SWEEP!!!!!!

The Shadow would like to congratulate the WORLD CHAMPION CHICAGO WHITE SOX!!!!!!!

Photo courtesy Chicago Tribune

The Curse of 1917 has now been broken and Chicago once again has a championship team!!! Now begins, hopefully, the White Sox era!!

Plans for the citywide celebration are still pending. The Shadow will report them once he has learned them!

GO SOX!!

The Right Decision for America

Faithful readers of this blog may recall that on October 11, 2005, The Shadow pronounced that U.S. President George W. Bush made one of the dumbest appointments he ever could have made. He appointed Harriet Miers, current White House counsel, to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Shadow had reservations at that time about the qualifications of Ms. Miers to serve on this court. He also urged Ms. Miers, in the best interests of the country, to withdraw her nomination.

The Shadow is pleased to announce that earlier today, Ms. Miers took The Shadow's advice -- although he certainly cannot take all the credit for it. Harriet Miers, in a letter to the president, withdrew her nomination for the high court. At this point, The Shadow really does not care for her reasoning behind the withdrawal, but, in her case, it was the correct decision.

President Bush has promised to name another nominee shortly. Let's hope that he gets it right this time!

A Great Loss to the Civil Rights Community

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that The Shadow announces the passing of Rosa Parks yesterday. She died of natural causes in her home city of Detroit at the age of 92.

Rosa Parks
(Photo Courtesy Associated Press and CNN.com)

Ms. Parks is best remembered as the Montgomery, Alabama seamstress who refused to yield her seat on a full bus to a white man in December 1955. Jim Crow laws were in effect at the time that required a black person to yield a seat to a white person if the bus was full. Because of Ms. Park's refusal, she was arrested and jailed.

The arrest caught the attention of a little-known minister at the time -- The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. He came to Montgomery and organized a boycott of the public transportation system that lasted 381 days. King eventually won the Nobel Peace Prize for this peaceful boycott. Ms. Parks, after receiving threats and losing her job, later moved to Detroit and joined the staff of Rep. John Conyers.

She was very active on the lecture circuit, even in her 80s. She also co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development to help young people pursue educational opportunities, get them registered to vote and work toward racial peace.

She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Metal in 1999. She was also the subject of a documentary -- "Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks." The documentary received an Oscar nomination in 2002.

The Shadow offers his condolesces to the surviving family and salutes the woman who was known as the "mother of the civil rights movement."

Open Studios in San Francisco This Weekend!

The Shadow would like to take a moment to remind all art buffs in San Francisco of Open Studios this weekend. This is the chance for you to come out and see (and hopefully buy) great works of art that is unique to San Francisco's thriving art community.

Jo Farrell -- one of The Shadow's closest friends and artist -- wrote to remind me (and I will remind you) of the big Open Studio taking place this Saturday and Sunday at the Castro Christmas Tree Lot at the intersection of Market/Noe/16th Streets. The artists will be there from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. both days.

The artists showing here will be:

• Angela Baker
• Madeline Behrens-Bingham
• John Brooks
• Gregg Cassin
• Belinda Chlouber
• Christine Cianci
• Darin Donovan
• Jo Farrell
• Joshua Hagler
• Donnasue Jacobi
• Ruben Joy
• Nance LeMoins
• John McCarthy
• Alison McKleroy
• Andrew Ogus
• Les Phillips
• Mike Shriver
• Melissa West
• Nicholas Wightman

The Shadow encourages you, if you are in San Francisco this weekend, to take advantage of this opportunity to see great art and photography by these great artists. Further information on this event can be found at the Art in One Spot website

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Time to Play Ball!!!!

Chicago White Sox fans have been waiting for this opportunity since 1959. Our time has arrived!!!!!

The Shadow is excited that the Chicago White Sox are now in the world series. They will open Game 1 in Chicago against the Houston Astros tommorrow at 7:00 p.m. CDT. The Shadow -- as will White Sox fans across the country -- will be watching.

Not since the Chicago Bulls won captured six NBA Championships in the 1990s has there been so much buzz in Chicago. The White Sox will emerge as MLB Champions this year.

The Shadow's prediction -- White Sox in 6.

More to come.

PLAY BALL!!!

Safe or Out

The Shadow, who is a former resident of the City of Chicago, is a very enthusiastic White Sox fan. So you can imagine how excited he is now that the Chicago White Sox have made it to the ALCS (that's American League Championship Series for those of you outside the United States).

The series (a best-of-seven) is now tied at one game apiece. Which would not be a big deal normally, except for the circumstances surrounding the White Sox win last Wednesday.

If you have not heard about what happened by now, here is a mini-recap:

It was the bottom of the ninth inning with the game tied 1-1 and 2 out. Catcher A.J. Pierzynski came to bat for the White Sox. Pierzynski had 2 strikes against him when the next pitch was thrown. Pierzynski swung and missed for strike three. However, and here is where it gets tricky, the baseball supposedly hit the ground before being scooped up by the catcher. Pierzynski ran to first and was declared safe. Apparently the catcher never tagged Pierzynski out. Pierzynski was batted in on a 2-run double to give the White Sox a 2-1 win.

What the question seems to be is: Did the baseball hit the ground before being caught by the catcher. There were several replays that night that showed that the catcher had the ball before it hit the ground.

Photo courtesy Chicago Tribune

All-in-all, this was a bad call. The Shadow will not seek to overturn the call, but it is now on record that The Shadow opposed this call.

Game three is tonight. Let's see what happens. GO SOX!!

Time for Open Houses in San Francisco

As The Shadow has noted in the past -- he is a patron of the arts. One of the arts organizations in San Francisco that he is a big supporter of is ARTworkSF.

Last night, The Shadow attended an artist's reception for SF Open Studios 2005, which is taking place in San Francisco through November 9, 2005. The exhibit from yesterday evening included works from Julie Gendich, AnneKarin Glass, Jane Grimm, Les Phillips, Christine Cianci, William Ulrich, and Jo Farrell.

Colenteratata III by Jane Grimm

Many of these artists will open their studios during the month of October for people to come and admire, and maybe buy, their work.

Draupadi One by Christine Cianci
(The light in the corner is not part of the painting.
This photo really does not give the painting justice)

This exhibit will be at the Hotel Triton in San Francisco until November 9, 2005. As always, all of the work on display at the Hotel Triton is available for sale or rental. Go to ARTworkSF's website for details.

ARTworkSF President Johnny Davis with Artist Jo Farrell (in green!!)

The Shadow also has been informed of two other Open Studios within the next 2 weeks:

• Artist Julie Gendich will host an Open Studio on October 15 and 16 at 320 Herman Street
• Several artists, including Jo Farrell, Christine Cianci, and Les Phillips, will do a 2-day outdoor Open Studio at the Castro Christmas Tree lot, located at Market Street and 16th Streets in San Francisco. For more information on this event, visit the event's website.

The Shadow will make an appearance at both Open Studios. If you are in San Francisco, come out and support this great art community.

This is Who We Want on the U.S. Supreme Court?????

A couple of weeks ago, President Bush made, in the opinion of The Shadow, one of the dumbest appointments he ever could have made. He appointed Harriet Miers to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the United States Supreme Court.

Let me set the record clear right now. The Shadow is not saying, directly or indirectly, that Ms. Miers is unqualified to serve on the high court. The Shadow is not defaming her character or professional qualifications. But The Shadow does wonder what was the president thinking when he appointed her.

Ms. Miers has never served as a sitting judge. She has served as president of the Texas Bar Association. She has had a "unique" relationship with a sitting member of the Texas Supreme Court. And she has been in President Bush's inner circle for the past 10 years.

In fact, in 1997, according to CNN.com, she sent Bush -- who was then governor of Texas -- a belated birthday card in which she called Bush "the best Governor ever".

The Shadow has to wonder -- with all of the sitting judges on the U.S. District Court and Courts of Appeal -- we could not find a more qualified person to fill this vacancy on the Supreme Court. This is one appointment that speaks of favoritism.

The Shadow will watch this one closely. But with many conservatives and others wondering about her qualifications, I would think that the best thing that Harriet Miers can do for herself and the country right now is to withdraw. If the president wants to reward her to a judgeship, there are plenty of vacancies on the U.S. District court that she could fill.

A Service To All Single Guys

The Shadow is not a big fan of pick-up lines. However, recently, The Shadow was able to see one of his henchmen work his magic with the ladies.

So as a public service, here is a new pick-up line: "Have you met my friend ... ?"

This is how it works:

Two men must be together for this to work. One of the guys finds a woman (or more) passing by. He innocently asks, while pointing to the other guy, "Have you met my friend [name]?"

The Shadow has seen this in action and it works every time. Try it next time you are out and about.

Back from Blog Vacation

The Shadow has returned from his hiatus.

The Shadow is heartened to know that people are reading this blog on an almost daily basis. The Shadow does keep up with the traffic on this blog.

So much has happened since our last meeting:

• There was another art show that The Shadow attended. I will write more about that tomorrow.
• Another hurricane -- this one named Rita -- hit the southwest United States. Thankfully, the fury of this storm did not leave as much as Hurricane Katrina did.
• The United States Supreme Court now has a new Chief Justice -- John Roberts. The Shadow will comment no further on him until after the Court ends its session in June 2006.
• President Bush has nominated another person to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. This The Shadow will comment on today.

With all that has happened in the past, there is barely enough time to catch up. But the Shadow does promise to keep this blog interesting for all who come to read it on a daily basis.

Please feel free to read and comment. All comments will be responded to.