Diane M. Grassi
Diane M. Grassi may contacted at: dgrassi@cox.net
Articles by Diane M. Grassi
November 30, 2011
Most shocking to those who have followed and have lived through the steroid era in MLB has been the MLBPA's seemingly caving in to HGH testing. Its accuracy and protocol is still being challenged amongst the science community.
October 26, 2011
Given the timing of MLB's lawsuit, could its timing be any worse? MLB is seemingly squandering any goodwill left towards it and chooses to maintain an image of the Big Bad Wolf.
August 02, 2011
The question that needs to be asked and the topic discussed over the next year is: Is Joe Torre being groomed as the next Commissioner of MLB?
January 23, 2011
In order to create billion-dollar professional and amateur sports leagues, it requires many players and partners off the field of play, working in synchronization towards one common goal: the bottom line.
November 05, 2010
Something that might have a profound impact on our young people and even those players currently playing both in MLB and its minor leagues, is the real-time experience of those former players who have been struck down by illness and cancer
September 28, 2010
With his outspokenness, particularly critical of fellow MLB players, in addition to his political rants concerning Capitol Hill politics, Curt Schilling has always relished confrontation. And now, he's kicked up a little more dirt.
September 22, 2010
The history of the video poker machine goes back over 100 years.However, the jury is still out as to whether gambling is an actual addiction. But physiologists, neurologists and psychiatrists more have only recently are seriously delved into the theory scientifically, comparing brain chemistry of problem gamblers with those of drug addicts.
August 17, 2010
Perhaps falsely anticipated with this newly proposed law, is the notion that gamblers will be allowed much freedom to do as they wish in the privacy of their own homes. However, given the bevy of requirements for oversight, nothing could be farther from the truth
July 20, 2010
"If an alternative process is established, we´re going to be guided by the court´s procedures, subject to of course, our ultimate right to approve any owner submitted to us."
– MLB Commissioner, Bud Selig – July 12, 2010
As this reporter documented here in May 2010, the still impend...
June 21, 2010
It is with the Triple Crown races, still clearly in mind, that it is worth exploring the present state of the thoroughbred industry´s challenges away from the track, especially in those states now hurting, that once could be counted on to provide the essential businesses necessary to support those horses we get to see on race day.
May 12, 2010
MLB has invoked its "not in the best interests of baseball" rule, by virtue of the commissioner´s charter, as reason to interfere with the proposed sale of the Texas Rangers. And in that effort, it is willing to accept the least lucrative bid made for the club´s purchase.
March 14, 2010
How taxpayers can be expected to trust their state governments to invest in struggling enterprises, already in the red, in order to prop up their cash-strapped states, many nearing junk-bond status due to irresponsible governing, remains the $64,000.00 question.
February 18, 2010
In 2006, this reporter shed light on the seemingly unfair labor practices taking place in the Central American country of Costa Rica, in a factory operated by the Rawlings Sporting Goods Co., Inc., and now a subsidiary of the multi-national corporation, Jarden Corp. As we embark upon the 2010 Major ...
December 30, 2009
TheTim Donaghy referee scandal in 2007 put a crimp in David Stern´s possible growing interest in a potential marriage with games of chance. And now it makes even more sense as to why Stern would insist that Tim Donaghy was a "rogue" or lone referee with regard to passing on inside information to illegal bookmakers and organized crime syndicates.
October 28, 2009
Not unlike its refusal to use an independent lab and auditor for its illegal substance abuse testing program of its players, MLB may have to revisit its head-in-the-sand approach to many of its policies; and in this most recent bugaboo; its umpire training, evaluation and post-season selection process.
September 16, 2009
Most MLB fans are probably unaware of the new computer technology, mandated by MLB, and its use throughout 2009 that will be precedent setting for seasons to come.
August 31, 2009
This initial report has been an attempt to bring some clarity to an enormous change forthcoming, not only in how healthcare will be consumed by Americans, but the extreme and unprecedented governmental changes put forth in the process and in how the federal government and the White House will conduct the peoples´ business going forward.
August 11, 2009
Given the climate of broadcast and newspaper outlets offing their talent near retirement age, it makes sense in some circles that some would want to gain instant and unabated relevance, whether or not the story is true or not.
June 24, 2009
It was on June 21, 1788 that the United States Constitution was officially adopted with its ratification. And it was at that time that its ratification was contingent upon suggested changes be made to the Constitution, thereafter.
Leading up to the Constitution becoming effective, there were nume...
June 24, 2008
In this global economy, at a time when the U.S. is seeing extraordinary growth in the foreign direct investment and acquisition in U.S. critical infrastructure, it appears reaped with conflict for the licensing agency to also be able to independently assess potential security risks both civilly and criminally.
July 09, 2007
The announcement on May 21, 2007 that the largest public company in the Middle East, by market value, would be acquiring a division of the world’s second-largest corporation, by market value, and based in the United States, could not have been any less publicized. But in the world of corporate gover...
May 05, 2007
On March 23, 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush, former Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin and former Mexican President, Vicente Fox, authorized the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), now under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Most Americans have little to no knowledge of ...
February 19, 2007
Major League Baseball (MLB) will celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s entry into the major leagues, on April 15, 2007, which ended the prohibition of integration of African American players. However, it is arguable how much MLB has built upon his symbolic legacy, as civil rights hero,...
January 24, 2007
The tragic explosion of the Sago Mine in West Virginia on January 2, 2006, which took twelve lives and permanently disabled another, still begs for a rational explanation over 1 year later. The disaster captured the interest of the American public and fostered outrage on the part of lawmakers and bu...
December 14, 2006
The ravages of war are hell and collateral damage that includes loss of life, permanent disability and war-related illness in both military and civilian populations is expected. But too often American soldiers have been stung by the treatment they have received with respect to their healthcare upon ...
November 16, 2006
For several years now, American healthcare consumers, including many from other western industrialized nations, have heard about elective surgeries being performed in lesser-developed nations and due to cost and denial of coverage by health insurance providers have opted to go there. However, surger...
October 18, 2006
This past July, former President Bill Clinton announced an initiative in conjunction with the William J. Clinton Foundation to fight childhood obesity. In that effort he has been negotiating for the past year or so with the three major beverage companies, namely Cadbury Schweppes PLC, the Coca-Cola ...
September 27, 2006
Assistive Reproduction Technology (ART) has been an accepted medical alternative to human reproduction since the first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, was conceived in England in 1978. On the heels of the burgeoning feminist movement of the 1960’s and early 1970’s was borne a new reproductive freedom ...
September 08, 2006
“Prediction is very hard, especially when it’s about the future.” ... Yogi Berra
Given the focus on the recent one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by the media and government officials and its label as the most costly catastrophic disaster in United States history, there has been little ...
August 23, 2006
For the past 70 years, federal laws have played a vital and necessary role in the operation, production, distribution and protection of the electrical power grid throughout the United States. Federal laws in concert with state regulations have ensured that the power grid not be subject to criminal b...
August 10, 2006
For the past 70 years, federal laws have played a vital and necessary role in the operation, production, distribution and protection of the electrical power grid throughout the United States. Federal laws in concert with state regulations have ensured that the power grid not be subject to criminal b...
August 09, 2006
For the past 70 years, federal laws have played a vital and necessary role in the operation, production, distribution and protection of the electrical power grid throughout the United States. Federal laws in concert with state regulations have ensured that the power grid not be subject to criminal b...
July 26, 2006
America’s National Pastime has continued to rake in record high revenues in the past few years, yet it continues to remain deaf to its critics concerning the manufacture of its equipment and uniforms with regard to unfair labor practices in the third world. Specifically, for example, Major League Ba...
July 19, 2006
Nearly an entire year since Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast, leaving behind extensive damage to several states and the city of New Orleans, most would think that recovery is well underway. While Mississippi has faired far better than Louisiana, with less residents impacted, New Orle...
July 12, 2006
For the last quarter of 2006 United States Army bases stateside face a funding deficit of $530 million while troops active in Iraq and Afghanistan will not see the promised replacement levels of military equipment previously committed. Additionally, payroll for active-duty troops is short $1.4 bil...
July 05, 2006
Since the United States became a party to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, U.S. construct of the Foreign Trade Agreement (FTA) has changed considerably. Such agreements now have a much more profound impact on state and local economies across the country.
Generally, treati...
June 29, 2006
50 years ago President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the 1956 National Federal-Aid Highway Act and since 1990 referred to as the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways. He authorized the connectivity of 41, 000 miles of high quality highways across the United States. I...
June 28, 2006
On June 23, 2005 the United States Supreme Court handed down its controversial 5-4 decision on Kelo v. City of New London, CT., concerning the issue of eminent domain. The court’s ruling not only impacted the City of New London, CT and seven property owners contesting the 2004 decision of the Supr...
June 07, 2006
On the 62nd anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, when the United States Armed Forces as part of the Allied Forces including Britain and Canada, landed on the beaches of Normandy, France and helped free France and much of Europe from the strongholds of Nazi Germany, there is no better time than to rem...
May 30, 2006
On a May 28, 2006 Barry Bonds succeeded in hitting his 715th home run to pass Babe Ruth’s homerun record and now second to Hank Aaron’s Major League Baseball (MLB) all-time home run record of 755, it is representative in a number of ways of the present state of MLB. Specifically, the state of the ga...
May 17, 2006
As the United States Senate and President George Bush try to come to some understanding of what is needed to properly address the illegal entry of non-resident aliens to the United States, for the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens already residing in the U.S., the issue of existing false documentation...
May 10, 2006
The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and its Aviation Sub-Committee held a hearing on May 9, 2006 similar to that of the February 8, 2006 hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Aviation Sub-Committee. Both were in regard to the proposed Open Skies Agre...
April 24, 2006
For those of you who do not care about politics and for those of you who do not care about Major League Baseball (MLB), the two are about to be permanently joined at the hip due to the location of the Washington Nationals Baseball club and Major League?s Baseball hunt for its first owner of the team...
April 19, 2006
It was in his 2003 State of the Union Address that President George W. Bush expressed his administration?s objective to ?strengthen global treaties banning the production and shipment of missile technologies.? It was thereafter, between 2003 and 2004, in which the Committee on Foreign Investments in...
April 12, 2006
In the midst of numerous proposals before the Senate regarding legislation concerning the legalization of illegal aliens has arisen a little known provision of the recently signed 2005 Deficit Reduction Act. On February 8, 2006, President George Bush executed a bill into law which now requires recip...
April 05, 2006
The date of April 15th is a date not necessarily fondly referred to by a good many Americans, because it is representative of more anxiety than delight. Nor does the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) elicit terms of endearment even for those who might enjoy an income tax refund upon filing their tax re...
March 27, 2006
Since 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has provided funding for states and urban areas across the country, under its Homeland Security Grant Program, in an effort to improve emergency preparedness, at the local level, in the event of a terrorist attack. Such funding has been avai...
March 21, 2006
How often does it happen that a present Major League Baseball All-Star player gets treated with so little respect that he is told after his trade to another team that he will have to give up his starting position or else? After all, baseball has come a long way since free agency, forming its playe...
March 08, 2006
On March 5, 2006, CBS television news magazine, 60 Minutes, featured a report titled, ?Hospitals: Is the Price Right?? The piece concentrated on the soaring costs of hospital care, specifically for uninsured Americans and the exponentially higher charges they are billed, which can be up to four time...
March 01, 2006
As the story unfolds, it is perhaps important to gain some perspective on the underlying facts and historical context of the United Arab Emirates based Dubai Ports World (DPW) since its takeover of London based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O), before political allegiances and comm...
February 22, 2006
It’s that time of the year again. The 2005 National Football League season has come to an end with the Pittsburgh Steelers capturing the Super Bowl title, the Major League Baseball Spring Training season is just readying to begin, the National Basketball Association is in a holding pattern for most ...
February 09, 2006
The United States of America has historically enjoyed self-sufficiency in times of both war and peace but in order to better assess its present place in the world as concerns its military and economic strength, it is important to reflect on its foundation. There is daily talk from Wall Street to Cap...
February 01, 2006
Division and disagreement over funding and methods of appropriations, for recovery in the communities along the U.S. Gulf Coast, is knee deep in bureaucratic paper shuffling and politics the expanse of Hurricane Katrina herself. The challenge of disentangling the mistakes made before, during and aft...
January 22, 2006
Big media and corporate sponsorship of sporting events in the United States have become as big a story these days as the sports and athletes they themselves sponsor, with nary an opportunity missed by advertisers and networks alike to promote themselves. Whether it is the National Football League, ...
January 12, 2006
West Virginia was the second largest producer of coal in the United States in 2005, producing 160 million tons or 13% of total production, while Wyoming was number one, producing 380 million tons, approximately 35% of the nation?s total coal production. However, the coal produced by West Virginia is...
December 28, 2005
In 1995 we saw the emergence of internet casino gambling, which includes playing games of chance such as poker, blackjack, and roulette as well as betting on sports events. By the year 2000, nearly 300 companies around the world operated almost 2,000 internet gambling websites. And in 2005, worldwid...
December 22, 2005
The U.S. House of Representatives wrapped up 2005 by adopting a $453 billion budget for the 2006 Defense Appropriations Act. It is now left up to the U.S. Senate to decide which amendments to include or not include in its authorization of funding, intended primarily for the U.S. military in order fo...
December 21, 2005
General Motors Corp. announced in late November 2005 that it will close 9 of its United States auto manufacturing plants as well as three assembly-related plants which includes one location in Canada. Ford Motor Co. followed suit in early December 2005 announcing it is considering the shutdown of up...
December 11, 2005
In August 1981, 11,500 air traffic controllers who belonged to the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, known as PATCO, were permanently fired by President Ronald Reagan, two days after their strike began, due to their violation of federal law. The president felt that the union did not...
November 20, 2005
Complacency is not recommended for the U.S. consumer this winter according to forecasters who say that a wide range of products from food to auto parts will see rises in retail prices. While food prices have risen over the past decade, the impending costs will be different, as they are expected to b...
November 08, 2005
The national disasters suffered in the United States Gulf region this year from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma may have reaped a silver lining after all. Although mass criticism has been lodged against federal, state and local governments as well as at key elected officials and government appoin...
November 01, 2005
Now that the cameras of the news media and press have largely left the area of New Orleans, Louisiana, its parishes and the Mississippi Gulf, in a post-Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita world, the real test will be for those residents who no longer have homes or jobs, as they face the dreaded win...
October 27, 2005
Staff Sergeant George T. Alexander, Jr. suffered injuries in an October 17, 2005 explosion in Iraq. He died of his sustained wounds on October 22, 2005 in San Antonio, TX near his home of Killeen, TX. Unfortunately, his death will be earmarked as the 2,000th United States soldier confirmed dead, ser...
October 18, 2005
Beginning October 19, 2005, the United States Senate Commerce Committee will readdress legislation passed in 1996 which would free up analog television 700 MHz transmission signals for public safety communications. The U.S. House of Representatives Commerce Committee is set to examine it the followi...
October 11, 2005
The media has been both praised and admonished for its Hurricane Katrina coverage over the past weeks, and particularly during the first week of the crisis in New Orleans, LA. And media coverage was largely criticized by political appointees and lawmakers who felt the wrath of scrutiny concerning th...
October 05, 2005
It has now become clear that the devastation done in the U.S. Gulf region by Hurricane Katrina, the subsequent flooding in New Orleans and the additional damage by Hurricane Rita has delayed priority legislation on Capitol Hill. The Defense Authorization Bills and the Defense Appropriation Bills in ...
September 28, 2005
Hurricane Katrina was the first and greatest blow to the United States Gulf Coast region when it set down on August 29, 2005, but it was subsequently followed by failing levees in the greater New Orleans, LA area, only to be hit again by Hurricane Rita some four weeks later, leaving New Orleans, sou...
September 17, 2005
There is evidence that there will be many heroic tales to be told and to be heard as the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and parts of Alabama and Florida recover from the worst hurricane to hit the United States in recorded history. And unfortunately there will be stories forthcoming due to the los...
September 07, 2005
Louisiana was founded at the mouth of the Mississippi River by French explorer Sieur de La Salle in 1682 and named after King Louis XIV of France. La Nouvelle-Orleans, or New Orleans, became a city in 1718, named after the French colony regent, Phillipe Duc D’Orleans. In 1763, La Nouvelle Orleans ...
August 31, 2005
“The one absolute certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, or preventing all possibility of it continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities. We have but one flag. We must also learn one language and that language is English.” – Theodore R...
August 23, 2005
On August 20, 2005 at 12:01 AM, airline mechanics and maintenance workers of Northwest Airlines, based in Eagan, MN, went on strike. Northwest is the fourth largest airline in the United States as well as the number one carrier providing air travel to Asia. While negotiations had been ongoing for th...
August 16, 2005
On August 12, 2005 Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico issued Executive Order 2005-040 declaring a ‘state of emergency’ in four New Mexico counties along its border with Mexico. It is intended to free up funds totalling $1.5 million for a variety of actions he felt necessary. Specifically, Hidalg...
August 09, 2005
At the end of July 2005 the Pentagon announced, through General John Abizaid, head of the United States Central Command in Iraq, that “some fairly substantial reductions” in U.S. troops could be expected by the spring and summer of 2006. General Abizaid was basing his assessment upon the future poli...
August 02, 2005
The mainstream press has only recently begun to cover the failure of the federal government’s obligation to seriously address the security of the borders of the United States with respect to illegal immigration. Largely due to the launch of the Minute Man Project which took place in April 2005 in a ...
July 28, 2005
The United States Senate has been working towards finalizing a defense authorization bill before their August 1, 2005 recess. But the Senate voted to continue to debate on two controversial amendments attached to the $441.6 billion bill in September prolonging resolution. On July 26, 2005 the Senate...
July 21, 2005
When the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 was signed into law last December by President Bush, Republican Congressmen in the House of Representatives were concerned that the president’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2006 would not provide enough funding for the additional B...
July 19, 2005
The June 23, 2005 announcement by China’s largest state-owned company, China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), of an unsolicited bid for Unocal, a California-based United States oil company and ninth in U.S. oil production, has been received with considerable reservations. It is that which is not...