The Greased Wheel Continues to Roll

With the Illinois State Primary quickly approaching I can't help reflecting on the worst vote I ever made. In 1998 George Ryan, then Secretary of State, was running to be Governor of Illinois. Ryan was what is called a moderate Republican, a deceptive term. Moderate enough to gain trust of centrist democrats and a wink to say to republicans that I am one of you. That vote taught me that you can trust anyone that tries to please everyone. Ryan raised tax after tax, made inappropriate overtures to Fidel Castro, handed government contracts to cronies, gave truck driver licenses in exchange for a campaign donation and subverted state law by placing a moratorium on the executions of death row inmates. Ryan's actions as governor were no where close to my values as a republican and if the 5 month trial against the former governor proved anything at all, it is that Ryan did nothing moderately. This week the jury will begin to decide Ryan's fate on charges of mail fraud, tax invasion, conspiracy and racketeering. One can only hope they throw the book at him.

Judy Barr Topinka, a moderate Republican with political ties to George Ryan, leads the pack of hopefuls to unseat Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Topinka is an interesting character, cut from the same pack of cigs as Marge Schott, and like Marge, has a tendency to run her mouth a bit too much. Yesterday, while speaking to a group of supporters she said, "It's hard to debate when you have to debate a bunch of morons." Topinka was referring to her more conservative challengers in the primary. I all can think is here we go again.

Conventional wisdom says that Illinois isn't ready to elect a conservative. I don't necessarily buy that, Peter Fitzgerald won his election for the U.S Senate in '98 and was very popular for his independent conservative thinking and being a fierce defender for a clean government. In fact, his nomination of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation to the former Senator) began the investigation into Ryan's ethical problems. Perhaps this was the reason why in 2004 Topinka, then Chairperson of the State GOP committee, lead the effort to defeat her own party's incumbent Senator and refused to give him the GOP's endorsement. The net result was Sen. Fitzgerald retiring rather fighting an uphill battle against party officials (Topinka) who remained loyal to a crooked Gov. Ryan. Add the incompetent campaigns of Jack Ryan and Allen Keyes and you had the makings of an easy victory for Barak Obama. Smooth move Judy.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for a big tent Republican Party, it's the main reason why I gave Ryan my vote in '98, but apparently Topinka doesn't have any tolerance for those she calls "right wing wackos". Therefore, she won't be getting my support in this election.

King Mell and Queen Judy share a warm and fuzzy moment

Even without my vote Topinka stands a good chance of winning in November. Topinka is a master of political maneuvering and understands how the Chicago machine works. She has made allies with the men that control the Chicago voting machine, including Dick Mell, who just so happens to be the father-in-law to Blagojevich. Mell's talent to get out the vote is well known; somehow he was able to deliver 92% support from the Chicago's northside for his son-in-law in the last gubernatorial election. That's not likely to happen this election as Blago and Mell have been publicly feuding and Topinka is more than capable to exploit this troubled relationship. Ryan may die in jail but that's not going to stop the insider deals and corruption in this state.

One of Largest Biodiesel Plants To Be Built in Indiana

This report posted on Green Car Congress

8 March 2006

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels announced that Louis Dreyfus Agriculture Industries plans to build one of the world’s largest biodiesel plants yet near Claypool, Indiana. Daniels made the announcement during his remarks at the 2nd National Agriculture/Forestry Renewable Energy Summit in Washington, DC.

With this facility—which will ultimately produce up to 250,000 gallons of biodiesel per day, or more than 80 million gallons per year—two other biodiesel and six ethanol plants currently under construction, Indiana will become a leading producer in the biofuels industry.

Several firms in Malaysia are planning palm-biodiesel plants with annual outputs of 300,000 tonnes—about 90 million gallons per year. (Earlier post.)

It’s been a hectic year of dramatic progress in renewable fuels development in our state. If Indiana can do this, think what America can do to work toward energy self-sufficiency. In just one year, we’re growing from one alternative fuels plant to nine, with more to come. We said our ag sector would be a big part of our economic comeback, and here’s the proof.

—Governor Daniels

Indiana is the fifth-largest corn state and the fourth-largest soybean state. With the facilities under construction, the state will produce an additional 400 million gallons of ethanol annually and 95 million gallons of biodiesel (including Louis Dreyfus). Indiana’s goal is to produce a combined 1 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel annually.

Louis Dreyfus will build the project in two phases. The first will be a 50-million bushel per year soybean processing plant, and the second phase will be the biodiesel production facility. The plant will utilize Indiana soybeans.

Upon completion, the Louis Dreyfus facility will be one of the first biodiesel production plants to be fully integrated with a soybean processing plant. About 260,000 metric tons of soybean oil from the plant will be used each year for biodiesel production. In addition, 1 million tons of protein-rich soybean meal produced each year will be used by the livestock and poultry industry.

Kirby Puckett
1960-2006

"I was told I would never make it because I'm too short. Well, I'm still too short, but I've got 10 All-Star games, two World Series championships, and I'm a very happy and contented guy. It doesn't matter what your height is, it's what's in your heart."

– Puckett, at his 1996 retirement press conference.

    Year     Tm  Lg  G   AB    R    H  2B 3B  HR  RBI     BA    OBP   SLG  TB

    1984    MIN AL 128  557   63  165  12  5   0   31    .296  .320  .336  187
    1985    MIN AL 161  691   80  199  29 13   4   74    .288  .330  .385  266
    1986    MIN AL 161  680  119  223  37  6  31   96    .328  .366  .537  365
    1987    MIN AL 157  624   96  207  32  5  28   99    .332  .367  .534  333  
    1988    MIN AL 158  657  109  234  42  5  24  121    .356  .375  .545  358  
    1989    MIN AL 159  635   75  215  45  4   9   85    .339  .379  .465  295  
    1990    MIN AL 146  551   82  164  40  3  12   80    .298  .365  .446  246
    1991    MIN AL 152  611   92  195  29  6  15   89    .319  .352  .460  281
    1992    MIN AL 160  639  104  210  38  4  19  110    .329  .374  .490  313
    1993    MIN AL 156  622   89  184  39  3  22   89    .296  .349  .474  295
    1994    MIN AL 108  439   79  139  32  3  20  112    .317  .362  .540  237
    1995    MIN AL 137  538   83  169  39  0  23   99    .314  .379  .515  277   

My Thoughts On The Oscars

The Oscars over and hopefully so is the endless chatter about Brokeback Mountain. Don't get me wrong, Brokeback Mountain is a good film. The film looked good and the acting was fine. However, Crash is a great film and certainly was the most important movie of the year. I'm very glad it won. This is the second year in a row that Paul Hagis wrote the best film of the year, he was responsible for last year's winner Million Dollar Baby.

Congratulations to Eric Simonson for his Best Documentary (Short Subject) Oscar. Eric was my acting ensemble teacher at Columbia College. I know an Oscar winner, how about that!

I thought it was interesting that Sid Ganis (President of the Academy) and Jake Gyllenhaal made comments that movies were meant to be seen on the big screen. Do they believe that home theaters are the reason why the box office receipts are down this year? Heaven forbid Hollywood should make better movies.

When Hard Out Here for a Pimp won for Best Song I couldn't help but think of Kristi Hoening, who was died last week after her pimp collected $120 from the man who would later kill her. The pimp is sitting in jail after he failed to make his $5 million dollar bond. After honoring a song like that is it any surprise to hear people say Hollywood is out of touch?

Well apparently being out of touch fits George Clooney just fine. Clooney claims that an out of touch Hollywood brings attention to important social problems, such as AIDS awareness. Clooney didn't realize that it was nearly 10 years after AIDS came to the forefront of public conscientiousness that a major film released from Hollywood finally addressed the AIDS issue (Philadelphia-1993). If Clooney considers this a good response time then we can all thank goodness he isn't running FEMA.

Clooney spoke with pride when he mentioned Hattie McDaniel's Oscar award winning performance as an example of Hollywood's help in advancing the civil rights movement. You have to wonder if Clooney has ever seen Gone With the Wind. I would hardly call McDaniel's "Mammy" the role that broke racial barriers, just the opposite, it probably did more to reinforced stereotypes. Maybe someone should tell George that it was 33 years before the next black woman was nominated for a best actress award (Diana Ross - Lady Sings the Blues) and 62 years before a black woman won the Oscar again (Halle Berry - Monster's Ball). George Clooney, you’re not out of touch. You're out of your mind!

Hate Begets Hate

Thanks to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich we now know what happens when the members of the Governor's Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes hate each other. In 2005 Governor Blagojecvich apointed to serve on the panel Sister Claudette Marie Johnson, an official in Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. Considering Farrakhan's and the Nation of Islam message of intolerance towards Jews, homosexuals and "the man" (the white man), it is hardly suprising that such an appointment would raise a few eyebrows.

For those of you that are unfamilar with the message the Rev. Louis Farrakhan preaches to his followers I thought I would share a few remarks that Sister Johnson refuses to disavow herself from:

Expert from Farrahkan's Saviour Day's Speech, 02/26/06 - Chicago, IL
“These false Jews promote the filth of Hollywood that is seeding the American people and the people of the world and bringing you down in moral strength…It’s the wicked Jews the false Jews that are promoting Lesbianism, homosexuality. It’s wicked Jews, false Jews that make it a crime for you to preach the word of God, then they call you homophobic!”

Remarks at a Huricanne Katrina Shelter, 09/15/05 - Charolette, NC
“I heard from a very reliable source that under that levee there was a 25 foot hole, which suggested that it may have been blown up, so that the water would destroy the black part of town, and where the whites lived, it would be dry.”

National Black Agenda Conference, 03/18/04 - Boston, MA.
“I call them the so-called Jews because to be a Jew you have to adhere to the statutes and laws that create the special relationship. How can you be a Jew and promote homosexual marriage?”

To date four Jewish members of Commission have chose to resigned rather than serve alongside a high ranking official of the Nation of Islam, but supporters of Sister Johnson claim to remove her from the Commission would be nothing more than guilt by association. Well, thats right. Sister Johnson was given ample opprotunity to refute Farrakhan's statements and she has refused. To me that is tacit approval to Farrakhan's message of hate. Because of this Sister Johnson is not someone who should serve on a commission whose mission is to foster education efforts and help implement policies and state laws that battle violence and acts of discrimination which are based on ethnicity, religion, skin color, gender, disability or sexual orientation.

Pete's Worse Bet

In 1970 I saw my first major league baseball game at Crosley Field. To be honest I don't remember much of the game, but I do remember the walking up to the gate, the poles used to support the upper grandstand and the excitement of the crowd. I was 5 years old at the time and my love affair with the Cincinnati Reds began with that one game.

When you are 5 years old the entire world is bigger than you, but nothing was bigger than the Big Red Machine. Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Pete Rose, these guys were my heroes and they could do no wrong! Years pass and you begin to realize that the heroes you held so high are merely human, imperfect in every sense as we all are. No one typifies this point more so than Peter Edward Rose. Pete Rose is about as human as it gets.

The days leading up to August 24th, 1989, when Pete was banished from baseball, were the craziest days that Cincinnati had ever seen. This was when 24 hour news reporting was beginning to hit stride and filling air time was at a premium. I remember going to a Reds game in late July of '89 and seeing a city of satellite dishes fill the plaza at Riverfront Stadium and parade down towards Mehring Way. Rumors and allegations were flying everywhere, there was no escaping the Pete Rose gambling story. It wasn't a surprise to see your neighbor, grade school teacher or knothole coach being interrogated by a TV reporter on how Pete Rose affected their lives. Until I witnessed the O.J. Trial I never saw news agencies hunger for more angles to a story than the Pete Rose gambling scandal.

Anyone who knows me can attest that the 14 years following Bart Giamatti's banishment decree I stood by my fallen hero and defended him at every opportunity. Then in January of 2004 Pete Rose finally admitted that he bet on baseball including games involving the Cincinnati Reds. The admission also came with an apology. Pete was sorry for lying to his fans and to the game of baseball. I was crushed but was able to admit to myself that Pete Rose broke the cardinal rule of baseball, albiet 14 years too late. Before this, so long as there was a mere doubt of Pete's guilt, I was hoping that he would be reinstated to the game that made him my hero. Now that Pete Rose has admitted he put the integrity of the game in jeopardy and any doubts of innocence that may have existed are gone, I feel that he should be banned for life.

But there is something to this story that nags at me, why after 14 years of fierce denials would Pete finally come clean to the baseball world and his fans? This month, Phillies slugger and Pete's friend, Mike Schmidt releases a book that details meetings Pete Rose had with MLB officials, including Bud Selig. Pete was assured that his reinstatement would be considered so long as he admitted his guilt and apologized for allowing this cloud to hang over the baseball world. I would have never made this deal, you see I believe in the rule of law and the rules state that if you bet on baseball you are out of the game. But the rule of law should include that a person has the right to the assumption of innocence and the protection from self-incrimination. Bud Selig and his cronies enticed Rose to incriminate himself with the bargain that it will get him reinstated to baseball. Pete Rose lived up to his side of the deal but Selig still refuses to consider reinstatement. According to Schmidt, "He (Selig) told me he got the confession he had expected, but not the expression of genuine remorse he had hoped for."

One has to wonder what Selig considers an expression of genuine remorse, for that matter, what makes him qualified to recognize true remorse. At this point I have to believe that Pete was duped. Nothing Pete could have done would have satisfied Bud Selig and MLB. They never really intended to reinstate Pete Rose in the first place, regardless of how much remorse Rose showed or didn't show. All they were concerned with was that they got Pete to admit to the public that he lied as a means to stop all the urging from his fans to bring Rose back into the game. Shame on you Bud Selig, for as righteous as you think you are in that lofty perch called the Commissioner's Office you are no better than Pete Rose. The gamble that Pete took that Selig's word was worth more than his own was a bet that Pete lost.