When the mainstream media shines

Okay, NY Times, this is why we let you live: Check out this impressive team-reported investigative piece on a shady situation with Long Island Railroad retirees and their disability claims. The reporters and researchers involved heard about a strange situation (an anomalous number of former LIRR employees going for occupational disability payouts -- your tax dollars, even if you're not in NYC) and dug in, talking to employees and management at the LIRR, union officials, industry experts, medical folk, people on an obscure government agency called the Railroad Retirement Board, and the lady who's in charge of those free state-park golf-course passes for disabled folk. They do the legwork, they lay out the evidence, they make a very good case for the system needing fixing. Beautiful work.

We are all New York Yankees

(Yeah, BoSox fans, go cry for a few sentences.) They shone, they stunk, they rocked, they made you want to cauterize every damn brain cell that holds the baseball stuff: They will still be the Yankees next year, I reckon, but they're not ever again going to be the Yankees of Yankee Stadium. Last time I was there I dropped $20 of beer on some poor bastard after slipping on the upper-deck steps; it's a fond memory of baseball's cathedral -- which, like most medieval buildings, is more pleasant to contemplate from the outside. Moving on. (Okay, Boston fans, you're safe to start reading again...)

Money talks and sings

I'm ashamed to say that I had to be sent this clip from The Stranger, our local weekly, by someone 3500 miles away. I'm a wretch. Please accept the clipping itself as my apology, with great thanks to whoever AFT keeved it from in the first place:

Fly-by crazy is fun to watch, but...

...it takes a bit of time to clean up after the droppings. Until the flock flaps away (if you've been watching the DFW thread, you know what I'm talking about), comments will be moderated before they post. Sorry for the inconvenience, sane members of the congregation! As we've learned from other venues, the skies will clear again soon.