Mush! Sledders trek eastward

What happens when you live in Maine, love snowmobiles and global warming has robbed you of your snow—hell, dude, head to Alaska—at least that’s what two Sanford snowmobilers have done.

Steve McKenna and Tony Wolfinger traveled to Alaska, where they have begun an epic journey eastward. They began their trek Friday and expect to arrive back in Maine after being on the trail for about eight weeks.

McKenna, a local contractor and Wolfinger, who owns Sanford Radiator, decided to do it for a variety of reasons. For Wolfinger, the trip is a “dream come true” for the longtime outdoor enthusiast, as he had hoped to make a trip across Alaska and Canada at some point in his life. McKenna, on the other hand, is no stranger to the open road. In 1992, while living in Hawaii, he shipped his motorcycle to Washington and completing a 9,500 mile trek cross-country to Maine. In 2002, he packed up the family in a motor home and took off on a 10,000 mile adventure, traveling through 23 states and 3 Canadian provinces.

If both men are able to complete the 9,000 mile journey, they will set a Guinness Book World Record.

While wanderlust and a healthy sense of adventure will propel these two hearty souls, they also hope to raise awareness about autism and have indicated that fans and interested parties may send donations to the Autism Society of Maine.

You can follow the trek via their website.

King's legacy: What it means for us today

When I was a young man, “Letters From a Birmingham Jail” had a profound affect on my developing worldview. Martin Luther King, Jr., in answering calls by local leaders of the clergy, to “tone down” his rhetoric and his direct action, laid the underpinnings of why he continued to fight for justice—both economic and racial—at a cost to himself and his family. In so doing this, he paid the ultimate price, by offering his life.

I wrote an op-ed back in 2004, about this great leader, and champion of causes that are still important today. This ran at the time in the Maine Voices section of the Maine Sunday Telegram. I reworked it a bit last year and posted it here. I’m proud of what I wrote, because I think it accurately reflects what King’s legacy means for us today.

As a nation, our materialism, our militarism and our racism (while much less blatant than during King’s day, but still a reality) all indicate a need to reexamine our priorities and focus on what King was talking about when he issued his clarion call for justice. As Americans, we ignore that call at our peril.

"The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and What It Means To Us Today"
by, Jim Baumer

Once again, we come upon the celebration of the birthday of a truly great human being, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It has been more than 30 years since an assassin's bullet stole from us one of our greatest champions of social and economic justice. Like many, I have been thinking about his legacy and what it means to those of us committed to building a just society today.

I think it is important that we not relegate his memory to the dusty corridors of history. While canonization may have been inevitable for one so prophetic in addressing a nation's besetting sins, we cannot allow the sanitization of his memory to lessen the intensity of his light, or to diminish the volume of his oratory.

While many today would laud King for his success in bringing about desegregation and championing civil rights, he spoke to issues much broader than race. And while race was, and still is a problem in America, to say that King was merely a champion for African-Americans in their quest for equal rights and access, is to rob him of the greater substance of what he stood for.

In an address delivered at the Riverside Church in New York, April 4, 1967, exactly one year to the day before he would be martyred, King laid down what he saw as the triumvirate of sins besetting the American culture.

In his impassioned oratory, he lashed out at racism, rampant materialism, and militarism. In his unique and prophetic way, he made the connection between the obscene amounts being spent to bludgeon a culture across the globe in Vietnam, and our success in affecting the war on poverty at home. He saw that divisions between the classes, fed by greed and materialism, were just as ugly a scar on the American psyche, as divisions between the races.

It was an economic cause that brought King to Memphis on that fateful day of April 4, 1968. King had come to show solidarity for the 1,300 striking sanitation workers that led him to this southern city, where he was ultimately gunned down and martyred for his cause.

Many within the leadership of the civil rights movement were troubled by his belief that the most important issue affecting America was more than race. He was severely criticized by several prominent members of that very leadership, after giving his address at the Riverside Church. This criticism ate at King and kept him awake many a night in prayer and reflection. Yet, he knew his cause was just, and that it was greater than he was. It was the visionary character of King's message and his understanding of the issues that separated him from the pack.

Looking back at his life, what do we see today that needs our attention in order to properly honor his memory? Has his mantle been taken up? Unfortunately, I think that there is still much work to be done.

We have seen our nation plunged into a costly and unjust war in Iraq. We see economic fragmentation. The ever-widening chasm between the haves and have-nots has created the greatest disparity of wealth in our country in more than 100 years. Many of the poorest in our country go without because of our misplaced national priorities. Never before has conspicuous consumption been lifted up and exalted like during our present day. While more and more of our citizens lack food, shelter and clothing, there continues to be those that are searching for bigger and better toys. Sadly, we have not done a very good job at heeding the words of one of our nation's most prophetic voices.

If Dr. King were alive today, I believe he would be commenting on these very same issues—racism, militarism, and rampant materialism—social and economic justice. He wouldn’t be timid, either. He would offer us a voice of reason in a cacophony of madness, telling us that the only way to bring about peace isn't by sacrificing our young men, and killing all of our enemies. He would be a counter-weight to the cowboy diplomacy of our current administration.

Let us honor his memory by committing ourselves to the causes of racial equality, economic justice, and peaceful co-existence. We must build economically self-sustaining communities that are based on meaningful jobs that pay a living wage. To do anything less is to allow his light to flicker and fade from our national consciousness.

© Jim Baumer, 2006

Weekends were made for...blogging?

I’ve been absent from the blogosphere for a few days. It hasn’t been from lack of ideas for content, believe me.

On a daily basis this week, my brain’s been whirring with activity and proposed posts that just never found their way to computer screen. I haven’t done the “weekly recap” thing for awhile, but this seems like a good time to pull one out and end with a few tidbits of review.

Endless War

Not much to say here that hasn’t already been written about all over the internet, from right-wing, to left and all positions in-between. Actually, there really hasn’t been much variation, to be honest, at least from what I gather, sniffing around the mainstream.

With the war in Iraq not going particularly well and the president determined to go it his way, versus the way of the Iraqi Study Group and even members of his own party, the strategy seems to be for a “troop surge” of 20,000+, which somehow is supposed to turn this quagmire around? I don’t see how.

One interesting post that I read at Think Progress dealt with the term, “troop surge” and how it’s been picked up and run out ad nauseum by the MSM.

Speaking of the MSM, why has there been so little discussion about the economic fallout from the Bush administration's policy of perpetual war? With this new "bump and goose" trotted out, to the tune of $7 billion, btw, we are now looking at a total cost of the debacle in Iraq somewhere in the vicinity of $360,000,000,000 (lots of zeroes, eh folks?)! The real question here ought to be, how the hell are we going to finance it? Which leads me to my next point--

On the Backs of Gen Y, Baby!

Apparently, all that really matters to the 18-to 25-year-old crowd is being rich and famous. As reported in USA Today on Wednesday, Pew Research Center for the People and The Press conducted a recent poll in which 81 percent of this age group said that being rich was what it's about for them and another 51 percent said being famous was their focus. While that is an easy simplication to the Pew report, the snapshot that emerges when read shows that this group has some real work to do in coming to terms with the future that is being constructed for them. While Britney and Paris won't have to worry much, the average 20-something is in for a rude awakening, I'm afraid, if wealth and fame is what floats their boats. You can view the entire report here.

When you add the societal costs of perpetual war to the fact that most of these millenials will be graduating with greater amounts of debt from school loans (as grants and other funding keeps getting slashed to pay for the war on terrah'), tax shifting from the wealthy to the middle class and jobs leaving the country in droves (not to mention the fact that these graduates aren't even being prepared for work), it's pretty clear to me that focusing on money and fame isn't a winning strategy.

And last of all, why focus on doom and gloom of the real world when members of Celtic Nation have their favorite doormats to get them through the night--

The Luck of the Irish

As I alluded to in a recent post, I'm partial to loveable losers. For me, it 'ain't about winning so much, but how you play the game. While their play has been maddening on many occasions, this young group of Celtics has captured my fancy and when their one bonafide star player, Paul Pierce went down, fans got to see a future star emerge from the ashes.

Tony Allen, in his third NBA season, appeared ready to put behind him a previous injury and his penchant for getting into trouble. Beginning with the Celtics difficult road trip out west, it was obvious that with Pierce out of the picture, Allen was stepping up and taking the reins of leadership that young teams desperately need. Over an eight game stretch, Allen was averaging just under 20 a game, with six consecutive 20 point outings under his belt and on his way to a seventh on Wednesday night, at home against Toronto, when at 3:01 of the third quarter, the bottom fell out of Allen's and quite possibly, the Cetics' season. On his way to the basket, Allen was fouled and continued to the basket after the whistle to "throw one down." As he came down on his left knee, it folded like an accordion and anyone watching immediately thought, "oh no, not Tony!"

Allen tore both his ACL and MCL and is done for the year and who knows when he'll be back, if he is able to come back at all. With Allen's season ending in macabre fashion, he joins Pierce, Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Brian Scalabrine (who sustained his injury Wednesday night, also) on the sidelines--these in addition to Theo Ratliff, who played all of two games for the Celts before going down for the year with a back injury.

Apparently some "fans," like Jeff, over at CelticsBlog.com are celebrating the chance to be in the running for either Greg Oden, or Kevin Durant, next NBA draft day:

"About the best thing I can say for this season is this: We needed to bottom out at some point, it might as well be now. They don't exactly print that up on season ticket promotional flyers, but in the long run it might be for the best. Cleveland had to bottom out to win the LeBron sweepstakes. Even Denver and Toronto got turned around in that draft with Melo and Bosh. I think we are looking at another draft like that. Sure, we could miss out on the best talent and get Tim Duncan'ed again, but I'll take that gamble to get a once-in-a-lifetime talent like Oden or Durant."

I don't agree with his sentiment, but I sort of understand where he's coming from. As for me, I'm staying away from four leaf clovers for the immediate future.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Lying and dying

Once more, the American people are about to have smoke (or worse) blown up their asses by our dilettante of a president. His failed policy in Iraq, which he refuses to alter in any significant way, continues to breed discordance, disaster and death.

Given the opportunity of cover by the Iraq Study Group, an assemblage of minds, all with vast foreign policy experience that the American people bought into and respected, this president chose to dismiss their recommendations with his typical wave of indifference, tempered with his customary hubris. Once more, “Boy George” has to have it his way!

There has been a great deal of discussion among the usual talking heads and their paper surrogates about the president’s strategy. The new buzzword for Bush’s decision to prolong the clusterfuck in Iraq, is “troop surge.” Call it whatever the hell you want to call it, in my opinion, it is just Bush being Bush.

I listened with incredulity yesterday morning, while driving to work, as NPR carried a story about how the U.S. was going to “do it right” this time and send money and actually rebuild parts of Iraq. Apparently the $80 billion poured down a rat’s hole hasn’t been sufficient up to this point, to “do it right.” If you really want to see the current track record of reconstruction boondoggles, read T. Christian Miller’s book, Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives and Corporate Greed in Iraq. His thorough investigation of this massive swindle of taxpayer money, which only further lines the coffers of large multinational defense contractors, like Haliburton, begs the question, do we want to continue to throw good money after bad? I mean, don’t we have better uses of our taxpayer dollars here at home?

Meanwhile, after much hoopla and pomp at the arrival of “Democrats to the rescue,” the word coming out of Washington is that while the Democrats by-and-large oppose the president’s “troop surge,” they won’t stand in the way of funding it. What a bunch of spineless hacks! Just another example of the delusion many suffer under, who think electing Democrats will make a bean’s worth of difference. I'm sorry, but Obama, riding in on his shiny white horse in 2008 won't save us.

On the Maine front, our two senators, Snowe and Collins, have been making the rounds, waffling per usual, talking out both sides of their mouths. While apparently expressing doubts about Bush’s plan, when all the votes end up being counted, you know these two ideological water-carriers will be in the Bush camp, signing on for more blood and bedlam.

While I grieve and empathize with the families of the 3,000+ American troops who’ve lost loved ones in Iraq, I know that number will have to go much higher before Americans turn the channel from their nightly ritual of tuning out and sit up and pay attention. While this number is too high already for my tastes and views about endless war, I also know that in Vietnam, the body count was in the tens of thousands, before Americans got off their asses and got into the streets—we’ve still got a ways to go.

I won’t watch tomorrow night’s address by the president. I refuse to accept any explanation for his continued policies of failure. I’d rather watch the 12-21 Celtics take another one on the chin, than listen to this pathetic failure of a president bumble through another exercise in lying to the American people.

A fan of the underdog

I know I’ve made the point several times about how professional sports, particularly baseball, no longer elicits the passion in me that it once did. While that statement is still accurate, by and large, I must confess that I’ve taken a shine to this winter’s version of the Boston Celtics.

Sporting an 12-20 record and minus their one marquee star, the very talented Paul Pierce, currently sidelined by injury, the undermanned Celtics are fun to watch. Young, passionate and appearing eager to learn the finer points of the professional game from coach Doc Rivers, one of the better “teachers” occupying the coaching fraternity, the 2006-2007 Celtics have a lot of “upside.”

I was recently musing with a friend about where my fascination with downtrodden teams comes from. I surmise that it may have originated back when I was 10 and developed a fascination with the woeful early 70s Texas Rangers, who had moved to Arlington, from our nation’s capital.

The years 1969 and 1970 hold resonance for me, as it was around this very time that my fascination with town team baseball and my uncle’s Roberts 88ers games began (which I’ve recounted in my book, When Towns Had Teams). Not only was I eagerly attending local town team games regularly, but I often spent Saturday afternoon watching the Red Sox with my dad, on our old black and white television. Even as a youngster, I was fascinated by the hulking star of the Senators, big Frank Howard, or “Hondo” as he was called. The 6’8”, 275 pound behemoth, was his era’s Bobby Bonds, swatting 40+ homers regularly. While those numbers pale compared to today’s steroid-enhanced homer totals, in 1969, Howard was “the man” when it came to power. Keep in mind that Howard played before the DH and regularly patrolled the outfield, until converting to first base, late in his career.

Unaware at my young age that New Englanders root solely for the Red Sox, I began to check the standings for the Senators, a perennial divisional bottom feeder in the American League. However, in 1969, under the tutelage of former Red Sox legend, Ted Williams, the Senators finished the ’69 campaign with an 86-76 record, resulting in Williams being named AL manager of the year.

The 1970 Senators resorted to their inept ways, as their record fell to 70-92. Word has it that Williams was a great hitting instructor, albeit a bit short on patience with his less talented players, but not much of a game manager.

In ’72, when the Senators relocated to the Lone Star State, I decided I’d order my own official Texas Rangers’ cap. Keep in mind that this was pre-internet, so one had to cut out an order form—in this case, courtesy of Baseball Digest—get a check from Mom and mail it off and wait eagerly, for four to six weeks until your package arrived.

That cap was my first official piece of MLB gear (to be honest, I don’t know if MLB had licensed their merchandise at that point—we are talking the 70s here, back before every iota of revenue was milked from professional athletics).

Around this time, I was following my own version of the underdog—our local American Legion team. This team was made up of a lot of raw 15 and 16-year-olds, who in another two years would form the powerful high school baseball team, the first of several that dominated the Mountain Valley Conference baseball wars, to each and every year, run into an equally more powerful Cape Elizabeth combine and fall in the Western Maine semifinals.

**[A bit of local baseball trivia here—who was the pitcher who finally beat Cape Elizabeth, in 1979, as the Greyhounds went on to capture the team’s first state championship in baseball? Answer to follow at the end.]

While following the Celtics isn’t quite the same as pulling for the 1972 Texas Rangers, the empathy for the downtrodden was firmly planted 30 years ago and still makes me choose teams that bring a certain futility to their sport.

Back in ’72, I had to rely solely on the newspaper, hand-me-down copies of The Sporting News, from my uncle and the ever-reliable, Baseball Digest, for my Rangers’ fix. Today, one can follow a club from the other side of the globe. Like my friend Dan, who can follow his beloved English soccer via the net, one is no longer limited by geography and distance for immediate information on favorite teams and players.

Just this morning, as has become my habit, I went online and read the Boston Globe’s articles on the Celts. It’s the same for any major professional sport that anyone follows. It’s made being a fan just a little less tough, but people’s passions for sports burn every bit as bright as they ever have. The argument could be made that as a culture, we’ve become too sports-crazy, although students of history know there are precedents for sports fandom that go back thousands of years. Hell, if the internet existed in the days of ancient Rome, one can only imagine the memorabilia that might have been the rage—I imagine someone would have been savvy enough to have auctioned torn and bloodied clothing from the Christians, after they were mauled by the lions in the Coliseum in Rome, all via eBay!

At some point, young players like Al Jefferson, Tony Allen and Gerald Green will become seasoned and maybe, just maybe, the Celts will provide Pierce with the supporting cast to rise up through the NBA standings and join the likes of current top tier teams like Phoenix, Dallas, the Lakers and San Antonio. Until then, I’m savoring the occasional victories, waiting for Pierce to get healthy and basking in the enjoyment of listening to my two favorite sports play-by-play guys, Celtic stalwarts Tommy Heinsohn and Mike Gorman, as they enthusiastically call each and every game.

The rest of New England can have their Patriots, Red Sox and even Bruins—just call me a fan of the Celtics and I’ll be happy with that.

[Trivia answer: That Greyhounds’ pitcher was none other than yours truly, who spun a complete game, one-hitter, as the ‘hounds beat the Capers for the first time ever in the Western Maine finals, 3-0--the losing pitcher, Bob Raftice would later become a draft pick and pitch briefly in the minors for the Yankees. Two days later, with the Greyhounds' ace on the hill, sporting a 7-0 mark, Lisbon beat Stearns, to capture the 1979 Class B State Baseball Title, 8-5. Honestly, where else can you get this kind of historical minutiae?]