Author: DOuG pRATt

Baseball been berry, berry good…

Sometimes I just can’t keep up with the exciting doings of always-on-the-go D.F. Rogers, holder of two Boston Red Sox season tickets.

D.F. Rogers with Red Sox baseball

Well, in my 22nd season in my seats, I finally got a foul ball! Last night, at Fenway, versus Cleveland, 8th inning, Masterson on the mound, Ben Francisco pinch hitting. He hits a wicked foul line drive past third. It bounces off the wall that sticks into the field (near where the ball boy/girl sits), the ball goes up and into the stands. It bounces off several hands trying to catch it, it looks like it will bounce onto the field but the guy in front of me has it bounce off his hand and right into my outreached hand. I had about 90% of it and the guy next to me had a few fingers on it, but it was in my hand. No fight 🙂 Case closed — I had a foul ball! That’s the way the ball bounces. An inning later, Papelbon gets Martinez to hit a high pop-up to Cora — and the Sox clinch a playoff spot in a tight game!

I assume a ball hit by the Sox would be considered a better collectible…. ? Hey, wait a second. Admit it. This is you holding an apple at a pick-your-own farm, inserted onto a Fenway background.

Witch-free VP

Because I can’t go running anymore in the evening, I’m watching Keith Olbermann’s Countdown on MSNBC. Tonight he featured a startling video of Sarah Palin being prayed over for protection from witches at her church, the Assemblies of God. I got this copy from YouTube.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/SEP/PalinWitch.flv 440 330]

Once again take note that when I was in college I sometimes attended an Assemblies of God church. Does this reflect mainstream America? I sincerely respect the faith that is held by an individual, but such extreme beliefs have no place in government, and I don’t trust Sarah Palin to keep her faith and her political power separate.

Depressing thought

Y’know, at some point my gut told me in his first term that if George W. were re-elected he would lead America into a depression. And not one word from him Wednesday night apologizing in any way that yet another world-shaking catastrophe is happening on his watch.

Anna Quindlen writes in Newsweek:

His party has been in power as the country has run aground, yet he and his people try to suggest that the same party with the same people and the same policies will somehow produce different results.

Did the foxes help write the henhouse bailout?

Something I haven’t heard yet is how much input bankers and brokers had in the drafting of the bank/insurance/brokerage bailout plan. For that matter, Henry Paulson came from Goldman Sachs, so that puts an element of doubt as to whose interests are really being served. Newsweek has a feature article on Paulson that I haven’t read yet. If there will be further foreclosures, thereby punishing the borrowers, will the big money boys be likewise made to feel some pain?

George W. is pushing for approval of the plan. Isn’t he the guy who said if we did what he wanted with taxes and the economy — which we did — everything would be great? Well, things didn’t turn out so well. So why should we believe him now? I’m very pleased to see so much bi-partisan push-back on the bailout, but I wish I were hearing a more realistic assessment of its pitfalls from Barney Frank.