Not that I pay much attention to baseball, but Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay threw only the second no-hitter in playoff history last night against the Cincinnati Reds. Not that this should really count as the playoffs, of course. Back in the day, you could kinda justify the ridiculously long baseball season (162 games), because only the top four teams (two from each league) would make the playoffs. But now there are all kinds of divisions and wildcard teams and whatnot. Oh, it’s not as bad as the NBA or NHL, of course, where 82 game seasons serve to eliminate, like, two teams, but still. Anyhow, throwing a no-hitter (and, if I can read a box score – which isn’t certain – being one walk away from a perfect game) is big news at any time of the season, let alone the playoffs. Yes, it’s true. Baseball is the kinda game where the less action there is, the more exciting the game is considered.

In other news, more bad tidings for Uncle Carl Paladino. Not that an endorsement by the Onondaga Country Executive is gonna make or break the Governor’s race, but our Republican CE endorsed Democrat Andy Cuomo yesterday. Local teabaggers are, predictably, incensed. Poor teabaggers. The more people get to know Carl Paladino, the more they think he’s nuts. And it appears that Cuomo’s lead is increasing – back to double-digits. Not that I’m exactly thrilled at the prospect of Uncle Andy being Governor either, but Crazy Carl would be a disaster (though it would probably make for a pretty entertaining 4 years), but a double-digit lead means I can safely vote for Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins.

Speaking of teabaggers and nuts (can’t have one without the other, I guess – in more ways that one), Rand Paul is more or less standing by his statement that there ought to be a $2,000 deductible on Medicare. In fact, he says everybody 55 and under ought to pay that deductible. Good for you, Rand, that ought to…. Hey, wait a minute. I’m under 55.

Keep you dirty hands off my Medicare, asshole!

Speaking of health care related stuff, “Obamacare” is kicking in big time. Now, many of us thought that the version of HCR that passed was pretty lame and insufficient, but, hell, at least it was something, right? And something Obama can be proud of. Not proud enough to actually allow being put into place, though.

…Obama administration officials put into place the first major wave of changes under the health care legislation…by granting dozens of waivers to maintain even minimal coverage far below the new law’s standards.
[…]
Among those that administration officials hoped to mollify with waivers were some big insurers, some smaller employers and McDonald’s, which went so far as to warn that the regulations could force it to strip workers of existing coverage.
[…]
Several leading insurers, including WellPoint, Aetna and Cigna, have also objected to new rules requiring them to cover even those children who are seriously ill, warning that they will stop selling new policies in some states because the rules do not protect them from having to cover too many sick children.

Sounds great. Let me be the first to tip my hat to Max Baucus, Rahm Emanuel, the President, and everybody else who made reform possible. Bravo, gentlemen.

Fortunately, my health insurance remains the same (so far), so I really don’t care.

Speaking of me, due to some issues that the sellers need to address, it looks like we won’t be closing on the new place until the end of next week at the earliest (and maybe not ’til the week after). If this was, say, June, I really wouldn’t care. But I need to put up about 600 feet of fencing, fix two chimneys, install a pellet stove (or two), and do some other outdoor-related activities (not to mention just plain moving a lot of shit), and the weather can get nasty at just about any time now around here. I recall trick-or-treating in the snow on more than one occasion, and an Election Day blizzard or two.

Of course, it could also stay nice and warm right through ’til Christmas. You just never know, and I’d really like to get a start on the outside stuff. And being up on the roof working on the chimney is really no fun in the cold rain and snow.