Saturday, August 25, 2012

Baseball/Edgeway/Bond

The Boston Red Sox have had a season that is irrelevant. Teams that once dreaded coming into Fenway now look forward to the opportunity. A nice stay in a city comfortable for walking, fine restaurants, upscale shopping and, of course, the opportunity to win more games than you lose.
IMO the demise is easy to point a finger - middle preferably - and that is Beckett and Lester. In the baseball parlance these are suppose to be your “Aces” meaning that your teams chances of winning when they rest on the bump is about 70%. In this year the returns from the “Aces” has been negligible - at last count I believe the team is 13 games under .500 in which the two “Aces” have appeared. In baseball the old and tired axiom is you win with pitching and the top of their rotation is septic material. If the two well paid “Aces” had just managed to be at a meager .500 the Red Sox would be leaders in the Wild Card hunt for a playoff slot.
The issues for injuries have again surfaced as the Red Sox have had lost more players and performance days to the disabled list than any other team. However most of that is on the regular nine and the Sox are certainly not alone. They have also managed to fill the offensive holes created by an abundance of DL visits rather well. They do score runs - lots of runs - third in AL run production and just five behind the leader located in Texas. Their batting average currently is slotted fourth in the AL.
Meanwhile the vociferous press in Boston smells blood and has not let up. Various “sources” have come forward from the clubhouse with a laundry list of minor complaints that when a team wins are totally ignored. Daily accounts appears that would make TMZ proud of the internal dissension that exists between ownership - manager- players and just about anyone else that can be used as a pawn in the blame game.
To paraphrase WS “Something is rotten in the state of Massachusetts” and that stench is located on Yawkey Way. With an enormous payroll and a performance that is putrid the ownership may actually put a few less hours into NASCAR and their English football club and concentrate on fixing a mess in which they are substantially to blame. A minor or major housecleaning is in order and IMO that would mean the Darth Vader of baseball - Larry Luchino - just goes away. I would urge he take his manager with him - Bobby Valentine. Bobby has done a reasonable job but he does manage to have - as women are prone to say to their significant others - “Communication issue.” Lastly is an evaluation of the cast of characters that they put on the field. A few have obviously lost the support of the locals and best to find another destination.
So the redemption process has started. The Dodgers have decided to take on about 265M in Sox payroll in their acquisition of Gonzalez, Crawford and Beckett. The Sox will get a few prospects of little value in return but they will now have the opportunity to get back to the model that was so successful from 2002-07 - a return to the past. This will be an interesting off season.
Edgeway continues to be in the local news and now it is the fact they are for sale and have no money to fix some of the major problems. The administrator seems focused on sale first and homeowners second. Now just maybe that has some logic to it with fresh green coming in and an absolutely clueless management out. However to me it seems that the focus should be how to get the place up and running properly rather than have the weekly visit by residents to the BOS.
The Gazette has had a series of exchanges by Adam Bond and his detractors. The Democratic Town Committee certainly displayed the fact that you will see none of them at a MENSA meeting and I wonder if they will line up behind Bond - I would not trust any of them on my back - if he gets the win in the primary. Maybe Bond can claim some Native American roots and win over their support?
I had to get my personal license renewed (driver not canine) at the Plymouth RMV. I go to Plymouth since it is far quicker than Taunton or Brockton and the 45 minute wait was right on target for the little ticket they gave me. The only real obstacle is the eye exam and the last time I had a personal visit I had a restriction for eye ware placed on my license. This time I had my glasses on and could not see a thing. Wrong glasses. So I tried without them and surprise of surprises I managed to read the lowest line correctly and quickly. A miracle of aging! My eyesight has improved. Now if only my knee and back will get the hint.
I have not determined who I despise more - Obama or Romney. Neither seem capable of addressing the main concern of the country - the economy. One has already butchered it and the other is sure to continue the process. But I am sure that Elizabeth Warren is one of the most despicable people I have ever seen in politics.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Demos/Roger v. Adam

Whenever I think the Republican Party is hopelessly out of touch and corrupt I realize there is actually another major party that can match them. Step right up, Democrats!
The latest is the attempt to register as many welfare recipients as possible on the voter rolls. I guess this is their answer to voter ID? The organization responsible for this is Demos which has some very strong connections to the fraudulent ACORN via New England United For Justice. The board of Demos is littered with far left types and has none other than the daughter of Elizabeth Warren - the current phony Indian attempting to unseat Scott Brown - on their board.
Now Demos filed suit in Federal Court and Massachusetts quickly caved - several other states have not - so mailings have taken place to 477,000 welfare recipients regarding registering to vote. State has no money to notify us our drivers license is expiring but the dough is readily available for this. And what about illegal’s on the rolls? Well, they’ll get a notice, too. I guess voter ID is certainly needless in this state.
Now the left will portray this as a firm desire to just get everyone enrolled to partake in such good citizenship. I wonder if they’ll also ask information to be sent to other groups traditional right of center? IMO if in this day and age you cannot figure out how to even register maybe best to just pass on voting.
Bumpkin had an interesting ask the candidates column. Focus was on Roger Brunelle, Jr. and Adam Bond who are both in the hunt for the Democrats to face Keiko Orrall. After reading the responses I’m not sure if Brunelle is closer to James Madison, Winston Churchill or Thomas Locke (John Locke - thanks, Rigger). So much for the daily dose of sarcasm. I thought I was a lightweight but compared to Roger I’m freaking Steven Hawking or the best of the best in MENSA. Essentially it came down to “I’m a union guy so vote for me.” So maybe Roger will get the great Pacheco endorsement and that will represent the final nail.
Continuing along the bashing trail I am amazed - well…maybe not - that the Democratic Town Committee is behind Brunelle. What are they thinking? Well…not thinking. I also paid an visit to the web sites of both candidates. That tells a lot right there.
Now Roger has passed on a debate with Adam. I’d suggest Adam debate an empty chair - a very old campaign ploy. Now if Roger debated the chair my money is firmly on the chair.
The whole column looked like a political ad for Adam. That was not his doing but more the result of miniscule answers by Roger. And oh those answers. No meat on those bones, folks. Was that on purpose? The less you open your yap the less you get to be hung by. Adam was quite detailed and that’s the patter he has been espousing since I attended a meet and greet for him a few months ago. You know exactly where he stands on some significant issues. Agree or disagree he does have some construct to his responses.
IMO this primary will be quite close. Adam has burned, rebuilt and burned again bridges in Middleboro. I voted for him as a Selectman and was totally ticked when he exited that gig in a huff. I’ve lost count on the casino issue flip flops. In the total that will work against him at least in Middleboro. As far as the other communities party support does have some pull but not as much as it use to and that is the Pacheco effect of the last election. For me my mind was made up a year ago. Roger showed nothing then and even less now. AB will have my primary vote.