Pujols: To Walk or Not to Walk?

Hey baseball fans, here’s a question for you. Most of you who know me know of my love of baseball, especially the St. Louis Cardinals. If you are a true baseball fan, you are aware of Albert Pujols and the great year he is having. My question is why do so many teams let him beat them? Why don’t more teams pitch around him and walk him intentionally? Take their game last night for instance. Pujols came to bat in the 8th inning with the Cardinals down 3-0. The bases where loaded and two out. The book says you pitch to him which is what the Reds did. The result was a grand slam home run and the Cards led 4-3. If you are the Reds, why not walk Pujols? Even though you walk in a run, you still have the lead, and then take your chance on the next hitter, in this case Ryan Ludwick. Ludwick isn’t near the hitter that Pujols is, and Ludwick hasn’t been hitting the ball well for the month of June, a weak .200 batting average with just 3 home runs. You get Ludwick out and you escape with a 3-1 lead. Will we ever see something like this, a team giving Pujols the free pass, even though it would mean walking in a run? I’m glad a team hasn’t done this yet because I really like seeing Albert bat with men on base. Oh, by the way, the Cardinals ended up winning the game 7-4.

A Question for Obama

Happy Father's Day to all the Fathers out there!

While watching the news this morning I saw a clip of Barack Obama talking about Father's Day. In it, he said, “We need fathers to recognize that responsibility doesn't just end at conception."

The line was from a Father's Day speech that he gave in 2008. But with Obama he has a tendency to say one thing and do something else. In another speech that Obama gave to Planned Parenthood while he was running for President, he said, "The first thing I'd do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act."

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has a question for Obama in a 30 second television ad that begins with a clip of Obama's Father's Day speech. In the ad, Perkins is holding his son, Samuel in his arms. He asks Obama, “If, as you say, fatherhood begins at conception, when does life begin?”

I would also like to hear his answer to the question because when I first heard the clip I had the same response as Perkins did. But I am afraid we already know the answer. Seems like actions speak louder than words. As a Senator, Obama has voted against the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which would have protected from infanticide those children who survive abortion attempts. As a Senator and as President Obama has voted and authorized the spending of US taxpayer dollars here and overseas. Obama is right on his way to making good on his promise to Planned Parenthood. And if he has his way in the upcoming health care debate it wouldn't surprise me to see government mandate the Freedom of Choice Act calling it health care.

Sports Bits

NCAA Football – Florida was crowned National Champions based on their record and 24-14 victory over Oklahoma in the National Championship Game. Not to take anything away from Florida, but I am still not convinced that the system used is the best method to pick a National Champion. Who’s to say that Florida was any better than USC or Utah? USC had the same record and Utah was undefeated. I like many believed that both had legitimate claims at least to a share of the title. Wouldn’t a better way to choose a champion be through a playoff system such as an 8 or 12 team bracket. I would much rather see the argument be who’s number 8 and who the number 9 team is that didn’t get a chance to play for the championship………………National Signing day is past and according to Rivals.com the Ohio State Buckeyes had the third best recruiting class in the nation. Other Big Ten Teams: (7) Michigan, (16) Michigan State and (25) Penn State. In the Big 12: (5) Texas (13) Oklahoma (22) Texas A&M (28) Nebraska, (31) Kansas, and (95) Kansas State.

NFL Football – The Super Bowl this year was just that. Super! Although KC is my favorite team, I have enjoyed watching the Steelers since Terry Bradshaw and the days of the “Steel Curtin”. Those teams were good offensively but it was the defense that carried them. It looks like they have that formula back again. I was one of many that jumped on the Arizona Cardinals bandwagon during their playoff run. Warner, Fitzgerald and company and their high octane offense were fun to watch. But in the end they made too many mistakes and the Steelers defense prevailed……………….Speaking of the Cardinals, the Kansas City Chiefs should have a new look in 2009. The move to replace Carl Peterson was past due. One has to like the move to bring in Scott Pioli. Kansas City fans will be hoping that he can duplicate the successes he had in New England. I don’t know enough about Todd Haley other that what I saw during the NFC Playoffs and the Super Bowl, however his Cardinals were 4th in overall offense in the NFL last season. Maybe this will be just what the Chiefs offense needs to get well. It will be interesting to see who they bring in as assistant coaches and which players stay.

NCAA basketball – At the beginning of the season I said that KU at times would be fun the watch and at other times it would be difficult to watch them. This week we saw both. On Monday at Missouri, it was their game to win and they blew the lead. On Saturday, even though it wasn’t pretty, it was their game to lose and they managed to take advantage to some breaks and pull out the victory. This team is young and inexperienced. That being said they have some talent in the right spots, but don’t have the depth that they have had in the past. The last 6 games will be a good warm up going into the post-season. The game at Oklahoma will be the most difficult and an almost certain loss for the Jayhawks.
The games at home against Nebraska, Missouri and Texas won’t be easy. I could see KU going to the sweet 16 this year but not much further. A repeat of last year is definitely not in the works this year……….Sorry K-State fans but you will have to wait at least one more year to go dancing. Your strength of schedule is too weak. A win over the Jayhawks might have saved your season. I thought your season was finished after the embarrassing loss at Nebraska, but the Cats finally got it rolling with key wins at home against Missouri and on the road at Texas. The Purple could still salvage the season if they win out the remainder of their games including a home game with Missouri.…………..Wichita State is finally starting to show some hope and potential of what they might be under Greg Marshall. They could finish in 5th place in the Valley which is saying a lot with the start they had to the season. They have some good young talent and plenty to look forward to for next year……………….Have you noticed the emphasis on swinging elbows lately? One thing I noticed is that the defensive players tend to guard so close so when a player pivots or swings his body, the elbows follow making it look more violent than it really is.

Baseball – With just two returning starters and 14 lettermen, this will be the least experienced team that WSU fans have ever seen. If these guys can show some hope early, an attractive home schedule against Pepperdine and Long Beach State might be fun………….”Pitchers and catchers report” are the four words that a baseball fan looks forward to all winter long. Saturday, February 14th was that day. Forget the ground hog, for a baseball fan, it means that spring has sprung. The Cardinals have a lot of question marks. (1) The biggest is the health of Chris Carpenter. Carp has pitched only 21 innings over the last two seasons. There will be a lot of tests on his arm this spring. (2) Albert Pujols had off-season elbow surgery. Will he be ready for opening day? (3) Troy Glaus had off-season shoulder surgery. It has already been announced that he won’t be ready for opening day. Who will fill if for him till he’s ready to return? (4) The Cards released Adam Kennedy last week. Who will be the second baseman? (5) The team still hasn’t signed a closer. Who will be the man out of the bullpen in the 9th inning? Should be a fun spring keeping it all straightened out. Keep posted.

Joe the Plumber and the American Dream

Joe the Plumber has a dream, and (The Liberal Democratic Machine) Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and the media are trying to take away his American Dream. Instead of facing the question that Joe, Sam, or whatever his name is, they are trying to dig up dirt on Joe. It’s not important what his real name is, if he has licenses, or how much his back taxes are. And why did Obama and Biden question how much money he makes as a plumber?

What they are doing is avoiding the answer to Joe’s question. That’s because Obama’s answer paints him as a modern-day Robin Hood. He wants to rob from the rich and give to the poor. Obama said, “I want to make sure that everybody who is behind ya, that they have a chance for success too. I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everyone.”

That, my friends, is socialism. What he wants is income redistribution. What he forgets is that everyone does have the same chance for success. We are all entitled to an education. In America we can choose the career path that we want. The American Dream is belief that allows all of us the chance to achieve our goals in life through hard work. And now Obama wants to penalize the people who make the right choices and make the most of them. He wants to take away that dream. When you do that, you take away the incentives people have to produce?

The danger with this is that Joe and all the other people out there with dreams will get upset that government is taking too much of their money and they have to work too hard to make even more money. They will throw their hands up in the air and say enough is enough. They will come over to the other side and take money from the government. For those who say that won’t happen. Think again. It happened this week when Hawaii decided to drop the only state universal child health care program in the country. Families were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.
"People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free," said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. "I don't believe that was the intent of the program."

Obviously, there will always be people who will slip between the cracks but, there is already a system to take care of these people. There are government programs and private charities in place to help these people. What Obama wants is welfare for the middle class by taking away from the people who already pay the most taxes. Did you know that 86% of all federal income taxes are paid by the top 25% of income earners? Infact, the top 50% pay 97% of all taxes. The top 1% pays 39% of the taxes. And Obama wants to take more from them. Of the people he wants to give this money to, 40% do not pay taxes. There is a better way. The tax cuts by George Bush actually increased revenue. The increase in taxes to the top 5% that Obama wants could hurt the people that Obama wants to help forcing the small business man to cut costs and jobs.

This country was built on the dreams of people like Joe the Plumber. Its people like Joe who purchase the small businesses that give you your job. If we elect Barack Obama to raise taxes on these people, who will be there to hire you? Have you ever gotten a job from a poor person?

Rebutting the ‘Catholic but…’

The following is Bishop Olmsted’s column from The Catholic Sun for Lent 2004 (March 18, 2004 Issue). It is a great article that is as timeless today as it was back when it was written. It is our daily ‘how to’ guide for living our lives as Catholics. It should be a way of life, not just during Lent but for every day.

Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted Bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix

© Copyright 2004-2008 The Catholic Sun. Reprinted with permission. Visitwww.catholicsun.org.

“I am a Catholic businessman but I don’t let the Church influence what I do at the office or in the boardroom;” but Jesus says (Mt 7:21), “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

“I am a Catholic politician but I don’t let my Catholicism impact on how I vote or what legislation I promote;” but Jesus says (Mt 7:26-27), “Everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

“I am a Catholic physician but I don’t let my faith mold my decisions regarding abortion, contraception, or other medical practices;” but Jesus says Mt 5:37), “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.”

“I am a Catholic talk show host but I don’t let the Church inhibit my right to say whatever I want on the air;” but in the Letter of James, God says (2:17) “Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

“I am a Catholic priest but I don’t let Magisterial teaching keep me from dissenting from moral or doctrinal points nor let it limit my own ‘pastoral solutions’;” but at ordination each priest professes a solemn oath, “I believe everything contained in God’s Word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the Church… I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by the Church definitively regarding teaching on faith and morals.”

Lent is the time to kick the “Catholic but...” out of our own daily lives. It is the time to expunge rationalization from our minds and to root out compromise from our hearts. Lent is the time to say a determined “No” to the temptation to water down our faith for personal gain. It is the time to say a much larger “Yes” to Jesus and His Gospel of Life. Lent is the time for Totus Tuus, the time to renew our commitment to love God with all our mind and heart and strength.

The “Catholic but…” syndrome stands in direct contradiction to Jesus’ clear and unequivocal demand (Mk 8:34-36), “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”

The “Catholic but…” syndrome is not without precedent in history. The fact that Jesus Himself directly and frequently opposed such rationalization shows its prevalence 2000 years ago. How often we are tempted to separate what we do in Church from what we do at home, to isolate what we believe from how we vote or what we do at work or at leisure. How easily we can compartmentalize our lives, thus keeping our adherence to Christ from shaping all that we say and do. This is why the formation of conscience holds such a pivotal role in our effort to grow to full maturity in Christ.

Each Lent, the Church urges us to rekindle our love for Jesus and to take a closer look at how completely we are taking up the Cross that fidelity to Him entails. This means we need to examine our consciences, and to insure that they are formed on the solid foundation of the Gospel.

During these 40 days before the Easter Triduum, the Father shines new light upon our souls so we can discover (or rediscover) the essential connection between truth and freedom, and between faith and culture. When freedom is detached from truth, objectivity goes out the window, relativism reigns, and ethical chaos gives rise to the “Catholic but…” It becomes impossible to establish right from wrong, good from evil. The pursuit of holiness is thrown off course.

To take the time, then, during Lent to form our consciences more fully in accordance with objective truth (known from God’s Revelation and the natural law) not only brings wholeness and integrity to our personal lives; it also makes it possible for us to bring healing and reconciliation to society. Let us take advantage, then, of this Lenten season 2004 to engage seriously in the pursuit of truth and freedom. Here are some concrete suggestions for doing so:


Ask the Holy Spirit for His gifts of courage and understanding, humility and right judgment.
Consult the Catechism of the Catholic Church to find clear teaching about the moral conscience and its correct formation (See paragraphs #1776-1802).
Consider your own family situation, your work and your civic duties, and then ask: “Do I live my whole life as a vocation and a mission from the Lord?”
Carve out a few days for a spiritual retreat or at least set aside half a day to go apart from everyday life and examine, with God’s help, how you are integrating the gift of faith in all dimensions of your life. On the first day of Lent each year, the Lord says to us through St. Paul (2 Cor 6:2), “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Now is the time to rebut the “Catholic but…” It is the time to say “Yes” when we mean “Yes,” and to say “No” when we mean “No.” Lent is the time to profess our Catholic faith with gratitude and to put every part of it into practice.

Rediscovering Wichita, Step by Step: Swanson Park

Due to my recent blood clot/deep vein thrombosis, I have, out of necessity, taken up a new hobby. Walking! It is amazing what you notice when walking that you don’t see when driving your car at 40 mph. It has given me the unique opportunity to rediscover my Wichita Neighborhood. I have also been walking at Sedgwick County Park where I did a geocache with a friend.

And I have found one of Wichita’s best kept secrets, Swanson Park, one of the Wichita Wild Habitat areas. This park is located in the northwest part of town and covers 93 acres. There is a paved 32 car parking lot 1/2 mile north of Central on the west side of Maize Road where a 1.3 mile paved trail begins. The Cowskin Creek flows through this park in a series of slow meanders. Native and restored prairie, old hay meadows and woodlands make up the area. Wildlife in the park includes wood ducks, meadow voles, and white-tailed deer. The deer are most likely to be found in the wooded areas where they find cover and food that the trees and shrubs provide.

Bring your own water as there are no drinking fountains in the park. Don’t forget the insect repellent as the habitat is great for breeding mosquitoes. Also there are no public restrooms or picnic tables. There are however plenty of benches to stop and take a rest and there is lots of shade as much of the trail goes through wooded areas.

The area was part of an 8 million acre Osage Indian Reservation. The US Government purchased the land for $1.25 per acre and opened it to white settlement.

“Swanson Park sits on land homesteaded in 1874 by Nels Swanson, a Swedish immigrant. Although his 160 acre tract had less farmable land than surrounding tracts, it was rich in wildlife with a dependable source of water---the Cowskin Creek. After receiving the title to the land, he tried his hand as a miner in Colorado for a few years. He returned in 1888 with his wife Elisabeth, and their two-year old son, Simon. With the help of a neighbor, they built a three-room house, a barn and outbuilding.

Simon, the oldest of Nels and Elizabeth’s three children eventually took over the farm. He married Ottilia Dueker in 1920 and they raised three children of their own: Kjersti, Gloria, and Harold.

Simon was a conservationist before the idea was popular. He rotated his crops, plowed straw into gullies to prevent erosion and left unbroken prairie grass borders around his fields to provide wildlife habitat. He maintained areas along the creek and in other parts of the farm in their natural state. The native prairie grass grew so tall in good years it reached above his head.

The farm remained in the Swanson family for 100 years. Part of it became Swanson Park in 1975 and the remainder was sold for the housing development southeast of the park. The quality of the wildlife habitat you see here today can be credited to the loving stewardship bestowed on this land by the Swansons”
---from one the many information display signs in the park.

My Wake Up Call

About 2 month ago, I got my “wake up call”. As I usually do every year I took a week of vacation to watch March Madness. See "March Madness and the KU Jayhawks". At the start of my vacation I was noticing some tightness and tenderness in my calf muscle below the knee. As the week went on and I was up and around running errands, the soreness went away. Then came Thursday of March Madness week and I sat around for four days watching college basketball. When I went back to work on Monday, I once again noticed the tightness and soreness. I thought it could be anything. Maybe it was a pulled or strained muscle. In the past, I had a history of inflamed arteries in that leg, but nothing serious and with antibiotics they always got better. In February, I was also diagnosed with a bronchial infection. As fate would have it, over a month later, I was still dealing with this infection. It just wouldn’t go away. On Monday I called my doctors’ to schedule a check up for Tuesday morning.

When taking a shower on Tuesday morning, I noticed that my right leg was swelled and much bigger and redder than my left leg. The doctor scheduled an x-ray to check out my lungs. Next I received a sonogram where they found a blood clot on the inside of my leg, above the knee. Next they scheduled a CT-Scan where they discovered that part of the clot had broken off and gone to my lungs. I had a pulmonary embolism.

I wouldn’t be going home that night. I would get an ambulance ride to the hospital where I would spend the next thee days. I would spend the next four weeks at home laying around with my legs elevated before I would go back to work.

Among the causes of blood clots also known as Deep Vein Thrombosis, DVT are prolonged sitting, such as during a long plane or car ride, prolonged bed rest or immobility, obesity, damage due to injury, and inherited blood conditions. Possibly my week of watching college basketball was not very good for me, although I am on my feet all day while at work. I am not the most active person when away from work and I will be the first to admit that I am overweight. I don’t recall injuring my leg; however I am always bumping it against something at home or at work. My dad also has a history of blood clots that started when he was about my age. I suppose the cause for my blood clot could be any combination of these.

The blood clot should dissolve on its own. There are things I can do to lessen my chances or to prevent another blood clot. Now, I will probably wearing support stockings or compression socks for the rest of my life. I will also be taking blood thinners such as coumadin or warfarin. My other big lifestyle change will include walking regularly to get exercise and stimulate circulation.

I guess that I am lucky to have gone to have gone to my doctor on that March morning and I am lucky to be alive. It could have been much worse. However it is something that I can live with. I can make changes to my lifestyle and life for a long time with this condition. Many people do. Getting in shape is something that I have put off for a long time. Now I have received my “wake up call”! Now, I know what I have to do!