Deadlines and deals
My chest is heavy with baseball thoughts, and just as "the Baseball Show" suffers yet another pre-emption this weekend, too. (Our third in 15 weeks.) And, alas, it's a great baseball weekend. Hall of Fame inductions take place Sunday afternoon, with the trade deadline arriving that evening. To the former, Ryne Sandberg, Wade Boggs, Boston beat writer Peter Gammons, and Padres' broadcaster Jerry Coleman will all speak in Cooperstown tomorrow, none with any St. Louis ties whatsoever. To the latter, a Manny Ramirez deal by the Red Sox will drown out any other MLB front office activity.
Ramirez seems a strange egg. On one hand, his haircut inspires snickers. (Whose your Daddy? More like-- Whose your
barber? Am I right, people?) He urinated inside the Green Monster between pitches earlier this month, and claims his life is a living hell in Boston, a town in which he's lavishly paid and widely beloved. He's always been easily distracted, and there are times in left field when it seems like his forehead gets more defensive action than the pocket of his glove. Putting it all another way, I suspect he's been watching some programs that aren't listed in the TV Guide.
On the other hand, he can
rake, as we say in a business peripheral to the business. He's a .313 career hitter, who's already driven in 92 runs this year. If
the three team deal involving Ramirez goes down, and it may have by the time you read this, the ground beneath the baseball world will shake.
Regardless, my most cherished moment of Ramirez's career will always be this-- Game 4 of the World Series last year, the Red Sox have a 3-0 series lead, and a lead in the 5th or 6th inning of the clincher. Ramirez walks to the batters box, where he's greeted by the Cardinals' rookie catcher Yadier Molina. The baby-faced Molina gets in Ramirez's face and tells the slugger that he disapproved of the way he had been tipping pitches from his lead off second base the last time through the order. Here we have a 22 year old rookie telling an 8-time All-Star the proper way to play the game, less than two hours before the veteran player would be named the World Series MVP. That was the precise moment that Mike Matheny, the Cardinals' incumbent catcher for the last half decade, became the former incumbent, and within two months, a San Francisco Giant.
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A victory tear by the Houston Astros in June and July has apparently resulted in the further thinning of some already thin skin at Wrigley Field. I can't tell a LaTroy Hawkins story better than Jay Mariotti, so
enjoy for yourself. But I will say these two things-- 1) Fans should have the right to boo whomever they choose guaranteed on their ticket stub (especially if the player being booed is on another team, but still being paid by the first team,) and 2) Why do we always have to wait so long to find out which players have been "dropping trou" in public settings, and when are we finally going to get to hear all the really good Kyle Farnsworth stories?
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Trivia question of the day: I just bought two DVDs off my Top 50 Movie List, "Sunset Boulevard" and "Mulholland Drive." If you can tell me what key ingredient these two movies share, you will win a complete company set of virtually "priceless" baseball cards from the early 1990s. The answer below.
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Curses! What have they done to my beloved Dodger Stadium? I know I've harped on this before, but the aesthetic beauty is quickly eroding. I haven't been to the ballpark in ten years, but it's always been enjoyable to experience even on television. Until now. Turn down the speakers!! And stop blasting rotten garage band music!!
The Cardinals returned to LA this weekend for the first time since the playoffs, and I had hoped that the absence of Adrian Beltre, and that percussion-driven chant of M-V-P, would serve to turn down the amplitude thundering across the ravine. It hasn't. And meanwhile, their ballpark organist is on tour in Des Moines.
And another note to Jim Tracy and the classy Dodgers, put the players' names back across the shoulders of the uniform. If the Giants jumped off a cliff, would you do that, too?
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Five years ago this past Thursday, Kathie Lee Gifford walked off the Regis and Kathie Lee Show and possibly out of our lives forever. I hope the kids are alright.
It's also been seven years and change since Tom Snyder left the Late Late Show. And now his twice a month
on-line blog is leaving us, come Monday. Health and happiness from one of your loyal viewers.
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Trivia answer: They're both named after streets in Hollywood, dummy.
Unfucking the donkey
July 2005 has been as disheartening a month as one can imagine for progressive Democrats already eyeing the 2008 Presidential Election, especially Iowans. Last week, our governor, Tom Vilsack, took the reigns of the right-centrist Democratic Leadership Council, the demonic corporate-financed coalition that annihilated the Roosevelt-wing of the Democratic Party in the 1990s, lifting Bill Clinton into the White House and losing, for the Democrats, nearly every other branch of state and national government. Vilsack promised--- in double-speak that would make John Kerry swell with pride--- that he would unite Democrats under a "centrist progressive" policy agenda.
Huh? Which is it, Governor?
Centrist or
progressive?At the same DLC gathering in Columbus, Ohio, the Democrats' likely 2008 nominee, Hillary Clinton, continued her surge to the right, waffling over whether the U.S. needs an exit strategy in Iraq, and leading the "government-as-babysitter" attack on an adults-only video game-- a move that signals Democrats' willingness again in '08 to alienate young voters in return for campaign cash.
And what a war chest Clinton has accumulated!-- $12.6 million for her re-election bid next year. She'll surely raise a similarly hefty sum for her White House run in '08, making that pesky Presidential Primary a mere coronation, rather than the meaningful debate on policy it was designed to be. She'll then discover, as John Kerry did, just how much corporate money can buy you against a Republican candidate.
In the wee hours of this morning, 15 "Bush Democrats" crossed the aisle and voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, allowing the bill to pass by two votes in the House of Representatives. If nothing else, this defection should prove to remaining skeptics in the labor movement why monumental leadership change has become necessary. Guard that candidate endorsement like a Lutheran schoolgirl guards her virginity!
For your perusement,
here's a blueprint for Liberal victory in 2008, courtesy of author Rick Perlstein. I liked the editor's title so much, I claimed it as my own.
Moeller TV Listings 7/27/05
We're loaded for bear on the late night talk shows tonight. Get your fill of baseball chat with St. Louisan Bob Costas on the Daily Show, and later, St. Louisan Joe Buck on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. One of our favorite comedians, Jim Gaffigan, does a set on a repeat of Conan O'Brien, and "Sideways" star Thomas Haden Church sits down with "the Chin" on the Tonight Show. Kelly Preston's bound to spout off about Scientology on Letterman, and Charlie Rose has former National Security Advisors Brent Scowcraft and Sandy Berger. On top of it all, the Cards play on the west coast. What to do... what to do...?
Censorship watch 7/26/05
Ten to 12 newspapers have objected to a "Doonesbury" comic strip this week that refers to presidential advisor Karl Rove as "turd blossom." The phrase, of course, is the well-documented nickname for Rove by the President.
First, some context: this is just 10 to 12 papers out of 1,400 papers that publish the strip. And in most cases, the objection from the publisher seems to be that the phrase would be appearing on the comics page, rather than the news or opinion page. That's fine. I've always felt it appropriate that "Doonesbury" and other politically-bent comic strips appear on the editorial page, not because their content is inappropriate for children, but because too few adults read the funnies. My problem is with newspapers like the Providence (RI) Journal, which took the liberty of editing the word out of the strip. If I were a cartoonist, my policy would be-- alter the strip and it never appears in your paper again. Get that in the contract.
I own a fine book called "The PreHistory of the Far Side," written by the greatest cartoonist of all-time, Gary Larson. His brilliant strip, "The Far Side," was frequently pulled during its run in the '80s and '90s due to perceived "tastelessness." (An example he cites is an illustration of two dogs engaged in a game of "Tethercat." You get the idea.) Larson couldn't abide syndicate editors that altered cartoons rather than just rejecting them outright. It seems virtually unthinkable to me that a
newspaper editor would have the legal protection to make such a revision. Run it in its entirety or not at all. They don't edit syndicated columnists like David Broder or Robert Novak, although, with Novak, the occasional edit might save you a subpoena down the road.
"Doonesbury's" syndicate, to it's credit, refused to send replacement strips to papers that rejected the first.
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There's a slick promotion Friday night at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals will be in Los Angeles playing the Dodgers, but a couple hundred fans will be camped out on the outfield grass of the ballpark in downtown St. Louis. For $250 a head, you can spend the night at the park, while watching the Cards in LA on the video board. Campers will have access to the outfield, the Cards' clubhouse and dugout, family pavilion and courtyard, even the umpires' room. Breakfast at 8am.
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The Cards are in San Diego tonight. You may have heard that Padres' slugger Phil Nevin used his limited no-trade option to nix a deal to Baltimore earlier in the day. It's the second time he's killed a trade in the last three seasons. The Friars are having their revenge, though. They started Nevin at catcher for just the second time since 1999. Classic. Tomorrow night, he'll probably be hawking peanuts in the bleachers. It reminds me of that "Welcome Back, Kotter" episode where Kotter promised Mr. Woodman that they'd use textbooks in class, but he didn't promise how they would use them. So the Sweathogs walked around the classroom, trying to balance the books on their heads.
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I don't want to say that Iraq is another Vietnam, but they just cancelled the Smothers Brothers again.
Other people's children
Saturday night was a rather miserable night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City-- high temperatures with humidity, a setting sun that partially concealed the playing field from my seat for the first four innings, my missing the Cardinals/Cubs game on television earlier in the day, and then a blow-out win by Toronto. With no pennant race in the ballgame to hold my attention, I instead watched a rather dramatic story unfold in the row of seats in front of me.
A couple of 30-something-aged brothers were at the game with a group of kids. One of the brothers was the father to some or all of the kids. The two men proceeded to properly get themselves buzzed on Miller Lite, while the kids raced up and down the aisle and occasionally up the steps. Several innings into the game, the only girl among the children raced to her father, crying hysterically. Probably just six or seven years old, her earring had somehow been pulled from her ear.
She climbed into her Dad's lap, and then, along with the rest of us in Section 130, quickly found him to be no help at all. He kept telling her to move her hand so he could look at it. She would scream. And he would scream back, ordering her to stop crying, and exciting her all the more. He was clearly not an everyday person in this little girl's life, and now found himself in over his head and growing embarassed by the public attention.
Anyway, a 40-something woman sitting two seats to my left was ready to go. She had a calm demeanor, a smile for the little girl, and she basically jumped into the fray and told this guy what to do, where to go in the stadium, and what to ask for. Rather reluctantly, it seemed, the guy got up and took his daughter out to the concourse. When the two returned an inning or two later, the girl held a giant icepack to her ear and a cup of ice cream in her other hand.
But the woman in my row wasn't done. She told the guy what salve to look for at the drug store, and advised that the girl should wear larger earrings, which are evidently much less susceptible to potential strain on the ear. (I may have heard this backwards. It's best to contact the Surgeon General.) He listened politely, and they chatted amiably, but it became clear in short time that he was done listening before she was done talking.
This woman had really impressed me, but I wondered what would have happened had she not been there. Would I have done something? I've never been a parent (
that I know of! Am I right, fellas?) All I know about parenting is that it's like cupping a bird in your hands--- squeeze too tight and you kill it, squeeze too little and it flies away. (This is actually what Tommy Lasorda said about managing a baseball team, but I believe it also applies to parenting.)
I thought about a story I heard actress Laura Dern tell years ago on Bill Maher's show, "Politically Incorrect." She had seen a woman slapping a child in the supermarket, and went up and scolded the mother, loudly and quite publicly. The two situations are somewhat different. Nevertheless, the question of the day is this-- where is the line between looking out for the well-being of another person's child and butting the hell out?
If "Do the Right Thing" and popular black comedians are to be trusted, it's the presiding belief in African-American communities that outsiders best mind their own business. I wince when I hear even a liberal like Chris Rock do his routine about whooping kids and keeping them in line. Call me a white Northern liberal-- and I am, but I think I come down closer to the Laura Dern approach. Heaven knows we already have an established social ethic that parents do not have total autonomy over their children. If they did, we would have little use for the Department of Social Services. You're teaching this child the lesson that violence and intimidation solve problems, when in fact all they do is foster bullying. When you see children already out of control, frustration may lead one to believe that "the rod" has to come out, but at this point the cattle are already out of the barn. This child has already learned how to test his parent's boundaries, when it should be the other way around, and he or she is already anxiously crossing off the days until that parent is no longer physically stronger. And then what's the parent to do?
The situation at the ballpark probably didn't rise to anybody's level of abuse, but it's a jumping-off point for the discussion. If you believe, as I do-- and as Republi-crat Hillary Clinton does-- that "the village raises the child," then when and where do you step in? And if you're like me and you're beginning to crystallize in your mind where that line is, then the question becomes-- will I have the courage to act upon that moral compass?
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The independent film, "The Aristocrats," arrives in New York and Los Angeles theaters this week, as we briefly discussed
July 13th. Here's a link to the
review in New York Magazine, which should be considered an official endorsement by this blog, as Mr. Ken Tucker was the finest critic in the history of Entertainment Weekly magazine, and now probably New York Magazine, as well.
Be forewarned, however, that this review reveals the gist of the joke that is at the center of the film-- information that probably doesn't need to be kept a secret, but since this is the first blurb I've read about the film that has revealed it, I thought you might appreciate the warning.
Big weekend rolls in
There is a stupendous baseball weekend on the immediate horizon. The Cubs are traveling to St. Louis Friday for the 31st, 30th, and 29th to last games at Busch Stadium. Cubs manager Dusty Baker put it best on Wednesday-- "They want it, and we need it."
The weekend also features an intriguing match-up between the White Sox and Boston at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, beginning Thursday night. The 62-win White Sox haven't really been challenged for a while, and the defending champions come in battling for the lead in the East. The Red Sox are also auditioning a new closer in Curt Schilling, and battling reports in the New England press that they're focusing more on their various music careers than reaching the playoffs.
As for me, I'll be watching the Blue Jays and the cellar-dwelling Royals Saturday night in KC.
Remember, "The Baseball Show on KXNO," Sunday night at 5pm Central.
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You'll have to explain to me the repeated references in headlines to the Cubs' disastrous bullpen. Today on ESPN.com it was, "Bullpen collapse costs Maddux first win at Cincy's park." Note: If you give your team a two run lead, but only last five innings-- shit happens.
On a lighter note,
here, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Jeff Garlin answers other fans' questions about his favorite team.
Newhart recap
The
American Masters Bob Newhart special Wednesday night by and large delivered. I was already resigned to purchasing the eight seasons of
Newhart as they become available on DVD, but now I'm tempted to buy the first season of
The Bob Newhart Show as well. The Slate.com
television critic has a nice tribute, and I'll add just two thoughts. One, Bob belongs on the Mount Rushmore of American Comedy, along with the other true originals-- Jack Benny, Richard Pryor, and Bob's buddy, Don Rickles.
Two, the final episode of
Newhart is even more brilliant than people ever say. In the series' final scene filmed in 1992, Bob's character famously awoke in bed next to actress Suzanne Pleshette, or Emily, his wife from the earlier series, as if the entire second series had been a dream. It was a tasty dessert at the end of a great eight-year meal-- big yucks all around. But I never hear people acknowledge how much the scene effectively transforms the entire series. All of a sudden, everything that's happened in this quaint little inn in Vermont is the fevered rambling of a professional psychologist.
Bob's real-life wife apparently thought of the final gag only weeks before the last taping, but it could have been scripted from the beginning-- the series started off relatively sedate, and than gradually (during Bob's feverish REM cycle, of course) became more and more surreal-- with more fantastic plots and characters, including a man who talked in alliteration. The two beautiful blonds can now be interpreted as objects of Bob's sexual desire, and the on-air hijinks on the set of WPIV's "Vermont Today" reveal Bob's professional insecurity. We'll never again be able to watch the series the way we did the first time through. Utter genius.
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In
Esquire's August issue, Dan Rather offers a couple interesting chestnuts on the role of journalism...
"The press is a watchdog. Not an attack dog. Not a lapdog. A watch
dog. Now, a watchdog can't be right all the time. He doesn't bark only when he sees or smells something that's dangerous. A good watchdog barks at things that are suspicious."Quoting another: "
News is what somebody somewhere doesn't want you to know. All the rest is advertising."---
ESPN.com is copying reports Wednesday that sports "super-agent" Drew Rosenhaus, who represents NFL contract hold-out Terrell Owens, among others, rescued a drowning child and performed life-saving CPR at a hotel swimming pool on Tuesday. The problem, as I see it, of being a guy like Rosenhaus, is that even when the police confirm accounts of a story like this, guys like me still don't believe them.
Moeller TV Listings 7/20/05
If you're so inclined, ESPN's Sportscenter is broadcasting from Dyersville, IA and the "Field of Dreams" later today. Chris Berman will probably be there to ruin it, though.
PBS is airing the documentary "Bob Newhart: Unbuttoned" tonight as part of their American Masters series. It airs at 7:00pm cst in Des Moines. Check local listings.
Hopping off the fence
Last year, George W. Bush promised the American people that he would fire any cabinet official found to have leaked the name of a CIA operative to the press. Yesterday, with his chief political strategist, Karl Rove, sitting squarely in the investigator's crosshairs, he revised his promise to fire anyone found to have
broken the law. The shift in standard allows Rove's continued service in the administration until the commission of the crime has been established.
It's comforting to know that criminal activity won't be tolerated in the West Wing of the White House.
In sports parlance, this is called "moving the goalposts."
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The timing of today's Supreme Court nomination should serve to temporarily take some heat off of Rove, but
New York Times columnist
Frank Rich believes the Rove angle is, itself, a bogus subplot, secondary to the larger story about how we were led falsely into war.
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Billy Bob Thornton is that rarest of actors-- a talented and unique entity on the screen, and a genuinely interesting person off. He's been in the public eye for less than a decade, and he's already given us five evergreens-- "Sling Blade," "A Simple Plan," "The Man Who Wasn't There," "Monster's Ball," and "Bad Santa." The secret of his success, I believe, is that he's truly
from somewhere, and he carries that somewhere with him in his work. Here's an engaging profile from the
Village Voice.
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I can remain silent on this issue no longer: the general public disdain for Paris Hilton has gone completely overboard. The latest mock outrage by tabloid consumers and clever radio disc jockeys is over the fact that the hotel heiress asked to be married at a church in London where only royalty has been married previously. Jesus, it doesn't hurt to ask, does it?
What makes Paris think she's worthy of royalty? they ask. Well, what makes
anyone think they're worthy of royalty, especially the royals? Jeez, Louise. I realize we're conditioned to hate anyone rich and attractive, but this girl's taking a drubbing. Doesn't it say something that she's willing to laugh at herself on television? And hasn't she already taken her public comeuppance with the whole sex tape thing? She might come up short on talent in television and film circles, but she's hardly alone in that regard.
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It may seem like a golden age for home movie entertainment, but we're not there yet. Sunday night I was fixin' to re-watch Woody Allen's "Radio Days" from 1987. Problem is, it's not out on DVD yet, and the video copy at my local store wasn't due back for two more days. So it was off to Blockbuster.
Are you aware they have no video tapes there anymore? A few new releases, I guess, but only the DVD format on the comedy and drama shelves. Not only was there no "Radio Days," there were only
four comedies under 'R.'
This has to change.
School of Baseball
I got a sneak preview Monday night of "Bad News Bears," and it's a charming little flick. The natural comparisons will be to the original 1976 film starring Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal, and also to last year's "Bad Santa," because of the foul language and the central presence of Billy Bob Thornton. The most striking similarity to me, though, is to Jack Black's 2003 head-banging version of "The Music Man"-- "School of Rock." The two films, it turns out, share the same director.
Richard Linklater has a great ability to make smartass kids appealing (and that's no mean feat.) In "School of Rock," Linklater, along with screenwriter Mike White, set out to make the hippest family movie of all time, and largely succeeded. They populated the screen with a broad cross-section of children's character types, balancing the herd, but making each one unique and endearing. Here, the director is still aiming broad and low. He gives us yet a second film that will appeal to your brighter adults, while not sacrificing any home room credibility.
Halfway through the viewing, I became intrigued by the possible cultural implications of the film's harsh language. First of all, it's probably not even all that unrealistic that these Little League-age children and their adult supervisors would be dialoging in such a hefty percentage of George Carlin's infamous "seven dirty words," but number two-- an expression too tame for this film-- will people even be offended? Coming on the heals of "Bad Santa," the movie would seem ripe to spark some mild, media-overblown protest, but I suspect there will be none. This is because it's an adaptation of a 30 year old source, and a rather faithful one at that. Billy Bob's "coach" character may seem like a poor role model to those who only bother to catch the television ads, but what can the smoking, drinking, and carousing Thornton do to soil the culture that the beloved late Walter Matthau didn't already do on the same diamond a generation ago? It just goes to show that the recent cultural destruction of America is really nothing recent at all. It may even turn out that a destruction isn't taking place.
From a baseball standpoint, the film should be ranked either 'very good' or 'great.' Billy Bob is a believable former ballplayer. The ace slugger has a sweet right-handed swing, and the female pitcher, played by Sammi Kraft, appropriately gets the power of her pitching delivery from her legs. Linklater does a fine job of framing batting swings and blending the play results. Only once, that I can recall, does a "home run" look like a pop-up. (A most devastating mistake, though, is a plot-twisting change in the batting order in the championship game.)
The 1976 version of "Bad News Bears" was an important film to be added to baseball's cinematic lexicon during the salad days of the National Football League, and it's worth "re-imaging" now for a new generation. Adolescents too young to stay up for the end of World Series games, and easily bored by modern-day ballplayers with unimaginative nicknames, have an opportunity here to rediscover not only the enjoyment of watching the game, but playing it as well. The rugrats can also learn one of the valuable and timeless lessons of our national game, taught explicitly on-screen by Billy Bob Thornton's character-- "Baseball is easy to love. But it doesn't always love you back. It's like dating a German chick."
ESPY'd
There will be no "Baseball Show on KXNO" this week. The Sunday night ballgame between the Red Sox and Yankees has been moved up to accomodate the Sports Oscars, better known as the ESPY's. We will return to the airwaves of AM 1460 in Des Moines on the 24th.
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A
Jim Zabel joke: I was taking my wife out on the town last night and wanted to take her somplace expensive, so I took her to a gas station.
The hidden cost of anti-unionism
American labor unions have no visible public advocate. Over the last two and a half decades, Corporate America has effectively consolidated power against them within both political parties. And if you think I'm selling the Democrats short, how else do you explain how 10 Senate Democrats could cross the aisle and support President Bush's efforts to establish the Central American Free Trade Agreement, despite opposition from nearly all of the core Democratic voting groups, from organized labor to environmental organizations to civil and human rights groups to progressive farm groups? (Thanks to the Democratic defection, CAFTA passed the Senate 55-45.)
What doesn't get reported in the corporate-controlled media is the high public cost of dismantling unions. Case in point is the exploding cost of the Medicaid program. Despite the widespread belief that most Medicaid recipients are unemployed, in fact, 80 percent of Americans without health insurance come from families in which at least one person works. (Source: Department of Labor.) It's become the vogue, particularly for a certain retail business giant, to deny health care to its low-wage, unskilled workers, and then pocket the savings. The burden of providing medical care for these people and their families then shifts to the government.
The Health Care Accountability Act, sponsored by Sens. Ted Kennedy and Jon Corzine (but ultimately going nowhere thanks to big business opposition,) would require states to collect and publish the number of employees at large companies who get taxpayer-subsidized health insurance instead of coverage on their jobs. The legislation is now often referred to as the "Wal-Mart bill," because of the company's reputation for perfecting this practice. The world's largest corporation, with gross profits of $70.5 billion last year, is also the largest employer of people on state-run health insurance programs in the dozen states that track such information.
It was shocking for me to read (in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Saturday) that fewer than half of Wal-Mart workers receive health coverage through the company. Part-time workers are not eligible for family coverage, and the company makes new employees wait six months before qualifying for benefits (as opposed to most competitors' three months.) Part-timers wait two years for an individual plan.
Customers may be getting great bargains at the Wal-Mart check-out counter, but they're paying the piper every April 15th.
This race to the bottom has badly damaged union supermarket chains, who compete against Wal-Mart Superstores, but it's damaging for all of us. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which is attempting to organize Wal-Mart workers, estimates that taxpayers paid more than $210 million subsidizing health care for Wal-Mart employees last year, and that's only in the 15 states that keep records. In Florida, more than 13 percent of company employees (12,300 workers) are enrolled in health insurance programs for the poor.
Other corners of Corporate America are even being hurt. Well-meaning companies are struggling with rapidly growing health care costs for
their employees, while paying more than their share to cover immoral competitors.
Meanwhile, what little union activity remains in the U.S. is working to lift the tide for all boats. Even
the threat of unionization is a powerful force for change. As labor attorney
Nathan Newman points out, Costco stores provide health care coverage to 92 percent of their employees despite the fact that only 18 percent are unionized. This ripple effect of organization also serves to keep working conditions better for all. Corporate consultants hired to bust unions commonly advise companies to "improve work conditions as a key strategy to keep unions out," according to Newman.
With little high-profile support among lawmakers, though, working organizations are taking a public beating. Their bargaining and political power has been so sharply reduced that, today, only 1 in 12 workers in the private sector are card-carrying members. They're painted largely by the media to be an impediment to business growth and prosperity, and, as a result, many Americans have bought into the myth.
But according to polls, an overwhelming majority of Americans also believe that working citizens deserve the right to a living wage and access to basic health care. My hunch, too, is that they overwhelmingly believe a moral culture should be standing up for its most vulnerable citizens against social injustice and profit-blinded greed.
Harwell
Ugh. No Major League Baseball tonight. A night like this makes me long for last summer, when I could fall back on the John McEnroe show.
If you read nothing more about the All-Star Game and its broadcast, read
this. You'll have to flip past a 10 sec ad about an idiot with a bowtie, but it's worth it.
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Censorship watch: Willie Nelson's new reggae album, "Countryman," was released Tuesday. The record company, Universal Music Group Nashville, is releasing it with two different album covers. A primary one with a green marijuana leaf on the cover, and one with a palm tree. The latter is being issued so that the album can be sold nationally in Wal-Mart stores. Says Nelson, "They're covering all the bases." The album's contents remain unchanged.
Here are the two covers.
Censorship watch 2: An intriguing new documentary called "The Aristocrats," which goes national August 12th, will not be exhibited by AMC Theaters, the nation's soon-to-be second largest theater chain. The unrated film chronicles the history of "the dirtiest joke ever told," and features multiple tellings of the vaudeville-era joke, from such disparate artists as Robin Williams, Sarah Silverman, and Bob Saget. An AMC spokeswoman explained that when a film is unrated, the company's policy is to send the film up to its corporate office. In this case, she said, the chairman of the company made a business decision not to play the film. (AMC owns 3,500 screens.)
The film's distributor, ThinkFilm, calls the move censorship and says AMC reneged on its initial obligations. "The Aristocrats" is directed by stand-up comedian and former "Northern Exposure" star Paul Provenza, and is produced by Provenza and magician/comedian Penn Jillette. It contains no violence or nudity.
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The Emmy nominations will be announced early Thursday morning. We're rooting for "Arrested Development" and "Deadwood."
The dark days of the National League
That's eight in a row for the Junior Circuit in the All-Star Game. (Plus the tie in Milwaukee, which is starting to look more and more like a National League victory.) I think you could see it tonight in the lineups. The Seniors just don't have much to draw on. There are some underachieving clubs in the National League's East and Central Divisions, but the West has simply collapsed. It hurts also that the Los Angeles Angels of Lower Fullerton and Orange County have joined the Red Sox and Yankees in the mega-spending for free agents.
But, alas, here are some of my notes from Tuesday night's game...
The pregame- FOX has done so much to ruin baseball broadcasting I don't know where to begin. Jeanie Zelasko butchered a fine tribute to Tigers' Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell by cutting off his final poetic comments to bland commentator Kevin Kennedy. The network wastes 15 minutes of valuable time before each game with the "Century 21 FOX Pre-game show," which, it turns out, is no better than the apparently now-cancelled "Ameritech FOX Pre-game show." The one thing the two shows have in common is that the highlight packages are always destroyed by extra voice-overs and distracting, misplaced sound effects.
FOX play-by-play man Joe Buck begins the real broadcast by saying what a great host the city of Detroit has been over the last couple of days. Any athletic event in Detroit that doesn't culminate in violence is considered a rousing success.
Starting lineups- What a dull baseball town. I realize during player introductions that the Tigers have no great rivals. There are very few big names in the game, anyway, thanks to a predominant voting strategy that rewards the best first-half statistics. The only players booed are the Yankees and current "bad-boy" Kenny Rogers. And the booings are not inspired. Couldn't they bring in Ron Artest, just for the evening?
And when did they stop introducing trainers and team coaches? Apparently after Mel Stottlemyre and Don Zimmer, but before Dave Duncan and Jose Oquendo. Also, to save time, FOX continues its now four-year tradition of taking a commercial break during the playing of the Canadian anthem. Take that, Windsor, Ontario! Brian McKnight gets the duties on the U.S. anthem. I think it would have been cool if he had just sung harmony.
1st inning- Carlos Beltran grounds into the first of three NL double plays. When did these leagues switch identities? "Phat" Albert Pujols singles on a tough 0-2 pitch away. Derrek Lee fans, shortly after Cardinals' employee Buck introduces him as
Carlos Lee. Bottom one, David Eckstein makes a slick play to his right on his first fielding chance. Chris Carpenter pitches out of trouble for a scoreless bottom of the first. I realize the only time I get nervous during an All-Star Game is when a Cardinal is pitching. Carp's day is done after one inning. Tied 0-0.
2nd inning- Jim Edmonds pops out. Aramis Ramirez drops in a single with a good approach to right field. He's stranded. Miguel Tejada greets John Smoltz with a monster home run to give the AL a lead they will never relinquish. I curse LaRussa for pulling his own pitcher after just one inning. AL 1-0.
3rd inning- Color man Tim McCarver paints an interesting picture of an infield hit by Carlos Beltran. He calls it "an All-Star play all the way around," when Beltran hits a tough pitch out to second, the Orioles' Brian Roberts makes a diving stop, but Beltran is too fast to be thrown out at first. Pitcher Bartolo Colon follows this comment by throwing the ball into right field on a pick-off attempt. Houston's Roy Oswalt breaks two AL bats, but coughs up two runs in the bottom frame. AL 3-0.
4th inning- Derrek Lee smokes a pitch to left for a lead-off double. I admit, out loud, in my apartment, that he frequently hits the ball very hard. Luckily, no one is around to hear me. Edmonds follows with a walk, but Ramirez grounds into a double play. Edmonds does no one any favors by bailing out on the slide at second. This includes SS Tejada, who assumed Edmonds would go hard into the bag. His return throw almost sails away.
The Americans tack on two more in the 4th. A pivotal hit is a double by B. Roberts down the right field line. Some bored Red Wings fan picks up the live ball. Fortunately, it doesn't affect the outcome of the play, but the fan looks angry, bewildered-- and drunk as the usher takes the ball from him. AL 5-0.
5th inning- The NL goes quietly again. Tony LaRussa is interviewed during the bottom of the inning. He seems a bit angry, and none too chatty, as Roger Clemens pitches what I believe is the only 1-2-3 inning by an NL hurler during the evening. AL 5-0.
6th inning- LaRussa's really sucking up to his chief division rivals. He lifts Pujols and Edmonds for pinch-hitters, but Lee and Ramirez each bat once more time in the 6th. In the dugout, we see Ramirez ask LaRussa to autograph his copy of Buzz Bissinger's "Three Nights in August." Before the night is over, LaRussa will also hand over the ball to Astros pitchers for three full innings. I think Skip's trying to shame Bob Brenly and Joe Torre by denying All-Star rewards to his own players. Aramis adds a base-on-balls to his evening's batting total in the 6th, but the NL can't cash in on a brief bout of wildness by the White Sox' Jon Garland. The Rangers' Mark Teixeira cranks a two-run shot off Dontrelle Willis in the bottom frame. AL 7-0.
7th inning- Just as I'm losing interest, the game mildly perks up. Kenny Rogers enters the game to modest booing, and Andruw Jones crushes one of the
loudest home runs in All-Star history. It's a two-run shot and that's a start. But that daggum double play ball rears its ugly head again two batters later, off the bat of Paul LoDuca, and that is quickly that. The Winans do a nice job with "God Bless America" during the stretch. It's multi-layered, and moves fast. Slicker than cat shit on a linoleum floor. Hey, there's "Bad News Bears" star Billy Bob Thornton in the seats at Comerica Park! And he's wearing the jersey of his beloved Cardinals. You have to look fast, though. FOX cuts him off at the shoulders with a graphic for the movie. Then we see an incidental shot of Cardinals coach Dave Duncan, trainer Barry Weinberg, and the ancient minor league instructor George Kissell, who's worn a big league uniform for more than 60 seasons. It would have been nice if Buck would have said something about that. Or McCarver, seeing as how Kissell made him into a big leaguer. Oh well, it's Detroit's night. I'm sure we'll get
our night. Someday.
AL 7-2.
8th inning- With one on and one out, Reds' shortstop Felipe Lopez, playing tonight at 3rd base, lines a single to center. Buck informs us that Lopez is wearing a "Napoleon Dynamite"
Vote for Pedro t-shirt under his jersey. (That's all he gave us. You'll have to research the rest.) An RBI groundball by Miguel Cabrera scores another, and the Nationals' Chad Cordero extinguishes a fire in the bottom frame. Does America know who these guys are? It's now AL 7, NL 3.
9th inning- Bob Wickman on for the American League. I'm impressed to see AL starters, Vladimir Guerrero and Miguel Tejada, still in uniform. Tejada surely assumes he may yet be picking up some hardware, but my point remains the same-- at least they're not in a cab. The remnants of the hurricane start to intrude on the action, just as the NL strings together a two run rally. Luis Gonzalez and Carlos Lee drive in the runs, and McCarver informs us that, before the game, Joe Torre called Boston- and AL- manager Terry Francona, asking him to avoid using Mariano Rivera in the game. I wonder to myself whether Baltimore manager Lee Mazzilli also called Francona with special instructions. Rivera is summoned from the bullpen and punches out Morgan Ensberg to end the game, 7-5. The tying run never comes to the plate. Tigers fans had barely noticed that the National League was down to their final out as they raced into Comerica's tunnels to avoid the rain.
Miguel Tejada is introduced as MVP by a very pregnant Jeanie Zelasko. The struggling General Motors Corporation temporarily improves upon its Employee Discount Sale by rewarding a Chevrolet Corvette to the Baltimore Orioles' shortstop. The Dominican star takes custody of the vehicle-
completely free of charge!Commissioner Bud Selig ambles shiftlessly onto the field, long after there are still fans in the ballpark to boo him, and he rewards Tejada with the Stan Musial All-Star MVP trophy named for Ted Williams. In his finest prose, the majestic former used-car salesman declares the frozen Red Sox slugger, Williams, to be the greatest hitter who ever lived, then nods off to sleep.
Next year in Jerusalem!
Derby Day
Here's me in March... "This whole steroid scandal will blow over, but these Congressional hearings will be the end of the Home Run Derby."
I wish I had been right. Watching the Home Run Derby wears me out. Maybe it's the lack of nuance in the competition. Maybe it's the legacy of damaged swings and damaged shoulders (Jim Edmonds.) Probably it's Chris Berman. I keep waiting for the event to go the way of the Slam Dunk Contest. It just goes to show, though, that the people (and ESPN) still love the long ball. As I write this, Bobby Abreu is posting an opening round, record-breaking total of 24 home runs. The fans are enjoying it.
Major League Baseball also did a clever thing in changing the competition this year to a battle of nationalism. It's a dumb idea to match the players by home country, and at least one deserving player was denied a chance to compete so that Hee Sop Choi could get his swings, but it did succeed in changing the topic of conversation away from steroids.
The All-Star festivities are always intriguing for me. It's fun to count the number of teams that have hosted the game two or three times since the Cardinals last hosted it in 1966. This year the game is in Detroit. I remember as a kid (1983) watching Fred Lynn hit a grand slam at old Tiger Stadium. In 1971, Reggie Jackson hit a home run off the light tower at the old ballpark. Good times.
I might be the only Bud Selig opponent who supports his decision to give World Series home field advantage to the league that wins the All-Star Game. Major League Baseball was a much more rewarding product back in the day when there was such a thing as "league pride." It may seem rather random to reward or deny a team such a critical advantage based on a game played in July, but it seems disingenuous to criticize it when there was no previous movement to do away with the old system. Home field advantage used to alternate each year. You can't get more random than that.
Awarding home field advantage to the team with the best record isn't a perfect system, either. I happen to believe the American League is much tougher than the National right now, but the NL has been tougher throughout most of history. The Yankees beat up on such weak ballclubs for so long that it would have been very unfair to reward them home field each year.
Also, MLB was bound to tinker with the exhibition after the tie-game debacle in Milwaukee in 2003. We should all be grateful Bud Lite chose this solution instead of dividing the teams by nationality, like this year's Derby and the NHL All-Star Game. That would really blow.
I'll be watching the game tomorrow night. Possibly big implications for the Cardinals!
7/12 Correction: The '83 All-Star Game was played in Comiskey Park in Chicago, not Detroit. This is only the second Mid-Summer Classic played in Motown since '66. In my defense, though, if you've seen one rickety old American League ballpark, you've seen 'em all.
Chris Moeller Film Awards- The Winners
Best Picture/Director2004- Sideways- Alexander Payne
2003- Capturing the Friedmans- Andrew Zarecki
2002- Lovely and Amazing- Nicole Holofcener
2001- Mulholland Drive- David Lynch
2000- O Brother, Where Art Thou- Joel Coen
1999- Election- Alexander Payne
1998- La Vita E Bella- Roberto Benigni
1997- Eve's Bayou- Kasi Lemmons
Other Top 52004- The Aviator, Closer, Control Room, Kill Bill, Vol. 2
2003- Bad Santa, Elephant, Lost In Translation, Swimming Pool
2002- About Schmidt, Secretary, Talk To Her, Y Tu Mama Tambien
2001- In the Bedroom, Memento, Monster's Ball, The Royal Tenenbaums
2000- Almost Famous, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, High Fidelity, Traffic
1999- (5) Being John Malkovich, Bringing Out the Dead, Dick, The Straight Story, The Talented Mr. Ripley
1998- Gods and Monsters, The Last Days of Disco, A Simple Plan, Your Friends and Neighbors
1997- In the Company of Men, Jackie Brown, L.A. Confidential, Private Parts
Best Actress2004- Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
2003- Charlize Theron, Monster
2002- Maribel Verdu, Y Tu Mama Tambien
2001- Halle Berry, Monster's Ball
2000- Laura Linney, You Can Count On Me
1999- Reese Witherspoon, Election
1998- Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love
1997- Pam Grier, Jackie Brown
Best Actor2004- Paul Giamatti, Sideways
2003- Bill Murray, Lost In Translation
2002- Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
2001- Tom Wilkinson, In the Bedroom
2000- Mark Ruffalo, You Can Count On Me
1999- Richard Farnsworth, The Straight Story
1998- Ian McKellan, Gods and Monsters
1997- Aaron Eckhart, In the Company of Men
Best Supporting Actress2004- Virginia Madsen, Sideways
2003- Hope Davis, American Splendor
2002- Kathy Bates, About Schmidt
2001- Marisa Tomei, In the Bedroom
2000- Zhang Ziyi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
1999- Catherine Keener, Being John Malkovich
1998- Bridget Fonda, A Simple Plan
1997- Debbi Morgan, Eve's Bayou
Best Supporting Actor2004- David Carradine, Kill Bill, Vol. 2
2003- Tony Cox, Bad Santa
2002- John C. Reilly, Chicago
2001- Tony Shalhoub, The Man Who Wasn't There
2000- Willem Dafoe, Shadow of the Vampire
1999- Jude Law, The Talented Mr. Ripley
1998- Jason Patric, Your Friends and Neighbors
1997- Al Pacino, Donnie Brasco
Best Adapted Screenplay2004- Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, Sideways
2003- Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini, American Splendor
2002- Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, About Schmidt
2001- Daniel Clowes, Terry Zwigoff, Ghost World
2000- D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, Scott Rosenberg, High Fidelity
1999- Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, Election
1998- Bill Condon, Gods and Monsters
1997- Brian Helgeland, Curtis Hanson, L.A. Confidential
Best Original Screenplay2004- Zach Braff, Garden State
2003- Sofia Coppola, Lost In Translation
2002- Nicole Holofcener, Lovely and Amazing
2001- Owen Wilson, Wes Anderson, The Royal Tenenbaums
2000- Kenneth Lonergan, You Can Count On Me
1999- Charlie Kaufman, Being John Malkovich
1998- Jeremy Piksar, Warren Beatty, Bulworth
1997- Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Good Will Hunting
Hurricane relief
Disregard any previous schedules. "The Baseball Show on KXNO" will be on the air as usual this Sunday night. The Iowa Cubs' scheduled late-afternoon ballgame in New Orleans has already been postponed due to the impending Hurricane Yadier, or whatever it's called.
We will still be pre-empted on the 17th due to an early start ESPN Game of the Week between the Yankees and Red Sox.
The 8th Annual Chris Moeller Film Awards
The 8th Annual CMFA's are hitting the web. I attempt to pop these out about six months after the Oscars are announced (I suffer a lag in time caused by the studios' refusals to send tapes.) At least the last couple of years, I've sent a heartfelt e-mail to a very select few. But this year, I have a blog, and the future is now. I'll still record the winners in my trusty five-subject notebook for all posterity and the opportunity to boast to the grandchildren my ability to choose, in a virtual instant, movies that will stand the test of time.
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It continues to be the case that the CMFA's reward execution over intention. We don't automatically equate period and costume pieces with sophistication, and we don't consider comedies to be inferior to dramas. When considering individual awards, we don't give extra points to an actor because she was overlooked in the past, and we don't honor high-salaried actors because he looked good in a dress next to Peter Scolari 25 years ago. We don't reward "stars" for attempting to hide their star power. In fact, we've found that this scenario really only presents itself if the wrong actor has been cast. Finally, we recognize what the Motion Picture Academy is apparently incapable of recognizing-- that the awards for Best Picture and Best Director are inseparable.
The 2004 Top 5 Films include a period bio-pic that was simultaneously thrilling in its action sequences and its historical insight; an ultra-stylized character drama that examined relationship honesty in a commanding and unconventional way; a little-seen documentary on the Iraqi War that had more subtlety and truth than the more commercially-successful "Fahrenheit 911" (with more incendiary accusations hurled at the Bush Administration, to boot;) and a genre-smashing roller coaster ride from our most adventurous filmmaker.
The announcement of the year's top film should lack drama as we've already touted it heavily throughout the awards season. Our favorite director released his most textured film to date in the fall. I drove to his hometown in a neighboring state to watch it in limited release, and marveled at its wisdom about human frailty and male insecurity, and its total commitment to character nuance.
We applaud all of the honored performances this year, and hope that the recipients use their CMFA as a springboard to more inspired work. May this honor not be the career 'kiss-of-death' for them that it was for Al Pacino. Ticket for one, please...
CMFA Top 5 2004The Aviator
Martin Scorsese, dir
Closer
Mike Nichols, dir
Control Room
Julia Bacha, Alan Oxman, Charles Marquardt, Lilah Bankier, editors
Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Quentin Tarantino, dir
And the 2004 Best Picture/DirectorSideways
Alexander Payne, dir
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Best ActressCate Blanchett, The Aviator
Best ActorPaul Giamatti, Sideways
Best Supporting ActressVirginia Madsen, Sideways
Best Supporting ActorDavid Carradine, Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Best Adapted ScreenplayAlexander Payne, Jim Taylor, Sideways
Best Original ScreenplayZach Braff, Garden State
Explanations: Based on past decisions, I couldn't justify the brilliant Thomas Haden Church as a
Supporting Actor in "Sideways." It irritates me when scene-stealing character actors are forced to compete against actors with meatier roles classified as "supporting" only because they're written opposite a more dominant lead. (Another example of the latter: Jennifer Connelly in "A Beautiful Mind.")
Cate Blanchett's role was caught in the middle of these categories. She was certainly deserving of her Oscar (in a Supporting Role,) and time may ultimately reveal that I cheated this year in an effort to reward the top two female performances of the year.
Other 2004 thoughts: Super Size Me was an entertaining and thought-provoking documentary that made me think for the first time about the impact of fast food on our national health. Strangely, it also made me hungry for a Quarter Pounder.
It was good to see Tom Hanks find his playfulness again in the otherwise forgettable comedy re-make,
The Ladykillers. Legendary director Bernardo Bertolucci gave us the reassurance that at least we still have the Europeans to obsess about sex on the big screen. His film,
The Dreamers, was a snooze-fest, but
The Life Aquatic takes the prize as the single most boring film of the year. (And that's not me in the film's spirit of being droll.)
Ray and
Kinsey both suffered from the usual pitfalls of biographical movies.
Ray was paint-by-numbers-- an "In Living Color" sketch meets "Behind the Music," smothered in sentimental sauce.
Kinsey was better helmed (by Bill Condon,) but mirrored its subject-- methodical and dull.
Another biography,
De-Lovely, the story of songwriter Cole Porter, benefited from great performances by Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd. I admit I'm also partial to the music.
It was easier to overlook Michael Moore's ambivalence towards the director's craft before he publicly betrayed the principles of his own film.
Fahrenheit 911 was clumsy and unfocused, but you can't say it didn't have sizzle. It's authenticity ultimately collapsed, though, when the director endorsed the pro-war Democrat for President.
Charlie Kaufman's dizzy
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind lacked the refinement of structure of
Being John Malkovich, proof that the director of the earlier film, Spike Jonze, deserved more of the credit at the time than he got. Michel Gondry's release this year didn't properly harness its emotion. Kate Winslet should be more heartbreaking. She's radiant.
Zach Braff wrote a great script for
Garden State, but the author and his leading lady (Natalie Portman) were a little too precious on screen. On the subject of Portman, her director's misplaced personal loyalty marred the otherwise brilliant
Closer. You're going to question my sincerity or take offense, but there is a scene with Clive Owen in a stripclub that absolutely requires Senator Amidala to show us her ta-tas. It's a scene straight from the source, a British play. It's specifically crafted to be about prurience, revelation, dishonesty, and temptation, and my guess is that Mike Nichols caved to Portman's cold feet after his wife, Diane Sawyer, began lobbying for the interview exclusives with Portman and fellow cast members Julia Roberts and Jude Law. (Fear not, she got them.)
I told you at the time how much I liked
Spanglish. James L. Brooks films are endlessly watchable. I like his fearlessness in portraying eccentricity and his comfort level with his middle-age audience.
Anchorman is the laugh riot of the year. Raw for sure, but if I had more guts, I would have put it in the Top 5.
Now, the ones you like that I don't get. How anyone can describe
Million Dollar Baby as fresh and surprising is beyond me. Maybe these particular cliches have never appeared in the same movie before, but they're still cliches, and you can also put lipstick on a pig...
The movie was, at best, hackneyed (the down and out boxing trainer and his underdog fighter,) and, at worst, insulting (the portrayals of Hilary Swank's family and the rival fighter.)
Collateral was laughable in its premise and the backseat half of its lead casting, and it was remarkably tedious in its 45 minute denouement.
Napoleon Dynamite was a piano player banging the same note. (Perhaps that's a tad harsh.) Clearly, though, it was the
My Big Fat Greek Wedding of 2004, that is, the year's biggest beneficiary of its audience's lowered expectations. Released during the summer-- the most distinct three month creative lapse on Hollywood's calendar-- any idea that doesn't generate in a corporate boardroom looks like genius.
Team America: World Police is the worst film I can remember. Insipid, insulting to anyone who gives a damn about the world, and painfully unfunny-- ("Film Actors Guild," is F.A.G.-- Get it?) It now holds the distinction of being the first movie I ever walked out on.
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Thanks for playing. The results of the seven previous years of the CMFA's will be posted this weekend. You've been warned.
Pandering
I've been doing some informal statistical research, and it turns out many of you active on this website are Cubs fans, so here's a great link for you to enjoy during your freefall in the Central Division standings. It's a satirical newsletter and website from Chicago called
"The Heckler." Maybe you saw it promoted in today's
Tribune. Pretty funny stuff.
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Apparently, the International Olympic Committee hasn't heard about our new Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
These prison walls
The ruling class only extends rights to the underclass when it feels it can safely do so without sacrificing its power, and at present, the electorate in Iowa is very evenly divided between the two major parties. Therefore, politics is rearing its ugly head as Democratic Governor Tom Vilsack attempts to restore voting rights to convicted felons who have completed their prison sentences. By signing the executive order on the 4th of July, Vilsack made Iowa the 46th state to allow felons to vote, and according to a national advocacy group, the blanket restoration will effect an estimated 50,000 Iowans.
Republicans at the Statehouse fear that the majority of felons will vote Democratic. Kathryn Hove, a former aide to Republican Governor Terry Branstad, has raised the red herring that many of the felons have not paid their court costs or attorney's fees, and therefore have not fully paid their "debt." Others claim that the convicts have not made financial restitution to the victims of their crimes. The Republicans cannot legally prevent the order from taking effect, but future governors will be able to rescind the move.
This issue is about fundamental fairness and human rights. A healthy society, which I like to believe we have, is committed to rehabilitation and re-integration with its criminal justice system, not simply punishment. It should also be clear to anyone concerned with crime rates that re-integrated citizens are more empowered and less prone to recidivism. Actions like Vilsack's are in the best interest of society at large, as well as for the convicted, who deserve the chance to escape the de facto indentured servitude that keeps them imprisoned in America even after prison release, even if it's all to the political detriment of knee-jerk, so-called "tough-on-crime" politicians more committed to spreading fear than accurate information.
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Good news and bad news for the Chicago Cubs. The bad news is they've slipped under .500 for the year, and will likely remain there through the All-Star break, with games remaining this week in Atlanta and Miami. The good news is that, thanks to the Wild Card, it's the best time in baseball history to be under .500.
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As a fan of a National League baseball team contending for the pennant, I'm terrified of the prospect of playing the Washington Nationals in the post-season. Because of the Nationals' talent on the field? No. Because they're owned by Major League Baseball, and will be put up for sale after the season. The commissioner's inability to resolve the financial and competitive conflict of interest surrounding the Expos-slash-Nationals may be his biggest failure on the job. And that's saying something.
The first All-Star Game thoughts of July
Voters picking Derrek Lee over Albert Pujols to start the MLB All-Star Game is the equivalent of picking U.S. Open Champion Michael Campbell over Tiger Woods for an All-Star Skins Competition.
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As preposterous as it is that the consensus pick for the greatest hitter in baseball, the reigning League Championship Series MVP (after hitting 5 HRs,) the top finisher in last year's NL MVP voting that's currently on a 25-man roster, a .339 hitter for the year who has already put together the best four years of a career in baseball history, the best player on the team with the best record (one that has already built a nine game lead in their division,) a workaholic, and the most respected player on that team is not the top vote-getter at his position, I take a tiny amount of solace in the fact that Albert Pujols will be in the National League starting line-up as the designated hitter. It also appears that Phat Albert will be joined in the starting line-up by teammates Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, David Eckstein, and, with any justice, Chris Carpenter, who, in action tonight, already has 11 wins and has allowed one earned run in his last 29 innings as I write this (middle of the third inning.)
Matt Morris, Jason Isringhausen, Yadier Molina, and Mark Grudzielanek are also deserving of All-Star selections by the All-Star manager, Tony LaRussa, and it might surprise you to know that Reggie Sanders has already hit 17 home runs.
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Statistic comparison of the day:
Stan Musial -- Played in a record 24 All-Star Games, hit a record six All-Star home runs
Ted Williams -- 17 All-Star Games, four All-Star home runs
Yet, perhaps sarcastically due to his inability to win a World Series, the All-Star MVP Award was re-named the
Ted Williams MVP Award in 2003.
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The date of this year's All-Star Game, July 12th, will also mark the 50th Anniversary, to the day, of Stan the Man's 12th-inning, game-winning home run in the 1955 Mid-Summer Classic, played in Bud Selig's hometown of Milwaukee. The All-Century slugger is a healthy 84 years old and surely waiting by the phone (with his harmonica, no doubt) for an invitation to Detroit. I'm confident that Major League Baseball won't forget to call.
