With his appearance before the Waxman Congressional panel investigating the use of steroids and Human Growth Hormones (HGH) in baseball, premier pitcher Roger Clemens accomplished one thing – no matter how many ballots his name appears on - he will not be going to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
His willingness to play the stubborn fool in desperately trying to cling to his fantasy that America will accept his actions of throwing his wife under the bus for her usage of HGH for a Sports Illustrated swimsuit layout and trying to label his best friend Andy Pettitte as deaf (“he misheard –misremembered- me”) will not work.
As a Yankee fan since 1961, I have followed this team and it’s players through good and bad, ups and downs and the mediocre and never once, not once, have I ever heard a bad thing being said by anyone in baseball about Andy Pettitte. “Stand up”, “honest”, “hard worker”, “family man”, “Born Again Christian” are the words and descriptions that are most often heard when Petitte’s name is brought up.
Pettitte came right out and admitted using HGH twice and that he was told by Clemens that he (Clemens) too had used it. They even had some discussions about how Clemens would respond if asked by the media about whether he used these drugs or not.
Forget the trainer, Brian McNamee, and his statements. Forget the former Senator George Mitchell and his report’s findings; forget Clemens’ former teammate, Chuck Knobloch and his endorsement of the McNamee statements.
It comes down to who you believe – Andy Pettitte or Roger Clemens.
Andy does not necessarily have a place in the Hall of Fame waiting for him – a good pitcher, but not an automatic famer. In his written testimony to the committee, a deeply religious Pettitte mentioned how he had to tell the truth, that one day he would have to stand before God and account for all he had done.
I'll believe Andy.
Until he opened his mouth yesterday, Roger Clemens was a first round definite Hall of Famer.
Not anymore.
The best he can hope for now is maybe getting together with Mark McGuire for some batting practice and that the tests on the saved syringes from McNamee's injection sessions come up as a negative match to Roger's DNA.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Friday, February 1, 2008
Merla's Going Away Interview
Role models cannot be repeatedly tempted with the option of wrongdoing. Eventually they will have to do the wrong thing.
Such was the explaination offered by John Merla, the former mayor, to the citizens of Keyport, on why he took the money offered by a surrogate of the FBI in it's Bid Rig undercover operation.
We learned that valuable lesson from a going away interview with a local weekly newspaper.
The former mayor likened himself to a ten year old faced with cookies - and the uncertain moral certitude associated with that age group when faced with a delicious offering.
However, the adult version of this senario replaced the cookies with envelopes of cash (ironically referred to by those on the take as "doughnuts") and their ethical standards having been filtered through such processes as asking for the voters trust, taking an oath of office and repeatedly stating your innocence in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary that you knew to be true.
If we use the former mayor's definition of the term "role model", then all of those fine people who, along with him, were named to the Keyport Hall of Fame will also be found to have the moral certitude of ten year olds and will have to do the wrong thing when faced with temptation.
Fortunately for Keyport, wiser thinking pervails in the community. The Keyport Board of Education voted to remove the former mayor's photo from the ranks of true role models.
He says he will use his prison time constructively, looking to educate himself about a new business venture he intends to take up upon his release.
Perhaps during his stay in prison he will get the fact that what he has done is wrong.Then again maybe not. We'll know for sure if, in two years, the former mayor is seen in the early morning hours walking down the streets of Keyport muttering to himself "time to make (or take) the doughnuts..."
Such was the explaination offered by John Merla, the former mayor, to the citizens of Keyport, on why he took the money offered by a surrogate of the FBI in it's Bid Rig undercover operation.
We learned that valuable lesson from a going away interview with a local weekly newspaper.
The former mayor likened himself to a ten year old faced with cookies - and the uncertain moral certitude associated with that age group when faced with a delicious offering.
However, the adult version of this senario replaced the cookies with envelopes of cash (ironically referred to by those on the take as "doughnuts") and their ethical standards having been filtered through such processes as asking for the voters trust, taking an oath of office and repeatedly stating your innocence in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary that you knew to be true.
If we use the former mayor's definition of the term "role model", then all of those fine people who, along with him, were named to the Keyport Hall of Fame will also be found to have the moral certitude of ten year olds and will have to do the wrong thing when faced with temptation.
Fortunately for Keyport, wiser thinking pervails in the community. The Keyport Board of Education voted to remove the former mayor's photo from the ranks of true role models.
He says he will use his prison time constructively, looking to educate himself about a new business venture he intends to take up upon his release.
Perhaps during his stay in prison he will get the fact that what he has done is wrong.Then again maybe not. We'll know for sure if, in two years, the former mayor is seen in the early morning hours walking down the streets of Keyport muttering to himself "time to make (or take) the doughnuts..."
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
6 Days to go.....
So we’ve found out that Rudy and Judy will not be the first couple, that John and Elizabeth gave it the old college try and that Ron Paul still (as of today) has more money than John McCain – the current version of the “frontrunner” for the Republicans.
Huckabee? He’s the Jed Clampett of the bunch running for president, living off the land, “shootin’ at some food” and looking for some crude.
Hillary found her voice in New Hampshire and a funny thing happened when she got to South Carolina – she sounded a lot like Bill. He talked so much that she actually left the state to go to California. While she was gone, Bill went ahead and flew off the handle and threw Hillary’s campaign off the track. Obama routed the two of them in the election – yes he beat Billary - by a 2 to 1 spread.
Suddenly the no delegate rich Florida contest on the Democrats side was all-important to Billary. Because Florida decided to move up their primary, the DNC said that under no circumstances would Florida delegates be allowed to be seated nor be able to vote at the convention. So severe was this primary date movement that all Democratic presidential campaigns promised not to campaign there.
Billary will try and undo all those penalties, will try to rewrite the rules after the fact because they will do and say anything, at any time, so long as it’s in their best interest – forget everyone else.
Billary wants us to vote for a four-year term of this type behavior.
Billary – take a hike, your time has come and gone.
Huckabee? He’s the Jed Clampett of the bunch running for president, living off the land, “shootin’ at some food” and looking for some crude.
Hillary found her voice in New Hampshire and a funny thing happened when she got to South Carolina – she sounded a lot like Bill. He talked so much that she actually left the state to go to California. While she was gone, Bill went ahead and flew off the handle and threw Hillary’s campaign off the track. Obama routed the two of them in the election – yes he beat Billary - by a 2 to 1 spread.
Suddenly the no delegate rich Florida contest on the Democrats side was all-important to Billary. Because Florida decided to move up their primary, the DNC said that under no circumstances would Florida delegates be allowed to be seated nor be able to vote at the convention. So severe was this primary date movement that all Democratic presidential campaigns promised not to campaign there.
Billary will try and undo all those penalties, will try to rewrite the rules after the fact because they will do and say anything, at any time, so long as it’s in their best interest – forget everyone else.
Billary wants us to vote for a four-year term of this type behavior.
Billary – take a hike, your time has come and gone.
Monday, January 21, 2008
On February 5th, 2008……
I will be casting my vote for Barack Obama for President.
Yes, this 52 year old white guy will be looking to give the United States a chance to begin with a fresh start, a fresh face and a fresh perspective that Senator Obama provides.
While there are those that question his “experience”, I see him as having enough of that to know how the current system works and the ability to see where corrections need to be made in that system. I believe he approaches this with the understanding that these corrections, or changes, will need to be done by those he will choose, based on his strong suite of judgment, rather than the more current method of who you “owe” a favor to.
I have watched how he has not been sucked into the race debate – the “is he black enough” – that those within my party would use to validate there own position as being important and in turn, who see their subsequent endorsement as a “necessary” check off to acquire the party’s nomination.
Much to their dismay, Obama has worked at a level above this – causing them to have to play catch-up to him. These supposed kingmaker’s frustrations are beginning to show as they see his ability to garner both white and minority votes without their influence in the mix is viewed as a threat and something that needs to be dealt with in an untested manner. They failed early on to correctly gauge the level of Obama’s potential appeal and in doing so, failed to plan how to deal with it in a constructive way.
Unfortunately for Hillary, her one time asset – her husband, the former president Bill Clinton has become more of a distraction of late. His utterances that casts doubts upon Obama’s abilities are becoming more and more viewed as signs of both a divisive and desperate approach by her campaign. Add to it that she cannot control his off the campaign script actions and one is left to wonder what a newly christened Clinton White House would look like -and be received on a daily basis on the world stage- given an uncontrollable First Husband. The impact of off-the-cuff remarks that differ from a national U.S., Hillary Clinton instituted, policy could very well be monumental and would not be easily undone by some warm and fuzzy moments with Tyra Banks.
Another unfortunate fact for Hillary is her very high negatives going into a general election - and most of them having nothing to do with her gender, but rather a prospect of revisiting the nightmarish headlines of the prior Clinton era.
Speaking of gender based votes, why do I have the feeling that an all female ticket of Elizabeth Edwards / Michelle Obama would dwarf Hillary's candidacy for it's ability for garnering votes and prevailing in the fall general election? Is it a not so outrageous proposition for the Dems to consider at a brokered convention? Forget their husbands and wrap your mind around an Elizabeth/Michelle ticket for a moment or two. Two intelligent, well spoken people, lawyers both, who are passionate and genuine in their approach to any subject that has been handed them to dissect in an impromptu setting. Both are just as "tough" as Hillary (they are mothers, after all) and know first hand the travails of a campaign. Is this that far flung of a notion? Just a thought.
There are many more reasons that I could cite for my upcoming vote for Obama, but I fear that anyone reading this may fall prey to the process of glazing over of eyes and the stifling of yawns that could soon start, so I’ll just end it here.
Yes, this 52 year old white guy will be looking to give the United States a chance to begin with a fresh start, a fresh face and a fresh perspective that Senator Obama provides.
While there are those that question his “experience”, I see him as having enough of that to know how the current system works and the ability to see where corrections need to be made in that system. I believe he approaches this with the understanding that these corrections, or changes, will need to be done by those he will choose, based on his strong suite of judgment, rather than the more current method of who you “owe” a favor to.
I have watched how he has not been sucked into the race debate – the “is he black enough” – that those within my party would use to validate there own position as being important and in turn, who see their subsequent endorsement as a “necessary” check off to acquire the party’s nomination.
Much to their dismay, Obama has worked at a level above this – causing them to have to play catch-up to him. These supposed kingmaker’s frustrations are beginning to show as they see his ability to garner both white and minority votes without their influence in the mix is viewed as a threat and something that needs to be dealt with in an untested manner. They failed early on to correctly gauge the level of Obama’s potential appeal and in doing so, failed to plan how to deal with it in a constructive way.
Unfortunately for Hillary, her one time asset – her husband, the former president Bill Clinton has become more of a distraction of late. His utterances that casts doubts upon Obama’s abilities are becoming more and more viewed as signs of both a divisive and desperate approach by her campaign. Add to it that she cannot control his off the campaign script actions and one is left to wonder what a newly christened Clinton White House would look like -and be received on a daily basis on the world stage- given an uncontrollable First Husband. The impact of off-the-cuff remarks that differ from a national U.S., Hillary Clinton instituted, policy could very well be monumental and would not be easily undone by some warm and fuzzy moments with Tyra Banks.
Another unfortunate fact for Hillary is her very high negatives going into a general election - and most of them having nothing to do with her gender, but rather a prospect of revisiting the nightmarish headlines of the prior Clinton era.
Speaking of gender based votes, why do I have the feeling that an all female ticket of Elizabeth Edwards / Michelle Obama would dwarf Hillary's candidacy for it's ability for garnering votes and prevailing in the fall general election? Is it a not so outrageous proposition for the Dems to consider at a brokered convention? Forget their husbands and wrap your mind around an Elizabeth/Michelle ticket for a moment or two. Two intelligent, well spoken people, lawyers both, who are passionate and genuine in their approach to any subject that has been handed them to dissect in an impromptu setting. Both are just as "tough" as Hillary (they are mothers, after all) and know first hand the travails of a campaign. Is this that far flung of a notion? Just a thought.
There are many more reasons that I could cite for my upcoming vote for Obama, but I fear that anyone reading this may fall prey to the process of glazing over of eyes and the stifling of yawns that could soon start, so I’ll just end it here.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Keyport Condemns Toll Hike Plan
At it's 01/15/08 council meeting, the Keyport Council asked it's Borough Attorney, John Wisniewski (a state Assemblyman), to formulate a resolution condemning the recently introduced toll hike plan of Gov. John Corzine.
Keyport Council President Joe Sheridan cited the disproportinate burden being placed on communities like Keyport, whose locale to the major toll roads forces their residents to be, in essence, "taxed" unfairly as he introduce the idea for the resolution.
At issue is the premise that only some of the citizens of this state are being asked to unfairly shoulder the escalating costs of government and that other ways need to be explored and utilized to insure that every citizen is asked to either help pay the cost or to deal with any cuts in the state budget that might need to be made in place of this unfair approach of raising tolls.
The resolution is expected to be formally introduced and voted upon by the full council in the very near future.
The expectation is that if the resolution is passed, it's final version will be forwarded to the Governor and state representatives of Keyport. It will also be made available for all other municipalities to copy and adopt it for themselves and forward to their respective state representatives.
Thank you Mr. Sheridan for speaking for the hard pressed taxpayers.
Keyport Council President Joe Sheridan cited the disproportinate burden being placed on communities like Keyport, whose locale to the major toll roads forces their residents to be, in essence, "taxed" unfairly as he introduce the idea for the resolution.
At issue is the premise that only some of the citizens of this state are being asked to unfairly shoulder the escalating costs of government and that other ways need to be explored and utilized to insure that every citizen is asked to either help pay the cost or to deal with any cuts in the state budget that might need to be made in place of this unfair approach of raising tolls.
The resolution is expected to be formally introduced and voted upon by the full council in the very near future.
The expectation is that if the resolution is passed, it's final version will be forwarded to the Governor and state representatives of Keyport. It will also be made available for all other municipalities to copy and adopt it for themselves and forward to their respective state representatives.
Thank you Mr. Sheridan for speaking for the hard pressed taxpayers.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Baseball - The Mitchell Report
With baseball being a sport where the stats of one era are used to compare
the efforts of players to another era, (part of the "integrity" so often
spoken of) we, the fans, have often wished to discount the influence of the
business side of it all. We know it's there and somehow the 8 year old in
each of us wants to believe that a "Bad News Bears" team can win it all,
even at the adult level (aka '77 Yanks).
Even then The Boss kept rehiring Billy Martin, because he put fannys in the seats.
And that's what it's all about - filling seats - not the purty of the game
and it's records. They use the latter at the begining of each spring
training to sell the former to the 8 year old in each of us.
The house that Ruth built was via the HR. People loved that and because of
it, him. He drank, caroused, etc - it was all tolerated for the most part -
because he could hit it out.
When Ruth died, tens of thousands lined up to pass his casket.
(Question - Who among today's stars would they do that for?)
No, the 8 year old in us is outraged, saddened and wanting those who have
violated our sense of right and wrong to be punished.
Because of the drip, drip, drip nature of these revealations over the past
few years, the adult in us has been conditioned to view these latest
disappointments on the same level as we would the latest recall of Chinese
made products.
the efforts of players to another era, (part of the "integrity" so often
spoken of) we, the fans, have often wished to discount the influence of the
business side of it all. We know it's there and somehow the 8 year old in
each of us wants to believe that a "Bad News Bears" team can win it all,
even at the adult level (aka '77 Yanks).
Even then The Boss kept rehiring Billy Martin, because he put fannys in the seats.
And that's what it's all about - filling seats - not the purty of the game
and it's records. They use the latter at the begining of each spring
training to sell the former to the 8 year old in each of us.
The house that Ruth built was via the HR. People loved that and because of
it, him. He drank, caroused, etc - it was all tolerated for the most part -
because he could hit it out.
When Ruth died, tens of thousands lined up to pass his casket.
(Question - Who among today's stars would they do that for?)
No, the 8 year old in us is outraged, saddened and wanting those who have
violated our sense of right and wrong to be punished.
Because of the drip, drip, drip nature of these revealations over the past
few years, the adult in us has been conditioned to view these latest
disappointments on the same level as we would the latest recall of Chinese
made products.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Well Done, Keyport !!!!!
The recent elections have served up mixed reviews and I will leave the interpretation of those statewide results to others to somehow surmise for digestion.
However, here in Keyport we had our first election since the sentencing of our former mayor, John Merla (elected as a Republican) on the reduced (from the original 8) one count. If the results of the council race here in town is any indication, the town is ready/has moved on and rightly so.
In the hours prior to the results being known or tallied, I met John at the Keyport Republican outpost for election night and we shook hands, with the understanding that what is past is past, atonement by him with regard to his sentence to be carried out and once done, that we’ll take from there.
Democrat George Walling, was the big winner of the night, despite disarray in his own party about what measure of support he enjoyed from those who would seek to “control” every issue or discussion.
The fact that a Republican, John Kovacs, won and thus became the lone member of his party to be on the new 2008 council is a refreshing reminder that the 2-party system is alive.
Knowing both of these gentlemen, I believe the electorate sent a clear message that they want straight-shooting, open minded individuals who will really listen, who will respect those who might have a different view rather than attempt to brow beat or look down upon them.
These two gentlemen know how to check their egos at the door and they understand the concept that they do not have “power”, but rather responsibility. That the authority these positions supply is something that is best kept in the back pocket and used only when every good faith attempt at reaching consensus has been exhausted.
Well done, Keyport!!!
However, here in Keyport we had our first election since the sentencing of our former mayor, John Merla (elected as a Republican) on the reduced (from the original 8) one count. If the results of the council race here in town is any indication, the town is ready/has moved on and rightly so.
In the hours prior to the results being known or tallied, I met John at the Keyport Republican outpost for election night and we shook hands, with the understanding that what is past is past, atonement by him with regard to his sentence to be carried out and once done, that we’ll take from there.
Democrat George Walling, was the big winner of the night, despite disarray in his own party about what measure of support he enjoyed from those who would seek to “control” every issue or discussion.
The fact that a Republican, John Kovacs, won and thus became the lone member of his party to be on the new 2008 council is a refreshing reminder that the 2-party system is alive.
Knowing both of these gentlemen, I believe the electorate sent a clear message that they want straight-shooting, open minded individuals who will really listen, who will respect those who might have a different view rather than attempt to brow beat or look down upon them.
These two gentlemen know how to check their egos at the door and they understand the concept that they do not have “power”, but rather responsibility. That the authority these positions supply is something that is best kept in the back pocket and used only when every good faith attempt at reaching consensus has been exhausted.
Well done, Keyport!!!
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