Friday Funday: The Wind Up... And The Pitch.

It's another Friday, and as usual, we could easily talk about the news items of the day. The shooting at the Colorado movie theater, (which we just heard about as we published today) will certainly generate more words and less action, from pundits and politicians alike, who will try to use this latest horrible event to justify their particular world views. The sheer arrogance of Ann Romney will also be a topic for some today, as she tried to wave off the demands of "you people" - the American media and the American people - for the disclosure of her husband's tax returns, as though we were her servants.

We could also talk about Mitt Romney's desperate need to take President Obama's recent comments out of context, though we already did that a bit in our link section on Thursday. We could even talk about the heat and the crops, or the lack of action on the part of Congress to do anything to help our farmers - but we also already tackled some of those issues this week, too.

It's Friday, though, and for many reasons, we always try to turn to more positive things, to remind us that not all of life is fighting, tragedy, and disaster. One of those things is one of our favorite pastimes… paying attention to baseball.

For some of our staff, this year's Major League Baseball season has been nothing short of embarrassing. For others, the home team is not only winning, but leading their league strongly, and giving our staff thoughts of the fall classic in Washington, DC.

Sadly, our favorite minor league team, the Lincoln Saltdogs, is struggling this year, to put it mildly.

Some people we know would say that we should throw in the towel already, that we should toss our sporting allegiances to the side and utter the time worn phrase, "Maybe next year." Other fans are already dreaming of forcing the coaches and players from our favorite losing teams to be the targets in a dunk tank game.

Truthfully, we just smile and laugh at both groups.

When all else fails, when the days are insanely hot and the nights not nearly as cool as we'd like, we still enjoy watching baseball in the summertime - though we have to admit sometimes we prefer to catch a few matchups from the air-conditioned comfort of our homes.

To be honest, on days like these, we even prefer watching games that don't involve any of our favorite teams.

Baseball, for all the scandals the sport has faced, for all the posturing some players still display, is at its heart, the same game that we've been watching (and less often these days, playing) since we were kids. It's still a bat, and a ball, and some base markers, with a bunch of friends. It's still a group of people playing a simple game, with simple, honorable rules.

When people make a solid hit or a great catch, we don't ask whether they're Democratic or Republican. Even if they're on the other team, we can respect their work and their effort. We say, "Great hit," or "Nice catch."

That doesn't mean we don't sometimes want to bean certain individuals that have earned our distain.

In general, though, enjoying baseball as a spectator is one of the few things these days that we can enjoy where politics doesn't usually impede. It's a moment in our busy work schedule where we can unwind - and sometimes, even breathe.

With that in mind, we're pitching you an idea today. We hope this weekend, you take some time to follow our lead and indulge a little bit in whatever unwinds your springs. Take some time. Relax.

We're willing to bet you've earned it. We know we have.

Real Monsters

In general, movies that have been made from comic books in the last few years have been relatively true to their origins - often including the gritty and shocking nature of some of comic-dom's darkest and most evil villains. From what we've heard, the incredibly evil villain in the new Batman movie - the character of Bane - is much the same as his original portrayal in the comic book.

What the character of Bane is not in the new Batman movie is what the real-life hatemonger Rush Limbaugh tried to make his Dittohead listeners believe: that the character Bane is a representation of the corporation Bain Capitol, which Mitt Romney once ran and helped found.

Even Bane creator, cartoonist Chuck Dixon - well-known in the comics community as a staunch conservative - said that Limbaugh's conspiracy theory was "ridiculous."

Sadly, the propagandist Limbaugh's actions simply remind every decent American that there are indeed real life monsters that walk and talk among us everyday. All too often, those monsters try to choke the very lifeblood from us - and from our most cherished institutions.

For example, our right as Americans to have our votes count.

We've been paying particular attention to voter suppression tactics throughout the nation this year, by way of the heroic efforts of non-partisan policy institutes, like the Brennan Center For Justice. As the Brennan Center's latest report (released on Tuesday) notes, "Ten states now have unprecedented restrictive voter ID laws. Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin all require citizens to produce specific types of government-issued photo identification before they can cast a vote that will count."

This attack on voting rights has not been a bi-partisan attack on the rights of Americans. The monstrous attempt to suppress and effectively kill the votes of millions of Americans has come almost completely from the conservative Republican corner of the political universe.

Thankfully, decent honorable Americans have been fighting against the brutal attacks on voter rights, most being made through the use of so-called "Voter ID" laws. These laws are almost always simply voter suppression efforts against minorities, the poor, the young - and often, the elderly. It's no coincidence that most of these individuals also traditionally vote Democratic.

While the battles against these all-too conveniently applied Voter ID laws have been heated, many of these laws have recently been running into real, honest justice in courtrooms across the country - like the legal decision in Wisconsin yesterday, permanently killing their voter suppression law.

The courts aren't the only place where monsters are being fought. We also realize much of the political landscape has recently become more littered than usual with violent rhetoric. As certain candidates for office lose their composure and get angry, they're beginning to call each other names, and take their opponents comments out of context.

We get it. No one likes to lose a contest or a game.

Governing, however, is NOT a game, as we've mentioned many times before. Were it only about winning, it would be called "winnerment."

Winnerment is a gum. Government is a responsibility - one with very real consequences for handling that responsibility poorly.

One of those responsibilities is to protect the voting rights of all Americans - rights that are in still in very real danger, from some very real monsters.

The Romney Surprise

Much of the media has been focused on Mitt Romney's still-secret tax returns for much of the summer. It's been only recently that the American people finally began to clue in on the fact that Mr. Romney may have something very serious to hide.

Now, finally, with pressure mounting from both directions, the Republican candidate for President is looking more and more desperate. Like a new father holding his baby at arms length - a child with an overflowing diaper - Mitt can't seem to face the fact that the answer to his problems is to take a deep breath, and clean up the mess.

In short, Mitt's been overreacting, crying about being bullied while still stubbornly refusing to present multiple years of his tax returns. That makes Americans believe that Mr. Romney may have something to hide.

The Obama campaign's current tactic has capitalized on that doubt, in a very brutal and direct way. Importantly, the Obama campaign has brought a crucial point to the attention of a growing number of Americans: As voters, we have very little hard data on how Mitt Romney has handled his business or personal finances.

For a candidate who continues to claim that his business experience makes him the best candidate for President, Romney's refusal to present his tax returns simply adds more questions about his conduct and character.

Without Mr. Romney's tax returns to judge whether he's been lying, or to whom, speculation is rampant about what Mr. Romney could be hiding. As conservative stalwart George Will noted, "The cost of not releasing the returns are clear. Therefore, [Romney] must have calculated that there are higher costs in releasing them."

One professional speculation is that Mitt Romney simply may not have paid any federal taxes in 2009, by using offshore tax havens like his accounts in the Caymen Islands. Other expert analysis also notes that Romney could have paid tax rates during the last decade that are FAR lower than the rates paid by most Americans. For a candidate who's made it clear he wants to lower taxes on the wealthiest, while raising everyone else's taxes, such a revelation could be politically deadly for Romney.

Other things Mitt's tax records could reveal include that he made have made even more money from Bain Capital than he's previously claimed, that he may have had to pay some serious fines, that he's got more offshore tax havens we don't know about, or even some problematic deductions.

Hovering over all this is the reminder that Sen. John  McCain picked the incompetent half-term Gov. Sarah Palin over Mitt Romney to be his Vice Presidential running mate four years ago. As McCain noted in an interview on Tuesday, the blunt truth, as McCain saw it, was that Sarah Palin was a better choice than Mitt Romney.

Whatever is in Mr. Romney's past, it must be one hell of a load of... unpleasant stuff, if Mitt would rather run for President with the tag "Sarah Palin was more qualified than me" than simply release his tax returns for the last ten years.

No matter how you look at it, it's going to take a lot of paper for Mitt to clean up this mess.