Green Shift/Debate Issues

It's already been heavily discussed, but the Liberal Green Shift plan is now being roasted by senior Ontario Liberals as well (including the Ontario Finance Minister). Not surprisingly, he doesn't consider it to be good form to radically change the tax burden in the country at a time of economic instability (which seems to make alot of sense).

Harper also wants a full hour of the debate focusing on the economy. Layton has immediately agreed. That puts Dion in a tough spot - should he disagree, he looks like he either doesn't care about the biggest issue in the election, or he is worried about discussing it for that length. If he does agree, he gets an hour with his weakest (and Harper's strongest) issue. Big trouble for him, and strong move by Harper.

And I can't believe the Liberals are actually running out the whole "plagiarism" card when it comes to a speech Harper gave 5 years ago. Even when the Conservatives were blasting the Liberals over issues like the sponsorship scandal, it was a) current, and b) completely relevant. This is neither, and for the Liberals to be parading it like a big, scary, nasty find is simply amusing.

And finally, a big shout out to all you out there reading this. I had no idea so many of you were out there. Thanks for the readership, and I'll be trying to keep this a bit more up to date than I have in past months.

I Saw John McCain...

...on an episode of 24 last night (an older, Season 5 episode). Amusing.

This move, although it reeks of blatant politicking (like the Palin appointment as VP), is going to be a tricky one for Obama to handle. How can Obama blast McCain about taking a break from campaigning, (including pulling all advertisements!!) to deal with the largest financial crisis the US has seen since the Great Depression? I'm looking forward to seeing how he'll respond (and if the debate will go through tomorrow night.

Why The NDP Will Be Forever Irrelevant

Jack Layton: "We say the arts are at the core of the economy."

Am I saying I hate the arts? No. But to suggest the arts are what is driving the Canadian economy is so ridiculous that it's incredible that Jack can't understand why people don't take him seriously.

Arts funding is all well and good, but I have a feeling that for the vast number of average Canadians getting concerned about the pending economic situation, money for the arts that is instead diverted into other areas is probably a good thing, and I tend to think that even the most liberal of Canadians would agree that the arts are hardly at the core of the economy.

Genocide?

According to Dr. Julio Montaner, shutting down a supervised illegal drug injection site is equivalent to genocide.

Actually, that's being kind. He says it is genocide.

Regardless of whether or not it's a good policy (and I have an extremely hard time seeing how tax dollars are appropriately being spent funding the injection of illegal drugs, but that's a different discussion), comparing shutting down Insite to genocide is disrespecting victims of true genocide (see Rwanda, Holocaust). And it does nothing to advance the cause of Insite.

Yammerin' Hank

For a truly great read on the unbelievable nature of Hank Steinbrenner's whining, check out Ray Ratto's evisceration.

Hank the Yank is whining about revenue sharing, divisional realignment (a complaint which we share, but his team spends 210 million and has been the playoffs for 15 straight years), and undeserving teams in the MLB playoffs (basically the same thing as divisional realignment complaints).

Dude, when your team prints money and makes the playoffs for 15 straight years, you cannot complain about MLB being somehow unfair to your team. Just can it.

Boo-Hoo Rocket Roger

So, apparently, Juiced Rocket Roger Clemens was more than a little sad that he wasn't included in the big Yankee Stadium tribute party event.

The words used in the article are quite hilarious: "heartbroken", "final crushing blow", "sad what they did to him", "clutching his wife's hand".

Think it might have been different Roger if you hadn't shot yourself up with illegal drugs? I think so, yeah.

Greyhound Security

Yet again.

The question that has already been asked (and I'm sure that will continue to be asked) is: should Greyhound implement some sort of security scan like airlines do? (interestingly enough, absolutely nothing is being done by VIA, nor is it even discussed). As a further follow-up, what should be done regarding taxis? Or limousines?

It's a tricky subject. Obviously, the bus is a significantly cheaper form of transportation than a plane, train or taxi (or other car service). Adding extensive security measures will automatically raise the price, which will have a direct impact on the people in the lowest income bracket of our society. The question then becomes how to best manage safety with economy, a difficult question, only heightened by the mass media involvement in the story.

Worth monitoring, to be sure.

Proposed MLB Realignment

I prepared this post a while back and forgot to post it. It essentially came out of frustration with the current MLB divisional format, and the disparity between the divisions.

What would I love to see?

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Northwest (Pacific North):
Seattle
San Francisco
Colorado
Oakland

North (Lake Michigan):
Minnesota
Milwaukee
Chicago
Chicago

Northeast (Lake Erie):
Detroit
Cleveland
Toronto
Pittsburgh

East (Atlantic North):
Philadelphia
New York
New York
Boston

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Southwest (Pacific South):
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
San Diego
Las Vegas Rebels**

South (Gulf):
Texas
Houston
Arizona
San Antonio Mustangs**

Southeast (Atlantic South):
Atlanta
Florida
Tampa Bay
Washington

Midwest (Prairies):
Baltimore
Cincinnati
St. Louis
Kansas City


Balanced schedule, with divisional games early and late in the year.

Division winners make playoffs, plus top 2 records of non-division winners. Top 2 division winner records in each league get 1st round “bye”. 1st round series are 3 games series. Divisional, Championship and World Series are 7 game series.

Why is this better? 2 team expansion gets 32 teams, which means 16 teams in each league (balance). 6 teams make playoffs, and 2 best records are rewarded. This will mean there will be more intrigue in the last few weeks of the year (benefit in finishing 1st and 2nd, chance for 3 teams in one division to make playoffs).

It’s basically copying the NFL style of playoffs, which in my opinion works extremely well. It only adds 5 games (at the absolute most) to the schedule (3 extra 1st round games, and 2 extra 2nd round games).

Obvious problems are in placing both Chicagos and both New Yorks (as well as Boston and Philadelphia) all in the same league. Of course, since 3 teams from a sole division CAN make the playoffs, this only means that a couple of teams are missing out. Smaller divisions mean more championship races (good), more playoff teams (exciting), and more crossover play.

This would also mean the National League accepting the DH role or the American League deleting it.

The American League does look significantly stronger than the National League (not that that is a big surprise). I personally like the intra-city rivalries in the same division. I also like the way teams are in the same geographic regions better than they currently are. I realize it’s not perfect (Baltimore in the Midwest, and Washington in the Southeast seems like the strangest mix), but the rest seems to work well. Toronto gets to play their natural rivals (geographically) in their same division (Cleveland and Detroit).

Will it ever happen? No, (partially because of TV ratings, and partially because of baseball’s extreme aversion to change), but MLB might think about how it works in the NFL and the benefits that stem from that approach.

Leader's Debates? Should be Dion vs. Harper.

It is incredible how an entire week can go by, and I realize I haven't blogged. And I actually was intending to stay on top of this, and just completely forgot about it.

I've got only one key thing to say today:

Elizabeth May should emphatically NOT be involved in the Leader's Debates. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that she has endorsed another leader as the "best prime minister" and has convinced that leader not to run a candidate against her, but she is somehow going to be expected to argue and debate all the issues distinctly?

There are only 2 political parties in the country with ANY hope of winning this election, and ergo, any real chance of leading the country. There are only 2 people who have any hope of being prime minister.

As such, I would love to see Harper publicly request a one-on-one debate with Dion, so Canadians can actually see an honest-to-goodness comparison between the two people they are really choosing between. Although I believe the NDP and Bloc will both win a number of seats (and the Greens might even win one or two), they have no chance of winning the election (even Layton knows this). Dion vs. Harper. I would actually watch that (versus these leader's debates, which I have no intention of watching).

2008 NFL Predictions

Simply on order of finish, with wild cards marked with a *.

AFC East:
New England
Buffalo
Miami
New York

AFC North:
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Baltimore

AFC South:
Indianapolis
Jacksonville*
Tennessee
Houston

AFC West:
San Diego
Denver*
Oakland
Kansas City

NFC East:
Dallas
Philadelphia*
New York
Washington

NFC North:
Minnesota
Detroit
Green Bay
Chicago

NFC South:
Carolina
New Orleans*
Tampa Bay
Atlanta

NFC West:
Seattle
Arizona
St. Louis
San Francisco

AFC Championship: San Diego over Jacksonville
NFC Championship: Minnesota over Dallas
Super Bowl: Minnesota over San Diego

Twice in a Week? No Way!

Well, when I said I was going to try to get back into this, I was serious.

And anyone who reads (or maybe I should say "read") this blog knows that I like sports and I can't go an awful long time without blogging about something sports related.

What's the beef? The Blue Jays treatment of Travis Snider.

They call him up before the 40-man roster are activated, meaning that his service clock has started already. Fine. I'm okay with that, if they're going to play him.

But apparently he's going to sit against LHP's, which doesn't really make an awful lot of sense to me. The team is out of it, it's time to see if Snider is a MLB player NOW, or an MLB player LATER. The only way they'll find out is by playing him against LHP.

Am I bitter because I started him in my fantasy playoffs last night because I thought Beltran was hurt and then Beltran hit a HR and Snider sat? Yes, but that doesn't change the point.

Snider should be playing full-time now, either with the Jays or with the AFL. Doesn't make much sense to use him this way.

Wow, He Blogs Again

It's been a really long time, but I figured with a new season it might be time to kick up the dust again and try to get back into this stuff.

Staying away from sports and the law, momentarily anyways:

1) Another hurricane hits the New Orleans area. No disrespect to the people there, but who exactly thought that was a good spot for a city? And more importantly, when do people decide enough is enough and they just don't want to be constantly rebuilding their city?

It would seem to me that constantly rebuilding in a place that is certain to be hit again with the exact same natural disaster seems somewhat ridiculous.

2) Apparently we'll be going to the polls on October 14th. Regardless of "who forced the election", it seems quite surprising to me that the Conservative minority has lasted as long as it has. Regardless of what the polls currently say, I can't see anything less than another Conservative minority, as Dion just hasn't been able to make any real mud stick to Harper (at least, mud that the masses care about). And (equally as important), Dion hasn't been able to take over the agenda. The fact that the country has not collapsed in the last 2 years with Harper at the helm suggests to me that Canadians (not known for rocking the boat too much) will likely send him back with another minority, or, if he's lucky, a majority.

3) Every time I've eaten meat in the last couple weeks I keep thinking "Is this safe?" Amazing what a scare like that can do.

4) John McCain is really old to be running for President.

That's it for today. Baby steps.

Pierre McGuire is a Horrible Announcer

Last night, while watching a couple minutes of the hockey game, Pierre had this awesome quote:

"Forsberg has just awesome chemistry out there. Look at the chemistry he has with Statsny, and Sakic, and himself."

Yes, folks, Peter Forsberg is so awesome he has chemistry with himself.

Why The Jays Released Reed Johnson

This was an expected decision, as far as I can tell. As I wrote here, Johnson cost more and was unlikely to outproduce Stewart anyways.



Of course, this has not stopped hundreds of angry message board posters freaking out for a variety of reasons over the injustice done to their favourite "dirtbag". A sampling of some of the comments here.



The bulk of the comments seem to fall into a couple of categories.



1) Johnson has grit/hustle/heart and Stewart is a lazy bum who can't throw and has not grit.



To wit:

I think the Jays will regret this. Johnson provides some grit to the Jays
and is a "gamer". Stewart is on the downward slope of his career and cannot
throw.

and

Reed Johnson is a heart player, I think the Jays made a mistake.

and

Where is the loyalty? He's been nothing but grit, heart and soul for the
Jays since he was called up, now they just leave him hanging? Terrible
move.

Now, don't get me wrong - I liked watching Reed Johnson play alot. He was one of my favourite Blue Jays the last couple years, and he was awesome in 2006. Unfortunately, that was 2006 and that was only one year. If you take out those stats, his career is decidedly "average" at best, and "well-below average" at worst.





Wow, release the fan favorite for the guy who couldn't wait to get out of town.



Wow! Did not see this coming. I feel Johnson is still better than Stewart offensively. Faster, younger, cooler. Bad move in my opinion.



So you're telling me you couldn't even get a draft pick for this guy.



What a bonehead move by the Jays! It sad to see that a player's position is determined by their name and not their stats. Reed Johnson has always been a class act and deserves better.



Where is the loyalty? He's been nothing but grit, heart and soul for the Jays since he was called up, now they just leave him hanging? Terrible move.



Shannon left the blue jays for bigger money for the twins a few years ago, Reed stayed and showed his hustle and grit despite a ack. Is Loyalty important to JP.



What are they doing the one guy on the team that could actually get the bunt down and be a catalyst for this team....Dumb Dumb move









Johnson is way overrated. A .281 with little power, poor baserunning ability, below average defense. Tons of heart will only take you so far, probably as far as he has been. His injuries over the past few years will start to show a quick decline in his ablilities. With Johnson at 31 and in his decline you might as well take the more consistant hitter in Stewart. Good move by JP.

Pronger/Kesler - No Skate Stomp

Can someone please explain to me how this is any different from Simon/Ruutu?

Simon/Ruutu - Skate Stomp

Simon gets suspended for 30 games for "Intent to Injure". 30 Games.

Recent Updates

1) Spitzer resigns. As discussed below, this story is just plain sad (especially for the man's family and spouse). But as outlined by the anonymous response, this in all liklihood was something that was coming down the pipes for a while, based on a bad decision, long ago.

2) Ferraro resigns. Political suicide can sometimes be averted if you immediately apologize. If you don't, you're generally cooked.

Blue Jays Spring Training Thoughts

Several thoughts (and as a warning, this post will likely show once and for all why my dream job is the General Manager of the Blue Jays):

1) Casey Janssen done for the year. Janssen was in the running for the 5th starter job with the Jays, and had long been the preferred choice for that job (from this corner, anyways). An ERA+ of 190 last year? Very nice. Moving him into the rotation and getting 180+ innings of that type of production would have been fantastic (as a frame of reference, Roy Halladay's Cy Young year ERA+ was 145).

Regardless, this does help to explain the rather curious Armando Benitez signing of yesterday. Anytime you have a reliever with a significantly better than 1 K per 1 IP average, you've got a potential gold mine on your hands. And he's cheap, with no risk. Even without Janssen, the bullpen should be okay.

The biggest problem as far as I can tell is that now Jesse Litsch is essentially guaranteed to win the 5th starter's job out of Spring Training (especially after Gustavo Chacin stunk up the joint yesterday). I have nothing against Litsch, but he doesn't strike anyone out, and after him we now have very little depth (except for Chacin, who doesn't scare anyone). Riccardi says he might be after another starter, and I don't blame him. Litsch would likely be better to start the season at AAA and use a veteran stop-gap for the time being. This may be partially dealt with by the following point:

2) Reed Johnson vs. Shannon Stewart for the RH part of the LF platoon (the other part being Matt Stairs). I thought as soon as the Jays made this signing that the writing was probably on the wall for Johnson, and now rumour has it that he might be on his way to the Mets (likely in exchange for either prospects or a possible pitching option). Johnson, 2006 numbers aside, has always been a 4th OF, and I really think that 2006 was an outlier for Johnson and Stewart will outproduce him this year.

If the Jays can move Johnson for some SP help or even organization depth to save a bit of cash, that seems to me like the best option. Johnson would likely have been gone at the end of this year anyways (as Adam Lind is knocking on the door), so why not move him now while he has some value and you can get something for him? Stewart will likely provide comparable numbers at a cheaper cost, and very well could outproduce Johnson.

3) BJ Ryan back already. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's only been 10 months or so since the surgery, and it is generally a 12-16 month recovery period. I really hope he's actually ready to go, because if he's not, that's going to mean major further setbacks, which doesn't bode well for the bullpen. That Benitez signing is looking better by the day.

Wrong Move, Geraldine

I'll let these words speak for themselves:

As Mississippi voted, the tone of the race took another nasty lurch, as the
Obama camp demanded the dismissal of Clinton's supporter Geraldine Ferraro, for
saying: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

...

But Clinton said only that she did "not agree" with Ferraro's portrayal of
Obama as the privileged recipient of affirmative action, and found it
"regrettable" that supporters might resort to personal attacks.

"We ought to keep this focused on the issues. That's what this campaign
should be about," she said while stumping in Pennsylvania ahead of the state's
crunch primary.

Later on Fox News, Ferraro refused to apologize, accused the Obama
campaign of waging a hate campaign against her, and reiterated that the
candidate's political success was "in large measure because he is black."

"I said this (Obama's) is one of the best campaigns. I speak about his
star quality. I talk about how exciting it is to have two campaigns, but you
know, the truth is the truth is the truth," Ferraro added.

Regardless of the truth of that statement*, that's equivalent to policial suicide. And then defending the use makes it all the worse.

It is quite incredible how intense and nasty this campaign is getting. The talk of a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket seems less and less likely by the day.

*As an added note, I am making no comment on the truth of that statement.

Wiped Away

This story, whatever is actually true, is sad.

It's incredible to think that this man, considered a future presidential candidate, has essentially seen his entire career wiped out by a sole decision. While perhaps no different from others who have done the same thing (or allegedly done), the amount that he has lost (and will lose) seems astronomical.

Even allegations of this type are so incredibly damaging to a public career (rightly or wrongly), and it stands to me as a solemn warning of the dangers of putting yourself in the slightest of situations that can lead to the wrong conclusion, let alone the dangers of actually involving in the said offence.