Afghanistan & More...

Last weekend, I watched the far left liberal mouthpiece Bill Moyers Journal and it featured a lady by the name of Sarah Chayes and the interview was about Afghanistan. Sarah was an NPR journalist and has since moved to the war torn region and is still living and working there today. She covered a broad range of specifics about what has happened since the US overthrew the Taliban. It was refreshing to hear someone who lives in the region and is extremely intelligent to describe both the successes and failures of the country. Of course Lefty Moyers did his level best to insert his hatred of all things Conservative-Republican-Bush Administration, but she was a bit too smart to play into his hand. Sarah described how some good infrastructure has been improved and roads developed, but there was also bad news about the domino effect of the other affected areas. What struck me most was that so many huge subjects such as the poppy production, the Taliban, and the impact of the border issues with Pakistan can be accurately reported on by someone living there and yet the media both in the US and abroad constantly get it wrong. Another thought I had was that someone that had both her finger on the pulse of the issues and good ideas should be engaged by either our State Department or the commanders on the ground. I'm going to write my representatives for what it's worth and hope for the best. At the end of the interview all I could think was how badly we need people like this on our team and working to solve the problem. The sarcastic part of me thinks that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats would go for my idea, but I hope one day both will.Go watch and learn: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02222008/watch2.html

Economy - loans, banks, & personal responsibility.

Right now the conventional media claims we're in a recession based on people's fears, less than stellar growth, and the housing market collapse. I find it crazy that people buy into anything wholesale the media feeds them these days with so many resources at our fingertips. The first lie is that we are not in a recession. In order for our economy to be in a recession, we must have two consecutive quarters with a decline in our GDP. The US GDP has been hasn't had a declining quarter since GWB took office in 2000. As for people's fears, I believe it's largely attributed to the nightly news trumpeting any negative number that paints a dire picture for the US since it would instill fear in the masses and continued viewing (my layperson's psychology take). Now one reason people may be freaking out is because of all the recent crazy stuff in the housing market. I find fault on both side of the issue since it was stupid banks making bad loans to stupid people who were either too dumb to understand the terms or knew they couldn't pay and just didn't care about their financial health. I'm disappointed in the number of bailouts for the large institutions and individuals because I think that both sides should be forced to own up to their responsibilities. Make the big lenders eat their losses and let the folks who signed up for the crazy loans have their bad credit follow them until they pay it off. It really disgusts me since when my wife and I purchased our house, we chose a sensible loan and took responsibility for its payment. I don't expect anyone to bail me out if I lose my job and neither should anyone else. Ugh.

Super Men indeed...

Super Bowl XLII - Wow, what an amazing finish to one of the greatest games that I've seen. To watch the New England Patriots win 18 games in a row only to lose the Super Bowl was extremely satisfying. I had people ask, "Wouldn't it be great to see history if a team in this day and age went undefeated?" Yes, if it was anyone other than the Pats. I've never been a big fan of the New England Patriots since they have routinely beat my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers in a number of playoff games, but this year the Patriots really took a dive. The Pats first game of the season was against the NY Jets and during the game, they were caught cheating because they were taping the sidelines during the contest. There were several ways New England could have handled the situation that might have helped people move past their infraction. Instead of admitting fault and attempting to either clean house or at least punish those responsible, they went with the more unconventional approach and not only defended the coach who made the decision to cheat but also to run up the score on any team they faced. And just when I didn't think I could loath Tom Brady any more (mostly because he is an extremely gifted QB who doesn't make many mistakes), he goes into a press conference and defends Bill Belichick. As the season ran its course, most people began to both resent and hate the cocky Patriots as the blew through every team they faced. Towards the end of the regular season people were praying for even one loss. Several teams came close (Philly, Ravens, & NY) but none could stop New England from winning every game right up until the Super Bowl. There was joy in my heart every time the Giants defense knocked Mr. Perfect (aka Tom Brady) to the turf. The game was tip and tuck all the way into the fourth quarter when Brady drove his team down like he's done so many times before and got the go ahead TD to put New England on top. Eli Manning and the Giants had 2:39 to drive 85+ yards and had to get a touchdown to win. I had faith, but would they have enough in the tank to do it. The Pats were already celebrating on the sideline and Junior Seau thought he'd finally get his ring. Through some amazing plays, hello Tyree, Eli did what most experts thought impossible, he scored and left 30+ seconds for the Pats to attempt some magic. With most teams I would have felt good about NY's odds to win, but it was the Patriots and Tom Brady with 30 seconds and 3 timeouts left. The first place was brilliant as the Giants' "D" stormed past the "O" line and sacked Brady. On the second play Brady went deep to Moss, but it was broken up by the DB. Third down Brady overthrew Moss who was wide open and I believe that may have been because the defense was closing fast. Fourth and twenty Brady heaved another bomb to Moss but too was just a bit too long and that was all folks. I jumped up and pumped my fists in celebration trying not to wake my 2 yr old who had just gone to bed. As a fitting end to the upset the toad Belichick congratulated Choughlin briefly and then left the field with :01 left on the clock since he can't stand losing like a man. And to no one's surprise not only was Belichick not on the field for the final play, neither was Tom Brady. Pathetic. Great job NY Giants - you are Super Men!

Rafting part two

I finally got around to posting some pics from my trip. Enjoy!

The Pats cheating? I'm shocked!

First you have the Pats cheating against the Jets. Wait, the Jets? The Pats are so good, why would they attempt to cheat against the Jets? Oh, yeah, because it must work. And there's no way that the Hoodie is going to let ManGenius beat him again! Now those stinking Pats are tainted forever and I do feel slightly bad for their fans. To add insult to injury, Terrific Tom comes out after their Sunday night beatdown of the Chargers to say, "Hey fans, do you know how lucky you are to have us?" Arrogant? Sure. Cocky? Definitely. Stupid? You betcha! If I found out my beloved Steelers did the same thing, I'd want the whole coaching staff ejected from the league and any other players that either knew or were involved. Instead, you have Tom Brady coming out to say, uh, it really didn't help us because we've been near perfect for years now so people just need to move on and realize that our coach is God. Sorry Tom, not this time. Good luck cheaters...

How sick is Vick?

Michael Vick - All I can say is wow. What kind of moron risks his NFL career because he likes watching dogs fight? If he did half the stuff he's accused of, then he's one sick freak and I hope they throw the book at him. Here is one disturbing accusation: 83. In or about April of 2007, PEACE, PHILLIPS, and VICK executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well in "testing" sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road by various methods, including hanging, drowning, and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground. (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0717072vick1.html)
The real question is, do I still draft Alge Crumpler in my Fantasy Football league now that Vick most likely won't be playing anymore?

Labor of Love - Two weeks ago, some friends and I took it upon ourselves to fix what our local government wouldn't, a sand volleyball court. My friends and I would usually meet on Thursday nights or Sunday mornings to play our favorite sport, volleyball. Unfortunately, the city recently renovated the kids play area and reworked the volleyball court. Once everything was finished, the court was worse than before. There were all kinds of crap in the court, pieces of concrete, tons of rocks, some rebar, and giant chunks of hard dirt instead of soft sand. What the hell? For weeks several members of the group who uses the court contacted the city to ask if they could fix the court. With little to no help coming from the city, we decided to take matters into our own hands. We met at the court on Sunday morning at 0800 with tools in hand. After the first 30 minutes, it was clear that with our hand tools alone, it would take several days to complete the task. Thankfully, one of our buddies showed up with a roto-tiller. Between the roto-tiller and our hand tools, we removed the bulk of offending items and turned the existing sand over into a playable surface. It took about two hours with six of us working on the court until it was ready. We threw up the net and started playing around 1000 and had a great time. I had a great time playing and I'm not sure if the level of enjoyment was due to the game I love, the hard work before, the perfect weather conditions, or the beer, but it was a fine day indeed.

New oven - DO NOT heat newspapers in your oven. Huh?

News for profit today and old newsmen seen as objective?!?! Please, even back in the day when news was not for profit, every newscaster from murrow to cronkite slanted their coverage based on their ideologies and beliefs. Now it's just out there and people have a better understanding what motivates the newscasters. I wish more of them would simply put out their beliefs and then the viewers can decide who they want to watch and what they choose to believe. A great example of this debate was when Leslie Stahl interviewed Lou Dobbs and was shocked, yes, shocked that he has opinions and tells his viewers. I know that I for one was glad to hear Lou express his views and I think he's more honest than Stahl will ever be. She couldn't tell anyone with a straight face that her reporting on the Bush administration is unbiased.

Scooter...

Scooter's Clemency - Interesting that he only commuted his prison sentence rather than granting a full pardon that would restore all of his rights. Libby will still be on probation, pay his fine, and remain a felon. Knowing all the fallout that Bush will take for doing anything, I'm surprised he didn't just go all the way. While Article II of the Constitution does grant the President the power to pardon, it would seem like there would have to be a very strong argument before one is issued. President Bush made an interesting point in his statement (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070702-3.html) about the fact that in the end, the no one was ever charged with the original accusation even though they knew who did it early on in the investigation which I can't understand. I think I'd be more inclined to say that the commutation is wrong if the Special Prosecutor also indicted someone with the original charge. Your thoughts?