Baseball history

      I grew up a dyed in the pinstripe blue of Yankee lore.   My grandfather was proud of Italian-Americans like Tony Lazzeri, Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto.  I grew up idolizing Mickey Mantle and the players on the great teams of the 50s and early 60s.   I suffered through the late  60s and early 70s .   

     I remember my eldest daughter's crush on a rookie Yankee shortstop in 1995.  She would watch games just to get a glimpse of #2 as he batted and played the field.  I was ambivalent about Derek Jeter, telling her he would have to put up some awesome numbers to be mentioned in the same breath with Mantle, Gehrig and Ruth.   

    Yesterday, Alicia's intuition regarding Jeter was validated as he was inducted into the  Hall of Fame in Cooperstown along with Larry Walker, Ted Simmons and Marvin Miller.   Jeter was a first ballot hall of famer who was the first choice of all but one voter from the baseball writers of America.  His valedictory address was of a piece with his career; an impeccable summation of a career for the ages.   He may not have been the greatest defensive shortstop of his era, but he was the heart and soul of five Yankee championship teams.   I stand corrected Alicia.

Yes, we are divided

        We are a divided nation.   I agree with the premise.  However, the nature of the division is what I dispute.  Up to 40% of the electorate identifies as Democrats, 36% as independents and around 24% as Republicans.  On most issues, a majority of independents agree with Democrats, which means 20% of the population or less agrees with the Republican stand on the issue of masks and Covid vaccination.  So please, media, the next time you trot out the hoary "both sides" journalism which implies the division is a 50-50 split, I hope you show the math behind the split.  It's more like 80-20.

Back to school

       In the year 2021, the phrase, "back to school", has a different meaning than it did in the dim mists of pre Covid history.   Where once it heralded the search for new school clothes and supplies, it now means searching for masks that fit 1st and 2nd graders and worries about them contracting the disease and winding up in a hospital instead of homeroom.

      Parents of young children have every right to be concerned about the possibility of their children becoming infected by the Delta variant of Covid.  One of my grandsons was exposed to Covid at his day care center and as a result must quarantine for a week.  He will not participate in the ritual first day of 1st grade and while his mother will be disappointed and her day disrupted, she will still have an entire school year to deal with.   It's a lot tougher out there than it was a mere 2 years ago.

Labor Day and the American worker

      As more and more Americans work the "gig economy", the entire premise of celebrating the dignity of work on the first Monday of September becomes more and more problematic.   From driving for Uber to taking short term contracts with few or no benefits to two tier labor contracts in the auto industry which pay new workers at a lower rate, the average worker is being screwed over by our corporate overlords.

      For many workers who came of age in the immediate aftermath of WW2, there were plenty of jobs available and companies competed for workers, offering higher wages, generous pensions and health insurance.  The labor movement was respected by most people and the future looked bright.  A high school education was a ticket to lifelong employment.

      Fast forward to the 1980s and the entire dream began to unravel with Reagan and the destruction of the air traffic controllers union.   This was followed by the outsourcing of many good paying jobs to third world countries.   The elites promised to retrain workers for the jobs of the 21st century, but it turns out a small minority of college educated people took the many fewer jobs available, leaving mostly low paying service industry jobs for those with high school education.

     Here we are, celebrating another Labor Day as most of the country falls further and further behind.   That's where the seductive vision of tRumpist populism comes into play.   Joe Manchin and other conservative Democrats who seek to derail programs helping most Americans looking for a better life are playing into the hands of those who either by design or serendipity are involved in the creation of a permanent underclass who will vote against their economic interests in favor of an ideological nihilism.   We can do better.

The summer of our climate discontent

      42 dead in the NYC area and counting.   800.000 customers without electricity in steamy NOLA  this weekend.   Probably over a trillion dollars in damages attributed to just one storm in a relatively active  hurricane season.   Climate change is here with a vengeance, and as with Covid, there are still a fair number of deniers.

     As Paul Krugman notes in today's NYT, there are a number of corporations lining up against the Biden administration's 3.5 trillion dollar human infrastructure and climate change battling initiative because it would raise taxes on their profits to help pay for some of the bill.  Krugman names the Walt Disney corporation as one of those publicly saying the right things while actively working behind the scenes to oppose the Build Back Better bill.   As he says, these actors should be named and shamed.  We are approaching the zero hour in which we can do anything to slow and reverse the worst effects of climate change.  

The dog finally caught the car

        When Roe vs. Wade was decided in the early 1970s, it was only controversial among a small coterie of activists on either side of the issue.  The vast majority of Americans had no opinion one way or the other.   Fast forward 50 years and abortion rights is lightning rod among a large minority of citizens.  

      Those who favor a woman's right to control over her body are diametrically opposed by those who say human life begins at conception and the unborn fetus has rights which trump all other rights the putative mother may claim.   While many who hold the latter view are whole hearted in their advocacy, many are cynically encouraged to demonstrate by so called "culture warriors" who are overwhelmingly Republican office holders and operatives.

       Forbidding women to abort and forcing them to bring unwanted pregnancies to term is the hold grail which the GOP has encouraged, much like a dog chasing a car.   Neither the Republicans nor the dog ever expected to catch the car and I don't think they really have a plan if the impossible should happen.  

      The decision yesterday by the Supreme Court to not enjoin the Texas law which prohibits abortion after six weeks hands a major victory to one side.  It will, however, create a firestorm of opposition on the part of women who believe in empowerment and the men who support them.  The dog will be having second thoughts in the very near future!

Servicing those mortgages

      Pity the poor defense contractors and lobbyists.   The cost of living in the DC area is among the highest in the country and the cost of those golf club memberships!  How will they recoup their share of the $300 million/day spigot of government spending President Biden just shut off.   That's how much America spent every day for the past 20 years in Afghanistan.

     It amazes me the same people who advocate "forever wars" and its attendant military spending say we can't have nice things in this country, including universal health care, maintaining infrastructure and child care.  I think a majority of my fellow citizens agree with Biden it is time to bury the Bush doctrine and focus instead on our own country and its needs.