, and supporting uprisings through it's creations such as al Qaeda and Hamas among dozens of others. Their stated goals are: the reestablishment of the Caliphate, the reunification of their nation (the Ummah), the institution of strict Islamic religious law (Shariah), and the spread of the Caliphate around the world.

They are behind the uprisings that have taken place recently or are currently taking place across the Arabic world from Egypt to Jordan, from Tunisia to Syria, from Libya to Lebanon. While these alleged "popular uprisings" for "democratic reforms" topple various types of secular institutional governments, make no mistake about what the new replacement governments will become. They will become Islamic theocracies, either outright or by proxy control.

As the Muslim Brotherhood exercises and expands it's control by whipping up tens of thousands at the grass-roots level to violently demonstrate and forcibly coerce change, the results will not be anything like American or even European democracy. What we are seeing in Egypt and across the Middle East, and will continue to see there, in Africa, and will see at some point in every nation of the world during this century, are the birth pains of the new Caliphate.

Millions of Americans will be glued to their television sets for hours this weekend to watch a football game. They will gorge on tons of food and snack treats, scarf down alcoholic and carbonated beverages by the truck load, and gamble away hard-earned money on pools and bets. Meanwhile, a much bigger, deadlier, and far more important game will be playing out on the other side of the world.

Americans who continue to consider a few weeks, months, or even a couple years of largely quiet times in the struggle against radical Islam as anything other than a lull in the storm are kidding themselves. More than that, they are passively ignoring the struggle that will be one of the most vital across their world as they age. It is the struggle that will define the world in which their children and grandchildren live out this century. It is one that will be forced upon them by the Caliphate now in the struggles of it's own rebirth.

For Republicans, Rape Is Still Rape

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:54:00 +0000

I am a proud Republican, and more than that, a proud Conservative, which I happily type with a capital 'C' in front. I do not support every plank that the party puts forth, nor do I support every politician that takes up the 'Red' banner. And those who get my vote, such as George W. Bush, sometimes only get it because they are better than the lousy liberal alternatives.

I am also a proud father and grandfather of three beautiful daughters and a wonderful granddaughter, the husband of a loving wife, and a brother-in-law, cousin, uncle, nephew, co-worker, neighbor, and friend to many outstanding women.

All that prefaces my position now in full support of a bill (HR3) put forth by New Jersey's outstanding congressman Chris Smith that would essentially end any taxpayer funding of abortions, as well as any tax breaks for health insurance that covers the same.

You see, the usual suspects in the liberal community, from the radical fringe such as MoveOn to the agenda-driven Planned Parenthood to supposedly mainstream Democrats looking to protect their political power, are predictably against this legislative initiative. However, as usual, they don't stop at simply voicing common sense opposition in a debate of ideas. Instead they have stooped to the usual tactics of code words, divisiveness, and misinterpretation.

The tactic chosen to oppose the anti-abortion legislation, or as those of us firmly on the side of right and good choose to call it, the pro-life legislation, is incredibly and intentionally ugly. They have chosen to paint Republicans as somehow supporting, denying, or minimizing the crime of rape.
They are saying that Republicans are trying to "redefine rape", and have actually stated in some forums that to Republicans, rape is no longer rape.

I find that kind of rhetoric, and that's all it is, political and social rhetoric, to be patently offensive. As a man who has all of the above listed women in his life, I can tell you for a fact that to me and all Republicans, rape is rape is rape. I would be wholly sympathetic to and supportive of any woman in my own life who might experience this crime, in fact, a couple of them have experienced it. The same statement of sympathy and support can be said for Representative Smith, Republican leader John Boehner, and every other Republican politician.

This is, of course, not the issue that the legislation relates to at all. The legislation aims to back up with concrete action one of the basic platform items in the party's 'Pledge to America' when it won control of congress in the elections of November 2010. As Boehner has stated "Our members feel very strongly about the sanctity of human life."

A simple reading of the actual legislation easily shows that Republicans indeed have a heart. The first handful of sections, 301-304, state the long-held party position against the murder of innocent babies in the womb as they call for a prohibition on the funding of abortions themselves, for health care plans that cover abortions, on tax benefits relating to abortion, and on federal facilities and employees being used in the killings.

Then section 309 clearly reads that these limitations shall not apply to "situations where the pregnancy occurred because the pregnant female was the subject of an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incense." It further reads that the limitations shall not apply in the case "where the pregnant female suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the pregnant female in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself."

Common sense legislation that respects and allows provisions for women who have been attacked, abused, taken advantage of, or placed in danger while also standing up against the killing of innocent lives simply because someone was irresponsible, lazy, careless, negligent, or just plain-old heartless and uncaring. Once again, and per usual, a simple actual reading of the actual legislation being presented shows the truth for those who are willing to seek it out.

So do not allow yourself to be persuaded by headline-grabbing, blog-clogging, radical lefty propaganda campaigns currently underway. Read the legislation yourself by simply clicking on the title of this article, which is a link to that legislation as actually proposed in it's entirety. Then make your own decision. But make no mistake, we Republicans love and care for the women in our lives, and we will not be "redefining rape" at all. Rape is rape, and it is morally wrong. Just as morally wrong is the murder of innocent children whose only "fault" is one of being an inconvenient burden to an irresponsible parent.

The End

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 19:07:00 +0000

"and in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make"

42 years ago on this date, music history was made on a London rooftop. It was January 30th, 1969 when the most popular, influential, and arguably greatest band in the history of music on this planet set up their instruments and cameras to record their swan song. It is highly unlikely that anyone on that roof on that cold day realized what they were experiencing exactly, which would be the final 'live' performance by The Beatles.

For the legendary quartet that would be forever linked by their musical genius together, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, this was the culmination of a grueling month of work. Throughout January of 1969 the band had worked zealously on the studio recordings for "Let It Be", the album that would ultimately become their final release as a working band.

The concept for "Let It Be" was that it would be all new material which would be performed in front of a 'live' audience at the same time as it was being recorded, a process that had never been attempted previously in contemporary music. But turning this vision of Paul's into a reality proved far more difficult in practice than in theory.

The Beatles were trying to work their way through the stresses and strains that their celebrity, their personal lives and relationships, and simply a decade of working, living, and travelling together had created. These pressures would soon split the band forever, and trying to find a location to shoot this particular project highlighted their problems.

No one could agree on a suitable, unique location for the recording sessions. The Coliseum in Rome had actually been considered, as had the Tunisian desert. One consideration was to film the project entirely on a ship at sea. In the end, much of "Let It Be" was recorded in the studio. The tensions between McCartney and Lennon actually drove Harrison away for a week, and when he returned it was only after keyboardist and friend Billy Preston was allowed to join the sessions.

Finally, on the final Thursday of January in the first month of the penultimate year of the turbulent and tumultuous 1960's, the band and Preston all took to the rooftop of the Apple studios building at 3 Savile Row to record the final pieces to the album, which was being documented for a film project as well. When the decade had begun, the band was a group of clean-cut, clean-shaven, wide-eyed pop stars. On the rooftop this day at decade's end was a rock band complete with long and facial hair.

"Get Back" was the first song that they performed on that day, both a warmup version and then a full version which was eventually captured for the film and became a popular version of the song. As the band plays, people begin to gather on the streets below, and also begin to hang out the windows of adjoining buildings. "Is that really the Beatles?" as the crowd's whispered murmur slowly grows to a mild uproar.

The band moves on to McCartney's beautiful, haunting ballad that will become the album and film's namesake "Let It Be", and from there proceeds to Lennon's dramatic, emotional "Don't Let Me Down", and then on into a fine Lennon-McCartney duet with "I've Got A Feeling". One wonders if they had a feeling that this performance, their first public performance in 2 1/2 years, would be their last together?

"One After 909" and "Dig A Pony" are recorded for posterity before the police begin to bang on the roof's door, trying to bring the performance to an end. The large crowds now drawn into the streets below were causing complete chaos for the workday rush, and the powers-that-be wanted the plug pulled on the impromptu jam session that was creating the ruckus.

As the police are trying to end the session, the Beatles play on with final versions of "I've Got a Feeling", "Let It Be" and "Get Back", which would unknowingly go down in history as the final song ever performed 'live' by the entire band together in public. Lennon steps to the microphone, and in his final public moment at the front of his legendary band makes a humorous statement forever immortalized in the film: "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition."

With that, the end. The beginning of the end of a decade that many would say had ushered in the end of American innocence, if there ever was such a thing to begin with. The end of the band that had been, either directly or indirectly through their own musical evolution, at the front and center of most of the popular cultural revolution of that decade.

The experience of working on the album and film was so bad that McCartney quickly moved to get them back into a studio together, realizing that things were not going to hold together for them much longer as a group. During the first half of 1969 the band worked through sessions which resulted in the "Abbey Road" album. Released that summer, it became a #1 album, though critics were split on the music. But one thing that was clear to all was that while the musical magic might not be gone, the relationships had soured to the breaking point.

The "Let It Be" album would not be released for more than another year, with the final new Beatles track, George Harrison's "I, Me, Mine" recorded on January 3rd, 1970, without John Lennon participating. The full band was last together in the studio on August 20th, 1969, and Lennon announced that he had left the band a month later, an announcement that would not be made public for some time still. On December 31st, 1970, McCartney filed a lawsuit to formally dissolve the band, which would actually take place in 1975 thanks to lengthy legal battles.

It is said that all good things must come to an end. Like many relationships that were at one time phenomenal, positive experiences for all involved, this greatest of all musical collaborations had finally reached it's own end. Any hope for any type of real reunion would fully come to an end on December 8th, 1980, when Lennon would be cut down by an assassin's bullet.

Thankfully for all of us, that final day together in public, 42 years ago today, was captured on film. For fans wanting to experience the Beatles together as a band, it was simply the end.

Sunday Sermon: Heed the Call

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 22:55:00 +0000

Jesus Christ was approximately 30 years old, and he was ready to step from the shadows of a life which to that stage had been lived in relative anonymity. He had learned of the fate of his cousin, John 'the Baptist', and decided that it was time for he himself to begin a public ministry. It was what he had waited his whole life to do. It was the entire reason for his being alive.

Jesus knew as he began that he would need to start somewhere. And so he set out along the edge of the waters of the sea of Galilee, beginning to spread there a message" that the people should "repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

As he made those first tentative public speeches and teachings, he was mostly alone, and he quickly came to realize that he needed help. He needed people to help him travel, to organize, to simply be his companions on the journey.

Walking along the edge of the Galilean sea he observed two brothers named Simon and Andrew, and he began to talk with them. He talked and taught, telling the brothers "Follow me, and I will make you fisher's of men!" His divine inspiration was so great that the brothers left behind their nets and began to follow Jesus.

The trio moved along the sea a bit and came upon the fishing ship of a man named Zebedee. Tending the nets with their father were his two sons, James and John, and Jesus again began to speak to the men and called on them to join him, which they did. From this humble beginning has arisen the greatest church in the history of the world.
The very church of the one true God Himself, founded by His only son.

That very first man he had called, the brother once named Simon, had his name changed by Christ prior to his own death to "Peter". Jesus turned over the church to this man saying "You are Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven."

These men were just the first to be called by Christ to his ministry. The first to be asked to hear him, to listen to the message from God, to have faith, and to lay aside all they thought that they had previously known in order to follow Jesus. More would follow. First by the few, then by the dozens, ultimately by the hundreds and by the thousands. Over the course of human history, the same exact call would go out to billions.

A Pharisee named Saul was one that was called in those early years. It was after the crucifixtion of Jesus that his disciples were first trying to spread his word as a group which had become known as "The Way". Saul zealously persecuted Jesus' followers, and in the continuation of this effort was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus.

On the road to Damascus, Jesus suddenly appeared to Saul and called to him: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Saul asked who was speaking, and Jesus replied: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what to do." Saul ultimately heeded the call, changed his name to 'Paul', and along with Peter became one of the Founding Father's of the church.

But just as human death did not stop Jesus from calling people like Paul, neither has the passage of time stopped people from being called. You are called.

That's right, you reading this right now. The simple fact is that we are all called by the Lord to hear his word and to yield our lives to him. Every single person reading this has heard of Jesus Christ. Every single person reading this knows exactly what Jesus claimed to be: the Truth. The one true way.

In Jesus own words we find the single most important call that any of us have ever received in our lives, and make no mistake, we have all received this call. Jesus himself said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

You have been called. Have you heeded his call? If you have, congratulations brother or sister. Continue in your own personal journey during this life in trying to live as he would wish you to live. You will never reach perfection. You will stumble and fall and sin many times, for you are human. But you have heeded the call, accepted the truth, and will be rewarded.

Others of you have not heeded the call. You have either hesitated, or you have outright turned away from the truth. If you are reading this, you still have time to make the single most important choice that you will make in your life here on earth. You still have the choice to heed Jesus' call, to accept the truth, and to begin to try to follow the way as best you can.

From that first day along the sea of Galilee when Jesus called a quartet of fishermen to become fishers of men, the call has continued to ring out around the world. It has reached your ears. The next step is yours. If you are my family member or my friend, if you in any way have impacted my life, I am reaching out to you right now, personally. Heed the call. God bless you.

NOTE: this is the continuation of the Sunday Sermon series of articles that appear regularly at the www.mattveasey.com website, all items in which can be read by clicking on that label link found below here at the website

Rock & Roll Heaven: John Bonham

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 19:44:00 +0000

Sometime on September 23rd, 1980, John Bonham began to drink. This was not an unusual event in Bonham's life. He was a big drinker. But the binge that he was about to undertake was a big one even by his standards. Over the next day and a half, Bonham, would take approximately 40 shots of vodka in a drinking binge that would end his life.

John Bonham was the drummer for the legendary rock band 'Led Zeppelin', and he was universally considered one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music. As he undertook that final late September alcohol binge, he and his mates in Zeppelin were in preparations for their first world tour in over three years, a tour that would never take place.

The legendary original Led Zeppelin lineup was born as a band in London, England in the latter half of 1968, at the height of the 1960's 'flower child' and 'hippie generation' crazes. Jimmy Page, who was and is universally regarded as one of the greatest guitarists on the planet, and his band 'The Yardbirds' had just broken up. Page met up with singer Robert Plant and began to consider putting a new band together. It wasn't long before the talented Bonham, who both men knew from studio sessions, would be recruited heavily and agree to join the band.

With the addition of bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones the four men originally set out as 'The New Yardbirds', but following their first touring effort it was obvious to all that they had little in common with that original band. The band's name was changed to 'Led Zeppelin', and the rest is music history.
Zep's hard-rocking guitar-fueled style is often credited as being at the forefront of what is now known as 'heavy metal' music, but they did much tremendous acoustic work together as well.

During the 1970's, Zeppelin grew into one of the most popular, successful, and influential rock bands in music history. The band became known for extravagant clothing and wild partying during touring. The band's classic hits released during these years included "Rock and Roll", "Going to California", "Black Dog", "Houses of the Holy", "Immigrant Song", Chase Utley's signature theme "Kashmir", and a song widely acknowledged as one of the greatest in rock history, "Stairway to Heaven".

Bonham had a couple of brief acting turns, first appearing as a drummer in 1974's "Son of Dracula", and then in an action drag-racing scene during the Zeppelin vehicle "The Song Remains the Same" that was set to "Moby Dick", his signature half hour-long concert solo.

Bonham had been married since before the Zeppelin years. He and his wife, Pat, had a son born back in 1966 named Jason Bonham. Jason would go on to drum himself for bands including 'Foreigner'. During the height of Led Zepplin's popularity, the couple added a second child when daughter Zoe was born in the summer of 1975. But as a rock and roll star, his life was far from that of the typical family man.

On July 23rd, 1977, following a Zeppelin concert in San Francisco, Bonham became involved in a controversial backstage incident. The band's manager, Peter Grant, had his son helping with the breakdown job. The son apparently took down a dressing room sign that was not band property, and got into an argument with a member of the promoter's staff, who slapped young Grant. Bonham saw this and ran to the kid's aid, beginning an attack that ended with the staffer badly beaten by members of the band's entourage.

This was just one incident in the downward spiral of Bonham's life. In one episode, Bonham is said to have ridden his motorcycle through a hotel. During a June 27th, 1979 show in Germany, Bonham collapsed while on stage and was rushed to the hospital. It is widely believed that his collapse was caused by his continued misuse and abuse of both alcohol and drugs.

On September 24th, 1980, Bonham was well into his fatal final drinking binge when he attended a rehearsal session for what was planned to be the first Led Zeppelin tour in almost three years. The session ended in the evening and the entire band along with some of their crew and entourage went back to Jimmy Page's home. At some point after midnight, a drunken, passed out Bonham was put to bed and placed on his side.

The next day, John Paul Jones and the band's manager went to try to wake Bonham, and they found him dead. A subsequent autopsy found no other drugs in his system, and ruled that he had died an accidental death, the result of his having vomited, inhaled it, and dying as a result from asphyxiation.

Dave Grohl of the band Foo Fighters, who had to deal himself with the personal tragic loss of his own former 'Nivana' bandmate Kurt Cobain, is quoted as having said "John Bonham played the drums like someone who didn't know what was going to happen next - like he was teetering on the edge of a cliff." It can be said without exaggeration that Bonham lived his life that same way. A great way to drum, perhaps, but perhaps not the best way to live.

John Bonham was just 32 years old when he died from the alcohol abuse. That old adage of sex, drugs, and rock and roll can be extended to include booze as well, a substance that Bonham abused regularly and voluminously. Does he now play the drums in some all-star 'Rock and Roll Heaven' band with Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain on guitar and Janis Joplin at the front? We may one day get to find out for sure, but one thing we know now is that his life ended too soon from his own choices involving one of the usual suspects.

NOTE: this is the return of the 'Rock and Roll Heaven' series of articles here at the www.mattveasey.com website, all items of which can be read by clicking on that label link at the bottom of the article. And as always, the article headline is also a link to more information on the topic.

Nobody Bakes A Cake As Tasty

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:55:00 +0000

1914 was an important year for beginnings. For the planet at large, the year marked the beginning of World War I, the "Great War" as it was known in those days. This military conflict would last almost five years, eventually see nearly 70 million combatants take part, nearly 9 million of whom would perish, and would see the end of the centuries-old Ottoman Empire that had once nearly conquered the world.

The year also saw the debut film in the career of a 24-year old English actor named Charlie Chaplin who would go on to become the single most famous of the entire silent-film era. The year also saw the Ford Motor Company, founded just a decade earlier, institute a new 8-hour work day for it's employees that would eventually be embraced in most every industry across the country.

On July 11th, a big, boisterous 19-year old pitcher by the name of Babe Ruth picked up the victory in his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox. Later that summer, the SS Ancon cargo ship became the first vessel to pass through the Panama Canal in it's long-delayed and highly-valued inaugural opening. In September, Pope Benedict XV was elected to begin his papacy.

George Reeves, who would go on to entertain millions of Americans in the early years of television as "Superman" was born in 1914. Alec Guinness, who would on the far end of the century and in a galaxy far, far away would become famous as 'Obi-Won Kinobi' in the "Star Wars" films was born. Joe Louis, 'The Brown Bomber' still considered one of the greatest heavyweight boxing champs of all-time, was born. Wrestling promoter Vince McMahon, poet Dylan Thomas, longtime Miss America host Bert Parks, the voice of 'Tony the Tiger' and crooner of the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch", Thurl Ravenscroft, and baseball legend Joe DiMaggio all began life in 1914.

In the city of Philadelphia that year there was a more modest beginning, but one that would ultimately grow to it's own popularly dizzy heights as a local and regional legend. It was in that year of 1914 that a baker from Pittsburgh named Philip Bauer and an egg salesman from Boston named Herbert Morris got together on a business venture producing baked cakes. Morris' wife, trying a sample of their creations, said that they were "tasty", and a local legend was born.

The 'Tasty Baking Company' began to produce it's 'Tastykakes'
, selling the original creations for just 10 cents per cake. The cakes were made from "farm fresh eggs, Grade A creamery butter, real milk, cocoa, spices, and natural flavorings from the far ends of the earth." In that first year of business the company reported gross sales of $300,000. Within four years, the company sales figures broke the $1 million mark. Today, the Tasty Baking Company sales have reached over the $280 million mark.

The company began locally in and around Philadelphia and gradually expanded throughout the mid-Atlantic region, and now hopes to go national to continue it's amazing growth story as it approaches it's 100th anniversary in 2014. However, all is not sugar and spice and everything nice these days at Tastykake.

As Tasty grew and expanded both it's line of products and it's service area, it also took on more and more debt in purchasing new facilities and equipment. In the last few years it has fallen upon hard times, as has much of the American economy, and now finds itself about $115 million in debt. Their dire economic situation and the possibility of the company's sale became public recently, causing much consternation in locals, for whom Tastykake has become as iconic to Philadelphia as the Liberty Bell and cheesesteaks.

I can tell you this about Tastykakes first-hand: their products are delicious. The original chocolate cupcakes are some of the best snack cakes on earth. Other signature products such as the chocolate Junior, the butterscotch and jelly Krimpets, the Kandycakes, the fruit pies, and many others match up with any nationally produced baked snack product. For those who have never enjoyed one, these things are damned good. I have my own personal old saying relating to the many foods that I love, where I say that "In my Heaven, they will have_____" (insert favorite food.) Well, in my Heaven, they will have Tastykakes.

When the challenges facing Tastykake became public, a fan group quickly popped up on Facebook calling itself simply "Save Tastykake!" I signed up early on. But I made sure that I made a comment on the page that, while I love Tastykakes, there is only one way that the company should be saved. That way is not to be had in a bailout by an infusion of cash from public coffers.

Tastykake needs to re-evaluate it's future and perhaps the pace of it's growth. It needs to closely evaluate it's product line and expenses. It needs to get it's financial house in as good a functioning order as possible by reducing and reorganizing it's debt, and it needs to listen to and respond to it's core customer base. The company has been accused of reducing the size of cakes while increasing their cost. That charge needs to be addressed directly and honestly.

Tastykakes are delicious snack cakes and pies, and the baked treats and the Tasty Baking Company have become Philadelphia icons. They are well worth saving. I am willing to do my part, but not with Philadelphia or Pennsylvania donating cash to be paid for by the raising of my taxes. For those of us who want to "Save Tastykake!" the best thing that we can do is a simple thing, really. Buy Tastykakes.

Eight Men Out, One Man In

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:37:00 +0000

Today is the 90th anniversary of a landmark day in the history of Major League Baseball. On this date in 1921, the owners elected Kenesaw 'Mountain' Landis to the newly created position of Commissioner. His job, to do whatever it took to restore confidence in the American public following the infamous "Black Sox" scandal of 1919.

The reasons for the creation of the position and for Landis' specific hiring constitute an important and interesting chapter in the history of America's pastime. The National League was founded in 1876, replacing the old National Association that had been formed in 1871 to begin some type of organization for the blossoming sport on a national level.

The American League was founded in 1900 from origins as the Western League which had been itself formed in 1893. In 1901, the A.L. elevated itself to major league status and became direct competition for the N.L.'s senior circuit. In 1903, the champions of the two leagues met in the first World Series, a competition that became permanent in 1905.

In 1919, the A.L.'s Chicago White Sox were considered the best team in the game at that time, led by one of the true early legends in the sport, 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson. The Sox had won the World Series of 1917, and were prohibitive favorites in this World Series against the N.L.'s Cincinnati Reds, but the Reds ended up winning what was then a best-of-9 games event, 5 games to 3.

During that 1919 series, rumors began to surface that a "fix" was in, that professional gamblers had successfully paid off some of the White Sox key players to "throw" the series in the Reds favor. These allegations and rumors continued into and through the 1920 season, and a grand jury was finally convened to investigate the matter. The grand jury convened as the Sox were again battling for the A.L. pennant. When Jackson and a teammate, the team's best pitcher Eddie Cicotte, confessed their involvement to the grand jury, Sox owner Charles Comiskey suspended 8 players believed to have been involved, costing them the 1920 pennant.

A highly publicized trial of the 8 players who were allegedly involved took place. One young boy is famously quoted as approaching Jackson with the plea "Say it ain't so, Joe. Say it ain't so."
Key evidence, including the signed confessions of Cicotte and Jackson went missing. Both men recanted these confessions. There were numerous scandalous incidents during the proceedings. In the end, the jury found the players "not guilty", and it was presumed that they would simply continue on with their careers.

However, Major League Baseball was not happy. The legal jury verdict was obviously a result of a combination of the farcical trial incidents and some hero-worship among the jurors. The owners knew that gamblers had their hands in the outcome of some games almost since the inception of the Major Leagues, and needed to eliminate that influence and win back the integrity of the game in order to keep the respect and interest of the increasingly skeptical fans.

To this end, the owners decided that they needed someone strong, forceful and popular to lead the game's efforts. Prior to that point, administration of the sport such as arbiting disputes among owners was done by a National Commission created as a part of the 1903 peace agreement between the N.L. and A.L. The NC was made up of the President's of both leagues, as well as a Commission chairman.

The owners choice for the Commission chairman job was none other than Landis, an Illinois federal judge who had presided over a famous anti-trust case regarding Standard Oil, and who had popularly presided over the trials of numerous Socialists who were trying to influence the United States in a variety of ways, including hindering the draft efforts for the American forces in World War I. Landis agreed to accept the post, but not as then constructed. He insisted on an all-powerful position as sole Commissioner of Baseball.

The owners agreed, giving him full authority to act, as he demanded, "in the best interests of baseball" as relating to any matter. He was appointed to the post of Commissioner on the same day that the White Sox players were convicted, and the following day Landis made his now legendary proclamation:

"Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player who sits in confidence with a bunch of crooked ballplayers and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball."

The 8 players were permanently banned from baseball with this statement. Two other players who were peripherally involved were also eventually banned. The cheating members of that 1919 team became nicknamed the "Black Sox" by the media. The entire incident was famously immortalized in the popular 1988 film "Eight Men Out", which itself was based on a book Eliot Asinof titled "Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series."

The owners thought that following his role in resolving the scandal, that Judge Landis would ease into light activity in a semi-retirement role. However, Landis had other ideas, and using his popularity with both the public and the press, he ended up presiding over the game for the next quarter century. Among the many improvements to the game during his reign were an end to hooliganism by many player, the negotiation of broadcasting contracts as first radio and then television began to cover the sport, and negotiating ends to some negative labor practices by owners. Landis also infamously perpetuated the segregation of baseball throughout his reign, and severely restricted MLB control over minor league baseball.

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis (pictured above with Hall of Famer Ty Cobb) was undoubtedly the right man at the right time in dealing with the Black Sox scandal in particular and the issue of overthrowing the gamblers influence and returning the integrity of the game of professional baseball. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame just one month after his death, and the MVP Award in both leagues is officially named after him.

The aftermath of the infamous 1919 World Series saw eight men, the notorious White Sox players, out of the game permanently and one man, the Commissioner of Baseball, first in the person of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, introduced into the game. Both results would have to be considered as victories in the end for all true fans of America's national pastime.

Sunday Sermon: The Voice of God

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Veasey) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 17:03:00 +0000

Let's not duck the obvious challenge to the main theme of this version of the Sunday Sermon series. "Follow the Voice of God" brings with it the possibility that any particular individual will get it wrong. It won't be the true "Voice of God" that they are hearing, but instead may be a hallucination brought on by anything from an abused substance to a mental or physical illness.

That said, there is no doubt in my mind that not only famous individuals throughout history, but also ordinary men and women every single day, receive messages directly from the Almighty. Sometimes these are specific lucent and palpable words and phrases of command. More often they are whispers of direction.

When you as a normal, rational, thinking human being feel yourself being consistently and repeatedly guided by what you might simply describe as "something inside me" towards a certain path, be it in your familial relationships or career choice or general life direction, you should seriously consider that this may very well be that 'Voice of God' whispering into your mind and soul.

God has many important things that he wants done in our world. I believe that he repeatedly has used the actions of human beings who have accepted his message and direction, have listened to it fully, understood it correctly, and not been afraid to embrace it and follow through on it in their lives in order to make a difference to humanity in large and small ways.

Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the trial of Saint Joan of Arc in 1431 at the English-occupied city of Rouen in Normandy, France. Joan was a young girl at a point in history when that was a particularly difficult time for someone of her age and sex to be taken seriously. But Joan heard the 'Voice of God', listened to it fully, overcame doubt and fear, took His message to action, and changed the course of world history.

Joan was born and raised at a difficult time for her home country of France. The historic rivals in England had taken advantage of a number of internal French leadership tragedies and political problems to conquer and control large portions of the country. At around age 12, Joan was alone in a field when she experienced a vision
in which Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret appeared to her and told her that she must drive out the English and return the King of France to power in a coronation at Reims.

At around age 16 she first attempted to make contact with the French ruling aristocracy in order to discuss the visions that she was continuing to receive, but was laughed off and turned away. She returned a few months later and managed to convince some influential men with the passion and intensity of her testimony. After a prediction that she made of a military battle came true, she was finally granted an audience with the French royals.

Charles VII of France, also known as Dauphin Charles, was out of options and likely felt that it was just a matter of time before he lost the entire land to England. Historians make little other sense outside of complete desperation of his willingness to allow a simple peasant girl who came from nowhere with nothing but a self-proclaimed 'Voice of God' message to don the armour of a knight and take a place at the head of the French military forces.

Within a short time of her arrival at the battle front, the tide began to turn for the French. She inspired the army with her religious fervor, and led it to victory through both her tactical expertise and her aggressive leadership from the front. Joan's repeated victories led to Charles eventually appointing her command of the full army. She was wounded at different points by an arrow to the neck, a cannon shot to her helmet, and a crossbow bolt to her leg, but continued leading by example from the front of the troops. Reims was eventually taken, and the coronation of Charles given her as a her mission by the Saints finally took place.

While leading troops during a skirmish with English troops in May of 1430, Joan was finally captured and imprisoned. After many political negotiations involving her imprisonment and attempts at escape by Joan herself, she was finally put on trial in the seat of the English occupation government at Rouen for the charge of heresy due to the religious nature of her claim that it had been that 'Voice of God' having guided her actions.

During the trial, no evidence could be found to convict her, and so a theological trap was set for her. The prosecution asked her whether she knew that she was in God's grace. The trap is in the answer. Were she to answer "yes", she would be a heretic, because the Church taught that no one can be sure of being in God's grace. If she were to answer "no" then she would be admitting her guilt in her very answer.

The notary at the proceedings later stated that her interrogators were "stupefied" by her actual reply: "If I am not, may God put me there; if I am, may God so keep me." At bottom line, none of her testimony nor the fact that no real evidence against her could be proven mattered. Evidence was manufactured against her, she was found guilty, and was burned at the stake on May 20th, 1431 at the age of just 19 years. Her body was burned three times so that no trace remained for collection as relics, and her executioner later stated that he "greatly feared to be damned."

What became known in history as 'The Hundred Years War' continued for 22 more years, with France using Joan's tactics to maintain control of their land. At the end of the war, Joan was posthumously retried and cleared during proceedings in which she was described as actually having been a martyr. She was finally beatified by the Church in 1909, and was canonized as a Saint by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. She is the patroness of France and of all soldiers everywhere.

The story of the true life of Jeanne d'Arc, the teenage peasant girl from eastern France who followed the 'Voice of God', changed the course of world history, became inspiration for an entire nation and finally a Catholic Saint should be example enough for all of us. It doesn't matter your age or your sex. It doesn't matter the times in which you live or the difficulty of the task ahead. What matters when you receive a true message from God is that you have the courage and perseverance to follow His voice.

NOTE: this is the continuation of the regular 'Sunday Sermon' series, all entries of which can be enjoyed by clicking on that label below this entry at the www.mattveasey.com website