.....or that you can wear expensive, gaudy flowery shirts without the fashion police coming to get you.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Pete!

Bob F;

Easy there. I think Pete is a regular fashion plate. I've got a few of those kinds of shirts myself.

Agree. I'm also thankful we finally have someone like MacPhail running the Orioles. The Hinckley signing will draw ridicule from some who are just tired of losing. I get that, but minor moves are very necessary too, and MacPhail has done a pretty nice job making the small moves, the bigger ones, and a bunch of other things as well. I'm not saying he's above criticism. I'm not saying he hasn't made me nervous as a fan. But while we sit around the hot stove debating hypothetical plans of action, I'm thankful it's Andy making the moves and not any of us! Happy Thanksgiving.

Pete,

I didn't realize there were Anti-Birthers, until I saw those crazy reactions to your post. Personally, I think it's just not even an issue. It's ridiculous. It's a shame that people on both sides react in such a fashion. (FYI - I'm a registered Dem, but really I'm a Socialist who's just too lazy to change my registration.)

And the joke was funny. It seemed more directed at Roch and his questionable age than anything else. But people on both sides tend to get pissed off at the littlest thing and will nit-pick and twist it into some crazy argument. F--- 'em.

And on baseball (finally) --- I don't think I weighed in earlier, but I like Delgado for 1B/DH. The only problem is I like him more for the DH, with mostly Aubrey at 1B. But for that to happen, Scott has to move somewhere. I think he'd be good in Atlanta or Kansas City (he'd be cheaper and more productive than DeJesus). Maybe we could trade him to Atlanta for hard throwing AAA reliever Craig Kimbrel (a possible future closer). Or maybe Kansas City would be willing to give up high-A lefty starter Danny Duffy (seems like a guy similar to Britton and who wouldn't want 2 Brittons?). Both of those guys are middle top 10 prospects in each organization, so for them, it wouldn't be like they were giving up too much for Luke, but for us, we'd be getting a solid guy in return.

God Bless America!!

I'm a Canadian so I am thankful we have a good public medical care system (in spite of what some of your politicians say) and don't have to go through (what looks like to us) the absurdity you are going through to get what will probably turn out to be, at best, a half-assed system. I am also thankful for Americans who were helpful and friendly when I toured the Orioles farm teams last summer indulging in the best thing America ever created -- baseball. Oh, and you sure do make great highways!

Don -

Glad you don't believe it when Sean Hannity talks about how the U.S. has the "greatest, best, most awesomest, free-est, coolest, greatest best health care system in the world".

I think he might actually be paying Republican Congressmen to agree with him...

I am all for you making whatever joke you like - just be aware that political jokes on hotbutton issues bring out the loonies. I'm not pissed about you joke...I am pissed about all the damn political comments....like this one! What a waste of electrons!

(Happy Thanksgiving to you & yours!)

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Pete's reply: Don't be pissed. The great thing about a blog is that today's conversation will be long forgotten tomorrow. I was just surprised that such a tiny joke (I mean, it was just an offhand comment and it really wasn't intended to be partisan) could generate such a wide-ranging response.

not brooks:

Not being an American, I wouldn't dream of telling you folks what to do with your health care. What I can speak authoritatively about is Canada's health care, from first hand experience up close and personal.

Trust me on this, you will be making a very bad mistake if you should ultimately choose to imitate us. If you don't believe me, google Chaoulli vs Regina in which our Supreme Court ruled in favour of the plaintive, essentially agreeing that our system was deteriorating to a pile of crap in which people are dying on waiting lists. They didn't infer that but said so in direct blunt words. Does it get any worse than that.

If that isn't enough to convince you, ask yourself why thousands and thousands of Canadians cross the border every year into the US to get care they can't get here in a timely manner, and why there is no lineup of Americans trying to get in here.

If that doesn't make an impression on you, nothing will.

Bob C....Thanks for weighing in on the subject.....just to echo your comments....I had to put my computer in the shop for repairs.....the technician I was talking to was from Canada so I asked him about the health care system there and he pretty much said the same thing....that we would regret it forever if we go with government run health care

So, just to recap, our health care options are as follows:

Die because you're still on a waiting list or die because your HMO or other insurance (if you can even afford it) won't cover your needed care.

Great!

BTW, my wife works for a company that handles work comp and she said that the Orioles have the best medical staff and care in Major League Baseball. Go O's!

Pete--Have a peaceful, relaxing Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving Pete, and thanks for the gift of your blog to the fans. Your regular group of posters are knowledgeable, focused and intense and I enjoy reading them all. It is a wise and diverse group.

I try to stay out of the political stuff and am quite content ripping Peter Angelos and his family of ambulance chasers on a regular basis. Or Andy Macphail, who has invented the closest thing to perpetual motion which is otherwise known as "rebuilding" Andy has this scam down pat and will slip out of town in a couple of years a rich man...and the Orioles will still be last.

I wish you hadn't started the birth certificate thing though. I had a flood in the basement where I kept a lot of documents and my birth certificate was ruined. I took a day off today and drove down to Balamer to try to get another birth certificate and all they gave me was a copy. They claimed it was "certified". I want the original. Hell, I could be Bob Dole for all I know.

Bob C....Thanks for weighing in on the subject.....just to echo your comments....I had to put my computer in the shop for repairs.....the technician I was talking to was from Canada so I asked him about the health care system there and he pretty much said the same thing....that we would regret it forever if we go with government run health care

scot,

Either your echo has an echo, or that was one crappy repairman.

ocean city scot:

To show you the absurdity of Canada's health care system, consider the following.

If you are sick and require an MRI, you will be on a waiting list of anywhere from 3 to 6 months. If you have, say, an agressive brain tumor, you may well be dead before getting one done, or the cancer is so far advanced by then that there is no longer anything that can be done for you.

You cannot go anywhere else, except the US, and pay for it because anyone who did that for you in Canada would be breaking the law. That's why plenty of Canadian doctors advise patients who have critical problems to hop the border down to Buffalo to get one done.

Now the absurd part. If however you have a sick dog, private clinics have opened to serve the pet market that will give Fido his MRI within a couple of days as long as you're willing to pay the 600-800 dollars.

So, in Canada, you can pay to get care for Fido, but you can't if it is Granny. That just about says it all.

Pete, thanks for the blog. I think you should start a political blog. As much as I would love to weigh in on the health-care debate, I will look for a more appropriate forum. Thanks for keeping us Oriole fans informed on the goings on with the team.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

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Pete's reply: And to you, too. I don't know how one little joke on a separate subject snowballed into a raging debate on health care reform, but it shows that the people on the blog are interested in -- and passionate about -- a lot of different things. Nothing wrong with that.

Maybe we can all agree to disagree...and not talk about it in a sports blog. I admit, I was upset by your birther comment, but I've gotten over it.

Fact is, you've just started a debate about healthcare...

Not necessarily conscious, I realize that. But this just shows you how dumb it is to bring any sort of politics into a sports blog.

I just hope you'll see that next time.

Have a great Thanksgiving :)

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Pete's reply: I realize the consequences of making even a minor political joke, but I don't necessarily think a little dust-up once in awhile is such a bad thing. If there had been anything new and interesting abouit the O's or Ravens when I wrote the original post, I probably wouldn't have gone there. But I did say on the very first day of the blog, and in my bio, that I reserve the right to go afield once in awhile. Doesn't happen all that often, but it's interesting to see who's reading and what those people think on other subjects. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

If you MUST know, the big hullaballo hiding The Great 0's mixed-race origin has to do with who his FATHER IS. He's WHITE, former "Master Spy" East German STASI General Markus Wolf, and his mother is an Indonesian black.
I should know, Wolf is my bio-father, as well. We have more half-siblings, all of us bred to be "Manchurian Candidates," and run and groomed from birth on.
Yes, there is past NAZI influence in this, especially from an SS Concentration Camp Doctor, Aribert Heim.
See our "Family Photos" at my website.
www.rickhyatt.freeservers.com

Gee, thanks, Rick. Most of us were under the misimpression that Obama's father was a black Muslim from Indonesia, and his mother was a white American. Thanks for straightening us all out.

Unfortunately for many the pics posted on the internet by AXJ-HAWAII are very disturbing.

"...without fear of some ... goon -- or ... thug -- showing up on your doorstep to try and silence you."
And what country is that?

Politics, religion and sports dont mix.... unless its after a dozen beers or so....

Happy Thanksgiving Pete !

Peter: The problem is, it wasn't funny, and it was on the wrong side of something that is only an "issue" in the minds of crazy hate-filled people. I saw it, it rubbed me the wrong way, and as you know I'm not shy about giving you a hard time, but it was clearly just a bad joke so I didn't comment.

I will comment on your reaction, though: You did not do something right. You didn't do anything right.

I'll defend to the death any American's right to write stupid jokes that inflame hate-filled morons. But that doesn't mean you're "right" in doing so.

All of that said, Happy Thanksgiving. Be glad we live in a country where one can be as wrong as you were and still chow down on turkey with no repercussions.

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Pete's reply: Who said there were no repercussions? I gained about five pounds. And, just so I always get the last word, funny is in the eye of the beholder, and sometimes depends on what side of the aisle you are on.

Knock, knock, knock,

Who's there?

Bagman incorporated!

Pete, while you and I have had our disagreements, the point that we both agree is that this blog is about opinions, your, ours and as long as folks stay within acceptable perameters, everything is fine. And for those who didn't like it, get over it! What was said was one man's opinion to which the last time I checked the constitution allows us to all have our own. Just because someone believes something different than everyone else, doesn't make them wrong it only makes them different!

And the Happiest Thanksgiving!

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Pete's reply: Thanks for the note, Keith. Hope you had a great Turkey Day as well.

Amazes me that Maryland is a Blue State.
It seems I have seen, heard or run into every "Town Hall Nutjob" in the State.
I'm waiting for the "Cuban Pete" statements, and who knows what else squirms in their la souer pea brains.
All it takes is one person close to you to get gravely ill and they have no insurance for you to perk out of your vapid uniformed collective stupors.
Just to stay on topic, sorta kinda, MLB players get it all, don't they? I wish had their health care.