Don’t blame anyone at the gas station you buy it from:
This article focused on Exxon stations in the DC area, but the minimization of gas station profits by Big Oil is not unique to Exxon. They make sure the gas station franchise owner earns just enough to survive on and keep the rest for themselves. So the next time you have to spend $40 just to get 10 gallons of regular, don’t yell at the person behind the counter. Even if its the owner, its in no way his fault.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Happy Memorial Day!
Feature article in Saturday’s Washington Post suggests Sochi, Russia is a LONG way from being ready for the 2014 Winter Olympics:
Of course, we seem to always go down this road of construction issues and the like. Still, other locations did at least have adequate sewage 6 years before the Games. Might be time to get Salt Lake warming in the bullpen just in case.
Sunday afternoon in PNC Park was one the Cubs literally let slip away. Leading 5-4 bottom 9th, two outs, runner on Nate McLouth lifts a routine fly ball to deepish left field, Alfonso Soriano settled under it . . . and loses it in the bright midafternoon sunshine. It actually hits the heal of his glove by chance but he doesn’t catch it and the Pirates tie the game. Subsequently unable to plate McLouth, they go to extra innings for the 2nd straight game. The game works itself to the 11th inning to where there is a runner on 2nd and two outs and Lou Piniella decided to intentionally walk McLouth to get to Jason Bay. To me, the decision makes no sense. Yes, McLouth has been off to a great start, but Bay has been hot the past week or two and is by far the more proven hitter. Of course, it set up the righty-righty matchup between Jon Lieber and Bay (McLouth is a lefty) but that rationale always drives me nuts. Jason Bay has been hitting against right handed pitchers on a consistent basis since he was 10 years old. Anyhow, Bay laces a single (would normally be a double) to the left field corner and that’s the ball game, Pirates win 6-5.
The curious thing was, Piniella made exactly the same move, and it backfired, in the 14th inning Saturday night. Now in that case it did make sense, as the runner was on 3rd with only one out and walking McLouth set up a potential double play (though it would be risky defensively to go for it) and Bay hit a single (normally a sac fly but the outfielders didn’t bother going back to catch it) to win the game. At any rate, by winning two of three from the Cubs this weekend they even out losing a couple games to Milwaukee for a .500 week and remain close to the .500 mark overall. Of course, the Pirates have had dramatic Memorial Day Weekend home wins over the Cubs inspire hope in the past, only to dash those hopes on the shores of a rocky June. So we’ll see what happens.
On a side-note, it was pretty clear all weekend that Piniella was intentionally making a mockery of the MLB directive to speed up the game which in part implored managers and pitching coaches to move with greater haste to the mound for meetings. Piniella managed to introduce effectively to his gait a noticeable limp in his left leg and just in general ambled very very very very slowly to the mound. Essentially, a person had the time to run to the can and get back to the TV to see him wander across the 1st baseline into fair territory. It was kind of humerous actually, and it gave the Pirates broadcast team something to talk about.
4-0 was the final score, though that does include two late goals by Detroit. Penguins had their chances in the 1st period but got an absurdly low 7 shots on goal the final two periods. It was pretty clear the Pens did not play their best game, and they were beat at their own game. They have lived off of offensive zone turnovers, but tonight the Wings were getting turnover after turnover in the Pens end.
The Pens also were victimized by a call that helped them in the 1st period when a Red Wings goal was waived off on goalie interference by Holmstrom. It was a tight though probably correct call (he put his stick in Fleury’s 5 hole). Thing is, after that call, the Wings got the next 8 zillion power plays. Might’ve been better for the Pens to give up that goal and then have more even power play scenarios the last 40 minutes. Oh well, try in Game 2 to get the road split and go from there.
Has arrived to my area. Admittedly, its at a station that is generally higher than every other gas station I drive past on a regular basis. But its not even close. The Laughlin Restraunt Citgo at the intersection of US 30 and PA St. Rte 168 near Hookstown surged 20 cents while I was at work today to $4.099 for regular unleaded; add a dime for each higher grade. What is the cost of diesel, you ask? Try $5.149 per gallon. Someone please stop the insanity!
Interesting feature article in today’s New York Times about the troubles Barack Obama seems to be having with a normally reliably Democratic block of voters, especially of the older generation in Florida:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/us/politics/22jewish.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Will be interesting to see if the old Jewish ladies in Palm Beach that voted for Pat Buchanan in 2000 can warm to Obama.
Am I the only one wondering if this was fixed? That rumor gets tossed around this time every year, but surprisingly I have not heard anyone in the media (maybe just not tuned to the right places) suggest it this year. I mean, we did just have a major market team with a 1.7% chance of winning win. Makes sense to me, fix it for the Bulls, bring them one more piece get them right back to prominence in the Association. Any other tin foilers out there, or am I the only one?
I have heard anecdotal evidence of Penguins fans buying tickets online to games at Joe Louis Arena. Indeed, I heard those stories even before either team had actually won their 4th game of the previous round. Said news reports point up the fact that Detroit is only 4.5 hours drive from Pittsburgh. Just as a word of caution, though, while that time estimate might usually be right . . .
MDOT has completely closed I-75 south of Detroit. The major project in Pittsburgh right now is the “missing ramps” project on the Parkway West @ I-79. But both roads are still open save some occassional weekend closures. Well, the major project in Detroit is also much-needed; connecting the Ambassador Bridge and Windsor, Ontario directly to I-75 so people do not have to get off the bridge and drive through neighborhoods that are scary by Detroit standards. Well, to do this project correctly, they closed I-75 completely. Detour time! People coming from Pittsburgh will still want to get off the Ohio Turnpike at Exit 71 to take I-280 past downtown Toledo, utilizing the new Glass City Skyway and connect with I-75 to Michigan. But just north of Monroe you’ll need to detour by taking I-275 towards Detroit Airport. You should probably go all the way up to the Airport and connect with I-94 into the downtown area and Joe Louis Arena, but that will add some time to the trip. So beware, and watch out for flying octupus once you are inside the Arena. Go Pens!
It is a distinct possibility come 2010 after NFL owners voted unanimously to opt out of the current agreement with the NFL Players Association. The owners have a few items on their shopping list.
They want to limit the amount of money paid to rookies vis a vis veteran players, which I think is a very logical goal. Its absurd when some hotshot out of college comes in and starts making more than a Pro Bowler. Something like what the NBA has with contracts basically fixed based on draft position would make sense, though an NFL equivalent would have to be nuanced to control for paying a quarterback more than a punter.
They are also crying about economic need (they are paying the players 60% of revenue) given construction costs of new stadia and so forth. That is a load of crap. Any NFL owner that cries poverty should be punched hard in the mouth until he shuts up. How many billions are the networks paying for broadcast rights? How much NFL Officially Liscensed Merchandise gets sold? How much do game tickets sell for? To say nothing of the fact that NFL owners are usually pretty good at milking corporate welfare and getting local governments to foot bills on building new facilities. Try, try not to be absurd please.
So now we will have protracted negotiations for a new CBA. I look for the players especially to try to drag this out to the un-capped year (no salary cap). They would love to kill that so they can get their elite players Alex Rodriguez type money. And that is the great danger here in this game of brinksmanship. If the NFLPA succeeds in killing the salary cap it could blow the economics of the sport out of the water. Could the New Orleans Saints hope to win a bidding war with the Dallas Cowboys or the New York Giants? I think not. Anything that takes the economics of the NFL and makes it look more like the economics of Major League Baseball would be a bad thing and should be avoided at all costs. NFL owners have generally been wise over the decades, but now we must hold our breath that they don’t foul it up this time.
