Day One

School started today, formally. It seems as if it will work out OK. I have a positive first impression of my professors, and the reading is marginally interesting. Maybe, a first impression is rose-colored, but I'll take it over the alternative. The other factor of course is that I managed to get in a good run/lift today, so that was nice.

I struggle with two things in life. Self-confidence/self-image and overt pessimism related towards my social life/status. These things are both interlinked and only can really be solved by me. I would like to go into the depths of my own demons, the way Timm does, but I really can't enunciate things the way that he does. At least not in an honest enough manner at this point. Eh.

I haven't felt inspired to write lately. I don't know if its because I have more social interaction and thus talk more, write less, or what exactly? Eh.

Peace

Laziness

I've been really lazy posting as of late. I've been pretty tired during the week, but that's no excuse for the weekend. I'm also intellectually overwhelmed a bit at the moment, so there haven't been any great inspirations. The law is fascinating, and I'm certain that the work of law school will be most interesting. I've also met a pretty good group of people. Hopefully, things will develop positively and I'll continue to work through my general shyness and insecurity. I''ve often wondered about how to improve that manner, but I don't really have the answers. Eh.

Good weekend for the Tribe. Won the series against a dangerous Toronto team. Even though, they lost a game to NY over the weekend, I'm not ready to panic yet. They've played exceptionally well, and NY is on a tear too. If you go out and win some games, you'll get it done. I've said it before though, I'm worried about the workload on Bobby Howry. I suppose he's a vet and knows what he's doing, but I think you could with Cabrera, Riske or Betancourt in a lot of those situations, especially on a day like today where you have a 3-run lead going into the bottom of the 8th. I don't have a problem with going to Howry in the 7th. It was a pressure situation and he's your best guy, but don't send him out for the 8th. They need to get Rhodes back too, he's a big help at the back end, and would spare Howry some. Need another good week though, really can't afford a slipup.

That's All for now, school starts tommorow.

Peace

Exhaustion

Law School has been very interesting insofar, but I'm tired as hell. So, forgive me for the somewhat sparse posting regime.

I've been doing some further thought about political philosophies, and why I feel disenchanted with the grand American system. The big problem is that there is no space for "small c" conservatism as an idea at this time. The battle is between "Progressives" (the people formerly known as liberals), who take a liberal to radical line as far as policy choice, advocating major significant changes in the social and economic fabrics of American life, and "Conservatives" (who are really reactionaries) who advocate a revocation of policies, and a return to the America of 50 years ago. Both sides may be right about some issues, but the point is that both are "radicals", advocating significant change in the world of today. People of my ilk believe that there is time for change, but that change should be measured and considered, weighed over time as to the costs and benefits. This is also the driving factor behind the change in my political philosophies over the last few years. Most specifically, I buy into far more of the "Democratic" philosophies than the "Republican" philosophies, especially on social issues (although this is more of my libertarian streak), but I find their advocacy, the speed by which they want to bring about these changes to be far too fast, that many of these issues are deep and far-reaching and the changes should be measured. By and large, there's a lot that's going OK, and changes should be evaluated deeply.

The Indians lost yesterday, badly, but that will happen. It's very important to win tonight, and to win at least 2 in Toronto, which is perfectly doable. They need to win series from here on out. At 70-57, they have 35 games to play. 5 out of 7 from here out gives them 95 wins, which I think is more than plenty. 4 out of 7 gives them 90, which might not be enough. 2 out of every 3 gives them 92-94, which is probably right where they need to be. So we'll see how it goes. It'll be very interesting next year, they have a lot of personell going into free agency and have some holes they'll need to fill. I think they'd like to add a RF or a 1B, maybe both. They'll need to fill 2 spots in the rotation and a couple spots in the bullpen. I think Belliard is a Free Agent, so they might need a 2B.
Free Agents include Millwood, Elarton, Wickman, Howry, and Sauerbeck.
I think Sauerbeck will likely be back and either Wickman or Howry. Fernando Cabrera will stick in the bullpen, and we might see Andrew Brown or one of the other young guys back in the pen. Either Wick or Howry will close. I'd love to see them bring back Millwood, but I jsut don't know that it gets done. I think Jason Davis or another one of the AAA starters gets promoted. The other spot might be a mid-priced vet, or maybe Elarton. I'd love to see them add a lead-off hitter who can play RF or 2B, then move Sizemore down to the middle of the order, where he can get a lot of RBI opportunities.

That's about the best we can do tonight.

Peace

Like Kissing Your Sister...

School has started and I've had to be up in the seven range, so i've beeen going to bed early and not had much opportunity to blog. Same deal tonight, so this will be short.

I'm looking forward to the coming year. I think theres lots of good opportunities for me here. And I think there will be much self-growth.

I'm very excited about the way the Tribe is playing lately. It'll be a fun September.

We tied our soccer game at 1 today. It's a bummer. I wish I was a better player and that I didnt have unrealistice expectations.

I wish I could do something to help out some of the people that I really care about who are struggling with a lot of things right now. I am, too.

I wish I could write more and not go to bed now, but I guess that's not going to happen. Hopefully, I'll have a nice post tommorow.

PEace

Sunday Sunday

Have some reading to do still, so I'll keep this short. Also, watching the great "Ballman" episode of Seinfeld.

The Indians complete the sweep against Baltimore. Way to come through after last week's embaressment. Have to go to Tampa and perform better against the D-Rays then they did last weekend. The hitting has really come around and the pitching has held up. The stretch run will be interesting. With a win tommorow they move into a tie for the wild card lead with Oakland and New York (if the Yankees win). Hafner may be back into the groove he had before he got hit by Buehrle. The B's are starting to hit which is a big help at the bottom of the lineup. They need to get some off days for the top three guys here though, they'll need a couple down the stretch. Young guys tend to run out of gas at the end of the season and we have to avoid that. They also have an interesting offseason coming up.

Timm wants to know if a good, decent man can make a noticable positive impact in the world. The answer is: of course. Many people do. There is, of course, the ideal that teachers, policemen, etc. do it as a matter of course. But I don't think that's quite what we're going for. The argument goes deeper and back onto the previous point: is good ethical behavior rewarded? Yes. If life runs as a long-run game, dirty tricks are punished, not rewarded. The instant news world of today tends to cast people in negative lights, but lots of good, solid, moral individuals are successful in the world, you just don't hear about it. The greater problem is that the dark elements of human nature are what sells. This isn't a particularly sound argument, because it's a difficult point to argue: 98% belief, 2% reason.

Dark thoughts are on my mind. Deep worries within.

Peace

Good Days

Woke up at 8 hungover today. Rolled over and went back to bed for another 4 hours. Was marginally productive with my afternoon, made some purchases, fixed the computer with the help of Timm. Had dinner with my parents and worked with the computer some more. Productive.

Tommorow I move into the apartment for good, with school starting Monday. Thoughts on that are mixed, will be addressed tommorow as today isn't really a writing day. Same on Timm's challenge, to address how one can be a positive force for change in the world.

Three straight Ws for the Tribe. Minnesota's coming up on their heels again, but they're also gaining ground on a slumping Chicago. The only certainty is that it will be a fun stretch run. I am also overjoyed that it appears the Jeff Liefer/Jason DuBois experiment has ended. Blake & Broussard are significantly better players than the aforementioned at this stage of their careers and much more productive. I still wouldn't mind a look at Ryan Garko, but it's not going to happen til September, so it's irrelevent.

That's it for the moment
Peace

Further Thoughts

To read yesterday's post, one would probably think that I am a total asshole. And maybe I am. But the point of yesterday's post was to underline two key things.
First, as I've mentioned earlier, intelligence is, by and large, the most undervalued asset in the world. In most social situations, physical appearance, ease, and the like are comparatively overvalued and thus lead to higher quality lifestyles. The business world is where the intelligence and other intangible factors can earn their reward and move ahead in the long run.
Second, I think that winning is important because it gives us a goal. I've already said that I think winning can be self-defined...if one is perfectly happy living a life with little money and lots of leisure, then go for it. But, I think one has to put a lot of effort into winning, and you have to win to be fulfilled in life. It's cold, but it's probably true.
Timm, in his blog, offers a solid counterargument. I think we agree to some extent on the weaknesses of capitalism and rewarding end results rather than effort, but I still believe that capitalism is the most efficient system for rewarding success, and I also believe that, in the long-run, effort and ethics are rewarded. Life is an infinite series of games, rather than one big one....so all you game theorists can have fun with what that implies. I also would like to put on the record that the solution to poverty is porbably more capitalism, and not less.

Big discussion about the Tribe tommorow. Yesterday I went to the game and it was just horrible, total buzzkill. Today was a nice bounceback W though.

Interested in hearing what the rest of you think on the topic of yesterday and today. Leave some comments.

Winning Isn't Everything...

...Or Is It?

My current read is How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer. In Chapter 7, discussing Italian soccer, he makes a tertiary comment (yes, again, Timm) wherein he quotes Inter Milan fans who praise the superiority of their team's "anti-Bush, anti-Berlusconi, anti-American" worldview, where "there are some things more important than winning."

Is this the case? Are there more important things than winning? I don't know that there are. Of course, that is a qualified statement, namely that winning can be stated differently in a lot of different situations: winning in business may not be making the most money, etc. Nevertheless, I find it very difficult to buy into the belief that a loss with honor is better than a victory with dishonor. Winning and losing here does not refer to the short-term, as, in many ways and fields a dishonorable win can hurt you long-term. It is my opinion that the honorable, ethical way leads to long-term victory, but that's another digression.

Why would I believe in such a cutthroat belief, even backed by what you might call a "soft" undertone? It's because I am an unabashed capitalist. Quite frankly, the capitalist system rewards people who work smart and work hard. It is very brutal in its assignment of winners and losers, but it is ultimately the best system to adequately define the relative merit of each individual's contribution to the whole. And the only way for capitalism to work is to reward the winners and punish the losers.

So there's the macroscopic ethos. On the personal level then, it is thus the responsibility of us as individuals to pursue winning. It is the responsibility of the government to keep the losers in the capitalist race from suffering too badly, but this must be done without deterring the winners from making society better. Those are the two things that social anarchists have never been able to appropriately answer (usually they slide around the question). Society does not advance, morally, ethically, technologically, economically, or in any other legitimate form of human measure by actively punishing the winners for winning and rewarding the losers for losing. It's the old point that communism equalizes society by bringing the top down, not the bottom up. I believe that capitalism is the best system for bringing the bottom up, but I don't have the time tonight to explore that in the depth it requires. You have to reward those who improve/provide a useful good to society, even stupid, mundane things that we consider bland, like insurance ;-) The second point is that people aren't altruistic, by and large. This ties into the above point. If all people wanted was for the society to get better, then we wouldn't need to reward achievers. But this is obviously not the case. Again, capitalism is the best way to do this. The market is brutally effective, both at rewarding risk-takers and innovators, and at valuing the relative contributrion of each task to society.

If you've ever won anything, you know the feeling of elation that it gives you. That, most of all is why we must strive for victory, because it makes us feel good about ourselves. So, as Vince Lombardi says, Winning Really Is the Only Thing.

Peace

Working Hard

Worked for Dad again today, went down to the Steelyard Commons site to do some field measures. I'm looking forward to see how it turns out, I think it will be pretty damn cool. We also moved Rakesh's massive TV to the apartment. That was an adventure. As a result, I'm tired as hell.

Let's see, what else. Nice win for the Tribe. Big screwup by the umps, but it didn't come back to hurt them, as they punished The Gambler in the 7th. They need to keep hitting. If they hit down the stretch, they can get into the playoffs. If they don't, they'll stay close, because they have the pitching, but will ultimately wind up short. It's that simple. But, with solid pitching and a solid bullpen, they have the chance to win every game if they hit. So we'll see. Need to win 4 more to have a winning homestand. I'm going to the game tommorow, so that'll be good.

Peace

Finding The Middle Ground

It is very difficult for me to find the appropriate balance between selfishness and selflessness. I often find myself at one end or the other. Discounting when I'm drunk, and thus have enough problems already to be worried about the self-interest in my behavior (I'm largely a self-interested drunk...thoughts on my drunken behavior will be a recurring theme, but are tertiary to today's discussion). Nevertheless, I have often been told that a big reason for most of my failures in life is a lack of self-confidence and the requisite selfishness that entails. The problem with that is that I can't crank up the selfishness without offending someone I care about, thus leading to them being miserable and thus me being miserable also. So, we have the cycle...in order to be happier, I need to be more selfish...but in being more selfish, I fail to be happy. I attribute this to three things.

1. I obviously haven't found a good balance point yet...my self-interest scale has very few settings between on and off.

2. Because my general setting favors selflessness, I create relationships whereby I create a pattern of putting myself last. Thus, even a minor change in my personal setting can have a major effect on the relationship. There a couple of those that jump to mind.

3. I have created in myself a far too great concern about the well-being of others. Putting my foot down on smaller issues now may help in the future, which is usually the opposite of my usual tack, which is to brush off small things.

A deep and troubling question, and one I don't know the answer to.

Interestingly, when I'm drunk, I am more talkative and generally more pleasant, but I also can be an annoying idiot. Have to work on that balance too.

Oh well...I'm exhausted and that was a lot of self-evaluation for a short post.

Peace

Long Day

Long day today. Had an excellent lunch at Buca's for my mother's birthday...then spent the rest of it moving into the apartment. Lots of lifting and cardio...a natural workout.

The Mayor's race in Cleveland this fall might be the most instrumental race for the future of the city. Get a good mayor in office, who knows something about urban beautification and is smart enough to sell what we have (biotech and medical) and not what we had (steel and heavy industry) and maybe we can get the city moving in the right direction. It's probably too much to ask for a solution to the schools and the underlying racial tension, but we can always cross our fingers. If we get another hack who's beholden to the old ways and old interests, then we're pretty well screwed. It seems like every day I read the PD, the city is starting task forces with the same old interests...instead of contacting people from Case or the Clinic, who are on the leading edge of the global, not just local economy.

This segues into one of the little things I've noticed about the world, that may or may not be accurate and may or may not be the grumblings of a bitter man, but I think holds true. Achievement due to intelligence is generally looked down upon. Money earned by outsmarting people, beating them to the discovery, etc. is looked upon as ill-earned. Think about the industries facing heavy criticism today: software, pharmaceuticals, and other leading-edge companies are decried for their ill gains...and while some actions may not have been ethical, I think this is more of the aforementioned prejudice. From their first day of school, smart kids are treated as nerds, social outcasts. Now look at it today, engineers, especially suffer from the same prejudice, while laborers are overrepresented.

Terrible series for the Tribe...a sweep at the hands of the D-Rays is just horrible. They created a lot more work for themselves, but it's not time for the panic button. The fans in this town are crazy...one day really high, next day dead and buried. It's jsut three games, maybe we gave back a couple of games we picked up. But let's face it, this is a team that had won 8 out of 9 going into the weekend. And, since the sweep at the hands of the White Sox coming out of the All-Star Break, the Tribe is still 16-10, not great, but not bad. At that pace, they could pick up 10 games on .500 and finish with 90 wins...that's not too shabby. Unfortunately, I don't think that's enough to get into the playoffs. The important thing here is to ignore this blip and get back on the winning track with 6 games against slumping Texas and Baltimore.

I don't understand why this team is so much worse at home than on the road. I wonder if Jacobs Field doesn't set up really well for the way this team is composed. It seems like they've given up a ton of homers at home lately and haven't hit many out, but that might be just idle speculation. I'm a little concerned about Wickman. I love the guy, and I think he gets a raw deal from most of the fans, but he has given up quite a few homers since the break. He's been worked a lot since the break. They're going to need him down the stretch. I would say it would be nice to see Howry close out a few more games, especially of the "easy" save variety (2 or 3 run lead) or maybe in a tied game like today, but they've been leaning heavily on Bobby too since Rhodes has been out. If I was Wedge, I would use Riske, especially, more often, as well as stretch Sauerbeck or even Betancourt a little bit. Riske has shown in the last few years that he's very reliable in the set-up role. With Rhodes out as an 8th-inning alternative and Miller out to match-up against righties, you have to be a little more creative...and I think Wedge has lacked the creativity to do anything but lean heavily on his two Bobs.

Peace

Blah

Felt like crap through most of today. Too much beer last night. I am pretty much incapable of stopping drinking as long as there is beer to be drunk, so that tells you something about my force of will. Not a whole helluva lot going on at the moment. We're in the stretch run and ready for school to start. So we'll see how that goes.

I have nothing really to say about the debacles against Tampa Bay. If you're going to play like that, you don't deserve to make the playoffs. Tommorow becomes pretty much a must-win. I also don't like the Jeff Liefer experiment.

Browns have looked like a football team today, so that's promising. More on that to come.

Too tired to write anything else...

Peace

Things To Do

1. Get a girl
2. Nail Law School
3. Move into the adult world with some level of success
4. Watch more baseball
5. Watch more movies that aren't of the Will Ferrel variety.
6. Read a book a week
7. Keep a steady workout regimen.
8. Make new friends while maintaining relationships with old friends.
9. Support Bob Wickman
10. Work Smarter and Harder
11. Start making some connections with people that can help me achive my dreams.
12. Figure out what my dreams are.
13. Accept my flaws.
14. Cook
15. Eat less Chipotle
16. Eat more Chipotle
17. Play more.
18. Fire when ready
19. Open up
20. Find warmth
21. Trust
22. Live

The Post Without A Title

I don't read much fiction. As evidenced by some of the previous posts, one would find that I am pretty much a bland, non-fiction type. The fiction I do enjoy most, however, is epic fantasy. As I said yesterday, I just finished up Harry Potter, I'm also a big Lord of the Rings fan, as well as the Arthurian works by Bernard Cornwell. The realm of magic and might, honor and grace, and so forth have an implied appeal. After some deeper thought, there are a few things that one can derive from this that might provide an insight into some corners of my soul.

First, there is the appeal of a clearly defined good and evil. Even though there are many characters who find somewhere in between, the overwhelming plotline is that between hero and villain, good and evil, and so forth. Contrast this with some of my writing on the real world, and you find that my personal worldview is very much greyed. And, furthermore, it is impossible to decide and find what exactly is good or evil in the world as it is today. That would certainly be a much more simple and, I think, noble world to live.

Second, there is the appeal of power and nobility. Great men exist in these realms, several of them. Whereas, who is great in the world today? The Enlightenment ideals, while perhaps the greatest thing to happen to man, also served to eliminate the world of Kings and Lords, noble leaders of men and adventurers. While this was never really the case, it certainly holds a true appeal.

Third, and most importantly, there is always a hero. A man who can make a difference and has the power to change the world. In my brightest hours, I think I can be a hero for the modern world. In my darkest, I fear dying without impacting the world. Wonder why immortality is the greatest dream of man? I don't, not for a moment. The desire to be a hero is, I think, the most powerful feeling humanity has. When you look in the deepest parts of your heart, I think you find it.

Warm thoughts from a cold man.

That's all for now.

Peace

Working My Way

Had a lot of random thoughts lately...maybe I'll get down to organizing them. I also have read all 6 of the Harry Potter books in the last 6 days and found them quite enjoyable. It's been a long time since I've read anything fictional that I haven't read previously. I very much enjoy fantasy books...they most acutely simplify my world views on good and evil. The Ongoing battle is one constantly between the lure of the Seven Deadly Sins and the fortitude of the Seven Contrary Virtues. A most interesting theological and moral discussion ensues, but I am not quite ready to delve into the depths of my own soul for you yet dear readers, but soon, perhaps.

You might want to look those up though, for when we break them down, Dr. Jack style.

Also, crazy game for the Tribe today. Lucky to get the W. This is one of those wins that you have to put behind you really quick, because things can get really undisciplined really quick if you aren't careful.

Peace

Busy Weekend

Long, busy weekend. Ran errands during the day Friday and Saturday. Went to the bar Friday night and to Timm's house on Saturday. Got together with my Mom's side of the family to celeberate my mom's and my aunt's birthdays (10th and 11th, respectively) and then played golf. So I kept busy.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is just killing me. The Forum section was awful today. The city and the media are in the pockets of old-school, old-economy, old-politics interests and seemingly can only agree to work together to try to save old and doomed jobs and values without looking forward to the new. This is incredibly frustrating. I will rant on this further later, but keep this in mind as the theme for the week.

**WARNING TO TIMM: The Remainder of the Blog concerns baseball, the Great American Pastime**

Big weekend for the Tribe. Get out the Brooms! Swept Detroit and have 3 in KC and then 3 hosting Tampa Bay in the next week. Have to try and take all 6, and really no less than 5. They stand at 60-52, with 50 games left to play. Based on the way everyone around them is playing, I, calling upon the spirit of Lou Brown, estimate that it will take 32 wins to win the wild card. So, that's .640 baseball, which means you need to win pretty much every series from here on out. Hopefully, this also a sign that the Indians have solved the problems they've had so far with their Central division opponents, who they are still only 19-27 against so far, and have losing records against all save Detroit. With 10 games against Tampa Bay and KC, and 6 more against a collapsing Detroit, you have the opportunity to get a lot of those 32 wins. In theory, if you take 20 wins there, you would only need to play .500 ball in the remaining 24 games, assuming my prediction is correct.

In fact, this is speculation. Let's break down the schedule a little bit more and see how this could go down the stretch. I'll try and look at all the divisional and wild-card contenders (Red Sox, Angels, A's, Indians, and Yankees). The White Sox have all but clinched the Central at the moment.
Code is Team Home games/Away Game
Boston(63-47, 30/22): (BAL - 3/3, CHI 3/0, DET 3/3, KC 0/3, LAA 3/4, NYY 3/3, OAK 4/0, TB 4/3, TEX 3/0, TOR 4/3)

New York(59-50, 27/26): (BAL 4/4, BOS 3/3, CHI 3/3, KC 3/0, OAK 0/3, SEA 0/4, TB 3/6, TEX 4/0, TOR 7/3)

Athletics(64-47, 28/23): (BAL 3/4, BOS 0/4, CLE 0/3, DET 0/3, KC 3/0, LAA 7/3, MIN 6/0, NYY 3/0, SEA 3/3, TEX 3/3)

Angels(64-47, 23/28): (BAL 0/3, BOS 4/3, CHI 0/3, DET 4/0, OAK 3/7, SEA 3/6, TB 3/3, TEX 3/3, TOR 3/0)

Indians(60-52, 27/23): (BAL 3/0, CHI 3/3, DET 3/3, KC 3/7, MIN 3/3, OAK 3/0, TB 6/4, TEX 3/0, TOR 0/3)

Let's divide the league into groups:

Contendors: the five above mentioned and Chicago
Fringe Teams: Minnesota, Texas, Toronto
Done: Baltimore, Detroit
Overdone: Seattle, Kansas City, Tampa Bay

As far as things match-up schedule-wise, here's the breakdown:
Red Sox: 20/10/12/10
Yankees: 15/14/8/16
Athletics: 20/12/10/9
Angels: 20/9/7/15
Indians: 9/12/9/20

So things look good schedule-wise for the Tribe. I also personally think that the Done teams will start looking more and more like overdone teams down the stretch. Minnesota might make their way towards done if they don't start hitting. Toronto is too inconsistent to make the playoffs, but they could cause trouble. And I really don't know much about Texas other than that they can score a ton of runs and always give the Tribe trouble.

Thus, I figure you can estimate .500 against your fellow contendors, .600 against the fringe teams, .700 against done teams, and .800 against overdone. This is a liberal estimate, but here goes.

That gives the teams the following records down the stretch:
Red Sox: 20/10/12/10 = 10+6+8.4+8 =32.4 = 95.4 wins
Yankees: 15/14/8/16 = 7.5+8.4+5.4+12.8 = 34.1 = 93.1 wins
Athletics: 20/12/10/9 = 10+7.2+7+7.2 = 31.4 = 95.4 wins
Angels: 20/9/7/15 = 10+5.4+4.9+12 = 30.3 = 94.3 wins
Indians: 9/12/9/20 =4.5+7.2+6.3+16 = 34 = 94 wins

So what's that tell you?
Two things. One, it's going to be a hell of a stretch run. Two, the Indians have to hope that a couple of the real contendors establish themselves, pull away and beat up on the other contendors. Discounting the White Sox, the 3 games with Oakland are really the only games they have against the other contendors. If the Tribe can split or even take 4 from Chicago, they could lose all three to Oakland and still benefit if Oakland can take a bunch from Anaheim and knock them out. Same deal with Boston or New York. I think the Tribe can beat the Yankees to the finish line, they're only giving a half-game and have more consistent pitching. I think they can play better than the other three, but I don't know if they can play 4.5 games better, and they have to play 4.5 games better than one of them to make it. The best hope: that either Oakland or Anaheim folds down the stretch.

We'll see.

Peace

Things That Suck

Today's Indians game sucked. I don't really blame anyone. Millwood said he was done and I believe him. Wick is the closer, and, even though, this is his third day, he's gotta go get it. We were playing with fire, trying to beat the Yanks with only 3 runs, that doesn't happen ever. The umpire was terrible. We've got to win this game though...and I really would have liked to see Millwood in the 9th. God, I hate when we lose like this. 4 solo homers...that means they couldn't get anything together, that we got nailed a few times. But...gotta move on.

Anyways, here's the thing about schools. The funding system in Ohio is terrible. Property tax pays for fire, parks, police, libraries, and schools. All of those have their problems with levies, but which one matters least to voters, when it comes down to bare bones. Schools. Voters are out of school, the system worked for them, and if they don't like it, they move their kids (community or private). If they can afford it. And it's those who can't afford to move or afford the tax who are trapped. The system is broken and I gave you the three reasons.

1. People need to open their wallets. Education leads to decreases in crime, increases in wealth, and a whole lot of positive externalities. In places like Cleveland, they need a ton of money to provide the level of education that is taken for granted in the suburbs. Security costs a ton of money. When you have a ton of students, you need a ton of teachers. Extracurriculars need more promoting and more funding. It's a reality, when you start at a lower level with more children, you need more money to bring everyone up to the appropriate level. Like I rant about often, we spend a ton of money on the elderly, which bears very little long-term return. So, we need to get the money. So how do we do it?

2. Governments need to refigure their priorities. In my opinion, education is the best investment a government can make, and should be the number two priority of any government (after public safety). I also think that the job is too massive for the Federal government, not money-wise, but micromanagerially. Thus, I argue for fewer unfunded mandates and a reform of the health care and pensions system to allow the states to reprioritize away from some of this spending. States need to actually do this job well, which leads into...

3. Ohio has a terrible system for funding. People pay a lot of taxes, they are poor, and if you give them the option to vote something down, they will unless given a reason not to. And schools are a tough sell. If the schools are bad, then people want "results" before they spend more money. If the schools are good, then they don't "need" more money. People who are living on a fixed income and people without kids don't see any reason to pay more taxes. We don't ask for spending for a lot of useless pork...(my tax money gets spent on a useless bridge in Alaska?) but we give referendums on the most useful, but most difficult to quantify pieces of funding. Education is the classic public good...it's almost impossible to quantify who benefits and how much.

Anyways, its frustrating.

Peace

Goooooooooaaaaalllllllllllll

Won our soccer match today, 5-1. Two goals for yours truly. I've really had a good time playing these last two games (this week and two weeks ago, 3-2 for the good guys). I wish that I had more talent and that I had discovered how much I enjoy playing sports earlier. But, eh. I really get into it, cheering, showing spirit, etc. Kind of a funny contrast from real life. Anyways, hope the wins keep coming.

My sister needs to borrow my computer, so this one will be short, although there may be a later update. Two things, though:

1. I still need to address the school levy issues. First, that people need to open their wallets. Second, that governments need to refigure their priorities so that education doesn't keep getting screwed. Third, the Ohio funding system sucks. More to come.

2. Even bigger win for the Tribe today. 6 runs in the 5th to come back from a 4-0 deficit. Cliff Lee really bore down and kept open the opportunity to get the win, and the team took care of it. Bullpen was shut down as always. Big Sweep opportunity tommorow, would move us ahead of the Yanks for second in the Wild Card race, and we have a big pitching mismatch with Millwood against that bum Chacon. Let's see them take care of business.

Tired, but happy...

Peace

Tired

Spent most of the day painting the apartment. Now I'm exhausted and have like a weird stomach cramp that I can't figure out. Hopefulyl it'll be better for tommorow. Have to step up for the soccer team tommorow, as we are sans Justice and Anup.

HUGE win for the Tribe today. "The Tribe" might be my favorite nickname in sports. I understand how Indians and such can be construed negatively, but I love Tribe...makes you feel like part of the team or something, I don't know. Anyways, big hit by Belliard, game wound up as a one-run game, but you never got the feeling things were slipping away. Now you only need to win one of the next two games to win the series and pick up a game on the Yanks in the chase for second in the Wild Card...and you still have the chance for a sweep. Got to like the matchups for the Tribe too. Mussina vs. Lee tommorow, Cliff has looked great lately and got the big win in Yankee Stadium before the All-Star Break, I believe...its a tough one, but if they pull it out, the advantage is definitely Cleveland's in the third game, with Chacon pitching for the Yanks against Millword for the good guys. Chacon is a bum and Millwood is our horse, thats almost a must-win matchup. The offense is starting to show a little consistency (cross your fingers), and if Pronk comes back and hits like he was in June and July, watch out. Sizemore, Victor, Belliard, and Boone have (re) discovered their strokes. Crisp and Peralta have been consistently good all year. Even Casey Blake is hitting a bit. I still would like to see more Jose Hernandez, it seems like good things happen with him in the lineup. Plus, with the regulars back, he can move down a bit and provide some pop at the bottom of the lineup. Hoynes in the paper today seemed to indicate the Indians have about hit the limit of their frustration with Ben Broussard, which is too bad because he seems like a genuinely good guy, but he's been inconsistent and not really all that good this year, even when he strokes it well. It'll be interesting to see what they do when they bring Travis up...I wonder if we might see Ryan Garko. It has seemed though that they are getting genuine production from 7 spots in the lineup right now, if you count Hafner at DH. I think Hernandez or Garko can make that number 8, and Blake isn't terrible if he's your 9th guy, instead of your 6th.

Cleveland voters didn't pass the school levy today. I'll comment on that tommorow, as I'm too tired tonight.

Peace

Run Around

All quiet on the Western Front...

Shopped for the apartment today, got some paint and a few other things. Moving is an expensive process, in both time and treasure. Hit the rec and got through a couple of other errands. Work day tommorow as I paint my bedroom and meet up with the cable guy downtown.

The big item of note in the news this week is the recasting of the "War on Terror" as the "Struggle Against Extremism." Either Jon Stewart or Stephen Clobert on "The Daily Show" today made a very interesting and insightful point, if in the usually tongue-in-cheek manner. Basically, a war is defined. It has a beginning and an end, and when the state is at war, it has clear goals, clear enemies (rival states, uniformed soldiers, etc.), and, most importantly in this case, a clear endpoint. A struggle, on the other hand, is much murkier, and is something you live with everyday. For example, you struggle with problems in your life, but you don't war with them. Struggle really is a much better term than war for the current situation, better in that it is more accurate.

The bigger issue, though, is the substituion of Extremism for Terror. Terror, while vague, and not particularly accurate, has, through common parlance, become the basic term for the forces that everyone understands is the enemy in the conflict. Specifically, those who attempt to recast the world and combat their enemy ideologies through the use of terror. Extremism is, again, more accurate as a descriptor of those forces. Bin Laden and his crew are fighting for their extreme ideology, using terror as a strategy. Calling the war against terror is akin to calling the Second World War the War Against Entrenched Occupation, for example. Extremism does capture this idea better, in that the battle is against a Grand Coalition of non-state actors. However, it is also a very interesting word that can have a broader understanding. The question provoked thus is what interest does our government, and, more importantly, our people have in controlling the extremist elements of our own culture. This is particularly interesting in that the closest allies ideologically to the Islamo-fascists are on the far right of the American system. Fundamentalist Christianity does not differ too far in its interpretations of society from radical Islam. This is not to say that the two are the same: organized Christian Terror does not exist in this country. Those who argue most strongly for the war, generally, have similar ideologies to the 'Extremists' than those who argue against. I find this curious. This is also one of the reasons why you don't see a call for appeasement (there have been calls for a change in American foreign policy, a reigning in of megacorporations, and anti-globalization, in general, but these are all 'tactics' being debated). The extremists' goal of a dominant radical Islamic State in the Middle East and a stronger influence of radical Islamic culture globally in general, have not been seen as acceptable to anyone in the broadest sense of the mainstream. Nevertheless, at what point do we look at the extremists in our mist and the threat they pose to our current lifestyle. I do not stand opposed to the revision or revocation of previously given rights on principle...I think it is only correct, intellectually, to maintain the option to take 'reactionary' as well as 'progressive' measures. However, as a conservative, in principle, I tend to favor the status quo, and, furthermore, as someone with libertarian leanings, I question the right of the government to regulate entertainment and vice for adults.

I am noting the implicit theme in the above paragraph, and not really sure I agree with it...but that's part of the intellectual proces. I'd like to hear what you think...first, whether anything I said makes sense. Second, what you think might be implied above and whether it matches with mine. So feel free to comment on this post, I'd be intrigued.

This is also strange in that I agree with the Christian right on several of their most important issues, at least personally: first and foremost that the interpretation of the Establishment Clause and its companions the Free Exercise Clause has drifted too far towards secularism (basically, I think that you can always find someone to be offended by something, and that, by and large, the interpretation that people's rights are somehow being suppressed by public displays and the like is a jump of logic). On a lot of social issues, I agree with their general idea, but also understand the legal interpretation of privacy rights and my libertarian streak wins out (although this sympathy has waned some.) The two big disagreements I have are on gay marriage, which I have touched on recently, and abortion, where I think that there is far too much controversy for an outright ban to really be a logical decision, regardless of one's opinion on the act itself. Practicality reigns!!

I've also found it very interesting how much my political views have drifted in the recent year or so. I've twice voted for Bush...the first time because I was impressed by the campaign and a great respect for the foreign policy of his father...the second time because I was thoroughly unimpressed by the Democratic candidate and campaign. As a libertarian conservative in regard to governance (small government, pro-status quo), I find myself entirely bereft of representation politically, and I feel that I am a member of probably the largest intellectual group to be so represented. I think that this is a sympathy that has historically leaned Republican and represents a significant opportunity for the Democrats to appeal to (I would flatter myself by calling it the only opportunity, but that would be another logical leap). Nevertheless, another nomination of the 'elite' would be a terrible misstep, in my opinion. This is also specualtion, so take it as it is.

A brief note, Federalist No. 10, where Madison writes to some extent on relationships between majorities and minorities, and, particularly "the tyranny of the minority" offers some intellectual backing to this argument.

Wow, this post was a lot longer than I thought it would be when I sat down. Anyways, feel free to comment on this one...or e-mail me your thoughts.

Peace