Fee-fi-mo-mush. Bush!

Reading across the Virginia blogosphere it’s easy to find posts with lively comments sections stemming from President Bush’s calling the political party now in the majority in both the House and the Senate the “Democrat Party” in his State of the Union speech last week. (Note: Here are links to three such posts: 1; 2; 3; 4.) That, rather than use its real name -- the “Democratic Party.”

With his first speech before the joint houses since the power shifted from red to blue the president played his own little version of The Name Game ... Bush, Bush, bo-bush, Banana-fana fo-fush.

For the last week Republicans have chuckled at the irritation it caused, then rushed to Bush’s defense with their he-didn’t-mean-its and their so-whats. The Deciders’ defenders have taken pleasure in calling those who were insulted “petty,” because they got steamed by a deliberate petty insult, in the first place. Then there’s the matter of context -- when and where an insult is delivered.

Saying “Democrat Party” at a barbeque and beer fest isn’t the same thing as saying it during the State of the Union Address.

In truth, both Democrats and Republicans know -- we all know -- that one’s good name is, and damn well should be, important. One way or another, while growing up, most of us learned that deliberately mocking individuals or groups about their name is a provocative act.

Names matter, so Media Matters reports, “AP omitted Bush's track record in use of ‘Democrat’ smear.”

Names matter. There are still some who won’t call retired heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali by the name he decided to take for himself in 1964. What good can be said of the hardliners who, 43 years later, insist on calling him “Cassius Clay?”

Then, too, I wonder how many of the same sticklers about original names also deny actor John Wayne the name he took for himself, and insist on calling him “Marion Morrison?”

During the 1982 war between the UK and Argentina, when one called the islands it was fought over “the Falklands,” he was seeing the dispute through British eyes. If one called the same offshore territories “the Malvinas,” he was viewing the conflict from Argentina’s standpoint.

Dig it: As a child I was taught that a person decides what his or her name is, and how it is pronounced. My family taught me that basic amount of respect came under the heading of “doing unto others...”

Please note, I'm not calling upon bitter bloggers or pushy pundits to change their ways. They can call Team Donkey anything they like. They aren’t elected officials. This post is strictly about the SOTU speech and President Bush playing a silly, but revealing, game with a name.

...Fee-fi-mo-mush. Bush!

Image from Continental Records

Texas columnist Molly Ivins dies

Political columnist Molly Ivins was a unique voice in a time of copycats. AP reports that she died today at the age of 62.

“...In a column in mid-January, Ivins urged readers to stand up against Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq.

‘We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war,’ Ivins wrote in the Jan. 11 column. ‘We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, ‘Stop it, now!’”

Ivins’ hardboiled sense of humor will be missed by many, including this scribbler.

Donato, again!

For the second Friday in a row, longtime Fan District resident Gerald Donato has an art show opening here in the Fan. Last week it was “Gerald Donato: Reinventing the Game” at VCU’s Anderson Gallery. This week the show is called “Mr. Man and Moonface,” and it opens on Groundhog’s Day (Feb. 2) at the Reynolds Gallery, 1514 West Main Street; the reception is from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m..

Some would suggest this 2004 photo of Joan Gaustad and Jerry Donato, smiling through a rainy July afternoon in Shockoe Bottom, offers the viewer a good clue as to the identities of/inspiration for the two characters in the name of the Reynolds art show.

Click here for an exclusive Donato anecdote, as well as links to articles on the two shows.

Photo: SLANT

What about the 'madrassa' scam?

Yes, today there are propagandists everywhere you look -- all of them furiously spinning to win.

The word “propaganda” was set loose on the world by the Catholic Church in the 1600s. By the 1800s it was being used more often to do with politics. In the 1900s the Bolsheviks and the Nazis, with their heavy-handed isms, perfected artful techniques with methods of mass communications that made propaganda more important than ever before. Then came television and focus groups and all the horses left the barn.

Now the “blogosphere” that’s getting so much mention/ink in the mainstream media is tantamount to a food-fight of propaganda, 25 hours a day on the Internet.

So, afraid of loosing their grip on whatever power to shape minds they have remaining in today’s info-saturated culture, newspapers are putting their content online for free and even forcing/allowing their staffs to become bloggers, to join the food-fight. No doubt, this trend will blur boundaries and spawn some tricky situations down the road.

One sort of tricky situation is illustrated by the curious “madrassa” story reported by Fox News last week. Much has already been written on this particular planted story brouhaha, so this time I’ll allow the Richmond Times-Dispatch to properly scold the guilty parties with its short editorial, “Conversion,” which throws a penalty flag at the supposedly legit news organizations which participated in what was a scam.

“...Insight -- a publication affiliated with The Washington Times -- reported that as a youngster Barack Obama attended a ‘madrassa’ in Indonesia, i.e., an Islamic school that teaches militancy. Opinionists at Fox News couldn’t resist, especially as the inflammatory info supposedly came from leaks from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Solid sources were conspicuously absent from Insight’s account. Ideologues delighted in a scoop that (1) embarrassed Obama and (2) suggested machinations on the part of the Clinton apparatus.”

While the rightwing sulkosphere continues to rant incessantly about the Washington Post’s supposedly slanted coverage of the Allen vs. Webb race, what do the sulkers have to say about Fox News reporting a totally bogus story in order to injure Democrats?

Moreover, can’t we all agree that information from any source has a slant built into it, regardless of how professionally the message is massaged?

The process of gathering and presenting news can be done fairly, but there are always going to be calls to be made -- choosing words and images, the crafting of the story -- in which the thinking of those doing the job inevitably bleeds into the product.

Forget about shadings and slants. What people who respect the truth ought to focus on is remembering, even citing, newspapers and broadcast networks and bloggers for their deliberate prevarications, when they have been caught at it.

Some folks will propagate a lie, knowing it probably is a lie, because it hurts somebody they don’t like. Some folks won’t. Right or left, stop or go, it really is as simple as that.

VCU demolishes Tribe with treys

William & Mary came to the Siegel Center hoping to catch VCU napping between tough road games. The Rams defeated the Drexel Dragons on Saturday and will travel to Hofstra on Wednesday. The Tribe had a notion when the visitors jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Then reality descended upon Wm. & Mary, as VCU continued its undefeated march through its regular season CAA schedule.

Once again a steady rain of treys did the job, as VCU connected on 12 of 24 three-pointers it shot: VCU 90, W&M 68.

Elsewhere in CAA action there were some upsets: UNC-W 65, GMU 58; Delaware 72, Hofstra 68; ODU 92, Georgia St. 57; Towson 69, JMU 60.

The Rams attack was paced by sophomore guard Jamal Shuler, who came off the bench to score 24 points, which for him established a new career high. That, while senior guard B.A Walker continued his hot shooting from three-point distance. Walker hit six of eight treys he attempted, to finish with 20 points. In his last three games Walker has connected on 17 of 24 three-point shots he has attempted.

CAA Standings

VCU (19-3, 11-0 in CAA)
Hofstra (16-6, 9-2 in CAA)
Drexel (16-5, 8-3 in CAA)
ODU (15-7, 8-3 in CAA)
GMU (12-9, 6-5 in CAA)
Towson (11-11, 5-6 in CAA)
Northeastern (7-15, 5-6 in CAA)
Wm. & Mary (11-10, 4-7 in CAA)
Ga. State (7-14, 3-8 in CAA)
JMU (6-15, 3-8 in CAA)
UNC-W (5-15, 2-9 in CAA)
Deleware (4-18, 2-9 in CAA)

-- 30 --

Coach Ross retires

After three years at Army, Coach Bobby Ross is going back into retirement. AP reports: "Army coach Bobby Ross retires."

Bobby Ross at the press conference which presented him as Army's 34th head football coach (USMA, 2003).

As some sports fans might know, Ross, who is from Richmond, is a much beloved figure in Virginia and in the college coaching ranks. I interviewed him just before his first season at West Point was to start. Ross was enthusiastic about returning to coaching, but he knew his job at Army would not be an easy one. Anyone who knows him will tell you he did his best; he always did.

From Benedictine to West Point
by F.T. Rea (Sept. 2004 issue of FiftyPlus)

Fresh out of Virginia Military Institute, Bobby Ross took on his first mission as a football coach in 1959. Benedictine High School’s dynamic athletic director, Warren Rutledge, hired the 22-year-old Ross coming off of a stellar athletic career at Benedictine and VMI. Now, forty-five years later, it seems the last mission of Ross’ distinguished coaching career -- which includes a college national championship and a trip to the Super Bowl -- will be to restore a measure of dignity to the pigskin program at the United States Military Academy.

Ross’ predecessor at West Point, Todd Berry, posted a 5-42 record before he was mercifully relieved of command in the midst of last season, a campaign in which Army eventually lost all thirteen of its scheduled games

Ross, at 67, obviously has his work cut out for him.

Some say this mission can’t be accomplished in the money-driven, brave new world of so-called amateur sports. How can he attract today’s top athletes to such an academically challenging institution, with a five-year military commitment in a time of war to follow? Others suggest that Ross, himself, is simply out-of-date.

Fine: Coach Ross is at ease operating as the underdog. Yes, and looking beyond the “0-13” and the “67,” Ross and West Point seem to be a perfect fit in many ways. Perhaps most importantly, right now they need one another.

The search committee that lured Ross out of retirement knew that its situation called for more than just a smart, tough-minded football coach. It cried out for a man who understood the Academy’s military-based system, who could hit the ground running. Having worn the cadet uniforms of both Benedictine and VMI, and coached at The Citadel, Ross certainly knows his way around a cadet corps.

Thus, with a natural grasp of the importance of tradition at West Point, Ross is accentuating the positive. “Coaching at a place like this,” he said, “is college football in its purest form. No compromises are made here.”

Ross’ most recent stint as a head coach was in the National Football League with the Detroit Lions. Two-thirds of the way through the 2000 season, his fourth in Detroit, Ross announced he was stepping down, due to mounting health concerns. Cynics assumed he was burned out. Truth be told, his decision was precipitated by the reappearance of painful blood clots in his right leg (his father had suffered from similar problems, and eventually lost both of his legs).

Why did a man who shouldn’t have anything to prove come out of a comfortable retirement? With a clarity that might well flow from being accustomed to fielding the same questions repeatedly, Ross answered politely: “I felt like I had a lot of energy. Then the competitive instincts were returning.”

When Ross speaks of football, his voice reveals little about his state of mind. It’s his business, after all, and he sounds much like the thoughtful professional. On the other hand, when he talks about Chiocca’s, a restaurant in Richmond’s Benedictine neighborhood -- “The best roast beef sandwich I've ever had!” -- or afternoon walks through the same neighborhood, where his wife grew up, or when he reminisces about old ballfields such as Hotchkiss, near where he grew up, and the diamond in Byrd Park where Benedictine used to play its home games, his warmth for his hometown is unrestrained

“I love Richmond,” said Ross, with his unchanged Richmond accent. “It's my home, and always will be.”

Ross and his wife, Alice, have five children and fifteen grandchildren. His son Kevin, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1988, is now on his father’s staff, serving as Army’s offensive coordinator.

Asked about Bobby Ross, Benedictine's current athletic director, Barry Gibrall, pointed out that Ross has often helped the school, sometimes under a veil of anonymity. While he was serving on the school’s Board of Trustees, for instance, Ross noticed the Cadets football uniforms weren’t all precisely the same shade of green. Ross fixed it, but typically, he wanted no credit.

"The new renovations, state-of-the-art locker room and weight room, are a direct result of Coach Ross’ generosity,” Gibrall added. “He tears up when he remembers where he came from. He’s a Highland Park guy who has gone far. He doesn’t forget it.”

In recognition of this strong bond, last May Benedictine named its Goochland County football field Robert J. “Bobby” Ross Stadium. Gibrall said that Ross was surprised and characteristically humble about the announcement, saying he didn’t deserve it.

Gibrall, who played his football at Benedictine in the early-sixties, chuckled. “No one deserves it more! His name was the only one that came up.”

“He’s the greatest human being I've known in my life,” said Johnny Siewers, who played on the Benedictine basketball team with Ross for two seasons. “He never did anything wrong.”

Click here to read the entire piece.

Va. Top Five for Jan. 29

The week that was: In the two games the Rams won on the road, B.A. Walker scored a combined 48 points. The senior guard went 11-for-16 from three-point land, seven-for-eight from the charity stripe and grabbed 11 rebounds.

There are now 14 Division I basketball programs operating within the Commonwealth of Virginia. They are: George Mason, Hampton, James Madison, Liberty, Longwood, Norfolk State, Old Dominion, Radford, Richmond, Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Tech and William & Mary. The Bounce’s Virginia Top Five is a feature which names the best of the bunch, in order, for each Monday. (Click here to see last week's Top Five at Richmond.com)

All five of last week’s listed teams played two games during the week. The group went 9-1, the only loss came from a game played between two of the five; VCU defeated Mason in Fairfax on Wednesday. Accordingly, the list has just once change based on the week’s action, as the Patriots’ one-and-one record dropped them to fifth place, behind ODU.

The Bounce's Virginia Top Five for Jan. 29

No 1: Va. Tech (16-5, 6-1 in ACC)
No. 2: VCU (18-3, 10-0 in CAA)
No. 3: UVa. (13-6, 5-2 in ACC)
No. 4: ODU (14-7, 7-3 in CAA)
No. 5: GMU (12-8, 6-4 in CAA)

Added Notes:

• Va. Tech is currently atop the ACC's standings; likewise, VCU is No. 1 in the CAA.
• Va. Tech has climbed to 16th in the new AP Poll; VCU is now among those also receiving votes at No. 30; Virginia comes in at No. 42.
• From Jeff Goodman at Fox Sports are two citations for Va. Top Five teams:
  

“Player of the week: VCU senior guard B.A. Walker and the Rams picked up a couple of huge road wins at George Mason and Drexel. Walker had 24 points in each victory and knocked down a total of 11 3-pointers in the two games. Walker had 19 points and made five 3-pointers after the break against Drexel as VCU won its ninth straight."

“Best win: Virginia went into Clemson and overcame a 16-point deficit to knock off the Tigers 64-63 on Jason Cain's tip-in with 15.5 seconds left. J.R. Reynolds, who has been on a tear of late, led the Cavaliers with 18 points as Dave Leitao's club won its second straight ACC road contest and fourth consecutive game overall."

Next Games for the Five
Jan. 29: Wm. & Mary at VCU
Jan. 29: Georgia St. at ODU
Jan. 29: GMU at UNC-W
Jan. 31: N.C. State at Va. Tech
Feb. 1: Duke at UVa.

Updated at 11:05 a.m. Jan. 29, to fix an error. Thanks, Bob.
Updated since to add more info. Photo: SLANT

Drexel’s Elegar suspended for VCU game

This notice just came in from Rob Washburn, Assistant Commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association:

“CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager has suspended Drexel University men’s basketball player Frank Elegar for one game for unsportsmanlike conduct during the Dragons’ game at the University of Delaware on January 20. Elegar will miss Drexel’s next game with VCU on Saturday. The incident occurred midway through the second half of last Saturday’s game when Elegar committed a flagrant act against Delaware’s Sam McMahon.”

Junior center Elegar, 6-9, 220, leads the Dragons in scoring, averaging 14.4 points per game. No doubt, his 6.8 rebounds per outing will also be missed when Drexel (15-4, 7-2 in CAA) hosts the VCU Rams (17-3, 9-0 in CAA) for their matchup tomorrow at high noon.

RMIC's Italian Film Fest

From James Parrish here are some details about Richmond Moving Image Coop’s fourth all-day Italian film festival:

What: 4th Italian Film & Food Festival -- four feature-length flicks, plus meals from Mamma ‘Zu
When: Sat., Feb. 3, 2007 -- movies will start at 10 a.m. and run, with breaks for food, etc., until about 10 p.m.
Where: Firehouse Theatre, 1609 W. Broad Street

“What better way to spend a cold winter Saturday than eating Mamma ‘Zu food and watching classic Italian cinema?! Join Mamma ‘Zu and RMIC for the “4th Italian Film and Food Festival” at the Firehouse Theatre on Saturday, February 3.” Here’s the schedule:

10 a.m. -- Vittorio de Sica’s “The Bicycle Thief”
1 p.m. -- Lina Wertmuller’s “Seven Beauties”
4 p.m. -- Luchino Visconti’s “Rocco and His Brothers”
8 p.m. -- Ettore Scola’s “Down and Dirty”
(All films will be presented in Italian with English subtitles.)

“Tickets for individual films are $12 per film and are available only at the door on the day of the festival. All day passes for $35 are available in advance at Chop Suey Books, Chop Tuey, or Video Fan. Ticket includes Mamma ‘Zu buffet; beverages (hot and cold) are extra.”

Phone: (804) 232-7642; Email: james@rmicweb.org

Donato!

On Sunday the Arts and Entertainment section of the Richmond Times-Dispatch previewed the one man art show opening Friday, Jan. 26, at VCU’s Anderson Gallery, “The Man behind Mr. Man.” The “one man” of the piece, written by Roy Proctor, is Gerald Donato, known to his friends as Jerry. Then STYLE Weekly chimed in on Wednesday with a Donato cover story, “Iconoclast,” written by Edwin Slipek.

Part of the show at the Anderson Gallery includes other artists’ portraits of Donato. Above is mine (not part of the art show), which casts him as his own recurring character, Mr. Man. It was done in 1984.

Now I hope the reader will click on the links above to read more about the one and only Jerry Donato, as his art is worthwhile and he is an interesting character. Since no one is better known in Richmond’s art in-crowd, his opening will no doubt be packed. Shows of this size and importance, three floors of art, are unusual in Richmond.

Orginally from Chicago, Donato taught fine art at VCU from for 36 years. Jerry, in the ‘80s a regular at the Happy Hour gatherings in the Power Corner of the much-missed Texas-Wisconsin Border Cafe, once helped me out with an unusual project of mine. He agreed to appear in court as an expert witness.

So, rather than go on to heap yet more praise on Donato the artist/teacher, as the two articles already do a fine job of, I’d rather tell a quick story about Donato, the world class wiseass.

In a Richmond, Virginia courtroom 25 years ago I witnessed an entertaining scene in which an age-old question -- what is art? -- was hashed out in front of a patient judge, who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the parade of exhibits and witnesses the attorneys put before him. The gallery was packed with art students wearing paint-speckled dungarees, gypsy musicians and film buffs.

The defendant was this story’s teller. At the time I was the manager of the Biograph Theatre. When I got charged with a misdemeanor for posting a handbill I had designed promoting a midnight show, it was a bust I deliberately provoked. At that time I was determined to beat the City of Richmond with a freedom of speech defense.

At the crucial moment Donato was on the witness stand. As an art expert, he was being grilled over just where to draw the line between what should be, and what should not be, considered as genuine art. The Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney asked the witness if the somewhat beat-up piece of paper in his hand -- the offending handbill for a flick called, “Atomic Cafe” -- could actually be “art.”

“Probably,” shrugged the prof. “Why not?”

The stubborn prosecutor grumbled, reasserting that the flyer was no more than “litter.” Still, my attorneys continued to stand on the notion that I had a right to post the handbill, and that the public had a right to see it, too.

Eventually, having grown weary of the high-brow, artsy vernacular being slung around by the witnesses supporting the defense -- we also presented a display of about 100 different handbills, mostly for bands playing at clubs -- the prosecutor tried one more time to trip up the clever witness.

As Warhol's soup cans had just been mentioned, the lawyer narrowed his eyes to ask, “If you were in an alley and happened upon a pile of debris spilled out from a tipped-over trashcan, could that be art, too?”

“Well,” said Donato, pausing Jack Benny-like for effect, “that would depend on who tipped the can over.”

Donato’s line went over like Gangbusters; the courtroom erupted into laughter. The obviously amused judge fought off a smile. The prosecutor threw up his hands and sat down.

Moreover, the prosecutor’s premise/strategy that an expert on art could be compelled to rise up to brand a handbill, a green piece of paper with black ink on it, as “un-art” was absurd. The City of Richmond lost their case that day.

Thanks, Jerry.
Note: “Gerald Donato: Reinventing the Game” at the Anderson Gallery, 907½ W. Franklin St., opens Jan. 26 (reception 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.) and runs through Mar. 4.

VCU too much for Mason

With its first year head coach Anthony Grant steering the bus, Virginia Commonwealth took its own winning ways up Interstate 95 to Fairfax, to run over George Mason's five-game winning streak: VCU 75, GMU 62.

The Rams offense was paced by senior guard B.A. Walker (pictured right), who scored 24 points and grabbed six rebounds.

VCU had control of the game for most of the second half. Beating a decent Mason team at the Partiot Center should be a big boost of confidence for the improving Rams. The next game for streaking VCU (17-3, 9-0 in CAA) is at Drexel (15-4, 7-2 in CAA), always a tough place to pick up a "W," on Saturday at high noon.

Photo: SLANT

Mr. Webb goes to Washington

Gone was the trademark presidential smirk. Now we must suspect it depended too much on something that has left the picture for the First Decider. Having a Republican majority in Congress? Having an approval rating over 30 percent? Who knows?

After graciously congratulating the new Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, President George Bush couldn’t resist going petty, by calling her political party the “Democrat” Party, rather than “Democratic.” Then he good-naturedly soldiered through his lackluster State of the Union address, which was eerily unsatisfying, in yet a new way.

Of course, the beleaguered president mentioned the “lessons of 9/11.” Strangely, he completely forgot about the lessons of Hurricane Katrina ... whatever they might have been. Still, Bush did what he could to put a good a face on his administration’s accomplishments, and the lack thereof.

Then came Virginia’s new Democratic senator Jim Webb (depicted above), who spoke in a startlingly authentic and well-informed tone. There was no sign of petulance or being overprepared. He was smooth.

To wind up his remarks Webb said that if Bush doesn’t change his ways and get America out of Iraq, then “...We will be showing him the way.”

Yes, Virginia, Mr. Webb has gone to Washington.

*

Update No. 1 (same night): Of Jim Webb, Pat Buchanan just said on MSNBC, "The Democratic Party has a real star there."

Update No. 2 (Wed., 1:15 p.m.): Writing about Webb’s response to Bush’s address, in his article, “Va.‘s Webb Offers a Blunt Challenge to Bush,” the Washington Post’s Michael Shear opened with this:

“Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) delivered a forceful nine-minute response to President Bush's State of the Union address last night, promising an aggressive challenge to Bush’s Iraq and economic policies from the newly empowered Democratic majority in Congress.

Later in the piece Shear grabbed and framed the quote from Webb’s talk which was at the heart of his winning message in November:

“‘...We need a new direction,’ said Webb, a decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War. ‘Not one step back from the war against international terrorism, not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos, but an immediate shift toward strong, regionally based diplomacy.’”

Update No. 3: For Newsweek online Jonathan Alter writes:

“Something unprecedented happened tonight, beyond the doorkeeper announcing, 'Madame Speaker.' For the first time ever, the response to the State of the Union Message overshadowed the president's big speech. Virginia Sen. James Webb, in office only three weeks, managed to convey a muscular liberalism -- with personal touches -- that left President Bush's ordinary address in the dust. In the past, the Democratic response has been anemic -- remember Washington Gov. Gary Locke? This time it pointed the way to a revival for national Democrats.”

Note: The original post for this was made on Tuesday night. Then an error to do with blogger made me have to replace it.
Art by F.T. Rea

Sen. Warner: 'surge' ...not

Can you hear the chants? From out of the shadows on the right, the fringe -- “War-ner is a RINO! War-ner is a RINO!”

For those not familiar with the taunt neoconservative dittoheads hurl on cue at any Republican who won’t dance to the Bush administration’s tune, RINO means “Republican in name only.” Arizona’s Sen. John McCain has probably been the most frequent target for such.

However, with regard to President Bush’s newest scam/strategy for Iraq -- The Surge -- it won’t be occasionally maverick McCain who will be drawing the ire of the lathered up GOP hawks and their followers. No, this time it’s going to be Virginia’s John Warner, the distinguished five-term Republican senator who will turn 80 next month.

Reuters reports:

“Opposition to President George W. Bush’s plan to increase troop strength in Iraq broadened on Capitol Hill on Monday as a new bipartisan group of four senators announced their disagreement with the strategy. The senators, including conservative Virginia Republican John Warner, unveiled a proposal that they hoped would be embraced by lawmakers who disliked some of the wording of another bipartisan resolution that was introduced last week, opposing the boost in troops...”

Warner, once a captain in the Marine Corps, later a Secretary of the Navy, has survived such attacks from the far right before. When he absolutely refused to support conman Ollie North’s 1994 run for the U.S. Senate, similar charges of party disloyalty were leveled at Sen. Warner.

Yet, following his own conscience, Warner shrugged off the insults and threats, perhaps as easily as he will shrug off the angry finger-pointings from those who remain loyal to the clueless Bush stay-the-course policy in Iraq. In my view this surge business is just more of the same.

Me? I’m looking forward to Democratic Sen. Jim Webb’s remarks, which will follow Bush’s State of the Union Address tomorrow night. Coincidentally, like Warner, Webb was also an officer in the Marine Corps and once Secretary of the Navy.

For Bush, preparing for his speech -- while being bookended by Virginia senators with such credentials, who are opposing him so publicly -- is tough duty. Maybe the toughest of his flatlining presidency.

Virginia Top Five; updated

Here’s a preview of what will run in my Tuesday sports column at Richmond.com:

There are now 14 Division I basketball programs operating within the Commonwealth of Virginia. They are: George Mason, Hampton, James Madison, Liberty, Longwood, Norfolk State, Old Dominion, Radford, Richmond, Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Tech and William & Mary.

They belong to five different conferences and most of them rarely play one another. So, it’s guesswork, at best, to say which teams are better in any given season. One could argue that VMI is better than Norfolk State. But they don’t meet this season. The same goes for thinking that VCU could probably beat UVa. They don’t play.

So, to help fill the void The Bounce is going to publish its homegrown, pickin’em fair-and-square Top Five rankings each Monday, for the rest of the season.

The first edition of the just-promised series is below:

The Bounce’s Virginia Top Five

No. 1: Va. Tech (14-5, 4-1 in ACC)
No. 2: VCU (16-3, 8-0 in CAA)
No. 3: Virginia (11-6, 3-2 in ACC)
No. 4: George Mason (11-7, 5-3 in CAA)
No. 5: Old Dominion (12-7, 5-3 in CAA)

Update: In this week’s Associated Press Top 25, Tech is sitting pretty at No. 24, with 177 votes. And, VCU received 23 votes, which makes it the 33rd ranked team in AP panel’s voting.

Photo: SLANT

VCU outlasts ODU

Two minutes into the basketball game’s second half visiting Old Dominion led Virginia Commonwealth by 12 points. The sold-out Siegel Center crowd of 7,694 could sense that VCU’s then unbeaten-in-the-conference record was in real jeopardy. The shots weren’t falling for the Rams. Breaks didn’t seem to be going their way.

ODU was the first CAA team VCU had faced with a winning record in the league. Those in the room pulling for the Monarchs may have thought they were witnessing the overdue comeuppance for the overachieving Rams, a team thought to be strictly middle-of-the-pack by the preseason experts.

Today, those ODU fans were as wrong as the preseason experts: VCU 80, ODU 75.

Led by point guard Eric Maynor’s play down the stretch -- he finished with 23 points, six assists and five boards -- the Rams outplayed the Monarchs until the final buzzer to seal the victory. Shooting guard B.A. Walker’s 19 points, five boards and three assists were key, as well.

“I tell [Maynor],” said VCU head coach Anthony Grant, “our team is going to go how he goes.”

Coach Grant also spoke proudly of his team’s gritty play in the second half of what was truly a tough game. The Monarchs came to play and they did just that. They handled the Rams’ full-court pressure better than any team I’ve seen this season. This was a first class college basketball game between longtime rivals. Both school’s players gave it their all.

Which leads to having to report that I heard only one person say anything to take away from the high-level tone of the action. In the media room, after Grant, Maynor and Walker answered questions and left, ODU head coach Blaine Taylor made his appearance. He should have skipped it.

Taylor promptly went into a solid five-minute whine about the way the referees called the game. He spoke of how his team had “earned” its 12-point second-half lead. Then he asserted: “...the lead was taken away from them, for whatever reasons.”

It was a rather strange show of no class by a coach I‘ve not seen act that way before. Oh, I’ve seen other coaches go off on the refs after a game, but I can’t remember seeing it quite so unjustified. Taylor credited most of Maynor’s crowd-pleasing success late in the game to bad calls. From what I could tell, no one else in the room saw any credence to his charges.

Plus, Taylor was speaking in front of the CAA’s commissioner, Tom Yeager, who was standing in the back of the crowded room. So, I suppose we’ll just see if any of Taylor’s unseemly crying crossed the line of how far a CAA coach can go with casting aspersions on the integrity/competence of the officials hired by Yeager’s office.

VCU (16-3, 8-0 in CAA) remains atop the CAA’s standings, one game ahead of Hofstra (14-5, 7-1). The Rams will hit the road on Wednesday, to play at George Mason (11-7, 5-3), an outfit that has won five straight games, at 7 p.m.

BYRD is the word

The BYRDistheword blog has been established to facilitate a new project of mine -- writing a book about the Byrd Theatre, a genuine 1928 movie palace. In the last couple of years, in writing a couple of articles about the theater, I have come to believe that a full telling of the way the Byrd came to be, what it has meant to the community and how it has survived, needs to be created and left for the record.

The blog will be used as a tool to stimulate interest in the project and to attract those folks who may have some helpful information. By going online in this way, it makes it easy to find me -- either by email or leaving comments -- and to share stories about the Byrd with others who cherish that old theater, others who would like to see its story documented in a proper fashion.

Click here to visit BYRDistheword.

And, thanks in advance to both the press and the blogging community of Richmond, and beyond, for whatever assistance they will give to this undertaking by helping to spread the word about this blog’s existence and purpose.

Too much Pellot-Rosa sinks Seahawks

Jesse Pellot-Rosa is ready on defense

After a year at Fork Union Military Academy pursuing football, following what had been a stellar three-sport career at Richmond’s George Wythe High, Jesse Pellot-Rosa decided to play basketball at VCU. While he brought plenty of heart and athletic ability with him, as a freshman Division I basketball player Jesse was a work-in-progress.

Pellot-Rosa didn’t really have an obvious position. Lacking a consistent jump shot and not exactly a deft ball-handler, was he a guard or forward, or a defensive specialist, or what?

At the Siegel Center last night, senior swingman Pellot-Rosa, 6-4, 195, played 30 minutes of complete basketball, in pacing VCU to a hard-won victory over UNC Wilmington: VCU 74, UNC-W 65.

In short, Pellot-Rosa’s game was “complete” because he did exactly what his team needed every one of those minutes on the floor. Need a deflection or a gritty play in the paint? He was there. Stats? He scored 24 points, a career high. He also grabbed five rebounds. Throw in two assists with no turnovers.

Moreover, Pellot-Rosa’s performance was a clinic in how to balance finesse with power, intensity with control and leadership with role-playing.

When the Rams needed a three-point shot, Pellot-Rosa was there with five of them on six attempts. His trey with 4:04 remaining in the game dramatically stiff-armed a scary Seahawks rally and gave the Rams the lead for good, at 60-57.

After the game, first-year VCU head coach Anthony Grant lamented the fact he’ll only have one season to coach Pellot-Rosa, whose leadership he praised.

Now a force in the Colonial Athletic Association who has arrived, it says here there may not be a better all-around basketball player -- not just a scorer -- in the league right now than the homegrown Mr. Pellot-Rosa.

VCU (15-3, 7-0 in CAA) will host its longtime rival ODU (12-6, 5-2 in CAA) on Saturday night at the Siegel Center. Don’t wait to get your tickets, this one should sellout well before its 5:30 p.m. tip-off time.

Update (from VCU’s sports information office): The men’s basketball game between VCU and ODU, scheduled for Sat., Jan. 20, at 5:30 p.m. at the Stuart C. Siegel Center, is sold out. The game will be televised regionally on Comcast SportsNet-Mid-Atlantic.

Photo: SLANT

Blog links for beginners

For SLANTblog’s readers who have become curious about the “blogosphere” but still don’t know much about the various political blogs in Virginia, or even know how to find them, this post may help you. With more news about blogging in the mainstream press every day, and bloggers themselves moving from self-publishing to staff positions within the two political parties, folks who have heretofore ignored the blogging trend must be wondering what’s going on.

Here are some links to get such a reader started:

Waldo’s Virginia Political Blogroll is best known aggregating site for political blogs. It features posts it has grabbed from blogs across the Virginia landscape, from left to right, and links to the blogs themselves. Click here to go there.

Shaun Kenney’s blog is hosting the Virginia Blog Carnival this week. A blog carnival features specific posts from a variety of blogs, both submitted by bloggers and selected by the host. Next week’s Virginia carnival will be hosted by another volunteer host. Click here to go there.

And, here are eight more links to Richmond-based blogs that I recommend looking over. Some are focused entirely on political matters, others on a variety of concerns.

RVA blogs (a local aggregator, any style blog)
Barticles
Buttermilk & Molasses
J’s Notes
Richmond Democrat
Richmond Sunlight (New web page on the General Assembly's work)
River City Rapids
Save Richmond

Note: This post was updated at 9:50 p.m., same day.