A celebration of sorts

In Cleveland , Ohio major league baseball is a celebration of losing traditions. Like some sorry old dog that reappears after it's drunken owner whoops on it , baseball season rolls around back here every year since the inception of the American League in 1901. Since 1901 the Cleveland American League teams entered have managed to capture the world series flag only twice , 1920 and 1948. Second place finishes are not really worth mention. Losing is losing and Cleveland professional baseball is a career study in loss. Sitting in the grandstand a few rows back from the home team dugout this past Tuesday evening's game with the Baltimore Orioles with my old pal Steinie gave me plenty of time to get a real closeup view of two last place teams " playing out the string". Both of these teams seasons are over , all that remains is the month of September for their 2008 efforts. Watching the village idiot manager Eric Wedge visit the pitching mound gave me the feeling that the creepy cabal of dunces led by Wedge and GM Shapiro have managed to take a first place team in 2007 {whose choke in the ALCS remains my favorite example of Cleveland baseball losing traditions in the 21st century } and due to their off season inactivity resulted in a 2008 cellar dwelling . Baseball demands tradition and it is insulting to watch third base coach Joel Skinner at work this season. Skinner's pivotal error in base running judgement in the 2007 ALCS would have cost him his job in any major league city save Cleveland. Losing is rewarded here. The 2008 Cleveland American League team is more akin to the high minor league teams that were fielded here in the seventies and eighties , insulting any hometown fans sober enough to notice , and led by such rank amateur players as Rick Manning and his like. The reason for attending games then was always to watch the opposing teams real baseball clubs chew up the home team. Baltimore fielded great teams who fielded competitive teams from the mid sixties through the early eighties. I recall a night game in the mid seventies that went extra innings at the old Cleveland Stadium that was approaching the American League one a.m. cutoff , that forced Brooks Robinson to come off the Orioles bench to put away the hapless Cleveland team with a pinch hit home run down the left field line that made a deafening clatter as it bounced from seat to concrete. Lights out tribe fans , home a little after one a.m. Could not have been more than a few hundred fans left in the stadium to witness Brooks walk off dinger. A few years later I attended a game at the old Baltimore Memorial Stadium after dining at Brooks restaurant a few blocks from the Baltimore stadium. The food was all right , she crab soup , crab cakes , white tablecloths good service , though the baseball fans led by upper deck leather lunged " Wild Bill Nagy " a real trip to witness. We sat in the section occupied by this local rabid Baltimore Orioles fan Nagy and were amazed by his active antics versus the lonely drumbeat metered out by the Cleveland equivalent John Addams and his incessant annoying drumming in the Cleveland Stadium bleachers. Then who would have guessed it ? The Orioles fielded competitive teams based on superb pitching and stellar defense , led by real managers , a stellar roster , and embodied by playing baseball " the Oriole Way" , described by Cal Ripkin Senior as " perfect practice makes perfect". The opposite held sway in Cleveland baseball traditions , drunkenness , wife swapping , mental illness , horrible trades , and managerial incompetence the bell weather for losing that continues to this very day in Cleveland American league baseball traditions. The last real competent field manager the Cleveland American League team hired was Al Lopez , and he was gone by the late nineteen fifties....... It is with great sadness that I take my hat off to the sad fate suffered by Detroit baseball fans in the loss of their beloved baseball architectural gem Tiger Stadium. Having watched fifty or so games at the corner of Michigan and Trumbell from it's original green colored confines to it's later blue painted interiors , I feel that this is a loss of no small matter. The upper deck " Tigers Den" seats perhaps the best in baseball. The flagpole in deep center field unique as the lower deck bleachers. The right field overhang which dated back to it's original place as the area behind home plate. The legion of half nuts fans that graced the upper deck bleachers , giving it an insane asylum on holiday air unique in baseball. I could go on. Comerica Park is a large mistake and indicative of the new generation faux intimate baseball stadiums that plague professional baseball today. I would no sooner visit Comerica park than I would revisit Camden Yards. I visited Camden Yards to watch a game in the 1993 season and witnessed the end of traditional baseball from a fans point of view. We sat in the lower grandstand of Camden Yards past the third base line towards left field and spent the game staring into right field due to the position of the seating. To view the balls and strikes or infield play meant to spend the game with the neck tilted right. Good night! Same goes for the majority of the baseball stadiums constructed since. Commerica, Progressive , Camden Yards. All the same to me. Phony and without any real heart and soul. I do not easily suffer the fool these days so attendance out of pocket at any professional baseball game played at home or on the road best come with a positive hook. No Commerica Park in my future though I sure do miss Tiger Stadium already............In this season of loss , I prefer to end on a high note. I was fortunate enough to witness Cleveland catcher Kelly Shoppach's five extra base hit performance earlier this month. Rebuilding a team like the 2008 Cleveland American League baseball team starts with a solid catcher. Shoppach might fit the bill.The 2009 is sooner than you think , and it is time to start cleaning house now from the top , Shapiro , down , Wedge. Those tow jokers , like Rick Manning and his ilk need to be excised once nad for good from this town along with the sorry racist mascot wahoo and that little stinking pinko hallucination slider. Ughh!

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One That Got Away

A calm evening and the shank end of a holiday weekend conspired to find the cheeze and myself out in our canoe , bobbing about Lake Erie at dusk plugging away with our # 3 mepps spinners looking to the waters good graces to provide piscatorial thrills and our angling skills to perhaps catch a fine fish or three for dinner. Half way through the 2008 baseball season , and it is still difficult to forgive manager Wedge from his post season 2007 choke , against the Boston Red Sox. Now our Cy Young award pitcher C.C. Sabathia is headed for Milwaukee and a chance to play for the new York American League team next season , and I believe that the wrong player in this baseball travesty is being shipped out of town , to a New York American league farm club at that. General manager Shapiro and his bench lackey Wedge have held reign here long enough. Time for their bobble heads to roll along Carnegie Road and out of town for good.These two are the logical candidates for departure , not C.C. Sabathia. We kept meaning to get out fishing in June , though the Lake has been rough , and events have conspired otherwise. Thus , a calm night in July found us two hours into our casting about , with a single rock bass , and a undersized small mouth bass that spit out the spinner mid air as our only strikes while on the water. As we fished around a previously good bass spot along the shoreline , we passed numerous post fourth of July revelers that still found the combination of Lake Erie waters and food and beverage a good bet for their Sunday evening party minds , and a fair number of these folk were perched on a deck hanging over the water when the fish hit my spinner. A fair amount of fish weight is an easy read to gauge by the tension felt on hands and line , and this particular finned customer was no small potatoes. Hitting at some distance away , and bending line and pole gave me an idea that I was in for a fight. I was not disappointed in this department. As I reeled the fish towards the canoe I had already notified the cheeze , and he was ready with the net. Visions of fishy fleshpots most have dulled my senses , and it was after a few minutes strenuous fight that I felt the line go slack , and no fish was meant for our chops this evening. I felt bad enough loosing this battle , though in true Cleveland fashion a rousing chorus of boos and hisses greeted my flub from the near bye deck on the shore.Typical behavior of the native tribes mucking about these days. I laughed out loud at the irony of these events , and the cheeze and I had not another fish even approach our humble offerings for the remainder of our voyage. Some poor fish is now swimming about with a lure stuck in it's craw , and for that I am sorry. We had been fishing out at our dear friend's farm pond , a couple weeks ago , and I had not inspected my tackle prior to this canoe trip. My fault , plain and simple. Oh well , another day , another fish. Not so however for Wedge and his 2007 post season choke. Wedge let a real big fish get off his hook , and this 2008 baseball season is testimony to his sad managerial skills. Just ask Brandon Phillips? Eric Wedge did not see talent in Phillips , nor did Wedge get along with Mister Phillips.Phillips had the last laugh and his play against the Cleveland American League team this season said it all. In your face Eric Wedge. I only wish we could have at least caught a glimpse of the fish that got away? Walleye ? Small mouth ? Sheephead ? Never will know? Just like that 2007 choke by Wedge. Never will know if the Cleveland American league baseball team would have gone the distance and brought home Cleveland's first world series championship since 1948. Good bet we would have captured the flag however . Now , with the wrong player leaving the clubhouse in C.C. instead of Eric Wedge , it will be sometime before we will get another chance.Perhaps if Shapiro had traded Sabathia for Brandon Phillips , this whole baseball joke would be more palatable. As for fishing , we get another chance this evening , and I hope to land tonight's catch not fall victim to the boos , jeers and invectives again. I am saving my personal bile , jeers , and invective for that loser Wedge , and plan to give him my own version of the Lake Erie raspberries when fishing season is over , and it is time again to watch the 2008 Cleveland baseball team imitate the 1950 Saint Louis Browns .

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Gluepots in the irons

Merely the second day's racing cards of the opening weekend at our local disaster on hooves Thoroughbred track , Thistledown , finds me with Slipsy JR , and Inspector Von Diesel looking to turn two dollar tickets into steak dinners. Bovine dinners earned by equine divination. Please do not expect to view much gorgeous horseflesh here at Thistledown raceway on Cleveland's east side . Only claiming races featuring four legged glue pots with jockeys perched upon them , when placed into the irons and let all fly for the cheap handle , five and six furlong races that comprise the live racing card at " the down" early in the season. Parimutuel play at the down is more akin to betting the policy numbers than thoroughbred race horses. Many of the tired faces that gather in these humble surrounding are already quite familiar with the habit of numbers play , whether the State sanctioned variety or the street side stock final variety popular in Ohio for many years. Having both eaten horseflesh and laid wager upon same said equine fleshpots . I state preference for the former not the later........................." Green skies , playing today!" was the verbatim telephone message conveyed by JR Slipsy in regards to today's golf game in the early afternoon. It continued to rain for another twenty four hours and sometimes the best laid plans of man run asunder or at least take another curve and end up in the black............................Standing in the Highland Park Municipal Golf Course , talking to Joc O Sot in the rain out by the ancient burial grounds on the high bluffs south and east of the city to the north. Coolie's farm. Old House of Corrections built and maintained by the City since it's earlier proud early twentieth century days...........Parts of the city Highland Park grounds now sold off to local developers for a song and dance. A cheap dance at that. Not even a good hard humping . Save what the citizen's of the city received from the politicians who sold off this valuable land on the cheap side from under the citizens . Who received not much in the way of new jobs or tax revenues promised in return for divesting themselves of prime Chagrin highlands property owned previously by the city and maintained as a storied and valuable " back forty" . Just the sort of fate reserved for the citizenry of Cleveland , Ohio these days. No representation at the scene of negotiations concerning a citizen owned piece of valuable property. Business as usual occurred here at the Highlands. Property of value sold off cheap to one of the feudal real estate concerns whose name until recently hung on the American League ball yard downtown..............................So much lightning in the sky over our blue municipal golf course. Large cracks of thunder and spiderwebs of electricity tossing airborne cobwebs for a noontime light show , under dark wet sky.Think about Detroit , Michigan and the Highland Park municipal golf course that they also own and operate. The infamous forty five iron act that occurred there in ......Lil Shaver made his way to town from Detroit for a california speedbag reunion. Don't ask. Lil Shaver is a true guitar hero of the old school stripe. Power tools by day , power amps by night. The name of the band kinda sez it all. california speedbag. Yeah. You got it right the first time. Enough already.......Post time. Slipsy JR and Inspector von Diesel had rode in together and had discussed thistledown as alternative to golf rain out. They are not surprised when I mention the track. We go to the races without Lil Shaver who decides that tomorrow is another day , the elements having failed our golf game at the highland grounds.Arriving from the parking lot amid a trail of tears . These tears comprised of multiple spent losing white paper lottery ticket sized betting slips. It is only the second race of a days card and the bust outs are leaving already.........Mudders instead...........To describe the track conditions as sloppy as the tote board proclaimed seemed a major flaw in logic. Underwater was more likely a description.....To describe the patrons of the down is to imagine a class of local people unable to escape Cleveland long enough to attain the relative perceived gambling nirvana of say Detroit , Michigan or Wheeling , West Virginia. Bad tires. No gasoline. A thousand excuses. Every last one a half truth , half lie. Bust outs one and all inhabit "the down". Their distinct pallor of grey speaks for the condition of their hair , skin , and livers alike. Average age? Well past sixty. Craven , sullen , and beaten down faces as a window into the customers soulless beings. A lamentable pile of perps shuffle under the downs grandstand this rainy Friday afternoon. Career bad gamblers , perverts , popcorn pimps and their ladies , postal employees taking a " sick day ". A desperate lot of hard luck stories with feet and other human body parts attached as adjunct.The notion of relaxation is foreign here , though by nature implied. Cheap is the predominate flavor , and whatever pleasures garnered bitter........Having arrived in this place as an alternative to an afternoon of golf. We proceed to decide upon exacta play s remedy for the afternoon's rain... We first decide to wheel Casey Stengel [ 37 ] for two dollars. Smart guy that I am laying down an additional two dollar nose bet on the number seven horse as insurance. We wander out track side in the rain to watch our vaunted three seven combination deliver our steak dinners. Instead. Our ten dollar grouping of white tickets join the many other losing tickets scattered like confetti about the down grounds. Duds one and all. Some unshaven poorly dressed miscreant walks past us and tosses his lit cigarette into a plastic lined waste container as if to change his luck from bad to worse or perhaps to fulfill an unstated wish and make the down go away once and for all. In any event this nutcase with a tobacco habit seemed to fit the profile of half baked bad attitudes content with donating their meager dollars to the downs coffers. Another anonymous asshole loser busted out early and taking an early voyage home after the fourth race of a ten race card........ A bad " Little Miss Marker " act appears complete with a gaggle of conspicuous phony tattoos on her nine years old arms , prancing about. This real live hard luck 2008 Shirley Temple shimmy shammy was dragged about the under belly of the downs grandstand by her slovenly Mother , who had plenty of real ink that mirrored her young daughters false ink. Just what their game was I am unable to relay to you dear reader. Use your imagination if you dare. I do not dare. The mere thought of this Mother and daughter routine tough on my remaining brain matter. Let your imagination serve as road map. On a school day none the less...... We find a discarded program and decide to sit out the simulcast fifth race from Meadow Downs. Inspector von Diesel brings back coffe for me and paper cups of beer for himself and Slipsy JR .We watch the Meadow Downs action instead on one of the downs many television monitors. The horseflesh at Meadow Downs and the other races on the televised simulcast races the only sunshine viewed and attractive flesh for today , equine or otherwise. Inspector von Diesel is babbling away in some foreign tongue , while sipping his beer. Slipsy JR and I stare at the tote board and simulcast screens like a pair of euthanized simians with a few dollars to wager. We decide that even being the opposite of odd is our number six race meat and proceed to attempt to play find the winning trifecta combination. Two four six the ticket. Oops. The number two horse scratched. Leaving us with an unsteady four six. We wait in line to place our bets and gaze up at the track clock which reads two four six. Drat! We decide on the four six wheel and lay down our funds. Having a few minutes before the post we slip down to the track to inspect the flesh. In a heartbeat we notice that number six horse and jockey should be wearing a sign that proclaims: We will finish out of the money. The young girl jockey in the psychedelic polka dot garb on top of the four horse looks ready to go . Why we did not add her to the tail of the winning afternoon shift five to nine exacta for the winning trifecta is a matter of shoulda woulda coulda jive that curses those of us that ever visit and wager such dens of iniquity as the downs. We race back to the betting window and play the winning five nine combination. We did collect our wagers back plus a ten dollar profit per , and promptly made for the exit. Bet odd , even , odd , then win. JR Slipsy and Inspector von Diesel headed back to the wilds of Amrap for a pig roast and beer blast followed by a speedbag practice. I decided to invest my scant winnings in a few books and 45 rpm records that I found in one of the three thrift stores located across from the downs. In the end having some viable tangible printed pages and groovy little discs to show for the afternoons efforts. I almost forgot the vision of Detroit , Michigan and it's city golf course also known as Highland Park and the famous 45 iron incident of a few years back. Seems that a group of golfers were playing a slower game than those in the group that followed them expected. The later gropu hit a ball into the slower playing group and then the fireworks began. Seems that one of the players in the slower group was also carrying a loaded forty five caliber automatic pistol to which he proceeded to shoot dead the member of the group behind him that hit the golf ball at him. Sometimes it makes more sense to go to the track to relax than the golf course. Especially when it is green skies and lightning. Slipsy JR was prophetic in his earlier telephone message. At least the " playing today" part of it.

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Catch up time

Apologies and belated thanks to all that inquired here concerning our absence for the majority of February 2008. A problem with the delivery gizmo of the isp or some sort of technical jazz I could not phantom in three lifetimes. Glad to be back , and happy that anyone notes this scribble as a worthy read........ I will have to continue this annoying habit of using these running dots until I can learn how to use the technical gizmo's that allow for composition of sentences and paragraphs on these pages. If a nineteen year old can understand such sundry devices I suppose I should seek the means to this grammatical end. In the mean time I am afraid you will have to suffer along with me.....Can I pick 'em! The 2008 Detroit Tigers are off to a zero and seven record. I bet the puddy tats on the nose to win more games than the hapless tribe hooligans who fool around at winning baseball down the block from here. It is a long time before October first , and who knows? "Iffy The Dopester" perhaps? Who is this "Iffy The Dopester"? A Detroit newspaper editor named Malcolm Bingay who created in 1934 this immortal imaginary character to celebrate the Detroit Tigers baseball team on the sports page of the Detroit Free Press. I bring up " Iffy" , here in hopes that the Tigers can complete the 2008 season ahead of the tribe in the games won column in the American League Central division.......Betting with Slipsy JR is always a pleasure , and his recipe for salad always hits the spot! I offer this springtime salad recipe as a quick alternative to the regular lettuce and tomato variety that later comes from your garden. Take two cukes and peal and pare them , slicing them into rounds. Place them in a ceramic or glass vessel and sprinkle them with coarse salt and let stand for an hour or so. In the meantime , take a couple of medium or small red and white onions and peal and pare them as well. Take care to remove any of the green sprouting growths common in most storage onions found in market today. Slice these onions in half lengthwise and then in thin half moons and place in a glass bowl. Rinse the salt off the cukes in cold water and place with the onions in the glass vessel. Cover the cukes and onions with white vinegar , and season with coarse black pepper , white pepper , and freshly purchased dehydrated garlic powder. If you have access to fresh California garlic by all means please add these peeled cloves to the salad according to your taste. Do not in any case use or purchase Chinese garlic. If you consider the amount of lead and toxins that exist in merchandise imported from China , please do not consider a purchase of any agrarian products that originate from China. Let your cuke / onion vinegar salad sit at room temperature for a minimum of eighth hours , taste and dilute to taste with fresh cold water. Chill and serve later with grilled meats or fish. I prefer to add at least six jalapeno peppers that have been washed quartered and taking care to remove the white veins and stripped of their seeds of this hot pepper.This addition gives some zing to this salad . I omit the jalapenos here for the faint of heart , though those of you with a bit of verve , please feel free to add. And thank you and a tip of the old green hat to JR Slipsy whose conversation produced this culinary idea....... Enough of this chatty bloviation for the day. I remain sick and tired of politics in this and every season. The behavior of all the National media concerning the 2008 election seems to be extraneous and without much merit. Get used to the idea of Barack Obama as president and get out and work for his cause...... My thanks and a tip of my baseball cap to the kindness of Kim and John who keep me in care packages and help me to mind my business affairs in an active fashion. They are true real people in an often thorny phony world. I am in great debt always to their kindness.Kim's colorful packages are a treat to put my eyes upon , and the figures from history that cover the boxes are refreshing and relaxing and easy on the eyes............. Book Selling Time! I promise myself to work harder at selling and describing for sale books in this space. In possession of a great plan to describe and talk about books and events more than the local politics and cheap players that raise my ire. A recent and timely acquisition of note is a autographed copy of Bill Clinton's MY LIFE. Simply signed on the books title page by Bill Clinton , this is a great opportunity to own an authentic autograph of a rather important American President. I say no more here . I am certain that most all of you reading these words have formed an opinion concerning this rather rascally former President. Say what you will about this Arkansas traveller , the world seems to embrace him in a higher fashion than our current seated President. Now if we could only convince Bill Clinton to tell Hillary to sit it out in 2008 , we might just get someplace down the road. I am afraid that yet another Whitehouse dynasty is not to many of our likings. Sit it out Hillary. No more business as usual please.

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EQUALITY Sifting The Truth Forging The Deed

Reads the banner of the circa world war two American CORE bulletin which falls from the pages of an old book into my lap. Edited by James Farmer and published in this year 1944 in New York City. Meant to be carried in the pages of a book. These tiny "commie rags" , were considered subversive literature , and could cost one dearly his or her personal liberties if found upon a person by a bunko squad member , or hoover g-man.This issue of EQUALITY contains articles on the Fillmore District in San Fransisco County , and the overcrowded living conditions suffered there by Afro American citizens during that big world war. A fascinating read after all these years. Articles addressing jim crow laws and prejudice in Dallas , Texas and Detroit , Michigan. "Equality, sifting the truth , forging the deed " Doctor Martin Luther King died forty years ago this day , and his passing meant for me a strong initial taste of the humorless gravity of politics in America. When Bobby Kennedy fell dead in Los Angeles , shot up like Doctor King and his brother before him , I realized in my young mind that politics in the real big leagues must be a muther! Bless Doctor King on this his day of passing , and may we be wise enough to embrace the dignified path that Barack Obama presents in a field of thorny flowers and bushes , Obama is the rose..... Now the local sports chatter. Cleveland minor league hockey team beats Hamilton , Ontario skaters in a shoot out this evening. Never seen so many people leave town as quick in my life than after this hockey game. These are polite fans who like most decent baseball fans keep their polite manners up while in public , and do not as much as spit on a public sidewalk as if the very concrete they walk upon might as be their own home. Go monsters! mud sharks! sea devils! whatever your nickname is ? Cleveland , Ohio would do well to imitate Detroit , Michigan and attract a NHL franchise. Minor League sports are just that . Minor League. Besides , we have had plenty of minor league teams disguised as major league temas in recent Cleveland sports history to shake a stick at. Seems that save the early sixties and 1964 NFL champeen Cleveland Browns , my entire Cleveland sports youth was comprised of attempting to root for the local professional teams that more resmbled minor than major talents. Except the Cleveland Barons. They were minor league and made no bones about it. The other period teams minor league in nature , posing as major league. I really do love professional hockey , and have many fond Cleveland Barons moments that originated in viewing minor league games in the old Cleveland Arena years ago. Wish Cleveland had a professional hockey team. hell , I wish that Cleveland had a football team entered in the Canadian Football League. Perhaps if we can convince the Canadian Government to accept us citizens who live across from Melonville , Ontario on the southern shore of Lake Erie. I vote we secede immediately. Chances are however they would not take us in unless we gave the very popular and much respected in Canada Dennis Kucinich full control of this Lake Erie region. You see these Canadians believe in a wider field of play , and thus enjoy the fresh political opinions and progressive thought that Dennis Kucinich is capable of. Please check the archives of the Canadian Broadcast ing System's " As It Happens" ,interview with Dennis after his victory in the Congressional primary last month. The Canadians gush forth Love and respect for this evolved human from Ohio our Dennis Kucinich. Canadians are wise enough to put away their superior brand of Football in late November every year as well. Thus allowing for hockey and basketball to take their proper place in the scheme of sporting events that comprise a life. This years CFL championship Grey Cup game will be played in Montreal on November 23, 2008. I like the idea of a Great Lakes Canadian Football League franchise . Lets face the sad facts people North Americans love their football! Perhaps if we ever build the Jim Rhodes proposed bridge to Canada , we could construct a sports arena in the middle of Lake Erie to play our home games on. Seems like a more plausible bet than the likes of the projected success of the currently under construction Euclid Avenue Corridor project running from University Circle to downtown Cleveland. This sad boondoggle corporate usage of Government transportation funds will serve the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals , and the patients they attract will have easy access to downtown hotels via the Euclid Avenue corridor dedicated bus line. What really is lacking is any housing density the length and breadth of this expensive medical toy bus line . No retail entrepreneur in their right mind would consider locating on the automobile parking parched street that Euclid Avenue is becoming. The best addition so far is the new Aldi's store at East 75Th and Euclid. Aldi's is large enough to have their own parking lot. People are leaving Cleveland and Cuyahoga County by the droves these days , and unless a minor miracle occurs and the ten thousand or so people that once lived along this corridor in the nineteen sixties and seventies decide to return and the apartments they lived in reappear as in a mirage come to life. Good luck! I doubt that all the smoke that the happiness boys at wcpn and da p.d. blow up the asses of the Cleveland citizenry in behalf of the politics that brought us this people mover without rails.The efforts of these shills and media hacks pitching hot air for a private little bus line will be to no avail and to little amusement for those that can see their little ruse . East Ninth and Euclid Avenue's future goal should be to regain the prominent epicenter status of Cleveland downtown commerce . Instead a potential future as a deserted bank district looms. Let us begin at the northeast corner and work clockwise. With the demise of National City Bank eminent and awaiting a takeover. With any good fortune a takeover will spell the end to the ugly skyscraper they currently occupy , which more resembles an upside down refrigerator box and is void of any architectural or aesthetic considerations whatsoever .In a mediocre architectural city the likes of downtown Cleveland , this blanco banko bunko vertical bunker is not very pretty to look at and it's little swinging sculpture out front often resembles a swastika or a pair of dancing metal can openers . Moving on to the north east corner of Euclid and East Ninth Street , one of the loveliest of all Cleveland downtown buildings exists in the form of the Union Trust building , currently named the Huntington Bank Building. You see the desecration by the recent exterior lettering slapped onto this gem in the form of loud block letters reading , THE HUNTINGTON BUILDING. Ugly! In a word , These loud letters screaming at anyone who should pass them. Inside , the most charming pair of linking banking rooms. A classical inspired pillared staff of Cleveland history , this building deserves better than having it's primary tenants make a mad rush to the door in haste to occupy the new proposed Flats office building in the Wolstein group's current plan for the Flat's east bank. Huntington Building occupancy could easily dip precipitously , and coupled with a closed National City Bank structure would add to the already closed Cleveland Trust Tower and rotunda that so much of the success of the entire Euclid Avenue Corridor project hinges upon. The Cleveland Trust Tower and Rotunda renovation is perhaps the true measure of the entire Euclid Avenue Project as far as downtown Cleveland is concerned. If the proposed development by the KD Group does not pan out " bar the door Katy". If this current credit crunch that we are suffering as a Nation continues to unravel and more cheap acts like National City Bank are swept out of town or folded into another bank's holdings ,wath out! Any prudent lending institution would be wise to examine the current demographic state of affairs that is Cleveland , Ohio today and really consider the odds of a profitable venture prior to loaning 35 million or better on the future of East Ninth and Euclid Avenue. All the excited media gibberish and blather that wcpn and da p.d. conspire to churn up via their sordid little public relations dance that denigrates the use of our public radio airwaves , is no more than that hot air I mentioned until actual results occur and money is laid down. Show us the money. Follow the money. Show us the tangible results. The larger picture here is the future of our current economic meltdown and how it will affect lender's positions on such local proposed projects such as the Flats East Bank, Cleveland Trust Tower , and to some degree the Robert Stark warehouse district project which I am afraid is trumped by the Wolstein flats project and Stark's decent dream to build on the ugly warehouse district parking lots is dead in the water. One only has to look a scant three miles south of downtown Cleveland to find that corporate America big box retailers expect parking for their customers. And indeed , The Steelyards Commons project is that mere three miles from downtown and perhaps a good look at the Steelyards commons as downtown Cleveland's new shopping district is in order. A system of connecting transit lines would be wise to converge in these Steelyard commons with all the suburban style big box stores a mere three miles from Public Square. We have no density of downtown population to attract those stores featured at Steelyard Commons to reduplicate themselves street level in downtown Cleveland . So downtown living and those that do rely on rta should be given good access to these Steelyard Commons stores. Let us hope that some form of wisdom prevails in this confused City and that the current Huntington Bank tenants are retained , and that the Cleveland Trust Tower development goes through as planned. Not much we can do about National City Bank's future. They reap what you sow , and having never had a National City account in my lifetime consider myself fortunate. ...... Hello to my old chum and lifelong friend Willy Lambdin. A fine scholar and writer of some repute. He now resides in Finland with his lovely wife. During their last Cleveland visit the most wonderful dish of anchovies , fresh butter , and potatoes baked together i oven were prepared in our humble kitchen by these kind visitors. Filling the house with splendid aromas , and then our bodies and minds with culinary pleasure. Willy and the way back machine in my life. I will twist up his arm and ask him if he will share some of his poetry and writing on this very space. Hell , he is much better than I am at putting together a sentence , and we share a lot of space in our lives spent around Cleveland years ago. Perhaps Willy can show me how to use the simple devices on this computer that would enable the creation of sentences and paragraphs. As for the concept of EQUALITY in our lives , please remember to be kind when you can , man.

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A Pirate Ship With Feet.

Opening day of baseball season. In downtown Cleveland a pirate ship with feet appears marching and lurching about from tavern to bar to dive to gutter. Rube city. Some of us embody adistinct preference to scalp the corporate wahoo mascot wahoo , replacing his grim visage with a non racist image. Cleveland Wonderful Walleyes , or back to the Cleveland Spiders . Even naming the Clevealnd AL baseball team for any form of road kill seems better than suffering the insult of wahoo another season. This corporote brutalized and exploited Native American cartoon insult wahoo and his losing baseball ways , will remain I am afraid.The curse continues.This being said it is time to turn to the question of wins and losses for the wacky 2008 Tribe bunch. Wagers are now happening , and I put my dollars on the Detroit American league club in 2008. Rumor has it that Leyalnd is a bit brighter light bulb than Wedge , and who am I to argue? Detroit team hits the ball hard and doing so trumps the Cleveland home teams much vaunted pitching staff in 2008.Both teams should win in the area of ninety games . Slipsy JR made the book figure even odds that the Cleveland team finishes with a better season record than the sluggo mad Detroit club. I disagree. We bet. JR Slipsy will officiate from the cozy confines of Ciao Vito , a nice restaurant in Portland , Oregon that is not to be missed if you travel that way . Try the razor clams! JR Slipsy is the official scorer from a few thousand miles away due to his superior knowledge of clams and the sort of piscatory streams we swim about in. He sez final about all bets placed with his double trouble brother Slipsy JR in Cleveland , Ohio. I bet JR Slipsy. Slipsy JR does the officiating. Once while walking with Slipsy JR at the produce hall of a local public market.,I hear a burly market porter robust of form and of a dark complexion and once himself a nonpareil athlete. Acclaim in puzzled fashion. " Hey man , uhh? " He speaks aloud , jaw dropping as he notices Slipsy JR. Now as JR Slipsy recognizes this old yard kong plus sized foe from his roundball days in Liberty , Ohio from way back in the day and gives him the old school heads up. " There two of them" , Our dusky porter mumbles to hisself , then articulating his thought aloud while gesturing about with his jumbo paddle sized hands. Pointing out Slipsy JR to his near comotose fellow worker who attempts to lift himself upright while he fumbles himself awake from his near slumbering while standing work technique .{ Many old tome public white wings whiled away a day by mostly using the business end of the broom as some sort of earthly tripod . Then sweeping for ten to fifteen minutes on the hour , when awaken for duty .] " I play basketball with him and the other one who is his twin". sez Jumbo to his broom mate. "There two of him !" , he utters in frank amazement as if glimsing a ghost . While pointing to my one half of a twin basketball schoolboy act my pal JR Slipsy was half of. Respectful of the tournament round ball played over thirty years ago against the elusive Slipsy brothers. His admiration of the basketball prowess of JR Slipsy and Slipsy Jr diminished when his even larger than life City inspector walked on the scene , souring out the action by acting as if he himself was a twentieth Century Simon Legree who left his whip behind his girlfriends door and was pissed off to beat the band. " Back to work". We walk away shaking hands.... In Cleveland it is again the Grovewood Tavern and the Beachland Ballroom that make any pre thaw evening out on the town worth the effort while visiting metro Cleveland's North Collinwood neighborhood. The stunning and dynamic Conya Doss played a sublime set of soulful rhythm and blues in the Beachland Ballroom this very Saturday evening to a polite and admiring fan base . It is great to see true talent like Conya Doss be supported by polite society. The musicians and accompanying singers that served Conya Doss well in genuine inspired symmetry and filled the cozy ballroom confines of the Beachland Ballroom with pure joy. Contemporary Rhythm and Blues the musical ticket on the south shore of Lake Erie this past Saturday evening, Ms. Doss and her crew the R&B ambassadors of the hour... Right up on Lake Erie up near the former Euclid Beach amusement Park a kind and wayfaring stranger with rather long hair and very pointy black leather , at least Nokona quality or equivalent cowboy boots , came a walking about. Poker playing boots . Plenty of room in those high leather pull on tops for whatever ails ya.Now before we follow this well groomed Texas Long Hair around on his Cleveland adventures. A few words about the game of poker. Texas hold em is a very polite and boring game . More poker perhaps than some of the games I favor and have played till past daybreak with degenerate gambling sickness victims of all races , colors , and stripes.Pretty pussy. Four cards , four suits , lowest hand involving holding one card apiece of each suit. Three rounds of no check betting and a rather expeditious result. Perfect poker. Ace , Deuce , Three, Four of all different suits is produces a pat hand. Mammonism of the highest stripe and order then occurs. Today's Omaha and Texas style Hold em games are no match for the inspired low ball five ,six , and seven card stud poker games with betting twists and the ability to improve a hand with a buy on the end side. Declarer play if so desired by the dealer and specified for before hand. Real big piles of green dollar bills folded and shoved into a cowboy boot or tucked into some other dark place... Back to our cowboy boot visitor who turns out to be a visiting artist and musician from Austin , Texas who steps off a jet airplane , rents a car ,and drives along the Lakeshore Boulevard and East 156th street looking for the Beachland Ballroom. His name is Salvador Curley and he Stops to ask some Euclid Beach Park area resident citizens how to find the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern on Waterloo Road and East 156Th Street? The ultimate unanswerable question . Like a pirate ship with feet. Salvador is Standing a mere few blocks north and about a third of a mile in distance from the Beachland Ballroom asking this simple question.A young man walking across this same said parking lot and surely a native of Cleveland's poverty plywood culture upon observing our querulous and amply coiffed Lone Star visitors was heard to exclaim. " See that fuggin' freaky guy , him got long hair just like a GURL!" An anonymous and unsolicited comment on the length of hair of our visitor who while unknown to the confused parking lot citizenry is a visual artist of no small repute and a well travelled street smart human ta boots .Merely asking native Clevelanders a rather simple question concerning directions to the location of a near bye local nightclub of some National recognition. Response? A Full potty mouthed jabbering from the cozy parking lot of a chain drugstore at the intersection of East 156Th and The Boulevard on a rather ordinary early spring Friday evening in late March. Hair like a girl? Man it appears that everybody around these parts is naturally cranky and a little pent up from the winter chilling weather. The natives are restless , and a bit perturbed so to speak . Our erudite Texan mutters to hisself. " Even the locals around these parts are hicks".Seems nobody nose nuttin' , bout' nuttin' round dese parts. A Green Darby gangster hangover. Contemporary culture prefers caution and the dummy up attitude extended to all strangers at all times lest perhaps unpleasantness might be exchanged seems local custom.At least Sal Curley made it outside the downtown Cleveland confines to at least experience the local Cleveland citizens phantasmagorical salutations . As for the very drugstore parking lot Mister Curley was standing in , like many other parking lots in this town full of them. This lot has a few stories ..One sunny summer's day forty years ago the Beach Boy's played to a large crowd in this very sad drugstore parking lot of today at the corner of East156Th and Lakeshore Boulevard. While running for President successfully against scoundrel nixon in 1960 , J.F.K. delivered a speech at these very same old hallowed Euclid Beach Picnic grounds with the help of the local Irish Democratic gang. This very parking lot was a picnic grounds accessible since the nineteenth century to Cleveland dwellers in need to take an air and enjoy the summer comforts of being in the proximity of Lake Erie . Or venturing to the nearby Lake Erie waters to catch walleye , or perch . I would not be surprised that the original Native Indian settlers. Not the hatchet faced mascot bunch I bet against this year, had a fondness and use for this picnic grounds. So as fate has it I am walkin out this very drug store the actual moment that Salvador is walkin in. I thinks to myself , " Yep , Mister and Missus Cheeze got a brand new tenant for the old poster artist Ant Hicks place back on Dogfish Row just around the corner from the drug store on a narrow street of tiny homes that is located just across from the real time drug store and former Euclid Beach Picnic grounds. My olfactory memory banks conjur up youthful images of an ambrosial plume of meaty smoke rising over this same very picnic lot as tobacco smoking , World War One and Two veterans cooked ethnic sausages , whole kids , or gigantic slabs of beef and pork ribs over wood fired pits , dabbing away at the carne with hand held mops moistened with vinegars infused with spice. Now this poor long haired traveler to Cleveland Mister Curley shows up as a guest at the Cheeze's lakefront home an hour or so later. An invited guest to the Cheeze's lakefront digs , and a survivor of a cultural affront for the crime of asking directions in a parking lot. Congratulations fellow earthling from Austin, Texas. The fabled south shore of Lake Erie Flying saucer underwater docking ports are located a few hundred yards out into Lake Erie. Welcome to Cleveland, Ohio! Viewing flying saucers up here along the Lake , is preferable to talking to the natives. A rather ammusing sort of sporting event is attempting to identify what planet a fellow human might be from while walking around Cleveand these days. [An aside for those visitors from a more civilized place who wear their hair long or perhaps dress in a more catchy and colorful style not favored by the midwest ,low dude, or wily rube style and form of haberdashery .] Let it be known that long hair and cowboy boots are better suited for televised cornball western movies , Coventry Road hip eye hangovers , or better yet the wilds south of town known as Brunswick , Ohio or Brunswick ,Kentucky , take your pick. In any event cowboy boots and long hair are not regular dress in a urban parking lot on Cleveland's east side .I remember that in nineteen sixties Cleveland long haired freaks were sometimes hassled by North Collinwood natives at this very amusement park site. Greasers and racks were the vouge here for so very many years. Then the greaser offsprings go on to listen to the likes of southside johnny and his juke band.Go figure? Do not ask directions around these here parts after dark either. It was near nine p.m. and closing time when I walked into the drugstore , and allready us local people all ready to bunker down in our cribs for the evening. . Our visitor Mister Curley and his lovely wife Mindy are considering relocating somewhere else in the world , and came here to Cleveland to look around. Due to the efforts of Mister and Misses Cheese the Curley's had a great dinner at the Grovewood Tavern and listened to great music at the Beachland Ballroom.Civilization personified on Cleveland's east side. The Curley family bonds with us Clevelanders and would be a great addition to our lakefront scene or any happening in the event they should decide to return here. Salvador and Mindy are great and kind people and the very humans that a city like Cleveland should work hard to attract as citizens. As for the pirate ship with feet. They were spared the downtown tribe version and instead caught the Boulevard version before fling away on a big bird through the flying saucer laden clouds above Cleveland back to sunny Texas.We will be staying in touch with the Curley's however , who are as warm and genuine folk.

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Rocket science? Grovewood Tavern

Lake Erie is in the news. The United States Navy missile cruiser Lake Erie that is. Launching a missile to cripple and destroy the failed ultra secret communications satellite . " Mission accomplished" , to quote the funny little bushman in Africa representing the interests of these United States of America....This missle smack down of US property gone bad in our skies is purported to be due to the potential dangers of the satellites hydrozine fuel tank. Do not bet on this as being the actual reason however....China knocked down an errant weather satellite in 2007 , and I suppose this could be our reaction to China's previous action..... Over 800 satellites currently roam and orbit our skies , over half of them belong to the United States of America and American interests. A great number of these flighty devices house our various defense systems , communication , and entertainment concerns. Some are military , some commercial in nature and purpose. All need and require protection. That question appears to be the great military one of the 21st century. Just how do we protect them satellites? Read between the lines for a minute here , and figure that the China weather satellite smack down occurred at over 400 miles into space , ours at 215 miles. Bet our next shot is at least near five hundred miles out . Communications devices such as the one the US military knocked down today are important to destroy and not to fall into the hands of other superpower nations. We are currently as a Nation experiencing rather tepid though very sick and codependent foreign relations with a fair number of Nations including China, Russia and a few notable others. If ever a treaty is needed it is one now for the errant discharge of missiles into space whose purpose is to knock out old satellites. A moratorium on anti satellite missal launches until the cause effect of the space junk created by these events warrant further serious study... A cold winter with more to come I fear? The Grovewood Tavern is Cleveland hospitable civilization personified. ... Had dinner the other evening with Rudy Shakes-Moore at the Grovewood Tavern in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood. Rudy is just back from Habana ,a nad is sporting the fit , tanned , and rested looks that a human should after kicking a hole in a Cleveland winter by way of a few weeks spent in the Caribbean.Rudy returned to Cleveland at about the same time Fidel stepped down in Cuba. Connection there? Are you kidding. No way. Mister Shakes-Moore did connect with some fine Habana hand rolled cheroots. Double corona Cohiba's at that! We supped on fine plates of braised short ribs of beef with orzo mac and cheese at the Grovewood. Steamed crisp vegetables. Grovewood's beef and pasta combination sure is the best comfort food to be found on Cleveland's East side . Real sure cure for the winds howling at your door. We washed the mess down with liter bottles of sparkling water cut with the platter of fresh limes and lemons our friend and server Thadeus provided with a studied flair. Mopped up the pan gravy with Grovewood master baker Vicki's homemeade bread. What bread!Topped the meal off with Ms. Vicki's lava cake . What cake! Pure civilization ! We then retired to a secret cigar chamber off premises to enjoy the Cohiba and converse about the Cleveland American League baseball team for 2008 , and it's chances for success. Opening day is around a few corners yet , but my friend Rudy Shakes- Moore shared his kindness and vacation plunder and it sure felt like spring on Grovewood Road Tuesday evening.

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da p.d's Litt serves up placenta as Rebirth , Brian Cashman goes gnats

Da p.d.'s architectural writer Steve Litt , once again shows his penchant for churning out advertising copy disguised as news, via his Sunday Febuary 10 , 2008 [ above the fold on the front page none the less! ] article entitled The Rebirth. Litt's delirious gushing travesty disguised as journalism concerning the expected success of the massive $200 million plus Euclid Avenue Corridor project , is indicative of the , long on graphics short on copy , variety of pharisaical hyperbole common to the printed efforts produced at 1801 Superior Avenue today. Mister Litt should sleep fit every evening secure with the knowledge of future employment in the field of writing advertising copy for either the Regional Transit Authority or Cleveland Clinic should his sad reportorial skills at da p.d. be terminated. My favorite laugh out loud part of this article are the two out of focus amatuerish before and after photographs used to illustrate the messy project on page A9. This pair of obfuscated images say it all . Not much discernable difference before or after on the " silver line". The Euclid Avenue Corridor boondoggle appears to date no more than a corporate welfare project for The Cleveland Clinic and University Circle , and the downtown corporate hotels and entertainment activities that will be served by it's riders. Rebirth occurs sometime after a project is completed . Let us then examine this project then with resolute scrutiny. After it's completion and with a cold calculating approach to actual losses and gains , not the lamentable posturing of a for hire civic cheerleader disguised as a reporter............Spring has arrived in Florida's Everglades region , moving northward at a fifteen mile per day clip. Baseball's spring training is just around the corner. No better way to celebrate the approaching season than to savor again the Cleveland American League Teams 2007 brighest moment .A snipe at our most hated baseball rivals from the Bronx. The New York American League baseball franchises general manager Brian Cashman was quoted recently in the New York Times sports pages on Febuary 1 , 2008 in an article by Tyler Kepner . Cashman said " his team was not mentally tough enough to withstand the bug swarm in Cleveland in last fall's division series." Who would have guessed that the once mighty , now flighty NYAL team is still looking for an excuse for their post season failure against our Cleveland American League team ? I would! Blame it on the bugs? Hardly! NYAL pitcher Joba Chamberlain choked mightly tossing two wild pitches in the critical third game Cashman refers to , and the NYAL team batting average after game three was a meger .121. Cashman's efforts as NYAL general manager are laudable , and the teams successfull record speak for itself . Always in contention is the operative goal and NYAL baseball standard. Having to work under the likes of owner George Steinbrenner , and now Steinbrenner's boys Hank and Hal would be enough to give any GM a case of major league willies. Though I must admit to being suprised that a class act like Cashman would resort to such a humiliating description of his teams " not mentally tough" post season play , versus the lack of hits and runs that comprise the games bottom line and box scores. Gnats aside , the Cleveland AL team outplayed the NYAL team . The Cleveland choke against Boston that followed in the AL Championship series , made the victory over the NYAL team for the Division championship the high water mark of Cleveland sports in 2007. As always , anytime that a Cleveland sports team defeats a New York team post season is time to celebrate. It is such ruminations concerning this buggy event that help keep the hot sove burning offseason , and a warm place in our collective Cleveland baseball hearts...... Now for the real hot stove. Culinary moment in time. Simple is best!Baked brisket of beef is a winter favorite , and remember simple is best. Purchase a three to four pound beef brisket placing it in a covered glass baking dish and marinate it with a cup of red wine , a shot of soy sauce , splash of worchestire sauce , some garlic and onion powder , and an assortment of ground white and black pepper. Place the brisket in your refrigerator and turning it over on the half hour for four or five hours , thus coating the brisket. Chop a half of dozen small onions into rounds and cover the bottom of a roasting pan. Add to this a healthy squirt of tomato paste , and the contents of a 12 ounce Boylan soda of your choice. The Boylan cola is the most traditional , though if you are into exotics let your mind roll on. [ It is important to note that using a Boylan soda , or any equivalent soda that has cane sugar , not , corn syrup as a sweeting source is imperative] Place the brisket in the roasting pan with the marinade , cover the baking pan tightly with alluminum foil , and bake for three to four hours in a preheated 325 degree oven. No peek! And I do mean no peek. Leave the roasting pan tightly covered for the duration in the oven for the alloted cooking time! Remove the roast , and let set for a few minutes. Slice crossways against the grain of the meat , and serve with the cola / marinade as a gravy of sorts on the side. I prefer to serve this dish with mashed root vegetables: your choice and combination of ; potato , turnip , rutabaga , parsnip , beets .Braised red cabbage or oven baked bacon and brussel sprouts go well as vegetables. Dijon mustard , a large container of horseradish , or fresh grated horseradish root should be provided as condiments. Fresh baked seeded rye bread , and plenty of cold beverages.....Book Selling Time! Baseball in New York City is a full contact sport in the areas newspapers and their reporters. It is two such reporters in Bill Madden and Moss Klein that covered the NYAL team in the 1970's and 1980's and teamed up to pen ," DAMNED YANKEES, A no- holds barred account of life with " Boss" Steinbrenner". What better way to while away a winter's evening than to read of the surreal accounts of " King George Steinbrenner" , and his affected behavior concerning his beloved NYAL team. Brian Cashman should be given battle pay for working under such an odd over involved baseball owner as Steinbrenner , and his kin ..... I truly hope a silver lining exists for the RTA Euclid Avenue Corridor project silver line. Da p.d.'s Steve Litt I suppose is just doing his job. Hyping up the fiscal figures to fit the criteria of success of the Euclid Avenue Corridor project. Litt was talking to most of us Cleveland lifers when he quoted $4.3 billion in investments as " one big positive number is sure to impress all but the most hardened cynics." Yeah , I admit to be such a hard boiled case of cynicism walking and talking daily.A lifetime spent around Cleveland , Ohio digesting the crackpot lies disguised as journalism served forth by the likes of da p.d. makes one into that very misanthropic , satirical citizen. As for all the big plans that Litt shills about in his Rebirth article, I have a rather ordinary plan that I project as accomplishing everyday that finishes on time and with a mighty flush and flourish.

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The Mauling of America

As my wise friend Kim told me, the whole enchilada will not fall apart. -- So be it.

Crude oil futures are going to reach $100.00 per barrel sooner in 2008 than later. Our not- so-tidy dirty little wars will continue to escalate, now compounded with the tragic news from Pakistan. Bhutto's death marks the beginning of a new chapter in International affairs with our collective posteriors hanging out to catch the flack and fallout.

The United States of America faces perhaps the grimmest visage of an election year since 1960, when at least the scoundrel Nixon was defeated by the New England political machinery of the old bootlegger Kennedy.

The choice at the polls always a lesser of two evils.

Nineteen sixty or two thousand and eight . Business as usual in America!

Jesse Marvin "Big Daddy" Unruh, California Democrat insider politician until his death in 1987, said this about lobbyists "If you can't take their money, drink their liquor , and fuck their women, and then come in the next day and vote against them you don't belong here."

Jesse was also quoted as saying "Money is the mother's milk of politics."

It is truly sad that change comes so slow in such a large and free country as the USA.

A mild recession is predicted for the USA in the year 2008 by educated bipeds a lot smarter than me. I believe them, and then some too.

I grew up around twentieth century depression era survivors, and at least then families were extended, and you knew the butcher, baker, and grocers at the end of your street by their first names.

Not quite the same set of faces will great you at your local big-box corporate store if you are a little short on funds and desire to order your victuals on the cuff for a week.

Today's sources of credit are the loan shark industry that poses as "payday loan enterprises", complete with enough double digit interest to choke a cow, and terms that you might better work out with a swarthy man on the docks in a sharkskin suit, who spells out his terms very clear and concise, complete with penalties of a permanent nature for failure to make good on your loan.

The banking industry in the USA has the largest lobby gang on K street in Washington, D.C. This banking industry is coming off record years of profits, and has managed to use it's collective k street influences to affect a more stringent set of bankruptcy legislation that penalizes the very customers that the bank's strung out on cheap teaser credit card loans, and home mortgage loans that resulted in the bank's record profits, and the client's fiscal downfall. B

usiness as usual from the out of control banking industry! Profit by hook or by crook. -- Or is it hook 'em, then crook 'em?

The banking industry has taken Jesse Unruh's "Mother's milk" practice to it's unfortunate contemporary conclusion.

These same banks ,via their hired lobbyists on k street, will soon be crying to our elected officials in Washington, D.C. for some major fiscal relief from their less than prudent business practices. Time has arrived to shut the door in their faces, and as the drug jingo goes "just say no."

Tell your congressman, senator, or write a letter to the next President of the USA to that effect. Tell the banks no, when it comes to them asking for yet another hand out, and bail out form their unsound practices.

Thirty years as a small business owner has taught me well to live within my means, and to resist the notion of borrowing money against the future. I did borrow a thousand dollars in 1976 when first going into the book business from a depression era Uncle.

Paid the unc' back in thirty days with interest, and have managed to never borrow another dime. Simple lesson. Better to live without in the present, than to jeopardize fiscal solvency in that uncertain future.

Spent a great day today in the great American wilds of suburbia. My wife and I suspended belief in reality for a day, taking in a matinee movie, spending a Christmas gift card apiece on practical shoes, J.C. Penney Company and Macy's Department Store, and even splurged on a three dollar set of photographs from an arcade machine.

As best as we could, we two tourists from the big little city/town of Cleveland , Ohio, did our level best to act as consumers for a day in shopping mall America.

All these mall retail stores seem to have a great corporate air about them. Corporate performance is based upon profit and growth. These corporate operators are big borrowers, and I wonder how they will stand up to the rough fiscal times ahead in 2008?

These same corporation-types are deep in red ink as a way of existence, and keep going back to the well to borrow against the future.

Having already emptied out the mom and pop entrepreneurial retailers once set up on main street USA , their quest for market dominance and worldwide profits might just skid back in 2008 a fair bit , and have their reins yanked back as well.

Stay tuned more to come in election year America 2008.

The various small market media concerns in Cleveland, Ohio would have you believe that a second place in professional sports in the year 2007 is something to brag about.

Not in my book.

Eric Wedge positively choked to finish out the 2007 Cleveland American League season. The Cavaliers 2007 Championship series team is acknowledged as one of the weakest on record to make the show.

The Cleveland Browns await their certain postseason fate. And even if they are able to attain playoff status will be knocked off early.

As for the true City of professional winners in 2007, seems that Boston and New England teams rule the roost.

Pats are undefeated despite the slippery antics of their pajama wearing weirdo head coach. Boston Red Sox capture another World Series flag. And The Celts so far in the 2007-2008 season have lost but three games, and are rather amazing.

So listen up you local lager louts, get used to Cleveland loosing in sports!

It has been a long time since the Browns of 1964, and you can bet the Indians will not see post season play in 2008, The Cavs need to spend some money for a playmate for LeBron or he will be gone soon. And as for the Browns/Oranges, or whatever they call themselves these days brighter days are ahead. Not for some years mind you, and a super bowl seems a fur stretch for the foreseeable future.

Now if we could only get a pro-Hockey franchise, perhaps we would stand a chance...

Book Selling Time!

While coming of age during the Vietnam War era one of the scariest moments in my young life was the realization that the scoundrel Nixon was out to kill me and my young friends. Throwing young men into the meat grinder of a war that was Vietnam did not seem to bother scoundrel Nixon very much at all.

He blathered away propaganda on the radio and television while bombing Hanoi, and crossing into Cambodia.

I will not kid you folks. I was scared shitless of scoundrel Nixon!

While under the influence of a rather strong psychedelic substance I once watched his televised face change into a purplish devil like apparition, and ran from the room clutching my head.

Bummer Nixon!

Now I can only offer to sell this book of his memoirs signed by him as a possible catharsis for my still reoccurring bad Nixon flashbacks.

Please help me purge this old demon from my mind. Help! If interested please purchase SIX CRISES, which is inscribed and signed by scoundrel Nixon himself on the book's free front end paper.

Promise to throw in a free copy of comedian rush Limbaugh's SEE I TOLD YOU SO, low humor book as well -- though hurry, I am tempted on a daily basis to toss Rush out into the traffic on east ninth street, and do not know if I can resist this cheap thrill much longer.

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