Free market fundamentalist

Curt Schilling suckled at the public teat and now blames the state of Rhode Island for his own failure to live up to his obligations:

38 Studios, which was lured to Rhode Island from Massachusetts in 2010 with a $75 million loan guarantee from the EDC, laid off its entire workforce last week, including about 300 employees in Providence and more in Maryland. The state would likely be responsible for some of 38 Studios’ debts should it collapse.

The firm’s financial troubles came to light this month when it defaulted on a $1.1 million payment to the EDC that was due May 1. The company later paid — but only after first delivering a check that it acknowledged soon after would not clear.

I enjoyed his pitching - on the diamond, not when it turned to shilling for products or conservative politicians. Now we can expect many more curt statements in which his ideology and his self-interest trump consistency.

Good for Massachusetts, again. We didn't give into his pressure for a sweetheart deal.

Deserving

Click image for full Dan Wasserman/Boston Globe cartoon.

Plantation mentality

A plantation is a place where crops are planted. Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, yes, did have slavery, as did the entirety of the colonies, including Massachusetts. It's not just my favorite Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, who was a hypocrite on human bondage.

To change a name because someone is ignorantly offended, even a 90-year-old man who has suffered real offenses, would be to accede to the triumph of feelings over reality. Could we just change the name because the long form is no longer useful, instead of from some trumped up word association game?