KELSO IS BACK WITH AN R.I.P. FOR TWO OF THE HEROES
In no particular order, we observe a moment of contemplation and reflection for the lives of Steve Howe and John Kenneth Galbraith.
Here is Steve Howe's page on baseball-reference.com
http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/howest01.shtml
Howe was a troubled soul who became one of the poster children for the cocaine scandals in baseball in the 1980s. He was an odd-bird as a player: a finesse left-handed relief pitcher and had about three years of brilliance but a longish career especially considering his myriad psychological problems. Here at The Nuts we never miss a chance to pay tribute to a troubled soul who gave us some thrills because there's no shortage of people lined up to moralize. We always try to be as contrarian as possible and our love for Steve Howe is no exception.
Kelso is assuming you all know how to access whatever you wish to about Galbraith.
You are all going to read lots and lots about Galbraith in the next few days, so Kelso will be brief. He read Galbraith's essay "The Care And Feeding Of Disaster" (about the years leading up to the Great Depression) when he was sixteen and more than any other piece of economic writing that essay formed Kelso's views of capitalism and prevented Kelso from falling headlong into a the usual -- for people of Kelso's age -- college flirtation with Communism. That's not to say there isn't much to like in Marx, Marcuse, etc. There is.
Meanwhile, Galbraith pulled no punches. Republicans to him were ALWAYS vicious pricks and Kelso urges all of you to consider this when you hear liberals today speak of a Republican party that was somehow honorable back in the day. By comparison with the Republican Party of today that might be true. Sure, Eisenhower spoke of the dangers of the military-industrial complest and even Colin Powell gave a surprisingly radical speech at the 2000 Republican National Convention, but check out Galbraith and you'll realize the GOP always sucked. And that's not to say there IS much to like about the Democrats. There isn't. Well, OK, we do love Ned Lamont for junior U.S. Senator from Connecticut.
It is ironic in some way that Howe's passing occurred in the same week as Rush Limbaugh's plea arrangement. Will someone -- anyone -- please clear something up for Kelso because there's a lot of confusion about this. How much Oxy was Rush actually taking? One report said 6 pills a day. If that's true, then what makes Rush such a big-shot drug fiend? About half the poker world does that much with not much more ill effect than constipation. Another report has him doing thousands a month. That's a bunch. What's the truth? And Kelso will extend the same courtesy to the wretched Limbaugh that he has to Strawberry in the past and Howe today, with one caveat: neither Strawberry nor Howe ever railed to millions that drug offenders should be thrown in prison forever and that it's somehow LBJ's fault.
Kelso's Nuts love you.
3 comments:
1. I loved it when Buckley and Galbraith got together to debate. It was educational, informative and very funny at the same time. They disdained each others' politics, but there was great, great affection and respect between the two.
2. From what I have read so far about Mr. Lamont, I fear that he may be too much of a 'nice guy' and a tad naive to do well in the Senate. But time will tell.
3. I don't know much about Steve Howe, but I'll raise the flag to anyone Kelso deems worthy. As one who has been accused of having a "a myriad of psychological problems," who is without a doubt an "odd-bird" as well as a "troubled soul," I'll gladly pay my respects to a compatriot in arms and do my research on Howe today.
Peace.
Welcome Back, Anita:
(1) What a sad state of affairs when both Buckley and Galbraith are firmly to the LEFT of the current Washington press oorps.
(2) Exactly. He IS a nice guy as opposed to Lieberman who makes Bob Dole look like Mr. Rogers which will serve him very well in the debate. Handsome, rich and unafraid to articulate a left-wing vision don't hurt either against a real snake who is physically repulsive, middle-class and absolutely crazy that he's not rich, and a right-wing moralist to boot. The semiotics and memes cut very strongly for Lamont. And if Howard Dean decides it's pay-back time, Lieberman will be on the board of directors at Aetna or Pfizer or something while Lamont begins a 30-year run as a Connecticut U.S. Senator. The funniest thing about it is that no matter how many boards Lieberman joins or what he does in the private sector the sorry little acne-faced jerk will go to his grave with less than 5% of Ned Lamont's personal wealth! How funny is that?
Dick Durbin's a pretty nice guy and he'll keep his seat for life.
(3) Steve Howe could throw a baseball into a teacup and despite all the moralizing, nobody ever said he was a bad guy. If this country and especially it's absurd sporting press was not so frightened of its collective humanness, Howe would probably be a pretty effective pitching coach somewhere today. Instead, he's another "lesson" -- signifying what exactly remains a mystery to Kelso. Oh, that's right, drugs are evil, except when they're manufactured by Pfizer or distilled by Jack Daniel's. He had an above average need for something we don't tolerate but trust this fan, Anita, his precision was a thing of beauty.
Peace always.
I know what you mean about Galbraith, and he really impacted the way many people viewed the role of the state, capitalism, society, etc. Awesome, and brilliant.
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