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Comments (0)Not a great week in the old hometown, starting with the announcement of a merger that will see the corporate demise of the stalwart and much revered Black and Decker. The company, headquartered in the local environs, is going to be absorbed into its chief rival and competitor Stanley, and the loss of jobs and other ancillary benefits by harboring a Fortune 500 company will be terminated and long gone. Another hit for the Baltimore corporate climate.
Along with BG&E (or Constellation Energy, whatever they call themselves these days) going into oblivion by being taken over by foreign operatives, this added news is distressing. Capitalism is not thriving here, or in the good old U.S.A., for that matter.
For example, while I was watching the very disappointing and less than thrilling World Series, I noticed that Budweiser was a primary advertiser. Although they were still hyping that it was a “Great American Beer,” the company is now also owned by foreigners. What kind of truth in advertising is that? The company is Belgian, not American. At least Yuengling is still brewed in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, which is my birthplace. Buy that beer, and at least you don’t get bullshitted and the money spent on the product and the jobs stay home.
Since I’m on a jag, watching the Yankees win the Series requires me to opine and spout a couple of zingers. Notice all the empty high-roller blue leather seats that remained open in Yankee Stadium. For instance, nobody sat next to former Mayor Guiliani’s for any game, and you can bet that many of the VIP’s that sat up close and got their mugs shown on Fox didn’t pay the tab for those ducats. Most people can’t afford such excess, and the mavens on Wall Street even showed some fiscal restraint by not covering the price tag. Even those corporate swine couldn’t justify that one.
The core of older Yankees—Jeter, Posada, Pettitte, and Rivera—and the role players that weren’t the big-ticket free agents are worthy of praise, and should be lauded for their work ethic and tremendous ability. The rest of them are hired guns and epitomize all the wrong things associated with the game.
Baseball is another example of capitalism gone amok. Other than the hardcore Yankee addicts, the majority of the sports fandom all over the country were repulsed by watching this charade.
This past week’s elections didn’t mean diddlysquat, or prove anything definitive despite the current political analysis being tendered. New Jersey had a very unpopular incumbent, Jon Corzine, formerly of Wall Street, and he was given a royal send-off. In the Old Dominion, the Republican won after two Democrats had served previously. Virginia is still considered a red state. There were no national trends in the two gubernatorial victories by Republicans.
Assigning failure or a stigma to the president because these losers did not overcome their adversaries and could not conceal their weaknesses is nonsense. If anything, their losses only confirm the president’s unique appeal to independent and younger voters, who were mesmerized by him. They were captured by him, and although the allegiance of many voters is very fickle, he certainly hasn’t gone past the point of losing his advantages. He has been in office one year. How can anybody see a trend already?
In New York’s 23rd Congressional District race, the GOP made another positive move toward isolating themselves and remaining a minority party nationally by greasing the skids for a rather mediocre Democrat to win a seat in Congress. This District had gone straight Republican since the 1850’s. Right on and keep up the good old work! And while you’re at it get those weak-kneed moderate Republicans out of here. Let’s maintain the conservative movement’s purity and God on our side.
This scenario has happened before and was played out in Maryland’s 1st Congressional District. Frank Kratovil, a Blue Dog Democrat, last time around won what would have been considered a safe Republican seat. He will have a rematch against Andy Harris, who is out there on the lunatic fringe with all the fruit cakes lead by Limbaugh, Palin, Beck and the Club for Growth. Harris practices the slash and burn style of politics. I hope he gets his again and this time will disappear permanently from the scene.
Finally, if you missed it, Soupy Sales died a couple of weeks ago. A true original showman and a man with a mission. There should be a lot of consideration to his modus operandi, and merit to his egalitarian approach. Every cretin should get a pie in the face. I got a couple of candidates. Admit it. We all do.
