TheDuke's Domain

I know that this is late, but I have to comment on the Montreal Expos probable move to Washington DC this offseason. While I am generally in favor of the move, I don't like the tax payer funded stadium part of the deal. Beyond that estimated $440 million pile of excrement, there are three good reasons to move the franchise.

1. The move will allow Major League Baseball to wash its hands of owning a team collectively and thus ending the apparent conflict of appearances that particularly sprang up in the 2003 season when the Expos were briefly in the hunt for the postseason, but the team couldn't add any payroll and thus get some of the talent available to put them over the hump.

2. Moving the Expos will take the franchise from an ambivalent city with limited population growth or interest and will put it in a city that was the largest market without a major league team. The DC area is growing in population thanks to economic development in northern Virginia and because of the growth in the size of the federal government. The move makes sense and I am glad to see this common sense move take place.

3. Finally, the most personal reason to support the move is to stick it to Peter Angeloes, the owner of the Baltimore Orioles. Mr. Angeloes is a trial lawyer who had the legislature rig liability law in Maryland so he could make millions suing tobacco companies. Let me see here...filthy rich trial lawyer....changed the rules concerning product liability to allow him to sue tobacco companies.....successfully won his cases....AND he doesn't like the competition from a club down the road in DC....what's not to like about this move?!

". . . Kerry has a twenty-two year political career wholly lacking any achievements or distinction. He has sponsored no noteworthy legislation and has generated no commendable ideas."

Kenneth Gentry from an article on
why Christians shouldn't vote third party.

"The same thing could be said of Michael Peroutka with the exception that Kerry has held elective office."

My Wife Nancy in response to Gentry's line. :)

Just a little something to think about as the election draws near.

President Bush has been a leader in the GWOT, taking decisive action against two regimes harboring and protecting terrorists. He forged broad coalitions, took huge political risks and has demonstrated the kind of leadership called for in these times. The Middle East is starting to slowly liberalize and democratize its politics. Libya has peacefully surrendered its own weapons of terror. North Korea is being held accountable for its nuclear arsenal and Iran has been isolated on the world stage. Domestically, the president has shown true leadership. Tax cuts, partial privatization of Social Security, and medical savings accounts are bold policy pursuits. The president has demonstrated leadership even in areas I disagree with his policies such as Medicare’s prescription drug benefit and amnesty for illegal aliens.

In his 20 years in the Senate, Senator Kerry has had precious little to show for in terms of leadership. For a man who is allegedly proud of his record, he spent a whole sum of 27 seconds on it in his acceptance speech in Boston. The Senator's constant flip-flopping on issues, such as “gay marriage”, going to war and the Patriot Act, just to name a few, Senator Kerry has been the antithesis of leadership. He has not been consistent. He has been a political opportunist and panderer of extraordinary proportions.

On November 2, this country has an opportunity to elect a man with true character and who has exercised true leadership. The choice is clear: the man for our time and place is George W. Bush

I suspect the Cincinnati Enquirer has been lurching leftward in its politics in recent months with editorials urging the defeat of anti gay marriage amendments in both Kentucky and Ohio and fluff pieces dealing with homosexuality being run recently as well. Further confirmation of the paper's lurch comes from today's editorial about what some call the "wage gap". The paper merely echoed what feminists have hollered about for the past 30 years (altogether now): women make on average 76 cents for every dollar men earn even though increasing numbers of women are going to college and entering the workforce, blah, blah, blah, blah. The editors must not have had the energy to find and cite a Department of Labor study echoing this misleading statistic. They cite a "study" by National Committee on Pay Equity. When I entered that group's name into Yahoo, this is the first website listed on the search. There's objectivity for you. They also cite the AFL-CIO and Institute for Women's Policy Research which, shazam have found the same numbers.
Look, the fact is that women recieve less pay than men on average because they aren't as interested in monetary compensation as men are and because they spend less time, on average, than men in the workforce. Women would rather recieve more time off from work than a higher paycheck. Some effective rebuttals of the nonsense detailed above can be found here, here and here. As always, I would appreciate any and all feedback about this or any other post on this blog.

Last night the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 10-3 to win the American League championship and face winner of the St. Louis-Houston Saturday in the first game of the World Series. Congratulations are in order to the Sox for coming back from a 3-0 hole to win a postseason series. That feat had never been done before in baseball history. The Sox are to be congratulated for doing the feat against the much hated Yankees. Good job Boston, your team showed grit and determination when it needed it most.

I personally hope St. Louis wins tonight's deciding game 7 to face Boston. I think it would be a fitting milestone to the dominating team the Cardinals put together this year. The task won't be easy with Roger Clemens on the mound tonight for the Astros. I have said privately that if I HAD to have a Game 7, I would want Clemens on the mound. When it comes to big games, he has been a guy who just simply has gotten it done. period. The game tonight promises to be a good one.

The Cincinnati Enquirer has editorialized that voters in both Ohio and Kentucky should reject proposed marriage amendments to their respective state constitutions. The main reason given? Those are in relationships but aren't married might have legal problems with clauses in the proposed amendments. The clauses want to prohibit homosexual marriage, but also want to take the possibility of "civil unions" off the table. While the editorials might be right about legal challenges and the like, the fact is that the anger and frustration of the editorial board should be directed towards the Massachusetts Supreme Court. That august body foisted this debate on the rest of the country. If the mau-maued editorial board can't stand the thought of shacking up couples legal status being challenged, they really ought to consider the legitimacy of "common law" marriages and other transient relationships.

I remember Glenn Beck saying on the radio at the time of the Massachusetts Supreme Court's ruling that true inroads against gay marriage aren't going to be made until heterosexual "living arrangements" like cohabitation (read: shacking up) are dealt with. I agreed with his assesment then and I echo it now. God designed marriage to be a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman. The church has for far too long let the issue of cohabitation and other living arrangements go. Right now, because of divorce laws and the culture at large, the state of marriage is really one of a contract between autonomous individuals. If the Enquirer doesn't want to address this vital issue, we are poorer for it.

Finally, the statements that Kentucky voters have larger issues to contend with like a budget deficit is simply insulting. As I have demonstrated, this debate has been foisted on us from Massachusetts and the marriage amendment is part of the blowback. How people live together is, in my opinion, a FAAAR more important issue than some state budget deficit. If the state of affairs in Frankfort is lacking strong political leadership, then so be it. What the Enquirer should do is call for an examination of our marriage and divorce laws with an eye towards making them more in the image of what God intended; a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman. The Enquirer is not interested in addressing the truly important issues like how people view commitments, love, child rearing, sex and many other issues and instead wants to address state government budgets which will change in a year or two any way.

If you want to read this insulting and sophmoric editorial go here. For the equally insulting and sophmoric editorial dealing with Ohio marriage amendment go here. As always, I appreciate any feedback or comments that readers may have.

If you have had your doubts about the reason we are in Iraq or have doubts about the propriety of how the government conducted its business, then check out Evangelical Outpost for an outstanding recitation of the facts of why we we went to war. The article can be read here.

For the Douglas Wilson types out there (you know who you are) who want to put a pox on the whole deal because war wasn't "declared", please note the broad language Congress uses in its authorization of force. As I have said below, the authorization of the use of force is the contemporary politically correct way of declaring war on another nation state.

Read the article and ask yourself which candidate for president is committed to WINNING the Global War on Terror (GWOT for short; hat tip: Hugh Hewitt). The answer should be stark and obvious by now. Please vote accordingly on November 2.

Douglas Wilson is a favorite writer of mine and I have been blessed tremendously by his writings, but this post is simply annoying. It's annoying because an otherwise intelligent man displays both ignorance and a profound cynicism all at the same time. Listen, the "87 Billion" quote that has been overused by the GOP and its flacks this campaign season is used to illustrate two points about Kerry's tendencies and character. The first is that Kerry is a craven political opportunist when it comes to important issues of the day. His flip-flopping is not isolated to this particular issue, but riddles his long career in the Senate. The second point made by the Bushies, especially as of late, has been to question Kerry's commitment to WINNING the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Wilson either misses these points entirely or chooses to ignore them in his rush to nihilisticaly condemn the political class.

I agree with Wilson that a formal declration of war would have been satisfying on many different levels, but "combat resolutions" are the politically correct way to wage war these days; deal with it. If Congress clearly expressed a desire to openly and declare war, then this president would have asked for it. Congress has instead sought to nicely tie the executive's priviledges in area by insisting that the executive seek "authorization" from that august body. Congress hasn't completely abdicated its duty, just its willingness to use active and bold verbs.

Well, my beloved Reds managed a HUGE flameout in July as the Cardinals ran them down and went on to post the best record in baseball. Ken Griffey Jr. became injured. So did Barry Larkin. So did Austin Kearns. The bullpen, once a strength of the team blew numerous leads and helped seal the fate of the team.

The Reds did make some modest improvements in their starting pitching with Paul Wilson leading the starters with 10 victories and Aaron Harrang emerging from a mid season injury to show outstanding stuff that was lacking early in the year. Sean Casey was finally fully healthy as was Adam Dunn. Both men had MUCH better years than 2003. The player who made the most progress though was Willy Mo Pena. He went from a forgotten almost cast off bench player to being a viable and effective fourth outfielder. In fact, the talk here in Cincinnati has been to move Kearns from right field to third base in order to make room for Pena's bat.

I personally think the Reds ought to put Kearns on the auction block or watch his playing time vigilantly. The team needs to cut Barry Larkin loose as a player if he isn't willing to be either a bench/pinch hitter or a player/coach. Casey is the clubhouse leader and heart and soul of this club now. It is now time to move on. Let Felipe Lopez take over at short (another player who developed nicely this year down in the minors and in his brief stints in the big show) and take your lumps. It isn't every day that a Hall of Fame shortstop comes along. Other improvements might include moving Ryan Freel to third and picking up some free agent pitching. Resigning Wilson and Dunn should be the highest priorities for this club.

Finally, the Reds would be much better off with the infusion of about $15 million to the payroll. I know that this isn't likely to occur out of the blue, but it would be nice step the ownership group could take to demonstrate a seriousness about winning that the average shmuck sports fan can understand. All in all, I don't really understand what a lot of the complaining is about. The team cuts $20 million in payroll to go from $60 million to about $40 million and the team's performance doesn't get any worse, it actually improved. The Reds have a little bit of promise and I am cautiously optimistic at this point, flameout notwithstanding.