BatesLine blogroll headlines

Pray for China, May 12 through June 4: 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.

The Greenroom: It Always Has Been About Trig

"If Sarah Palin had aborted Trig, the left would have been okay with it. If she hid Trig offstage and out of sight, all would be good. But treat the child as you would any other child, and that cannot be tolerated.

"There is something about a Down syndrome child in plain view which has exposed the moral and emotional bankruptcy of the left-wing of the Democratic party. And they hate Sarah Palin because deep down, they hate themselves for being who they are."

The Judge Report - Fifty Years

From the New York Post: "Drive through nearby run-down Amsterdam [N. Y.] to see the product of 50 years of state economic development efforts." Robert N. Going replies:

"If left to our own devices and own resources and own markets, I wonder what Amsterdam would have looked like today?

"In 1970 alone more than 27 million dollars in outside funds passed through here and not without a little corrupting effect....

"I remember one of the great problems our outside experts were attempting to solve for us was the critical problem of traffic jams in our downtown.

"That's the one project at which they were sensationally successful."

Field of Schemes: An anniversary few noticed: 100 years & Forbes Field

"Now remembered as a small intimate ballpark that has long since been demolished, at the time Forbes Field was the most massive monument to professional sports ever built.

"It was built entirely with private funds, and it ushered in a sort of competition among team owners to build similar ballparks, places like Fenway, Wrigley, Comiskey, Ebbets, and Navin in Detroit....

"My theory: Now that the real ballparks of a bygone era have inspired construction of numerous "retro ballparks," MLB is not wedded to keeping the old dinosaurs around. In short, Fenway and Wrigley have served their usefulness in prompting the kind of new construction that has made team owners around the country lots of money. If dumping them for shiny new models is in the cards, MLB would not have a problem with that."

SCTV Guide - Features - Great White North Set

Good Canada Day, eh? Great White North backdrop rescued from a dumpster.

Lenore Skenazy: Why I'm Raising Free-Range Kids

Skenazy writes that DVDs of the first five seasons of Sesame Street (1969-1974) are labeled adults-only, because they show kids playing on their own: "'These early Sesame Street episodes are intended for grown-ups.'... The wimps at PBS refuse to sanction any notion that kids can play on their own anymore. So now it's modeling the NEW norm: Constant parental supervision."

news from me - Michael Jackson, R.I.P.

Mark Evanier remembers working with Jackson on a cartoon show that never got off the ground.

Detroit Votes To Demolish 1923 Lafayette Building

More vandalism from the Detroit Undevelopment Authority.

Men My Mother Dated (and Other Mostly True Tales) by Brett Leveridge: Bob Wills

Funny, plausible anecdote: "It wasn't long before Dad felt a tap-tap-tap upon his shoulder, signifying that someone was seeking to cut in, to take a turn around the floor with Mom. By now you must surely have guessed that it was Wills. Dad graciously stepped aside and Mom found herself firmly in Wills' clutches.

"Mom felt there was little she could do but make the best of the situation, grit her teeth, and behave in gracious fashion until song's end...."

Charting America's Best Food Stops - WSJ.com

"Jane and Michael Stern select the country's top all-American dishes in '500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late.'" Murphy's Steakhouse in Bartlesville gets a mention.

The Baldwin Project: Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall

"A child's history of England from earliest legendary times delightfully retold. Beginning with the stories of Albion and Brutus, it relates all the interesting legends and hero tales in which the history of England abounds through the end of the reign of Queen Victoria." Read it online or buy the book.