The Range of Corruption in Texas

As the conclusion of the 2011 baseball season approaches and the defending American League Champion Texas Rangers appear to be returning to the playoffs, it is time to reflect on the politics and corruption that aids them in this pursuit. In his 2009 tome, “Family of Secrets: the Bush dynasty, the powerful forces that put it in the White House, and what their influence means for America,” Russ Baker details President George W. Bush's involvement with the Rangers and his efforts to effect the construction of Rangers Ballpark.
Bush and his cronies think that the working people of America owe them a financial killing, so he leads the manipulations that build the stadium. The group floats a false story that team may move to Dallas and bullies the citizens of Arlington, Texas into adding a half cent to the local sales tax to raise construction funds. The ballpark and underlying land are turned over to the team, to the enormous benefit of George W. Bush and his co-owners.
The acquisition of the land is on the cheap as part of the liquidation of the Saving and Loan scandal which President George H. W. Bush oversees. They also obtain land via eminent domain with the help of some local movers and shakers, who receive Federal appointments and/or the turning of a blind eye towards criminal activity vis-a-vis the S&L scandal.
These sordid wheelings and dealings help set up Nolan Ryan and the Rangers to make their current run. As the Oakland Athletics maneuver to build a new stadium, the citizens of Oakland and San Jose must be vigilant to the machinations of A's owner, Lew “Boob” Wolff. He is cut from the same cloth as the past ownership of the Texas Rangers.

Beasts of the East Out: ESPN Disappears.

Last Saturday I got off work in time to see the last few innings of the Giants-Phillies NLCS game before I was to leave for a late movie date. I saw the end of the game and some of the post contest hoopla. I was not able to see any highlights and since I missed the first part of the game I was looking forward to viewing them. I got home from the movie late and tuned in the Eastern SPorts Network (ESPN) and since this game had to be top sports story of the day, I figured excerpts would be shown again and again on the network. But, no! All I saw was college football footage. I got up the next day and low and behold all I saw was their NFL pre game show. No NLCS highlights to be found. If the Yankees and Phillies had won their respective championship series then ESPN would have been breaking into their football show with baseball highlights. Maybe if Brett Favre had somehow been the winning pitcher they may have mentioned it. They seem to be fascinated with this guy. The San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers completed magnificent series championships over their eastern rivals and show fans in the east that they are not entitled to the World Series. ESPN did not recognize this and became irrelevant.