Reading the Elections

As emulators of the world's oldest profession, paid political pundits -- and amateurs naive enough to follow them -- will spend this election night saying things that they don't really mean. If Republicans win the governorships in both Virginia and New Jersey, GOP spokesmen will declare that the electorate is passing judgment on all things Obama. On the other hand, Democrats will proclaim these to be local races with no bearing on national politics.

With very few exceptions, this cast of characters would read their lines in the opposite way were the parties to be reversed.

Here is the best way of understanding the elections. In every gubernatorial election since 1974, Virginia has gone for the party opposite of the holder of the White House. This year will evidently not stop that trend. As to New Jersey, a Republican win will send a chill up the backs of centrist Democrats. Whether it means anything in next year's elections will partly depend on the economy. It will also depend on whether the Democrats continue down a path that centrist voters fear is fiscally irresponsible.

Feel free to turn off the news casts and enjoy your evening.

A-Rod Just Threw His Pitcher under the Bus

Neither Joe Buck nor Tim McCarver pointed it out, but Alex Rodriguez effectively tossed his pitcher under the bus by his extended, self-serving stare toward his dugout after being hit by a pitch in the first inning tonight.

It is difficult to interpret Mr. Rodriguez' actions as anything other than a call for his pitcher to protect him by responding in kind to a Phillies hitter. The action necessitated what followed -- the home plate umpire warning both benches that any retaliation would result in an ejection. However, that warning makes it more difficult for Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia to pitch inside, which, as Messrs. Buck and McCarver pointed out, is essential to his game plan. It is arguable that the umpires would not have issued the warning if Mr. Rodriguez had simply taken his base.

That is the sort of action that explains why, notwithstanding his tremendous talent, A-Rod is not a player that is necessarily popular with his teammates.

MLB's Pursuit of Mr. November

With the World Series commencing tomorrow night, Major League Baseball faces for the first time the strong possibility that at least half of the championship games for this summer sport will be played in November. This has come about because of the combination of 1) the additional round of playoffs that was instituted with realignment a few years ago; 2) the calendar falling in such a way that the season began several days into April; and 3) the numerous days off during the playoff rounds necessary to accommodate MLB's desire to play as many games on television on a single network during prime time as possible.

Playing baseball World Series games at night this close to the winter solstice is a tragedy. Playing night games even in early October can be a dicey situation in some markets, and it is almost certain that games played after dark in early November will feature less than optimal conditions for championship play.

The World Series should be completed no later than mid October. To shave 2 weeks off of its season, baseball could 1)reduce its season by 8 games to 154 (the number of games played over the course of much of the history of the sport; and 2) eliminating the All Star break, which, in spite of the PR efforts, no one really believes counts or cares about anyway.

While some would suggest that this will cost baseball money, the loss in gate receipts will largely be offset by reducing current disadvantages. By pushing the World Series back into November, baseball is competing against the middle of the schedule of college and professional football and against the beginning of hockey and basketball seasons. In addition, baseball might want to consider this with regard to basketball and hockey:

Those pro sports extend their championship games into June, by which time most fans are diverting their attention elsewhere. When teams are playing for the Stanley Cup in June, no one really cares anymore outside of Canada and the two U.S. cities playing for the championship. Casual fans elsewhere are no longer interested.

Baseball is similarly marginalizing itself. The games to begin tomorrow should have already been played.

A Setback for Chasers of Ambulances in Texas

It appears that the Texas Transportation Commission will finally approve the removal of phone numbers from crash reports.

Deadening and Enlivening Spirituality

A couple of weeks ago, I got in my rental car at the airport and turned the radio on. Recognizing the voice of the Rev. Charles Stanley, who is the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Atlanta, I reached to change the station. However, I changed my mind and decided to listen for a while. He was preaching from a passage in the Gospels in which Jesus told Peter that Satan desired to sift him as wheat.

It has been a long time since I have listened to anyone espousing the view of spirituality that Pastor Stanley affirms, and I was frankly surprised at how strongly I reacted against it.

Someone has properly said that all of Christian doctrine is grace, and all of Christian conduct is gratitude. That is to say that God has acted decisively on behalf of those who are His, and we respond with gratefulness. Unfortunately, the message I heard on the radio that night was quite different. According to the radio preacher, God has acted to give us opportunities. Accessing those opportunities will make us more effective and able to have an impact. Failure to access those opportunities will result in us failing to reach our potential.

This type of spirituality is ultimately stifling, as it views ourselves as being in charge of that which is actually the province of the Lord. While Mr. Stanley would reject the notion that he is legalistic because he teaches salvation by faith, his version of spirituality is ultimately a legalistic one of telling congregants to do more and try harder so that they can be what they are intended to be. Such law based spirituality frequently leads to either disillusionment and burn-out or to a suffocating self-righteousness.

I, myself, was raised in a legalism more stifling than that, and I am grateful to have escaped it. The Bible tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. It then tells us, by faith, to be reconciled to God. He has done the work. I believe, and then spend the remainder of this life learning to live gratefully.

Contradicting One's Self in the Space of Two Sentences Quote of the Day

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way."

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, explaining his refusal to marry an interacial couple, as quoted in an AP article. One hopes that Mr. Bardwell, who supports his claim that he is not a racist by saying that he lets "black friends...use my bathroom," will lose his position immediately. In fact, if this abuse of his position of public trust is not a crime that would result in jail time, it should be.

The PWC Report on Health Care Reform Is Accurate

The report, commissioned by America's Health Insurance Plans and released the day before the Senate Finance Committee voted out the Baucus bill, provides a devastating analysis of the impact of the legislation on health insurance costs. As a result, proponents of the bill have lashed out the report, claiming that it is biased based on who paid for it.

In fact, the report may underestimate the cost impact. Don't believe the ideologues on left or right. Look to people who understand the health care business.

Bob Laszewski and Joe Paduda are both health care professionals. They are both advocates of major health care reform legislation -- Mr. Paduda openly campaigned for Barack Obama; I don't know who Mr. Laszewski voted for. Read their analyses here and here.

Spoof Headline of the Day

From Marketwatch.com:

Obama fails to win Nobel prize in economics