Combat Tested Ballplayers?

I have always been a follower of the Boston Red Sox. For whatever reasons of human foolishness, a baseball team can have a significant impact on our emotions. Where ever you go in the community at large and in "Red Sox Nation" you can always manage to find a person that you can strike up a conversation with regarding the the triumphs or travails of the club and share memories of team related events. Every now and then, however, it is necessary to put things in perspective.

Just such a perspective building moment happened for me Friday night when a friend of mine showed me a poster sanctioned by Major League Baseball and being handed out by Dunkin Donuts as a Memorial Day weekend Red Sox promotion. The particular poster can be partially seen in the upper right hand corner of this post and features Mike Lowell, Manny Ramirez and Tim Wakefield as "Combat Tested Veterans."

On a holiday specifically created to honor Americans killed in battle, it is particularly insulting to their memory to compare men playing a boys game for ridiculous amounts of money to soldiers serving the country. The Red Sox, Dunkin Donuts and Major League Baseball should have the brains to know better and pull this thing off the shelves.

Can Charles Really be this Dumb?

It was reported this week that a Las Vegas casino had filed a civil suit to recover a $400,000 gambling debt from Charles Barkley. The casino alleged in a civil complaint filed Wednesday in a Nevada state court that Barkley failed to repay four $100,000 casino loans, received last October.

"To date, and despite repeated demands, Barkley has refused to repay the $400,000," the complaint said. To make matters more pressing for Charles, Clark County District Attorney David Roger, said prosecutors would file a criminal complaint if he did not pay the debt cited by the Wynn Las Vegas resort.

In acknowledging the debt Charles is reported to have said "All they had to do is call and say, 'Hey, you owe us this money." Is it possible that it slipped Mr. Barkley's mind that he owed 400 large?

I guess the silver lining in this is that Vegas must be cleaned up a little. In the old days if you owed $400,000 they didn't file a civil suit, they were more likely to do some rather uncivil thing to you like break your legs or cut off a body part.

The $400,000 isn't the punchline in the story however, Mr. Barkley goes on to acknowledge that he has lost over 10 million dollars in his gambling career! On the subject, in an ESPN story Charles imparts this bit of nonsense, "Do I have a gambling problem? Yeah, I do have a gambling problem but I don't consider it a problem because I can afford to gamble. It's just a stupid habit that I've got to get under control."

This is going to turn out badly for Charles. It is one of those classic examples of the Peter Principle, where an individual has elevated themselves to their own level of incompetence. His own book gives you an indication of how this is all going to end, I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It explains in more detail, that left to his own devices, Charles might finish his life as a broke charity case.

In 1993, Charles was criticized for saying "sports figures should not be considered role models" apparently he is trying to make sure he is right.

Clinton options

The continued indecisiveness in the Democratic Party over choosing a clear cut winner of the nomination prior to the convention is likely to come back to haunt them in November. The one person who could change that scenario is Hillary Clinton and at this point it is unlikely that she will do anything to change the current situation and if you were in her shoes you probably wouldn't withdraw either.

Although the noise regarding a Clinton surrender has increased from the liberal wing of the party led by some of the media outlets, there has not been an outright stampede. Sen. Leahy and Dodd had called for her withdrawal in March but beyond that, not many party bigwigs will take her and Bill on in public at the moment.

Some of the reasoning may revolve around the idea that it might be a benefit to keep her viable as a fall back position. Although Obama has the numbers and what appears to be a thin but insurmountable lead it has also become increasingly apparent that he may not be quite the knight in shining armor that was originally thought.

The reasons that the race has tightened to this point are because the country is getting to know Sen. Obama more intimately and some of that knowledge has been disconcerting. The comments of Rev. Wright as well as his connections to former domestic terrorists William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn have been unsettling to moderate swing voters. Some of his own as well as his wife's comments have exposed them as out of touch academics with lofty but campus like elitist naivete. His record on legislation is not a negative primarily because he doesn't have one.

Is another stumble of minor or even major proportions possible? It would seem improbable but as Clinton likes to point out, all her heavy baggage is on the table and has been gone over with a fine tooth comb. Even with the yoke of Bill around her neck she still is defeating Obama in key states. Indiana was not a crushing victory but never the less it was a victory and there are still more that she will win before the convention.

National polls are also another reason why keeping Hillary warmed up in the driveway may be a sound strategy. In head to head polls Hillary seems to do much better against Republican nominee McCain than does Obama. Currently polls here at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ show McCain trouncing Obama in Florida by 9 points while Clinton leads by 1.7 in what is clearly a critical battleground state.

Hillary's strategy is both short and long term. She didn't double down with another 6 million of her own money because she was betting on an Obama stumble or unusual outcome between now and the convention on the presidential nomination. She was also investing that money in the possibility of a forced shot at the VP slot this year as well as looking forward to 2012.

It would seem that the VP option would be a long shot less because of her shared animosity with Obama but more because anyone on top of the ticket would be repulsed by the idea of Bill being in the administration as a loose cannon.

The longer range thinking might be that she could contest the race the rest of the way but in a more cordial fashion so as not to damage the party nominee and alienating party regulars. By racking up additional primary wins and continuing to build on her reputation as a formidable campaigner (grudgingly admitted to by even the most ardent Clinton foes) she sets herself up as the presumptive nominee in 2012 by merit instead of by media anointment as in 2008. This scenario only works if McCain defeats Obama and then has to run for re-election for a second term at 76 years old.

This is not long shot thinking. Obama is by no means a shoe in come November. The left wing of the Democratic Party has not had much success in winning the presidency and McCain is not going to be a push over.

Any Hillary opponents who think that an Obama nomination will drive a stake through the heart of Clintonism better rethink that idea. Hillary is going to be a big player on the national stage for a long time to come.

Jerry's Not Running for President

Either Jeremiah Wright is a Hillary Clinton supporter or else he has a colossal enough ego to thinks his comments at this point in the election are more important to the African American community than the possible winning of the Democratic presidential nomination by Barack Obama.

Wright's comments are not new, Malcom X used the "chickens coming home to roost" comment after the assassination of John Kennedy and Chris Rock has been using the government led HIV conspiracy against blacks in his comedy routine for a few years.

Any breathing white person need only go back a little bit in history to see many instances and reasons why black America would have some skepticism about the behaviour of our government. Rodney King, Amado Dialo and now the exoneration of the cops that killed Sean Bell is another most recent example. One of the cops snapped off 31 rounds at an unarmed man and the judge apparently had no problem with his conduct. The judge said that he thought the officers version of the events were more "credible". Apparently proving that the dead man was unarmed was not credible enough.

In 1998 poor Amodo Diallo was on his door step holding his wallet when cops managed to get off 41 shots before coming to their senses. The defense of course was the cops were afraid Dialo had a gun and they all walked.

History has more instances of blatant societal mistreatment of blacks but those as well as any comments by Rev. Wright are not the issues here.

Does Teddy Kennedy have to answer for Catholic priest pedophiles or does Mitt Romney have to answer for Morman bigamists? The answer of course is no. Each of these presidential candidates should be measured on their own and at this stage in the campaign the media should be focusing on issues that mean something to the vast majority of Americans and what each of these candidates can do about them.

Those items are pretty plain to see, The Iraq occupation, the Strategic Oil Reserve, the economy, food prices, immigration, social security, health care and education are a few that could use some attention. Instead we are preoccupied with the rantings of an obscure reverend, who can't seem to avoid taking up every second of his fifteen minutes of fame even if it might egregiously wound a candidate whose potential nomination might be a source of tremendous pride and exhilaration to the flock that Rev. Wright purportedly represents.

Road to 17

I admit to being an early skeptic about the Kevin Garnett trade. It took a few days but I finally warmed up to it. http://philgallagher.blogspot.com/2007/07/garnett-for-half-team-two-draft-choices.html Additionally, my early concerns about Doc Rivers being an able coach of this team seems unwarranted as we see that he has guided this club to the most impressive last to first turn around in NBA history. Additionally, he has achieved the third best record in Celtic team history and has done it by keeping Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen fresh and injury free as well giving his young bench players plenty of time to integrate themselves into meaningful minutes in the rotation.

The overall team attitude would seem to have taken on the Garnett persona. In a league that has common questions about regular season intensity, Garnett has served as a shining beacon of night in and night out workman like performances. This guy is at or near the top of the entire league in both his physical conditioning as well as his game intensity and he makes no bones about demonstrating it..

We knew they were going to be good but who could have predicted that the club would be the number one defensive team in all of the NBA? To understand this you need only to put the spotlight camera on Garnett for a few minutes during the game. He is waiting in the paint to back up his team mates on every play. Once the ball changes his hands he is on his way at full speed to the offensive end. It has been a long time since we have seen a Celtic big man who is finishing with dunks off the wing on the break.

Garnett is the "Big Ticket" but unlike his years in Minnesota, on this club he has some other weapons. Paul Pierce has led the club in scoring this year and it has come off of the flow of the offense. In past years when options were few we were used to seeing Pierce in isolation moves trying to back down the other teams top defender. Now it is Pierce getting clean looks on the wing or slashing moves to the hoop off the break.

Ray Allen is the last of the big three and arguably has sacrificed most this year. For most of his career, Ray was a number one option averaging over 21 points. Like Garnett and Pierce, Ray's scoring average is almost four points below his career norm this year. He has settled in as a number three scoring option while he has come back from off season ankle surgery. All that may change as we get deep into the playoffs as Pierce and Garnett are likely to see very intense defensive coverage. It is comforting to know that an entry pass to Garnett or Pierce which results in as defensive player doubling down on either player will result in Ray getting open perimeter shots.

The Celtics can win championship number 17 but they will have to rely on more than just the big three. Credit Danny Ainge with putting together a club much deeper than the three aging superstars. The point guard position has turned into one of the deepest in the NBA. Not only has Rajon Rondo developed into a superior defender and assist man but he has also been hard at work developing a mid range jump shot that will make opposing defenses pay for letting him roam free. His speed on the break and in penetration off the set offense makes him a very difficult match up. Add to this the late season acquisition of 14 years and two NBA championships veteran Sam Cassell coming off the bench and you can see that point guard is in able hands.

Other players who will impact this championship run are James Posey who brings shut down defense to the guard or small forward spot and Kendrick Perkins who has done yeoman defensive and board work on opposing centers.

The bench offers Rivers a number of options with Tony Allen, Leon Powe, Glen Davis and shot maker Eddie House for situational match ups.

It has been a long time since we have had a collection of speed defense and scoring that this team represents. Even more importantly is the fact that the club is led by a core group of seasoned players that are hungry for a championship. Garnett has not gone very deep in the play offs in his career having only played in a total of 47 games and has only a few years left to make his mark in NBA lore. He has nothing left to prove in the NBA except that he is a champion. Never before has he had a surrounding cast to mesh with his awesome talent, this time it is different.

Boston and the rest of the country are in for a treat. Garnett, Pierce and Allen are at the peak of their careers and they are coming into these playoffs rested, well prepared and extremely motivated. They are not a Cinderella team or a surprise to anyone. They are 15 point favorites in game one against first round opponent Atlanta so you can see what the book makers are thinking.

The road to a championship is not going to be easy. They will have to get by Detroit at some point to come out of the East. If they can manage that however they will only have to face only one of the many great Western conference teams. Those teams will all have faced very difficult opponents in all of their preliminary rounds to get to the finals. Let's sit back and enjoy this.

Breakfast with Seniors

This past week I had both the pleasure and the honor to address the BHS senior class at a breakfast. State Rep Charlie Murphy and I had been invited by a senior who had planned the event as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project. The theme of the event was to promote the responsibilities of voting to graduating seniors as well as providing all the necessary paper work to register to vote.

It did not surprise me that this young woman was involved in such a project. I had met her when she was about 11 at the the local cable access channel when she first began volunteering in the Video Voyager program. Her involvement since that time has included most every major community and political event in town. She has experience in every aspect of these productions from camera to producer and everything in between. Even at 11 she had maturity that exceeded some adults I know. Plain and simple, she gets it, her future is unlimited.

The following is the text of my comments;

Thank you Katherine and ladies and gentlemen for the opportunity to appear before you.

The fruit of a community is its children. The nurturing and preparation of its young people is a primary reason why a community exists and those of us who have never strayed very far from Burlington always have a great deal of pride when our newest graduates venture out into the world and take some of Burlington with them.

Burlington’s children have made an impact in the world. We have a Nobel Prize winner, and Emmy and Oscar winners, major league baseball and hockey players. We have doctors, lawyers, military people, business leaders and Olympians and many others who have made their mark in the world. Burlington is still very young and our over all impact will be felt for many years to come. Our people and our companies have done and will do great things. Burlington has been involved in almost every great technological achievement over the past fifty years, from sending a man to the moon to the creation of the internet.

We have followed your class and know that you have already made a mark in your own way in such things as art and academics and football and chess and gymnastics and wrestling just to name a few.

I want to briefly talk to you about major changes coming in your life. In a few more years you will become politically, economically and theologically emancipated.

Your economic emancipation will enable you to execute contracts, hold securities and take on debt. Take care of your business because in the not to distant future mom and dad won't be picking up the tab for your heat and lights. If that tab isn't paid the bill collector won't be calling them.

The most important aspect of your political emancipation is the vote. The word vote is more than just a verb or a noun. In our country it is a way of life. You know from American history how important the vote was in our birth as a country. Democracy is a bold experiment in human history and we Americans are in the fore front of writing that history. Since the birth of our country, democracy has spread through out the world and as history progresses more and more people will clamor for what we sometimes take for granted.

How is the vote a way of life here?

Because going forward almost everything you do in your life will involve some kind of expression of your free opinion by a vote. If you serve on a jury you will vote, if you own a condo you will vote, if you are on a committee at work, or in a frat or sorority house or at church you will vote. If you are in a union you will vote and of course you will vote on many different political issues and for many different political candidates.

Politics by definition is the business of the people. You will express your opinion by casting a vote. Make sure that you are taking care of your business.

Our system of self government in every aspect of our lives works because of the vote.
In America we have an issue, we line up, express our opinion by voting and the reason it works is because when the results are tallied we all buy into the fact that the issue was decided fairly.

Then we move on, forgetting our differences and then we start all over on some other issue or item to vote on. On each issue new coalitions are formed, arguments are made and decisions rendered. Those folks who are an opponent on one issue you may soon find to be part of your coalition on another.

We are a young country and a relatively young system yet we are already an empire. You know from history that empires frequently fall from within before they are ever threatened from outside. How do we remain strong inside?

The chief threat to a democracy is apathy. That apathy stems from the idea that one vote doesn't make a difference. That of course is nonsense. The importance of one vote has been demonstrated many times in Burlington. In 1972 Angie Murgo and Dean French tied in a race for selectmen. Around 1986 Jane Richard defeated Jim Harrison for a seat on the board of health by one vote. Several years ago the kindergarten proposal for the Wildwood School was defeated at town meeting by one vote.

How do we stay strong and combat apathy? We do that by being involved and by casting our vote in a determined and informed way.

We stay informed by using our thinking skills in three ways, scientifically, critically and strategically.

Scientifically by developing a hypothesis, researching it, testing it and forming a conclusion.

Critically thinking by not assuming anything or taking anything untested as gospel. Don’t believe everything you hear and believe only half of what you see. Franklin said, “that 90% of the things you think you know are wrong.” Don't rely on emotion or hearsay in your decision making. Satisfy your curiosity by learning for yourself.

We use strategic thinking by always developing a plan of your own, Set your own personal, civic, business, professional and political goals and then plan a strategy to achieve them in every aspect. Plan strategy to the smallest detail. Your collegiate career may include some partying. I was young once so I can remember having a few good times. Plan for the safety of your friends and loved ones for their sake. Plan responsibly for the sake of people who love you. Take care of your business in every aspect of your life.


Start getting involved. Every where you go there will be opportunities to contribute and to serve. Here at home there are a number of places where you can serve. As the moderator I have a number of appointments in areas of service. They include committees such as the Ways and Means, Capital Budget, By Law review, Rules, Land Use, Human Services and others. These are the places where leaders gain their experience for future roles.

In closing I would like to leave you with two quotes, one regarding yourselves and the other regarding your country. The first is written by Baltasar Gracian Y Morales who wrote the Art of Worldly Wisdom in 1647 and the second is from Alexis DeToqueville who wrote Democracy in America in 1835.

"We are not born perfect: every day we develop in our personality and in our calling till we reach the highest point of our completed being, to the full round of our accomplishments, of our excellence. This is known by the purity of our taste, the clearness of our thought, the maturity of our judgment, and the firmness of our will. Some never arrive at being complete; something is always wanting: others arrive late. The complete person, wise in speech, prudent in act, is admitted to the company of wise persons, yes, they are even sought out by them."


"There it was that civilized men were to try to build society upon new foundations and that, applying for the first time theories unknown or considered inapplicable, they were about to give to the world a sight for which the history of the past had not prepared it."

Thank you, good luck and do your best.

A Great Race

This year's election season was short on quantity but high in quality. There were only two contested races, one for selectmen and the other for housing authority, in addition was the ballot question concerning holding multiple seats.

The housing authority race was a lower keyed contest featuring two well known and pretty well liked guys with incumbent Jim Langley prevailing over Dick Howard.

The main event featured five term incumbent Gary Gianino versus challenger Daniel Ditucci. Although it had the potential for a bitter showdown for the most part it was a high road good natured contest featuring two guys who ran like gentleman.

As always there were a couple of side shows featuring some who were uncovered for duplicitous conduct by trying to prove their undying devotion to both candidates as well as a few unfounded rumors about how either candidate was going to take away some benefit or another from town employees but that seemed to be the most controversial of happenings.

All the minor stuff was over shadowed by hard work on both sides. The single seat race hasn't seen a significant challenge in more that two decades. Ditucci knew this going in and had prepared an election business plan that recognized that an all out effort was necessary to win.

Despite having ample negative items in the issues area to attempt to exploit, Dittuci rejected that strategy and focused on offering himself as an agent of change versus an attack on the incumbents performance. There was discontent with his tag line of "Honest Government" but mostly the only notice taken by that were overly sensitive people at town hall and current elected office holders.

Gianino responded to the challenge with an effective strategy of his own. He reached out to a variety of people in the existing power structure who have worked with him for years and they responded with a strong as well as technically efficient effort. Included in the core group of supporters were proven campaigners who had a large number of successes in years gone by.

He needed all of that help because the results came in finding Gianino the victor by a very slim margin. In the race, a total of 3185 votes were cast which resulted in Gianino winning by 26 votes, 1476 to 1450. An interesting aside to the result is that perennially challenger, Virginia Mooney garnered 259 votes in the race. Ginny always promotes herself as the anti establishment anti "Good Ole Boy" candidate. Since it is unlikely that many of Ginny's votes would go to an entrenched incumbent, Ginny finds herself this morning in the uncomfortable role of spoiler. It is obvious that Ginny's part in this years campaign helped perpetuate the incumbents service. It amazes me that in over 40 attempts at various offices Ginny has never found someone else to support other than herself.

The ballot question results came as no surprise. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of restricting office holders to one seat. It was disguised as a good government effort to allow for more participation but really was an effort to prevent Al Fay from continued service in his seats on both the board of selectman as well as planning board. Since Al is probably the hardest working elected official in the town, I think it less a vote against him personally than it is a simple expression of a concern for a concentration of to much power in one persons hands.

For those of us already speculating on next year's races this brings up the question of what office Al will choose to run for since his terms in both seats are expiring. If I were a betting man, which of course I am, I would lay a small, hypothetical of course, adult wager on Al seeking another term on the board of Selectman.

The results are in and the election is over. The community will go back to normal and business will be conducted like it is every post election. The results will not go unnoticed at town hall. The single seat is the strongest seat yet the incumbent survived with a razor thin plurality and were it not for the spoiler in the race most certainly would have gone down to defeat. The message should be obvious.

As in any post election period there will be some residual hard feelings which will smooth out with time until next year when new coalitions are formed, old and new friendships are made or restored and we will repeat the process all over again.