I Love A Middleboro Casino

I love a Middleboro casino.

Now I was a moderate anti that was best described as a NIMBY that is similar to being a fiscal conservative and a social liberal or maybe getting to second base on a date. An ardent draw the line in the sand I was not. In fact I didn’t mind throwing verbal and written darts at both sides. In my own perverse way I actually rather enjoyed it. But that whole issue is now “back in the day” category. Divisive it may have been but that seems to have dissipated to the part where a small coterie of true believers is left on both sides. No longer is being on one side of the fence or perched in the middle like me a litmus test.

I think we all owe a sincere debt to that issue. It has nurtured a good many activist who as time passed by left the one trick pony to the zealots and moved on to a virtual buffet of town issues. Even our BOS now has members who really would still be tending to their gardens and doing the 9-5 completely oblivious to local government except to curse about their taxes, trash bill or the other mundane things we grouse about and quickly put on the back burner to concentrate on more important activities like viewing American Idol.

Circumference of about 9.25 inches, diameter of about 2.9 inches, a weight of 5.25 ounces and, of course, 108 stitches. Being a true American I have avoided that Gawd Awful metric crap. That is a baseball. My father loved boxing and cherished the day I would box but at age eight I fell in love with the sphere. I learned everything about it. Read and still read endlessly. A devoted fan. Hooked.

Well we all have our addictions and the casino was a great incubator just as the simple sphere was for me. Some - and why mention names as we know them - got hooked on the process of politics especially town politics. What does this board do? Who the hell is Robert and his rules? How do you make sense of a budget? What is the bizarre relationship between FinCom and the BOS? Politics - like baseball - can be a disease and there is no cure but involvement. The casino managed to bring out a whole new phalanx of locals who just plain got involved, Learned and got appointed an ran. They are not one trick ponies but now examine issues diligently, do their homework, are assessable and try to be as transparent as possible and I am not discussing the BOS exclusively.

So that is why I just love that damn casino. It has reverberated by bringing out new bodies with new ideas and a new level of involvement.

Backpacks have now reached the point where they need to be brought to the attention of the Nanny Police. On a recent flight I ended up with a bruised forehead and a scraped face thanks to one clod maneuvering it as he attempted to get into his seat. “Oh…excuse me did I hit you?” “No….I just punched myself in the head and scraped my face with my nails because I was bored.” This bag was huge. And the manners? Folks are so use to carrying them they are clueless that when you turn you are swinging something that sticks out well over a foot and closer to two feet.

A good baseball trade is one in which both teams win. Both teams have needs filled and they walk away from the transaction satisfied. No winners or losers. But with politics and especially the “Debt Crisis” you have to have a winner and a loser and that will be Republicans or Democrats depending upon whom is putting on the spin. Another disgraceful moment in our history and one in which the leadership gap is incredible. That leadership is our current president who will now be the 21st century answer to Herbert Hoover. Obama has shown racial equality at its very best in that a Black guy is as capable as screwing up as a White guy - especially any with a last mane of Bush.