Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Happy Birthday Minnie Minoso - But No Hall of Fame

Yesterday was either the 83rd or 86th birthday of Minnie Minoso. Writing at Baseball Analysts, Rich Lederer tells us:

                                    Happy Birthday, Minnie, No Matter Your Age

 

Depending on the source, Minnie Miñoso either turns 83 or 86 years old today.

Miñoso's actual age may or may not matter at this point. What's most important is that he's alive and apparently doing well. However, as it relates to his baseball career, Miñoso's age is relevant. You see, it could be the difference as to whether he deserves to be elected to the Hall of Fame or not. At worst, he is a borderline candidate. At best, he should have been voted in long ago....

The entire is piece is worth reading, so once again, here is the link.

I wrote, three years ago, November 28, 2005, how I recalled seeing my hero after ball games at the Piccadilly Hotel: Minnie Minoso Considered for Hall of Fame

After the day games, Minoso drove up to the hotel in his dark green Cadillac convertible (I think it was a '54 El Dorado). He dropped off the first of the great Venezuelan shortstops, Chico Carrasquel and then headed further south.  Word was that he lived somewhere near 63rd Street.

A few years ago, I found an old Sport Magazine, August 1954. There just as I remembered it, was Minnie' and his Cadillac; there was no Chico getting out of the passenger's side:

 

  

From the Sport Magazine article:

(He) bought an olive green Cadillac convertible with white sidewalls and wire spokes. It was the talk of the White Sox camp in the spring...From the rear-view mirror dangled a pair of baby shoes from his two-and-a-half-year-old son. The instrument panel has more gadgets than a DC-8.

The Pyramid Hotel in Tampa is a quiet modest upstairs establishment in a somewhat less than fashionable district. This was the spring training home of Minoso and his Negro teammates, Bob Boyd, Connie Johnson, and Earl Battey.

 

Pyramid Hotel Tampa

A black and white photo taken in Tampa on May 3 in the mid 1900s showing the front of the Pyramid Hotel.

Photo credit: Courtesy of the Special Collections Department, University of South Florida

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Thanksgiving Day Off - Rowen Is Right

From The Political Environment:

Anyone blogging on Thanksgiving should be doing something else. (Posted Wednesday)

And:

Chew your food slowly.

Fuel Plummets; Airline fares soar

As we travel today, the busiest travel day of the year, it is important that we give thanks that the airline industry is not in line for a bailout.

For those in the Madison area, we can also take thanks that the Dane County Airport reduced landing fees in an effort to convince Northwest Airlines to increase its Madison load and resume more connecting flights to Minneapolis and Detroit. My beloved United Airlines and American Airlines are a lost cause.*

Rivaling the mismanagement and greed of the financial services industry and the automobile manufacturers, the airlines spent the last ten years lowering the quality of service, the frequency of service, the rate of on-time departures and landings, and the availability of seats.

And they raised the fares.

Some of you, dear readers, may recall that we were told that fare increases, baggage fees, the removal of seats and their replacement with orange crates, and the rationing of water on transcontinental flights were all the result of increased fuel prices.

Please note that fuel prices are half of what they were two four months ago and the lowest in five years.

Enough said.

*Dane County Regional Airport in Madison had the fourth-highest average domestic fare at $468. Cincinnati had the highest average fare at $595, followed by Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C. at $568; Knoxville, Tenn. at $524; Madison; and Grand Rapids, Mich. at $461.

Screw the Banks and Charge Card Companies: Let Them Go Under

Two charge card companies wrote to me. The interest rates on my charge cards are going up.

That is the thanks I get for borrowing money and paying it back, making on-time charge card payments, and supporting the bailout.

I got a letter from one company today that said, "we are changing your Card Agreement...(your APR) is 15.99%.

The old APR was 8.99%

Another company wrote, "We are making changes to our card products in response to the challenging environment and the increasing costs of doing business..."

They took me from 9.49% to 12.49%.

Challenging? I'll show you creeps challenging. While you are sending money to the US Chamber of Commerce to elect right-wing Senators and reactionary state Supreme Court Justices, honest Americans are losing their homes.

That is the thanks I get for paying my bills. That is the thanks I get for supporting the bailout for companies that awarded millions billions in bonuses to executives that cannot mange their way out of a paper bag.

They could make money on $40 charges for overdrawn checks, $4 on ATM withdrawals, and outrageous usurious interest charges but could not make a cent through honest work.

Ungrateful thugs.

To protect the innocent, let me disclose that neither of these companies is based in Wisconsin.

Travel By Public Officials: Yes, It Pays For Itself...And More

Sunday the Wisconsin State Journal asked: Mayor's travel: Beneficial to city or not?

The costs aren't huge, but Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and his staff have been doing some traveling, including overseas...

...The city has a nine-page policy covering travel, which says employees may travel at city expense when it's "beneficial" to the city.

Yes it is. And so is the travel by other city employees, as well as the training which is part of those costs. 

Unfortunately, because travel is often associated with 'junkets,' public officials and public employees travel less than they should.

Much of the travel of public employees is for training. Whether it is maintaining professional credentials, and staying current in technical matters, or it is learning about federal or state programs which may regulate or provide funding to the city, everyone from public health nurses to firefighters and city clerks to police officers benefit.

When I was mayor in 1977, attending a conference that year provided information about leveraging federal funds to obtain private investment dollars, and directly led to the plans to build Capitol Center. We removed a surface parking lot that covered almost two square blocks and built senior housing, a senior center, market housing, and a retail area.

The value did not stop there.  City staff was to learn how to apply those lessons to additional construction projects.

The city Housing Director and I took more than one trip to learn about HUD regulations, which resulted in the city obtaining more than its share of federal dollars for additional senior and low income housing, as well as ideas for using block grant dollars which are the heart of today's city housing programs.

In 1989-90, visits to Portland, Des Moines and St. Paul demonstrated how other communities were developing downtowns and working with the private sector. Information learned in those trips was instructive in planning and building Monona Terrace.

Meetings in Washington D.C., with other municipal officials led to successful adoption of several federal programs, including the 1994 assistance for local law enforcement and the eventual adoption of new federal transportation polices that recognized alternatives to the automobile.

In fact, if I have any criticism of Mayor Cieslewicz, it is that he does not travel enough. Minimally, despite any questions he may have about the organizations, he should  participate in both the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities.

How I Came To Hate Toyota and Will Never "Saved By Zero". Buy Honda.

Like millions of Americans I cannot tolerate the "Saved By Zero" campaign featuring a horrid cover of the 1983 mediocre release from The Fixx.

I hate it, I loath it.  We all hate it and loath it.

Perhaps this is my punishment for attacking Gary Glitter's horrid stadium music.

Supposedly, given the tremendous negative reaction to the advertisement, the marketing experts are now saying 'we meant to do that.'

Toyota: from this

to this    

But hopefully this report is correct: Viewers Fed Up with Toyota's 'Saved by Zero

Toyota’s current nationwide ad campaign featuring a remake of 1983 New Wave hit “Saved by Zero” has not spurred sales, but it has inspired a passionate backlash...

 

...Bill “Sports Guy” Simmons pre-empted his New Orleans Saints predictions in his ESPN column to voice his distaste for the commercial. 

He suggests that he might have to buy a Toyota only to immediately drive it through the dealership's windows while screaming 'Saved By Zero.' 

 

My solution is simpler. You see, we have a used Toyota Rav 4 that we love. We planned to replace it with another in a few years.

 

Instead we are purchasing a Honda CR-V.

 

 

 

 

Charlie Sykes's Newest Rule: Never Grow Up

Charles Sykes, (Tory-Milwaukee), managed to outdo the usual idiocy and crassness to come from right-wing radio with his latest post on the Wisconsin fiscal crisis. Writing in the shadows of the forces of darkness, The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, the impetuous voice of anti-Americanism, posts, A Natural Disaster?

For the first time in more than two decades, Democrats now control all the levers of state government, which means that it falls to them to single-handedly solve the state’s massive (and ever-growing) budget hole...

Excuse me, Charlie, but such infantile bluster does not measure up to the vision of the founding fathers. They created a system where Americans of all parties, holding office, contributed to solving national problems, regardless of majority and minority status.

Clearly, when the necessary tax increases come, you plan to simply pass  blame even though the Republican majorities in previous legislative sessions going back to the Tommy Thompson administration refused to do any long range planning or problem solving for this day when Republican-led deregulation would crash the American economy.

Thomas Jefferson:

"In general, I think it necessary to give as well as take in a government like ours." --Thomas Jefferson to George Mason, 1790. ME 8:36

In every country where man is free to think and to speak, differences of opinion will arise from difference of perception, and the imperfection of reason; but these differences when permitted, as in this happy country, to purify themselves by free discussion, are but as passing clouds overspreading our land transiently and leaving our horizon more bright and serene." --Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waring, 1801. ME 10:235

Charles Sykes:

For their part, Republicans have the luxury of sitting back and watching all of this from the sidelines.

There is no luxury for anyone at a time like this.

 

Becky Young: Mom, Lawyer, Legislator, Educator, Friend, Environmentalist

Becky Young never asked for anything in return.

She simply did the right thing.  Rather than worry about the political consequences or the political payback, she asked nothing more than you do the same.

Whether it was transportation planning or children, family enhancement or university expansion, she demonstrated real leadership. She engaged citizens and colleagues, with purpose, because the reward was the successful program or plan, not personal aggrandizement.

She came from what I call the 'Tom Sawyer' school of management. She got everyone to paint the fence, though unlike Tom, she never sat by idly; she was a full participant.

Eloquently, George Hesselberg in the Wisconsin State Journal, best described her, Rebecca Young, pillar of Madison politics, dies at 74

Rebecca Young, an approachable icon of congenial modesty and achievement for 30 years in Madison's political landscape, a steady and informed advocate with a welcoming ear for issues involving women, children, transit and the environment, died Tuesday at home of cancer at the age of 74.

She took buses, raised four daughters with her husband, Crawford Young, and kept a breathtaking schedule from the moment she arrived in 1963, starting with the League of Women Voters. She ran for election 12 times, winning every time, including County Board, School Board and seven terms in the state Assembly.

She moved up the political ladder, in stature and influence, never plotting her next step. The only course she followed was her political compass heading towards a better life for kids.

There is a lesson in there somewhere.

 

Dingell or Waxman Really Matters; Where Is Baldwin?

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin's membership on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee gives her leverage on a wide range of important issues that should bring significant benefits to the businesses, institutions, and taxpayers of our district. As she continues to accumulate seniority, her clout increases. However, the current fierce battle between current Chairman John "Big John" Dingell (D-General Motors) and Henry "Beverly Hills Cop" Waxman (D-Hollywood) for Chairman of Energy and Commerce is an opportunity for Rep. Baldwin to double down by backing the right guy.

By February, Dingell will have served in the House longer than anybody, ever. His wife is GM's head lobbyist, and for better or worse, Dingell represents the Conventional Wisdom of the Democratic Party on almost every issue, and has been around long enough to have championed several sides of every issue over time. When you think of Dingell, think of long-term efforts to loosen air quality and fuel economy requirements and the current push to bail out the Big Three.

Waxman, a bulldog on government oversight matters, is a Green progressive who has been a faithful representative of his constituents, many of whom are in the Industry, which in LA spans everything from the movie studios to TV to pop music. Think of trying to hold the Bush administration accountable, higher air and water quality standards and the role of the information economy when you contemplate Waxman.

Matt Stoller nails this one:

It's very hard to tell what's going on with the conflict.  Since it's secret ballot, certain members are probably promising their vote to both, and others are lying about who they will vote for...

 No one really has any idea how the votes will play out, but I am surprised that the blogs have taken so little interest in this fight.  The 2008 freshmen are being absorbed into the House quagmire without any protest from our quarters, or even requests that they actually take a position to help a progressive chair one of the most important committees in Congress, the one that regulates climate change, media policy, net neutrality, and trade.

Given the pixels spilled over pony plans for the carmakers and Lieberman, this is just weird.

Today the House Democratic Steering Committee voted 25-22 in a secret ballot to recommend Waxman. Tomorrow, all 255 Democratic House members vote.

So where's Tammy on this?  It's not too late to call or email her office with your preference.

- Barry Orton

UPDATE: The House Democrats elected Waxman today (11/20/08) by a very narrow margin:  137-122.  This is a victory for progressives and for environmentalists, and will make health care reform easier to accomplish.

Milwaukee Talk Radio

Bruce Murphy nailed it in his summary of the Milwaukee talk radio tempest, Why We Went after Talk Radio:

Conservative talk radio is a different animal entirely. Both Sykes and WISN afternoon host Mark Belling, the two top rated such hosts in town, have expressly declared they are entertainers and not journalists, and have no obligation to present both sides of an issue. Their appeal arises precisely from a lack of good will toward certain segments of the community...

Following the national format used by Limbaugh and the others dating back to the 1980's, these formerly effective mouthpieces built an audience on two bases, the extreme right wing, and undecideds who were looking for intelligent political commentary to guide their decisions.

The last four years through a variety of techniques from providing an alternative progressive radio voice to public exposure of these charlatans the base diminished.

Murphy notes, relying on Dan Shelley's original article, "Secrets of Talk Radio", that the hosts of right-wing talk radio have no intention of engaging in rational dialog.

The nice thing is that the audience for Sykes and Belling is diminishing to the point where no one listens to them, except the true believers and those of us looking for an occasional chuckle or fodder for our blogs.