SCUMBAG MILLIONAIRE

As though the O.J. trial was not evidence enough of the disparate perceptions of black Americans and white Americans, the Michael Vick brouhaha here has been a sobering reminder. Where were you when the O.J. verdict was announced? I remember being in a conference room filled with work colleagues who were about evenly divided between white and black associates. And I remember being stunned both by the verdict and by the applause from the blacks in the room.

Tonight, Michael Vick gets his first start as an Eagles quarterback. And there will be marches outside the stadium, but not the sort of protest rally you, or and least I, would have expected. The marchers will be representatives of the NAACP and local black churches and other organizations that support the ex-convict. These are being referred to as "civil rights marches" by the local media and by the marchers themselves.

By what stretch of the imagination does this scumbag millionaire deserve a "civil rights march?" It puts to shame the real civil rights marches in Selma and Chicago and elsewhere that brought together people of all races to protest injustice. These marches are a sham and a disgrace.

WHAT'S TO EAT?

I was devastated when I received an email titled "Avoid Whole Foods." After years of shopping at the woebegone ACME, pronounced in the native Philly "Ack-Ah-Me," I had discovered the wonderful world of organic, expensive food at Whole Foods only a few years ago. Now I was being informed that the Founder-CEO-Crazy Sonovabitch of Whole Foods is a right wing, libertarian nut case. After a bit of research, so it is. I should have known better. All along, I knew the company was headquartered in Dallas, home of the Screwball. I should have known.

John Mackey, an original Screwball, leads the charge against Universal Healthcare, arguing in several op-eds in the Wall Street Journal (where else?) that rationing health care is the American Way. He also has been fighting against unions for umpteen years. So, anyway, do your own research. I am left with nowhere to shop for food, for God's sake.

Oh, you Southerners go ahead and smirk with your Publicks and Piggly-Wigglys, but we have winter and fallow times to deal with up North here. It's not like we can buy our produce year-round at the farm stand, or grow it out back you know?

A Wegman's has opened recently in Cherry Hill and we have a small Trader Joe's uptown, but now I have to investigate their socio-political lineage and all, and, shit, I need eggs!

Once upon a time, I thought all I needed to know was to avoid Walmart.

Life gets complicated.

BASEBALL IS PASTORAL

It has always been true that football is a violent game surrounded by thugs at the professional level. The Eagles have just proven that characteristic by signing Michael Vick, a convicted abuser of animals, specifically dogs.

Many outcries and promises never again to attend or watch an Eagles game have been heard around town today. The Eagles have scheduled a hasty press conference.

The Phillies' second baseman, Chase Utley's wife, Jen Utley, is on the Board of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and both she and Chase have been generous donors to the organization. They have also adopted a rescue dog.

As George Carlin noted, baseball is pastoral. Baseball is played in a "park." Football, on the other hand, is played on a "gridiron." It features the blitz and the bomb to get the ball to pay dirt, while in baseball one runs "home" to score.

The thugs have made the headlines today, but the boys of summer have won our hearts.

Go Phillies.

THIS IS BULLSHIT

And so now we come to the hard place and the rock. Philadelphia, due to its lack of fiscal responsibility under numerous mayors, has had to report to a special commission appointed by the State on all fiscal matters since 1986. One of the requirements of the State (for underwriting City bonds) is that it maintain a balanced budget. The State Senate, controlled by Republicans, has failed to approve the Governor's (a Democrat) budget, which was due to be approved by July 1.

The legislature has passed a special bill to pay State employees, so the State Police cars still roll along the Turnpike. But Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, which are both detested by the militiamen, gun toting NRA slobs, and the crustaceans who occupy the rural center of the State, are dying.

Philadelphia's Mayor, Michael Nutter, has presented his required balanced budget to the powers that be, but it has not been accepted because all financial bills are stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate. The mayor was told that, unless his budget is approved by August 15, he would have to take other measures to reduce the City's expenditures. It is not likely that the City's balanced budget can be approved, since the Senate has adjourned for the summer.

Meanwhile, 3000 city employees, including a friend of ours who moved here from New York to accept a city job last winter, are expected to be laid off next week. At the height of the summer heat, trash collections will be curtailed too. 600 police will be fired and 400 firemen will have to go.

This is civilized? This is not the City of Brotherly Love. This is bullshit.

THE DOG DAYS

They are here, the dog days of August. The temperature is approaching one hundred and the humidity is about the same. Each afternoon brings thunderstorms but no relief. The dogs lie down on the marble floor and pant even though the air conditioning keeps the house at a comfortable 72. They are not pleased with the term "dog days." They are insulted by it and refuse to be amused when such miserable weather is named after their kind. They think "cat house" is hilarious, though.

Crazy things come with the dog days. Here in Philadelphia, the Mayor is preparing to lay off 3000 city employees because the State has refused to pass a budget and the city's finances are closely tied to the State's. Since July 1, State workers have not been paid, nor have any vendors. No budget; no money. The Republican controlled State House of Representatives is about to declare its summer recess and go home. The rest of us just watch, take names and hope we remember them come election time.

Crazy times, these dog days.