New links added

Just a reminder that I've added some new links under that section on the ride side of the front page. Included in the new additions are a link to Barry County Board of Commissioners Chairperson Mike Callton's Barry Home Companion as well as a link to the blog for the Marshall Chronicle newspaper. For those of you who haven't bothered checking out the links now is a good time to do so. I try to add something every couple of months and clean out the dead branches when possible, so if you find a link to a site that no longer exists please let me know about it. You can feel free to use the comment section for this post as an "open thread" where you can talk about whatever you want, especially things you feel I'm not properly covering (though I'd appreciate instead of asking me to do it, you would simply tell us what YOU think about it) or you can always just tell others what goodies you've found by clicking on those links to prove that you actually read this...

Reasonably under control

Recently, Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Tipton) compared war-torn Iraq favorably to the American cities of Detroit and Harvey, Illinois.

“…talking to our troops as well as some of the officers who have returned, they indicate to me that 80 to 85% … of the country (Iraq) is reasonably under control at least as well as Detroit…"

Despite having his foot caught in his mouth and his head firmly planted inside his rectum, Walberg continued:

"in many places it’s as safe and cared for as Detroit or Harvey, IL or some other places that have trouble with armed violence that takes place on occasion.”

Instead of apologizing for being a callous jackass and a drooling idiot, Walberg dug deeper. Speaking at the Jackson County Republican Party Lincoln Day dinner (note the occasion for its irony), he further insisted:

"No apology is necessary… I have no reason to…There was nothing racist about it… I meant it as a compliment to people in Detroit and Chicago."

Now, if Congressman Walberg truly meant no harm by his assinine oral diarrhea then why not simply back down? Hell, why not say that he meant if you ignore Baghdad and other major cities and take into account only the Green Zone where the US military has its largest presence and the Kurdish areas as well as the areas where no one lives then... oh, I can't even try to pretend he has a point here because it's such a silly and idiotic argument. The simple and obvious answer is that he's a racist jackass. The longer answer is that the modern Republican Party is no longer the party of Lincoln but instead the party of Buchanan (as in Pat) and the party of Duke (as in David) and has won many an election by playing to racism in white voters.

According to what I have found, the death rate in Iraq just for US forces is roughly 40% more than the murder rate in Detroit. Over 3,000 American troops have died in combat since the war began. Best estimates peg the Iraqi death total at something close to 60,000 with estimates varying wildly including some in excess of 100,000 but none significantly lower than the estimate I've chosen to use. In 2003 there were 366 murders reported in Detroit. The population of Iraq is roughly 27 times that of Detroit. Even then, the Detroit murder rate doesn't even come close to the number of people killed in this pathetic war Congressman Walberg is trying to cheerlead. Sorry, Congressman, but your math sucks, so does your position on the war and so does your less than subtle race-baiting.

Even Fox News had to report this when former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tried to spin the chaos and bloodshed in Iraq as something akin to an American city with a large population of blacks (wow, it's practically like a Republican talking point!):

a New York Times op-ed by two Brookings Institution researchers, Adriana Lins de Albuquerque and Michael O’Hanlon, claims that Baghdad’s murder rate is among the highest in the world. Supposedly Baghdad’s annualized murder rate from April to October this year ranged from an incredible 100 to 185 per 100,000 people -- a number, they pointed out, that averaged several times greater than the rate in Washington, D.C.

And while studies many report lower figures, chances are those were created by statistical sleight of hand and separating deaths into different types and thus reducing the real number of murders in Iraq. So, once you weed out the propaganda from the US military, it's obvious to anyone with half a brain that Congressman Walberg is full of it and should just apologize or at least spare us any more excuses of what he meant by his idiotic comparison of a Michigan city to a war zone.

The war in Iraq is a disastrous nightmare and most Iraqis live in daily fear of car bombings, kidnappings, and the everyday terror that Tim Walberg would be scared shitless to truly see up close. Tim Walberg's term can't come to an end soon enough. Hopefully this time the moderate voices in the Republican Party will step up and do the right thing and send this idiot back to Tipton or, failing that, the Democrats draft a worthy and capable candidate to defeat a man who compares American cities to countries in the midst of a Neo Con-created Civil War.

Simply put, Tim Walberg is a stupid, lying sack of crap... Hey, I meant that as a compliment!

A hypocrite of Biblical proportions

“He who is exalted shall be humbled. He who is humble shall be exalted.”
— Jesus Christ, from the book of Matthew in the Gospels

According to a recent press release, Pastor Rus Sarver is retiring at Grace Brethren Church in Hastings. Is this time for real? Sarver has been trying to step down for a long time, so long he has been referred to as “Pastor Emeritus” at the church for quite a spell. It appears the wily old minister has a difficult time giving up on his grip on power over his flock which he sometimes seems to think extends far out into the community at large. Why should I care, you may ask? What’s a retiring small town pastor got to do with a political blog on the world wide web that should be focused on much more important matters? Let me explain...

Rus Sarver has been a very public player in Hastings and Barry County for a long time. He’s been the unofficial president of the local chapter of Flat Earth Society, publicly speaking derisively of evolution as “monkey talk.” He was the founder of the “Let’s Perfect the Family” movement that went virtually nowhere. He’s been this area’s greatest promoter of Saul of Tarsus, AKA the Apostle Paul, through his monthly sermons disguised as letters to the editor in the Hastings Banner. He also has had the quaint custom of placing a small advertisement in the Reminder, the local shopping guide, every week, quoting passages from the Scriptures and providing the service of interpreting them for the reader, according to his own theological views.

Rus Sarver is well thought of in many circles in the area, so beloved that a few years ago he was presented with the coveted Book of Golden Deeds Award, which meant he got to be the grand marshal of the Hastings Summerfest Parade. Though he certainly can be affable and grandfatherly when he is encountered, he also shows telltale signs of being the stern old fuddy-duddy who is out of touch with modern reality, he has been guilty of deliberate deceit, he has been all too guilty of a “my way or no way” attitude and he has been demonstrated to be a hypocrite of Biblical proportions.

From where I’ve been sitting, Rus Sarver is a prime example of the Pharisees and teachers whom Jesus warned about in the Bible.

Sarver’s sermons in the Banner rarely have offered a point of view except that he has the answers to all problems and is the master interpreter of what Scriptures tell us. About 80 to 90 percent of his quotes have been from biblical books of Galatians, Phillippians, Romans, Corinthians, Thessalonians and the like, all of which were letters written by the former Saul of Tarsus, who had been magically transformed into the Apostle Paul. Only occasionally has Rus slipped in something from Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, also known as the Gospels. The Gospels quote Jesus Christ, not Saul of Tarsus. So Pastor Rus seems to be less of a follower of Jesus (a Christian), and more of a disciple of the writings of the Apostle Paul who actually never met Christ and, in fact, spent his time before his conversion trying to eliminate the cult of Christ.

Then there was the question about leading the charge for the movement known as “Let’s Perfect the Family.” Pastor Rus reportedly did not show up at his granddaughter’s wedding, citing a conference he decided to attend instead. I’m almost entirely certain his granddaughter somehow had offended him because she did not follow his stern instructions on how to lead her life reportedly because she "lived in sin" before her wedding. How can anyone teach us how to “perfect the family” and then not show up for his granddaughter’s most important day of her life, regardless of the reason?

Then there was the affair of the deliberate deception. Banner Editor David T. Young told me in a recent conversation about the soon-to-retire pastor that a few years ago, while Rus was getting his monthly “letter” into the newspaper, a couple of letters arrived on the editor’s desk that looked and sounded suspiciously a lot like the missives of the good pastor. Both were purported to be written by inmates at the county jail, who had found the Lord, but there some unmistakable handprints from Sarver. The inmates made use of key words such as “agape” and “right-wise-ness,” both of which Young said he had never seen nor heard written nor uttered by anyone else. The letters were typewritten in the same manner Sarver has sent his monthly sermons to the Banner. The only difference was that the signatures at the bottom, hand written and barely legible, were of these inmates. Young said he merely put the phony letters aside without printing them.

One has to wonder about the integrity of a minister who writes phony letters to the newspaper advancing his point of view and then has some poor schmuck in jail sign them so he can get his letters in the paper more than just once a month. It was deliberate deception, and I’m sure it happens more than we care to admit, but when a man of the cloth is the perpetrator, what are we to think? Sure the offense may seem minor when considered as a simple act of trying to "spread the word" but when one thinks of it as a willing manipulation of "true believers" you have to wonder how many more things like this he engaged in that haven't been discovered?

The integrity and hypocrisy of Ted Haggard was called into question when it was learned he was playing footsie with a male prostitute while leading the change against homosexuality in the great state of Colorado. The integrity and hypocrisy of Jimmy Swaggart was questioned when he was caught red-handed with a prostitute and then cried crocodile tears on national television. Rush Limbaugh demonized drug users on his radio show, but avoided being prosecuted for his own illegal possession and purchase of prescription pain killers and then got caught carrying illegal Viagra coming back from a sex tourist vacation. Jim Bakker preached about sin on the PTL Club on national TV and then got busted for fleecing his flock. Newt Gingrich railed against the decline in morals in America, yet he was having an extramarital affair while going after President Bill Clinton for a blow job in the Oval Office. Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett even wrote a book “the Death of Outrage,” about America’s declining morals, and then was outed for being a huge gambling addict.

The list goes on, and I maintain Pastor Sarver belongs on it. I don’t think his motivation has been money like so many of the others. I think it’s been a power trip, the need to dominate, to tell others how to live righteous (right-wise).

Sarver’s son has been the Hastings police chief for nearly two decades and rumor has it he’s about to retire. Jerry Sarver seems to have been a reasonably adept chief, but I’ve been told the acorn didn’t fall far from the tree in terms of attitude and lust for power and control. Both Sarvers will go out with the band playing but Christians who take the words of Jesus Christ seriously should examine them again and take a good hard look at whether all along we’ve been exalting Pharisees.

One last thing: I've thought long and hard about whether I wanted to write this since I'm often criticized for being nasty and overly-personal on this blog but finally I decided that what I've written here needed to be said. And to quote the late comedian Bill Hicks, if you're a Christian and you don't like what I've said, "then forgive me."

Go Blue! No, really... just go...

I read with some interest the news articles this past week about Lansing’s planned cutbacks in state police trooper levels in several places, including one position in Hastings. It seems the budget crisis really is getting serious when they start laying off cops since public safety ranks right up there with "supporting the troops" in the rankings of political third rails. Yet I’m not certain Hastings and Barry County will be such big losers if state troopers are reduced, or for that matter, eliminated.

Hastings is one of the more unusual communities its size in this state because it has a city police department, a county sheriff’s department and a state police post, all headquartered in a city with a population barely over 7,000. I haven’t done my math, but it would seem to me that Hastings has a very high ratio of cops to citizens. And I repeat, I’m not sold on the idea it’s necessary for effective protection of Barry County residents. I’m not sure Hastings and Barry County are safer than other similar-sized communities in Michigan. Let the State Police go where they are needed and let the local cops do the law enforcement work they should be doing instead of setting speed traps and cruising around looking to bust people for drug use so the department can score some free money for flashy cars and new gear.

The wedding between Hastings and Barry County and the Michigan State Police has been a rocky one at best over these past 30 years. In days gone by, the western part of Barry County, specifically Gun Lake, was covered entirely by Michigan State Police from the Wayland post. Somehow, in the mid-1970s, somebody got the notion that Hastings needed its own post. Led by later Barry County Commissioner Ethel Boze, the dream came true. Wayland didn’t do a particularly bad job. In fact, its detective, Sgt. Robert Golm, was regarded as one of the best, and it was Golm who did the bulk of the gumshoe work in high profile cases, and he was pretty good at it. Regardless, eventually Hastings was “blessed” with a state police “team” and then later its own post.

My feeling has been that at best the state police have represented an overrated appendage to law enforcement in these parts. At worst, their presence has brought an added element of bullying and intimidation to local law enforcement. I’ve heard plenty of nasty stories and seen plenty of examples about state cops being arrogant and all-powerful in their attitudes rather than presenting themselves as servants and protectors of the public.

And don’t get me started on the leadership we’ve had to endure over the years. Though we’ve also had to put up with the arrogance and control freak displays of the likes of failed State Rep. Gary Newell, Greg Kruisenga and Ron Neil, control freaks all. Does anyone else remember the infamous photo in the Hastings Banner of a state police cruiser parked in a “no parking” spot in front of the Courts and Law building? If that isn’t arrogance, I don’t know what is. I remember Banner Editor David T. Young telling me he would have never published the photo if the state police had been more cooperative and less arrogant. Young said he first would have called Commander Kruisenga and warned him not to let his troopers do something like that again. Yeah, he would have just given him a warning. I was also told of more than a few stories about state cops harassing Dave Brinkert because he had the audacity to run for state representative against their former commander Gary Newell in 2004.

Let’s not forget the warnings of our friend “Ag3,” who has pointed out state police cronies such as Neil, Newell, Steve DeBoer and Charlie Nystrom consistently have covered each others’ backsides. Nystrom, a notorious bully at the 911 dispatch center, has managed to alienate just about every woman who has worked for him. Though he may not be guilty of any criminal wrongdoing, if he was a department head or supervisor just about anywhere else, he would have been dismissed a long time ago for ineffective leadership and very simply being a lousy boss. Neil and state police sycophants such as Lani Forbes, Don Boysen, Jim Carr and Jim Brown have managed to keep their buddy employed and their excuses for his behavior are endless. But their “Wall of Blue” in protecting the colors is not good public policy.

I admit I was somewhat surprised a couple of years ago when it was announced which three state police posts would be eliminated. I was almost sure Hastings was going to get the ax because it seemed to me to be the least needed post in Michigan. But I didn’t take into account that the Hastings former commander that year was our state representative.

Some day, after this state suffers more budget crises, the Michigan State Police post in Hastings finally will be eliminated. I won’t shed any tears. State police in this town and this county have been a lot like the director of emergency management — a horrible waste of taxpayers’ money under the guise of keeping us safe. We spend far too much money on public safety in this country, mostly because we’ve been conned into thinking Big Brother will protect us against the Islamic terrorist menace that hardly knows Hastings or Barry County exist. We incarcerate more people per capita than any other country in the world, even more than Russia and South Africa. And are we any safer than any other country?

When it comes to cutting the state budget, as far as I’m concerned, let the state police post in Hastings go, quit wasting money on busting potheads and start formulating public safety policies based on reason rather than fear. It’s up to us to slay a sacred cow: call or write State Representative Brian Calley and call or write State Senator Patty Birkholz and let them know that if they are serious about cutting the state budget before raising any more revenue, we've got a good place for them to start...


Balancing Michigan's budget- a better idea?

It isn’t that often when the Detroit Free Press and the Hastings Banner (in the form of an editorial from J-Ad Graphics Vice President Fred Jacobs) editorially do the same thing, but it happened, I swear, earlier this month.

The Free Press, in response to breaking news that super bank Comerica, sponsor of the Detroit Tigers’ ballfield with the same name, is packing its bags and taking its corporate headquarters to Dallas (even though the actual number of jobs lost isn't as large as many of the plant closings that have come before the move itself is symbolic that Michigan is in dire straights- perhaps because the job cuts are finally gnawing at the upper crust who've previously actually benefited during the economic downturn). The newspaper used the development to send an editorial message to Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the State Legislature that Michigan is in serious trouble and something needs to be done. The Freep seemed to be saying something like “If this doesn’t get your attention, we don’t know what will!”

Jacobs has been saying these same kinds of things for quite some time now, jabbing at State Senator Patty Birkholz for introducing “feel-good,” but meaningless legislation to change the state bird and require the Pledge of Allegiance in public school classrooms. He’s been railing against deadlocked and near do-nothing Lansing for quite some time now, saying serious problems need serious problem-solving efforts instead.

While both Jacobs and the Free Press are correct in admonishing our legislators and Granholm, there is one crucial ingredient they’re missing — offering possible solutions to the economic crisis themselves. Those who point out Michigan is in deep economic shit only have a keen grasp of the obvious.

Of course Jacobs and many Republicans privately are dragging out and dusting off that old supply-side mantra from the Reagan years — “tax cuts for business and yet more tax cuts for business.” They hold that the way to stimulate Michigan’s stale economy is to make it cheaper and easier for job providers to do business. Then eventually, as business perks up, the huddled poor and masses of workers will reap the benefits from the trickle down effect. But we’ve been down this road time and time again, not just with Reagan 25 years ago, but as far back as 1930 with Herbert Hoover, who believed in and practiced funneling government money and support from the top (who just happened to be his rich campaign supporters) and then hoping it somehow and eventually makes it to the bottom. As the country was cheerfully singing “Happy Days Are Here Again” and hearing slogans such as “Prosperity Is Just Around the Corner,” things got even worse and the infamous Great Depression followed the infamous stock market crash of Oct. 29, 1929.

In more modern times, Reagan took a modified approach to Hoover’s with the Laffer Curve, the policy of supply-side economics. Many believed Reagan oversaw a great economic boom, but actually he and George Herbert Walker Bush in 12 years built the greatest budget deficit in U.S. history — that is until Bush’s clueless and dangerous son assumed power.

It just amazes me that so many from the GOP keep chanting that tax cut mantra today. George W. Bush has been hailed for engineering several tax cuts in his first few years in office, and the result (surprise!) has been a terrific increase in wealth for the top 1% of U.S. wage earners and a decrease, factored for inflation, in wages for middle-income people.

But we’re told Michigan is in a one-state recession, which has more than a grain of truth because of our heavy reliance on the auto industry (who've made some piss poor decisions over the last few years like banking on cheap oil and a continued thirst for SUVs) and manufacturing (which was killed as a viable sector of the economy when several free trade agreements were signed into law). With the global economy and continuing move away from manufacturing to lower paying service jobs, we’ll feel the hurt more than just about anybody else.

Jacobs and the Freep are not alone in wanting lower taxes. Judging by State Rep. Brian Calley’s special town hall meeting on property taxes late last month, just about everybody who bothered to show up (and here we have to take a pinch of salt since the demographic most likely to show up at this was the anti-tax crowd which was exactly what happened, much to Calley's chagrin since he took a beating from the crowd he thought would be on his side) thinks state government is fat and rich and can afford to make more cuts to balance its budget. Calley himself claimed state government has grown its budget by $3 billion over the last four years, despite the cutbacks claim.

But it’s basic arithmetic to understand that when you take in less revenue, you have less money to spend on services you provide. The question then becomes either cut the “fat” or raise more revenue. But where’s the “fat?” I’m tired of cutting state services to people. I think the purpose of government is to provide us with essential services we can’t afford to buy ourselves. Each of us can’t afford a cop, a teacher or a fireman, so we all make a contribution to hire such needed people. Governor Granholm has cut spending every year she's been in office and we've seen Republicans in charge in the state for over a decade- why didn't they cut the fat when they had the chance?

Close to home, Barry County has felt the pain of a $75,000 "trimming thee fat" cut to Green Gables domestic violence shelter. We want the state to cut expenses, but not the ones that affect us. Somewhere else are people who will cry foul when their program is eliminated or support is severely reduced. So it’s either cut programs or raise taxes to balance the budget. I'm tired of kicking mentally ill people into the streets where they become homeless and often end up in prison. I'm tired of telling the poor to fend for themselves while giving fat cat business big tax breaks. I'm tired of telling women getting knocked around by their spouses that there's no where to go. I'm tired of telling kids that college is only for the rich or those willing to gamble on being able to pay off their massive student loans. I'm tired of making people with cancer put out coffee cans to collect spare change to pay for chemotherapy because in the richest nation of earth, which already spends more on health care than any other country, they cannot have access to the medicine they need to live! I'm tired of pretending that if only Michigan were a little more like Mississippi our economy will grow into... well, last I checked they weren't very high up on any lists except number of people in poverty.

Unlike the Freep and Fred Jacobs, I actually have a couple of suggestions:
I once again propose and urge State Representative Brian Calley to support eliminating the Michigan State Senate (I ask all the people scared of this proposal: If they're so damn vital to good governance why haven't they done anything to solve this crisis?!), thereby saving at least $50 million a year and not reducing any essential services; that the Senate building and its contents be sold; that the state income tax be raised from 3.9 percent back to its old level of 4.6%; that all non-violent “criminals” such as marijuana users and sellers be released from costly prisons and re-sentenced to community service (which could also serve a two-fold purpose of working towards public works project to improve the state while also perhaps getting jobs and getting back on the tax rolls and help us get out of this mess instead of rotting in jail and eating up valuable tax revenue that should be spent elsewhere), and eliminating lifetime health care and retirement for all legislators should be enacted (which Calley is already on record as supporting- so let's see him convince his colleagues to do it).

These suggestions actually would only be a part of the total solution, but I challenge others to come up with ideas on how to save money without hurting essential services for the people. It is my firm belief, to borrow the phrase from the late Hubert Humphrey, that what I propose would do little if any harm to citizens, restore state government solvency and perhaps jump start the economy once again.

What I propose, as opposed to the Neo-Laffer crowd, is not to help the corporate CEO buy a new yacht, but help ordinary citizens cope with a tough situation and meet primary obligations and responsibilities which has a much more immediate and direct impact on the local and state economy (as opposed to letting a billionaire invest in a Chinese factory to make goods to be sold at Wal-Mart for instance). Oh, and it might also trickle up to the guys who own the businesses so maybe they can get their yacht after all- AFTER the working men and women of Michigan are able to pay their bills and have affordable and decent health care.

Go ahead and attack these ideas but, as Ford Motor Company used to say, if you do then present a better idea.

Christian Curtis cares only for #1

“Jesus loves me, but He can’t stand you.”
— The Austin Lounge Lizards

A story last weekend in the Grand Rapids Press sports pages on local boy and former big leaguer Chad Curtis is yet another example of those who use their so-called Christian faith to hammer their opponents and expose their own selfishness.

In a story that should be regarded as astonishing because it appeared in print, some rehashing was made of Curtis’ public criticism in 1999 of New York Yankee teammate and shortstop Derek Jeter for fraternizing with the enemy during a brawl with the Seattle Mariners. It seems that Jeter and then-Mariner superstar Alex Rodriguez were friends and took a brawl during a game as an opportunity to chat amicably rather than engage in a barbaric practice that’s outside the rules of baseball yet mostly condoned by MLB and cheered on by the fans and sports casters. Curtis apparently questioned Jeter’s manhood and loyalty for not joining the fracas. I guess someone should ask Curtis: "Who Would Jesus Hit?"

Curtis, who grew up in Middleville and now lives in the Caledonia area, apparently believes that in order to be a true athlete you must treat your enemy with scorn, derision or downright hostility, that you certainly shouldn’t treat the opposition with respect. I'm sure many reading this will think I'm making some wild leap of logic but I think it’s that kind of Neanderthal thinking that continues to get the United States into dumb and costly wars like in Iraq and Vietnam. It's a symptom of a culture and society that thinks being "number 1" is the goal no matter how you get there. It's also shows that often someone can give lip service to practicing Christianity without actually understanding what Jesus was trying to teach.

However, the non-story published in the GR Press Sunday simply once again pointed to Curtis’ character, or lack thereof. Chad Curtis always has been a selfish, spoiled child, and because he’s a big-time Major Leaguer, he gets respect he doesn’t deserve.

Curtis, while he was playing for the California Angels back in the early 1990s, once came to an elementary classroom at Thornapple Kellogg in Middleville to tell the kiddies all about how being a good Christian has a lot to do with being a success. Not long afterward, the Angels traded him, with the manager commenting he rarely, if ever, had seen a player more selfish than Curtis.

By the time Curtis finally gave up his baseball career, he had played for seven teams in 10 years. He was swapped around an awful lot, and I heard not very many teams were willing to put up with his behavior. In one case, it was reported that he got into a altercation with a teammate, leading to his being asked to pack his bags yet again. Not exactly what I would call a good, Christian role model for the kiddies.

After he retired, he came back to this area with his riches and he bought a horse ranch near Alto and after earning a bachelor’s degree, he landed an elementary teaching position at Caledonia. He became close friends with now discredited former Superintendent Wes VanDenburg, who attempted to engineer the hiring of Curtis as head varsity baseball coach, even though the Caledonia High School Fighting Scots had done pretty well of late.

Curtis eventually landed the job, though VanDenburg got the ax after it was determined the school chief had played fast and loose with his credit card and expense accounts. When he was arrested, Curtis posted bail.

In one of the more bizarre school board meetings anyone will ever see, VanDenburg, just before he was canned, showed school board members a video of Curtis hitting a World Series game-winning homer for the Yankees. So what’s that got to do with education?

We live in a society that worships athletes far more than what they deserve and pay them far more than what they deserve. It’s gotten so bad that we even listen to their advice rather than more worthy or knowledgeable people, and we even elect them to positions they don’t deserve because of their celebrity status.

And in more recent years we’ve been subjected to their selfish and public pronouncements that “God loves me so much he makes the outcome of my career and contests be in my favor.” A few examples:

• Remember that big girl who played for Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University a couple of years ago, who said during an NCAA tournament press conference that the Lord was on her team’s side and they would win it all? Falwell and company were squashed big time in their next ballgame.
• Remember Tigers’ pitcher Frank Tanana, after shutting out the Toronto Blue Jays in a playoff game in 1987, saying on TV, “I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for this moment?” Tanana’s career didn’t go places after that.
• Remember the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills players on each sideline praying as the Bills’ kicker was set to kick the winning field goal in the Super Bowl? Apparently, God was a Giants fan.
• Remember Monte Clark’s infamous prayer in the Lions’ 1983 playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers, when Eddy Murray missed a 41-yard field goal that would have won it. Must be God loves Frisco, but He can’t stand Clark.

But once again, after reading the GR Press article, I wondered why this was news. It seems A. Rod and Jeter are no longer best of friends, which prompted some ace sports reporter to dredge up an incident from more than seven years earlier. Maybe this story would have been more appropriate on the cover of “People,” or better yet, the National Inquirer. Or maybe it really was appropriate in the pages of the Grand Rapids Press, a newspaper that should really be printed on toilet paper so it can serve it's proper function: taking care of #2.