As the end of the year rolls around it is time to consider annual appointments in town. One of the appointments the town’s leaders should give careful consideration to is that of town counsel.
Kopelman and Paige have represented the town for the past 22 years or so. Replacing a then controversial David Berman around 1982, the firm was a rather small operation. With only three municipal clients, Kopelman and Paige were promoting the idea of a firm that would basically concentrate on municipal law only. Since that time it has proven to be a successful strategy as Kopleman and Paige has now grown to the point where they represent more than 100 cities and towns. That number is over one third of the communities in the state.
Has that strategy been successful for Burlington? Do we have the same type of attention from a firm in which we were the second or third most important clients to now where we are simply one of the herd?
That question is debatable but there are other questions that should be examined more closely in determining whether or not we should continue to have them represent us. Those questions revolve primarily around the biggest issues the town has dealt with over the last 7 or 8 years. Quite frankly many of those issues have significant visible failures of counsel.
Take for instance the Sun deal. In that arrangement town meeting was told that Burlington would receive the state barn property on Cambridge Street as part of the deal. Here we are six or seven years later and we are told virtually nothing about what went wrong. Now we are told we need to pay for the land and it was not in the deal. Why is this? Who was conducting the negotiations? We had special counsel in Gloria Larson and Kopelman and Paige. Who told the town we were to receive the property and who was responsible for writing the contracts? Do they have mal practice insurance?
The chapter 40B snob zoning law has been a thorn in Burlington and the rest of the suburban communities side for years. We finally made the 10% threshold but one of the concerns of the town was that those affordable units would fall off in 15 years or when the financing ended. This has always been a primary complaint yet it took a single practitioner representing the Town of Wellesley to get this issue before the Massachusetts Supreme Court. The court ruled that as long as the developer had dense zoning that circumvented a towns zoning bylaw then those units had to remain as affordable. Why could a one-man law firm accomplish this yet a firm representing over a hundred communities could not? Has counsel taken steps to assure that our current properties remain affordable?
The military housing on South Bedford Street was acquired by the town partly as a result of the Trammel Crow deal. The town meeting was told by town counsel that the affordability of the housing would be protected by a covenant on the deed. Two years ago one of the units was almost foreclosed on and the affordability almost lost. We were then told it was the banks that were protected by covenant not the town.
The Sunrise project on Mall Road went before the Board of Appeals as a use variance. The building inspector had ruled against the developer yet the board of appeals over ruled him in favor of the developer. Why did town counsel allow this to happen? State law clearly prohibits use variances. Why wasn’t the building inspector’s opinion upheld and the developer referred to Town Meeting for a zoning change? Even more importantly, when the Selectmen met to discuss the appealing of the variance what were they told about counsel’s opinion?
One of the most egregious failures of counsel has been the land swap. Part of the deal was the town receiving of buildable lots behind the Grandview farm. After selling one of the lots last year for $500,000 we are now told that the lot is not buildable because of wetlands and the town will have to be an applicant before its own boards to rectify the situation. Are the other lots subject to the same problem? Who should have been responsible for the due diligence in the handling of such a complex land deal?
Three years ago the town was in negotiation for the Marion road conservation land adjacent to the Pine Haven cemetery. At the time the town was encouraged by management to hurry and acquire the site because it was in great demand. Yet after a substantial price was negotiated for the property and money appropriated by town meeting it became known that the title to the property was murky. Why wasn’t counsel doing this due diligence before a price was arrived at? Was the price lowered as a result?
At the same time we were being encouraged to acquire this land because of demand we were being told that we needed to give tax incentives to another deal in town because demand was so weak. Now two of those incentive deals are not in compliance yet we still have no resolution. What is counsels suggestion? Do we repeal the deal? Do we eliminate the tax break?
One of the more embarrassing results for town counsel was the infamous window at the high school. A teacher was denied a window in her office and subsequently took the town to court and won a $240,000 judgment. No negotiated common ground could have been found on this issue?
I will close on the issue in the police department. Over two years ago an officer was disciplined and demoted within the department. This issue has significant financial ramifications as well as morale and departmental tranquility importance. Yet here we are two years after the initial decision still without a final resolution.
These are but a few of the issues that counsel has had less than stellar performance on. In all of these cases the town has suffered financially and might have had a better result had we had a more attentive representative. Perhaps it is time to see if someone in the legal community might place more value on the relationship.
Monday, December 27, 2004
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Brady is human!
With the end of the year in sight and the annual holiday slowdown underway I took the liberty of staying up very late to watch the Patriots versus the Dolphins last night. I had no preconceived notions of this being a blow out because I have seen to many Dolphin/Patriot confrontations in the past to be lulled into complacency.
Even though this was supposed to be a walk over I wanted to watch every minute of it because a team like the Patriots and their current streak of excellence doesn’t come along to frequently. The two Super Bowls in three years and the incredible winning streak and the Brady/Belichik 60 game record of 46 and 14 is going to rank high in NFL history. So it was with that in mind that I settled in for the evening.
There were a number of things which should have been indications for the prudent bettor to stay away from this game. The Patriots were double digit favorites, the game was in Miami instead of the frigid Northeast and the 2 and 11 Dolphins had absolutely nothing to lose. In addition the Patriots have already clinched a playoff spot and had a few distractions most notable is that offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss is now the head coach at Notre Dame. Everyone in the Patriot family is happy for Weiss I am sure but there is no getting around the fact that Charlie must be looking ahead a little to next year.
Despite all of this the Patriots were leading comfortably by 11 with 3:59 to go when Miami took the ball on their own 32 and proceeded to march down the field and score. The two point conversion failed but Miami had closed to within five. This appeared to be no problem since the Patriots took over on their own 20 with 2 minutes and seven seconds to go. Under normal circumstances we would expect to see the Patriots gain a first down and then run out the clock.
Strangely the first play from scrimmage was an incomplete pass that was both uncharacteristically dangerous and did not run much time off the clock. The second down play was a run by Corey Dillon for a 1 yard gain. With third down and a long 9 yards for a first down, conventional wisdom would have the team run a very conservative play and then punt the ball and allow the defense to close out the game. Inexplicably, a pass play was called and for the first time in a very long time Tom Brady looked human as he made an absolutely brutal mistake. In the clutches of Miami’s Jason Taylor he winged a pass out in the flat that was picked off and Miami had the ball on the Pats 21.
The defense stiffened and held them to 4th down and 10 on the 21 yard line when A.J Feeley hit Derius Thompson over Troy Brown for the winning score. The Patriots held the ball again with time enough to drive for a winning field goal when Brady was intercepted for the fourth time.
It’s hard to find fault with a team which is 14 and 2 and has played as well as the team has this year. It is a tribute to the coaching staff and the players that they very rarely have mental breakdowns, are always prepared from a game plan standpoint and seem to consistently give a full game physical effort. Last night may have been an aberration or perhaps it has exposed some cracks in the invincibility of the Patriots.
The most obvious problem is the defensive secondary. Tyrone Poole, Ty Law and Dexter Reid have all been injured. Two of the current corner backs, Earthwind Moreland and Randall Gay have held up but can they play playoff caliber defense against the likes of Peyton Manning and the flock of fleet receivers Indianapolis has? The Troy Brown experiment at defensive back is no longer a novelty, it is now a necessity with all the injuries in the secondary. It’s was no accident that the Dolphins went after Brown on the winning score.
So the playoffs are getting closer and we still have 2 games to work out the bugs. Time will tell whether this team and the Belichik/Brady combination have the magic to bring home another Super Bowl championship.
Even though this was supposed to be a walk over I wanted to watch every minute of it because a team like the Patriots and their current streak of excellence doesn’t come along to frequently. The two Super Bowls in three years and the incredible winning streak and the Brady/Belichik 60 game record of 46 and 14 is going to rank high in NFL history. So it was with that in mind that I settled in for the evening.
There were a number of things which should have been indications for the prudent bettor to stay away from this game. The Patriots were double digit favorites, the game was in Miami instead of the frigid Northeast and the 2 and 11 Dolphins had absolutely nothing to lose. In addition the Patriots have already clinched a playoff spot and had a few distractions most notable is that offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss is now the head coach at Notre Dame. Everyone in the Patriot family is happy for Weiss I am sure but there is no getting around the fact that Charlie must be looking ahead a little to next year.
Despite all of this the Patriots were leading comfortably by 11 with 3:59 to go when Miami took the ball on their own 32 and proceeded to march down the field and score. The two point conversion failed but Miami had closed to within five. This appeared to be no problem since the Patriots took over on their own 20 with 2 minutes and seven seconds to go. Under normal circumstances we would expect to see the Patriots gain a first down and then run out the clock.
Strangely the first play from scrimmage was an incomplete pass that was both uncharacteristically dangerous and did not run much time off the clock. The second down play was a run by Corey Dillon for a 1 yard gain. With third down and a long 9 yards for a first down, conventional wisdom would have the team run a very conservative play and then punt the ball and allow the defense to close out the game. Inexplicably, a pass play was called and for the first time in a very long time Tom Brady looked human as he made an absolutely brutal mistake. In the clutches of Miami’s Jason Taylor he winged a pass out in the flat that was picked off and Miami had the ball on the Pats 21.
The defense stiffened and held them to 4th down and 10 on the 21 yard line when A.J Feeley hit Derius Thompson over Troy Brown for the winning score. The Patriots held the ball again with time enough to drive for a winning field goal when Brady was intercepted for the fourth time.
It’s hard to find fault with a team which is 14 and 2 and has played as well as the team has this year. It is a tribute to the coaching staff and the players that they very rarely have mental breakdowns, are always prepared from a game plan standpoint and seem to consistently give a full game physical effort. Last night may have been an aberration or perhaps it has exposed some cracks in the invincibility of the Patriots.
The most obvious problem is the defensive secondary. Tyrone Poole, Ty Law and Dexter Reid have all been injured. Two of the current corner backs, Earthwind Moreland and Randall Gay have held up but can they play playoff caliber defense against the likes of Peyton Manning and the flock of fleet receivers Indianapolis has? The Troy Brown experiment at defensive back is no longer a novelty, it is now a necessity with all the injuries in the secondary. It’s was no accident that the Dolphins went after Brown on the winning score.
So the playoffs are getting closer and we still have 2 games to work out the bugs. Time will tell whether this team and the Belichik/Brady combination have the magic to bring home another Super Bowl championship.
Saturday, December 18, 2004
The trend is your friend
The “trend is your friend” is a common cliché used in the financial business to indicate what side of a trade or investment decision you should be on. This is certainly an appropriate catch phrase to be using to describe where you should be in the current interest rate environment. The trend is up and before to long it is going to be apparent in any number of interest rate sensitive areas of your life.
To put a rising interest rate environment in perspective we need to go back to the height of the end of the century booming markets. These markets gains were primarily as a result of huge investment and speculation in the Internet and telecommunications arenas and the feared Y2K bug. The stock market was riding high and the Federal Reserve fearing a return of inflation began to tighten short-term interest rates to the point where it inverted against long rates. The inverted yield curve meant that short-term rates were higher than long-term rates.
In March of 2000 at the height of the Dow which was 11, 600 and the top of the Nasdaq at 5100. On April 3rd the 90-day Treasury bill was yielding 5.87% and the thirty-year Treasury bond yield was 5.84%. The yield curve can be examined during this period at this site http://www.tmpages.com/tmp55.htm#TMDB_AA U.S. Treasury daily yield curve history.
As a result of a combination of unsustainable values, rising interest rates, and corporate fraud, the markets began to severely falter and the Fed attempted to turn things around by trimming rates. By April 1 of 2001 short rates were down to 3.75%. Shortly thereafter the events of September 11, 2001 dramatically altered the economic environment. The country was dealt a severe economic blow and the Fed responded by pumping liquidity into the system and cutting rates to levels we hadn’t seen since 1958. Short-term rates subsequently bottomed out in December 2003 at .75%
Since that time we have enjoyed the benefits of a low interest rate environment. This has manifested itself in two most obvious areas. Home mortgages have been at levels not seen in many years and other big-ticket consumer financing such as automobiles and boats have been low as well. Lower short-term rates have also resulted in some very reasonable credit card rates.
The result has been a dramatic rise in home construction and correspondingly in-home ownership. More people own homes now than at any time in American history. With more people having access to cheap capital the housing market has seen a tremendous increase in values. In addition people who had a great deal of built up equity in existing homes began to access that capital through various home equity products. Refinancing of existing mortgages also producing extra money in the home budget, which has resulted in a consumer led expansion of the economy since 9/11.
Added to that has been the enormous increase in credit card debt. With low interest rates have come the ubiquitous junk mail credit card offers. No interest for 6 months, lower rates in general, low or no rate transfers of existing balances have resulted in card juggling at a rate never before seen in history. To make matters worse is the checks that an existing account holder gets in the mail every other day with encouragement to spend spend spend!
Now here comes the trend argument. The Fed raised interest rates for the fifth time this year on December 14th and more increases are likely. Just as the financial markets of 2000 were not sustainable neither are the housing markets of 2004. Residential real estate in the region is so high that any increase in mortgage rates will slow the resale and likely sharply lower the price per unit.
More importantly than just the slowing of sales is the adjustable rate mortgage that has taken on popularity during this housing boom. As rates rise and place more pressure on the home budget we are likely to see this take its toll in the form of home foreclosures. This is inevitable, as lowered prices will prevent a homeowner from selling the property to get out from under the debt burden.
Of course credit card debt will have an enormous role to play as well. These rates may be low now but in most card agreements those rates can jump literally within a matter of days.
Finally we have the added burden of the demographics of the baby boomers. This group has generally wreaked havoc on the country at every level of their lives. Now they are about to make perhaps the most dramatic impact of all. Certainly social security is one example but so to is the northeast housing market. As these people enter their golden years and want to cash in their homes and head to sunny areas of the country we are going to see an enormous shift in property values. Where they leave will drop in value and where the end up will increase in value.
So kids, the trend is your friend. Lock in your variable rates, start paying down your debt as soon as possible and start looking at Florida and Arizona real estate.
To put a rising interest rate environment in perspective we need to go back to the height of the end of the century booming markets. These markets gains were primarily as a result of huge investment and speculation in the Internet and telecommunications arenas and the feared Y2K bug. The stock market was riding high and the Federal Reserve fearing a return of inflation began to tighten short-term interest rates to the point where it inverted against long rates. The inverted yield curve meant that short-term rates were higher than long-term rates.
In March of 2000 at the height of the Dow which was 11, 600 and the top of the Nasdaq at 5100. On April 3rd the 90-day Treasury bill was yielding 5.87% and the thirty-year Treasury bond yield was 5.84%. The yield curve can be examined during this period at this site http://www.tmpages.com/tmp55.htm#TMDB_AA U.S. Treasury daily yield curve history.
As a result of a combination of unsustainable values, rising interest rates, and corporate fraud, the markets began to severely falter and the Fed attempted to turn things around by trimming rates. By April 1 of 2001 short rates were down to 3.75%. Shortly thereafter the events of September 11, 2001 dramatically altered the economic environment. The country was dealt a severe economic blow and the Fed responded by pumping liquidity into the system and cutting rates to levels we hadn’t seen since 1958. Short-term rates subsequently bottomed out in December 2003 at .75%
Since that time we have enjoyed the benefits of a low interest rate environment. This has manifested itself in two most obvious areas. Home mortgages have been at levels not seen in many years and other big-ticket consumer financing such as automobiles and boats have been low as well. Lower short-term rates have also resulted in some very reasonable credit card rates.
The result has been a dramatic rise in home construction and correspondingly in-home ownership. More people own homes now than at any time in American history. With more people having access to cheap capital the housing market has seen a tremendous increase in values. In addition people who had a great deal of built up equity in existing homes began to access that capital through various home equity products. Refinancing of existing mortgages also producing extra money in the home budget, which has resulted in a consumer led expansion of the economy since 9/11.
Added to that has been the enormous increase in credit card debt. With low interest rates have come the ubiquitous junk mail credit card offers. No interest for 6 months, lower rates in general, low or no rate transfers of existing balances have resulted in card juggling at a rate never before seen in history. To make matters worse is the checks that an existing account holder gets in the mail every other day with encouragement to spend spend spend!
Now here comes the trend argument. The Fed raised interest rates for the fifth time this year on December 14th and more increases are likely. Just as the financial markets of 2000 were not sustainable neither are the housing markets of 2004. Residential real estate in the region is so high that any increase in mortgage rates will slow the resale and likely sharply lower the price per unit.
More importantly than just the slowing of sales is the adjustable rate mortgage that has taken on popularity during this housing boom. As rates rise and place more pressure on the home budget we are likely to see this take its toll in the form of home foreclosures. This is inevitable, as lowered prices will prevent a homeowner from selling the property to get out from under the debt burden.
Of course credit card debt will have an enormous role to play as well. These rates may be low now but in most card agreements those rates can jump literally within a matter of days.
Finally we have the added burden of the demographics of the baby boomers. This group has generally wreaked havoc on the country at every level of their lives. Now they are about to make perhaps the most dramatic impact of all. Certainly social security is one example but so to is the northeast housing market. As these people enter their golden years and want to cash in their homes and head to sunny areas of the country we are going to see an enormous shift in property values. Where they leave will drop in value and where the end up will increase in value.
So kids, the trend is your friend. Lock in your variable rates, start paying down your debt as soon as possible and start looking at Florida and Arizona real estate.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
So long Pedro
It was with mixed emotion I greeted the news of Pedro Martinez imminent signing as a free agent with the New York Mets. It is difficult to see Martinez leave the team after his being an integral part of the one Red Sox World Series championship team in my lifetime. That plus the seven seasons of purely brilliant pitching performances he provided us during his career here.
At the peak of his dominance he was pure artwork. Certainly he had over powering stuff but many have had physical skills in major league baseball and failed. He combined power and finesse with an equally impressive pitching strategy. When a batter faced Pedro they couldn't count on anything at any time. If a batter thought he might see the fastball then the nasty change up would be on its way. Similarly if the batter looked for a slider away a hard one inside might stand him up. Pedro had command of four pitches and he used them as he wished.
Breaking in with the L.A. Dodgers in 1992 for two appearances, his major league career blossomed in his final year of 4 seasons in Montreal in 1997. His stats were tremendous and resulted in a CY Young award. In 31 starts that year and 241 innings pitched, Pedro had 17 wins and 8 losses with 13 complete games, 305 strikeouts and an incredibly stingy E.R.A. of 1.90. That puts him in the same other world category as Gibson and Koufax.
In his 7 years in Boston he managed to win more than 17 on four occasions and incredibly had an E.R.A. of 1.74 in 2000. He never matched the complete game numbers only completing a high of 7 in 2000. If anything has been a chink in his armor it has been his durability in late innings. The fact that his E.R.A. has jumped to 3.90 over last year was a factor in the Sox decision making regarding a new contract.
No matter what happens in his new stint with the Mets, his career numbers of 182 wins, 76 losses and a career E.R.A of 2.71 coupled with 3 CY Young awards should be more than enough to get him into Cooperstown.
Despite all of this I think it is time for Pedro to move along. The negotiations although not particularly acrimonious took on the all to familiar trappings of today's players and agents. Respect is measured in dollars and the Mets respected Pedro with a reported 4 year guaranteed deal worth 53 million dollars. The Sox were only willing to ante up 3 years and 40 million.
Much can be said about this from both sides. Pedro is an aging super star who would have been able go out gracefully in Boston as his star dimmed. He has long been notorious for being a temperamental diva and the fans and media have given him a pass for the most part. This is not likely to happen in New York should he make a few trips to the disabled list, which would seem inevitable given his history of shoulder woes and the reported tear in his labrum.
The flip side of this of course is that we could suffer in the same way we did when the Sox let Clemens go in the "twilight" of his career. Of course Clemens has started 257 games since then and won 136 of them not to mention more CY Young awards and some championship rings. Clemens should thank the Sox for letting him go as it resulted in him getting a wake up call and finally getting himself in decent shape after his last four very mediocre years in Boston.
Clemens physically is a bull of a man while Pedro is much slighter. Can Pedro go on to complete a career in a similar fashion? My thinking is no. The Sox made a reasonable offer showing the both the respect and pragmatism appropriate for the situation. They have lost him but it certainly freed up a lot of money, which they have already put into play by signing Edgar Renteria away from the Cardinals. Edgar doesn't pitch but you can be sure Theo is busy putting to work another 8 or 10 million a year to find another pitcher or two.
Another clear indication of this being a prudent business decision was that the Mets are the ones who signed Pedro for this huge contract. This isn't the first time the Mets have signed a player past his prime and suffered the consequences. There is a distinct possibility that in the near future the Mets could be holding the bag for 50 plus million and the Sox will be gleefully fielding a cheaper and healthier pitching staff.
So the ink isn't even dry on the championship pennant and already we are suffering through another off-season of the mix and match of assembling a squad to face off against the evil empire. We may look back on this as another one of Theo's smart moves or perhaps we won't. Ain't it great?
At the peak of his dominance he was pure artwork. Certainly he had over powering stuff but many have had physical skills in major league baseball and failed. He combined power and finesse with an equally impressive pitching strategy. When a batter faced Pedro they couldn't count on anything at any time. If a batter thought he might see the fastball then the nasty change up would be on its way. Similarly if the batter looked for a slider away a hard one inside might stand him up. Pedro had command of four pitches and he used them as he wished.
Breaking in with the L.A. Dodgers in 1992 for two appearances, his major league career blossomed in his final year of 4 seasons in Montreal in 1997. His stats were tremendous and resulted in a CY Young award. In 31 starts that year and 241 innings pitched, Pedro had 17 wins and 8 losses with 13 complete games, 305 strikeouts and an incredibly stingy E.R.A. of 1.90. That puts him in the same other world category as Gibson and Koufax.
In his 7 years in Boston he managed to win more than 17 on four occasions and incredibly had an E.R.A. of 1.74 in 2000. He never matched the complete game numbers only completing a high of 7 in 2000. If anything has been a chink in his armor it has been his durability in late innings. The fact that his E.R.A. has jumped to 3.90 over last year was a factor in the Sox decision making regarding a new contract.
No matter what happens in his new stint with the Mets, his career numbers of 182 wins, 76 losses and a career E.R.A of 2.71 coupled with 3 CY Young awards should be more than enough to get him into Cooperstown.
Despite all of this I think it is time for Pedro to move along. The negotiations although not particularly acrimonious took on the all to familiar trappings of today's players and agents. Respect is measured in dollars and the Mets respected Pedro with a reported 4 year guaranteed deal worth 53 million dollars. The Sox were only willing to ante up 3 years and 40 million.
Much can be said about this from both sides. Pedro is an aging super star who would have been able go out gracefully in Boston as his star dimmed. He has long been notorious for being a temperamental diva and the fans and media have given him a pass for the most part. This is not likely to happen in New York should he make a few trips to the disabled list, which would seem inevitable given his history of shoulder woes and the reported tear in his labrum.
The flip side of this of course is that we could suffer in the same way we did when the Sox let Clemens go in the "twilight" of his career. Of course Clemens has started 257 games since then and won 136 of them not to mention more CY Young awards and some championship rings. Clemens should thank the Sox for letting him go as it resulted in him getting a wake up call and finally getting himself in decent shape after his last four very mediocre years in Boston.
Clemens physically is a bull of a man while Pedro is much slighter. Can Pedro go on to complete a career in a similar fashion? My thinking is no. The Sox made a reasonable offer showing the both the respect and pragmatism appropriate for the situation. They have lost him but it certainly freed up a lot of money, which they have already put into play by signing Edgar Renteria away from the Cardinals. Edgar doesn't pitch but you can be sure Theo is busy putting to work another 8 or 10 million a year to find another pitcher or two.
Another clear indication of this being a prudent business decision was that the Mets are the ones who signed Pedro for this huge contract. This isn't the first time the Mets have signed a player past his prime and suffered the consequences. There is a distinct possibility that in the near future the Mets could be holding the bag for 50 plus million and the Sox will be gleefully fielding a cheaper and healthier pitching staff.
So the ink isn't even dry on the championship pennant and already we are suffering through another off-season of the mix and match of assembling a squad to face off against the evil empire. We may look back on this as another one of Theo's smart moves or perhaps we won't. Ain't it great?
Monday, December 13, 2004
FourPoints shocking sale price
The sale price of the FourPoints hotel was made public last week and it is not very good news for the Burlington real estate market. The property, which last sold in 2000 for a reported 14 million dollars, has now changed hands at a reported price of $6,480,000. This will of course result in a reduction of taxation on this site but will also have the added negative effect of providing a comparable value against the other 5 hotel properties in town. That comparable value will provide the owners of these properties with a benchmark to use in any abatement requests they may have in discussions with the assessor’s office over disagreements on value.
In addition to the very depressed resale value it would appear on first examination that the local hotel tax option would reflect that the values are down because hotel revenue is significantly down as well. According to figures provided by the town accountants office the tax that is collected for the town by the state has dropped dramatically. The tax, which is 4% of the rental price, is as follows for the last five years on a fiscal year basis:
Fiscal
1999..... $1,032,514
2000....... 1,344,562
2001........1,534,562
2002....... 1,191,603
2003.......... 956,453
2004...........903,362
The reduction in tax yield from fiscal 2001 is close to 41% and is even more of a concern when you take into consideration that additional properties came on line during that period. In fiscal year 1998 the town’s room inventory consisted of the Marriot with 416 rooms and 179 rooms at FourPoints site that was Wyndham Gardens at the time totaling 595 rooms from which the town received $1,032,514 in fiscal 1999.
From 1998 to today the town added the following inventory of rooms. In 1999 came Summerfield Suites with 151 rooms, in 2000, Homestead with 141 rooms Staybridge in 2002 with 142 rooms and finally Candlewood in 2002 adding 149 rooms for a total of 583 new rooms added to the inventory.
The net result is that since 1998 we have almost doubled the number of available room rentals in the town yet since the 1999 tax year we have had a net reduction of nearly 10% in tax revenue generated. This along with the substantial amount that we will lose in the property tax as a result of lower values will mean a further shifting of the property tax burden to the resident.
If the same type of value phenomenon should affect our retail space over the next few years we will be looking at double digit tax increases on residential homes in Burlington. We should keep this in mind the next time we have a developer or their attorneys tell the town meeting how much more revenue we will generate as a result of meeting the demand of developer generated studies of property uses.
In addition to the very depressed resale value it would appear on first examination that the local hotel tax option would reflect that the values are down because hotel revenue is significantly down as well. According to figures provided by the town accountants office the tax that is collected for the town by the state has dropped dramatically. The tax, which is 4% of the rental price, is as follows for the last five years on a fiscal year basis:
Fiscal
1999..... $1,032,514
2000....... 1,344,562
2001........1,534,562
2002....... 1,191,603
2003.......... 956,453
2004...........903,362
The reduction in tax yield from fiscal 2001 is close to 41% and is even more of a concern when you take into consideration that additional properties came on line during that period. In fiscal year 1998 the town’s room inventory consisted of the Marriot with 416 rooms and 179 rooms at FourPoints site that was Wyndham Gardens at the time totaling 595 rooms from which the town received $1,032,514 in fiscal 1999.
From 1998 to today the town added the following inventory of rooms. In 1999 came Summerfield Suites with 151 rooms, in 2000, Homestead with 141 rooms Staybridge in 2002 with 142 rooms and finally Candlewood in 2002 adding 149 rooms for a total of 583 new rooms added to the inventory.
The net result is that since 1998 we have almost doubled the number of available room rentals in the town yet since the 1999 tax year we have had a net reduction of nearly 10% in tax revenue generated. This along with the substantial amount that we will lose in the property tax as a result of lower values will mean a further shifting of the property tax burden to the resident.
If the same type of value phenomenon should affect our retail space over the next few years we will be looking at double digit tax increases on residential homes in Burlington. We should keep this in mind the next time we have a developer or their attorneys tell the town meeting how much more revenue we will generate as a result of meeting the demand of developer generated studies of property uses.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree
In almost thirty-five years of marriage, the Christmas holidays have always been a source of joy. Having young children growing up over the years and watching them at their first awareness of Santa Claus and seeing the excitement on their faces at viewing a wonderful light display or presents under the tree are a parents treasured memories.
The parties with friends and family offer an opportunity to renew old acquaintances and strengthen the bonds of family and community life. It is also a period of time at the end of the year to wind down the hectic pace of every day life and offer a time of reflection on times and people who perhaps have passed on. When concluded, the holidays can leave you refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to take on the challenges of a new year.
In my house there is only one thing that annually has the potential to threaten the tranquility of family life during the holidays. That one thing is putting up the Christmas tree. I just don’t get it. I am a semi intelligent guy with an ordinary but reasonable track record of achievement in life. Why is it that the Christmas tree poses such a monumental challenge?
It is not for lack of effort or even ingenuity in tackling the problem. I have had various stands and strategies and ropes and twine and fishing line. Yet still it has happened. It stands tall and sturdy and resists tests of shaking and bouncing and jumping. Yet when the bride gets it loaded up with all her beautiful and thoughtful mementoes of years gone by, she may come home to find it has toppled. This resulted in yours truly being on the bad LIST.
After a string of successes in previous years and a restoration of my confidence, last year brought about disaster. The tree tumbled and several keepsakes got crunched. It was remembrance of this event that filled me with trepidation about this years Christmas. I thought perhaps somehow nailing it to the wall in the family room might be the answer. Lo and behold Christmas came early this year. I arrived home from work one day this week to find that my nearly 80 year old beloved father in-law had gotten the tree and installed it in a few minutes, solid like a rock, like an ancient oak.
It is not the first time he has saved my bacon in home disasters over the years. Just last month I was midway through changing faucets when I had to send out an emergency call to him. When he came through the door with his acetylene bottle and torches I thought he might tell me that I should know better than to play with fire in the house without him. But no, not a word of criticism just a good-natured laugh at my current predicament.
Within a couple of days the bride got a call from a very close girl friend and a call from my sister. These two women are married to men I hold in high esteem. They can do anything around the house, from carpentry to plumbing and beyond. Unfortunately both of their trees fell over this year.
The parties with friends and family offer an opportunity to renew old acquaintances and strengthen the bonds of family and community life. It is also a period of time at the end of the year to wind down the hectic pace of every day life and offer a time of reflection on times and people who perhaps have passed on. When concluded, the holidays can leave you refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to take on the challenges of a new year.
In my house there is only one thing that annually has the potential to threaten the tranquility of family life during the holidays. That one thing is putting up the Christmas tree. I just don’t get it. I am a semi intelligent guy with an ordinary but reasonable track record of achievement in life. Why is it that the Christmas tree poses such a monumental challenge?
It is not for lack of effort or even ingenuity in tackling the problem. I have had various stands and strategies and ropes and twine and fishing line. Yet still it has happened. It stands tall and sturdy and resists tests of shaking and bouncing and jumping. Yet when the bride gets it loaded up with all her beautiful and thoughtful mementoes of years gone by, she may come home to find it has toppled. This resulted in yours truly being on the bad LIST.
After a string of successes in previous years and a restoration of my confidence, last year brought about disaster. The tree tumbled and several keepsakes got crunched. It was remembrance of this event that filled me with trepidation about this years Christmas. I thought perhaps somehow nailing it to the wall in the family room might be the answer. Lo and behold Christmas came early this year. I arrived home from work one day this week to find that my nearly 80 year old beloved father in-law had gotten the tree and installed it in a few minutes, solid like a rock, like an ancient oak.
It is not the first time he has saved my bacon in home disasters over the years. Just last month I was midway through changing faucets when I had to send out an emergency call to him. When he came through the door with his acetylene bottle and torches I thought he might tell me that I should know better than to play with fire in the house without him. But no, not a word of criticism just a good-natured laugh at my current predicament.
Within a couple of days the bride got a call from a very close girl friend and a call from my sister. These two women are married to men I hold in high esteem. They can do anything around the house, from carpentry to plumbing and beyond. Unfortunately both of their trees fell over this year.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Paradise for the political gadfly
The full impact of the Internet has not been truly gauged through out the American experience as of yet. It has been so pervasive it would seem difficult to tally up or even explain in detail the social, economic, educational, and political strides that have been made as a result of instantaneous access to information.
I will how ever endeavor to explore the impact on an average Joe who has an interest in local, national and even international politics and geo-political events. Just a few short years ago if you hoped to keep abreast of such things it required a very large subscription base of various journals that you had to wait for on a daily weekly or monthly basis. Not only were the subscription costs prohibitive so to were the space requirements. Just the daily, two weeklies and junk mail fills my recycling bin to the top. As those natural restrictions were in force so to then was the diversity of opinion a local political or current events enthusiast was exposed to. Inevitably if all you got was the Boston Globe, CBS News and Newsweek magazine then your own opinion was likely to mirror the biases of your data input.
All of that of course has now been dramatically changed. With high speed Internet access at work and a clunky dial up modem at home all the events of the world are at the touch of a keyboard. Not just reporting of events but also the huge and diverse body of opinion that traditional media has to offer but now also the smorgasbord of journalist wannabes (present company included) in the blogosphere.
The choices are so many now that one has to keep nipping and tucking the favorites list on his or her browser just to keep a top list for the purposes of economical use of time. So for the moment I have included two from my current list of “gadfly paradise” sites, which I consider absolute must reads at the beginning of each day and whenever additional recreational reading time is available.
Realclearpolitics.com. This is my pick as the top site for unbiased compilation viewing of political opinion. Everyday the operators of the site provide a selection of opinion pieces from across the nation. The opinions presented seem to represent the political spectrum and frequently feature a point counter point format with distinguished voices being heard on both sides of an argument. In addition to the compilation section there are also selected editorials each day from major publications. This by itself would be worth a visit but the site offers a whole lot more. The talk show section of the site has a daily log of the major opinion programs and the roster of guests as well as the transcripts of the entire program. Did you miss Meet The Press or face the Nation last Sunday? No problem, just go to the site and the entire goings on are right there.
As good as all of that is, the polling data and coverage of political races is even better. The amount of information and accuracy of that information available on the site during the national and statewide races was truly staggering. Every major polling organizations data was placed on the site for the national elections as well as senate, house and gubernatorial races with margin of error and projected results data.
The party convention coverage was equally impressive. Gavel to gavel coverage was available with all of the speakers schedules and presentations available for print out. All of this information was archived and maintained on the site through out the entire campaign season.
Refdesk.com The size of this site and the quality of its information is to immense to even begin to explain. Take a couple of days and surf the contents and you can BEGIN to understand just how much information is available here. For the purposes of time and space I will limit my comments to one simple link that is available. Under the references resources section there is a link, which is titled USA and world newspapers. Click on this section and you are immediately transported to a section that has every state listed and sub-links that connect you to every publication for every community newspaper in that state, which has a web site. Continue further on down and there is a link to each country with sub-links to major publications. Further on down is a list of both domestic and international news outlets. If something is going on in some obscure place in the world. This is the place to find it.
One can only wonder just what the possibilities are for this Internet thing over the time.
I will how ever endeavor to explore the impact on an average Joe who has an interest in local, national and even international politics and geo-political events. Just a few short years ago if you hoped to keep abreast of such things it required a very large subscription base of various journals that you had to wait for on a daily weekly or monthly basis. Not only were the subscription costs prohibitive so to were the space requirements. Just the daily, two weeklies and junk mail fills my recycling bin to the top. As those natural restrictions were in force so to then was the diversity of opinion a local political or current events enthusiast was exposed to. Inevitably if all you got was the Boston Globe, CBS News and Newsweek magazine then your own opinion was likely to mirror the biases of your data input.
All of that of course has now been dramatically changed. With high speed Internet access at work and a clunky dial up modem at home all the events of the world are at the touch of a keyboard. Not just reporting of events but also the huge and diverse body of opinion that traditional media has to offer but now also the smorgasbord of journalist wannabes (present company included) in the blogosphere.
The choices are so many now that one has to keep nipping and tucking the favorites list on his or her browser just to keep a top list for the purposes of economical use of time. So for the moment I have included two from my current list of “gadfly paradise” sites, which I consider absolute must reads at the beginning of each day and whenever additional recreational reading time is available.
Realclearpolitics.com. This is my pick as the top site for unbiased compilation viewing of political opinion. Everyday the operators of the site provide a selection of opinion pieces from across the nation. The opinions presented seem to represent the political spectrum and frequently feature a point counter point format with distinguished voices being heard on both sides of an argument. In addition to the compilation section there are also selected editorials each day from major publications. This by itself would be worth a visit but the site offers a whole lot more. The talk show section of the site has a daily log of the major opinion programs and the roster of guests as well as the transcripts of the entire program. Did you miss Meet The Press or face the Nation last Sunday? No problem, just go to the site and the entire goings on are right there.
As good as all of that is, the polling data and coverage of political races is even better. The amount of information and accuracy of that information available on the site during the national and statewide races was truly staggering. Every major polling organizations data was placed on the site for the national elections as well as senate, house and gubernatorial races with margin of error and projected results data.
The party convention coverage was equally impressive. Gavel to gavel coverage was available with all of the speakers schedules and presentations available for print out. All of this information was archived and maintained on the site through out the entire campaign season.
Refdesk.com The size of this site and the quality of its information is to immense to even begin to explain. Take a couple of days and surf the contents and you can BEGIN to understand just how much information is available here. For the purposes of time and space I will limit my comments to one simple link that is available. Under the references resources section there is a link, which is titled USA and world newspapers. Click on this section and you are immediately transported to a section that has every state listed and sub-links that connect you to every publication for every community newspaper in that state, which has a web site. Continue further on down and there is a link to each country with sub-links to major publications. Further on down is a list of both domestic and international news outlets. If something is going on in some obscure place in the world. This is the place to find it.
One can only wonder just what the possibilities are for this Internet thing over the time.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Not so ominous FourPoints update
The news today on the Wheeler Road FourPoints property is both good and bad. The good news is that the property has been sold by Grubarges-Burlington LLC to either Magna Hospitality group or a company that they are representing. There is no public selling price as of yet. The property is currently going through the liquidation of accessories and is scheduled for a major renovation. This information is according to the V.P of accounting Zita Ephrem in a telephone interview with her today. Ms. Ephrem went on to say that the new firm intends to open the newly renovated hotel sometime in mid 2005.
Magna Hospitality is located in East Greenwich Rhode Island and owns and operates 17 hotel properties in very strong hotel markets around the country. The company was formed in 1998 and is lead by William F. Burruss Jr. Although a young company it appears as though its roster of executives is loaded with veterans of the hospitality business. The entire company history and roster of executives can be viewed at www.magnahospitality.com
The bad news is that the current assessed value of the property indicates quite graphically what has transpired in this market place over the last several years. This 179-room property was last sold at a reported price of 14 million dollars in 2000. Since that time the property has had a steadily declining value on the assessor’s books to the current fiscal 2005 value of 7.6 million dollars. At the current commercial industrial rate of $28/1000 that equates to approximately $210,000 in property taxes. It certainly will be interesting to see what purchase price the property changed hands at this time around
Magna Hospitality is located in East Greenwich Rhode Island and owns and operates 17 hotel properties in very strong hotel markets around the country. The company was formed in 1998 and is lead by William F. Burruss Jr. Although a young company it appears as though its roster of executives is loaded with veterans of the hospitality business. The entire company history and roster of executives can be viewed at www.magnahospitality.com
The bad news is that the current assessed value of the property indicates quite graphically what has transpired in this market place over the last several years. This 179-room property was last sold at a reported price of 14 million dollars in 2000. Since that time the property has had a steadily declining value on the assessor’s books to the current fiscal 2005 value of 7.6 million dollars. At the current commercial industrial rate of $28/1000 that equates to approximately $210,000 in property taxes. It certainly will be interesting to see what purchase price the property changed hands at this time around
Sunday, December 05, 2004
An aberration or an ominous sign?
The recent announcement of the closing of the Sheraton FourPoints on Wheeler Road is not good news for the taxpayer in Burlington. The question is whether or not this is an aberration or is it a sign of more difficult times ahead?
Along with the replaced Howard Johnson on Middlesex Turnpike this location was the primary hotel in the town up until the construction of the Marriot on Mall Road in the early seventies. The Howard Johnson was knocked down and replaced by a Barnes and Nobel more as a result of age and obsolescence of the property and a more profitable replacement than it was an indication of the health of the hotel business.
The FourPoints is a different story however. This is the at least the fourth operator of the property including Holiday Inn, Days Inn and Wyndham Gardens on the site. Those entities struggled economically on the site even when there was little competition in Burlington. In fact at one time the property was in receivership. The Renaissance just across the town line in Bedford also has had a spotty history with a number of former operators as well.
After a renovation rejuvenated the property back to a very nice venue it was thought that perhaps that and increased development in the town would enable it to flourish. A combination of factors however has doomed it apparently over the past several years.
The primary reason would have to be the glut of rooms that have been added to the town in the last decade. The local hotel tax was viewed as an easy way for the towns to generate additional revenue. When the owners of the High Voltage site came in with a proposal to build Summerfield Suites it looked like killing two birds with one stone. It would be an important element of rejuvenating the site and it would generate additional property and hotel tax revenue.
Shortly thereafter the development community and the town apparently felt that if one new extended stay hotel was good then of course three more would be three times better. So we then ended up with Candlewood, Homestead and Staybridge Suites. Not to be outdone and equally interested in the local hotel tax option Billerica soon quickly added two new huge facilities right on the town line with Burlington.
The effect so far has been the exact opposite of what was intended. Instead of generating more revenue it is likely to drive revenues down even further. The values of the properties have dropped and so to have the revenues from the hotel tax as a result of competition dropping room prices and occupancy levels. This drop in values along with a substantial rise in residential property values has contributed to the substantial shift in taxation from the commercial industrial sector to the residential community.The result has been back-to-back 8% tax increases for the resident over the past two years.
If the FourPoints remains vacant for to long a period and the economy remains at its current pace that will only add to the declining revenue problem for Burlington’s budget over time. More importantly is the question as to whether or not the property is in need of a change in use. Since retail use is the current zone which the developers feel will bring the highest speculative return can we expect an attempt to re-zone the parcel? Or are we likely to see an attempt to turn the parcel into a highly dense permanent residential use?
Is this a one time only situation that might be remedied by a new operator or is it a sign that we have over built in the hotel market and that other closings are likely to follow? If others are to follow it might bring to fruition one town meeting member’s prediction that the building of extended stay hotels was only a sham to circumvent local residential zoning and that the converting of these buildings to permanent, highly dense rental housing units was inevitable.
If indeed that is the case then it is important for the town to have a plan of attack in place to control this transition . Anyone paying any attention to the aging of the population in the country knows that as the baby boomers continue to enter their sixties and seventies more age restricted, congregate, assisted living and nursing home facilities will be needed. The town should be very careful to examine any zoning change proposal on the basis of the needs of the town as opposed to the development du jour.
Along with the replaced Howard Johnson on Middlesex Turnpike this location was the primary hotel in the town up until the construction of the Marriot on Mall Road in the early seventies. The Howard Johnson was knocked down and replaced by a Barnes and Nobel more as a result of age and obsolescence of the property and a more profitable replacement than it was an indication of the health of the hotel business.
The FourPoints is a different story however. This is the at least the fourth operator of the property including Holiday Inn, Days Inn and Wyndham Gardens on the site. Those entities struggled economically on the site even when there was little competition in Burlington. In fact at one time the property was in receivership. The Renaissance just across the town line in Bedford also has had a spotty history with a number of former operators as well.
After a renovation rejuvenated the property back to a very nice venue it was thought that perhaps that and increased development in the town would enable it to flourish. A combination of factors however has doomed it apparently over the past several years.
The primary reason would have to be the glut of rooms that have been added to the town in the last decade. The local hotel tax was viewed as an easy way for the towns to generate additional revenue. When the owners of the High Voltage site came in with a proposal to build Summerfield Suites it looked like killing two birds with one stone. It would be an important element of rejuvenating the site and it would generate additional property and hotel tax revenue.
Shortly thereafter the development community and the town apparently felt that if one new extended stay hotel was good then of course three more would be three times better. So we then ended up with Candlewood, Homestead and Staybridge Suites. Not to be outdone and equally interested in the local hotel tax option Billerica soon quickly added two new huge facilities right on the town line with Burlington.
The effect so far has been the exact opposite of what was intended. Instead of generating more revenue it is likely to drive revenues down even further. The values of the properties have dropped and so to have the revenues from the hotel tax as a result of competition dropping room prices and occupancy levels. This drop in values along with a substantial rise in residential property values has contributed to the substantial shift in taxation from the commercial industrial sector to the residential community.The result has been back-to-back 8% tax increases for the resident over the past two years.
If the FourPoints remains vacant for to long a period and the economy remains at its current pace that will only add to the declining revenue problem for Burlington’s budget over time. More importantly is the question as to whether or not the property is in need of a change in use. Since retail use is the current zone which the developers feel will bring the highest speculative return can we expect an attempt to re-zone the parcel? Or are we likely to see an attempt to turn the parcel into a highly dense permanent residential use?
Is this a one time only situation that might be remedied by a new operator or is it a sign that we have over built in the hotel market and that other closings are likely to follow? If others are to follow it might bring to fruition one town meeting member’s prediction that the building of extended stay hotels was only a sham to circumvent local residential zoning and that the converting of these buildings to permanent, highly dense rental housing units was inevitable.
If indeed that is the case then it is important for the town to have a plan of attack in place to control this transition . Anyone paying any attention to the aging of the population in the country knows that as the baby boomers continue to enter their sixties and seventies more age restricted, congregate, assisted living and nursing home facilities will be needed. The town should be very careful to examine any zoning change proposal on the basis of the needs of the town as opposed to the development du jour.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Crime of the century?
With Dan Rather's recent announcement of retirement from the CBS news anchor desk will come a great deal of discussion, reminiscing about and examination of his career. The bulk of that talk should rightly focus on the job he performed in following Walter Cronkite as "America's most respected newsman".
Just as there should be plenty of room for accolades from his supporters, so to should Mr. Rather's detractors have an opportunity to discuss his many short comings in the performance of his job. Central to that might be the puff piece interview he did with Bill Clinton as well as the confrontation less face to face interview with the mass murderer Saddam Hussein. Additionally from an industry standpoint and business perspective a complete analysis would include why Rather's program has dropped the "Tiffany" network into a distant third place in news ratings.
Most importantly however from an historical standpoint the country needs to know what if any involvement Mr. Rather had in what might have been the crime of the century. That crime could have unfolded this way. The country is involved in an extremely close race to determine the next leader of the nation. In an attempt to alter the course of history a person knowingly forges government documents to portray one of the candidates in a way which would embarrass the candidate. That person then conspires with others to release that information through a national media outlet with huge exposure to the electorate hoping to do maximum damage to the candidate.
The implications for such an event would be multitudinous. The fundamental foundation of American democracy would be severely undermined. The press as an independent institution of governmental over sight and accountability would be forever tarnished.
This of course didn't happen because the results were not affected but just as if a bank robbery had been attempted but the bandits got away without any money wouldn't there be an investigation and prosecution? Where is the public outcry over the memogate documents? A crime of some sort is at the heart of this matter. Are we all satisfied that an industry self examination is going to be sufficient to expose what if any wrong doing was done here?
This isn't about red states or blue states or any of the other myriad of social, religious, economic or foreign policy issues which divide us as a people across the street or across the nation. This is about fundamental fair play in how we go about selecting the person to lead our nation. Only a full investigation of the events will act as a deterrent to others who might attempt these shenanigans in the future
Just as there should be plenty of room for accolades from his supporters, so to should Mr. Rather's detractors have an opportunity to discuss his many short comings in the performance of his job. Central to that might be the puff piece interview he did with Bill Clinton as well as the confrontation less face to face interview with the mass murderer Saddam Hussein. Additionally from an industry standpoint and business perspective a complete analysis would include why Rather's program has dropped the "Tiffany" network into a distant third place in news ratings.
Most importantly however from an historical standpoint the country needs to know what if any involvement Mr. Rather had in what might have been the crime of the century. That crime could have unfolded this way. The country is involved in an extremely close race to determine the next leader of the nation. In an attempt to alter the course of history a person knowingly forges government documents to portray one of the candidates in a way which would embarrass the candidate. That person then conspires with others to release that information through a national media outlet with huge exposure to the electorate hoping to do maximum damage to the candidate.
The implications for such an event would be multitudinous. The fundamental foundation of American democracy would be severely undermined. The press as an independent institution of governmental over sight and accountability would be forever tarnished.
This of course didn't happen because the results were not affected but just as if a bank robbery had been attempted but the bandits got away without any money wouldn't there be an investigation and prosecution? Where is the public outcry over the memogate documents? A crime of some sort is at the heart of this matter. Are we all satisfied that an industry self examination is going to be sufficient to expose what if any wrong doing was done here?
This isn't about red states or blue states or any of the other myriad of social, religious, economic or foreign policy issues which divide us as a people across the street or across the nation. This is about fundamental fair play in how we go about selecting the person to lead our nation. Only a full investigation of the events will act as a deterrent to others who might attempt these shenanigans in the future
Thursday, November 25, 2004
The most powerful woman in the world
On November 19 President Bush named Dr. Condoleeza Rice as his Secretary of State nominee to replace General Colin Powell. It wasn't much of a surprise since Dr. Rice is a trusted advisor to President Bush. What was a surprise was the reaction in some parts of the political landscape.
Several political cartoons were quite offensive in depicting Dr. Rice in the most negative stereotypical African American visual images. A Wisconsin Disc jockey referred to her as unqualified and as “Aunt Jemima” and a number of respected journalists chided President Bush for choosing “subservient” minority appointees. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times referred to these appointments as “toadies”. One can only wonder in what American presidential administration were there any appointments that weren’t subservient to the presidency? How is it that the media has gone from depicting President Bush as a bumbler needing the support of his cabinet to some one who’s Machiavellian ways now need to be reigned in by a counter weighting staff?
What is most interesting about the appointment of Dr. Rice and the subsequent reaction is the deafening silence from certain organizations that one might think would be overjoyed to see an African American become the most powerful woman in the world.
Go to the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) site and look for any press releases regarding Dr. Rice’s appointment and you can find a four-sentence response denouncing the disc jockey’s comments. There is not another single piece of information regarding the advancement of this colored person. In fact a search of the entire site brings back no reference to Dr. Rice at all. The NOW or National Organization for Women site has not a single reference to the outrageous insults to Dr. Rice nor does it refer to the significance of the second woman in history being named as Secretary of State.
Go to almost any other African American Media outlet internet page and there is not a single story as to the importance of this appointment. Ebony Magazine, Oprah Winfrey’s O magazine and a number of others listed in this Google search http://www.unc.edu/~haman/media.htm have no reference what so ever. One can only come to the conclusion that the achievement of an African American woman of this magnitude is significant in the liberal and African American media only if that woman is a Democrat. I come to that conclusion because in one black publication, Donna Brazile is mentioned prominently for an appointment to the DNC Chairmanship that she reportedly is rejecting yet Dr. Rice gets not a mention.
Only time will tell whether or not Dr. Rice will go down in history as a significant secretary of state. There is however no doubt that she has earned her chance to serve in the position. Time will also tell the impact that Dr. Rice will have on young minority women as a role model in this country and even in the world. If it is possible for Condoleeza Rice to reach such levels of achievement then why not them?
Dr. Rice brings substantial academic and intellectual credentials to her position. I won’t go into details here but a cursory look at her resume reveals a multi talented person in a number of areas. http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/ricebio.html
In addition, she has the experience to fulfill her duties, she has served a full four years as one of President Bush's closest confidants as National Security advisor. She has certainly proved her mettle by competing with a core of Bush advisors that by all accounts are no shrinking violets. Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and others in the Bush cabinet are seasoned bureaucratic and policy infighters who would have any timid operators for lunch. Dr. Rice has held up well in this team and in fact has kept the President's confidence and now stands to show the country just why she deserves it. It amazes me that she has not received the recognition she is due from the minority political establishment.
Update. In further searching on this subject I did find an article in Essence in February 2002 by Isabel Wilkerson coincidently titled "The most powerful woman in the world". It can be found here and is a very good read http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_10_32/ai_94044128
Several political cartoons were quite offensive in depicting Dr. Rice in the most negative stereotypical African American visual images. A Wisconsin Disc jockey referred to her as unqualified and as “Aunt Jemima” and a number of respected journalists chided President Bush for choosing “subservient” minority appointees. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times referred to these appointments as “toadies”. One can only wonder in what American presidential administration were there any appointments that weren’t subservient to the presidency? How is it that the media has gone from depicting President Bush as a bumbler needing the support of his cabinet to some one who’s Machiavellian ways now need to be reigned in by a counter weighting staff?
What is most interesting about the appointment of Dr. Rice and the subsequent reaction is the deafening silence from certain organizations that one might think would be overjoyed to see an African American become the most powerful woman in the world.
Go to the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) site and look for any press releases regarding Dr. Rice’s appointment and you can find a four-sentence response denouncing the disc jockey’s comments. There is not another single piece of information regarding the advancement of this colored person. In fact a search of the entire site brings back no reference to Dr. Rice at all. The NOW or National Organization for Women site has not a single reference to the outrageous insults to Dr. Rice nor does it refer to the significance of the second woman in history being named as Secretary of State.
Go to almost any other African American Media outlet internet page and there is not a single story as to the importance of this appointment. Ebony Magazine, Oprah Winfrey’s O magazine and a number of others listed in this Google search http://www.unc.edu/~haman/media.htm have no reference what so ever. One can only come to the conclusion that the achievement of an African American woman of this magnitude is significant in the liberal and African American media only if that woman is a Democrat. I come to that conclusion because in one black publication, Donna Brazile is mentioned prominently for an appointment to the DNC Chairmanship that she reportedly is rejecting yet Dr. Rice gets not a mention.
Only time will tell whether or not Dr. Rice will go down in history as a significant secretary of state. There is however no doubt that she has earned her chance to serve in the position. Time will also tell the impact that Dr. Rice will have on young minority women as a role model in this country and even in the world. If it is possible for Condoleeza Rice to reach such levels of achievement then why not them?
Dr. Rice brings substantial academic and intellectual credentials to her position. I won’t go into details here but a cursory look at her resume reveals a multi talented person in a number of areas. http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/ricebio.html
In addition, she has the experience to fulfill her duties, she has served a full four years as one of President Bush's closest confidants as National Security advisor. She has certainly proved her mettle by competing with a core of Bush advisors that by all accounts are no shrinking violets. Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and others in the Bush cabinet are seasoned bureaucratic and policy infighters who would have any timid operators for lunch. Dr. Rice has held up well in this team and in fact has kept the President's confidence and now stands to show the country just why she deserves it. It amazes me that she has not received the recognition she is due from the minority political establishment.
Update. In further searching on this subject I did find an article in Essence in February 2002 by Isabel Wilkerson coincidently titled "The most powerful woman in the world". It can be found here and is a very good read http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_10_32/ai_94044128
Monday, November 22, 2004
Thuggery
Any casual sports fan could not have missed the relentless playing of the videotape of the ugly encounter between the players for the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Piston’s fans in Auburn Hills Michigan over the weekend.
The whole event began with a hard foul on Detroit’s Ben Wallace by Indiana’s Ron Artest. With little time left on the clock and Indiana leading by 15 points Wallace reacted with umbrage and gave Artest a hard push which resulted in both benches joining the fray. Artest quickly retreated behind his fellow teammates and then began posturing as usual. He lay down on the scorer’s table and began engaging in banter with announcers near the bench. The officials were in the processing of controlling this brief skirmish when a fan threw a plastic cup of cold water that doused Artest as he lay on the table. Artest reacted with rage and rushed into the stands and began to pummel a fan that by all accounts had nothing to do with throwing the cup. Stephen Jackson soon joined Artest and the melee was on.
Many apologists in the sport are now pointing the finger at unruly fans that should bear the responsibility for this ugly incident. This is nonsense. One fan out of over ten thousand who were in attendance threw a cup of water, which is hardly a life-threatening act. Artest who is no stranger to rage acted like a maniac blindly attacking a fan who happened to be in the general area.
It is not hard to imagine the reaction of the crowd at seeing a 6’ 8” 260 pound man pummeling a helpless fan. Even more so after seeing the actions of other huge men smashing faces with huge fists it is a miracle the players weren’t given a severe beating which in some people’s view, Artest richly deserved. One chair was thrown and the players were soaked with beer and popcorn but otherwise they escaped unscathed. They were lucky the crowd acted with more restraint than the players had.
To NBA Commissioner Stern’s credit he has acted swiftly and meted out the most severe suspension punishment in his leagues history. Artest is gone for the rest of the year and the other primary culprits; Steven Jackson and Jermaine O’Neil are gone for 30 and 25 games respectively. This of course is not the end as we are sure to see a number of civil suits and hopefully criminal charges applied to both players and fans alike.
For those of us who have been NBA fans for many years this is simply one more indication of a slow and steady decline of the NBA product. Although the price of the product has risen ever higher and the players are bigger the product is terrible. On almost every statistical level the sport has declined. More so the personality of the players and their actions have diminished as well. Long the envy of other sports because of the college education of the players, we are now subjected to immaturity in persona and undeveloped skills in the younger tier of the league. These attributes have been vividly displayed on the international level. Once dominated by our college players our pros have now been humiliated in international competition.
Commissioner Stern has acted swiftly and decisively to this incident however this is only indicative of a greater underlying problem. If not corrected it won’t be long before the fan base is fed up with an over priced and under performing product that in addition you wouldn’t want to expose your children to.
The whole event began with a hard foul on Detroit’s Ben Wallace by Indiana’s Ron Artest. With little time left on the clock and Indiana leading by 15 points Wallace reacted with umbrage and gave Artest a hard push which resulted in both benches joining the fray. Artest quickly retreated behind his fellow teammates and then began posturing as usual. He lay down on the scorer’s table and began engaging in banter with announcers near the bench. The officials were in the processing of controlling this brief skirmish when a fan threw a plastic cup of cold water that doused Artest as he lay on the table. Artest reacted with rage and rushed into the stands and began to pummel a fan that by all accounts had nothing to do with throwing the cup. Stephen Jackson soon joined Artest and the melee was on.
Many apologists in the sport are now pointing the finger at unruly fans that should bear the responsibility for this ugly incident. This is nonsense. One fan out of over ten thousand who were in attendance threw a cup of water, which is hardly a life-threatening act. Artest who is no stranger to rage acted like a maniac blindly attacking a fan who happened to be in the general area.
It is not hard to imagine the reaction of the crowd at seeing a 6’ 8” 260 pound man pummeling a helpless fan. Even more so after seeing the actions of other huge men smashing faces with huge fists it is a miracle the players weren’t given a severe beating which in some people’s view, Artest richly deserved. One chair was thrown and the players were soaked with beer and popcorn but otherwise they escaped unscathed. They were lucky the crowd acted with more restraint than the players had.
To NBA Commissioner Stern’s credit he has acted swiftly and meted out the most severe suspension punishment in his leagues history. Artest is gone for the rest of the year and the other primary culprits; Steven Jackson and Jermaine O’Neil are gone for 30 and 25 games respectively. This of course is not the end as we are sure to see a number of civil suits and hopefully criminal charges applied to both players and fans alike.
For those of us who have been NBA fans for many years this is simply one more indication of a slow and steady decline of the NBA product. Although the price of the product has risen ever higher and the players are bigger the product is terrible. On almost every statistical level the sport has declined. More so the personality of the players and their actions have diminished as well. Long the envy of other sports because of the college education of the players, we are now subjected to immaturity in persona and undeveloped skills in the younger tier of the league. These attributes have been vividly displayed on the international level. Once dominated by our college players our pros have now been humiliated in international competition.
Commissioner Stern has acted swiftly and decisively to this incident however this is only indicative of a greater underlying problem. If not corrected it won’t be long before the fan base is fed up with an over priced and under performing product that in addition you wouldn’t want to expose your children to.
Friday, November 19, 2004
The Bonus Round
Getting on way past fifty
The joints are moving kind of stiffly
My dancing moves are even less nifty
This boy is getting somewhat hefty
I guess I'm in the bonus round
The nest is finally empty
And the children safely grown
No more worries of any mischief sown
Now how wonderful to even hear them on the phone
The college payments made
The wedding bills paid
How pretty the brides smile
And how proud a daddy walking down the aisle
The belly makes odd growls
And the lines in the face seem a permanent scowl
The hearing of silent ringing sounds
Maybe misplaced things are found
I'm in the bonus round
After many tries I gave up butts
And hardly care about missed 3 foot putts
Work is more a haven than a rut
Got a kid next door for the grass to cut
Born in the United States
By the luck of the draw to such a fate
Making sure to have a clean slate
So why worry about getting older
Perhaps time to think of getting bolder
There is only so much time allotted
So sally forth undaunted
In no time things can turn around
In a blink you could be in the ground
I'm loving the bonus round
The joints are moving kind of stiffly
My dancing moves are even less nifty
This boy is getting somewhat hefty
I guess I'm in the bonus round
The nest is finally empty
And the children safely grown
No more worries of any mischief sown
Now how wonderful to even hear them on the phone
The college payments made
The wedding bills paid
How pretty the brides smile
And how proud a daddy walking down the aisle
The belly makes odd growls
And the lines in the face seem a permanent scowl
The hearing of silent ringing sounds
Maybe misplaced things are found
I'm in the bonus round
After many tries I gave up butts
And hardly care about missed 3 foot putts
Work is more a haven than a rut
Got a kid next door for the grass to cut
Born in the United States
By the luck of the draw to such a fate
Making sure to have a clean slate
So why worry about getting older
Perhaps time to think of getting bolder
There is only so much time allotted
So sally forth undaunted
In no time things can turn around
In a blink you could be in the ground
I'm loving the bonus round
Monday, November 15, 2004
An historic opportunity?
Today's news regarding the reported pending resignation of Secretary of State Colin Powell is not particularly good news for American foreign policy. Given the current imminent changes in the players and potential for positive developments in the Middle East it is also somewhat surprising and disappointing that Secretary Powell would leave his post at this point.
With the death of Arafat and the impending elections by the Palestinians it would appear that a window of opportunity is opening in the peace process. President Bush who to this point has been disengaged from the process has indicated a willingness to spend "political capital" in trying to finally bring about a peace deal. During the campaign he had made it clear that he supported a two state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and with a new term ahead of him and a dramatically changing landscape in the Middle east it would seem as though now could be the time for making some lasting progress.
Nothing in the area is predictable however and the main concern at this point is the Palestinian succession to Arafat. Are the moderates in ascendancy in the PLO leadership or are we going to see a more militant faction take legitimate political control? Hamas is the primary concern and main political threat. Although most commonly known as the primary provider of suicide bombers, Hamas is also an organized political operation that has been building strength with the electorate as a result of its having provided a variety of social services in the region. If Hamas does gain legitimate political power are they likely to continue a campaign of violence or engage in constructive dialogue with Israel and the Quartet?
The Quartet is the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia who together are responsible for the drafting of the three phase "Roadmap" to peace. Like any long journey the first step is the most important and so it is with the "Roadmap". The primary condition of phase one is for "the Palestinians to undertake an unconditional cessation of violence."
Both sides have difficult hurdles to meet to initially get the process underway. Although appearing simple in writing, instituting such requirements will be difficult. The following initial requirements are taken from the State Department release of April 30 2003.
"Palestinian leadership issues unequivocal statements reiterating Israel's right to exist in peace and security and calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to end armed activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere. All official Palestinian institutions end incitement against Israel".
"Israeli leadership issues unequivocal statement affirming its commitment to the two state-vision of an independent, viable sovereign Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside Israel, as expressed by President Bush, and calling for an immediate end to violence against Palestinians everywhere. All official Israeli institutions end incitement against Palestinians”.
Given the historic animus between the two peoples is someone willing to be the first to say and do such things on both sides?
This may be another false alarm or perhaps it is the very beginning of an historic achievement. It is perhaps made a more difficult task now that Secretary Powell will not be leading the United States effort to bring peace to this tortured area of the world.
There has been some speculation as to his successor and hopefully for all the parties involved that person will have the international stature enjoyed by Secretary Powell.
With the death of Arafat and the impending elections by the Palestinians it would appear that a window of opportunity is opening in the peace process. President Bush who to this point has been disengaged from the process has indicated a willingness to spend "political capital" in trying to finally bring about a peace deal. During the campaign he had made it clear that he supported a two state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and with a new term ahead of him and a dramatically changing landscape in the Middle east it would seem as though now could be the time for making some lasting progress.
Nothing in the area is predictable however and the main concern at this point is the Palestinian succession to Arafat. Are the moderates in ascendancy in the PLO leadership or are we going to see a more militant faction take legitimate political control? Hamas is the primary concern and main political threat. Although most commonly known as the primary provider of suicide bombers, Hamas is also an organized political operation that has been building strength with the electorate as a result of its having provided a variety of social services in the region. If Hamas does gain legitimate political power are they likely to continue a campaign of violence or engage in constructive dialogue with Israel and the Quartet?
The Quartet is the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia who together are responsible for the drafting of the three phase "Roadmap" to peace. Like any long journey the first step is the most important and so it is with the "Roadmap". The primary condition of phase one is for "the Palestinians to undertake an unconditional cessation of violence."
Both sides have difficult hurdles to meet to initially get the process underway. Although appearing simple in writing, instituting such requirements will be difficult. The following initial requirements are taken from the State Department release of April 30 2003.
"Palestinian leadership issues unequivocal statements reiterating Israel's right to exist in peace and security and calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to end armed activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere. All official Palestinian institutions end incitement against Israel".
"Israeli leadership issues unequivocal statement affirming its commitment to the two state-vision of an independent, viable sovereign Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside Israel, as expressed by President Bush, and calling for an immediate end to violence against Palestinians everywhere. All official Israeli institutions end incitement against Palestinians”.
Given the historic animus between the two peoples is someone willing to be the first to say and do such things on both sides?
This may be another false alarm or perhaps it is the very beginning of an historic achievement. It is perhaps made a more difficult task now that Secretary Powell will not be leading the United States effort to bring peace to this tortured area of the world.
There has been some speculation as to his successor and hopefully for all the parties involved that person will have the international stature enjoyed by Secretary Powell.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Relax
If you are reading the opinion pages from both the red and the blue you can’t help but notice the combination of exultation and depression engulfing the 5% of the ideologues on both the right and the left. They all seem to forget the huge amount of us in the middle that neither consider this an overwhelming mandate for the Republicans nor the death knell of the Democrats.
All the hand wringing on the left seems some what ridiculous when you look back at the campaigns major issues and indeed the candidates themselves. Bush and Kerry both graduated from the same schools, both are members of the secret society Skull and Bones and both were frat boys I am sure. Both are rich white men. Certainly at this point both would have to be considered Washington insiders. According to Ralph Nader the candidates and the parties are almost twins.
Similarly on the right we have talk about the pre-eminence of the Bush campaign team and the positive impact it will have on major conservative initiatives. Let’s not get carried away. Yes they have a 55 vote majority in the senate but part of that majority includes some liberalish kind of eastern Republicans who aren’t quite on board the God express.
On the major issues of the day there seemed to be very little difference between the parties. Bush and Kerry policy on Iraq for the most part was the same. The need to see it through, establish democracy, do reparations and get the Hell out. On Iran both Bush and Kerry are happy to give the Europeans plenty of latitude to see whether or not talk can diffuse a rapidly escalating situation. On North Korea there was some disagreement as to whether to continue the six party talks or institute a bilateral approach but both recognize North Korea as a potential hot spot.
Other issues in which there appeared to be a difference might only be one of perception. Bush favors a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage yet endorsed civil union. So in the end if marriage or civil union correct any rights inequities isn’t it the same thing but by a different name?
Stem cell research was mostly a smoke and mirrors issue. Stem cells is a nascent issue. Although holding out some great promise there is nothing distinctly on the horizon to indicate that this promise will come to fruition. There wasn’t much difference between the two candidates. Bush was the first president to approve federal funding of stem cell research and is sure to go forward albeit a bit more slowly than Kerry might have.
On the whole menu of remaining issues including United States Supreme Court nominations there is likely to be the same type of result that we normally get. A lot of weeping and moaning and gnashing of teeth with enough horse trading that result in a consensus being built.
So let’s stop the incessant whining about how stupid middle America is and let’s cancel our reservations for the flight to Canada and lets stop crowing about how out of touch Hollywood and the eastern liberal elite is and let’s relax and get down to business American style.
All the hand wringing on the left seems some what ridiculous when you look back at the campaigns major issues and indeed the candidates themselves. Bush and Kerry both graduated from the same schools, both are members of the secret society Skull and Bones and both were frat boys I am sure. Both are rich white men. Certainly at this point both would have to be considered Washington insiders. According to Ralph Nader the candidates and the parties are almost twins.
Similarly on the right we have talk about the pre-eminence of the Bush campaign team and the positive impact it will have on major conservative initiatives. Let’s not get carried away. Yes they have a 55 vote majority in the senate but part of that majority includes some liberalish kind of eastern Republicans who aren’t quite on board the God express.
On the major issues of the day there seemed to be very little difference between the parties. Bush and Kerry policy on Iraq for the most part was the same. The need to see it through, establish democracy, do reparations and get the Hell out. On Iran both Bush and Kerry are happy to give the Europeans plenty of latitude to see whether or not talk can diffuse a rapidly escalating situation. On North Korea there was some disagreement as to whether to continue the six party talks or institute a bilateral approach but both recognize North Korea as a potential hot spot.
Other issues in which there appeared to be a difference might only be one of perception. Bush favors a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage yet endorsed civil union. So in the end if marriage or civil union correct any rights inequities isn’t it the same thing but by a different name?
Stem cell research was mostly a smoke and mirrors issue. Stem cells is a nascent issue. Although holding out some great promise there is nothing distinctly on the horizon to indicate that this promise will come to fruition. There wasn’t much difference between the two candidates. Bush was the first president to approve federal funding of stem cell research and is sure to go forward albeit a bit more slowly than Kerry might have.
On the whole menu of remaining issues including United States Supreme Court nominations there is likely to be the same type of result that we normally get. A lot of weeping and moaning and gnashing of teeth with enough horse trading that result in a consensus being built.
So let’s stop the incessant whining about how stupid middle America is and let’s cancel our reservations for the flight to Canada and lets stop crowing about how out of touch Hollywood and the eastern liberal elite is and let’s relax and get down to business American style.
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Proud to live in Massachusetts
The race is over and the result is one I agree with. It is an all or nothing result for the candidate but how the election impacts the myriad of issues facing the nation remains to be seen. One of those issues is gay marriage. For the moment the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision has been met nationally with anger, resentment and voter backlash. It cannot be said with certainty that it was the turning point in the election. It is apparent that it had to be one of the items which has been referred to as the "moral values" component of the Bush victory.
As a citizen of the state I have many misgivings about the the way in which this decision was arrived at and then the subsequent lack of spine exhibited by the state legislature in addressing it in a way that they had to stand up and be counted. They neither acted forthrightly before or after the decision. A 4 to 3 vote of the Supreme Court gave them cover and they are pleased to hide under it.
The question placed before the court was "whether, consistent with the Massachusetts Constitution, the commonwealth may deny the protections, benefits, and obligations conferred by civil marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry," according to the majority opinion. "We conclude that it may not." The court went on to say "Barred access to the protections, benefits and obligations of civil marriage, a person who enters into an intimate, exclusive union with another of the same sex is arbitrarily deprived of membership in one of our community's most rewarding and cherished institutions,"
The central issue for me is not one of religion or procreation. It is about the simplest of things in the human condition. Love, friendship, companionship and all the wonderful things in marriage that enrich a persons life, as a result of the court decision, are now affirmed in the gay community under law. In addition there are many aspects of estate, insurance, privacy, and access law which are now non discriminatory. Look around for a minute. In the family, in the circle of friends and in the workplace, if you can't see that gay people occupy places in our lives then we are not looking very hard. It is simply not right that they should be denied the rights accorded everyone else.
I have no background to argue the finer points of the law as a protagonist or antagonist on the issue. However, I do recognize inequality when I see it and it was time for this issue to be addressed in Massachusetts and the hard task of arriving at an acceptable result in the nation as a whole has begun. It has begun because Massachusetts has placed the issue front and center in the national consciousness.
Resistance will continue and acceptance in some quarters may never be realized however we still have some in the nation that believe women and blacks shouldn't have the vote. In the end the country will be better for having confronted the issue.
As a state we have had a full year. The achievement of our sports team, and having a favorite son in the race for president has riveted our attention. We have had our citizens on display all over the nation working diligently to affect the course of our people. This is the third time in my lifetime that we have sent forth a citizen to try and become the leader of the greatest nation on earth. Each time a large cadre of our citizens has mobilized to challenge our country. We love the Red Sox but politics is really our favorite sport. John Kerry may have lost the race but he ran a good hard race and when the end came he accepted defeat in a way that brought dignity and graciousness back to an election process which was so desperately in need of both after the 2000 result.
Massachusetts is a very small place but it is big in heart and determination. We are a community of thinkers and doers. Come here and go to college or receive world class medical treatment or work on the cutting edges of science. I am never surprised that we are pushing the envelope in any area. I am proud to live here.
As a citizen of the state I have many misgivings about the the way in which this decision was arrived at and then the subsequent lack of spine exhibited by the state legislature in addressing it in a way that they had to stand up and be counted. They neither acted forthrightly before or after the decision. A 4 to 3 vote of the Supreme Court gave them cover and they are pleased to hide under it.
The question placed before the court was "whether, consistent with the Massachusetts Constitution, the commonwealth may deny the protections, benefits, and obligations conferred by civil marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry," according to the majority opinion. "We conclude that it may not." The court went on to say "Barred access to the protections, benefits and obligations of civil marriage, a person who enters into an intimate, exclusive union with another of the same sex is arbitrarily deprived of membership in one of our community's most rewarding and cherished institutions,"
The central issue for me is not one of religion or procreation. It is about the simplest of things in the human condition. Love, friendship, companionship and all the wonderful things in marriage that enrich a persons life, as a result of the court decision, are now affirmed in the gay community under law. In addition there are many aspects of estate, insurance, privacy, and access law which are now non discriminatory. Look around for a minute. In the family, in the circle of friends and in the workplace, if you can't see that gay people occupy places in our lives then we are not looking very hard. It is simply not right that they should be denied the rights accorded everyone else.
I have no background to argue the finer points of the law as a protagonist or antagonist on the issue. However, I do recognize inequality when I see it and it was time for this issue to be addressed in Massachusetts and the hard task of arriving at an acceptable result in the nation as a whole has begun. It has begun because Massachusetts has placed the issue front and center in the national consciousness.
Resistance will continue and acceptance in some quarters may never be realized however we still have some in the nation that believe women and blacks shouldn't have the vote. In the end the country will be better for having confronted the issue.
As a state we have had a full year. The achievement of our sports team, and having a favorite son in the race for president has riveted our attention. We have had our citizens on display all over the nation working diligently to affect the course of our people. This is the third time in my lifetime that we have sent forth a citizen to try and become the leader of the greatest nation on earth. Each time a large cadre of our citizens has mobilized to challenge our country. We love the Red Sox but politics is really our favorite sport. John Kerry may have lost the race but he ran a good hard race and when the end came he accepted defeat in a way that brought dignity and graciousness back to an election process which was so desperately in need of both after the 2000 result.
Massachusetts is a very small place but it is big in heart and determination. We are a community of thinkers and doers. Come here and go to college or receive world class medical treatment or work on the cutting edges of science. I am never surprised that we are pushing the envelope in any area. I am proud to live here.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory
I stayed up until 2:30 A.M. watching Dan Rather breathlessly explain why CBS was holding off on a call in Ohio. "I would rather be last than wrong". That is quite a contrast to the judgement he displayed in airing the fraudulent Bush Texas National Guard documents. He went on to explain how provisional ballots in Ohio could still be a key to a Kerry victory. This seemed somewhat strange since is seemed statistically impossible. Was it more wishful thinking?
There is much analysis to be done in the coming weeks but one thing is for sure is that right up until the last minute the American media was rooting for Kerry and putting their preference into action. The last weeks non story about the fake missing weapons in Iraq as well as the inexplicable exit polls showing Kerry ahead in almost all the battleground states was "scandalous" according to Dick Morris.
The weapons story turned out to be particularly damaging for Kerry because despite it being debunked shortly after the New York Times broke the story, Kerry continued in the last week of the campaign to try and hammer home a victory with the fairy tale of incompetence on the part of Bush and the military. One can only speculate what might have happened if he stayed completely focused on jobs in Ohio.
There are many winners and losers beyond the candidates in a contest of this magnitude. From a political strategy standpoint, Karl Rove, head of the Bush team turns out to be the pre-eminent guru in contemporary American politics. Rove got it right across the board. The millions of evangelical Christians on the sidelines came out to vote in big numbers. This completely trumped the Democratic party emphasis on getting out the youth vote. It simply did not materialize. His focus on galvanizing the core Bush voter as opposed to broadening his appeal bore out his opinion that this core would be so substantial as to be impregnable for Kerry.
The blogosphere was a huge winner while mainstream media was embarrassed. Web sites like Realclearpolitics.com, powerlineblog and Lucianne.com to name a few, were reliable providers of election related information. The New York Times and CBS were humiliated.
In retrospect two issues in particular may have hurt Kerry decisively. The Swiftboat vets were relentless in their attacks and those attacks were made possible by a very large number of internet based contributions. Much as Howard Dean used the net to benefit his candidacy so to did the vets. They started with some of their own seed money and a Bush supporter contribution which together totaled $300,000. By the time they were finished they had raised about 15 million dollars and their ads were common place in some battleground states. Although much smaller in dollars this group was far more effective as a 527 group than the much larger Democratic 527's. The bottom line was that a group of 260 American Viet Nam veterans were far more believable than the George Soros funded 527 groups.
It seems somewhat ironic that the one item which might have swung the entire election was something that emanated in Massachusetts and was supported by some of Kerry's most ardent personal and media supporters. The Boston Globe and New York Times have been activists in encouraging and subsequently cheering the Massachusetts Supreme Court's razor thin 4 to 3 vote to authorize gay marriage in Massachusetts. The state was well on its way to eliminating the civil rights inequities which are inherent in civil law in the state. It was not necessary to have a heavy handed decision come down from the court which had virtually no method of popular appeal. Although the decision did not have a widespread backlash in Massachusetts it reverberated throughout the country with the resulting ballot questions amending state constitutions in 11 battleground states. All of these ballot questions won overwhelmingly. As a branded liberal senator from Massachusetts and his typical tortuous explanation of his position on gay marriage, Kerry could not get out from under this issue.
In the end it was an election the Democrats should have won. They had any number of major foreign and domestic issues to exploit. They had the big media acting as partisan cheerleaders and for the first time they had financial resources which equaled and sometimes exceeded those of the Republicans. Yet in the end not only were they defeated for the presidency but also gave up seats in the house and senate which included that of the minority leader Tom Daschle.
Its time for the Democratic party to do some serious internal finger pointing and then some serious soul searching. The party primaries seemed to be skewed in favor of candidates that must have a resume which appeals to the far left of the party. The elite left core of the party acted like a bunch of smug name callers who were going to free the country of the bumbling dummy from Texas. On the core issues of trust and moral values the Democratic party was found wanting by the heartland of the country.
There is much analysis to be done in the coming weeks but one thing is for sure is that right up until the last minute the American media was rooting for Kerry and putting their preference into action. The last weeks non story about the fake missing weapons in Iraq as well as the inexplicable exit polls showing Kerry ahead in almost all the battleground states was "scandalous" according to Dick Morris.
The weapons story turned out to be particularly damaging for Kerry because despite it being debunked shortly after the New York Times broke the story, Kerry continued in the last week of the campaign to try and hammer home a victory with the fairy tale of incompetence on the part of Bush and the military. One can only speculate what might have happened if he stayed completely focused on jobs in Ohio.
There are many winners and losers beyond the candidates in a contest of this magnitude. From a political strategy standpoint, Karl Rove, head of the Bush team turns out to be the pre-eminent guru in contemporary American politics. Rove got it right across the board. The millions of evangelical Christians on the sidelines came out to vote in big numbers. This completely trumped the Democratic party emphasis on getting out the youth vote. It simply did not materialize. His focus on galvanizing the core Bush voter as opposed to broadening his appeal bore out his opinion that this core would be so substantial as to be impregnable for Kerry.
The blogosphere was a huge winner while mainstream media was embarrassed. Web sites like Realclearpolitics.com, powerlineblog and Lucianne.com to name a few, were reliable providers of election related information. The New York Times and CBS were humiliated.
In retrospect two issues in particular may have hurt Kerry decisively. The Swiftboat vets were relentless in their attacks and those attacks were made possible by a very large number of internet based contributions. Much as Howard Dean used the net to benefit his candidacy so to did the vets. They started with some of their own seed money and a Bush supporter contribution which together totaled $300,000. By the time they were finished they had raised about 15 million dollars and their ads were common place in some battleground states. Although much smaller in dollars this group was far more effective as a 527 group than the much larger Democratic 527's. The bottom line was that a group of 260 American Viet Nam veterans were far more believable than the George Soros funded 527 groups.
It seems somewhat ironic that the one item which might have swung the entire election was something that emanated in Massachusetts and was supported by some of Kerry's most ardent personal and media supporters. The Boston Globe and New York Times have been activists in encouraging and subsequently cheering the Massachusetts Supreme Court's razor thin 4 to 3 vote to authorize gay marriage in Massachusetts. The state was well on its way to eliminating the civil rights inequities which are inherent in civil law in the state. It was not necessary to have a heavy handed decision come down from the court which had virtually no method of popular appeal. Although the decision did not have a widespread backlash in Massachusetts it reverberated throughout the country with the resulting ballot questions amending state constitutions in 11 battleground states. All of these ballot questions won overwhelmingly. As a branded liberal senator from Massachusetts and his typical tortuous explanation of his position on gay marriage, Kerry could not get out from under this issue.
In the end it was an election the Democrats should have won. They had any number of major foreign and domestic issues to exploit. They had the big media acting as partisan cheerleaders and for the first time they had financial resources which equaled and sometimes exceeded those of the Republicans. Yet in the end not only were they defeated for the presidency but also gave up seats in the house and senate which included that of the minority leader Tom Daschle.
Its time for the Democratic party to do some serious internal finger pointing and then some serious soul searching. The party primaries seemed to be skewed in favor of candidates that must have a resume which appeals to the far left of the party. The elite left core of the party acted like a bunch of smug name callers who were going to free the country of the bumbling dummy from Texas. On the core issues of trust and moral values the Democratic party was found wanting by the heartland of the country.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Anticipation
It's 3:15 P.M. on election day here in Burlington Mass. and I am just back from casting my vote. At this time the polling count was around 7000 or just at 50% of the local electorate having cast ballots. It always amazes me to see this kind of turn out in the presidential when we can barely scrape together 20% for the local elections.
In any event our local results seem to be part of the nationwide trend of an unusually high turnout. The talk at the polls is very upbeat for Kerry and many of the locals are expecting a decisive Kerry victory. The thinking here is that Kerry benefits by a huge turnout however I am not convinced that is the case.
I am not sure of any analysis which has been printed which makes any sense but a couple of things do resonate with me. Mark Mellman, a nationally known Democratic pollster makes a couple of very interesting points in a piece in The Hill, http://www.thehill.com/mellman/110204.aspx about how difficult it is to try to unseat an incumbent president during war time. It seems a bit strange to be printing this the day before the election but he seems to be making a case as to why Bush will be winning today. He refers to the misery index which is inflation plus unemployment which together is 7.2 nationally, contrast this to 20.4 when Jimmy Carter was defeated in his re-election bid.
Other comparisons include Bush approval rating which is 49% yet when his father was defeated it was 33% and the overall average for defeated presidents is 38%. Additionally on the right course for the country statistic Bush Sr. Was 72% of the country saying the wrong course while Bush Jr. Is only at 52%. After adding these and other statistics up he comes to the conclusion that President Bush will get 51.6% of the vote. After all is said and done it makes little sense to me that a guy who is being paid to work for Kerry is predicting a Bush victory.
There is no doubt that the Democrats have made a significant get out the vote effort and it seems to be paying dividends but it would be foolish to overlook the grass roots efforts made by the Republicans as well. Of the 18 battleground states 11 have some sort of referendum on the ballot regarding gay marriage. This is a hot button issue and two voting blocks are going to respond to this in very high numbers. Evangelical Christians who were reported to have been luke warm in the last election with as many as four million staying home are certain to come out in force on this issue. An additional turn out wild card is the African American vote. Bush has made inroads in this voting group and with the addition of the gay marriage issue having impact in black church congregations, he may realize larger gains..
One opinion I thought was interesting was George Will's point several weeks ago about the number of Roosveltian era Democrats who have passed away since the 2000 elections. Will had this number pegged at somewhere around 7 million nationally. If even remotely correct that would be a lot of new turnout necessary to make up that loss.
All we can do is wait and see at this point and hope that there is a decisive victory for one or the other. The last thing we need is to have the lawyers arguing in several states over the outcome and leaving us with a disaster like 2000. I doubt very much that the planets are lined up in such a way as to give us the "perfect storm" of elections twice in a row.
In the end I believe President Bush will win because of a variety of reasons. First and foremost is the need to have an ideologue in the white house instead of a diplomat. For too long the US has been a punching bag for Islamo fascists and Bush has put that policy to bed. The UN is a fine ideal and we should be making every effort to continue to be a main pillar of it. However when push comes to shove we can't be having third world diplomats engaging in discussion and voting on issues which are paramount to US security. When it comes to a global test I am a unilateralist.
Even if the candidates were exactly the same on issues for me it would be no contest on the character issue. As a constituent in Kerry's state I have found him to be an unprincipled opportunist who makes decisions based on how it affects his electability. This is apparent when we examine Kerry's reaction to the recent Bin Laden tape. Kerry immediately engaged in polling to measure American reaction in order to test the direction of the wind.
The last straw for me is the Viet Nam issue. In the end Kerry came back and acted like a quisling, denouncing his comrades and fraternizing with the enemy. It is my sincere hope this man is not the president of the United States of America
In any event our local results seem to be part of the nationwide trend of an unusually high turnout. The talk at the polls is very upbeat for Kerry and many of the locals are expecting a decisive Kerry victory. The thinking here is that Kerry benefits by a huge turnout however I am not convinced that is the case.
I am not sure of any analysis which has been printed which makes any sense but a couple of things do resonate with me. Mark Mellman, a nationally known Democratic pollster makes a couple of very interesting points in a piece in The Hill, http://www.thehill.com/mellman/110204.aspx about how difficult it is to try to unseat an incumbent president during war time. It seems a bit strange to be printing this the day before the election but he seems to be making a case as to why Bush will be winning today. He refers to the misery index which is inflation plus unemployment which together is 7.2 nationally, contrast this to 20.4 when Jimmy Carter was defeated in his re-election bid.
Other comparisons include Bush approval rating which is 49% yet when his father was defeated it was 33% and the overall average for defeated presidents is 38%. Additionally on the right course for the country statistic Bush Sr. Was 72% of the country saying the wrong course while Bush Jr. Is only at 52%. After adding these and other statistics up he comes to the conclusion that President Bush will get 51.6% of the vote. After all is said and done it makes little sense to me that a guy who is being paid to work for Kerry is predicting a Bush victory.
There is no doubt that the Democrats have made a significant get out the vote effort and it seems to be paying dividends but it would be foolish to overlook the grass roots efforts made by the Republicans as well. Of the 18 battleground states 11 have some sort of referendum on the ballot regarding gay marriage. This is a hot button issue and two voting blocks are going to respond to this in very high numbers. Evangelical Christians who were reported to have been luke warm in the last election with as many as four million staying home are certain to come out in force on this issue. An additional turn out wild card is the African American vote. Bush has made inroads in this voting group and with the addition of the gay marriage issue having impact in black church congregations, he may realize larger gains..
One opinion I thought was interesting was George Will's point several weeks ago about the number of Roosveltian era Democrats who have passed away since the 2000 elections. Will had this number pegged at somewhere around 7 million nationally. If even remotely correct that would be a lot of new turnout necessary to make up that loss.
All we can do is wait and see at this point and hope that there is a decisive victory for one or the other. The last thing we need is to have the lawyers arguing in several states over the outcome and leaving us with a disaster like 2000. I doubt very much that the planets are lined up in such a way as to give us the "perfect storm" of elections twice in a row.
In the end I believe President Bush will win because of a variety of reasons. First and foremost is the need to have an ideologue in the white house instead of a diplomat. For too long the US has been a punching bag for Islamo fascists and Bush has put that policy to bed. The UN is a fine ideal and we should be making every effort to continue to be a main pillar of it. However when push comes to shove we can't be having third world diplomats engaging in discussion and voting on issues which are paramount to US security. When it comes to a global test I am a unilateralist.
Even if the candidates were exactly the same on issues for me it would be no contest on the character issue. As a constituent in Kerry's state I have found him to be an unprincipled opportunist who makes decisions based on how it affects his electability. This is apparent when we examine Kerry's reaction to the recent Bin Laden tape. Kerry immediately engaged in polling to measure American reaction in order to test the direction of the wind.
The last straw for me is the Viet Nam issue. In the end Kerry came back and acted like a quisling, denouncing his comrades and fraternizing with the enemy. It is my sincere hope this man is not the president of the United States of America
Friday, October 29, 2004
Red and Theo
It happened only by accident but to me it seemed somewhat symbolic. The day after the Sox clinched the series I stopped at the Kowloon to attend a book signing which had been promoted on sports radio all week. The guest was Arnold "Red" Auerbach and for a number of years I have been promising myself to somehow get to meet him before it was to late. After all he is 87 and even Red can't live forever.
I wanted to see Red and shake his hand and just say one word. Thanks! Thanks for the indelible memories I have as a kid of the Boston Celtics and the memorable achievements of that team. The Red Sox have just won one world series and it is a historic mark but for the moment let's go back in time and examine Red's record. The Celtics won the first title in 1957 and then went on an unprecedented streak of 8 championship wins in a row from 1959 through 1966. They lost in 67 but then came back to reclaim the title in 68 and 69. This period of time luckily for me happened to coincide with my boyhood and right up through high school. I got on board as a 9 year old and was transfixed by the Celtics and in complete awe of the red head. I believed everything he said and those things stick with me today. He said such things as "be unselfish and pass the ball", "defense and rebounding win games". "Team work , dedication and loyalty are admirable qualities in a human being."
Red had other ideals and he put them into play. The Celtics were the first team to draft a black player, Chuck Cooper, field an all black starting five and to appoint a black man, Bill Russell as head coach. It is important to remember these were certainly racially charged times in the city of Boston when these things were done. That didn't matter to Auerbach because he was about excellence and merit and that's what drove his decisions.
It was because of Red Auerbach that I was introduced to anti-Semitism. On the play ground this day we happened to be talking sports and my idols name came up in conversation. One kid said he didn't like Red cause he was a Jew and Christians didn't like Jews. I was 10 or 11 at the time and knew neither any black people or Jews or for the most part any minorities at all. One thing I knew for sure was this guy was my idol and it didn't matter what he was. For the moment I was dumbstruck but recovered enough to say " I ain't a Christian, I'm a Catholic and I like Red Auerbach just fine!
As the years went by I became more aware of this particular ugliness in world history. As a teenager I developed an interest in world war two and spent a whole summer reading on the atrocities of the Nazi regime. To this day I am confounded and astonished that such an event could happen.
As I grew older I began to have more interaction with Jews. I was not surprised to find that they were not unlike all the other people I met along the way. In fact when my sister married a Jew. I found our new family members to be just like us. They were close knit, they liked a lot of food, they liked to party and they were warm and fun and welcomed us all. In business it has been the same experience. Customers I gained years ago are still with me and are now are loyal friends.
Which brings me again to the Red Sox. Even more than the Celtics, the Red Sox are a part of my essence. Two years ago along comes a Jewish kid brought up in Brookline, Theo Epstein who has the same passion for them that every other person I know has. He takes the reigns of general manager and we all know he gets it. He knows what we want, what has driven every SOX fan for the last 8.6 decades and damn, doesn't he deliver! I asked one my Jewish co-workers if he could bring a guest to temple. My thinking was if young Theo Epstein could bring us a championship then it would be fitting to treat it as a religious experience!
All of this leads me to the following political conclusion. The Jews are a smart, fun, resourceful, loyal people, who have done nothing but enrich the people and things around them. Just like every other American they have a connection to a cultural homeland whose well being they care about. In this case a little piece of the middle east carved out by enormous trials and tribulations. That little piece of land must be protected and peace brought to it and whoever is elected on Tuesday must maintain a strong an unbending commitment to do so.
I wanted to see Red and shake his hand and just say one word. Thanks! Thanks for the indelible memories I have as a kid of the Boston Celtics and the memorable achievements of that team. The Red Sox have just won one world series and it is a historic mark but for the moment let's go back in time and examine Red's record. The Celtics won the first title in 1957 and then went on an unprecedented streak of 8 championship wins in a row from 1959 through 1966. They lost in 67 but then came back to reclaim the title in 68 and 69. This period of time luckily for me happened to coincide with my boyhood and right up through high school. I got on board as a 9 year old and was transfixed by the Celtics and in complete awe of the red head. I believed everything he said and those things stick with me today. He said such things as "be unselfish and pass the ball", "defense and rebounding win games". "Team work , dedication and loyalty are admirable qualities in a human being."
Red had other ideals and he put them into play. The Celtics were the first team to draft a black player, Chuck Cooper, field an all black starting five and to appoint a black man, Bill Russell as head coach. It is important to remember these were certainly racially charged times in the city of Boston when these things were done. That didn't matter to Auerbach because he was about excellence and merit and that's what drove his decisions.
It was because of Red Auerbach that I was introduced to anti-Semitism. On the play ground this day we happened to be talking sports and my idols name came up in conversation. One kid said he didn't like Red cause he was a Jew and Christians didn't like Jews. I was 10 or 11 at the time and knew neither any black people or Jews or for the most part any minorities at all. One thing I knew for sure was this guy was my idol and it didn't matter what he was. For the moment I was dumbstruck but recovered enough to say " I ain't a Christian, I'm a Catholic and I like Red Auerbach just fine!
As the years went by I became more aware of this particular ugliness in world history. As a teenager I developed an interest in world war two and spent a whole summer reading on the atrocities of the Nazi regime. To this day I am confounded and astonished that such an event could happen.
As I grew older I began to have more interaction with Jews. I was not surprised to find that they were not unlike all the other people I met along the way. In fact when my sister married a Jew. I found our new family members to be just like us. They were close knit, they liked a lot of food, they liked to party and they were warm and fun and welcomed us all. In business it has been the same experience. Customers I gained years ago are still with me and are now are loyal friends.
Which brings me again to the Red Sox. Even more than the Celtics, the Red Sox are a part of my essence. Two years ago along comes a Jewish kid brought up in Brookline, Theo Epstein who has the same passion for them that every other person I know has. He takes the reigns of general manager and we all know he gets it. He knows what we want, what has driven every SOX fan for the last 8.6 decades and damn, doesn't he deliver! I asked one my Jewish co-workers if he could bring a guest to temple. My thinking was if young Theo Epstein could bring us a championship then it would be fitting to treat it as a religious experience!
All of this leads me to the following political conclusion. The Jews are a smart, fun, resourceful, loyal people, who have done nothing but enrich the people and things around them. Just like every other American they have a connection to a cultural homeland whose well being they care about. In this case a little piece of the middle east carved out by enormous trials and tribulations. That little piece of land must be protected and peace brought to it and whoever is elected on Tuesday must maintain a strong an unbending commitment to do so.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Pigs have flown
I stopped at the cemetery on the way in to work to pay homage to my parents. I couldn’t help but notice what a spectacular morning it was. A bright blue sky, the morning sun highlighting the brilliant foliage colors of October in New England. I told them the Sox had won but of course they knew. How could they have missed the collective roar of Red Sox nation around midnight last night?
The visit was a trip down memory lane as well. Visions of my first Red Sox game at Fenway with my father, my grandmother teaching me to play cribbage while simultaneously explaining the infield fly rule to me. My mother making division interesting by showing me how to figure out a batting average. I can remember reading about Spot, Dick and Jane but my real reading skills came as a result of reading about the Sox in the sports pages.
They did it last night. They did what my father and mother never got to see. They are on top of the world of base ball and every single human being that I know in this little place called home is jubilant. The last two weeks have been a roller coaster of emotion. The lows of the earlier Yankee domination followed by the complete euphoria of finally settling that old score. Before we even got a chance to fully absorb the Yankee win we were up two games to none over the Cardinals.
Game three was spent with a group of friends whose connections go back to elementary school. Shared sports experiences included the 75 Carbo homerun, Flutie’s Hail Mary, the Sox 86 heartbreak, and the Pats first super bowl win just to name a few. Most of our commonly shared angst was put to rest early by a lead and by a pair of blunders which under normal circumstances would have been done by our team, but not this year.
Last night however the world came full circle. My son came over and had a pre-game meal with me and the bride and then we settled in to watch game 4. It was a repeat of a thousand times before. Every time I looked at him I had a different memory. Bouncing him on my knee, sticking a bat in his hands while he was still in diapers, going on road trips to card shows or memorabilia stores looking for Sox stuff. The pictures were like a kaleidoscope going so fast my head was spinning.
In retrospect its great that they won and pigs have flown. However win or lose the memories are priceless and how odd a species we are that a simple game can weave such an intricate web of shared feelings and emotions into our collective minds.
The visit was a trip down memory lane as well. Visions of my first Red Sox game at Fenway with my father, my grandmother teaching me to play cribbage while simultaneously explaining the infield fly rule to me. My mother making division interesting by showing me how to figure out a batting average. I can remember reading about Spot, Dick and Jane but my real reading skills came as a result of reading about the Sox in the sports pages.
They did it last night. They did what my father and mother never got to see. They are on top of the world of base ball and every single human being that I know in this little place called home is jubilant. The last two weeks have been a roller coaster of emotion. The lows of the earlier Yankee domination followed by the complete euphoria of finally settling that old score. Before we even got a chance to fully absorb the Yankee win we were up two games to none over the Cardinals.
Game three was spent with a group of friends whose connections go back to elementary school. Shared sports experiences included the 75 Carbo homerun, Flutie’s Hail Mary, the Sox 86 heartbreak, and the Pats first super bowl win just to name a few. Most of our commonly shared angst was put to rest early by a lead and by a pair of blunders which under normal circumstances would have been done by our team, but not this year.
Last night however the world came full circle. My son came over and had a pre-game meal with me and the bride and then we settled in to watch game 4. It was a repeat of a thousand times before. Every time I looked at him I had a different memory. Bouncing him on my knee, sticking a bat in his hands while he was still in diapers, going on road trips to card shows or memorabilia stores looking for Sox stuff. The pictures were like a kaleidoscope going so fast my head was spinning.
In retrospect its great that they won and pigs have flown. However win or lose the memories are priceless and how odd a species we are that a simple game can weave such an intricate web of shared feelings and emotions into our collective minds.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Black power
If President Bush is re-elected one specific part of the electorate may ultimately be responsible. Having garnered less than 10% of the black vote in the 2000 elections it is currently being reported that he may receive as much as 18% on November 2nd. If this does indeed happen it might be considered a momentous event in contemporary election history but it will be no accident.
Yet if it does happen it will make a lot of sense to this lily white middle aged guy. The differences between the Kerry campaign and the Bush white house are dramatic. The images I see of Kerry are his holding hands with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson in a church preaching the old shop worn stump speech of the Democrats to the black electorate. Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton are two well known leaders in the black community and perhaps their endorsement means something in some quarters. Why they are endorsing Kerry and why it should matter is a mystery to me. Neither reverend is accomplished in business or politics and neither has ever been fully embraced by the Democratic party. In fact, Reverend Sharpton’s latest run was significant only for it’s lack of money and its penchant for staying in the best hotels. How that merited a speaking assignment at the convention I will never know. Other than Rev. Sharpton and Rev. Jackson there seem to be very few faces of color in the Kerry campaign.
Contrast this with the Bush white house. If you are a young black school girl or boy, you probably are aware of the fact that the person jetting around the world representing OUR country on every major international issue is a black man named Colin Powell. Along with Secretary of State Powell is National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleeza Rice who is the president’s primary advisor on the National Security Council. The council is “President Bush’s principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters”. Apparently Mr. Bush wasn’t offering lip service when he said he would be including people of color in his administration. In addition to Powell and Rice, Dr. Rod Paige is the Secretary of Education and Alphonso Jackson is Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. These are two enormous federal operations, spending billions of dollars and employing thousands upon thousands of workers
These are not token appointments. These are cabinet level appointments that put black Americans squarely in the seat of power. One can only guess what that means to the average black American voter but one thing is for sure, how can it not be a source of pride? Do you think a few school essays have been written by young black kids about these folks? In addition to wielding power in the here and now what about the future? There can be no doubt that at some time in the future these people are going to be players on the national scene in their own right. Having elevated them in their ranks, isn’t it conceivable that the Republicans might one day be the party that puts a black person on the national ticket?
Can you say President Rice?
Yet if it does happen it will make a lot of sense to this lily white middle aged guy. The differences between the Kerry campaign and the Bush white house are dramatic. The images I see of Kerry are his holding hands with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson in a church preaching the old shop worn stump speech of the Democrats to the black electorate. Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton are two well known leaders in the black community and perhaps their endorsement means something in some quarters. Why they are endorsing Kerry and why it should matter is a mystery to me. Neither reverend is accomplished in business or politics and neither has ever been fully embraced by the Democratic party. In fact, Reverend Sharpton’s latest run was significant only for it’s lack of money and its penchant for staying in the best hotels. How that merited a speaking assignment at the convention I will never know. Other than Rev. Sharpton and Rev. Jackson there seem to be very few faces of color in the Kerry campaign.
Contrast this with the Bush white house. If you are a young black school girl or boy, you probably are aware of the fact that the person jetting around the world representing OUR country on every major international issue is a black man named Colin Powell. Along with Secretary of State Powell is National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleeza Rice who is the president’s primary advisor on the National Security Council. The council is “President Bush’s principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters”. Apparently Mr. Bush wasn’t offering lip service when he said he would be including people of color in his administration. In addition to Powell and Rice, Dr. Rod Paige is the Secretary of Education and Alphonso Jackson is Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. These are two enormous federal operations, spending billions of dollars and employing thousands upon thousands of workers
These are not token appointments. These are cabinet level appointments that put black Americans squarely in the seat of power. One can only guess what that means to the average black American voter but one thing is for sure, how can it not be a source of pride? Do you think a few school essays have been written by young black kids about these folks? In addition to wielding power in the here and now what about the future? There can be no doubt that at some time in the future these people are going to be players on the national scene in their own right. Having elevated them in their ranks, isn’t it conceivable that the Republicans might one day be the party that puts a black person on the national ticket?
Can you say President Rice?
Sunday, October 24, 2004
War is best fought as an away game
President George W. Bush should be re-elected
The campaign has been a long an arduous one for both candidates. Much has been said on a variety of issues but when all is said and done the elephant in the room remains the events of September 11, 2001. It happened on George Bush’s watch and that is something, which is seared in his memory. If nothing else, guarding the country against such a reoccurrence is what is driving the results of this election and on that score President Bush has a clear and unassailable approach to terrorism. A pundit whose name I cannot recall at this moment said it best last week, “war is best fought as an away game”. Terrorism is not a crime and is not a nuisance. It is a clear-cut act of war and those who perpetrate it or espouse it as a philosophy or harbor it as a state must be forced to confront their responsibility. President Bush has demonstrated a resolve to see that strategy through.
President Bush is right on the major foreign policy issues facing the nation. The Clinton administration had pursued a bilateral approach with North Korea that resulted in a worsening of the situation. The North has acquired nuclear weapons and now must be dealt with by forcing the nations who have the primary interests in the region to confront the issue.
Afghanistan and Iraq were both extraordinary military successes. The Soviets had taken nearly ten years and were unable to defeat the Mujahideen yet the Unites States military forces were able to do it in months. The new military envisioned by Rumsfeld has been an overwhelming success.
There is much disagreement about the Iraqi invasion but this can be said. If there was a mistake regarding the status of the regimes possession of weapons of mass destruction then it was not a case of the administration telling lies but of the entire US governmental structure believing the same thing from the information provided. The voices of restraint were very few. Given the post 911 circumstances and the long history of Hussein’s regime ignoring ultimatums action was necessary. In the end the fundamental question is this. Would Iraq be better off if we had left Hussein in power? Now that it is done there is no question that we must be committed to bringing freedom and stability to Iraq.
In the Middle East, the Bush administration has also made a major departure from Clinton policy. While in office President Clinton allowed Yasir Arafat to be a major figure at the White House, visiting many times allegedly in support of peace. Yet despite a Herculean effort by Clinton to get a deal done as part of his presidential legacy, Arafat could not bring himself to lead his people. President Bush has made it plain that a Palestinian state is a goal of the United States and is the first president to make such a commitment. Clearly that can only come about when Palestinian leadership is prepared to bargain in good faith and adopts a willingness to denounce terrorism as an acceptable method of resistance.
On the domestic side of the ledger, President Bush has had more success in four years than Senator Kerry has had in his entire senate career. Whether you agree with a drug benefit, or No Child left behind or tax cuts or stem cell research, the fact of the matter is that President Bush has marshaled legislation through the congress and gotten things passed. This is clearly testament to his executive experience as a result of 6 years as a Texas governor and four years in the White House. Senator Kerry’s only managerial experience is as a prosecutor in a district attorneys office in Massachusetts.
I am sure that Senator Kerry is a fine man and would be popular and welcomed in the capitals of Europe and at the UN. The nation however does not need a diplomat in these dangerous times. We need a leader who recognizes the threat and has the fortitude to see the crisis through.
The campaign has been a long an arduous one for both candidates. Much has been said on a variety of issues but when all is said and done the elephant in the room remains the events of September 11, 2001. It happened on George Bush’s watch and that is something, which is seared in his memory. If nothing else, guarding the country against such a reoccurrence is what is driving the results of this election and on that score President Bush has a clear and unassailable approach to terrorism. A pundit whose name I cannot recall at this moment said it best last week, “war is best fought as an away game”. Terrorism is not a crime and is not a nuisance. It is a clear-cut act of war and those who perpetrate it or espouse it as a philosophy or harbor it as a state must be forced to confront their responsibility. President Bush has demonstrated a resolve to see that strategy through.
President Bush is right on the major foreign policy issues facing the nation. The Clinton administration had pursued a bilateral approach with North Korea that resulted in a worsening of the situation. The North has acquired nuclear weapons and now must be dealt with by forcing the nations who have the primary interests in the region to confront the issue.
Afghanistan and Iraq were both extraordinary military successes. The Soviets had taken nearly ten years and were unable to defeat the Mujahideen yet the Unites States military forces were able to do it in months. The new military envisioned by Rumsfeld has been an overwhelming success.
There is much disagreement about the Iraqi invasion but this can be said. If there was a mistake regarding the status of the regimes possession of weapons of mass destruction then it was not a case of the administration telling lies but of the entire US governmental structure believing the same thing from the information provided. The voices of restraint were very few. Given the post 911 circumstances and the long history of Hussein’s regime ignoring ultimatums action was necessary. In the end the fundamental question is this. Would Iraq be better off if we had left Hussein in power? Now that it is done there is no question that we must be committed to bringing freedom and stability to Iraq.
In the Middle East, the Bush administration has also made a major departure from Clinton policy. While in office President Clinton allowed Yasir Arafat to be a major figure at the White House, visiting many times allegedly in support of peace. Yet despite a Herculean effort by Clinton to get a deal done as part of his presidential legacy, Arafat could not bring himself to lead his people. President Bush has made it plain that a Palestinian state is a goal of the United States and is the first president to make such a commitment. Clearly that can only come about when Palestinian leadership is prepared to bargain in good faith and adopts a willingness to denounce terrorism as an acceptable method of resistance.
On the domestic side of the ledger, President Bush has had more success in four years than Senator Kerry has had in his entire senate career. Whether you agree with a drug benefit, or No Child left behind or tax cuts or stem cell research, the fact of the matter is that President Bush has marshaled legislation through the congress and gotten things passed. This is clearly testament to his executive experience as a result of 6 years as a Texas governor and four years in the White House. Senator Kerry’s only managerial experience is as a prosecutor in a district attorneys office in Massachusetts.
I am sure that Senator Kerry is a fine man and would be popular and welcomed in the capitals of Europe and at the UN. The nation however does not need a diplomat in these dangerous times. We need a leader who recognizes the threat and has the fortitude to see the crisis through.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Hell freezes over
It was 12:07 A.M. and my cell phone was ringing. On the other end was my son who had snagged a ticket to the seventh game and had flown down to New York to meet a couple of friends earlier in the day. He said that NewYork by Frank Sinatra was playing in the background and it never sounded better. How good was this, the Babe’s curse is broken and a member of the family was there on hallowed Yankee ground to see it happen and even better, it happened on Mickey Mantle’s birthday.
This was absolutely the best script for a true believer. Down 3 games to zero and holding onto the last shred of hope. In the back of everyone’s mind was the fact that no team in baseball history had ever come back from that deficit to win the series. The third game had been a complete debacle. In the face of this, came the two extra inning games and there seemed to be a perceptible change in momentum. The Ortiz heroics in games four and five provided excitement and hope. In addition things which had never happened before began to happen. Back to back extra inning games lost by the Yankees? The great Rivera blowing saves? Two walk off game winning hits by the same player, David Ortiz? Curtis Leskanic the winner in game five?
Back down to the heart of the empire for game 6 and now the impossible happens in Yankee Stadium. The umpires blow two calls and they are both over turned! Again the improbable happens when the much maligned Mark Bellhorn hits an opposite field home run. To top it all off, Schilling has a little bit of surgery to temporarily hold his balky ankle tendon in place for seven glorious innings. Remember the Natural, when Roy Hobbs has a blood stain on his shirt from his old gunshot wound? Didn’t that come to mind when you saw Schilling’s sock?
Now comes game seven and all the negative remembrances of a life time of Yankee achievement and Red Sox failure. How could they possibly win this? The flappable Derek Lowe on the mound and Manny Ramirez without an RBI over 6 games. The Yankees had Bucky Dent throw out the first pitch just to make sure those ugly memories of years gone by were thoroughly refreshed. Well, apparently David Ortiz has a short memory. He was only remembering the fact that he is a terrifying hitter. Coming up after Johnny Damon had been thrown out at the plate on an ill advised attempt to score, Ortiz hit a laser beam off Kevin Brown into the right field stands for a 2-0 Boston first inning lead.
The Yankees night worsened as Brown had to be relieved with the bases loaded in favor of Javier Vasquez. All baseball fans know that you shouldn’t bring in a starter to relieve with men on base. They are familar with opening an inning pitching from the wind up with nobody on. Up comes Johnny (3 for 29 in the series) Damon and the first pitch was deposited in the right field stands and as the camera scanned the crowd I could see terror in the face of the Yankee fans. The realization had been driven home that the impossible was about to happen. The house that Ruth built was going to be the scene of the worst collapse in Yankee history. Adding insult to injury was the fact that the Boston Red Sox were the team administering this utter humiliation.
Hell has indeed frozen over.
This was absolutely the best script for a true believer. Down 3 games to zero and holding onto the last shred of hope. In the back of everyone’s mind was the fact that no team in baseball history had ever come back from that deficit to win the series. The third game had been a complete debacle. In the face of this, came the two extra inning games and there seemed to be a perceptible change in momentum. The Ortiz heroics in games four and five provided excitement and hope. In addition things which had never happened before began to happen. Back to back extra inning games lost by the Yankees? The great Rivera blowing saves? Two walk off game winning hits by the same player, David Ortiz? Curtis Leskanic the winner in game five?
Back down to the heart of the empire for game 6 and now the impossible happens in Yankee Stadium. The umpires blow two calls and they are both over turned! Again the improbable happens when the much maligned Mark Bellhorn hits an opposite field home run. To top it all off, Schilling has a little bit of surgery to temporarily hold his balky ankle tendon in place for seven glorious innings. Remember the Natural, when Roy Hobbs has a blood stain on his shirt from his old gunshot wound? Didn’t that come to mind when you saw Schilling’s sock?
Now comes game seven and all the negative remembrances of a life time of Yankee achievement and Red Sox failure. How could they possibly win this? The flappable Derek Lowe on the mound and Manny Ramirez without an RBI over 6 games. The Yankees had Bucky Dent throw out the first pitch just to make sure those ugly memories of years gone by were thoroughly refreshed. Well, apparently David Ortiz has a short memory. He was only remembering the fact that he is a terrifying hitter. Coming up after Johnny Damon had been thrown out at the plate on an ill advised attempt to score, Ortiz hit a laser beam off Kevin Brown into the right field stands for a 2-0 Boston first inning lead.
The Yankees night worsened as Brown had to be relieved with the bases loaded in favor of Javier Vasquez. All baseball fans know that you shouldn’t bring in a starter to relieve with men on base. They are familar with opening an inning pitching from the wind up with nobody on. Up comes Johnny (3 for 29 in the series) Damon and the first pitch was deposited in the right field stands and as the camera scanned the crowd I could see terror in the face of the Yankee fans. The realization had been driven home that the impossible was about to happen. The house that Ruth built was going to be the scene of the worst collapse in Yankee history. Adding insult to injury was the fact that the Boston Red Sox were the team administering this utter humiliation.
Hell has indeed frozen over.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Less hair and now palpitations
It was the sixth hour and the bottom of the fourteenth inning when David Ortiz struck the second consecutive extra innings game winning blow for the Red Sox against the Evil Empire. We are still down 3 games to 2 but have regained a measure of pride in our boys. After going down 3 games to zero and suffering a humiliating 19 to 8 defeat in game three, I was considering a brown sack for my head. Lo and behold they become resurrected in back to back extra inning affairs that make you understand how middle-aged Red Sox fans go bald or become heart patients.
It’s never easy. Every word out of your mouth has to be carefully constructed so as to not upset the baseball gods. I almost blew it for us earlier in the day. In conversation with my son, I had dissed Bernie Williams as being to old and a liability in the field for the Yanks. Punishment for the sin was handed out immediately as Bernie hit Pedro’s first pitch to him for a home run. I didn’t even think a less than pure thought from that moment forward.
In particular it is never easy for the catcher. Fresh off of completing a 12-inning performance less than 16 hours earlier, Jason Varitek turned in another stellar 14-inning performance. The fact that both he and Jorge Posada were still standing is a testament to just how good these two guys are. Varitek’s chore was made more agonizing when Tim Wakefield came in to pitch in the 12th Inning. Wakefield first struck out Gary Sheffield but he reached when Varitek couldn’t handle the strike. I admit that while watching the ball bounce all around and watching Yankee runners advance I had began to think how unjust the gods might be. That despite Wakefield’s selflessness and despite having great stuff, he might end up again being on the mound when the hose were eliminated. But nay I say unto thee! Despite the Yankees getting four outs and three passed balls, Wakefield held them scoreless.
An inning later Ortiz takes his place amongst the select few athletes in Boston that will never have to buy another drink in their lifetime. So now what was once a glimmer has transformed into a ray of hope. We are now exactly in the same position as last year, going back down New York down 3 games to 2. The bookies have the Sox at $130 to make a hundred with our bull Curt Schilling on the mound. This is our year, or it’s a set up to bitter disappointment.
During the course of the series I have begun to appreciate just how good a ball player Hideki Matsui is. If the Yankees win this thing it may be that Matsui ends up being their most valuable player. No small feat when you consider the studs in this Yankee line up. After dwelling on Matsui I then couldn’t help but segue into Ichiro Suzuki’s breaking of George Sisler’s hit record this year. Much like Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak I have always thought that Sisler’s record was to far out of reach against modern pitching.
It also occurred to me that these two guys are Japanese. A little over 60 years ago we were engaged in bloody conflict with their country and we were intractable enemies. They too were a 5000-year-old culture never having known freedom or elections, or democracy or capitalism or baseball. Now they are very strong allies and competing with us and sometimes beating us at our own games. We must strive for just as successful result in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It’s never easy. Every word out of your mouth has to be carefully constructed so as to not upset the baseball gods. I almost blew it for us earlier in the day. In conversation with my son, I had dissed Bernie Williams as being to old and a liability in the field for the Yanks. Punishment for the sin was handed out immediately as Bernie hit Pedro’s first pitch to him for a home run. I didn’t even think a less than pure thought from that moment forward.
In particular it is never easy for the catcher. Fresh off of completing a 12-inning performance less than 16 hours earlier, Jason Varitek turned in another stellar 14-inning performance. The fact that both he and Jorge Posada were still standing is a testament to just how good these two guys are. Varitek’s chore was made more agonizing when Tim Wakefield came in to pitch in the 12th Inning. Wakefield first struck out Gary Sheffield but he reached when Varitek couldn’t handle the strike. I admit that while watching the ball bounce all around and watching Yankee runners advance I had began to think how unjust the gods might be. That despite Wakefield’s selflessness and despite having great stuff, he might end up again being on the mound when the hose were eliminated. But nay I say unto thee! Despite the Yankees getting four outs and three passed balls, Wakefield held them scoreless.
An inning later Ortiz takes his place amongst the select few athletes in Boston that will never have to buy another drink in their lifetime. So now what was once a glimmer has transformed into a ray of hope. We are now exactly in the same position as last year, going back down New York down 3 games to 2. The bookies have the Sox at $130 to make a hundred with our bull Curt Schilling on the mound. This is our year, or it’s a set up to bitter disappointment.
During the course of the series I have begun to appreciate just how good a ball player Hideki Matsui is. If the Yankees win this thing it may be that Matsui ends up being their most valuable player. No small feat when you consider the studs in this Yankee line up. After dwelling on Matsui I then couldn’t help but segue into Ichiro Suzuki’s breaking of George Sisler’s hit record this year. Much like Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak I have always thought that Sisler’s record was to far out of reach against modern pitching.
It also occurred to me that these two guys are Japanese. A little over 60 years ago we were engaged in bloody conflict with their country and we were intractable enemies. They too were a 5000-year-old culture never having known freedom or elections, or democracy or capitalism or baseball. Now they are very strong allies and competing with us and sometimes beating us at our own games. We must strive for just as successful result in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Monday, October 18, 2004
Who slandered who?
You have to hand it to the Boston Globe or now more commonly known as the Massachusetts edition of the New York Times, at least they are consistent. They are intent upon the election of John Kerry as president and they have no intention of letting any facts get in their way. Much like the campaign spin-doctors, the Globe has been able to stay on message.
A perfect example was the editorial last week in which the Globe excoriates Sinclair Broadcasting for its decision to air the documentary film Stolen Honor-Wounds that Never Heal. The Globe describes the act as “Sinclair’s slander” and the documentary itself as a “Kerry attack masquerading as a documentary”.
According to the Globe “Stolen Honor indubitably qualifies as a slur against John Kerry”. “It makes use of the voices of former American prisoners of war to accuse him of treachery and lying when he went public with opposition to the conflict in the 1970’s.”
Certainly a documentary masquerading as an attack ad could be applied as a description of the Moore film. Yet we heard no protest from the Globe about any element of unfairness in that production or even inaccuracies in that film. Nor did we hear any concerns about the CBS airing of the completely discredited Bush Texas Air National Guard memos. Not only did they not utter a peep of protest but instead went to press spewing the lies knowing that there were already a growing chorus of journalistic concern over the CBS decision. The attempted exploitation of the guard story is made even more egregious when you consider the Globe has covered Kerry for 25 years without ever having gotten access to all his military records. How is it possible that military records of one candidate can be so important but not for the other?
If CBS did not slander President Bush with the airing of false information how is it that Sinclair can slander Kerry with information, which is true? Stolen Honor is the collective opinions of a group of former Viet Nam prisoners of war who are speaking out regarding the impact of John Kerry’s public comments and testimony after his return from the Viet Nam War. These comments contained primarily in his testimony before the Fulbright committee are not being misquoted or in anyway altered. He said them and it is a matter of historical record. The Globe has viewed those comments over the years as an example of Kerry at his courageous best. Unfortunately most if not all the testimony was untrue. In fact Senator Kerry has alluded to it as being “over the top”.
Now along comes a group of people who were significantly impacted during their incarceration by the comments that Senator Kerry made. In fact the fundamental complaint was that their captors were torturing them in order to get them to say the very same things that Senator Kerry was saying for political recognition back home. Whether or not those things should have been said is debatable. A junior grade officer saying them while he had comrades in arms and comrades in captivity is not.
These veterans should be heard and congratulations to Sinclair for having the guts to do it.
Just as the Globe has a right pursue its political agenda, so to do these Viet Nam veterans.
A perfect example was the editorial last week in which the Globe excoriates Sinclair Broadcasting for its decision to air the documentary film Stolen Honor-Wounds that Never Heal. The Globe describes the act as “Sinclair’s slander” and the documentary itself as a “Kerry attack masquerading as a documentary”.
According to the Globe “Stolen Honor indubitably qualifies as a slur against John Kerry”. “It makes use of the voices of former American prisoners of war to accuse him of treachery and lying when he went public with opposition to the conflict in the 1970’s.”
Certainly a documentary masquerading as an attack ad could be applied as a description of the Moore film. Yet we heard no protest from the Globe about any element of unfairness in that production or even inaccuracies in that film. Nor did we hear any concerns about the CBS airing of the completely discredited Bush Texas Air National Guard memos. Not only did they not utter a peep of protest but instead went to press spewing the lies knowing that there were already a growing chorus of journalistic concern over the CBS decision. The attempted exploitation of the guard story is made even more egregious when you consider the Globe has covered Kerry for 25 years without ever having gotten access to all his military records. How is it possible that military records of one candidate can be so important but not for the other?
If CBS did not slander President Bush with the airing of false information how is it that Sinclair can slander Kerry with information, which is true? Stolen Honor is the collective opinions of a group of former Viet Nam prisoners of war who are speaking out regarding the impact of John Kerry’s public comments and testimony after his return from the Viet Nam War. These comments contained primarily in his testimony before the Fulbright committee are not being misquoted or in anyway altered. He said them and it is a matter of historical record. The Globe has viewed those comments over the years as an example of Kerry at his courageous best. Unfortunately most if not all the testimony was untrue. In fact Senator Kerry has alluded to it as being “over the top”.
Now along comes a group of people who were significantly impacted during their incarceration by the comments that Senator Kerry made. In fact the fundamental complaint was that their captors were torturing them in order to get them to say the very same things that Senator Kerry was saying for political recognition back home. Whether or not those things should have been said is debatable. A junior grade officer saying them while he had comrades in arms and comrades in captivity is not.
These veterans should be heard and congratulations to Sinclair for having the guts to do it.
Just as the Globe has a right pursue its political agenda, so to do these Viet Nam veterans.
Friday, October 15, 2004
What was I thinking?
What was I thinking? I should have known because I had seen all the tell tale signs. The Sox Nation was all a twitter with high expectations. I must have said this is our year 100 times. Schilling was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and the bookies had the Sox favored in game one. I had seen the Anaheim game when Schilling made the throwing error and then bent down to massage a little tweak in his ankle. I didn’t think much of it then but an even more pessimistic friend of mine had shouted the sky is falling.
So what happens in game one? The vaunted Sox hitting machine comes up against Mike Mussina and makes him look like the second coming of Walter "Big Train" Johnson. I wrote in my first inning game notes that he was throwing his over hand curve ball and his three quarter arm curveball on the corners for strikes. That is a bad omen! That compared to Schilling’s first inning in which he threw over 20 pitches and clearly did not have leg drive off his back ankle.
When you have been bitterly disappointed for over 40 years you end up having an uncanny scent for disaster and after inning one of game one the stink was all over this series. They get no hit perfectly into the sixth and before they start a too little to late rally they are down 8-0.
There is plenty to examine for the finger pointer but no goats in particular. A couple of things are worth mentioning however. Manny in the field reminds me of that kid in little league that was a ball magnet. You tried to hide him by putting him in right field against right handed hitters and then switching him to left field when a left handed hitter came out. Of course it would make no difference because the ball can sense weakness. Manny looked like that kid on a couple of plays.
Where is Johnny Damon? He struck out four times in game one and is the only starter without a hit so far in the 2 games played. He looks like he wouldn’t hit the ball with a tennis racquet. Being hitless is one thing but couple that with arm strength that can barely reach the cutoff man and you wonder if it isn’t time to give Dave Roberts a look.
Game 2 wasn’t much better. The immortal Jon Lieber was another Yankee starter who was made to look un-hittable, pitching three hit ball through 7 innings. Pedro put in a nice effort but you knew when he walked Jorge Posada, first batter in the sixth and had passed a 100-pitch count that somebody was thinking we should be bringing in a lefty to pitch to Olerud. Of course, Olerud puts one out and that proves to be the margin of victory.
It has to be a curse. How else can you explain the best hitting club in the league looking like the Mudville nine? Mariano Riviera, arguably the best closer in baseball gets four outs in both games. In game one he is on his way back from Panama after attending a funeral for two family members killed in a tragic accident at his home. After a five-hour flight he comes directly to the stadium and shuts down our boys. I guess the jet lag from Boston to New York is more grueling than from Panama to New York.
Now here is the part where we say no problem down 2-0. We have them coming to Fenway and we are going to get right back in it. The bats will come alive and we will head into game five all tied. It does sound like a Red Sox script. Get closer, raise our hopes and then rip out our hearts at the very end. Well, color me stupid cause I am still an optimist and buying into this is our year. Some of the nation has reached the end of the rope however. One example was an enraged email a friend had forwarded to me from one of the Fenway faithful who was apoplectic about the double choke in New York. Most of it was unprintable here but the gist of it was that after being scammed for 40 years he had had enough. Given the choice, he would rather rub dog mess in his hair rather than root for these losers anymore. I am almost there.
So what happens in game one? The vaunted Sox hitting machine comes up against Mike Mussina and makes him look like the second coming of Walter "Big Train" Johnson. I wrote in my first inning game notes that he was throwing his over hand curve ball and his three quarter arm curveball on the corners for strikes. That is a bad omen! That compared to Schilling’s first inning in which he threw over 20 pitches and clearly did not have leg drive off his back ankle.
When you have been bitterly disappointed for over 40 years you end up having an uncanny scent for disaster and after inning one of game one the stink was all over this series. They get no hit perfectly into the sixth and before they start a too little to late rally they are down 8-0.
There is plenty to examine for the finger pointer but no goats in particular. A couple of things are worth mentioning however. Manny in the field reminds me of that kid in little league that was a ball magnet. You tried to hide him by putting him in right field against right handed hitters and then switching him to left field when a left handed hitter came out. Of course it would make no difference because the ball can sense weakness. Manny looked like that kid on a couple of plays.
Where is Johnny Damon? He struck out four times in game one and is the only starter without a hit so far in the 2 games played. He looks like he wouldn’t hit the ball with a tennis racquet. Being hitless is one thing but couple that with arm strength that can barely reach the cutoff man and you wonder if it isn’t time to give Dave Roberts a look.
Game 2 wasn’t much better. The immortal Jon Lieber was another Yankee starter who was made to look un-hittable, pitching three hit ball through 7 innings. Pedro put in a nice effort but you knew when he walked Jorge Posada, first batter in the sixth and had passed a 100-pitch count that somebody was thinking we should be bringing in a lefty to pitch to Olerud. Of course, Olerud puts one out and that proves to be the margin of victory.
It has to be a curse. How else can you explain the best hitting club in the league looking like the Mudville nine? Mariano Riviera, arguably the best closer in baseball gets four outs in both games. In game one he is on his way back from Panama after attending a funeral for two family members killed in a tragic accident at his home. After a five-hour flight he comes directly to the stadium and shuts down our boys. I guess the jet lag from Boston to New York is more grueling than from Panama to New York.
Now here is the part where we say no problem down 2-0. We have them coming to Fenway and we are going to get right back in it. The bats will come alive and we will head into game five all tied. It does sound like a Red Sox script. Get closer, raise our hopes and then rip out our hearts at the very end. Well, color me stupid cause I am still an optimist and buying into this is our year. Some of the nation has reached the end of the rope however. One example was an enraged email a friend had forwarded to me from one of the Fenway faithful who was apoplectic about the double choke in New York. Most of it was unprintable here but the gist of it was that after being scammed for 40 years he had had enough. Given the choice, he would rather rub dog mess in his hair rather than root for these losers anymore. I am almost there.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Redemption
It has been a day of preparation and anticipation. The pre-game meal has been planned and the intra-game game snacks are in the on deck circle. The bride is in full support mode as result of 3 and a half decades of living through the trauma of the annual spousal Sox related melt down.
The game uni is laid out, a pair of loose around the waist sweat pants and a thread bare old Sox t-shirt. They are of course unsullied with any type of detergent since the beginning of the Anaheim series. Who could wash a uniform that was responsible for a sweep?
This is the year; I can feel it in my bones. Finally a team built for complete redemption. A chance to finally vanquish the evil empire. They have played so well over the last month that there is so much optimism around here you can almost hear cheers from the graveyards. Go Sox!
Finally the baseball gods have seen fit to bless us with a bunch of players. A loose bunch that actually seem to enjoy the game. No 26 cabs for this group. Weird hair, funny handshakes and dirty uniforms. What a refreshing change.
It is not only chemistry that makes this hard core Sox cynic optimistic. These guys are good. When Ortiz and Ramirez come to the plate it is not a matter of if they will hit something monstrous, only a matter of when. When it is hit in all likelihood it might produce multiple runs because the table setters, Damon and Bellhorn have been on base all year.
There is no rest for the opposing pitcher anywhere in the lineup. Who else in the major leagues has a defending batting champion batting ninth? Even the outs that Mueller makes are loud.
Defense a problem you say? Thanks to Theo in the latter innings the Sox can now field three gold glovers in the infield and put another very speedy outfielder in the mix. While on the topic of Theo let’s not forget we actually have a big time closer this year.
The key to success this year and the cause of so many previous failures however is pitching. This time around we are sending forth a certified proven stud. A guy who has been here before and produced. Even Schillings wife says the right things. Last month in a mid game interview Shonda said, “the fans can’t put any more pressure on Curt than he does himself. He came here to win a championship.” She gets it, and so does he and we have this guy going in game one, game four and game seven if need be.
So let’s settle in and enjoy the games, after all they still have to be played. I am wondering when in home defribullators will be available.
The game uni is laid out, a pair of loose around the waist sweat pants and a thread bare old Sox t-shirt. They are of course unsullied with any type of detergent since the beginning of the Anaheim series. Who could wash a uniform that was responsible for a sweep?
This is the year; I can feel it in my bones. Finally a team built for complete redemption. A chance to finally vanquish the evil empire. They have played so well over the last month that there is so much optimism around here you can almost hear cheers from the graveyards. Go Sox!
Finally the baseball gods have seen fit to bless us with a bunch of players. A loose bunch that actually seem to enjoy the game. No 26 cabs for this group. Weird hair, funny handshakes and dirty uniforms. What a refreshing change.
It is not only chemistry that makes this hard core Sox cynic optimistic. These guys are good. When Ortiz and Ramirez come to the plate it is not a matter of if they will hit something monstrous, only a matter of when. When it is hit in all likelihood it might produce multiple runs because the table setters, Damon and Bellhorn have been on base all year.
There is no rest for the opposing pitcher anywhere in the lineup. Who else in the major leagues has a defending batting champion batting ninth? Even the outs that Mueller makes are loud.
Defense a problem you say? Thanks to Theo in the latter innings the Sox can now field three gold glovers in the infield and put another very speedy outfielder in the mix. While on the topic of Theo let’s not forget we actually have a big time closer this year.
The key to success this year and the cause of so many previous failures however is pitching. This time around we are sending forth a certified proven stud. A guy who has been here before and produced. Even Schillings wife says the right things. Last month in a mid game interview Shonda said, “the fans can’t put any more pressure on Curt than he does himself. He came here to win a championship.” She gets it, and so does he and we have this guy going in game one, game four and game seven if need be.
So let’s settle in and enjoy the games, after all they still have to be played. I am wondering when in home defribullators will be available.
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