It's official: We're (Maine) in a recession

[You'll have to sit through a brief, inane commercial for some credit reporting company, once again driving home points made by the late Neil Postman, about mass communication.]

Time to sing a new song

We are less than two weeks away from going to the polls and having the lesser of two evils visited upon us once again. To be fair to Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama, they didn’t create the current clusterfuck that serves as democracy in America; they stand merely as symptoms of a much larger systemic failure.

Sadly, political contributions totalling billions of dollars could have been directed to better uses, not to mention the amazing amount of volunteerism that would have served us better if it had been invested in local efforts at community building, and bettering where we all live.

Once again, a little more than half of those registered to vote will participate in an election that only moves us closer to a looming train wreck of governance.

Those who do vote for the two corporate choices will hold their ground, tied to party loyalties that often won't stand even minimal scrutiny. How can you explain away one vice president, claiming to represent “regular” folks, dropping $150,000 of campaign contributions for shopping sprees to Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, with nearly $5,000 of that being for makeup and hair? And we thought John “Breck Girl” Edwards’ $400 haircut was an extravagance.

Of course, hypocrisy isn’t limited by party affiliation, as “Senator Plastic,” Joe Biden, never met a credit card peddler he couldn’t cut a deal with.

As Ralph Nader (a guy who probably buys his suits at Men's Wearhouse) opines over at Counterpunch, “The Song Remains the Same” when it comes to presidential politics. Nader makes the point that there is little real difference in the choice between Senators Obama and McCain, despite protestations to the contrary from Beck, Limbaugh, Carr and other right-wing talkmeisters (“he’s a socialist”) about Mr. Obama, and the left’s bleatings of senility, and VP incompetence, referring to the McCain/Palin ticket.

Asking the question, “Where then is the “hope” and “change” from the junior Senator from Illinois,”? Nader goes on to layout the similarities between McBama and O’Cain.

“…Obama and McCain want more nuclear power plants, more coal production, and more offshore oil drilling. Our national priority should be energy efficient consumer technologies (motor vehicles, heating, air conditioning and electric systems) and renewable energy such as wind, solar and geothermal.

Both support the gigantic taxpayer funded Wall Street bailout, without expressed amendments. Both support the notorious Patriot Act, the revised FISA act which opened the door to spy on Americans without judicial approval, and Obama agrees with McCain in vigorously opposing the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

What about avoidance? Did you see them speak about a comprehensive enforcement program to prosecute corporate crooks in the midst of the greatest corporate crime wave in our history? Did you see them allude to doing anything about consumer protection (credit card gouging, price of medicines, the awful exploitation and deprivation of the people in the inner city) and the ripoffs of buyers in ever more obscure and inescapable ways?”

You can read the rest of the article, here.

Maybe we need the revolution that Nader and someone to his right, Ron Paul, are calling for. It is a credit to the character and integrity of both of these men (as well as Cynthia McKinney, and Chuck Baldwin) that they could put ideological differences aside and find four points of common ground to offer Americans a common rallying point.

I continue to be amazed that each subsequent presidential election leaves us with so narrow a spectrum of choices every four years. A country with over 300 million people can't (or won't) grant us something better than two candidates splitting hairs over minor issues, and a perennial field of third-party candidates excluded from the debates, and blacked out by the news media.

Unfortunately, things will probably get worse before Americans wake up to the bankruptcy of going back to the same well and expecting a different tasting drink of water, one that’s not putrefied.

Hopefully, we’ll have a choice in four, or eight more years to travel a different path.

It's one game playoff time

[Photo/Getty Images]

It was my contention, when the Sox were down three games to one, that the Tampa Ray (Devil) Rays, Joe Maddon’s upstarts, had better close it out in game 5 because if they had to play games 6 and 7, the pressure of the postseason might overwhelm a team that had never been there before.

We obviously know about the Sox and their amazing knack for Lazarus-like returns from the dead. Their come from behind Houdini act in game 5 sending it back to the Trop didn’t bode well for the Joe Maddon-led Rays.

When the red-hot B.J. Upton hit his fourth homer of the ALCS, Sox fans felt a tremor of concern. After Thursday night, however, the faithful knew that someone would step up soon. Youk was the man tonight, evening it up with a blast of his own, and later adding a ground out to put the Sox on top.

Jason Varitek picked himself up off the mat, breaking an 0-13 ALCS string of futility with a blast to right. Then, Jason Bartlett threw a routine groundball wide and over the head of Carlos Pena (feeling the pressure?) keeping the sixth inning alive. Big Papi added some cushion after the Bartlett miscue, with a clutch single to right center allowing Coco to trot home and the Sox were up 4-2.

All the consternation about Beckett pitching game 6 was for nought. With better command and a good breaking pitch, the veteran gave the Sox five solid innings and it was time for the Red Sox bullpen to get them to the finish line.

It was enjoyable in the 7th, to hear the Ray's fans getting restless. While I'm happy that they finally got a taste of meaningful baseball in October, you can tell that both they and their team need a bit more seasoning before being crowned major league champions.

As for CHB's column about the Rays' reaction to their game 5 meltdown, it's quite apparent to me how they're reacting.

It's Lester tomorrow for game 7 and I’m liking our chances to be going head-to-head against the Phillies in this year’s fall classic.

Would the real Red Sox fans please stand up

[Globe photo/Jim Davis]

Yesterday at work, I got into an “argument” with a guy that calls himself a lifelong Red Sox fan. He’s a guy that has followed the Sox through thick and thin. His uncle, a former sportswriter, was a personal friend of Ted Williams (aka, Teddy Ballgame) and he would bring his young nephew to countless games.

Like many fans of Boston’s favorite team, something’s happened to Joe (not his real name, but that name is hot now). After their first World Series win in 2004 (breaking Dan Shaughnessy’s calling card and meal ticket, the Curse of the Bambino), I noticed something changing with Red Sox fans. The fatalism and perpetual despair was gone, now replaced with something else. It got worse after the 2007 Series win. A sense of entitlement settled in. It’s ugly in those operating on the taxpayer’s dime, and also ugly in baseball fans, particularly those that used to root for their team just because the Sox were their team.

Joe was in a funk yesterday afternoon. When I asked him about the game that night, he said, “It’s over.”

“It’s over?” I asked. “What do you mean?”

“This year’s team is pathetic,” Joe said.

No amount of fact could talk Joe down from his self-imposed back-turning on his beloved Sox. It didn’t matter that the team was banged up and hindered with injuries. Key members of the club (Mike Lowell) were gone for the season. One of baseball’s top pitchers (Josh Beckett) is missing a yard off his fastball and has valiantly been trying to get by on guile and heart his past two starts. Jon Lester, who has been Mr. Automatic the past two months, had his worst start of the season, and it happened to come in Game 3. Ortiz and Varitek have been automatic outs in the Red Sox lineup.

My point to Joe was that the Sox, if they could win Game 5 and send this thing back to Tampa, would put pressure on a young team that’s never felt late Series postseason pressure. You saw how they reacted to their first exposure to ALCS pressure in Game 1. They were tight. The past few nights, they loosened up and became a free-swinging wrecking crew, making mincemeat of the Red Sox starting pitching.

While I didn’t predict a Sox win in talking with Joe, I did indicate that I thought Dice-K would handcuff the Rays hitters. The scenario didn’t roll forth as I envisioned. By the end of three innings, even I had my doubts about the 2008 season. After three, it was 5-0, and after four, Matzusaka was done.

Two good innings from Okajima stemmed the tide, but Delcarmen yielded two more on an Upton double. Francona had to bring Jonathan Papelbon in early to try to keep the Rays at bay, hoping for a miracle. Ortiz gave those of us stupid enough to still be awake, hope. Drew made it worth it when he singled in Youk with two outs.

It was nice to hear “Dirty Water” one more time, and send the Series back to Tampa Bay, with the Sox alive for yet another day.

Will the Sox win it all? I don't know, but this I do know this. Beckett won't pitch a third "stinker." If it gets to Game 7, all bets are off, and I like Lester in that one, also.

I promise I won't rub Joe's nose in it, this morning when I see him at work.

A MSM voice for third-parties

[Just realized this morning (Sat.) that in my haste to get this post up between gulps of my morning coffee, I neglected to post a title/headline. I've done so ex post facto.--JB]

Kenric Ward, who writes for Scripps News Service has a great column on third-party candidates, and the duopoly maintained by the Democrat/Republican parties.

Scripps Howard News Service is a major U.S. news service (they sponsor the national spelling bee) and columns like Ward's should be in every newspaper, with other journalists jumping on this story, also.

Ward writes,

Be honest. What have you learned from the first two presidential debates?
Do you expect to be any more enlightened by Wednesday night's third and final
showdown between Barack Obama and John McCain?

If you're like my friends and associates outside the newsroom, you're
setting the bar pretty low. If these "debates" have proven anything, they
confirm our two-party choice is dumb and dumber (you pick).

Three months before the current market meltdown, the Wall Street
Journal carried this headline: "The State of the Union? Furious." When the
ever-bullish Bible of U.S. capitalism acknowledges that the natives are
restless, you know things are serious.

You can read the rest here.

One reason that both major parties refuse to let other candidates into the debates, like Nader, or Baldwin, is because if third-party candidates were included, with real ideas and substance, a schmuck like "Crazy Uncle John" McCain, and the empty suit, Obama, would be shown for the frauds that they are.

Sadly, our so-called democracy falls short once again, with Americans being treated to another "parallel interview," instead of a debate.