Another episode from "What's Wrong with the American Legal System?"

After over two years, "Rackham must remain a golf course, appeals court rules" (Detroit News).

Seriously, it took more than 700 days, a court case, and then an appeal of that court case, along with who knows how many thousands and thousands of dollars of legal fees and court costs to figure this out?

Anyone who can read should have been able to solve this in 30 seconds, just by reading the original deed restrictions:

Q: What are the underlying deed restrictions on Rackham?

A: There are two deed restrictions in place on the Rackham property.

1. The first was put in place in 1922 by the Baker Land Company. Baker developed the Bronx subdivision within Huntington Woods (the land between 10 and 11 mile and Scotia and Wyoming). Its deed states Rackham must be used “only as a public park or golf course or for other similar purposes.” It wanted a golf course here because it wisely understood that a golf course makes a city more attractive to potential residents.
2. The second deed restriction was put in place in 1924 by Horace and Mary Rackham. This deed restriction says that the property must be used as a “public golf course for the use of the public…” If the parameters in the deed restriction are not upheld, then the property is to revert to the control of the Rackham heirs. If the Rackham heirs take back the golf course, we believe the Baker Land Company Deed restriction remains in place although this issue is currently the subject of litigation.

This all started because the clowns known as the Detroit City Council wanted to sell the golf course back in July, 2006. (ref) But that didn't stop Detroit from putting it up for sale, asking for a minimum of $6.25 million with the restriction that it must remain a golf course. If the buyer does not keep it a golf course, the price increases to over $11 million. (ref)

Oh, and in the cash strapped city of Huntington Woods, "City Manager Alex Allie said the city has spent $175,000 on legal and administrative costs to block attempts by the city of Detroit to sell Rackham to developers." (Detroit News article det27612135) This was back in December, 2006. I'm sure they have wasted away even more money by now.

And don't think the heirs of Horace and Mary Rackham weren't above whoreing themselves out for money either. "The Rackham heirs may lift their family's development ban on the Rackham Golf Course -- for the right price." (Detroit News article det24273400 of June 22, 2006).

In fairness, some of the heirs did do the right thing, including the Rackhams' great-great-nephew, R. Leigh Frackelton Jr., and Zera Patterson, who said "It's very simple: We would like the golf course to stay the way it is and be available to everybody," (Detroit News Article det22648050 of July 11, 2008)

Some journalists still have class

Keith Olbermann, and indeed all of NBC News, did the right thing regarding the announcement of the passing of Tim Russert.

“We wanted to be sure, absolutely certain, that every member of Tim’s family who needed to be told in person in private had that opportunity, was given that small piece of grace today. Other organizations did not do that.” - Keith Olbermann (NY Times link)

Another episode from "What's Wrong with the American Economy?"

The [American] Axle board has awarded [CEO Dick] Dauch with a whopping $8.5 million bonus -- double what he got last round - bringing his total compensation to $15.7 million for the year.

The board justified the raise by citing Dauch and other managers for their "accomplishments and commitment during a period of significant change in our industry."

from "Pay Cuts Earn Axle CEO Mega-$Million Bonus" by Paul Eisenstein, June 28th, 2008

And these "accomplishments" <--- these are my "sarcastic air quotes" and not my "attribution to an actual source quotes". Anyway, these "accomplishments" include gems like these:

• Letting the strike linger for 87 days (link)
• Cutting 2000 workers thru buyouts or layoffs (link)
• Forcing a 33% pay cut onto the remaining workers (link)
• And then those remaining, now lower paid workers will see some holidays eliminated and the most senior workers lose one week's vacation (link)
  
• GM loses 100,000 production units in the first quarter, which had an estimated pretax loss of $800 million. (link)
  
• GM loses 230,000 production units in the second quarter to the tune of a pretax loss of about $1.8 billion (link) after more than 30 plants were affected (link)

If a company can't make a go of things, let them go bankrupt. I admit that the UAW has worked for years to get underworked blue collar workers overpaid and milk the Big Three for all they could. That's why the UAW works for its members and doesn't run the companies.

But, after the pendulum has finished swinging the other way in the automotive world, when no other supplier can be found to provide product at sweat-shop wages, I guess people will figure out you can only get so much blood out of a rock before you end up with a handful of dust.

Why hockey is the classiest sport

Let's say you are an 18 year old defenseman who has been playing hockey your whole life. And your big brother is a Hobey Baker Award winner and has made it to the NHL.

You're headed to a first rate university, one which has won the Frozen Four seven times. And you've been awarded a scholarship to attend college starting this fall.

You've been invited to the NHL Scouting Combine held this year in Toronto. You are ranked 60th overall among North American skaters eligible for the draft, and there were indications he might be drafted as high as the second round.

And then you are diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart that has been cited in the sudden death of young athletes. This diagnosis is confirmed at the Mayo Clinic.

So instead of hiding the results, you "immediately informed [the hockey team's head coach of your] condition." (link)

And the school, instead of saying "too bad, so sad, you lose, see ya bye." and revoking the hockey scholarship, the head coach "...quickly told the [you] the school would honor [your] scholarship and also make him part of its hockey program." (link)

And you are thinking, "Wow, here I have this devastating news and I will probably never play hockey again, and then someone actually steps up and does the right thing so I have an opportunity to go college and get a degree and still be part of the game I love."

And then comes the day of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, which was going to be one of your greatest days. After the medical news, I certainly wouldn't have blamed you for going on a three day bender. Because you are such a stand up guy you, "informed NHL teams that [you were] removing his name from draft consideration because of his diagnosis."

Instead, the owner-to-be of an NHL franchise, says to himself "The kid worked his whole life to be drafted in the NHL. I didn't see a reason why he shouldn't be." And so, with the last of the team's eight picks, in the seventh round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, you become the 203rd overall pick. (link)

"[You] will always know [you] got drafted in the National Hockey League," [the owner] said. "I almost get choked up. He worked too hard not to be drafted." (link)

There is a chance that more tests will show a less-dangerous condition he called "athlete's heart," in which the heart's lining thickens and grows because of exercise. But it will be six to eight weeks results are known, and another three months, if the results are good, to see if the heart reduces. If it does, it could mean a renewed athletic career.

"But it's almost a false hope," [you] said. "It's less than a 1 percent chance, so unless there's a miracle, I don't see it changing."

And so, it's a hat trick of class actions brought to you by the following cast of characters:

• David Carle, of Anchorage, Alaska, 2008 graduate of Shattuck-St. Mary's in Minnesota
• George Gwozdecky, head coach of the Pioneer's hockey team at the University of Denver
• Oren Koules, prospective owner of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightining

How to Americans to watch soccer according to Sports Illustrated

Now I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but putting a hot girl front and center into sports coverage will definitely boost ratings.

Tennis

• Anna Kournikova
• Maria Sharapova
• Daniela Hantuchova

Racing

• Danica Patrick

Snowboarding

• Jamie Anderson
• Hannah Teter (2006 Olympic Gold Medalist)

And apparently, Sports Illustrated isn't too proud to drum up interest in Women's Soccer, as seen in the article "Solo named to U.S. Olympic women's team, Scurry dropped" (link)

Oh, look, there's a hot soccer chick.



Ok, I cheated, the above image is a cropped version of the original.

Here is what Sports Illustrated felt was an appropriate picture for the article.

And in a shameless pun, I hereby dub this as soccer's attempt at a "Two Point Conversion".

What's wrong with the American economy in 31 seconds

Q : Can you tell me in 30 seconds or less what Compuware does for a living?

A : Compuware is a leader in information technology performance, so if chief information officers are looking to deliver more business value or best practices in value to their business, they would typically engage Compuware to help them do that through a combination of services and information technology performance tools. (Actual time: 31 seconds)

From the Detroit News article "Compuware COO praises simplicity", an interview with Bob Paul (link).

Um, I am in the "information technology" field and have been listening to Corporate America doubletalk for 15 years and I _still_ have no idea what the hell he was talking about.