Sense, Common and Otherwise

Extra Ordinary

Today begins the liturgical season called Ordinary Time, the first of two periods so designated on the Church calendar.

For Catholics, this one runs from the day after the Baptism of the Lord (which was yesterday) until the day preceding  

Ash Wednesday (i.e., Shrove Tuesday). 

The second period of Ordinary Time 

begins the Monday after Pentecost and runs through the Saturday preceding 

Advent Sunday (also known as "Catholic New Year's" since the Church's liturgical year begins that day).

Since I'm Irish, I always enjoy Ordinary Time because its liturgical color is green.

"You know that's not why they picked that color, right?"

You'll forgive me if I don't take a quadruped's word for it, right?

Peak Curmudgeon

Rare 1776 First Edition

On January 10, 1776 the political pamphlet which came to be known as Common Sense was first published in Philadelphia.

The arguments for revolution marshaled by its author, Thomas Paine, were pitched at commoners, not wealthy landowners, and it quickly became a sensation all throughout the colonies.

Paine himself was one of the most fractious and ill-tempered of our Founding Fathers. Because of his outspoken opposition to Christianity,
for instance, only a handful of people attended his funeral.



Common Sense has never been out of print, and remains the best-selling book in American publishing history, although Paine never made a profit on it and eventually renounced his copyright to the work.

Fitting Finale

Well-played, Tigers...

The exciting 2016 college football season came to a climax last night as Clemson defeated Alabama in the championship game.





Before bidding farewell to the sport for the next 234 days, I'll unburden myself about one of my pet peeves with it: The sheer idiocy of some of the people who vote in the weeklAP Top 25 Poll. In this season's final poll, for instance, USC jumped six spots to No. 3 after beating Big Ten champion Penn State with a field goal as time expired in a thrilling Rose Bowl, but Penn State is still ranked lower than Ohio State, whom it beat on the field and who embarrassed itself by getting shut out in the playoff semifinals. Just plain dumb.

"That won't make Skip very happy, will it?"

Actually, he doesn't pay much attention to the polls...

Not the Word I'd Choose, Mr. President

From the pen of Lisa Benson, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

On January 10, 1953 Patricia Mae Andrzejewski was born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
That was just 39 days before I hit the atmosphere, so perhaps that's why her music has always struck a chord with me...

The daughter of working-class parents, Pat showed an early interest in singing, but to the surprise of everyone she knew she passed up an opportunity to attend the prestigious Juilliard School and wound up marrying her high school sweetheart. She got interested in singing again in 1971, and began performing as Pat Benatar.

She released her first album at age 26, beginning a series of platinum-certified releases that lasted five years, and included her No. 1 album Precious Time as well as four Grammy Awards. During that stretch she was the arguably the most popular female rock vocalist on the scene, and her videos got heavy play on MTV.

Original 1984 45 rpm single

By the time she released her fifth studio album, Tropico, in 1984 the market's tastes had changed. That album peaked at only No. 14 on the Billboard 200 and it would be her last Top 20 album.

Nonetheless, the album produced the highest-charting single of her career, the anthemic "We Belong." That hit peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 (matched only
by "Love is a Battlefield" in 1983) and at No. 3 on the magazine's
Top Rock Tracks chart.


Although she would go on to have a few more Top 40 hits and a handful of Top 5 placings on Top Rock Tracks, "We Belong" was Benatar's last really big hit.

Today's send-off is the official music video of the song, from the EMI Records VEVO channel. The usual '80s music video disclaimers apply. Enjoy...