Labor Day is Back

So you thought you were smart, thou anti-labor governor with ye crackdown on workers' rights.

And what had long lain dormant and acquiescent showed up overnight in your office hallway in the tens of thousands. They seemed not to like what you wanted to do with their right to bargain collectively. Which attempt by you was as mad and wrong headed as if a Dem governor tried to tax away all profit and then some; worse, as if to declare that profit itself were the culprit and as such must be trampled. For the money charged has to be directed somewhere, and those who send and collect the invoices want the most they can get for themselves and cannot give up any part of it for it is already all leveraged in the market.

Mr. Wisconsin (R) Gov. made a mistake here by kicking a dog that had gotten used to nudging down the years but not hard kicks, and the dog is baring some teeth after getting kicked.

That and (incredibly as it might have seemed even at Christmas 2010) Egypt 2011 are inspirations for this worker uprising in the land where the Wobblies once stood, where unionists and Old Lefties were hiding out in the hills all these years.

That a nation called Egypt could in any way contribute positively to the world today, should be considered a near miracle of historical proportions. Sustenance comes in time from odd places. That and of course: somehow this ancient land is the one that topples a world-class dictator, which now pulls the Colonel down the terlet where he probably belongs although his devil-clown mincing has always come across as amusing in the worst Berlin/20s fashion; which leads to Bahrain and Algeria--and pretty soon you've got an uprising on your hands. What happens if it endangers the Saudi interest unduly?

But we digress. Why did Wisconsin Governor want to hit hard in Wisconsin? Because this is where the old Wobblies came from, and the old lefties in the hills. If they could destroy this remnant, they could say they had no midwest opposition except Chicago where, to all sane persons' dismay, Tiny Dancer is now Mayor of Hog Butcher to the World.

I'iiiiiiiing just kiiiiiiiidiiiiiiiing! (Loud and with humility)

But we always did have a problem with Chicago and its Daleys, didn't we, sir Wisconsin of Milwaukee fame? By golly with Ohio always halfway, Indiana down red, KY red, the rest on the edge, we could rule the Mississippi valley if we could gut out the Chi-town effect one way or another.

But that comes next. That comes after trying to rabbit-punch a guy in a fair match--his "yuh well, you can't like, negotiate", like--come again? We the workers cannot what? With the shite we put up with you and your punchclocks and disdain and the profit of our labors, you are telling us what?

I didn't think so.

We will be camping out here for a while, Joker.

You have awoken Labor, Dear Joker.

Wait 'til Labor Day '11.

The Never-ending Downward Spiral of the Mets

Will I be able to rouse myself to root for my traditional favorite ball team this year? Circumstances are lining up against it.

We can begin with a called third strike in 2007's NLCS when a hit would have put us in the World Series.

Then we can move forward to two consecutive historic season-ending collapses in 2008 and 2009. And 2010 was, by the end of July, a lost season.

Then of course there is CitiField, named after an ignominious bank implicated in another historic collapse. And the way the stadium is painted all black and funereal as if black had any history with the Mets. And the way they named the entry rotunda after a guy who never played for the Mets but for a competitor team now in Los Angeles. And how the ticket prices went up as if we were getting such an upgrade as the team was flopping around like a fish on the dock.

Now we can add the muck of Madoff bucks to the unclean stew that has become the New York Metropolitans. The Wilpons, who own the team in Flushing, are being sued in a clawback exercise by a special trustee trying to get fake profit back from those who took money from Madoff even as Madoff was simply handing over to them the deposits of other investors. And there will be a trial, and it will be a cloud over the team for some time to come; and indeed the finances of the team are rocked already, else why would the Wilpons be looking to sell part of the team? Oh yes, there's that too. They are trying to sell part of the team. Really they should sell all of it. If they can. It is possible the entire team could be liquidated to satisfy Madoff-related judgments.

Also, I think Reyes and Wright are significantly overrated and we have no pitching beyond Johann Santana to speak of.

The Mets have become synonymous not just with failure but now with smarmy dealings.

I don't think I can muster any support.

Across town, there are the Yankees, who seem to carry themselves with so much more professionalism and pride (I am loathe to admit).

Hm.