Beyond Opinion

To me it is interesting what Al Gore is doing. His lifetime is an interesting climb to higher and higher positions. From ages 0-4, he was a baby and a toddler. From 5-12, he attended grammar school. From 13-20, he attended high school and college. From 21-28, he first established himself in the world of politics and other endeavors. From 29-36, he served as a Representative to Congress from Tennessee. From ages 37-44, he served as one of Tennessee's two Senators. From 45-52, he was Bill Clinton's Vice President. It seemed all perfectly lined up. Outside of the first four years, his life and career came in eights.

He then ran for President and won. However, the nation was not ready for him. The characteristic President of our age was Ronald Reagan, who said this was "Morning in America". He was an Optimistic President, similar to James Knox Polk and Woodrow Wilson. Polk was followed by a laid-back President (Fillmore), a Popular President (Pierce), and then a Nero or Hamlet President (Buchanan). The Civil War and the Crisis President (Abraham Lincoln) then followed.

Likewise, but in different order, Wilson was followed by a Popular President (Harding), a Laid-Back President (Coolidge), and Nero/Hamlet President (Hoover), followed by the Great Depression, World War II, and the Crisis President Franklin Roosevelt.

After Reagan came a Laid-Back President (George H. W. Bush) and a Popular President (Clinton). It followed that the next President would be a Nero President, and there was no way that Gore was a Nero. He seems to face problems head on, especially global warming. So he could not win in 2000. So what happened? He did win, or at least he won the popular vote and except for irregularities, he would have taken Florida. The nation was due instead for a real Nero Presidnet, and Dubya Bush fit the bill perfectly. Further, in his six years, Dubya has easily filled the role, ignoring global warming (rejecting Kyoto) and warning us all about Saddam and terrorism all over the place, when really the problems were global warming and especially peak oil.

Our next President will be a Crisis President, and there will be a crisis for him. In fact, two of them: global warming and peak oil. And Al Gore seems fit for the job. He has produced a movie An Inconvenient Truth on global warming, and I think he will take appropriate action on the running out of cheap oil as well (the actions are nearly the same as those to combat global warming). His six years out of office have been rebuilding years, and he apparently has served them well. People are now talking about him for 2008.

Well, if he does run, he will win. This is because a Democrat will be elected in 2008. The Keys of the White House say this. Six of the keys are turned against the incumbent Republicans already: Mandate (all the Democrats need are 4 seats in the house), Incumbency (Please don't impeach Bush!), Charisma (Bush? Charisma?), Policy (What has Bush done, except to squawk about the War on Terror and get involved in a major war?), and the two Foreign Policy keys: he will have no success (unless Iran warms up to him unexpectedly) and will have a failure: Iraq.

Even if the economy is fine in 2008, the Democrat will win. But there are signs it will not be. Peak oil may raise its ugly head then, with possible shortages as world production starts to decline. Both this and global warming (mainly in the form of hurricanes) will cause a world crisis. Therefore, our next President will be a Crisis President, and Gore, tuned into these problems, seems ready to fill the bill. 2008 will close this rebuilding period (ages 53-60) in his life, and will start his next life period. Will this be as President? Is he the New Millennium's Redeemer President?

And will the history books of the future read "Greatest Presidents: Washington, Lincoln, F. Roosevelt, and Gore?

One of the things that has been brewing as of late is this dispute as to where Richmond, Virginia should have its ballpark. Right now the team that is playing there is the Richmond Braves, a farm team of the Atlanta Braves. A team has been playing in Richmond since 1954, when the Baltimore Orioles moved into town. The Orioles moved from Baltimore that year because the St Louis Browns moved from St Louis to Baltimore that year, taking the Oriole name and making Baltimore into a major league city. The minor-league Orioles renamed themselves the Richmond Virginians and were probably a farm team of the New York Yankees. In 1964 they left town and became the Toledo Mud Hens. In 1966, the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta. They moved their minor league team, the Atlanta Crackers, to Richmond to become the Richmond Braves. Throughout all this time, the Richmond Virginians and Braves played in Parker Field, an old stadium on Boulevard a little ways north of the Broad Street train station (now the Science Museum of Virginia). The field was adequate, but the ground itself was not the best. It was uneven at times and this resulted in surprise plays at times when the ball took a bad bounce. Eventually the stadium got so much in disrepair that a new one was built in 1985, and the place was renamed The Diamond. I recommended at the time that the team rename itself the Richmond Diamonds, but Atlanta wanted all its farm teams to call themselves the Braves, apparently.

The Diamond was a sparkling new facility, but the Braves still played on Parker Field ground. Balls took bad hops, and players complained about it. Now as of late the Diamond has been needing repair - chunks of it fell last year. Even worse was the flooding of the field; after heavy rains, huge puddles would form on the field. This got so bad in 2004 that the team had to finish the season on the road. Because of this the Atlanta Braves demanded that the team find a new stadium or else the Braves would leave Richmond.

The first alternative that was mentioned was Shockoe Bottom, in July of 2004. The problem with this was that this place was already filled with numerous little shops and local markets, as well as fancy restaurants. A lot of digging up would have to be done, and it would be expensive. Another drawback became evident when Hurricane Gaston hit Richmond on 2004 August 30, causing a huge flood in Shockoe Bottom. It became apparent that if the Braves played here, they might be playing water polo instead at times.

It was suggested in 2005 that the team move to a place on the James River east of the center of Richmond where the Fulton Gas Works used to be. This was a rather tight facility, and it was remote from major thoroughfares such as I-95. At least the Diamond was right off I-95/I-64 near the Bryan Park interchange. And guess what? There is a stream nearby. The players still would be playing in water at times. Some people suggested Cloverleaf Mall, a large indoor mall on the border of the city to the South that has seen better days. Tearl down the mall and build a ballpark? Some think that would be too far from Richmond.

As of late people I have heard and talked with, including the Mayor Doug Wilder, want the Braves to play at the Diamond after all. The idea is that the team play on the same ground, but completely rebuild everything. Perhaps the parking lot would be where the stadium and field are and vice versa. The Atlanta Braves heard about this and they are threatening to take the Braves away. At this point I think they are being too authoritarian. They want all their farm teams to call themselves the Braves, and now they want to dictate the choice of a stadium. Perhaps Richmond would be better off with a different team. But can Richmond get such a club?

There are two other things happening in the minors as of late. The Nashville Sounds (farm of Milwaukee Brewers) are haggling about a new stadium, sort of like Richmond. And the Philadelphia Phillies have said that they will no longer have their farm team in Scranton Wilkes-Barre (home of the Red Barons). They want to get the Ottawa Lynx and relocate the team to Allentown. This supposedly would leave the Baltimore Orioles (parent of the Lynx) with the Red Barons.

One thing that they say is that talk about switching affiliate relationships is forbidden during the season, although teams can renew contracts during the season. At the end of the season, any team that does not want who it is with can declare itself a free agent; the team affiliated with it also becomes a free agent. Therefore, the Lynx, Red Barons, Orioles, and Phillies would all be free agents. This looks like a free-for-all about to happen. If the Atlanta Braves say they don't want the farm in Richmond any more, perhaps Richmond could declare free agency, and maybe in the muddle of free agent teams, they could wind up being the AAA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. This would please a lot of people here; there are lots of Oriole fans in Richmond. Or they could be the Phillies farm team, or the Brewers' if the stadium deal in Nashville falls through. IN the latter case, the Atlanta Braves could wind up with the Nashville team, which is what I think its farm team should have been all along, as it is the closest. One problem with a Richmond team a farm of the Orioles is that the Orioles are poorly managed by Peter Angelos. The Orioles management treated the Rochester Red Wings so badly that the Red Wings kicked the Orioles out and signed with the Minnesota Twins. Maybe Richmond would wind up with the Phillies or Brewers instead.

But it would be a change from the Braves. Further, the controversial nickname would go. What would the new team be called? Orioles, going full circle back to pre-1954? Mockingbirds? Rebels? My recommendation comes from a previous story in Richmond, about how two bears at Maymont Park were recently euthanized because one bit a child. I say call the team the Richmond Bears.

But for this to be happen, Richmond needs to be ready. The city should right now plan to stay at the Diamond, Atlanta Braves, Shockoe or other bottoms or no. It should tear down the entire ballpark immediately after the last out this season and build a new one with a field and a ballpark that has none of the problems of the present one. This will upgrade Richmond's ball field, and will also chase the Braves out of town and perhaps make Richmond a farm team of the Orioles. But for this to happen, action needs to start now. Stay and Build!

I found an interesting article in Slate magazine on the Kentucky Derby, entitled "The Weirdest Two Minutes of Sports: The Misunderstanding of the Kentucky Derby", by Tommy Craggs. In it, he says that the Derby is a hyped-up event which is staged by a bunch of pretender bloaters. Interesting, but all wrong. Mr. Craggs describes NASCAR, not the Kentucky Derby. See Blogtrek, which demonstrates that the action is all at the Kentucky Derby, not at NASCAR.

The biggest thing lately, even more so, it seems, than gas prices and peak oil, is the immigrant revolt that occurred today with demonstrations that involved massive numbers of people. These resulted because Congress passed a low making it a felony to be an illegal immigrant in this country. A lot of Hispanics came out for these protests, with signs reading "No somos criminales ni terrorista!" (We are not criminals or terrorists.) But there were Northern Europeans, Africans, and Asians in the protests as well.

To me such a big display of solidarity and protest means there may be something wrong with what they are protesting. In this case, it is the recent immigrant legislation by the US Government; by the Senate and the House, and by Bush for signing the measure. This posed so much of a threat to immigrants that they took to the streets. And indeed this measure seems to be similar to the Patriot Act of 2001. It takes government powers too far.

So why did they do this, considering that we elected these jokers? It's because we don't think before we vote. We vote for the same guys over and over again, especially in the House. We don't think if they represent us or not. We vote Democratic or Republican and almost never consider other candidates. So we vote for someone that does not represent us, and sure enough, this Congress does something very nonrepresentative to us.

Well guess what? There are elections coming up this November. If immigrants and their friends are not happy with Congress or this legislation, they can petition Congress to repeal it. If they don't, then vote for the other guy, or for an independent. I'd love to see all those incumbents thrown out, and Democrats take over both houses as a result - not the same old tired Democrats over and over again, but new ones, coming from traditionally Republican districts.

So it is good to take to the streets to protest an unwise piece of legislation (which this is). But it is even better to prevent thesse clowns from even making it to Capitol Hill in the first place with an appropriate mark on the ballot this November.