Class warfare, flip flops and a major collapse...

It's been one hell of a week.  The weekend is just a couple of hours away, and some fun times are on tap.  After this week, it can't come soon enough.  I've calmed down a little bit from my high stress of this morning, but I still have a few things on my mind that I would like to throw down on paper (assuming I was actually writing this in a notebook).  Here goes...

The term "class warfare" has been tossed around a lot lately.  Republicans are continuously accusing President Obama of class warfare due to his talk about the wealthiest American's paying their fair share in taxes.  Now, that is not the subject of this post, though I would love to debate that whole issue at another time.  My issue with that term is this.  Nichole and I listen to WLOB (1310 AM) on the way to work just about every morning.  We like to hear how host Ray Richardson sees the world through his eyes.  It's most often completely different than the way we see things, but I love the local political talk.  This morning Ray went on one of his usual rants.  He wasn't as excited as he can get, but he was going on and on about how he is sick and tired of paying his tax dollars to people who don't work.  He thinks it is insane that his hard earned money is going to people who aren't contributing to society.  Quick question for you.  How is this not class warfare?  Unemployment is extremely high right now, and a record number of people are collecting benefits.  That doesn't mean they haven't paid into the system themselves.  That doesn't mean they aren't trying their hardest to find work, to no avail.  Why is this sort of talk not considered class warfare? 

Oh, Governor LePage.  I didn't vote for you.  If given another opportunity, I wouldn't vote for you.  However, I want to support you.  I want you to succeed, because the great State of Maine needs you to succeed.  Let me tell you something though, any positive thing you do for the great people of this state will easily be lost and forgotten if you continue to lie and act like a buffoon.  Back in April, you ordered that the labor mural be taken down because of an anonymous fax.  I'm sorry, I'm not sure I believe that, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.  Next thing we all know you are saying you removed it (and hid it in a "safe place") because it only spoke to one side, labor, and you wanted to see business represented as well.  Now, fast forward to late September, on a stage in New York City, you told Brian Williams of NBC that you removed it because you didn't like how it was paid for?!  Look, was that an out of left field question thrown at you during an education summit?  Yes, that was unfair of Williams to do that, I'll give you that.  However, you gave a new answer, one that you have not given previously.  Have you been lying all along, or was this a new lie?  And what union were you a part of?  I mean, you said you "come up from organized labor through my whole life", so you must have belonged to a labor union at some point, right?  Again, I want you to succeed, so please, do us all a favor.  Work hard and keep your mouth closed.  It's best for all of us, trust me.

As a rabid Red Sox fan, our baseball season ended the way it began, with a thud.  After starting the season with a terrible 2-10 record, they were the hottest team in baseball for the better part of the summer.  Then came September, where they compiled an embarrassing 5-20 record.  Every team slumps at some point in the season, but the good teams don't usually slump for an entire month.  What makes it worse is that they gave up both the division lead, as well as the Wild Card lead over the course of the month.  It was a collapse for the record books.  It is something that you do not want attached to your team.  It hurts.  However, I do not want to see the team overreact.  Fans all over New England and beyond are going insane right now.  Fire Francona, trade Crawford, feed Dice-K to sharks, put Lackey in a dunk tank filled with piranhas, etc. 

Please, everyone calm down.  JD Drew's contract is up.  Dice-K won't be back from Tommy John surgery until late August or early September next season, and he won't ever pitch for Boston again (I don't think).  Buchholz will be back from his injury and ready to dominate.  I'll play the role of Theo Epstein and tell you exactly what you need to do.  Sign a right fielder.  Someone like Josh Willingham or Jason Kubel.  Someone that will give you 20/80 and is a solid outfielder.  Pick up Marco Scutaro's option.  He was solid defensively and batted .300, and has been the best shortstop in the Theo era.  Resign Papelbon and Ortiz.  You will not find a better DH than Big Papi, and he is a fan favorite.  Papelbon needs to stay, at least for another year or two.  Bard is clearly not ready to close, and Pap has been one of the best since he came onto the scene.  With those positions set, go after pitching.  Get more pitching.  Once you have more pitching, go after more pitching.  You CANNOT have enough pitching, whether it's starters or bullpen guys.  Go get them, they are out there.  Pitching is what killed us, so let's do something about it.  Unfortunately, Francona and the Sox decided to part ways.  That makes me sad.  He brought us our first World Series in 86 years.  I can only hope the next guy can be mentioned in the same sentence years from now with Tito.  I'm just saying...

Oh Charlie, the only fraud here is you!

I'm not sure if you've all gotten the memo yet, but voter fraud is rampant in Maine.   It's most prevalent on college campuses.  Those darn kids are always messing things up.  We just want to make sure informed people vote, why do those silly kids always think they know everything?  See, it was different when I was in college, I knew about all the issues, and was able to vote because I fit into all the required criteria.  Not like today, when kids just play Playstation and watch Family Guy.  They have no idea what is going on around them.  It's simply awful that we still allow them to disenfranchise the local townspeople by voting.  I mean, that's what Charlie Webster, head of the Maine Republican Party says, so it must be correct, right?

Actually, voter fraud is anything but rampant in Maine.  This whole game that Mr. Webster has been playing this summer has been a farce, and we all knew it.  Heck, even those that supported Webster knew, deep down, that he was full of crap.  As I'm sure you remember, Charlie came out earlier this summer with his list of 206 names of out of state college students that he felt committed fraud (here's a link to the press conference if you haven't seen it).  He handed his list of "offenders" off to the Maine Secretary of State, Charlie Summers, and just yesterday, Summers came back with the results of his research.  After two months, and much digging and prodding, it turns out, not a single one of the students on the list had committed any type of fraud.  See, the problem for Webster, and the Republicans that believe there is massive amounts of fraud going on here, is that college students aren't the problem.  In fact, there isn't a problem at all.  The elimination of Same Day Registration by the Maine Legislature was a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. 

See, college students were the targets of Webster's attack.  They have every right, by law, to vote where they go to school.  They voted once, in the town that they live in, just as college students have done for years, and will continue to do for years to come.  The real issue, as far as I can tell, is that Webster, and I'm sure others too, don't like that college students have the ability to possibly sway an election, and the perception is that college students tend to lean to the left.  It's pretty clear to me that this scares our friend Charlie Webster.  So, instead of engaging college students in a positive manner, he accuses them of cheating.  I'm not sure that will go very far to convincing them to support the Republican's agenda.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see college students come out, in droves, to vote this November, especially for Question 1, which looks to reinstate same day voter registration. 

In the end, I'm glad Secretary of State Summers looked into potential fraud.  It proves that there was no funny business going on, and that our town officials are doing their jobs.  It proves that our system works, despite the cries of many on the right.  It also should put an end to this nonsense about college students and voting.  We want to encourage everyone to vote, to be involved in their community, and to be a part of something bigger than themselves.  We especially want college students to feel that way, as we want them to stay after graduation and contribute to Maine's economy by living, working and playing here.  I am proud that Maine has one of the highest voter turnouts in the country, and hope to see that continue.  I want to thank all of our town officials for all the hard work they do, and I want to encourage everyone to get out and vote on Question 1 on November 8 to reinstate same day voter registration.  I'm just saying...