Summer In The Cities

I am Royally ticked at the baseball club they have in Kansas City.

Single game tickets went on sale Saturday and the price to see the New York Yankees nearly tripled!

Two years ago I paid $14 for outfield-field level seats.

The price this year for those same tickets jumped to $40.

I know it's the Yankees, prices are $4 to $6 a ticket more than other teams.

I understand you've renovated your stadium, but there is a recession on and as Marshall Lucky says in Used Cars...

"That's too fuckin' high!"

The St. Louis Cardinals put some of their single game tickets at deep discounts because of the economic downturn.

The other team from Missouri has won a World Series more recently than 1985 and has a fairly new stadium, not just a remodeling.

The Royals are only hurting themselves, the only time they get major league attendance is when the Yankees come to town and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Therefore, my friend Cal (Freedom's Pal) and I will be traveling north to Minnesota to watch the Twins play the Yankees in their final season at the Hubert Horatio Hornblower...Humphrey Metrodome (aka HomerDome).

Outfield ticket prices, even with what the Twins call a "premium game", are $11 and only $3 more than what they consider a "value" game.

Maybe it's the beginning of a new tradition and definitely a connection to my past when my dad used to take my mom to the Met for Yankees/Twins baseball.

Mini Soda Oh Fer Oh Nine

People that had been there told my friend Cal (Freedom's pal) and I that we would hate the "Hubert Horatio Hornblower...Humphrey!" Metrodome.

We didn't and the scientific community is united in that fact.

That being said, it was annoying not to be able to see right field and most of center from the cheap seats at upper gate C.

The echo of the sound system is atrocious and overall the stadium is better suited for football.

We did find the fans were much less foul mouthed and obnoxious than those in Kansas City.

The light rail you can take for a $4 round trip beat driving downtown and paying parking.

It does need tweaking though because too many people don't pay and after big events they need more cars, more often.

The Yankees swept the Twinkies in this three game series, in addition to the four they took from them in New York in May.

Tuesday, CC Sabathia threw a three hitter through seven and the Yankees posted a 10-2 win before 29,540.

A-Rod got robbed of a grand slam by Twins Center Fielder Carlos Gomez who made a great catch over the 408 sign.

Wednesday night AJ Burnett struggled at times giving up two runs on seven hits and Mariano Rivera saved the Yankees 4-3 win before 38,115.

Thursday afternoon was a melange of bullpen pitchers who seemed to want to give the win away, but Rivera again preserved a 6-4 victory before 40,142.

Mark Teixeira hit the only Yankees home run of the series in the fifth inning.

I think I'd like to go back next year and see what it's like at the soon to be Target Field, although I'm sure the $11 tickets will be nevermore.

It was nice to come home with the Yankees now tied for first in the American League East.

In an unrelated sports note, a Twin Cities TV station reported that Brett Favre had put down a deposit on a condo in Edina.

Favre a Viking? That's effin' Goofy!

Not ready for prime time

Proof that The Al Stuart Franken decade is over.

2008 has not been his year and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Having had to pay over $25,000 in fines to New York City.

Franken is now forking over $70,000 in back taxes and penalties owed in 17 states, going back to 2003.

And that's not...okay!

The author of 'Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them' has said previously...

"...I'm still a Hubert Humphrey Democrat -- someone who believes in afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted."

Franken is trying to inflict himself on Minnesotans as their next U.S. Senator.

Franken can't figure out what the fuss is about...

"Franni and I believe in paying state and federal taxes on all our income."

Franken will soon apply for a credit on taxes overpaid in New York and Minnesota.

Fiberals don't believe in paying their fair share, they just want to soak everybody else.

Hubert Horatio Hornblower-Humphrey is probably spinning in his grave.

I Just Want To Celebrate

The news is full of Earth Day activities, most of which don't take place on this day.

Friday Central Iowa held a Trash Bash and it was a good thing that the sun was shining on that day because rain would delay it 3 days.

There's some commitment to Mother Earth for you and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Valley Junction is holding Earth Day in the Junction 5K Run Walk, be sure to click for driving directions.


Eastern Iowa chose to kick off their Earth Week Fair yesterday, with three special workshops appropriate for adults, children, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

That's an interesting breakdown.

One of the workshops is called “Get Geocaching!” and geocaching expert John Morgan gave the basics of the treasure-hunting game that’s played using GPS devices.

It looks like cars are required as simple caches are often called "drive-bys," or "park 'n grabs".

Another workshop was “What on Earth? Climate Change & Severe Weather Safety”.

This premise is completely wrong as “There is medium evidence and high agreement that long-term trends in normalized [property] losses have not been attributed to natural or anthropogenic climate change.” 

The Big Lug Nut was brought back into the news with a story on one of his pet projects, the Iowa Power Fund.

The BLN  called the program to support renewable energy research and development a resounding success by pointing to an algae production plant.

Algae? Isn't that President Obama's fuel of the future?

According to the BLN, the $4 million from the fund will grow substitutes for fish oil and proteins for feedstock.

Where's the power come into being?

Other Power Fund highlights(?) include, One company accidentally wasted most of its $1 million grant ordering equipment from an out-of-state supplier that went bankrupt and $2.8 million was spent studying a proposal to store wind energy that was later determined not to be feasible.

Don't forget the $19,000 given to Consumer Energy to study a plug-in hybrid electric car owned by Consumer Energy.

Results of the nearly two years of study found the plug-in battery used in the vehicle does not work well in the cold.

At the Statehouse two state senators got into a heated discussion about climate change, with Dummycrat Rob Boss Hogg playing the part of Al Gore -- “‘Scientists, including those representing 28 Iowa colleges and universities who recently released a statement, have warned us that changes in global climate patterns are brining more extreme weather events to Iowa, the United States and our world.’”

To which Republican Senator David Johnson responded -- “I’m on the side of the scientists I served with in Antartica and Greenland and I’m the only member of this body that has done that. And there is no agreement in the scientific community, no consensus that things have really changed because change happens.”

Johnson schooled the lawyer, who earned a master's degree in energy policy from the Hubert Horatio Hornblower...Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs.

Speaking of schooling, second grade students at Sunset Heights Elementary School in Webster City, and their teacher, will be on a Shower Strike this week.

They're promising to not take a shower or a bath until we’ve raised a thousand dollars to help build a well for a school in Kenya.

Here's hoping the winds blow out of the South until then.