Marcy Eats Kobe at Netroots Nation
Kobe beef, that is.
This is a pic that RevDeb took last night when a bunch of us went out to dinner (that’s Gregg Levine warning me that Jane’s gonna be pissed). Between Eli and Ian and Scarecrow and Rayne, they couldn’t stop me from eating Kobe.
I’m home now from Netroots Nation, lying on the couch trying to ingratiate myself with McCaffrey the MilleniaLab (who is upset that I watched parts of about 4 football games–and met Franco Harris–without him). He also wants you to know that he never trusted Tony Dungy and that certainly hasn’t changed in the last few days.
For those who didn’t make it this year, here were some Netroots Nation highlights, from my perspective.
Of course, the most important part was hanging out with all the folks I spend my days with online, only in brick and mortar space. Key new additions (in brick and mortar space) were Alaska heros Shannyn Moore and Mudflats, down for the fun.
As mentioned, another key highlight was meeting Franco Harris! His son is running for mayor of Pittsburgh–hoping to make the city serve its residents.
And of course, the steel tour. It’s amazing what human ingenuity can do. We’ve just got to make sure we continue to do it here in the States.
Had a very bizarre pub crawl with Trapper John, DHinMI, Kagro X, Miss Laura from DKos, Bob Fertik from Democrats.com, Phil Anderson from Albany Project, and a few others. Between the "midget bar" and the pitcher of absinthe and all the smoke, I felt like I was living a surreal Czech film. Only, we were screaming about Rahm Emanuel the whole time.
And I had two panels that I was honored to be on–one on manufacturing with (among others) Steelworker President Leo Gerard and Congresswoman Donna Edwards, and another on torture with the ACLU, CCR, and Congressman Jerry Nadler. I’ll have more to say about the latter tomorrow, I think.
I should be back to regular programming tomorrow–I’ll finally get to wade through that HJC document dump. (Incidentally, I got to meet Governor Corzine, as well, and will do a post on that.)
Thanks to bmaz for posting some great work while I was in Pittsburgh. I don’t know what we’ll do with the site next year, when bmaz will be on whatever bizarre pub crawl I’m on in Las Vegas. I guess you’ll all have to join us in Vegas?!
Rick Pitino and Mark Sanford tell me Vegas is a great town!
Damn, girl, you’re fast!
Back to my day job on Tues. Looking forward to what you dig up in the doc. dump.
Are you going to post a link to the Torture panel clips?
Oh, and my Marcy (the 4 month old kitten) hasn’t given me the time of day since I got home though Toby and Molly have been all over me.
I wonder what that means.
We Marcys are very jealous of other Marcys.
I’ve been wanting to see that too!
Welcome home, and I’m glad you enjoyed eating Kobe.
Have you see clips done already?? I need to email Bruce and see if he’s got them up.
I’ll forward to you what I have.
So, EW: Which pubs did you crawl to (if you remember), and which place was serving Kobe? Was it Jerome Bettis’ steak place, or some other?
FWIW, I cannot think of a former sports great more revered in the town where he played than Franco Harris in Pittsburgh. He’s one of those guys who does stuff – not just for the city, but for individuals – and is very accessible. Glad you were able to meet him.
Cool. I had no clue.
(My sports hero is former Seattle Mariner’s pitcher Jamie Moyer.)
Was Brett Favre there??
Scribe – The reports are also that he is throwing lasers and accurately. It is a total score for the Iggles – if he isn’t so good that it creates a QB controversy. I don’t think it will, but the news of how able he is right out of the chute is interesting.
I think he spent his time, particularly his re-acclimation house arrest time, productively.
Which, it would seem, indicates he may actually have reformed.
What I read, when it came to QB controversy, is threefold:
1. He and McNabb are old friends, dating back to McNabb trying to recruit him to Syracuse to follow and replace McNabb.
IIRC, McNabb is coming to the end of his contract, so what he tried in SU may come to pass here.
2. The Iggles have said publicly that he will have the “opportunity to compete for the backup QB position”.
We’ll see how long that lasts if/when McNabb stumbles out the chute. But, more importantly
3. The Iggles did not go forward with even talking to Vick and Dungy until they got an unequivocal OK from McNabb.
Also, you can already buy your new Vick #7 Iggles jersey, for only $260.
Finally a use for that cash I no longer am donating to Obama…..
I’m sure his friends in the insurance, investment banking and auto industries (to name just three) will be happy to shower him with gold in your stead.
That’s money, I meant. You knew that, right.
A few months ago, in a trash talk thread, I put up an extended comment about Franco. One of the vignettes.
In Pittsburgh’s airport, a young soldier runs into him and asks if he can have his picture taken and maybe get an autograph. Sure. They chat a bit and the kid says he’s flying back to Georgia enroute to deploying overseas.
The troop goes to check in and is told there’s an issue with his ticket. Then he finds out that Franco has bumped him to first class. Turns out they are both on the same flight and they spend the flight talking football, life, whatever.
The story only comes out when the kid emails home about it.
Franco and his college backfield-mate, Lydell Mitchell, also do a lot of low-profile charity work. IIRC, it’s for injured soldiers. Don’t seek publicity – just do it. In person.
Oh, that’s the coolest!
Stuff like that is why he’s revered.
Great story scribe, thanks for that : ) I needed something cheery, it’s been a bit discouraging lately.
Discouraging, eh … time to re- read that little ‘anatomy’ story … *g*
I keep waiting for the next installment… You know, the one with the happy ending, where the bad guys go to jail, and the rest of us live happily ever after. Then there will be the movie versions, maybe sequels, documentaries on the brilliant life of the intrepid author…
Oh sorry, it’s late, I started dozing off and dreaming ; ) Good night all : )
That would be “former Chicago Cubs pitcher, Jamie Moyer” right?
Franco is certainly quite as revered as you say… but for we somewhat older ‘Burghers who had the opportunity to watch him (or, yikes! have a glove signed by him), Roberto Clemente may reside on a notch slightly above Franco on the ‘revered sports hero’ scale.
Then again, I could be all wet.
Depends on the generation, methinks. Clemente died in 1972, his playing career snuffed out by the plane crash. Franco was selected in the 1972 draft, by an interesting coincidence of years. For those of my generation, especially if of Latin American ancestry, Clemente was a god walking on earth. For those born in the 1950s and 60s, Franco made a bigger impression.
Bob in HI
I think for those in the Pittsburgh area even ’60s era kids revere Clemente. The Mr. was born in the mid-60s. I’m a bit older, but even growing up in the Midwest, I heard about what a great player Clemente was from my family (I didn’t start paying attention to baseball until the ’80s).
That’s part of it, probably. I’m a 1957 model, so ditching school to go watch the Roberto play in Forbes Field is rumored to have happened… and since the Pirates batboy was a schoolchum, it might even be a very safe bet that it did. I’ve never even seen any Steelers players off the field, let alone met any in person… but Roberto I did meet. Maybe that’s all there is to it for me.
Franco was a key part of something which had never happened in S.O.S. Land — “Same Old Steelers” Land — before. And he was then, and remains, a humble and highly likeable man who did all of his ‘talking’ on the field… unlike numerous other sports figures one could point to today. He’s also long been an energetic yet quiet supporter of the community, involving himself in several projects and organizations over the years. Franco earned every bit of his sports legend status, and every bit of the affection which Pittsburgh still holds for him.
Roberto Clemente may have been the model which Franco worked from. There are many similarities in how they each conducted themselves in the public arena, and at the time Franco was starting out (as you mention) the city — and Major League Baseball itself — was still grieving over Clemente’s tragic loss.
In the end, though, such attempts at comparison and relative ranking of two such strospheric sports legends may well be entirely subjective and fairly pointless. My intent was only to add Roberto to the conversation, not to replace Franco.
Anyway… it must have been a huge thrill for Marcy. And she got to meet Shannyn and Mudflats, as well! Maybe Franco is feeling just as thrilled to have met these three new heroes for this new time, eh?
Ready for another round of 11-dimensional chess?
Obama ran as a centrist, getting Republican votes. His strategy for this year was divide and conquer. He knew he was going to go for a bunch of big new initiatives, and he needed every vote he could get. Remember, an off year is a good year to make nice with the opposition.
2010 is another matter, however. That will be the year he campaigns against Republicans. There will be no currying favor in 2010.
So I think Holder and Obama are foot-dragging this year on prosecuting Republicans. Next year, however, is another matter. We could see quite a few prosecutions of Republicans then, all in the name of enforcing the law. The entire political calculus changes.
Furthermore, by foot-dragging and making nice this year, Obama can claim that at least he tried to be bipartisan. But the Republicans repaid his nice guy attempts by going for the crack-back blocks whenever they could.
So, I predict, beginning with the State of the Union speech next year, we’ll see a new tone.
Bob in HI
So what’s your prediction for “health insurance reform”? A crappy bill this year or a good one next year? Given the crappy bills that have been shoved down our throats so far, I expect the former. So then what motivation am I supposed to have next year to support Dems that keep passing Republican/Corporate-centric legislation? Zip. Maybe I just don’t understand 11-dimensional chess.
Phred,
I think Obama will get his foot in the door with something this session. My hope for single-payer is gone, and my hope for an explicit “public option” is fading, but I think there will be something in the bill that amounts to at least the start of a public option. It is a lot easier to fix a system-changing bill in the next Congress than to pass a new one.
Bob in HI
That will depend entirely on the composition of the new Congress. If the Dems lose seats, then I don’t see how this gets easier. And if the Dems don’t start acting in the public interest rather than the corporate interest, then it seems likely that they will lose seats.
I like that view.
And patience often really is a virtue.
As Elizabeth de la Vega argued this past April:
This is just a set of pertinent snippets; her entire argument is worth reading, considering, and reflecting upon. It may well be the view of (and reflect the strategy of) AG Holder (and Obama). Time will tell… and may Time wound all heels.
Nope, you are quite correct. The Mr. has several Roberto Clemente baseball cards that are prized possessions. Clemente remains in a class by himself. Not to cast aspersions on Franco, who is a class act from start to finish…
Those are worth just a few ducats There aren’t very many of those around at all.
I’ll catch up with bmaz’s posts later, but damn I ***love*** that Chevy Volt ad on the previous thread.
Cool about meeting with the Pres of the Steelworkers; will look forward to the video clips.
Also looking forward to your observations of Gov Corzine.
Oh- and on the Vick front: first reports from Eagles camp (Via today’s NYDN) are that Vick is in shape, fast, and showing very little rust.
I’m told Giants and Owboys fans are upset almost as much as the PETA people. But only about a dozen of the latter showed up to protest at Eagles camp.
RuhRaffery Rikes Ranco Rarris? Rats rall right Raggy.
Maybe Harry Reid will have some pub-crawl ideas for you.
I generally pass through Henderson Nevada at approximately 88-91 miles an hour. Harry better be fast.
88-91 mph?
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you, that an officer of the court would flaut the laws of this nation so flagrantly.
(Why yes, I got a speeding ticket recently. How could you tell?)
OT–
interesting article:
Cheney’s New Gambit
by Ray McGovern, August 15, 2009
blurb:
My sense is that Cheney is feeling abandoned; that he senses the real danger of being brought to justice; and that he is waging a series of pre-emptive strikes to head that off.
Put yourself in Cheney’s shoes, as uncomfortable as they might be. Daughter Liz has disclosed more than once what has her father so agitated — press reports that Attorney General Eric Holder is close to appointing a special prosecutor to investigate White House-authorized crimes, including torture — not policy differences, mind you, but capital crimes under U.S. as well as international law.
http://original.antiwar.com/mc…..ew-gambit/
I won’t pretend to know as much about this as you, Ray or the great minds here but I think Cheney’s latest diatribe is all part of BushCo’s plan. In case the Hounds get close, they walk all of this back to Dubya and Executive Privilege, knowing that Congress does not have the guts for that battle.
i agree with your assessment and thought earlier much the same. i just like McGovern’s take on these things. his post got me thinking that Bush is protected but Cheney is not; he’s exposed. the fact that he’s not one of the Bush clan also may be problematic for him.
my attitude about these things is: until something actually happens in the matter of justice to these folks, i’m gonna sit it out.
and yet, it’s clear that history will not be kind to these felons.
You met Franco Harris?!!! I better not tell the Mr., he’ll be peeved that we missed out… That said, he was pretty tickled to see your steel tour post ; )
Ah, forgot that Mr. Phred was a Stiller, too.
Yup, the whole shebang. The big Pittsburgh event I DIDN’T attend–batting practice at the baseball field–was a big thrill for those who did it.
Yep a Stiller fan and from a steel family (Weirton, WV, a hop and a skip from Pittsburgh). But, we’ll keep my faux pas our little secret, eh? ; )
No, the important thing is how solid Aaron Rodgers and the Pack offense looked, not to mention the shutout their defense pitched. That is all you need to tell you Stiller fan about.
I did ; ) Thanks bmaz! As happy as I am about Rodgers, I am way happier about the shut-out. Lets hope it wasn’t just a pre-season fluke… Go PACK!
Eh, well it was the Browns…..
Shhh, I’m dreaming, it was the Pats ; )
Eeep … I’ll leave before the Pie Fight begins.
*cough* … pre- season … even the Lions won. *g*
wOOt … Mommy’s home !!! (and we hope, will restock the Likker Cabinet soon)
Besides Sweetness, I can’t think of another player who just seemed to enjoy playing, more than Franco Harris.
Those guys were of another breed … not interested in a circus play or getting on the highlight reel.
For them life was the highlight !
Like I would EVER get between a determined, fork-and-knife-wielding EW and any target of attack…
It’s going to take all week to recover from NN09 at PIT, full and complete immersion in laid-back Yooper treatment on the beach for complete restoration. Not certain what it’s going to take in addition to heal these blisters the size of half-dollars from wandering lost around PIT downtown each day when iPhone apps and Google Maps invariably failed to provide the right location. Gregg is a peach, though, and so very glad about his foodie tip on Wholey Sea Foods’ fried fish “sammich” and crab cakes. Yum!
Between now and next year I’m going to figure out how to embed a GPS locator on EW, too. Heh.
I’m going to be at Netroots Nation next year in Las Vegas. The reason is sorta entertaining, I think. I’ll be there because I hate Vegas. You see, my wife, she loves Vegas. She loves the casinos and the shows. Me, I went one time and the casinos made me physically ill. The combination of the flashing lights; the constant din and overriding bells, buzzers, and berserkers; and the smell of stale tobacco; the whole experience gave me the worst nausea and headaches of my life.
But Netroots Nation is perfect. I can go geek out at NN10 while she gambles, then we can meet up for shows in the evening.
Yeah!!!
Also note that we’ll be at the Rio, which is off the strip, which might make it less offensive.
I, like you, have a low tolerance for Vegas (though I like to spend about 2 hours absorbing the spectacle). And I think your approach is the way to go here.
I suspect we’ll end up staying on the strip (probably the Venetian) and I’ll be the one shuttling back and forth, but that’s ok. I kinda like that goofy fake Venetian street and gondola ride thing. I can sit there and watch people go by and pretend I’m on Deep Space 9 or something cuz those folks look like aliens to me.
Supposed to be at the Rio-Las Vegas, not on main strip so the spouse will have to plan on a shuttle to/from strip when not at the Rio. Have not yet seen info about a block of rooms with NN10 rate. Gambling not my thing either, plenty to do with these conventions unrelated to betting of any kind; I know I typically had 2 or more sessions I wanted to attend in each time slot.
Hoping I can get better/different connections for flights to Vegas. Yesterday was horrible due to storms in Chicago, took 12-plus hours for same trip which took 5 hours earlier in the week with a layover. Let’s hope the volume of traffic to Sin City means connections are plentiful and cheap.
And of course, whatever happens in Vegas…
[edit: I see once again she beat me to posting a reply before I could finish my own. Heh.]
Netroots will be in Vegas next year? Wonderful! By then my home base will be Flagstaff, and I’m going, for sure!
Bob in HI
How lucky you are to have met Franco Harris. He was my favorite player for as long as he was in the game.
You were great at NN. Thanks for all your work.