American Airlines is anti-gay

Just read this. It is a story about how a flight attendant on an American Airlines flight instructed a gay couple that they were not allowed to kiss or touch each other on an airplane. The couple balked at the racist treatment. The crew threatened to divert the plane if they didn't stop complaining. That they threatened to divert the plane is total crap. Talk about a massive over reaction to what is a customer service problem. Racism disguised as security consciousness. I won't be flying American Airlines anytimes soon.

Have a pluralistic day,

No 1 of Consequence

I guess Bob's wife wasn't that happy.

I just read this story about the CEO of the company that makes Enzyte being indicted for fraud. here is a blurb from the article if you dont have time to read the whole thing.

A federal indictment names Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, its owner and president, Steven Warshak, and five other individuals, including Warshak's mother, on charges that include conspiracy, money laundering, and mail, wire and bank fraud.

Is anyone surprised? Look, I understand that the public at large is gullible and what guy doesn't want a bigger schvantz, but come on. A pill that you can buy by calling an 800 number and giving your credit card is not going to make you a better lover. As a matter of fact if you were a good lover the size of your penis would not be especially important.

We men are pathetic creatures, truly.

No 1 of Consequence

As a Jew, I would like to thank Pope Benedict

If you haven't seen this nonsense, recently the Pope, when quoting a 14th century text, offended the world's Islamic population.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

The Pope enraged Muslims in a speech a week ago in Germany quoting 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything the Prophet Mohammad brought was evil "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

Whoa doggy, talk about grabbing the tiger by the tail.

Why am I thanking the Pope today, you ask?

A reasonable question. I am thanking the Pope because he made history. For the first time in a LONG time Muslims may actually hate Catholics more than they hate Jews.

Have a pluralistic day.

No 1 of Consequence

Jeter for MVP

I recently had this discussion and thought I would migrate it here to the blog because I have zero time to write at the moment and I didn't want the blog to die. For you Yankee haters out there, this ones for you.

Should Jeter win the MVP, I don't know. I think there is a strong argument that there is an east coast bias in the voting and that is why he will probably win. If the Red Sox hadn't complete imploded as the Yankees ass raped them for 5 consecutive games the argument would be moot because the loveable David Ortiz would win hands down.
I will make a couple of arguments on Jeter's behalf because hey, he's da captain and all, plus I have had him on my fantasy baseball keeper league team for ten years.

First thing, he hits in the two slot, while Morneau and Dye (other legitimate candidates for the MVP) hit in RBI slots and Jeter is probably going to drive in over 100 runs. The last player to drive in 100 runs from the 2 slot is Derek Jeter, but the last guy to do it before that was Mike Devereaux in 1992. I think that should get him some bonus points.

2nd, in an era of musclebound guys jack the ball over the wall he consistently hits for a high average and is incredibly productive. If you look at the runs created stat which is (runs+rbi)- home runs you find that Derek Jeter is actually a more productive player than both Morneau and Dye. Morneau has 175 runs created, Dye has 167, and Jeter leads them both with 183.
Jeter is batting .396 with runners in scoring position. Morneau is hitting .333 w/risp. Dye is hitting .356.

Jeter leads in almost every key production staistic. Then you get to the intangibles. They are truly hard to quantify but I will give you an anecdotal example of leadership on the field.

A couple of weeks ago the Yankees were playing a double header against the Tigers and were down by two runs late. They scratched out a couple of hits and with one out they had runners on second and third and Jeter came up to the plate. He scorched the first pitch down the line and drove in both runs to tie the game. Jeter ended up on second.

A-Rod came up and this was right in the middle of him forgetting he was A-Rod and having a period of time where he thought he was Alex Karras. Every time he came up to the plate he would be looking for Webster and totally forgot how to hit for about 6 weeks.

Jeter stole third on the first pitch of A-Rod's at bat, giving his struggling lover & team mate the opportunity to drive in the go ahead run while still being completely incompetent at the plate. Pudge Rodriguez was the catcher at the time, only the most dangerous defensive catcher in my lifetime. (By the way, Jeter has 30+ stolen bases and neither Morneau or Dye are a factor on the basepaths) The inevitable dribbler to short followed the stolen base and Jeter scored on the out.

I can't define intangibles or leadership if you ask me to, but I know them when I see them. I am not saying Morneau and Dye don't have those same qualities, but I am saying that Jeter deserves to be in the discussion whether he wins the MVP or not.

No 1 of Consequence