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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (5551)	8/30/2002 3:57:27 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Not A Drop To Drink Forget oil -- an expert on the world's water supply talks about the vital substance we will hoard, ration and probably go to war for in the near future. By Suzy Hansen salon.com

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (5551)	8/31/2002 3:36:10 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Baseball Without Metaphor By DAVID GRANN New York Times Magazine September 1, 2002 <<...One night last fall Barry Bonds, the demon of America's pastime, caught a glimpse of his own redemption. The player who had been called a ''prima donna,'' a ''phony,'' ''overrated,'' ''a cancer'' and a ''spiritual drain on baseball'' was about to do what no one had ever done. He was having the greatest season in the history of the game, and now the 37-year-old San Francisco Giant was on the verge of breaking the single-season home-run record set by Mark McGwire only three years earlier -- and finally, as he had always vowed, ''melt'' his critics' pens...>> complete story at... nytimes.com

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (5551)	8/31/2002 3:39:17 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Baseball Comes to Its Senses Lead Editorial The New York Times August 31, 2002 So there will be a World Series after all. In the end, baseball players and owners did the smart thing, reaching a contract agreement without a strike. Yesterday's tentative four-year deal testified to both sides' willingness to compromise. It also reflected a shared recognition that a strike could have been truly damaging to baseball's health. It took five years for attendance to climb back to pre-strike levels after the 234-day work stoppage that wiped out the 1994 playoffs and World Series. A strike now, with ordinary fans rapidly losing patience with owners and players alike, would have been much harder to recover from. These fears were not in evidence at yesterday's chummy news conference announcing the agreement, which needs final ratification. But the players had no illusions. "It came down to us playing baseball or having our reputations ripped by the fans," observed Steve Kline, the St. Louis Cardinals player representative. Beyond that, there was no overarching principle at issue in these negotiations. The players were not being asked to relinquish any of the hard-won bargaining rights that have propelled average salaries from $51,501 in 1976 — the last year before players were allowed to bargain on the open market — to $2.3 million today. They were, however, being asked to help bring competitive balance to the leagues by agreeing to two proposals that would transfer money from rich teams to poorer teams and, at the same time, put a damper on the ability of big-market owners to bid for all the top talent. One would transfer a certain percentage of local revenue (local TV and gate receipts), the other would impose a "luxury" tax on team payrolls above a given figure. The players accepted both proposals, at levels lower than the owners wanted but higher than anything the players had agreed to before. By one estimate the contract could eventually transfer more than $300 million annually from rich teams to poorer teams. Will this ensure competitive balance? As every Mets fan knows, money offers no protection against dumb personnel decisions by owners and general managers. And poor teams with a sharp eye for talent like the Minnesota Twins have been known to field respectable clubs. But over the last decade the rich teams have been getting richer, and the poor poorer, in just about every respect. This agreement should help rectify that. nytimes.com