Thursday, June 28, 2012

Justice John Roberts, a voice of reason

Justice John Roberts split the hairs and made a decision that confounded all the experts as he found reason to decree with four other judges that the Affordable Care Act was constitutional. Whether or not you agree with the result of the supreme court decision, somehow this man set aside partisan politics and ruled in favor of the "liberal" agenda. But wait, he sided with the conservatives in declaring that the ACA's mandate for people to secure health insurance did not meet the constitution's commerce requirements. It did fit in under the broad powers of the federal government to tax. He tried not to say anything about the merits or wisdom of the law. Such a fine line, such an aberration from the conservative cause.

Justice Roberts is a breath of fresh air, a voice of reason above the din in a political climate that has been putrefied by serious animosity between parties and among extremists. He did his job as a judge, not encumbered by partisanship, to find a way to declare the law constitutional, after the lawmakers had spent years and months of toil on a rather prodigious piece of legislation. He did not cave to pressure on one side or the other. He worked it out.

Isn't this what governing is about... working it out...what congressional representatives ought to be doing...what the American people want to happen? It's the opposite of what has been happening for the last 20 or so years in congress and in the country. It takes us by surprise, when a person actually looks objectively at things, and gives an honest answer instead of the party line. Hip, hip, hooray for Justice John Roberts, who making an analogy to a baseball umpire, said during his confirmation hearing: "[I]t's my job to call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat."[18]  John Roberts had the courage to do his job as a judge rather than a partisan, and he deserves high praise, not second guessing for his action.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Pirates, Ahoy- A business model for...

"Pirates fall from first place!" This was the caption on my Toshiba Sport news about two weeks ago, and I was dumbfounded. "They were in first place?" This lowly excuse for a major league team was actually doing something this year, making a run for a pennant at this stage of the season. Usually by now, this team, nurtured in one of the best minor league systems in baseball, a team that probably is the lowest paid in the majors was actually doing something to make their fans smile and cheer.The Pirates have had 18 losing seasons in a row, and Pirate fans with long memories know this team could be bound for greatness.


I go back to the late fifties, when the Giants (my team) and the Dodgers were moving West. I followed the statistics closely on the loser Pirates and decided that they would be my team. They had accumulated some good hitters. The team with Dick Groat, Bill Virdon, Roberto Clemente, and Bill Mazeroski were beginning to come together. The team started to lead the league in hitting. The pitching staff was starting to jell also, especially when Harvey Haddix was added to Vernon Law, Bob Friend and Elroy Face. (Haddix pitched a perfect game for 12 innings in 1959, only to lose,1- 0 in the 13th...read about it...it's a great story http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1155946/1/index.htm) At any rate, the perennial cellar dweller Pirates eventually made it to the World Series against the Yankees and became world champions again in 1960, and more "recently" in 1971 and 1979. Then they faded.


You would think that the tale as this franchise would be very sad with a few glimmers of success. But, the Pittsburgh Pirates are actually one of the most successful franchises in baseball. The business makes money, like their net worth is $300,000,000. They do this by grooming good players in their farm, giving them some battle testing in the "bigs", and then trading or selling them before they have to pay big bucks for star quality athletes. Jose Bautisa, a former Pirate plays for the Toronto team, and has led the league in homers. There are others like him. http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2010/08/pittsburgh_pirates_thriftiness.html

The team could have been winning long ago if that was the aim of the owners. They chose rather to run a successful business, cutting costs, lowering overhead, taking money from the revenue sharing fund that supposedly helps teams in small markets compete with the teams in the larger markets like NY and LA. http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2010/08/the_pittsburgh_paradox.html


So this is a successful business. It has nothing to do with winning, or fans, just making money. Now when did you last hear a Pirate fan yelling "We got a a great business, yea team!" I don't think you will ever hear that. The fans want a winner.

So what has this all got to do with anything. Slip into politics for a minute. Should government be run as a business? If so, what model should be used? What would be the criterion for success? Make/save money and screw the fans. Hmmm!

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Celebrating Elizabeth II

60 years is a long time. I remember when Elizabeth II ascended the throne in 1952. I was in 6th grade, and we watched the ceremony on a 12 inch black and white TV in my grandmothers house downstairs from us. It was an impressive ceremony, awesome in contemporary parlance. It was interesting to see such a beautiful young woman being crowned head of state. Now they celebrate for four days in a British way.

There were no big speeches, no grand moments. Just ordinary stuff, put together, made up as it were to celebrate. Millions of Brits lined the boat  and parade routes. Does anybody work in Britain? Thousands of boats floated along the Thames on Sunday, powered by human energy or even coal. The royal philharmonic played through a rain storm and when they played a hokey tune that I remember from “Pirates of Penzance”  people including the Queen, Prince Philip , and other members of the royal family, and some of the crowd, “danced.” Now this was difficult to see. It wasn’t a jitterbug or rumba or waltz, just people bobbing up and down for several seconds. Discreetly restrained.

And for me, that’s the way the celebration continued. Very orderly. They played “My country tis of thee”…oops! “God save the Queen’” dozens of time.  They cheered the Queen,  “Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray!” twice that I noticed. One cheer was led by Prince Charles, the man who has lived in his mother’s shadow for 60 years, waiting patiently for his turn at the throne. And then there is the wave of the royal family, all schooled in the etiquette of waving, hands always within the shoulders, and not higher than the head. It was so, so restrained.

About the only thing that wasn’t perfect was the horse dung. They had hundreds of horses in the parades, and  I guess  horses rule parades. No one swept up the dung like they do in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade or the Rose parade. No! The drum major led the bands right through the mess. Now that’s discipline!

All in all, it was a great tribute to the Queen, who in a way has been the only Queen I have ever known to exist. I know she does a lot of things, and continues to do her job as a public servant. She is kind and gentle. Accepts all the adulation with a smile. Probably is very humble. She seems to like her job…why not? I did feel sorry for her today as she had to face these celebrations without her life partner, Philip, by her side. He has always been there, and “Hip, hip, hooray!” for him.

Monday, June 04, 2012

Why I Hate the NBA

I just looked up and saw Manu Ginobili being introduced in game 5 of the NBA Western Conference playoffs. I know somebody, if not everybody out there is saying "I hate the NBA!", and rightly so. It is boring and usually predictable. The rules favor the scorers they say. One case in point is the rule on "travelling" or "steps" or "walking". That rule has actually been changed in the NBA to allow a player to take two steps before take off for a shot. I think they probably take more than two steps most of the time, but the refs let it go, and the rule will change to allow it. How else can a person travel from the 3-point arc to the basket? Two steps! Really?

Ginoboli has a distinctive charge when he is driving for the hoop. It looks like rugby. He puts the ball under his left arm, takes his two steps with his right arm brushing away the defenders, and then moves the ball to shooting position in his left hand while in the air to complete the play. It is astounding to watch this weird combination of sports in what used to be a non-contact sport (as opposed to contact sports such as rugby, football and boxing). I just don't want to be in Ginobili's way, ever.

Metta World Peace provides a real reason why people should hate the NBA (and maybe the NHL). His name change did not change him. Why would that break the habit of a lifetime, to crunch his opponents and those who jeer him? His pugilistic style of play, and reactions to the crowd, if tolerated in the NBA, as is Ginobili's, will eventually create an NBA that is indistinguishable from the NHL.

Now I have to see a little more of the Thunder whipping the Spurs, before they finally throw the game to the Spurs in the final seconds. It is predictable.

Sunday, June 03, 2012

Down size Soda size

How large should a drink of soda be? NYC wants to limit the size of sodas sold in some establishments.

I remember when I was younger, we would go to the corner store, or the one in the middle of the block, and buy a soda in the bottle. They were usually 12 oz. bottles, although some drinks like Tru-Ade and 7up came in 6 or 8oz. bottles. We drank what made us happy on any particular day before or after delivering our newspapers. Size didn’t usually matter; the taste of the moment did. All of the beverages contained a hefty amount of sugar; this was before saccharine and Splenda. We didn’t die, nor did we gain weight. We were active, and in reasonable shape. We did share, even the smaller bottles. "Can I have a sip?" worked until Eddie H. begged for a sip, and downed  a whole bottle in a single gulp. Eddie did put on weight. Pepsi and Coca-Cola both came out with 16 oz. containers for individual consumption. We never bought that unless we were taking it home to share.

Uncle Bud had a soda fountain in the 50s. You could order 2 sizes of sodas, small or large. A small coke (soda) was 6 oz. and cost 5 cents. Large (12 oz.) was 10 cents. The neat thing about the fountain sodas was that they were mixed on the spot, with a dash of coke syrup or other flavoring added to carbonated water. For a few cents extra, another flavor like cherry could be added, and voila- the cherry coke. These things were done way before the canned product came out. The drinks were drunk at the counter or table, not take out. Two straws was a common and romantic way to share.  It was simple, and not that bad on your health. However, the containers did remain the same size, and price went up a penny every so often until they doubled, and then the soda fountain closed.

Over the years is size of a soft drink has managed to increase the size of the containers. They became portable. And so it seems soft drinks are the only things that  increase the size of the container and the price simultaneously.

Check out what used to be a pound of coffee in the supermarket. The same nice looking aluminum package went from one pound to 14 oz, to 12, to 11.5, and the price went up.

How about ice cream in the frozen food section. What looks like the old half gallon container is now a quart and a half, at a price similar to the half gallon price.

Snickers will discontinue the jumbo sized bar that sold for about $2, which probably was about the size of a regular snickers a decade or so ago. And so it offers a downsized version of snickers for about a buck. This Snickers thing is interesting.  Actually they plan to package two bars together which will amount to slightly fewer calories in both bars than in the jumbo one, and they are trying to encourage us to share the second bar. Right! I don’t think that will happen, nor will the second bar be saved for later. There is nothing like a fresh Snickers.
Tropicana Orange Juice went from 64 oz. to 59 oz. supposedly because of the orange shortage last year. The container is the same size as the old one, just less juice, and the same price as the old volume. You can bet that you will never see 64 oz. of juice in that container again.
But back to the soft drinks, and the controversy in NYC to limit the size of the drinks. Why shouldn’t folks be able to buy any size soft drink they want. Why can’t the consumer determine his or her needs on this?  A 32 oz. soda is a lot of sugar. It is a lot of lots of things which are not banned substances. People like to waste money, and it is their prerogative.
On a personal level, I would encourage fast food chains to do a couple of things to reduce the national waist. Maybe they should only include smaller sized drinks in advertising and as part of the meal deals they offer. Perhaps,  too, they could take a page from the Mars Company that makes Snickers and offer two or three cups and straws with enormous drinks.