Bring Me The Brandy Lord Stanley!
WooooHoooo! Not much else to say as the Pittsburgh Penguins have beat history and defeated the Detroit Red Wings to win their third Stanley Cup in franchise history. 
No road team in any sport had won a road game seven to clinch a championship since 1979 when the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series. In the 87th game of the NHL playoffs, the Penguins took exit 71 to Detroit to dethrone the champs.
From the kids of promise to the veterans of hope, the Pens did what it took to achieve hockey immortality. Tomorrow is here; the promise is fulfilled. The Steel City skaters have matched the cross town Pittsburgh Steelers to snatch a second championship for the Burgh this year. Pittsburgh is once again the City of Champions.
Where do I start?
Max Talbot scored twice, only the 9th player ever to net two goals in a game 7. Marc-Andre Fleury disproved the doubters time and again with huge saves including one with only a second left on Niklas Lidstrom. Sidney Crosby suffered a nasty injury but kept his team motivated to hold onto the slimmest of margins, a one goal difference that came down to inches yet will span a lifetime as the Boys of Winter will see their names engraved for all time on the Stanley Cup, the ultimate symbol of childhood expectations where dreams are reflected in the shiny gloss of the ages. Read more »
Congress Reaffirms Fake Hate Of Smoking
The Senate today sent a tobacco-hatin’ volley back to the House of Reps. Beware smokers, the government is about to light you up as the FDA takes more control of your lives. EduClaytion readers got a big whiff of this governmental stink bomb back in April in Smoke Em If You Got Em, one of the most read posts ever. 
The current version is new and improved by which I mean even worse. If the House drops its rubber stamp President Obama will sign on with glee. He must you see. The future of America’s children is at stake. I know because Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois told me. Durbin continues to help Illinois rise in the ranking of America’s stupidest states. Here’s what Dick had to say:
“This is a bill that will protect children and will protect America. Every day that we don’t act, 3,500 American kids — children — will light up for the first time. That is enough to fill 70 school buses.”
As I say, if you want to know what’s wrong with this legislation in the first place, just read the original article. I’ll even ignore the various problems with these stats about kids smoking and the hypocrisy of our leaders. Don’t get me started about how much Durbin and his pals want to “protect America.” Quite a bang up job they do passing dozens of laws to increase their power in the name of our good.
I’ve got a few ideas about who I’d like those busses to drive over but I better be careful before Congress passes another law to “protect me.”
Do You Understand D-Day?
If you were to rank the most important days in American history, June 6 would be near the top of the list. Next to some work by the Founding Fathers and Abraham Lincoln, perhaps no event means more in American history than D-Day, the successful Allied invasion of Europe in 1944 that signaled the beginning of the end for Hitler’s evil regime. June 6 marks the anniversary of that amazing surge 65 years ago today.
The majority of the men who made that brave push were young, kids really. Many of them are gone today. The grizzled few that remain reflect only faint traces of the courageously clueless boys who took the next step because they had to. All they did was save the world, an achievement usually reserved for superheroes. 
I never care much for hero sandwich style writing when it comes to sports stars or corporate tycoons, but I don’t know any other way to describe what took place on the desolate beaches of France during that decisive summer.
Twenty-five years have passed since President Reagan commemorated the event at Normandy. In 1984, he spoke on the 40th anniversary of the invasion. He spoke of efforts by groups like the Rangers who climbed the cliffs in the face of machine gun fire and grenades to win the foothold position necessary for advancing through Europe. He spoke of individual sacrifices, those that risked their lives, those that gave them.
You can watch movies like Saving Private Ryan or Band Of Brothers or even documentaries with live footage. None of that does justice to the reality of what those troops faced. We can only listen to the words of those who fought to try to grab onto something we can understand. That will never be enough either though. In the end, all we are left with is how to respond. Like the astounding beauty of the universe we can not understand what it is w
e are seeing, we can only feel the awe that strikes anyone who takes the time to consider this rarest of scenes in a time of challenge that required sacrifice from all, selfishness from none.
Not to inject bitterness into these thoughts, but why is so little done on this day? In America, most people under the age of 40 are clueless until they stumble across a special on TV or see an article in passing. I believe June 6 should be a national holiday.
I’m amazed at how millions of people will spend a day planting trees and thinking about how much they love earth, yet those same people couldn’t find Europe on a map and think Normandy has something to do with wine or fashion. Don’t get me wrong, when the kids come home with baby plants we go nuts and find the perfect spot for it to bathe in the sun and slowly die over the coming weeks. But school is also in session every June 6 in my family when we remember the ultimate sacrifice of thousands. Read more »
Global Politics, Pancakes, N’at
So the G20 Summit is coming to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I wonder if the United Nations will supply a translator for the
language of the locals: Pittsburghese. If you are unfamiliar with this strange dialect, take a peek at the official site.
I jes can’t wait for em politicians to git dahntahn for that summit n’at. If you can decipher the preceding sentence, chances are you’ve been to the Burgh. You might even refer to more than one person as yinz, the ultimate Steel City term to identify local masses, especially fans of em Stillers (the Steelers). Yinzers are the new hoopleheads.
Of all the cities in the world, Pittsburgh is the strangest venue for an international summit of the leaders of the most powerful countries on the globe. Sure, the Burgh has been twice voted America’s most livable city, but no one around here will pretend they’re not shocked by Obama’s announcement. Apparently Pittsburgh is a good example of how to restore a region from economic collapse through new technology and going green.
City Mayor Luke Ravenstahl says this may be the biggest event in Pittsburgh history. That kind of exposure will bring thousands of folks from all over to attend. The funnest part might be the anticipated protesters. Read more »
Life. Culture. Education.
Life as Pop Culture Professor Clay Morgan
In The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo he can take the blue pill and go on believing whatever he wants to believe. Or he can take the red pill to stay in Wonderland and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.
This is a red pill type site that provides information in an entertaining way. It’s about clear thinking and good writing. It’s about finding meaning amidst the absurd. It’s about humor and truth.
I’m a writer / speaker who teaches history and political courses at a couple of local colleges. Where is local, you say? Well, that would be Wonderland of course.
On topics ranging from pop culture to the meaning of life, my brain’s always poppin’. Take the red pill and unplug.
