i'm disappointed by the appalling intolerance of hard right and hard left partisans in our culture. it is as destructive as any repugnant regime in history. future historians, once the irrational distractions of current events decay into rational analysis, will no doubt nail our intolerant behavior. we read about civic tragedies gone by and shake our heads wondering why the people who were involved in those events were so easily fooled. meanwhile, engaged in similar denial, we eagerly participate in ongoing collective confrontational civic idiocy.

this month, as in all past months since the terrorist attack on new york on 11 september 2001, i remain in a state of high alarm over the ongoing assault on our civil rights by conservative legal mobs rioting through our society. they mistake a control-freak agenda for patriotism. i enjoyed the speech by tim robbins to the national press club, his response to being thrust into the spotlight by the partisan idiot in charge of the baseball hall of fame. earlier in the week dale petrosky, president of the baseball hall of fame, cancelled a trivial weekend event scheduled at the hall to commemorate the amusing baseball film bull durham because it might give tim robbins, one of the co-stars in the film, an opportunity to personally endanger the lives of american military personnel, a laughable claim in a rational society, but a serious belief among partisans in our defective times.

for what it's worth i wrote mr. petrosky and asked for his resignation on the basis of his inability to provide non-partisan leadership for the hall of fame. unfortunately for all baseball fans everywhere, mr. petrosky believes that baseball belongs only to pro-war americans, and when confronted with the foolishness of his stance for a sport with international fans, he remained unapologetic. obviously, in the best interests of baseball, mr. petrosky's condition is terminal, and it is only a matter of time till everyone realises he is the wrong man for the job.
posted by Will Ross at 09:24