Odds & Ends: Yankees, Swimming, Vegetable Oil, Romney, E-Mail

After another disheartening loss by the NY Yankees, this time to the Cincinnati Reds, I thought I’d ask one of my friends, a long-suffering NY Mets fan, how I could cope with a season of unfulfilled expectations. 

“Realistic expectations,” was Ken’s response, a philosophy he has perfected over many years but which he readily admitted was foreign to Yankees fans who have grown accustomed to regular season success, at the very least. 

Based on their play and their injury-laden roster, the Yankees and their fans are in for a very loooong season. Will it be a success if we manage to finish ahead of Boston?

Ken is my swimming instructor. He’s opened his pool, but it’s weeks too early to even consider dipping a dainty toe into the water, even if he heats it up. We agree I have the fundamentals down, that my failure to stay afloat is mostly, if not all, mental. Ken suggested adding a psychologist to the instructional team. My sister suggested a hypnotist. 

It’s still open to debate who will learn to swim first—two and a half year old Finley or his 63 year old grandfather.

The other day while driving home I was stopped behind a Mercedes with a decal across the back window proclaiming, “Powered by vegetable oil.”

Cool. Except the car really smelled like cooked French fries. 

The Sunday NY Times ran a profile of Mitt Romney and how the Mormon religion has shaped his life (“Romney’s Faith, Silent but Deep,” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/us/politics/how-the-mormon-church-shaped-mitt-romney.html?_r=1&hpw). 

He is, no doubt, a religious man. Nothing wrong there. But I was troubled especially by the last paragraph of the story, the one where Ann Romney was quoted about his decision to run for president. According to Gloria White-Hammond, a friend and pastor of a Boston-area African Methodist Episcopal church, Mrs. Romney said she and her husband “felt it was what God wanted them to do.” 

I’m troubled whenever anyone, other than maybe a clergyman, ascribes actions to what God wanted them to do. Is that how our government will be managed, by what is perceived to be messages from God? Romney, it turns out, as a practicing Mormon, is said to believe God has chosen the United States to be a special nation, that its Constitution is divinely inspired. 

“God is on our side” often is a rallying cry of countries that go to war. Heaven need truly help us if we devolve into a 21st century nation that believes our actions are always godly and beyond reproach. 

A friend sent me one of those right wing emails that deplore what is wrong with America and what we need to do to fix it. The thrust of this missive was too many people are taking money from the government without contributing anything in return. In other words, the have-nots are bleeding the haves dry. “We have let the free stuff giving go on for so long that there are now more people getting free stuff than paying for the free stuff.” 

Here’s the final credo:

Obama:Gone!

Borders: Closed!

Language: English only

Culture: Constitution, and the Bill of Rights!

Drug Free: Mandatory Drug Screening before Welfare!

NO freebies to: Non-Citizens!

I can’t let these screeds go unanswered, so here’s a little of what I wrote back:

Here's a link to a USA Today article http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-08-30-1Asafetynet30_ST_N.htm . In essence it says: 

50 million are on Medicaid

40 million get food stamps

10 million are on unemployment

4.4 million are on welfare.

Assuming no one is double dipping, that means 104.4 million receive some form of government assistance. That's roughly one-third of the U.S. population, not a majority. Enrollments in these programs have gone up because of the recession George W. Bush left as his legacy. 

Would you really like to live in a country that does not care for its elderly, for its infirm, for those who are not provided a proper education so they can climb out of poverty? Would you really like to live in a country that has no compassion for the less fortunate? Are you comfortable living in the richest country in the world while millions of children go to bed hungry each night? 

For sure there is waste, lots of waste, in these programs. But just as we don't tar the full military for the wrongdoings of a few idiots, we shouldn't dismiss the benefits these programs provide to the needy, of all ages, sexes, creeds, religions, background, and country of origin. 

Many in our country donate to worthwhile charities and other helpful programs. Yet poverty persists. Hunger remains. Education budgets are cut at a time when we need better trained employees. Private solutions are not sufficient to solve our problems. An economy without controls will lead to more abuses a la Enron, Tyco, JP Morgan Chase, and the derivative crisis that is the derivation of much of the financial problems of today. Surely you can't believe that we live in a Pollyanna world where everything will turn out just right if we pray hard for it and wish for it because in their hearts all men and women are good and would not take advantage of their neighbors and countrymen? There's a reason the first thing new settlers build is not a church but rather a jail. 

Tuesday's Lessons

Lessons from a Pol: Evan Bayh wrote an Op-Ed piece for Tuesday’s NY Times titled, “Where Do Democrats Go Next?” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/opinion/03bayh.html?_r=)

My longstanding response, to him. I believe the moderate senator from Indiana, voluntarily leaving office in January, will come out of political retirement as President Obama’s next choice for vice president.

With sensible strategies as those elucidated in his commentary, Bayh is well positioned to appeal to the majority of voters.


Lessons from the Field: A week ago, Cliff Lee was invincible. Now that he’s lost two World Series games, will the NY Yankees still spend gazillions to sign him as a free agent?

A week ago, the Texas Rangers made the Yankees look like old men. They out-hit, out-pitched, out-ran the Bronx Bummers in a convincing four games to two American League Championship Series win. They looked unstoppable entering the World Series.

Someone forgot to tell the San Francisco Giants. The Giants simply out-hit, out-pitched, out-ran and out-fielded the Rangers. Suddenly the Rangers looked like old men, or young men not worthy of being on the same field as the Giants. The Giants obliterated the Rangers four games to one.

That’s the thing about baseball, or any sport for that matter. A team, a player, can get hot, or turn cold, and completely change the anticipated outcome. There are no telltale clues. It just happens. When a whole team rises to the occasion, it’s marvelous to watch. Yankee fans, if they are true baseball fans, had to marvel at what the Rangers did to our beloved diamondmen. And we had to savor what the Giants did to the Rangers. Ah, sweet comeuppance (not revenge), at the hands of another team. And what hands they were—superb pitching and surprisingly solid fielding from a team not known for its defense.

The Giants and the Rangers, as well as the Tampa Bay Rays, the Minnesota Twins and the Cincinnati Reds, showed the Yanks that a high payroll is not the only route to the post-season. But anyone who thinks the Yankees will sharply reduce overall player salaries fails to recall they have made the playoffs 15 of the last 16 years. No other team can claim such a distinguished record. Playoff appearances translate to more revenue. The Yanks will continue to spend to make the playoffs. In the playoffs, they have to hope they are the hot team, for dollars don’t matter if the other team is on a roll. So look for Cliff Lee to wear pinstripes next year.


Lessons from My Wallet: Nothing says retirement more than a review of my mostly underused airline and hotel frequent traveler cards.

At one time I had so many cards I carried a separate wallet just for them: American Airlines, Delta, USAir, Jet Blue, United, Continental, America West, Northwest, Virgin America, Hertz, Budget, Starwood Hotels, Hyatt, Stouffer Hotels, Radisson, Holiday Inn, Marriott, Ramada, Hilton, Wyndham, Best Western, Renaissance—I got tired just typing that list.

Several years ago I finally realized it was foolish to carry the cards with me. So I reduced the load to one sheet of paper with all the card fronts photo-stated on both sides of the paper. Now I won’t have to carry even that around. Last night I inputted all my account numbers into my cell phone. Technology to the rescue. Of course, I rarely travel, and even less frequently travel for work, these days, making my number punching seem quite superfluous. But you never know when opportunity will come a knockin’, so I’m ready.


Lessons from the Court: The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on a censorship case that quite frankly vexes me (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/us/03scotus.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=morazzini&st=cse). I am generally against any form of censorship, but this case involves California’s attempt to restrict the sale of violent video games to minors.

Aside from the desire not to allow government to get a foothold on what can and cannot be said and sold, I can’t see any redeeming social value to video games that exalt killing, maiming, dismembering, sexual abuse, torture and other sadistic behavior. It’s hard to accept that our society is turned on by these increasingly sophisticated and repulsive (at least to me) forms of entertainment. It’s hard to accept that our society and laws would not want to shield those under 18 from this depravity, just as it prohibits minors from buying sexually explicit material. How can viewing sex be more damaging to a young mind than these graphic depictions of deadly and deviant mayhem that a video game player actually participates in and initiates?

I’d say it sounds like I’m turning more conservative in my old age, but a conservative reading of the Bill of Rights would not let government make any law that abridges freedom of the press. Oh, what troubled times we live in.