Oral Sex OK According to Sister Sharon, Our Leaders, and the Church

“oral sex is a hundred times safer than vaginal or anal sex.” Sharon Stone

“I have been advocating oral sex with Sharon Stone for several years.” Bill Clinton

“Look, I've been spending the better part of the past six years trying to say the word "nuclear" correctly. And now you're asking me about oral sex?” George W. Bush

“Boys will be boys.” Father Murphy

Antonin-The Guardian of the Constitution Unless They Mess With His Boys

“Screw the Constitution and Geneva, Sheneva” says Tony. "If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, that is where he belongs. I had a son on that battlefield and they were shooting at my son, and I'm not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean it's crazy"
"This isn't the first time Mr. Scalia has commented on matters before the court. Two years ago he recused himself from a Pledge of Allegiance case after making public comments about the matter." "’This is clearly grounds for recusal,’ said Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a human-rights group that has filed a brief in behalf of the Gitmo detainees. ‘I can't recall an instance where I've heard a judge speak so openly about a case that's in front of him-without hearing the arguments.’"

Wexford v Cork Hurling Match Called Off

Wexford v Cork will not be doing battle today. "Adverse weather conditions at Wexford Park have forced referee Barry Kelly to call off today's National Hurling League Division 1A fixture between Wexford and All-Ireland champions Cork. . . .Kelly, who inspected the pitch twice, confirmed his decision shortly after 2.00pm.”

Just Call Me Lefty

Thanks Nancy.

Snobbish Women Bitch About FBI Agents Doing Their Duty

Snobbish Women have attacked our patriots in the FBI for tracking The League of Women Voters & Common Cause, known terrorist fronts. Maybe its time we took a look at them.

So Long Buck

"Oh. you ain't a gonna have ol' Buck to kick around no more
The last time was the last time and this time it's for sure
The next sound that you hear will be the slamming of the door
And you ain't gonna have ol' Buck to kick around no more."
You Ain't Gonna Have Ol' Buck to Kick Around No More by Buck Owens

“There’s a giant doing cartwheels, a statue wearin’ high heels.
Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn.
A dinosaur victrola list’ning to buck owens.”
Lookin' Out My Back Door by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Mein Gott

“The human brain is . . powered by a ‘belief engine’ that makes us eager to seize on causal explanations for events, irrespective of whether they have any basis in truth. . . .Around half of all Americans believe in astrology, and 72% believe in angels. . . .The Nobel prizewinning physicist Niels Bohr kept a horseshoe nailed to the wall above his desk and, when asked whether he believed it would bring him luck, replied: ‘Not at all. I am scarcely likely to believe in such nonsense. However, I am told that a horseshoe will bring you luck whether you believe in it or not.’ . . . where belief and logic clash, humans will almost always opt for belief, sticking to it obstinately despite adverse evidence. . . . beliefs, it seems, can keep you healthy, whether they are valid or not. . . . Credulity may ensure survival better than logic. . . .religious people are happier, more optimistic, less prone to strokes and high blood pressure, more able to cope with life’s problems and less fearful of death than the irreligious. It follows that belief in the supernatural is an evolutionary advantage, and our ability to have such beliefs must, Wolpert deduces, have been partly determined by our genes. . . . for Wolpert, the wiring is no more divine than our guts or toenails, or any other part of our evolved anatomy. Mystical raptures, similar to those reported by the devout, can be produced, he points out, by mental illness or hallucinogenic drugs and this, too, indicates that religion depends on neural circuits in our brain that accident or malfunction can activate. Some neuroscientists now link spiritual experiences with specific brain areas. Stimulating the brain of subjects with electromagnets causes tiny seizures in the temporal lobes that induce the subjects to believe they have spiritual experiences. The visions of St Teresa, it is suggested, may have been symptoms of temporal-lobe epilepsy. . . .religious beliefs is probably . . an essential part of human nature . . . “
Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast: the Evolutionary Origins of Belief By Lewis Wolpert, Our leaps of faith Reviewed by John Carey

Fight Ignorance, Right a Wrong, and Save these Critters

"Endangered Florida panthers are being crowded out of their habitat in Florida. Some suggest bringing the panthers to the Ozarks, where they once lived. But Arkansas wildlife officials aren't crazy about the idea, saying the panthers would be a threat.” Arkansas Isn't Wild About Panther Proposal, All Things Considered, March 21, 2006, Story, by Jacqueline Froelich
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife folks believe that without public support the reintroduction would not be successful. Unfortunately, they define “public support” as approval from the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. They will object, confusing the Florida Panther with the Western mountain lion. Florida Panthers are shy, smaller, look different, and do not attack humans. They keep the deer population healthy and keep feral hogs in check. See, Only about 80 Florida Panthers Remain in the Wild; and Help Save the Florida Panther Arkansas Farm Bureau is opposed to being good stewards of the environment as usual. See, Feeding the Rat - Congress and Lobbyists and Nice Try Erik. This is a native species that we killed off. Please help save them. Game & Fish will meet in May to discuss it. Please contact them individually at keoff@futura.net, esn@jlj.com, svarnell@alltel.net, Freddie.black@simmonsfirst.com,
HRCHCasey@aol.com, johnbenjamin@alltel.net, gdunklin@dunklingrain.com, kgsmith@uark.edu, and information@agfc.state.ar.us.

Response from Chairman Mike Freeze:
From: "keoff"
Subject: Re: Florida Panther Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 11:42:27 -0600

Dear Mr. Snoddy:

The panthers in Florida have already been intentionally contaminated
with "western" panther genes due to animals stocked by the USFWS so
some believe that a distinct sub-species no longer exists. These same
animals have also been contaminated with genes from South American
cats. We already have a few "western" panthers in Arkansas so why stock more of the same sub-species?
Finally, panthers have attacked humans and livestock in California and
other western states and I would hate to be the one that had to explain to a
grieving parent why we stocked the panther that killed his or her child.
Finally, if we allow the stocking of "Florida panthers" that are protected
by the Endangered Species Act then the state would be relinquishing our
ability to mange these animals to the USFWS and I am concerned that a
debacle would ensue much like what has occurred with the reintroduction of
the Canadian timber wolf in the western states. These are just my thoughts
on this subject.

Sincerely,
Chairman Mike Freeze

From: "Virgil Snoddy"
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 10:15 AM Subject: Florida Panther

Florida panthers are shy creatures that we have exterminated. They
have never attacked humans. Do you have information to the
contrary? I just don't understand AG&F's position.

Is the Chairman confusing Florida Panthers the also rare Bengal tiger?

Our Third Anniversary

Read all about the third aniversary at Patti's Place.

A facist, an evangelical, a criminal and a moron walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and exclaims, "Mr. President!"

Thanks to the Beckster for reminding me that we've past our 5th aniversary of all the other stuff.

Lettuce Spray
George Bush is my shepherd; I dwell in want. He maketh logs to be cut in
national forests. He leadeth trucks into still wilderness. He restoreth
my fears.
He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.
Yea, though I walk in the valley of pollution and war, I will find no
exit, for thou art in office.
Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control; they discomfort me.
Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the presence of thy religion.
Thou anointest my head with foreign oil.
My health insurance runneth out.
Surely megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the days of
thy term.
And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever....Amen

The Twenty-third Qualm

Happy Beltane

Now That’s The National Geographic I Knew & Loved as a Kid!
Thanks to to J. R. for the tip. (He's the one in the middle)








 A special thanks to the Sisters of Mercy for making the heathens straighten up and fly right.

Jesus Christ!

"Thanks, Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology, for your expert advice on mental health," blasts an ad in LA Weekly. The ad goes on to say that a woman was killed "by the schizophrenic son she was told to treat with vitamins instead of psychiatric care."

What Scientology needs most is to be ridiculed

"South Park": Will tonight be Chef's final fling?

Chef Bites the Big One? Is Cruise to Blame?

You Go Christine! Saints Patrick and Brigid Would Be Proud of You.

I wondered why you attended mass instead of telling the Roman Church to shove it and return to your Irish roots. The Irish Catholic Church, before the Romans screwed it up, had female priests and bishops. See, Saint Brigid Died on His Day in 525.
“In the Celtic Church, the Irish Life of Brigit describes her ordination as bishop. Some scholars hold that there is evidence of women priests in the Celtic Church and of their presiding at Mass. In the sixth century, three Roman bishops sent a letter to Lovocat and Cathern, two Breton priests, calling for a ban on women celebrating Mass: ‘You celebrate the divine sacrifice of the Mass with the assistance of women to whom you give the name conhospitae. While you distribute the Eucharist, they take the chalice and administer the blood of Christ to the people. Renounce these abuses!’ Source: Bridget Mary Meehan, Praying with Celtic Holy Women.” Yes! Women Priests and Bishops in the Early Christian Community and Now! By Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan
As with the Druids, who heavily influenced the Church (and as with pre-Christian Romans), homosexuals were not persecuted. Lamar Davis, one of my favorite clergymen, told me once that you can only influnce the Church from the inside and it’s too powerful a force to leave alone. He’s probably right. Hats off to you Christine Quinn. I wish you were Pope.

To Prove You’re Incompetent, Donate $10,000,000.00 To This Campaign

Rep. Katherine Harris says she'll spend $10 million of her own money to revive her senate campaign which has set back by her ties to a bribery scandal.

WHO'S YOUR DADDY?

“Across the globe, people are choosing to have fewer children or none at all. . . .It’s . . . likely that conservatives will inherit the Earth. Like it or not, a growing proportion of the next generation will be born into families who believe that father knows best. . . .
‘If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome, all of us would do without that nuisance.’ . . .Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus,. . . 131 B.C. Still, he went on to plead, falling birthrates required that Roman men fulfill their duty to reproduce, no matter how irritating Roman women might have become. ‘Since nature has so decreed that we cannot manage comfortably with them, nor live in any way without them, we must plan for our lasting preservation rather than for our temporary pleasure.’ . . . for more than a generation now, well-fed, healthy, peaceful populations around the world have been producing too few children to avoid population decline. . . .
The historical relation between patriarchy, population, and power has deep implications for our own time. As the United States is discovering today in Iraq, population is still power. Smart bombs, laser-guided missiles, and unmanned drones may vastly extend the violent reach of a hegemonic power. But ultimately, it is often the number of boots on the ground that changes history. . . .
What [patriarchal societies] have in common are customs and attitudes . . . among the most important is the stigmatization of “illegitimate” children. . . .Under patriarchy, ‘bastards’ and single mothers cannot be tolerated . . . Patriarchy also leads men to keep having children until they produce at least one son. . . it penalizes women who do not marry and have children. . . . a society that presents women with essentially three options—be a nun, be a prostitute, or marry a man and bear children—has stumbled upon a highly effective way to reduce the risk of demographic decline. . . .
Societies that are today the most secular and the most generous with their underfunded welfare states will be the most prone to religious revivals and a rebirth of the patriarchal family. The absolute population of Europe and Japan may fall dramatically, but the remaining population will, by a process similar to survival of the fittest, be adapted to a new environment in which no one can rely on government to replace the family, and in which a patriarchal God commands family members to suppress their individualism and submit to father."

Excerpts from The Return of Patriarchy, By Phillip Longman in Foreign Policy
Check out Gracious Submission.

What Kind of Hater Are You?

This doesn not apply to Virg, but the rest of you need to listen up.
“Democrats see Republicans as a collection of pampered rich people who selfishly seek to cut their own taxes, allied with religious fundamentalists who want to use government power to impose a narrow brand of Christianity on everyone else.
Republicans see Democrats as godless, overeducated elitists who sip lattes as they look down their noses at the moral values of "real Americans" in "the heartland" and ally themselves with "special interest groups" that benefit from "big government."

Notice that each side is waging a class war in condemning the other as nauseatingly privileged. Yes, these are both parodies. But parodies are weapons in political battles, so it's important to assess the relative truth of each side's claims.”

What Kind of Hater Are You? By E. J. Dionne Jr.

“The longer Bush has been in office, the more apparent the mismatch between his optimistic words and his edgy demeanor has become. As a result, his decline in stature may be as irreversible as Reagan's was reversible. After rebounding from Iran-Contra, Reagan left office with an approval rating of 68 percent, a level exceeded by no other president in the history of polling. But even though Bush is unlikely to challenge that record, his legacy may be no less important. It's just that it will be written in a Republican Congress and a conservative Supreme Court rather than in his own reputation.”
Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and the Power of GOP Optimism, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Chronicle Review By Michael Nelson

The Significance of The Ides of March

The Ides of March is significant for two reasons. (1) Martha Scott Cox, the wonderful violinist, was born on it and (2) Pat Carroll, the wonderful hurler, died the day after it.

More Than 80 Bodies Found in Iraq-President Bush has ordered a preemptive bombing of the Canary Islands

“Police discovered more than 80 bodies in and around Baghdad Tuesday, many of them bearing the marks of torture and execution.
Authorities took the killings to be a continuation

of the sectarian violence that has shaken the country since the Feb. 22 bombing of a revered Shiite Muslim shrine in the city of Samarra. The carnage came as Iraqi politicians began what they said would be daily meetings among all of the main political parties to form a national unity government. The country's new parliament, elected in December, is scheduled to convene Thursday. . .
when a reporter at a news conference asked why the government was not doing more about families who were fleeing their homes because of possible sectarian attacks, Sadr was dismissive. ‘What government? Everyone is busy about who would be president, prime minister or minister. The people are forgotten.’”
More Than 80 Bodies Found in Iraq By Bassam Sebti and John Anderson, Washington Post Foreign Service






This just in from the Associated Press (AP) via Cousin Sue: "To deal with the threat of bird flu, President Bush has ordered a preemptive bombing of the Canary Islands."

Nice Try Erick

“ . . . ranchers are gunning for the one law that can save fish, wildlife, and their own industry. . .

After the public gets finished paying for public-lands grazing in lost fish, wildlife, plants, soil, and water, it gets to pay for it again in dollars. . . .10 federal agencies lost $123 million administering grazing in fiscal 2004. On average, an ‘animal unit month” (AUM)—the amount of forage a cow and her calf supposedly can consume in a month—costs ranchers $1.79 on public land and $13.30 on private land. Meanwhile, the public buys ranchers cattle guards, water troughs, water pipes, and wildlife-killing fences on its rangeland; it hires contractors to rip up its native plant communities and replace them with alien grasses favored by alien bovines but hurtful to its wildlife; it hires predator-control agents to shoot, trap, and poison its native mammals that might eat livestock; and it hires pest-control agents to poison its prairie dogs because ranchers imagine they ‘compete” with cattle. . . . ‘welfare ranching,” evokes the image of the Marlboro Man unhorsed and scrounging cigarette butts from hotel ashtrays. . . .

Livestock are the main source of nonpoint water pollution in the West and the main reason 80 percent of the region's fishes and 90 percent of its grassland birds are declining. . . .

The rules so worried the US Fish & Wildlife Service that it prepared a report on them for the BLM, making such observations as: ‘The owner of the trespassing livestock that are found on National Wildlife Refuge lands, for example, would no longer risk loss or suspension of his BLM grazing permit. Such a change communicates to permittees that attention to a healthy rangeland ethic ends at their permit boundary.’ And: ‘We believe that many of the Proposed Revisions would give priority to a use that is often in competition with fish and wildlife resources.” The BLM did not acknowledge these comments, nor did it include them in its final EIS.

The BLM had assigned biologist Erick Campbell to a team of 15 agency scientists charged with vetting the new rules. ‘The Proposed Action will have a slow, long-term adverse impact on wildlife and biological diversity in general,” wrote Campbell, a respected 30-year BLM veteran who had worked closely with ranchers and was anything but anti-cow. ‘Upland and riparian habitats will continue to decline due to increasing an already burdensome grazing appeals process, lack of ability to control illegal activities on public lands, and allowing livestock operators to acquire rights to livestock management facilities and vegetation on public lands.”

The response of the Bush administration was to kick Campbell off the team and rewrite his comments and those of his fellow team members so that grazing reappeared as a honey-flavored ecological elixir. Campbell, who retired in frustration, told me this: ‘BLM's D.C. office said, ‘We can't put this on the streets; this shows that grazing is bad.' Well, all the scientific literature says it is bad. The stuff I cited was peer-reviewed. They took the substance out of what I wrote and reversed me 180 degrees. This whole thing was at the behest of the livestock industry. You can make some progress like [former Interior Secretary Bruce] Babbitt's rangeland standards and guides, which were a hundred years overdue. But when you finally get something that's working, the industry comes in behind you and destroys it.” . . .
Sacred Cows By Ted Williams

Bush Gang Distort Science to Facilitate More Destructive Cattle Grazing on Public Lands

NEW GRAZING RULES

And that ain't all. See, Feeding the Rat - Congress and Lobbyists

Last Week's Buffalo Bloomen

Can you name um?

DeLay Wins Texas GOP Primary but Still Possible There Will be “'No Further DeLay.'"

"’I'm honored . . . to defend this district from the funding and activism of America's most radical Democrats," he said. "Liberal activists like Barbra Streisand, George Soros and Nancy Pelosi all have a dog in this fight, and his name is Nick Lampson.’" Tom Delay

“Lampson, who represented Beaumont and parts of East Texas in Congress, was ousted from office in 2004 under the new redistricting map. He moved into District 22 last year and soon began his campaign against DeLay. . . .DeLay "’gets headlines for all the wrong reasons," Lampson said, according to the Associated Press. "I'm looking forward to that headline on November 8th: 'No Further DeLay.' "

Inquiring Texans want to know the astrological signs before make up their minds between DeLay & Lampson. Members of the U.S. House with the astrological sign Cancer voted against renewal of the Patriot Act more than any other sign. “Twenty-one members of the House that are Cancers voted against the Patriot Act renewal. Geminis had the most votes for renewal, with 38. . . . Washingtonpost.com's Congress Votes Database provides vote tallies for every Congressional vote since 1991. Votes tallies can be broken down by members' party, state, region, age, gender, and astrological sign. Check out the vote totals for the Patriot Act renewal here and also check out the entire Congress Votes Database.”

Cousin Jim's Beloved, Cousin Jim & Friends Win Little Rock Marathon!

Beloved & Cousin Jim beat their predicted finishing times by 22 minutes-Great feet!


IBWP II














Beloved, Cynthia, Dana, Bruce
IBWP I















Tim, Kim, Nancy, Jim & Mechnical "W."

IBWP III











Harry, Jim,Don, Elmer
See, Virg n’ Mary for more Details.
I'm one of the Snoddys who thinks we ran enough after Bannockburn had settled in, but there's a bunch of us that still do it. If you're the type, please join my cousin Fergus at his run.
I'm one of the Snoddys who thinks we ran enough after Bannockburn had settled in, but there's a bunch of us that still do it. If you're the type, please join my cousin Fergus at his run.

The Dire Problem of Dildos in Tennessee & It’s Not Even Christmas

“ . . . lawmakers . . .can't find enough serious problems to address, so they've turned their minds to sex, specifically sex toys. For unknown reasons, [ Legislators] have been thinking a lot about the activities going on your bedroom. They have come to the conclusion that Tennessee will be a better place to live if the state regulates your bedroom by outlawing dildos.
Dildos today, mandatory missionary position tomorrow.” TENNESSEE GUERILLA WOMEN

“This bill is not targeted at Bill O'Reilly.

* Bill O'Reilly will always be welcome to visit Tennessee.
* Nothing in this bill prevents Bill O'Reilly from bringing his ReamMaster 5000 into the state as long as it is for his own personal use.
* Although Mr. O'Reilly will be unable to buy a sexual device in Tennessee, there is nothing in the bill that bars him from buying batteries for any device he brings with him.”
General JC Christian, patriot
Maybe they ort to take on self abuse sans toys first. That it causes palm hair, warts, and blindness is well known but few know that it can cause one to become unbalanced like this poor fellow.


On another note, South Dakota freak wants women on their knees.

GOD BLESS EVANGELICALS & GOD BLESS US ALL

“Oh, to have been a fly on the wall in the White House when word came of an evangelical call to action on global warming. Not only are President Bush's most reliable backers urging immediate reversal of his do-nothing policies, they are speaking out in potent, stirring terms, drawing strength from a fusion of faith and science.
Noting that ‘everything hinges on the scientific data,’ the Evangelical Climate Initiative puts its position plainly: ‘(M)any of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that climate change is a real problem and that it ought to matter to us as Christians. But now we have seen and heard enough ... evangelicals must engage this issue without any further lingering over the basic reality of the problem or humanity's responsibility to address it.’
This statement, signed by more than 80 evangelical leaders, says immediate action to address global warming is a moral imperative with two prongs: the duty to exercise responsible stewardship over God's work, sometimes called ‘creation care,’ and the obligation to protect the world's poorest people, who will be especially vulnerable to such impacts as rising sea levels, droughts, hurricanes and epidemics.”
Even the tolerant Virgil, who personally knows thoughtful, caring evangelicals, can at times get so angry with the administration and others that he labels all of them. I hope I never do it again. James Dobson, for example, who was one of a group that forced the National Association of Evangelicals to withhold endorsement of the call, would, in my opinion, still be mean spirited ideologue no matter what his religious views and would merely find another vehicle with which to spread his self-righteous venom. We really need to learn to accept each other and work together on the common ground that we find. Maybe we can start by singing Lord Mr. Ford. Written by Dick Feller and recorded by Jerry Reed over 30 years ago, it has some good lines. Altogether now:

Oh, how I long for the good ol' days
Without that carbon monoxide haze
A-hangin' over that roar on the interstates. . .

Lord, Mr. Ford, I just wish that you could see
What your simple horse-less carriage has become
This world was once a garden spot
But now it's one big parkin' lot
Lord, Mr. Ford, what have you done?

Come away with me, Lucille
In my smokin', chokin' automobile!

Good Old American Tolerance

“Tensions quickly escalated when the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder of the conservative Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, said that Islam was an ‘evil religion’ and that all Muslims hate America.”

See, also, Dastardly Danes Ridicule Literalist Muslims

Jesus, Sex, and Federal Boondoggles

Baseball Hall of Fame Honors Negro Leagues by Choosing Two White People & a Mobster Over Buck O’Neil and Minnie Minoso.

“ . . the special committee elected Alex Pompez, owner of the New York Cubans team... Also an organized crime figure... Part of the mob of the infamous '30s gangster Dutch Schultz... Indicted in this country and Mexico for racketeering.
He's in the Hall of Fame. For all time. Buck O'Neill is not. It is not merely indefensible. For all the many stupid things the Baseball Hall of Fame has ever done... This is the worst.” Kieth Olbermann.

Buck O’Neil was the first black coach in the Majors. He managed Elston Howard and Ernie Banks in the Negro Leagues and signed Banks and Lou Brock to Major League contracts with the Cubs . “. . O'Neil [is] the best player still living who built most of his baseball reputation in the Negro Leagues. . . . won the 1946 Negro American League batting title with an average of .353"

I don’t have any personal memory of Buck, but I saw Minnie play and he was something to behold. “Minnie Minoso. . . prevented from playing in the majors until he was 27 years old because of the color of his skin . . . went on to record the sixth highest batting average in all of baseball during the prime of his career, 1951 through 1963.”

I’ll pretend that this is something out of a Vonnegut book and nominate a couple of other white folks. The first, is Dial Pearl Estelle Snoddy Prim, mother of my mother, the coal miner’s daughter. Granny wasn’t a coal miner but she could have been, and she could have played major league baseball. The second is my Uncle Joe, brother of the coal miner’s daughter and Granny’s son. Joe survived Anzio and the Battle of the Bulge, but his proudest moment was playing in an exhibition game against the Kansas City Monarchs and having the honor of being struck out by Satchel Paige. Granny is the woman pictured. I don’t have one of Joe.
Buck would have taken Granny’s & Joe's selections in stride. He knows he’s a class act. He proved it when it was announced that he was not selected. He said that the committee did what they thought was right. “‘God's been good to me,’ he said’ You can see that, can't you? It didn't happen. They didn't think Buck was good enough to be in the Hall of Fame. That's the way they thought about it and that's the way it is, so we're going to live with that. Now, if I'm a hall-of-famer for you, that's all right with me. Just keep loving old Buck. ‘Don't shed any tears 'cause I'm not going to the Hall of Fame.’ Everyone broke into applause. ‘You think about this,’ he said. ‘Here I am, the grandson of a slave. And here the whole world was excited about whether I was going into the Hall of Fame or not. We've come a long ways. Before, we never even thought about anything like that. America, you've really grown and you're still growing.’”