Posts Tagged “Major League Baseball”
 A highlight of John McCain and Barack Obama’s Wednesday debate was McCain invoking a recent exchange between Obama and "Joe the plumber", the Ohio man who told Obama he wanted to buy the plumbing business where he was employed but worried he couldn’t because Obama would raise his taxes. McCain later said "Joe" was the real debate winner–and then learned Joe wasn’t a licensed plumber, owed back taxes and was mostly speculating about the business idea, which made Joe about as popular to McCain as Charles Keating…- Wall Street continues to careen in every direction, with Monday’s record gain of 936 followed by another drastic drop of 733 Wecnesday, then a true rollercoaster ride Thursday that saw the market down about 500 points before finishing up 401, with Friday’s trading starting off 250, but improving to about even at press time. Experts still say leaving your investments where they are is the best advice in the long run–unless of course you were actually hoping to spend any of it in the next 20 or 30 years…
- While the economy may be down, Social Security is going up–a 5.8% increase for next year will be the largest benefit bump in a quarter century. After reading the preceding story, seniors are probably grateful there’s something that’s actually appreciating in their portfolio…
- In a report out Friday, the GAO says that two US labratories–handling some of the world’s deadliest germs–lack some basic security features like adequate cameras, detection alarms and visible armed guards at public entrances. This is a little unsettling to me–there’s better security than this at my grocery store’s express lanes…
- Reformers in Iran are hopeful that former president Mohammad Khatami might challenge Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June presidential elections, with a former vice-president saying that Khatami can’t avoid it, adding, "It is a historic situation. He has to run even if he doesn’t want it personally." This may be one of those times when having a religious leader as a head of state actually improves the government…
  The Philadelphia Phillies–the first team in professional sports to to lose 10,000 games–will head to the World Series for the first time in 15 years after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 Wednesday, while the Boston Red Sox won their 8th elimination game in a row Thursday night with one of the greatest postseason comebacks in history as they overcame a late-game 7-0 Tampa Bay lead to defeat the Rays 8-7. One team propelled to their sport’s pinnacle after a lifetime of disappointment, and still another historic franchise that continues to disprove its one-time ninety-year curse–and people wonder why it’s called America’s Pastime….
Tags: Barack Obama, debate, GAO, Iran, John McCain, Major League Baseball, Social Security, Wall Street
No Comments »
- The federal government’s quarter-trillion-dollar bank buy-in plan is being embraced by the industry as a means to get them back to the business of lending again, but many experts believe it won’t provide a quick fix to the nation’s economic problems. In my experience, depending on a bank to really help me with my problems is like hiring a shark to host a pool party…
- Wednesday’s final presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama may very well be McCain’s last chance to shake up a race that many polls suggest has been wrapped up by Obama. McCain’s people have suggested he may again try to connect Obama to Bill Ayers, the one-time anti-war radical who is now a professor and neighbor of Obama’s–I don’t know about you, that gets me right off worrying about the economy…
 Engineers at NASA say they know how repair the Hubble Space Telescope, and will begin a complicated remote-control fix Wednesday that will require them to wake up parts on the telescope that have been dormant for 18 years. Are we sure they’re qualified–after all, they probably have parts dormant for much longer than that…- A federal appeals court has ordered that Ohio’s election officials must establish a system to verify the eligibility of newly registered voters and make that information available to all of the state’s election boards, a victory for the state’s Republicans challenging the administration of registration policies by the Democratic secretary of state. So, the GOP is convinced the other side is trying to register ineligible pro-Obama votes, and the Dems are convinced the other side is trying to stop eligible pro-Obama voters from registering–at least they agree on something…
- Thanks to a break in Santa Ana winds, firefighters in Southern California have been able to better control 3 dangerous forest fires that have each moved closer to Los Angeles’ northwestern suburbs. The longer they can keep those arid breezes from fanning the flames, the better off they are–then again, it’s LaLa Land, and the Santa Anas are the least of their hot air problems…
 The upstart Tampa Bay Rays, who until now had never won more than 70 games a season, have pushed the mighty Boston Red Sox into an uncomfortable corner with a 13-4 rout of the defending World Series champs Tuesday–their second-straight lopsided win and the team’s third consecutive victory. The Sox have been here before, and they’ve roared back–but that was with "Manny being Manny", who’s now doing that pretty well for someone else…
Tags: Barack Obama, California, debate, Election Day, financial bailout, forest fires, Hubble Telescope, John McCain, Major League Baseball, NASA
No Comments »
- Just two days after the House soundly defeated the financial rescue bill worked out by Congressional leaders and the White House, the Senate will vote on a modified version of the bill Wednesday that is likely to pass. It will contain tax breaks that some House members oppose, but the Senate’s quick action in passing it could pressure them into siding with it–it sounds just like Thanksgiving at my house, only with money instead of sweet potatoes and giblet gravy…
 The stock market, after a record one-day loss Monday, rebounded Tuesday to post its third-highest gain ever–a 485 point jump in the Dow Jones averages. Generally I’m a fan of rollercoasters, but this is just one big tummy ache…- Both Barack Obama and John McCain, who will return to Washington Wednesday to vote on the Senate version of the financial rescue bill, both called for providing banks with greater security by raising the amount of FDIC-insured funds in accounts to $250,000. That provision is included in the Senate bill, which means McCain still might be able to take credit for personally saving the American economy…
- Thursday’s debate between vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin is an unusually-anticipated event, with more media credentials issued than for any other VP debate. I imagine many reporters want to be on hand for a night of potentially historic statements–some because they defy logic, others because they defy the dimension of time…
- A new genetic test for for the flu virus just approved by the the government will allow labs across the US to identify flu strains in a matter of hours instead of days–which could be crucial if a deadly new strain suddenly appears. This is a great achievement–I can’t wait for when they finally can quickly identify a potential hangover…
 The Chicago White Sox became the last Major League Baseball team to make the postseason Wednesday night when they beat the Minnesota Twins 1-0 in a tie-breaker game for the American League Central Division championship. Chicago’s pitching was outstanding, giving up only two hits–one to each of the twins, I presume…
Tags: Barack Obama, financial bailout, health care, Joe Biden, John McCain, Major League Baseball, Sarah Palin, Senate, Wall Street
1 Comment »
|
Entries (RSS)