The Chris Moeller Archives

Detroit's turn

In a bizarro kind of way, thanks are due to Senate Republicans for killing the bailout bill for the nation's wayward automakers. I say "bizarro" because their idea to add greater concessions by the UAW was even worse, designed only to weaken worker solidarity. There's a solid deal to be had here, but we're a long way from it. A "car czar," appointed by the Bush administration, would be a far cry from a real oversight panel, but the biggest bullet the American people just dodged was a preposterous Democratic concession to still allow the automakers to sue individual states that seek tougher emission standards. This alone indicates that the money to be appropriated would have gone directly down the tube.

The fact that automakers are still looking for this type of provision indicates that they're not yet serious about producing fuel-efficient cars, or for that matter, building cars that the American people actually want to buy. Their executives are apparently going to have to be pulled by their shirt collars kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. Furthermore, House Democrats, in drawing up the bill that was rejected by the Senate, had also caved in to the president (surprise!) in allowing that this emergency funding be transferred from an existing loan program that had been designed to promote fuel-efficient technologies. So here we were taking money from a fund designed to clean up the environment, and giving it to car manufacturers so that they can spend it on blocking the mandates for cleaner vehicles. It would be funnier if it were simply stupidity. But it's not. It's also corruption at its deepest level.

Propped up by the oil companies, Detroit has been sticking it to the American people for decades and buying their protection. And yet for all the shit they've landed us all in, you have to admit there's a sense of gutteral satisfaction in seeing their leaders fly to Washington in their private jets only to be rejected outright. The American people should be demanding nothing less in return for a bailout than complete Congressional oversight over the auto-companies, the full parachute-less firing of the three corporations' CEOs and executive boards, and new never-before-seen requirements on fuel efficiency.

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This is an interesting two-year-old hypothesis on why Chicago politics are so corrupt.

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Quote of the day: "Chicago is not the most corrupt American City. It is the most theatrically corrupt."-- Studs Terkel, 1978

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I simply cannot get enough of this woman.

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When Greg Maddux broke into the Major Leagues with the Cubs in 1986, I distinctly recall misspelling his name on my scoresheets in APBA board game baseball. The Phillies had very recently still employed an outfielder by the name of Garry Maddox, a postseason veteran, an eight-time Gold Glove winner, and a Vietnam vet who wore a full beard because his skin had been exposed to chemicals during the war.

It didn't take long to learn the new pitcher's name. Maddux won 18 games in his second full season with the despised Cubs in '88, the first of 20 seasons in a row in which he won at least 13. In a piece of marvelous historical notation, Maddux was allowed to depart Chicago's North Side as a free agent following the 1992 season-- a transaction that would be distinctly "curse-worthy" in itself if the franchise he was departing was not already mired in a number of other, longer-sustained curses.

Maddux's peak years would then come as a member of the Atlanta Braves during the next decade. The best of the best came in 1995 when the right-handed ace delivered a 19-2 record and a 1.63 ERA for the Braves during a year in which the aggregate league ERA was 4.27.

He officially called it quits this week after logging more than 5,000 innings over his career, claiming 4 Cy Young Awards (consecutively, to boot) and winning 355 games, more than any other living player. He walked just 999 batters over his 23 seasons while striking out 3,371, and he pitched in 13 different post-seasons.

ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski remembers the unique career of one of the all-time greats.

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As we discussed earlier, the New York Mets' new stadium in Flushing, NY is in danger of carrying the embarrassing moniker Citi Field, named for the (one-time) banking giant that came begging to the American taxpayers this year for a costly bailout, and got it. Please indicate your choice below for an alternate name for the Mets' new stadium, as chosen by Mets fans in the New York Times earlier this month. Because even though there's little to like about the Mets-- their team or their fans, you have to feel sorry for the rest of us taxpayers.

Results will be unofficial and non-binding...

Name choice A) Flushing Meadows Park
B) Mets Field
C) Metropolitan Field
D) Shea Stadium
E) Gotham Park
F) Taxpayer Stadium
G) (Jackie) Robinson Stadium
H) Federal Reserve Park
I) Paulson Field
J) (Darryl) Strawberry Field (Forever)
K) Flushing Dollars Park
and my personal favorite,
L) Citi-zen Field

posted by CM @ 1:11 PM