Unemployment group wants Bunning ousted from Baseball Hall of Fame

[babylonsister]

Unemployment group wants Bunning ousted from Baseball Hall of Fame
By Jay Heflin - 02/26/10 05:49 PM ET


Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) should be ousted from the Baseball Hall of Fame because of his block on extending unemployment benefits, according to a group that advocates for the unemployed.

The benefits expire Sunday.

“The most obscene thing he can do is prevent jobless Americans from getting their $350 a week unemployment check,” Rick Sloan, acting executive director of Ur Union of Unemployed, a grass roots organization for unemployed Americans, told The Hill.

Sloan’s group is creating an online petition to remove Bunning from Baseball’s Hall of Fame. The list is expected to be operational by the weekend.

“His legacy as a great ball player is about to be surpassed by his reputation as an obstinate and uncaring ideologue,” Sloan said in a statement.

Efforts to reach Bunning’s office were unsuccessful.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has tried for three days to extend the expiring employment provisions, only to be rebuffed by Bunning who demands the bill’s $10 billion cost be offset. Reid has argued the legislation is for emergency reasons and therefore offsets are not required.

more...

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/84005-group-wants-bunning-ousted-from-baseball-hall-of-fame

[Catshrink]

1. He's the new symbol of the GOP

if only the DNC will use it in ads, etc. I'm not going to hold my breath.

[lsewpershad]

22. GOP symbol??????

No need for one...The GOP is it.

[Catshrink]

23. I stated it badly.

I meant using Bunning's action can be used as a symbol of GOP indifference, if not outright hostility, toward the plight of the unemployed.

[laughingliberal]

2. Big Rec! nt

[Scurrilous]

3. Is there an ...

...Asshole Hall of Fame?

He'd get in first ballot.

[Kingofalldems]

4. K and R for the CPACer

[Oceansaway]

5. K&R...n/t

[BR_Parkway]

6. Offset it with $10B from KY's highway fund or something

[Peacetrain]

7. What an absolute heartless person he is..

[kagi]

8. Why not an offset?

Considering how much congress spends on itself, including their salaries and benefits, if Reid actually had any care, why not turn it back on them and say 'Sure, here's the first offset, we'll cut our salary by 40%, and cut our office budgets by at least 20%.' Token, only, if you're talking a ten billion dollar bucket, but it'd be a lot easier to come before the voters in November and point out that the Democrats at least cut their own income in a time of national need.

Instead, it really feels, from the perspective of someone who has been job hunting for a long long time, that the elite continue to enjoy their lovely parties while arguing over what type of cake us peasants will be permitted to enjoy. Then again, I'd love to see a real gauntlet tossed down, and congress give itself the same salary that those who are trying to scrape by on unemployment make, but $350 is probably the cost per hour for their limousines.

[DisgustedInMN]

28. Are you as tired...

.. as I am of hearing those with jobs say "Just be patient, he's only had a year... blah blah blah."???

As of week before last, now I don't even get the lousy $300 a week to try and scrape by on. And the assholes in DC spend all of their time playing Kabuki Theater and taking bribes from lobbyists.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. What am I missing here?

What does the Hall of Fame have to do with his stance on unemployment?

[Blue-Jay]

10. Nothing.

[Blue-Jay]

12. There are plenty of rotten sons-a-bitches in the Hall of Fame.

They're there due to their (see what I did there?) athletic achievements. Nothing else.

[Bicoastal]

14. Iz true. You don't see the NAACP protesting Ty Cobb's inclusion...

...even though he was probably the most bigoted jerk who ever played the game. Actually, cross out "most bigoted" and put down "biggest," and the sentiment would be similarly true.

But he was an awesome ballplayer.

[Gemini Cat]

17. Add Rogers Hornsby as well.

[azmouse]

13. It's just a way to retaliate against this asshat.

[Pithlet]

24. Yep, it's a protest of his actions and I'm all for it. n/t

[babylonsister]

15. Not much, but here's another take from Joe Conason, since

Bunning is oh so worried about the deficit...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7804146
Joe Conason: Shut down Jim Bunning's "charitable" fraud

[eShirl]

16. it gets people who are otherwise uninterested in/uninformed about current politics to talking about

what is really going on in Washington

[Warpy]

11. I wonder if the 2 bomb threats he got last night

are penetrating the cement his brain is encased in.

Face it, Republicans are evil. He's doing this because he's retiring and no longer has anything to lose, at least he thinks he doesn't.

I just hope people are starting to see where that party is really at and realizing they've been at war against the American people for the last 30 years. I hope that translates into votes throwing them all out of office.

[Bitwit1234]

18. Darn I said the same thing. If they can prohibit Pete Rose

from even being in the Hall of Fame why can't they kick this guy out for theft and fraud. After all he filed for non-profit, tax free charity and hasn't given a cent to charity in all these years he had the organization. If that isn't fraud I don't know what is. They could kick his butt out for that quicker than blocking the vote on the unemployment, medicare and other services.

[Bitwit1234]

19. PS I already filed a complaint with C.R.E.W. if more people do

the might look into it.

[exboyfil]

21. Pete Rose bet on baseball and

lied to the commissioner's face about it. Unfortunately for Pete that commissioner later died. Any later commissioner overturning Bart Giamatti's decision would be like spitting on his corpse.

He might eventually get in because he deserves to by his performance, but he damaged the game he loved and brought up many questions about his ethics. Just like the Black Sox you don't jeopardize the integrity of the game.

[Johonny]

20. His numbers show him to be a mediocre choice to begin with

From baseball reference.com
You're talking about a guy on the low end of an average HoF. Yet another bland Veteran's Committee pick who made no doubt because of his political career than his baseball career in 1996. Which frankly looks like an embarrassment now. Yeah a lot of so so character people are in the HoF but most of them at least were GREAT players. Bunning's most similar players where guys like Rick Reuschal, Luis Tiant, Jerry Koosman and Mickey Lolich. None of them are going into the HoF.

Hall Of Fame Statistics
Player rank in (·)

Black Ink Pitching - 28 (56), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray Ink Pitching - 216 (30), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame Monitor Pitching - 98 (97), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards Pitching - 42 (62), Average HOFer ≈ 50

[Blue_Tires]

25. I appreciate the effort, but that's notgonnahappen.com..

[Faygo Kid]

26. Yeah, no way. And the Tigers should never have traded him.

For Don Demeter of the Phillies. Big mistake; Bunning was a great pitcher. I remember him well, starting in 1961 when he went 17-11 for a Tigers' team that won 101 games (unfortunately, the Yankees won 109, with M&M - Mantle and Maris).

Bunning is just about the biggest POS on the planet now, however ("just about" means that Cheney and Limbaugh are still alive).

[Pithlet]

31. Missingthepoint.com

I know it's not going to happen. And I'm supporting them anyway. Fuck Bunning. He deserves any and all shitstorms coming his way, in any form they come. As a protest move, I think it's a fitting way to draw attention to his actions. Yeah, his baseball career isn't connected to his political one. This move is so egregious that I don't care. I can't believe that people are wringing their hands and fretting over this. Fuck Bunning. I'm with the people who are losing benefits over this. I'm on their side. Who cares about marring his precious baseball career? It's not connected? Cry me a river.

[PhD]

27. Things like this just bring needless ridicule

What do Bunning's political positions have anything to do with being in the baseball hall of fame?

[vadawg]

29. +1 yup two totally different spheres of his life....

[progressoid]

30. Shush,

You're killing the righteous indignation buzz.