How to win a World Series

Just my thoughts on how you can buy a world series:

For instance, lets look at game 4, the Yankees started the highest paid pitcher in baseball (CC Sabathia),ended it with the highest – paid closer (Rivera), jumped in front with a run by the highest-paid shortstop (Jeter) and put the game away, with salt in the wound,  in the ninth when the highest – paid catcher (Posada) drove in the highest-paid first baseman (Teixeira) and baseball’s highest-paid player (Rodriguez) Nice to have unlimited funds to bring back a Dynasty.

What’s Next? In the Healthcare debate follow the Money

With the passage of the Senate Finance bill the health care effort now moves to a critical stage with the Senate Majority Leader and the House Speaker now clearly in charge.

The more important effort will be Reid’s. Pelosi’s final product will be more predictable (very liberal) but Reid’s will have to be more practical. Every inch Reid moves away from the more moderate Baucus bill will cause problems.

The big issue is going to be money—just whose taxes are going to get raised to the tune of $500 billion to pay for it.

The Senate Finance bill has the $211 billion “Cadillac” benefits tax. Dead on arrival. No way the party that put the unions ahead of the Chrysler bondholders is going to cross their traditional allies on this one. The $40 billion tax on medical device makers is also under pressure and likely to at least shrink.

And, don’t think the insurance underwriting reform issue is behind us. That one is just beginning and it will create its own pressure to increase the cost of any bill by improving insurance subsidies so an individual mandate is workable.

The Finance bill also ignores the Medicare physician payment problem. Don’t fix that and you risk alienating the docs. The House did fix it and it cost them $240 billion they still haven’t found the money for.

The Senate Finance bill minus the “Cadillac” tax, fewer medical device taxes, the imperative to improve the subsidies, and in need of a doc fix has about a $500 billion hole in it.

The House solves that problem with a $500 billion tax on “millionaires”—defined as families making more than $500,000 a year. But lots of Democratic Senators think that is really just a tax on small business and job creators.

The Dems would have no chance holding Olympia Snowe's vote with a tax on small business given that the Maine Senator has a well deserved reputation for being one of the Senate's strongest advocates for them.

If the House tax could have passed the Senate yesterday afternoon Baucus would have had it in his bill rather than the “Cadillac” tax placeholder he did have.

Bottom line: The Democrats have to figure out a way to get 60 Senators to vote for a tax scheme that will raise at least $500 billion.

The public option, employer mandates, a turbo-charged MedPAC? These are not the biggest issues. The White House will take any deal they can get and will quickly pressure liberals to back off wherever necessary.

The biggest issue they face by far is just whose taxes are going to get raised $500 billion. This is the make or break issue.

Free Breakfast on Mel's for helping kids

FREE Breakfast for a Donation to Helping Kids With Cancer Have a Fighting Chance

This Friday October 09, 2009 Mel's Diners will serve a "FREE" breakfast for a donation to Helping Kids with Cancer from 6:30 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.  We are asking for a minimum $5 donation but encouraging people to give generously. The breakfast will consist of two eggs, two pieces of bacon, hash browns, and two pancakes with their choice of bottomless coffee or a glass of orange juice.

There is also a silent auction for dinner for two every month for a year.  Please ask at the counter for the bid sheet.  The highest bidder making a tax deductible donation will receive $300 in gift certificates.

Helping Kids with Cancer provides an opportunity to rally our communities in support of this important cause.  Children, ranging in age from infants to age 19 are being treated in the seven county region of SW Florida: Lee, Collier, Glades, Hendry, Desoto, Charlotte and Manatee/Sarasota at The Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida. Before the establishment of the outpatient center, children with cancer or other blood disorders would have to travel all the way to Miami or Tampa for treatment. Currently, plans are underway to build a 12-bed pediatric inpatient unit. Children requiring hospitalization while undergoing chemotherapy cannot risk exposure to common cold germs due to their compromised immune systems.  A unit designed specifically to meet their unique requirements allows children to be treated
in a healing environment, with a child friendly staff and standards. No child is denied treatment as a result of their family's inability to pay.

 Thank you for your support.

New iphone apps

Fashion tips from a guy who knows Sh*t about fashion

Before I begin, I should warn you that I know sh#t about fashion. It's not just a clever title to get your attention, though it's admittedly clever (I'm honest enough to admit when something is brilliant, even when it's my own writing).

You shouldn't read this article if you're a person with low self-esteem. I don't need my inbox filled with emails from teary-eyed people reaffirming how astute my observations are by shrieking at me for ruining their lives.

Some people get away with murder in our society, especially when it comes to the visual pollution they call fashion. So I'm going to do what few people, few Dumbasses like me have ever done by criticizing you. Sure, you may be thinking "but Bob, people criticize fashion all the time!" Yes, but not guys like me, and definitely not dumbasses like me....Until now.

Crocs look like crap and they make your feet smell.

When I see people wearing Crocs, I know immediately that we have nothing in common, and that we could never be friends or have any meaningful kind of relationship. They come in every color imaginable yet look bad with every other article of clothing ever created. The only thing that goes with Crocs is social ostracism.

To their credit though, Crocs serve as an excellent idiot barometer; you can tell a lot about people wearing them. For example, Amazon.com suggests products that other customers have purchased based on the item you're shopping for. Here are the suggestions for Crocs:

• ·       Pabst Blue Ribbon “Light” (12 pack of course)
• ·       Cheesey Corn Dogs (Frozen, 12 pack, see above)
• ·       Giant Hollywood sunglasses with Fake jewels
• ·       Dale Earnhardt NASCAR duffle bag
• ·       Sizzler gift card
• ·       Truck balls (I am not kidding!)
• ·       CD/ Single “Plain white T’s” “Hey there Delilah”

When it comes to shoes, there are usually three deciding factors: quality, price, and style. Some shoes are cheap and stylish, but poor quality, while others are stylish and durable, but expensive. Crocs usually go for $30-$60, which doesn't sound like much for a shoe, until you consider that what you're really paying for are melted pellets squirted into a cast-iron mold in some province in China. Crocs have the rare combination of being expensive, poor quality, and ugly. It's quite a feat for one shoe to suck this bad.

People who wear Crocs go on and on about how comfortable they are, and how it's supposedly odor resistant because it's made out of some kind of anti-bacterial foam. Great point, dipshits! You know what else it's resistant to? You getting invited to party at my house. Then as if the shoes weren't disgusting enough, Crocs introduced a product called "Crocs butter" that's supposed to restore that illustrious injection-molded sheen to those gaping holes they call shoes:

You know that feeling you get when you're full and slightly nauseous and you burp and you can taste the partly digested food in the back of your throat? There isn't a word in the English language to succinctly describe it, but I will hereby refer to it as: croc-butter.

Peace and bacon grease!