gimme culture

6-13-09—With Real Madrid spending money as if the global recession were a myth, it has been an interesting week for Joan Laporta, president of Real Madrid’s chief rival, F.C. Barcelona. But having just completed the most successful campaign in Barcelona’s history by winning La Lipa, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, Laporta, 46, is preaching serenity ahead of his final season in charge... [he said:] “One model is you build a team with checks and money. And another model is the one we have, where we have a trajectory, where we are mature, and identified with our culture. Of the players we have in our first team, more than 50% come from our youth teams.... In the global financial crisis, we in football have to be examples in many things. And in this case, common sense is telling us something different [from Real Madrid]. ... Like I say, they sign names, and we have a team. NYT B12

--6-13/14-09—Picture an America that is run not, as now, by a top-heavy Washington autocracy, but, in freewheeling style, by an assemblage of largely autonomous regional republics reflecting the eclectic economic and cultural character of the society. [Republics, as “envisioned by some percolating secessionist movements” would include:
• Alaska-self-explanatory
• Hawaii—self-explanatory
• Cascadia—Vancouver down through Seattle
• Cali Baja—Greater San Diego through Northern Baja
• Texas—self explanatory
• Lakotah—Amerindians want ND, SD, MONT., WY, NB
• North Star Republic—MN, WI, MI—socialist republic
• Novacadia—NH, VT, ME, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Lsland and Nova Scotia, modeled on Denmark
• Southern National Congress—MO, KY, MD and everything south except for SC
• Christian Exodus—SC, a sovereign Christian run state
WSJ W1-2

--6-13/14-09--...the USA Today story this week on a Gallup poll saying nearly half the country’s Republicans and Republican-leaners can’t come up with a name when asked who their party’s leader is. Of those who could think of a name, 10% said Rush Limbaugh, 10% Newt Gingrich, 9% Dick Cheney. WSJ A13