Red Sox super star Manny Ramirez took a game off to become a US citizen on Monday, and Tuesday made a triumphant return. Now, I can understand how important it would be to finally get citizenship--he's lived in the US since he was 13 and makes hundreds of millions of US dollars (don't you wish I were exaggerating? I'm not). And I know he couldn't really choose the date that the government said "show up now". But of all the weeks in the world, I would not want this to be the one when I became a US citizen. I can be as patriotic as is possible for a young-cynical-leftist, but this is not a good week for that.

Then again, if you think about it the way Pedro Martinez phrased it, it's not such a bad week for it: ""I was so proud of Manny," said Pedro Martinez, like Ramirez a native of the Dominican Republic. "Actually taking the flag out there made me feel proud of him. We all know what America represents to us and the opportunity we got in America. To actually let us be citizens of this country is a great honor.
"I was very happy Manny took that flag out, saying, `Thank you, America, for giving me the chance.' Some people don't know Manny all that well but Manny's really smart and he knew what he was trying to say when he came out with that flag. Especially having some members of the Army out there. Those people have gone through a lot to protect this country. Nothing better to do than actually show our support."

Yesterday I nearly broke my radio listening to the senate armed service committee testimony. I was driving to work with Jon, and we were both feeling a little of the morning-after-showtunes blurr. But despite that general haze, I had a moment of pure white rage during someone's questioning. I don't know who it was because I was too busy yelling at the radio to hear NPR tell me who was talking. And I don't want to find out who it was because I'll feel nothing but hate. I'm know it was one of the male republicans, and not John McCain, and I think any more knowledge would be dangerous. Anyway, he rambled on about how the abuse wasn't all that bad, and after all these were Iraqi traitors and insurgents. Remember, our soldiers are all heroes, and the liberal (he didn't say that, but he meant it) media is spinning it to evil purpose. Etc. If you didn't hear it, you can imagine it without my help. I'm not arguing that the liberal media isn't spinning it, that would be naive. But on the other hand, you can't really spin the pictrues in a positive way.

It reminds me of when Bill O'Reilly all-but called my brother a traitor his article about the post-9/11 dilution of the use of (and therefore weight of) the word hero.

I met Sy Hersch at a wedding about a year ago. At a wedding full of liberal media luminaries and other prominent Washingtonians and entertainers, he's the one I remember talking to the best. I was struck at the time by how smart and honest he was in person.

I know that's random, but it has been on my mind recently. I can't describe it, so I won't really try.
- posted by Heidi @ 7:30 AM