Same old ...

After a week of racing as it ought to be in Asia, the welcome home email contained links and references to dozens of stories concerning the still-unsettled racing franchise, none more bizarre than a piece published while labeled “opinion” by the New York Sun authored by Austin Shafran, a venomous political consultant retained by Capital Play.

Apparently the editorial columns of the Sun are for sale because the Shafran screed is in reality a political advertisement cloaked in more dignified if entirely made of paper haberdashery. While the New York newspapers have published some ridiculously flawed material on this subject, most of it at least can be traced to either honest ignorance or lazy reportage. The Sun portraying this as unbiased opinion is patently dishonest.

The air in Hong Kong is not exactly pristine but insofar as racing is concerned it is at least free of the political flatulence that pollutes Albany.

Joe Bruno, the singular reason that no settlement has been reached in the legislature on the franchise question, continues to cling tenaciously to his absurd and delusional position. If racing is suspended on New Year’s Day, Bruno, who has no interest other than his own and is flirting recklessly with the fate of tens of thousands who stand to lose their livelihoods because the Republican blunderbuss in Albany fails to accept what has become inevitable. We have gone well past the point at which the headline “Bruno blasts NYRA” is news but rather a symptom of dementia.

The only sensible statement uttered by Bruno in the last six months is a call of daily meetings to settle the matter. Actually, someone should lock these people in a room until they emerge with an agreement. The simple fact of the matter is this: NYRA is the only player left in the game. Start there and work backward.

And while we’re on the subject of career politicians, though the following is somewhat off topic it applies to horseplayers, who are accustomed to multiple levels of redundant taxation and comes courtesy of NYRA’s Fran LaBelle.


The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the "politicians" spending YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean?

Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528.

Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787.

Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington, D.C. HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken?

This applies also to Albany.