Excuse me!

Well, I am never surprised anymore at events in life.

Hockey:

Well, our pampered sports jocks and Private Club Owners have done it. Their greed and attempts to wring every last nickel from the fans reached a new low. They would rather strike for more money than to "play the game." When I hear or see any jock stand there and say, "they play for the love of the game", I say hogwash. If the money weren’t there, they would be working somewhere else. The real lovers of the game, fans excluded, have died a couple of generations ago. This is our "Union's" at their finest and in their element as they strive to follow their agenda, "soak the fan." What is sadder is the fans will stream in once again when the doors reopen and dig deeper into their pockets so that the owners and jocks can squabble on who gets the lion share of the dollars.

How would I structure it? First cap all salary's, owners, coaches and jocks, at a realistic level. Yes, include the owner and coaches in the cap; they impact the game as much as the jocks. They would get a salary plus bonuses for performance goals. It boils down to, if you are as good as you think you are, and then the bonuses will make you earn more than the average players. Making it a performance plan eliminates all those Agents who negotiate millions for their pockets based on the jocks name or one good year. Drop all ticket prices to a level that pays the salaries and expenses plus a reasonable rainy day fund. Make the ticket price family friendly so it becomes a family event where they can go without taking out a second mortgage just to do it one time a season. All facilities will be purchased, built and maintained by the Franchise. No more Public tax money to support something that is designed to suck every dollar out of the city and the fan. Where does the facility money come from, well, it comes from the savings you get by not paying exorbitant salaries. $20 - $40 million savings per player goes a long way towards helping with expenses.

Does anyone really need millions a year? In most cases, and there are a few good exceptions, these jocks die broke or almost penniless as they are sucked dry by agents, get-rich schemes, and a horde of lazy relatives seeking a free ride of their relatives legs. If they aren't sucked dry then they drink it, shoot it, snort it or waste it in some pleasure palace. Look at some of these teams, their roster looks like a police station blotter with all the problems they have had. These criminals's, excuse me, jocks are to be the next sports idol? Do I want to pattern my life after them? I personally believe my son or daughter could do better.

Will this happen. I wasn't born yesterday. The greed of the owners, coaches, and jocks will blind them to committing any act of decency or showing the smallest iota of care to the fan. The sports agents, family members who live off the jock, and anyone else along for the free ride will urge the parties to hold their ground and for their perverted version of "for the love of the game" .... NOT TO PLAY in order to get what they want.

DC General Hospital:

Not long ago they bankrupted this hospital and shut it down. This was against the wishes and hopes of the many people who relied upon it for medical care. I won't even address the issue of the missing millions that could have saved it. Hopefully some Grand Jury will find out the truth and square the record. Something about it was losing too much money because of the large share of welfare cases. According to them, welfare doesn't pay enough to make them a profit. Well, DUH ... medicine is a profession of love and caring. If profit is your motive then go to the sports world, they rake the millions in. Anyway, now they are going to tear the place down and rebuild a better, newer hospital that caters to an upscale clientele.. translated ... people with big health plans. Well, excuse me but the area is still at last check populated by those you call "welfare cases." The clientele that has that money don't live there or desire to commute there to get any health care. So you are right back to where you started. Who benefits ... the mayor and all his contractor friends that get paid for building the place? Once they build it, get paid for it, they could care less who gets cared for or how they pay for it. So what should they do ... take part of what they want to invest in the new hospital, reopen DC General, and give it a chance to succeed by not stealing it funds for other pet projects such as sports stadiums or government buildings.

DC Voting:

I, for one, would vote against you getting voting rights. From what I have seen since 1990, it would be like giving a kid a loaded gun. Oops, you do that anyway .. no wonder the murder rate is so high in the DC area. The Government has to keep bailing the city out before it goes bankrupt, so it shouldn't surprise me they bankrupted DC general. Why the mayor can't even stay home and do his job. It is more important for him to gallivant all over the world even in times of crisis. Not to mention the thousands of dollars wasted on his "vacations." You would rather be run by mafia wannabes than people with a true love for the city. You have a penchant to fire and slander those who speak up against the fraud, waste, and abuse in your city. So wake up DC.

Catholic Church:

How much longer until you wake up and admit you are infested with child abusers? Change the church laws or something, but quit playing osterich and denying this fact. It seems like every night there is some newscast telling of a priest's conviction. You point your fingers at others for sinning and breaking God's commandments. Well, what do YOU think you are doing? Please, God, have mercy on your soul is all I can say.

Mormon Church:

I was really surprised after watching the History Channel's presentation of the "Mountain Meadow Massacre of 1857." I see your TV ads now and can only wonder who you are luring to a similar fate. My channel will change when your ads come on.