Dis n' Dat While In Sox Mourning

Barney Frank who is an ardent advocate for online gaming received $18,600 in contributions from that industry - if one can say gaming is actually an industry. After being the poster child for financial malfeasance with his bluster, inane advocacy and then attempted avoidance of the Fanny scandals how appropriate it is that he supports such foolishness as online gaming. Did with housing.

Deval Patrick is furious over the mere idea of having to present proper ID to vote. We use ID’s for everything. Why not voting? Makes sense.

Green energy has certainly been green - real green - for some. The Solyndra mob appeared before a Congressional hearing and it seemed like the 50s and 60s again with pleas of “The 5th.” Appearing more and more like the executives were simply crooks and the administration is up to their eyeballs in this mess. Think Teapot Dome.

I watch excerpts from the Republican debate since about five minutes is my tolerance level. Huntsman and Paul seem reasonably normal but the rest?

The Town Manager and the DPW honcho seem to be approaching the storm rubbish issue the same way in that their first response is to try and figure out how not to do something rather than how to do it. Apparently neither have spent any time in customer service.

Some cities and towns will actually cut back on very visible items as a way of encouraging the peasants to pony up some more cash at TM or with a 2 and ½. I’m am sure nothing like that will ever happen in Middleboro.

Friendly’s is back on the brink of another Chapter 11 protection.

Deval Patrick continues to dismiss Secure Communities as the body toll rises.

Tom Brady’s bride got off with a warning for going 70MPH in a 55 zone. According to the State Police about half of those stopped got warnings so this was not any special treatment. The others were probably judges, court officers, Reps and others connected.

In the movie Contagion one of the characters utters the phrase “Blogging is graffiti with punctuation.”

Obama’s support among Black voters is now eroding.

Maxine Waters (D- Mothership) said “The Tea Party can go to hell.” Chris Matthews made a comment about the blowhard Limbaugh that just about said he hopes someone off’s him. Andre Carson - a Black Caucus Member - stated the tea party would like to see “Blacks hanging from trees.” Now if the right made comments like this it is hate speech.

I read that some fees such as the dump (AKA - Landfill) pass cannot be paid with cash. Now despite what it says on our greenbacks this is perfectly legal to refuse cash for public and private obligations. The legislation (coinage act of 1965) is poorly worded. To me it is an insult. I read into it a lack of trust of employees.

Chief Gates says being a policeman “Is a young man’s job.” Well so much for any 21st century enlightenment on the part of the chief. In case he missed out there happens to be women who actually do the job. Yes, Chief, they do things besides sell cosmetics and pop out babies. Maybe, Alice - a woman! - quoted him wrong?

A young man’s job part II. Has Chief Gates ever roamed around town and took a look at the police details? Some of these guys have been retired for years and I feel like setting up a lawn chair at the work site for them just to play it safe.

A young man’s job part III. Why? Is there some unique quality about being young that defines the job? Maybe you should just shove all those 40+ characters out the door? Say, Chief, how old are you? I guess our chief is both an ageist and sexist?

Design flaws is a way architects and engineers explain away problems some with monstrous consequences.

Aircraft design is fascinating since most experimental models go through vigorous testing before they are rolled out for military or commercial use so I will use that as an example for baseball.

The Comet was a magnificent aircraft and represented the first commercial jet. Built by de Havilland it was placed in service in 1952 and did have some issues that were resolved. Then came a series of mysterious and fatal crashes forcing the fleet to be grounded.

Now why is this related to baseball? Well the aircraft itself was agreed to be of quality by everyone involved. Hundreds of designers and engineers were involved and all agreed on its air worthiness. The fatal flaw was windows and you can read about it. Simple and unsuspecting. Actually new territory. This is similar to the Red Sox in 2011 as the fans and media all jumped up and saluted the choices made with signings, trades and who would get dumped. Heck most felt 100 wins were well within reach and I thought 105 could be obtained. But there are design flaws.

Some of the flaws became apparent from the 2-10 beginning and then magnified as certain expectations were not attained. Most were placed on the back burner as the team went on a 72-37 tear and then the flaws kicked in. Some seem to be how certain players approach the game. Others are the small stuff like not hitting with Runners In Scoring Position or not making a routine play that extends an inning. Then the issues of complacency, clubhouse karma and even ability start to surface. Like with the comet the design flaws are there and will have to be addressed.

Right now Boston is the Comet (de Havilland) and the Yankees are Boeing. de Havilland never really did recover.

IMO the blame for the entire mess of the Red Sox lands on Theo Epstein. Theo loves metrics or the numbers of baseball to make decisions on player acquisition. They use their own proprietary software to crunch the numbers but someone one piece is missing - character.