Impostors everywhere

While gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory falls for “Almost Andy” Grffith, former Braves manager Bobby Cox —who remembers everyone who ever played for him —- scratches his head over an imposter who crashed an alumni gathering:

(T)he middle-aged man claiming to be former player John Sullivan “definitely did not look like he ever played the game,” said Craig Skok, a reliever for the Braves from 1978-79. “He was very much out of shape.”

Sullivan’s bona fides were further challenged during Saturday’s alumni softball game. Watching him warm up, Andy Ashby, a starting pitcher for the Braves in 2000, remarked, “Dude, you’ve really gone downhill fast.”

….Cox, who, according to Alvarez, never forgets those who played under him, said he was embarrassed he didn’t know the mystery man.

Finally, he asked Greg McMichael, the retired Braves reliever who now serves as the team’s liaison to alumni, “Who is this guy?” McMichael told him it was John Sullivan. “I said, ‘That’s not John Sullivan. I think you’ve been had,’” Cox told the AJC.

Local angle –the impostor —-who remains unidentified —helped give himself away when he said he minor league ball for the Braves in Greensboro. But the Braves have never had a minor league affiliate here.

Re: ‘Rising sea levels’

What jumps out at me when reading articles on the debate over the definition of ‘rising sea levels’ in North Carolina and Virginia is how people are so worried about being mocked on ‘The Colbert Report.’ I personally could care less what Stephen Colbert thinks. (BTW–is the Virginian Pilot article a straight news story or an opinion piece? At times I couldn’t tell.)

I have to agree with Sen. David Rouzer —sponsor of the bill that passed yesterday –when he says that predicting climate change eight decades out — and crafting legislation based on that predicted change—- is folly. Think about previous legislation that crafted eight decades out —Social Security comes to mind —- and we see how that’s working out.

Just so happens the evil John Locke Foundation has weighed in on climate change. Joel Schwartz’s report addressed rising sea levels:

Climate activists in North Carolina have been claiming that greenhouse warming will flood the Outer Banks and wipe out the state’s coastal areas. But tide gauge data for North Carolina show little sea level rise during the past few decades.

Wilmington has a long-running series covering the years 1936-2005. Average sea level has risen only about 5 or 6 inches during this 70-year period. Furthermore, for the last 5 years, average sea level has actually dropped a few inches below peak levels achieved during the 1990s is now about the same as peal levels during the 1940s and 1970s.

I always make the argument that our environment has never been cleaner due to –yes I’m actually saying this —- the many regulations that have been put in place over the last 40 years. That climate activists continue to put forth doomsday scenarios is bascially an admission that those regulations haven’t worked. So what’s the point of having them?