Now I feel safe!

Sonia Pitt was a  MnDOT executive in charge of emergency response.  Last August, when the 35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, she was on  an unauthorized state paid trip to Washington D.C.  When she heard about the collapse, though her job was to oversee emergency operations, she chose stay in D. C. for another 10 days before returning to Minnesota while search crews continued to look for the bodies of the 13 people who died in the collapse.  Later in the year, for these actions, she was fired.  Her termination letter states that "she engaged in activities that violated MnDOT's ethics code and was involved in 'activities that cannot withstand public scrutiny without embarrassment. ... do not safeguard the public trust in the integrity of MnDOT, and undermine public trust in the Department.'" (from the Minneapolis StarTribune)

Now, as a reward for this violation of the public's trust, she's been awarded a nice job at Homeland Security in the Transportation Safety Administration.

What is wrong with our society that we continue to reward assholes, incompetents, and the lazy with brand-new jobs doing the same thing they failed at so horribly?  If there were any justice in this world, Sonia Pitt would be flipping burgers at some fast food chain, asking customers, "you want fries with that," while bragging to any and all who would listen that she "used to be somebody."

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

I swear that Minneapolis Public Schools has a screening process that ensures only the dumbest candidates ever get to interview for school receptionist.

Manny traded to Dodgers

It looks like the Manny era has officially ended.  He heads to L. A., home of other Boston cast-offs such as Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Lowe, and Bill Mueller (who, if I remember, has a job in the front office) and former home to Grady Little who was replaced by Manny's new skipper, Joe Torre.  It'll be interesting how Torre handles Manny's frequent walks down the first base line where he turns sure doubles into singles and sometimes outs, or when he sometimes decides it's really not even worth the effort to do that and instead turns to the dugout before the out is even recorded.

I've really enjoyed Manny's time in Boston (and I don't think the team wins either of their last two titles without him) and, in the past, I've tried to overlook his shortcomings and his distractions.  However, these past few weeks, he's been so distracting between his refusal to play (with a bad knee or watching three called strikes in a row when called on to pinch hit) and his declarations that the Red Sox "don't deserve him" that there really was no other solution than to ship him out of Boston.    It's unfortunate.  The Boston fans gave him free passes for his sometimes odd-behavior during the entire eight year tenure and collectively rolled their eyes at his semi-yearly demands to be traded.  Regardless of his behavior on or off the field, the fans rolled with it and gave him standing ovations like the time he came out of the dugout to pinch hit three years ago after the trading deadline passed and his latest "trade-me" demand was not met.

I'll miss some of the crazy stuff he did like the phone call from the wall (and the rumored bathroom break), the high five with a fan from earlier this year in between catching a ball and throwing it in, and even the absolutely head scratching stuff like cutting off Johnny Damon's throw into the infield in 2004 (I still laugh when I see that one).  Unfortunately, though, it was time for him to go.