Who Pays for Fouling the Planet?

The sad part is that dumbasses like this guy are still chanting "Drill Baby Drill!"

"Drill Baby Drill!"

Bill Epton (you can look him up) must have been turning in his grave when the Conservative Movement co-opted his slogan to advocate the corporate despoiling of the Earth at the 2008 Republican National Convention. ...And just to underscore the tone-deafness of the party as a whole, that chant was led by a Black man - RNC Chair Michael Steele. (When is this guy going to realize that he's just their houseboy and why would ANY Black person EVER be a Republican? But that's a discussion for another day.)

So... the day has finally arrived that all the "naysayers" and "tree huggers" warned would come. The Republican dogmas of "Free Enterprise" (give Big Business everything it wants) and "Smaller Government" (zero regulation) have at long last been brought to their logical conclustion. Mission accomplished!

The Gulf of Mexico is being fouled by worst oil spill in history. By some estimates every five days as much oil is being jetted into the Gulf as the previous worst disaster, the Exxon Valdez. That is, 11 million gallons of crude every five days, and it's been a month now. Do the math - it's already a half-dozen times worse than the 1989 spill with no end in sight. Even now, it is the worst ecological disaster in history.

It will take decades for the Gulf area to recover, if ever.

As bad as the environmental impact of the spill is, I fear the human toll will be much worse. Fishermen and anyone else who made their living on the Gulf might as well go find a new line of work right now. All the seafood will be poisoned for years to come. The toxic spill is already reaching the coral reefs so you can kiss them goodbye, and get ready for all the downstream consequences to the ecosystem that portends. The Mississippi river delta, one of the most firtle areas on Earth, will be fouled. The repercussions go on and on and on!

And WHY? Because BP and its subcontractor Global failed to take the proper safety precautions on the offshore rig, drilling the deepest offshore well ever attempted. The Global engineer told "60 Minutes" that some dumbass put a drill bit through a plug meant to cap the well in case of a blowout. He also reported that the crew was pressured to cut corners in estabilished safety procedures to make the rig more profitable. Now we have an underwater "gusher" that nobody seems to know how to cap.

And what is anybody doing about it? I don't understand why the President can't order the Navy to the scene and blow the well up. Isn't what they used to do in the old "wildcatter" days?" But no, I think the reason is that they want to save the well so BP doesn't have to drill it again. They can foul the whole Gulf of Mexico but God forbid the big oil company be denied its profits! Hey, wake up Mr. President and get the Seabees over there! If they're not all deployed halfway around the world, that is. The saddest part is that President Obama greenlighted additional offshore drilling just weeks before the rig exploded!

They can foul the whole Gulf of Mexico but God forbid the big oil company be denied its profits!

It has been disgusting to watch the oil executives point fingers at each other at the Congressional hearings. When I heard the BP executive (I forget which one) say that the spills damage to the Gulf has been "minimal," I was screaming at my TV! Put every single one of these motherfuckers in jail for Criminal Negligence and make BP pay every last penny of the damages.

Put every one of these liars in jail for Criminal Negligence!

Alas, that's not going to happen. If anybody had any doubt that the GOP is only here to represent Big Business, their behavior in response to this crisis has eliminated it. Their naked advocacy for Big Oil in the past few weeks has been shameless. Incredibly, they blocked the removal of liability limits for this massive disaster. And even if they are eventually removed we will pay the cost in the end because gas will go up to $7.00 a gallon. The nexus of Big Oil and Intelligence and Military power in this country will protect their own. Think this will slow down any new offshore drilling? Think again. What we have right now is Government of the Plutocrats, By the Plutocrats and For the Plutocrats.

Sorry, folks in Southern Louisina, Mississippi, Alabama and Gulf Coast Florida, you are basically fucked. And that's before the spill even gets into the Gulfstream and heads up the East Coast!

Rating the Mets' Managers

Hi All,

Like most Met fans I am feeling a real sense of relief and hope at our team's resurgence on the last 9-1 homestand. After starting the season looking like they were picking up where they left off last year, they finally have started to put something together and look like they might be competitive this year after all. I mean, you can hardly expect Met fans to have a "Wait and See" attitude after the last three dismal seasons!

But as we're looking ahead to good things this season, let's take a look back and talk about some of the Met managers through the years.

Casey Stengel - Casey was one of the all-time greats and on paper it was a good idea to put him at the helm of the new franchise. Problem was he didn't have much to work with, given a team of castoffs and has-beens. Plus it was still the era of the Reserve Clause with no free agents to be signed. Casey has always been one of my favorite Baseball characters. Yogi Berra has done a lot to redefine the English Language but he learned everything he knows from Casey.

Casey: "Can't anyone here play this game?"

Gil Hodges - Without a doubt, Gil Hodges was the greatest Met Manager. While they were more successful under Davey Johnson, Hodges was the chief architect of the 1969 miracle! I've never heard of a big-league manager before or since who walked out onto the field and pulled in one of his starters for dogging it. Especially not one of his star players like a Cleon Jones. But Hodges was one of those coaches, like a Bobby Knight, who were demanding and tough but whom all his players seemed to love. He died way too young, which probably adds to his legend.

Gil Hodges (l.) is the greatest Mets manager, presiding over the 1969 "miracle."

Yogi Berra - Anothe rone of Baseball's great personalities Yogi took the Mets to the pennant in the 1973 "You Gotta Believe" season. Yogi has forgotten more about baseball than most people will ever know, but he has never gotten his due as a manager of the Mets and certainly not as manager of the Yankees. Yogi is a man of integrity. When Steinbrenner committed to him for the whole season and fired him two weeks later, he stayed away from the Stadium for years!

Joe Torre - Joe was just cutting his teeth as a manager at that point in his career and was not yet what he became later as Yankees Manager. Add to this the fact that he managed during the dreadful Lorinda DeRoulet years, when the club was too cheap to spend on talent.

Davey Johnson - The most successful Met manager, the team never finished worse than 2nd in his six full seasons at the helm. Johnson was the prototype of the modern baseball manager, using his computer to crunch statistics and calculate probabilities. The methods he pioneered are now utilized by every team in Baseball.

Davey Johnson is the most successful Mets manager.

Bud Harrelson - A beloved personality of the 1969 Miracle Mets, Buddy was never really given a chance as manager for parts of two seasons. Has since vindicated himself as owner/manager of the L.I. Ducks in the NY/Penn League.

Dallas Green - Overall, Green was a crappy manager. He got lucky once in 1980 with the Phillies when he had guys like Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton on his roster. But as manager of both the Mets and Yankees, Green presided over some pretty forgettable seasons. He was way too much of an old-school disciplinarian and couldn't relate to the players. It didn't help much that he had jerks like Vince Coleman, Brett Saberhagen, Jeff Kent, Jeromy Burnitz and Bobby Bonilla on those Met teams.

Bobby Valentine - Another great Met manager who doesn't really get his props. He could have gotten to the World Series in 1999 had Kenny Rogers not stunk it up in Game 6 of the NLCS. He helmed the team to the historic 2000 "Subway Series," but lost. The WS loss was followed by an injury-plagued 2001 season, then the 2002 team totally quit on him and set an NL record for consecutive home losses. Later, Valentine totally vindicated himself with his subsequent successes in Japan. In recent years there's been some talk about bringing him back and I hope they do.

Art Howe - Absolutely the worst Met manager in the history of the club. He let the veterans walk all over him and run the team. He had no idea how to handle the pitching staff. I got so sick of seeing Al Leiter and his four and five-inning starts, then overtaxing the bullpen into oblivion. He would even overuse a washed-up John Franco, who should have been retired by then. Howe made some of the most boneheaded on-field moves ever. Totally clueless and incompetent - No wonder Oakland was so eager to get rid of him!

Wille Randolph - I love Willie Randolph. He is a class act all the way, in victory and defeat. He was a gentleman throughout his tenure as Mets skipper and I hope he gets another shot at managing someday. He ran a tight ship and the players didn't like it. He was a good baseball man and cared about winning. Made one seriously boneheaded move - letting Cliff Floyd pinch hit and probably costing the Mets the '06 NLCS. Unfortunately for him, he then presided over the inexplicible collapse of '07 from which the Mets have yet to recover.

Willie Randolph has always been a class act.

Jerry Manuel - After a slow start in '08 they kicked Willie Randolph to the curb and got this clown. After two atrocious seasons he really should be gone by now. The team quit on him in '08 and they quit on him in '09. He makes way too many dumbass moves on the field and does an atrocious job managing the pitching staff. Worst of all he never shows any emotion, especially after a painful loss. I want my manager to have a fit like Billy Martin and kick some asses at those times!

The Haves and the Have-Nots (The Two Americas)

I look at the TV your America's doing well,
I look out the window My America's catching hell,
I just want to know, which way do I go to get to your America?

I change the channel your America's doing fine,
I read the headlines my America's doing time,
I just want to know, which way do I go to get to your America?
- Living Colour, "Which Way to America"em>

Hi Again,

As I move through this world and live my life I am often oblivious to things around me that should be glaring, and it slapped me in the face on my recent trip to Myrtle Beach.

Former Presidential candidate John Edwards used to talk about "Two Americas," one in which the "haves" live in a very nice style while everyone else is struggling. I guess you could classify me as one of the "haves." Although I'm certainly not rich by American standards I would consider myself upper middle-class. I am an educated person with a nice home, a nice white-collar job that pays well and a wife who is clearly out of my league.

Right down the road for me immigrant workers are lining up for work.

Here in the quiet, mostly white suburb of Melville, it all looks very rosy and I don't think about what's going on in the streets just a few miles away. Drive a few miles north on Route 110 and suddenly you're in the Ghetto! Huntington Station is one of the worst crime spots and centers of gang activity on Long Island. If you get on Route 110 any morning and drive about two miles north you can see all the immigrant men standing on the side of the road, hoping to get a day's work.

My wife and I recently drove from Long Island to Myrtle Beach, SC. The journey mostly looked like the Interstate, with its massive structures and rest stops. But then we got off the interstate and took Highway 501 South from Conway, SC to Myrtle Beach and it was a real eye-opener. It was a barren highway littered with abandoned structures along the roadside; the wreckage of what once was a thriving economy. Each one of these abandoned buildings represented a failed business - someone's hopes and dreams dashed on the rocks of financial ruin. The kept coming every couple of miles, one after another. Sometimes they were situated in clusters.

The highway from Conway to Myrtle Beach was littered with abandoned businesses.

Even in Myrtle Beach, it was mostly big chain stores and big-money attractions. The Applebees, Planet Hollywoods seemed to be thriving while the strip was littered with the remains of small Mom-and-Pop restaurants. Yes there were some left, but there seemed to be far fewer than when I started going there back in the Nineties.

The shopping areas could have been the Walt Whitman Mall (such irony in that name!) right here at home. It's amazing how they have a sameness to them, perhaps by design. The days when different areas of the USA offered unique shopping experiences are coming to an end. You can still find them if you look but it gets harder every year, and one day soon they will disappear altogether.

The drive down 501 from Conway to Myrtle Beach and then north on Highway 14 on the way home reminded me all too well that there is another America that I'm not a part of. The America where people walk away from their homes because their mortgages are underwater. The America where your employer only lets you work 33.5 hours every week so they don't have to pay you benefits. The America where the hospital Emergency Room is your primary care physician. The America where entire rivers are fouled with toxic coal ash because the government believes in "deregulation." The America where mine workers die because the owner is too greedy to allow them to unionize.

This is what happens when you let Big Business do whatever it wants!

We live in a country where Big Business rules, and it's only going to get worse. With the Supreme Court ruling that allows businesses to put unlimited money into political campaigns, their unfluence will become unlimited as well. Look for some truly heinous legislation to come starting two or three years from now. These people want to go back to the Gilded Age - child workers and robber barons. They want their colossal corporations to be near or total monopolies so that no small businesses can compete. The Government likes to talk about helping small businesses but it's mostly lip service. They want the so-called "Free Enterprise" the Republicans like to talk about so much (translation: let Big Business do whatever it wants and screw everybody else).

Thanks a lot, John! ...And say hello to Rielle for me, willya?

Yes indeed, there are "Two Americas." It's too bad the political conversation can't be had now because John Edwards couldn't keep it zipped.

Michael Jackson "This is It" DVD - A Maddening Tease of What Could Have Been

Remember when Michael Jackson was Black?

The late Michael Jackson, more than almost any other personality in Music, brings out mixed feelings in me. There will always be a part of me that loved the young, "Cute Cuddly Michael" who burst onto the scene with his brothers in those early Jackson 5 records. To be so talented and successful at such a young age, Michael must truly have been born with that monster talent. Some people are just touched by God. Another part of me is truly repulsed by the distorted freak he turned into in his later years.

Determined to avoid becoming a washed-up child star, Michael strove to improve and perfect his art. He released some surprisingly solid (and unfairly ignored) early solo records in his teens on his way to the triumphs of "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" and everything that followed. Like everyone else in the world, I was blown away by his 1983 performance on the "Motown 25" show when he debuted "Billie Jean" and "moonwalked" for the first time.

In his prime, Michael was certainly a "Thriller!"

In his unprecedented career Michael shattered boundaries for both himself and other Black artists. He opened the door of MTV at a time when it was segregated, even if they didn't admit it. His recordings shattered all sales records, starting from his days with the J5 when he became the first artist to have five consecutive Number One singles on the Pop chart. His records will probably never be broken, as the paradigm of the Music Business has changed so radically since then.

Michael proclaimed himself "King of Pop" and who could refute him?

To his credit, the Michael shown in "This is It" still wants to break barriers and put together an unprecedented show. Imagine having the world's best musicians, the best sound people, the best singers, the best dancers, the best production people, all dying to work with you. Imagine if money were no object and the only boundary was your imagination. The movie depicts a Michael determined to remove the bad taste of all the unsavory headlines; determined to reclaim his crown as the self-proclaimed "King of Pop" after ten years away from the stage. This Michael is crafting a boundary-breaking series of shows at the O2 Arena in London; all 50 of which sold out immediately.

In the end, "This is It" is all appetizer and no main course.

What an amazing show it would have been! Michael oversees every aspect of the production with his Director Kenny Ortega. From the arrangements to the choreography to the CGI to the production, he's right in there mixing it up. He seems very clear on what he wants, and his starstruck staff is more than eager to give it to him. Even the most hardened pros are shown as calling working with Michael the Living Legend a "pinnacle."

The Michael shown in the movie is suprisingly vital; nowhere near his real age of 50. His singing and dancing abilities are remarkably intact. And yet Michael seems frail in the movie - certainly not strong enough to make it through fifty - yes fifty! - sold-out performances of this very physically demanding show.

But in the end, Michael died before the show could go on and the vision went unrealized. AEG had spent gobs of money on the pre-production and they had to recoup their losses somehow - so we get "This is It." If the concert had actually happened, this "behind the scenes" rehearsal footage would have been the first fifteen minutes of the movie, tops. What we wind up with is a whole lot of appetizer and no main course, so we walk away from the table unsatisfied.

Ultimately "This is It" is unsatisfying in the same way as a posthumous Hendrix release - showing flashes of genius but in the end, unfulfilling; a maddening tease. "This is It" is saddening in the imagining of what could have been Michael's greatest triumph, and the knowledge that the artist is no longer here to complete it.

Health Care Reform: LAST CHANCE SALOON!!!

Go get 'em, Mr. President!

So, we've spent the last eighteen months debating and demagoging and handwringing about Health Care Reform. As the President observed, "Everthing there is to say about Health Care has been said." I concur, let's have a vote. Enough with the debate, I want everybody in Congress to show us where they stand. It's a simple question - are you for Big Corporate Interests or are you for The People? We shall see.

President Obama was elected on a platform of "Change." He has courageously hung his political future and his legacy on getting this done. Health Care Reform is an idea whose time has come. Everybody knows this is the last chance to get it done. A lot of money has been spent to try and influence both outcomes. Let's hope that they can.

Don't let the "Party of No" win!

Of course, the "Party of No" doesn't see it that way. As gutsy NY Rep Anthony Weiner put it last week, "You gotta love these Republicans. I mean, you guys have chutzpah. The Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of insurance companies."

Gutsy Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) called the GOP out for what they are - a "Wholly owned subsidiary of the Insurance Companies!"

This is it - you guys are at the "Last Chance Saloon." If you don't get it done now, Health Care Reform will be off the table for at least a generation; probably forever. With the recent Supreme Court decision unfettering campaign contributions from corportations, the prospects will get more remote with every passing year.

Congressmen, Congresswomen, Senators - this is your last chance to redeem yourselves, after all the shady backroom deals you make and all the money you take from K Street. Do something that will really benefit the families of this country.

This is it ladies and gentlemen - the Last Chance Saloon!

Come on ladies and gentlemen, get it done for the People.

Vancouver Winter Olympics

Shaun White looked like he had fun winning the Gold, unlike many overserious Olympians.

I have to say, I've been thoroughly entertained the past couple of weeks by the Vancouver Winter Olympics, watching sports I would never, ever watch at any other time. I mean, when's the last time you watched Short Track Skating or Skeleton and it wasn't an Olympic event? Would they even BE on TV? Didn't think so. But, with the Knicks and Islanders sucking so thoroughly and Baseball only starting Spring Training, the Games have been an agreeable change of pace.

I give all the props in the world to the Olympians; athletes who sacrifice everything to take their shot at being the Best in the World, if only for a moment. It's one thing when you're an Apolo Ono or a Lindsey Vonn with sweet endorsement deals, but it's quite another when you are competing in an event that nobody cares about even in the Olympics, like Cross Country Skiing or Biathlon.

When they do the profiles of the athletes you hear parents talking about taking out mortgages on their houses and so forth. What if you have two kids with world-class talent, like the Kerrigans did? And even with all that, what happens when you DO get that oh-so-hard-to-get Olympic medal? Usually, not a whole lot. You go home, get a lot of "attaboys" and then go get a real job or coach.

The babeacious Canadian Women's Curling Team

The '10 Vancouver games were fun to watch because the Americans did so well. Sorry, Canadians! They really tried hard to dominate and they just haven't. Sucks for you. With 34 medals and more to come, it looks like the record of 36 medals is going to be broken. Way to go guys!

Apolo Ohno is the personnification of cool.

My favorites this time around are definitely Shaun White, the snowboarder who cracked his head open at the Olympic trials and still won the gold, and Apolo Ohno, who personnifies cool whenever he goes out on the ice. He goes out there and he KNOWS he's going to win. His ability to come from behind at the last second to just zip in and win a race is just amazing. I have also enjoyed watching the Canadian Curling team just for their pure babacioiusness.

I didn't really care about Figure Skating all that much this time around; especially the women. Maybe it's due to the lack of compelling personalities on the ice. I've even heard some commentators lament that what Figure Skating needs is another Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan -type controversy. I was glad that Evan Lysacek won over Sore Loserboy from Russia. And I'm not homophobic but Johnny Weir is the most flaming guy I have seen out on that ice in a long time. Just put RuPaul out there on skates in full drag, it'll be less flamboyant!

Even RuPaul in full drag on skates would've been less flamboyant than Johnny Weir.

The US Men's Hockey Team is going for the gold this weekend and I wish them luck. It'll be great and even an upset if they win, but it's like, "OK, our NHL guys beat YOUR NHL guys." It will never match the stunning victory of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" team, which IMHO is the greatest sports upset in my lifetime - even more unexpected than the '69 Miracle Mets. A bunch of overmatched and overpsyched college kids beat the world's best professional hockey team. It was like Arizona State beating the Yankees! But good luck guys, I certainly hope you win.

It's actually nice to watch Hockey again, which I haven't really cared about since the NHL lockout a few years ago. It hasn't helped that the Islanders haven't played worth a damn since the 1990's. Maybe their fortunes will improve when the do the Lighthouse Project and renovate the Nassau Coliseum.

Speaking of Hockey, can everybody just CALM down about the Canadian Women's Hockey Team out on the ice -HORRORS! - drinking champagne and beer after winning the gold? Why were people bent out of shape? Because it was the Olympics? Because it was women doing it? Champagne-soaked victory celebrations have been nationally televised after championships in Baseball and Football and even in the NHL. So, can everybody just get over it please?

Hello World!

Well, as threatened I got away from MySpace and my blog has found its new home here. I certainly hope you;ll take the time to read my rants and raves in cyberspace.