A lil' "dab" will do ya

How will your team do? Check the Schedule

2011-12-06T08:31:00.001-08:00

One thing that has become obvious to me following the NFL is that it is fairly easy to determine what teams are going to be in the playoff hunt based on their schedule. There are a few elite teams like the Patriots, Steelers, Colts (with Manning), and we have to add the Packers, that can win enough games to get into the playoffs no matter their schedule. But the rest of the NFL teams success are based on their schedule. There are a lot of teams in the middle.

Scheduling explains why teams like the Chiefs and Falcons can win their division one season and barely be in contention for the playoffs the following season. On the flip side why a teams like the 49ers and Bengals can contend for the division title after being at the bottom of the league last season.

I actually wrote my Playoff Predictions a few weeks ago and even with some major injuries I post them today and not much has changed:

NFC:

Packers, 49ers, and Saints will win there divisions will be in.

The NFC East will be decided by 2 remaining games between Giants and Cowboys, if they split those games the Cowboys will get in with a better division and conference record. The Giants are a better team, but they had a much rougher schedule and will need to sweep the Cowboys to get in. Neither team has much chance for a Wild Card.

The 2 Wild Cards are between Lions, Falcons, and Bears. This is where my prediction has changed as the Bears had a soft schedule, so soft even without Cutler I would have gave them a shot to make the playoffs, but after losing Forte its pretty bleak. I am going to have to pick Falcons and Lions.

AFC

Patriots and Texans (even w/ 3rd string QB) are running away with their divisions.

Ravens have already beat the Steelers twice and have a soft schedule so they will likely win the AFC North.

Here is the other change in my original prediction. I had the Raiders winning AFC West at 9-7, which they may be, but I think the Broncos will win the AFC West at 10-6. Yes I have joined Team Tebow I will blog on that another day.

Steelers are easily a Wild Card Team, the last spot is between the Jets and Bengals who I believe will have the same record at 10-6. The Tie Breaking Procedures are way too long to analyze here, but the Bengals have a great shot at going 11-5 if they can beat the Texans (w/ a 3rd string QB) on the road and save us from that discussion. The AFC North is the best division in the AFC so lets go with the Bengals.

Playoff Predicitions

Pretty simple, in the NFC no one is going up to Green Bay to beat the Packers, so they will be in the Super Bowl, but I am looking forward to the re-match from Week 1 against the Saints. This game will be to offense what the Bama-LSU rematch will be to defense.

In the AFC, by far the best division is the AFC North, so they will produce the Super Bowl contender. Getting 3 teams from 1 division in the playoffs is exceptional!

So it will be the Ravens or Steelers going to face a Packers team that is even better than the team that won the Super Bowl last season.

It's Hard out Here for a Coupon

2011-10-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went to the dry cleaners and wanted to stop in at Wal-mart right next to it. It just so happens I have 3 Wal-mart stores in about a 3.5 mile radius of my home and with this location being off a major freeway I felt it was a little "hood". So I drove 4 miles up the street to the one in a "more affluent" area (yes I know saying affluent and Wal-mart is an oxymoron).

So as I am shopping I have a bunch of coupons I am using to buy groceries. I have them in my cart, and as I get the item I put the coupon in my pocket. Nearing the end of my shopping list, I stepped away from my shopping cart and back-tracked to get an item that I forgot. When I returned to my shopping cart my coupons were gone. Natural assumption is that they fell out of the cart somewhere. So I begin to re-trace my steps and look for the missing coupons. After a few minutes I realize the coupons somehow fell out of the cart, but my shopping list had not moved? Then I looked at the cart and realized there really wasn't anyway that a coupon could have fell out.

SOMEBODY STOLE MY DAMN COUPONS!!! I came out of my way to come to the NICE Wal-mart and somebody stole my coupons. It is real out here in these streets folks, you have to treat these coupons like REAL $$$. Fortunately, I had most of my coupons in my pocket, one was actually for $5 off. I am not sure what would have happened if they had got that one...

Can you be Over-Prepared for an Interview?

2011-10-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

I had a 2 hour interview last week. Prior to the interview I wanted to jot down some thoughts to prepare for the most common interview questions. So I went to google.com and 5 pages later I had typed out responses to 25 questions.

The crazy part is evidently he did the same thing because 16 of the 20 questions he asked were almost identical to the list I found on Google. The interview went longer than planned due to my well thought out answers and that I tended to lump some of my responses together assuming he wasn't going to ask me all 25 questions I found on Google. I thought he would ask 5-7, worst case 10!

In some ways you couldn't ask for a better scenario, there wasn't one thing I walked out of the interview thinking I wish I would have said, but the ironic thing is in my preparation I think I tended to over-explain how I met the qualifications of the job without having "all the necessary" experience. I think that really only served to highlight the fact that I didn't have experience!

So we shall see....

5 Thoughts on Dallas Cowboys Preseason Game 1

2011-08-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

It didn't take long to recall that I was watching a game between 6-10 and 4-12 teams. Particularly considering that neither team made any significant personnel upgrades in the off-season.

1) The first thing I noticed is that there are not 53 guys on the current roster that should make this team. Even if you accept this is a bad team they are going to have to pick up some guys off the waiver wire to fill out a 53-man roster.

2) Rob Ryan's defense has a lot of work to do. There was a lot of talk about guys not knowing the system and still learning how to communicate, but this defense only has 2 new guys and for the most part the Broncos were running right up the middle so not sure how that relates to poor communication. Looked like guys were just getting pushed back to me!

3) Time to go young. At WR there is no one that has claimed the 3-5 spots. The way I see it Dwayne Harris becomes the slot guy, Ogletree is not a slot guy so he cant be the #3, make him the #4 so he can play on the outside. For the last spot they should pick the best special teams players or bring in a veteran that could potentially be the #3 guy. At LB there are a lot of young guys. Its time to give significant playing time to the players like Sean Lee and Victor Butler. Plus take a shot on a guy like Orie Lemon and Kerwin Cummings and hope Bruce Carter is ready to play after he joins the team from injury. If Garrett is going to hold true his mantra of putting the best players on the field it's time to lessen the role of Bradie James and Keith Brooking.

4) The Cowboys are going to be playing in a lot of close games. This just seems to be the nature of Jason Garrett as a coach. He can develop competitive game plans, but seems to be unable to make key adjustments for his team to close out games. Not making any predictions yet, but I just feel games this season against good and bad teams will be close.

5) Finally, lack of depth is going to be a big issue this season almost across every position except LB, TE, and QB. None will be a bigger concern than at RB. I actually feel good about the talent at RB with Felix Jones, Tashard Choice, and Demarco Murray, but I just wonder if they will be healthy. They all have history of injuries and even if they are on the field if they are battling injuries they will be ineffective. It would be great if they could package all 3 and go get a guy like Chris Johnson who the Titans refuse to pay!

I know you have to be thinking how can I not make any comments on the OL? I didn't see enough in this game to weigh in on that yet. I will look forward to the next few preseason games to get a better idea of how this team will shape up for 2011.

President Obama has a Midwest Problem

2011-08-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

After the 2010 Midterm elections the pundits had just about predicted all Democrats would be out of office by 2012. Some acknowledged that these trends followed typical midterm election results and not any specific referendum, but I think the most telling referendum in today's electorate is that they will vote out the incumbent no matter who it is.

After careful analysis of the election results it became very apparent to me that in spite of the 2010 election results, President Obama's 2012 electability is still quite strong and that is without even taking into consideration the weak field of GOP Presidential candidates.

The biggest shake-up was in the House with the Democrats losing a whopping 63 seats, but electoral votes are allocated statewide not in House Districts so one would be hard-pressed to extrapolate those results to statewide election results in 2012. The better barometer would be the statewide races for the Senate and for Governor. Which on the surface considering the Democrats lost 6 seats in each race you would think would reflect a similar result as the outcome of the House races, but there are a few things to consider.

When you examine the states that flipped from Democrats to GOP you will see a trend. In the Senate race it was ND, AR, WI, IL, IN, PA, and AR. In the Gubernatorial race it was WY, NM, KS, OK, TN, OH, PA, ME, IA, WI, and MI.

So the first thing you notice is...that is a lot of losses!!! Then you look state by state and you will quickly realize many of these are states that President Obama didn't win in the landslide victory in 2008. So if you consider what is really at risk in 2012 are the states that he won that flipped from the Democrats to GOP which leaves NM, IA, WI, MI, OH, PA, and ME.

If you look at this collection of states and you stayed awake in Geography class you will now understand the title of my blog post. Democrats had big losses in the traditionally Democratic Midwest. This will be the key battleground for President Obama in the 2012 election campaign. Democrats need to get laser focused on the issues that are concerning the Midwest and make sure it is clear that the GOP candidates are not campaigning to fix these issues, but rather to usher in a political ideology of failed policies. We have seen the results of this in states like WI, so voters are already seeing the error of their ways... I notice the Presidential Bus Tour is focused on the Midwest so this concern has not been lost by the Campaign.

Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face!

2010-10-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

That great American pugilist Mike Tyson was once asked about whether it worried him that his opponent was training hard and seemed to have developed a fight plan against him. Tyson respond with something to the effect of "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face".

So true. Once you get knocked back on your heals, everything changes, with your plans often getting scrapped in the process.

Republicans now hold 41-59 majority in the Senate!

2010-01-20T10:31:00.000-08:00

The results of the MA Senate race resulting in a win for the Republicans is said to be a referendum on health care? I say that it a small part of a number of problems.

I mean Coakley obviously ran a poor campaign. She called Curt Schilling a Yankee fan, spelled her own state incorrectly, and took an actual vacation after the primaries? In today's media cycle these type gaffes get more talked about; not the issues. The Schilling comment alone got her labeled as "out of touch" and "moronic" by much of the MA electorate. Coakley squandered what was an almost 30 pt lead in the polls in 30 days.

But as I initially stated there was more to this that was beyond her control. The lack of real progress in the Democratic-controlled Congress cannot be ignored. Congress has been debating the Health Care issue for about a year now and the bill still hasn't been passed. If a bill had been passed it takes the Health Care issue off the table. Instead Brown was able to Champion himself as the hero that could save them from "government take-over of health care."

Congress has accomplished little even with the so called "super-majority." I think people are angry that nothing is getting done and many took their anger out on Coakley by either not voting at all or voting for Brown.

The Democrats unfortunately have stalled on an issue that is virtually split in support across the country. 50% are against the health care plan, while 50% support it and probably half of each side is rather indifferent to see any change made at all.

America has watched the Democrats trip over themselves to see a bill that satisfies the wishes of pretty much no one, while facing unilateral opposition from the minority party. Not a single Republican is evaluating the details of the bill considering what they like and dislike, they are instead leading a unified effort to stifle any progress. While democrats are arguing with one another like teenage siblings. As Dr. King stated, "genuine leaders are not searchers for consensus but molders of consensus."

Democrats barked up the wrong tree making Health Care the #1 issue with support being rather lukewarm across the country. They would have been better served pursuing aggressive regulation of the financial institutions that received huge bailouts and are still passing out bonuses. There is unified support among all Americans to see action and if the Republicans were forced to show public opposition to attempts to clean up Wall Street the Democrats could have buried them for decades!

Instead we will sit and watch them trip over each other into a 2010 mid-term election slaughter and see the perpetual cycle of legislative ineffectiveness continue to blossom...

Curse Bush or Thank Obama?

2010-01-15T12:47:00.000-08:00

As my 401K portfolio is finally equal to the value it was before the 2008 economic crisis. Should I continue to curse Bush or should I just be thankful for Obama?

It amazes me that "Economics" in America is still an open dialogue. Listening to Republican and Conservative opinion in regards to any fiscal matters would be equivalent to me accepting financial advice from my drunk uncle who works every day, lives with his mother, drives a 25 year old Buick, and borrows $20 from me every time he stops by. Not to mention that once his mother dies he will lose her house because he is too irresponsible to pay the taxes every year. This is basically the state that Conservatives Economic Policy has left this country.

Did we forget the economy was losing jobs at a rate of close to 700,000 jobs a month, credit markets were functioning poorly, the GDP was in a free fall, and a second Great Depression was imminent? Now instead of being in the middle of Depression we are talking about a recovery!

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka Stimulus Bill), which the President signed less than a month after taking office was unpopular to many, but has undoubtedly helped to stabilize our Economy. We must recognize the "economy" is 50% about real numbers, and 50% just about how people feel or think things are going.

The GDP, in a free fall for three quarters, barely fell in the second quarter of 2009, rose in the third and will see larger growth in the fourth quarter.

Job loss, which averaged 691,000 jobs a month is the first quarter of 2009, averaged 69,000 in the fourth quarter.

The Dow Jones, sitting at a disastrous 6500 points 30 days into the Obama Presidency and everybody blamed his failed policies. Now that Obama's policies are actually fueling the economy the Dow is over 10,700 points and it's in "real" money not the "Madoff" money we had during the Bush years.

With the economy still losing jobs and unemployment at 10 %, the economy is obviously far from healthy, but stabilizing the economy is just not enough. The problems that led to the crisis were years in the making.

We need to complete efforts like financial regulatory that protect the economy from actions that could threaten financial and economic stability, and protect our financial system from the abuse of powerful financial institutions like AIG. Conservatives mock these attempts to reform???

You can say the Obama administration isn't doing everything right, but what they are doing is working!!! As I am continually frustrated by the rhetoric, as always one of the "David's" from Obama's Campaign laid out the facts more eloquently than I ever could. That is why Obama won so overwhelmingly because of his brain trust1 Enjoy this article by David Axelrod.

Not out of the woods yet!

2010-01-08T14:34:00.000-08:00

After the Dallas Cowboys surprised us all and won the NFC East Division in a season where even the most adamant fans were predicting 9-7. There is a notion that Wade Phillips should return as coach for the Dallas Cowboys. I say he is not out of the woods yet, but not ready to send him out to pasture either.

Although, he gets credit for having outperformed expectations, the bar is still the same for him to return next season.

WIN A PLAYOFF GAME!!!

Considering the scenario it isn't much to ask. You have one of the hottest teams in the NFL, playing at home, against a team that you have already beaten twice of which one game you held them scoreless. To not win a playoff game at this point would unfortunately enhance support for his firing as he would have squandered a great opportunity for he 2nd time. Although it may not materialize, it would be more than logical to believe the right guy could come in and get this team over the hump.

At this point the Defense is playing as good as any Cowboys defense has ever played. For that reason we would all be sad to see Wade Phillips go. We would hope to at least keep him around as our Defensive Coordinator. Don't get me wrong, I am rooting for you Wade. Not because I like you, just because I always wish success for the Cowboys and if you can lead us I am in your corner.

Can't get it out of my face!

2010-01-07T08:55:00.001-08:00

I had never heard of her prior to this night, but it has been almost 2 months and I still can't shake the hook "Sweet Ass in yo face", sang by Olivia Munn from Attack of the Show on the Jimmy Fallon show. She said her show was geared to the "idiocracy." I guess I am guilty as charged... Here is the video from the show, the song is about 1/2 way into the video

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

NFL Scheduling Formula

2010-01-04T11:10:00.000-08:00

I believe I figured out the NFL scheduling formula, and thus figured out the 2010 Schedule for the Dallas Cowboys.

Here is the Formula:
Play each team in Division Twice – Eagles, Giants, Redskins (since Cowboys play in NFC East)

Play each team from another NFC Division – next year this will be the NFC North (because Cowboys played South – 2009, and West – 2008)

Play each team from an AFC Division – next year this will be the AFC South (because Cowboys played West – 2009, North – 2008, and East – 2007)

Play NFC teams that had like finish in their respective divisions – this would be the other NFC Division leaders (since Cowboys won the division)

So here is the schedule:

Home Games
Eagles, Giants, Redskins, Bears, Jaguars, Titans, Saints, Lions

Away Games
Eagles, Giants, Redskins, Vikings, Colts, Texans, Packers, Cardinals

For most opponents I determined home/away based on where the last game was played. A couple of the teams we have played for various reasons outside of the rotational cycle so there is some flexibility for those opponents.

As for pre-season I haven’t determined a pattern yet, we’ll see if I got this one right and then go from there. Give it a shot for your favorite NFL team.

Obama has done "Nothing", PT. 5

2009-11-04T06:56:00.000-08:00

When I started this series I worried the fact that I don't blog regularly would make this ineffective. That is part of the problem, what I didn't appreciate is that he would actually accomplish so much on a daily basis. I end up in this paralysis of trying to decide what to post I end up not having enough time to decide which story to run with and post the details on the blog.

Today on the anniversary of the historic election of the 44th President of the United States Mr. Barack H. Obama, I get to reflect on the entire experience and the emotion I felt through the campaign culminating with the victory on Election Day. Don't worry by reflecting I don't mean I am going to type out all of my thoughts from the first day I learned of Barack Obama until now. Fortunately there are 2 resources that chronicle this in a way far superior than anything I can ever dream of doing:

The HBO Documentary BY THE PEOPLE: THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA which premiered last night. I think what the Obama Campaign did in Iowa is a movie all by itself coming from obscurity against a Goliath candidate and coming out victorious, but the entire story just might have you in tears... Watching this movie is watching history, but for the first time I can reflect what I was doing, what I was thinking, how I felt, and how I was involved!
Obama's Campaign manager David Plouffe wrote a blog post on Huffington Post in response to Ariana Huffington (as the Humanity Critic so elegantly stated her elaborate plot to have people take her hamfistedly clumsy articles seriously). DAVID PLOUFFE: No Difference Between President Obama and Candidate Obama. This article is a masterpiece chronicling the administration that already has made a significant down payment on the change so many fought for last year.

Obama has done "Nothing", PT. 4

2009-10-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed his first bill into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which overruled the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. which I wrote about in a previous blog post.

The bill amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stating that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new discriminatory paycheck.

A first bill to amend the statutory limitations period and supersede the Ledbetter decision was introduced in Congress but was never enacted, as after having been passed by the House it failed to survive in the Senate due to the opposition of most of the Republican Senators.

President Obama has long championed this bill and Lilly Ledbetter's cause, and by signing it into law, ensures that women like Ms. Ledbetter and other victims of pay discrimination can effectively challenge unequal pay.

alildabwilldoya on Twitter

2009-10-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

I failed to post a note on the blog that I am on Twitter now. I can be found at http://twitter.com/alildabwilldoya.

Forget what you heard Twitter is a good resource for news, information, commentaries from the pundits of your choice, and keeping up with the happenings and thoughts of your bff's! What makes it really great is that it does all that in only 140 characters per tweet.

Perfect for someone that tends to drag on their thoughts like me........

Obama has done "Nothing", PT.3

2009-10-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

This one is called:

"Cleaning up after the Bush Bank Bailout"

I was never convinced of the necessity of Bush's Bank Bailout, but as Vice President Joe Biden stated, "Instead of being in the middle of a depression, we are talking about coming out of a recession."

I see the bailout as part of the strategic vision of Republican strategists to maintain their relevance. The largest transfer of wealth to the wealthiest of Americans ever. They saddled the next administration with debt beyond what most of us could even comprehend which has severely limited the Obama administration from achieving their own initiatives as they try to clean up the mess that was left.

Lastly, the best part of their strategy is in play now, as they have spent the last several months painting the Democrats as the ones responsible for the bailouts and uncontrollable federal spending. Brilliant strategy and it has worked masterfully.

In steps the Pay Czar, one of Obama's much maligned "czars" (a conservative media phenomenomem that is dismantled here on http://factcheck.org/). When Obama took office he mandated some structure be put around the reckless management of the billions of funds released by the Bush Administration that was largely (if not completely) unaccounted for.

The Pay Czar is delivering a payback in his latest move to deny salary or bonus from Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis. Lewis was set to receive millions in salary and bonuses while his company posted $2.24B in losses for the 3Q after accepting $45 billion dollars from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) (a.k.a Bush Bank Bailout).

Kenneth Feinberg, is the U.S. Treasury Department's special master for compensation and is scrutinizing pay packages at bailed-out banks. In fact Lewis will pay back about $1 million he has received so far out of a $1.5 million annual salary. Lewis will be the first of many CEO’s to have their pay packages scrutinized which under the Bush administration had little to no accountability for the funds they had received.

Obama has done "Nothing", PT.2

2009-10-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

This one is called:

"Why do they hate you?"

Wonderful video, I love President Obama's attitude! Spoken like a Nobel Peace Prize Winner!!!After this I bet he asks Michelle Obama if she wants to try for a son.....

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Obama has done "Nothing", PT.1

2009-10-15T06:39:00.000-07:00

Starting a new series chronicling this notion that Obama has done nothing. Since I don't blog with regularity this is probably a bad series for me to take on, but I am going to give it a shot. Debating whether I want to do some investigative reporting and chronicle the hundreds of things that he has already done or just highlight the many things to come. We'll see.

Today's entry: Obama's first trip to New Orleans

While it's Obama's first trip to New Orleans, it's the administration's 18th trip to the city and administration officials have made 35 trips to the Gulf Coast since March.

When Obama became president, FEMA said there were more than 120 Louisiana reconstruction projects stalled in federal-state disputes. Since January, 76 of those have been resolved.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, has credited Obama's team with bringing a more practical and flexible approach to the reconstruction process. "There's a sense of momentum and a desire to get things done," he said in August.

2009 NFL for Dummies (Weighing in on Week 5)

2009-10-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

I haven’t really made any predictions this season, but outside of the Broncos, Bengals, Titans, Saints, and Panthers I don’t think it would have changed much if I had done this pre-season. Keeping this one simple I am going to divide up all 32 teams by conference and place them in categories as to how they have performed and how I think they will perform this season. Having signed up for the NFL Red Zone package this season I am hoping I am better equipped than ever! After 5 weeks of NFL football as the fat fish (Coach Bill Parcells) used to say, “you are what you are:"

NFC

Elite Teams – best teams in the league, the teams you should sit down and watch every week

Saints - They have been here before and always leave the critics wondering if they have staying power, but with their schedule unless Brees goes down I don’t see them losing more than 3 or 4 games. Aside from QB their overall depth has vastly improved.
Giants – They are probably the best and most consistent team in the NFL. Even with injuries they find ways to win.
Vikings – This was destined to be a good team w/o having a decent QB. Now with Favre surrounded by all of this talent and a great defense if he can hold up this team is scary!
Eagles – Just to show I am not just going down the line and picking the teams with the best records, this team has a top 5 player at so many positions and backups that would start on some teams. Their only loss is to Saints and they kept rolling w/o arguably the NFL’s best QB in McNabb. Unlike previous years if McNabb or Westbrook goes down expect this team to keep rolling

Likely Playoff Teams – these teams should be in if they win the games they are supposed to win

Falcons – More than anything with the NFC South having 2 inept teams, the Falcons are playing pretty good football and likely to win 10 or 11 games.
Cardinals – Someone has to win the NFC West! I would like to pick a pretty talented Seattle team but they will have a hard time fighting through all of the injuries and also have a pretty tough schedule. The 49ers are the hot pick but I doubt they have the staying power. Although Super Bowl losing teams often miss the playoffs the following season, the Cardinals only need 6-7 more wins to get in and with the Rams twice, the Lions, the Titans, and the Panthers remaining on the schedule this is almost a lock!

In the Hunt – teams that will make it hard for their conference and divisional foes

49ers –In a mediocre NFC West basically all of the teams have a shot! This will come down to head-to-head matchups in the division of which they have already won in games against the Cardinals and Seahawks, but with no depth on this young team injuries are going to take a toll.
Seahawks - This is a very talented team, but w/o QB Matt Hassleback for a few weeks they looked awful. When Hassleback is laying this team has a chance to win, but with key injuries on the OL I don't think this team will keep there key players healthy enough to hold up.
Bears – This was a decent team without a QB, now they have a franchise QB in Cutler. Team that up with some good coaching and this is a team that definitely has a shot. If they can hold serve against the Vikings late in December this could be a Wild Card team.

Window Shopping – teams that will find themselves a play or two away when they look back on the season

Packers – this team will likely be 9-7, but this year I don’t think that is going to get you in the playoffs in the NFC (except for the NFC West where the division winner may be 9-7). They are going to have to beat one of the teams in the hunt head-to-head. Fortunately they will get a shot!
Cowboys – not only will they not beat any teams in which they are the underdog, but they will certainly lose to teams when they are the favorite. Looking at the December schedule they could possibly lose all of their last 5 games.

What Happened? – These teams can’t be this bad...

Redskins – I think I am one of the few people surprised as the Redskins were picked to wallow by most critics, but I just thought they had too much talent. Another early 1st RD draft pick will be great for their new coach.
Panthers – this is actually a recurring theme for the Panthers, up one season down the next….

Looking forward to the 2010 Draft – stockpile more talent, it may be a few more years

Lions, Bucs, and Rams – not even worth the editorial……

AFC

Elite Teams – unlike the NFC, this team is in a class all alone

Colts – Manning is having his best start to a season, which is actually better than pretty much any QB ever!! Good to see this team pass the torch and keep rolling. We are going to need at least 2 teams to beat them to show the rest of the league it can be done

Likely Playoff Teams – these teams should be in if they win the games they are supposed to win.

Broncos – not sure how the other critics see it, but I still can’t call the AFC’s only other unbeaten team “elite.” Fortunately for them they play well at home, but they go on the road now. The Broncos kind of remind me of the Steelers last season, you keep wondering how many games can a team win going down to the last play of the game?? The Steelers rode that all the way to a 6th Super Bowl. This team will likely win 11 games!
Chargers – For whatever reason the critics are down on the Chargers, but I see this team at worst only losing 2-3 more games and actually winning the AFC West. Pound for pound the most talented team in the AFC.
Jets – Although the critics want to make them an “elite” team because of the outstanding play of Rookie QB Mark Sanchez what I see is the best OL in the NFL making it easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy for the young QB. The scheduling gods set it up good for this team to make the playoffs…
Patriots – As long as Tom Brady is the QB and Bill Belichick is the coach I am picking this team for the playoffs.
Ravens – I am looking for the Ravens to do what the Steelers did last season, battle close and win a lot of tight games. Fortunately for them the schedule has most of their toughest games at home.

In the Hunt – teams that will make it hard for their conference and divisional foes

Steelers – last year’s Super Bowl champs are similar to the Panthers in being unable to string along consecutive strong seasons. They won their fair share of close games last season, but luck is starting to run out! They will make it hard on every team they play.
Bengals – When the scheduling gods smiled at the Jets they decided to unleash their wrath on the Bengals. They have fought through a tough schedule already, but it just keeps getting harder. This is a good team, unfortunately they are undoubtedly in the toughest division in the AFC and there will not be room for letdowns.

Window Shopping – teams that will find themselves a play or two away when they look back on the season

Texans – basically the AFC’s version of the Cowboys, just a coincidence they are in the same state
Dolphins – unfortunately for the Dolphins they just ran out of room at the top of the AFC.

What Happened? – These teams can’t be this bad...

Titans – This team is the biggest surprise of the season. No one picked them to be bad, more less potentially the worst team in the league. We knew the QB Kerry Collins would eventually fall off, and the hole in the middle left by Albert Haynesworth leaving for the Redskins appears to be like a tire punched in the sidewall.
Jaguars – This one you could kind of see coming, but never thought this would be a team that would be getting blown away. They have too much talent and have always been too fundamentally sound to be playing as inept as they have shown thus far.

Looking forward to the 2010 Draft – stockpile more talent, it may be a few more years

Browns, Raiders, Bills, Chiefs – not even worth the editorial……

So to sum all of this up my playoff picks are the teams I listed as “elite" or “likely playoff teams.” I hope the teams “in the hunt” make it interesting down the stretch. My Super Bowl picks this year are the Eagles (NFC) and the Colts (AFC). I will admit this is a change from my pre-season picks (as it pertains to the Colts) as I thought there would be more of a drop-off under a new coach, but I forgot Manning does the “real” coaching on this team. I look for the Ravens and Chargers to really ride the Colts to the bitter end. The Eagles will have an extremely rough road in the playoffs, as they may not win their own division, but their potential to make big plays will give them a shot to come out victorious in any situation. I can’t help but get excited predicting a Super Bowl that puts what I believe are the 2 best QB’s in the NFL on the field to battle it out, and to sweeten the deal we will have the Black QB (McNabb) on one side, and the Black HC (Caldwell) on the other. Pretty Sweet!!!

Choose the Better Right

2009-10-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

III. Choose the Better Right

Just reviewing the 4 basic Biblical principles above I amazed that anyone could come to any other conclusion than to vote for Barack Obama. Even if you disagree with my opinions if you listed it out every single component of each of these Biblical principles and actually evaluated the candidates positions based on facts (not rhetoric that you hear on MSNBC or Fox News) it is undeniable that the agenda being promoted by Obama lines up significantly more so than what is being promoted by McCain. I believe if a lot of liberals or progressives actually took time to evaluate the specifics of his views they would be a little more tentative about their support. The “Change” Obama speaks of is not just rhetoric to be more tolerant it is actually pursuing the teachings of the Bible not just cherry-picking them for political gain.

IV. Ask for Wisdom (Proverbs 29:2)

If you note in the scripture referenced it says that when the “evil rule the people groan.” The people have never groaned as loud as they did this November and throughout the campaign season. Obama won more so from the people’s displeasure with the Bush administration than he did on his own merit or anything that John McCain did or said. Only the wealthy thrived under Bush the rest of us are left to support the burdens of their prosperity.

V. Pray for our Leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

Regardless if the candidate you supported prevailed as Christians we are called to pray for our leaders. I fault all of the so called Christians that failed to pray for President Bush as we watched him digress from the Christian and Conservative principles that he campaigned for to succumb to his ambition for economic gain and power. Let us not allow President Obama to lose his tenacity to pursue God’s agenda because Christians fail to support him with our prayers.

VI. God continues to Sit on the Throne (Daniel 12:20-21)

In verse 21 Daniel says God sets up Kings and disposes them. I truly feel that God allowed President Bush to lead this nation for two terms to prepare us for President Obama. Obama could have never succeeded under the mindset that Americans held at the turn of the century. God allowed us to see a disintegration of everything Americans believe before they could see beyond their fear and hatred and accept one that is truly capable of promoting God-centered qualities and equality. President Obama presents the best picture to both sides. To liberals he represents a purer representation of Biblical and moral principles that go beyond your personal faith, but just make plain sense to all men. To conservatives he stands as one that can actually articulate actionable items to achieve those moral and biblical standards not just use them as rhetoric to score political points.

In closing, to me this is such an obvious conclusion I cannot help but be disturbed by many Christians that have chose to disregard the teachings of the Bible and aggressively demonize President Obama. I have actually heard him ridiculed for statements that are specific principles and teachings from the Bible that all Christians supposedly use as instructions for our life. What is it that blinds you to the abhorrent symbol that McCain and Palin represent of morality, conservatism, and human decency. Is it really Obama’s stand on abortion (which is a topic for another day) that bothers you?

"God's Politics" will often turn our partisan politics upside down, transcend our ideological categories of Left and Right, and challenge the core values and priorities of our political culture. There is no easy jump from God's politics to either the Republicans or Democrats. God is neither. In any election, we face imperfect choices, but our choices should reflect the things we believe God cares about as people of faith. Therefore, people of faith, should be "values voters" but vote all our values not just a few that can be easily manipulated for the benefit of one party or another.

There is about as much BLAME as there were FANS....

2009-09-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

Spilling out of the Cowboys-Giants Inaugural Game at the new Cowboys Stadium, 2 themes came out of this historic game where 105,121 fans attended.

Romo is a bust…..
This team will underachieve for yet another season.

Since I spent ½ of the game too tipsy to even stand up. I spent a couple hours watching the game and putting my thoughts on this blog on my day off last Friday. I noted down every offensive and defensive series and chronicled what I thought went right or went wrong and who I felt was responsible.

Here are some of the common themes for the Cowboys Offense:

WR’s can’t get open
Good downfield blocking by WR’s
Giants D adjusted to Cowboys play at the line of scrimmage to force turnovers
Offense look good in the red zone
Penalties kill drives
Poor execution of all aspects of a play can lead to turnovers
Jason Garret tends to panic when the Cowboys get behind
Seems like Giants picked up on some tendencies on Garret’s play-calling or the formations we are running
The Lead Draw is the "money" play
Offensive line dominated huge running lanes, no sacks on Romo!

Here are some of the common themes for the Cowboys Defense:

No pass rush
Defense did a good job stopping run
Manningham abused Scandrick (I mean like criminally)
Jenkins actually played pretty well when he was in (I think this switching starters every week is over after this week)
Lot of blitzing out of nickel which was very ineffective
Giants WR’s making some circus catches
Poor tackling
If you heard the all of the talk about Demarcus Ware and did not know his #, you would think it was #90 (Jay Ratliff is a B-E-A-S-T)
Penalties killing a lot of good defensive stops
Safeties out of place a lot completely biting on play action
If this was a hockey game they would pull Scandrick out of respect for his manhood (I think Steve Smith just went AI and broke his ankles and left him laying on the ground)
Safeties still unable to cover TE’s
We are playing the PREVENT defense with 4 minutes left and a 1 pt lead?
Eli Manning appears to have mastered the 2 min offense.

As you can see despite Romo’s turnovers the offense put up 31 points and was actually pretty dominant. Definitely had Romo not turned over the ball the Cowboys may have won, but they actually could have won in spite of the turnovers had the defense just stepped up for one more drive.

So let’s evaluate the popular themes vs. what actually happened.

Romo is a bust!

Romo played awful, but he didn’t play “he is a bust” awful, he just had another awful game and the excuses a-r-e running out but you have to love that even when he plays awful the Cowboys still often find themselves in a position to win because he never gives up (excluding the Eagles game last season).

I think Garrett actually called a pretty good game, but a few things concerned me which I casually mentioned in my notes above. He panicked when we got down. Everyone cites the drive Romo threw the ball downfield as bad play calling by Garret, but I actually think this was a good call. The running game was dominant, conventional wisdom would be to ram the ball down their throat, but he wanted to catch them off-guard and burn them over the top with a pass downfield. The problem here is that the FS for the Giants was lined up 30 yards off the ball, and Sam Hurd was triple-covered on the play.

So the Giants evidently picked up that going deep on an obvious running down was a tendency for Garrett and they were ready for it. In addition, Romo did an absolutely awful fake to Barber to set up the pass.

This played out on an earlier play as well, the Cowboys lined up on the ball and the Giants were in man-to-man defense. The Giants LB Antonio Pierce saw the formation and audibled the defense into a zone and the DB was sitting in the perfect spot for an INT that turned into a TD for the Giants. It’s as if they knew exactly what the Cowboys were going to run out of that formation in that situation.

So back to Garret panicking… After the final Romo INT, the Giants scored and took the lead. Garrett sends the offense out and throws 3 straight downfield passes. You would have thought we were down by 20 points with 3 minutes left to play, when we were actually only down 6 with 11 minutes to play?? He should have been MUCH more patient and not panicked but stuck with what had been working the entire game. You change your game plan when it is not working, if it is working keep going to the well it won’t come up dry.

The other issue is the WR’s. I mentioned the offensive line play was dominant. Granted the Giants were down a couple of guys, but I watched them the week before just unload relentlessly on the Redskins and I truly felt Romo might not finish the game because he would get sacked so many times. That never happened, the offense rushed for over 250 yards and Romo never got sacked and rarely got pressured. So it makes you say why did we have 3 INT’s and only 127 yards passing if the offensive line was dominant?

The WR’s could never get open. The fault for this falls squarely on the management. There is just no excuse for the play we are getting at WR. We have been talking about this being a problem for years, even when TO was here, but this year to have a #1 WR that has been inconsistent throughout his entire career, and a group of guys that would make great 4th and 5th WR’s on most rosters is just unacceptable. yes, they can geenrate 300 yards of passing against bad teams, but at some point you need guys that play good against god teams....We are paying TO $9M and he is playing in Buffalo, and every week I have to watch WR’s drafted in the 3rd and 4th rounds going for 100 yards in a game. We have not drafted a top WR in over a decade. Even with additions of TO and Roy Williams you have to make an effort to find and develop young talent.

I see guys like Smith and Mannnigham for the Giants that were drafted in the 3rd and 4th rounds. I see players like Dwayne Bowe and Desean Jackson who are 1st rounders that we passed on who all indications are they will be top 10 WR’s. You don’t even have to leave the NFC East and see how every team has built a core of young WR’s that are paying huge dividends. While the Cowboys are still trotting out guys that we have been hoping would breakthrough for over 3 years…..

I saved my break down of the defense for another blog post. So let’s look at the other theme:

This team will underachieve for yet another season…..

What we really saw in this game is the better team won. When the Giants got the ball with 3 minutes left and only down by 1 point everyone in the stadium and watching on TV had a strong sensation the Cowboys were about to lose this game. Best case the Giants would score quickly and give the Cowboys offense a last second chance to come back. I couldn’t help but recall the week earlier watching the Ravens defense close out the Chargers in a similar situation. Thinking that is what good teams do, in crunch time whether it’s the defense or the offense on the field they close it out for the win. Although I could not appreciate it until the morning after this was a great game and when I review my picks for this season this is a game I felt the Cowboys would lose.

I am not sure what the expectation really should have been, you have a team that went 9-7 last season decide that they would actually get better by having less talent!!! This may actually work for team that goes 12-4 and loses in the Conference Championship, but this logic never works for teams that miss the playoffs. If the Cowboys can go 9-7 this season I think they will have actually OVER-ACHIEVED!!!!

I believe there is supposed to be a "D" in DEFENSE

2009-09-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

There is a recurring theme I see is on the Cowboys defense this season.

Aside from an overall lack of talent and depth most of the players genuinely don’t seem like they know what they are supposed to be doing on the field????

You get a player like Orlando Scandrick that is money playing man coverage in the slot, but put out on an island as the starting CB half the time he appeared to not know where he was supposed to be on the field and who he was supposed to cover. Taking your DB’s and playing them in what they call "quarters" is not working. Unless you are getting a pass rush, it just leaves too many holes. Given time a WR can run out of the ¼ of the field covered by 1 DB and run into the area covered by another one, but the DB’s don’t seem to understand where they should be and who they should cover when that happens. Heaven forbid you put 2 WR’s in the same 1/4, all hell breaks loose!! I am not even sure Dave Campo the Secondary coach understands it because he has certainly been unsuccessful getting the players to execute it properly.

Wade and Jerry have really messed this Defense up!

Let’s start with the personnel decisions: You lose Canty, Henry, Ellis, Williams, Jones , Johnson, Thomas, and Burnett. In today’s NFL basically any player that plays on the base or nickel defense is a starter so we lost effectively 8 starters:

Starting with the sheer amazement that we have no depth at LB for a defensive system that is centered around the LB position? This is unacceptable. I undetsand that getting Brooking for Thomas is a fair trade off, and it was probably time to allow for Spencer to take over as a starter. The real problem is there is no depth, it used to be when Ellis went out, and you had a fresh beast of a rusher like Spencer coming in, now you basically can’t sub them out at all. In the Nickel Carpenter taking over for Burnett is laughable. If there was a spot for a nickel LB in the Pro Bowl Burnett would have been that player. To replace him with Barbie Carpenter has been a huge liability.
As for the DB’s we went from having more depth at DB’s then we knew what to do with, to not even being sure if we had a player worthy of starting. As I mentioned earlier I think our DB problem is the system as much as it is the talent, but this CB experiment between Jenkins and Scandrick is deplorable. A head coach needs to be able to make a decision. The CB position is all about confidence and not naming a starter doesn’t give your young DB’s much confidence, and it actually makes the entire defense less confident.
On the DL, I always said we will see how much we miss Canty based on the production of Ware and so far he has zero sacks, so I would say we miss him quite substantially. I can understand losing Canty, but we made little effort to bring in adequate depth. We released Tank Johnson who was basically costing us nothing, and brought in Igor who I think is OK, but the numbers speak for themselves so far….

In addition to personnel and systems issues, lastly I must lament about the situational defensive decisions:

In the first game against the Bucs their QB (Leftwich) is considered sack-prone so we blitzed heavy and got burned in the running game. Wade did a good job in that game slowing down the attack and just sitting in the base defense and that was good enough to win that game. Well he built on that experience and decided to focus on stopping the run, and just playing the defense. Wrong decision! You are playing a much better team, with a QB that if you say we are going to sit back and make him have to beat you, he will beat you. Instead of giving up on the blitz packages, he should have spent the week focused on ensuring that when they blitz that they still have gap responsibility, that way if they run you are standing right in the running lane to make the play. You don’t give up you teach them to do it right.
The other is decisions like the one to go into a PREVENT defense with 3 minutes left in the game with the opponent only needing a FG to win the game. I love Wade’s comment, you have a series where you have 7 guys in coverage and 3 guys going out for passes you expect your players to make the plays to win that battle. Using conventional wisdom this makes perfect sense. Problem is this has never proven to be true, the PREVENT defense has only served to PREVENT teams from winning the game. It’s one thing to run it with under a minute and the other teams needs a TD but this was hardly the appropriate situation. Even our nickel defense is suspect, the PREVENT defense is completely useless…….

RECOVERY.GOV

2009-09-09T22:24:00.001-07:00

Obama preached transparency when he campaigned and he is using every available technology to achieve this promise. After my recent visit to the Midwest I saw the following sign over and over again. I couldn't help but think I have not seen ANY of these signs in Texas? Maybe Rick Perry is holding true to his claim not to take any Stimulus Money? We all know this isn't even remotely true.

Transparency causes one's rhetoric to match their record. This poses a problem for Governor Perry. Transparency illustrates via Recovery.gov the Stimulus spending by State.
Not only has Texas spent some of the Stimulus Money, but we have actually spent $3.5B of it. More than any other state except for California.

Instead of talking about being in a DEPRESSION we are discussing coming out of a recession.

Sonia from the Block!

2009-05-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

President Obama's choice of Judge Sonia Sotomayor today was yet another remarkable and quick decision. Her qualifications are impressive, as our President is a Constitutional Law Professor he took the time to read through many court decisions and opinions by Judge Sotomayor as well as the other candidates.

Born and raised in a South Bronx public housing project to Puerto Rican parents, Sotomayor has distinguished herself in academia, as a big-city prosecutor, and as a leading figure on the federal bench. She would start with more federal judicial experience than any new Justice in 100 years.

First appointed to the Federal District Court by President George H.W. Bush, and then elevated to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton, she has been confirmed by the Senate on 2 occasions. Which actually brings me to the point of my blog post today.

As we move into the Senate confirmations we will here endless speculation about her personal life and probably no more than 2 cases that seem to give concern to conservatives ignoring the remaining almost 20 years of court decisions.

Hence the brilliance of this pick. We have a woman that is without argument qualified. She has more federal judicial experience than those sitting on the court did when they were nominated, she graduated summa cum laude from Princeton and has a law degree from Yale, and has been a prosecutor, trial judge, and private lawyer.

To argue this pick could be 1 more dagger in the heart of the Republican Party. To gain ground they must appeal to minorities, their best opportunity is to gain ground with Hispanics the fastest growing minority. The treatment of Micheal Steele and Bobby Jindal by party loyalists represents the inherent resistance to anything but White Power! There is absolutely nothing to gain by challenging this nomination. The balance of the court (conservative vs. liberal) will remain virtually unchanged, and at the end of the day because of a Democratic majority in the Senate, her confirmation is inevitable.

So any argument of this selection can only serve to further ostracize the party.

I Thought Darth Vader Died?

2009-05-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

I had to do a post on the amazing resurrection of Dick Cheney. I recall asking the question over the last 8 years at least a dozen times, is Cheney still alive? I have not heard anything about him for months if not years. Then he shows up at Obama'a Inauguration in a wheel chair, and now he won't sit down and he won't shut up.

I really find this debate un-intersitng, as I imagine most people do considering some of the crisis we face. So I watched the speeches made by both men (Cheney and Obama) to try to get some perspective. I came out of it only slightly more interested, but poised to write this post because of one statement Cheney made, "When they see the American government caught up in arguments about interrogations, or whether foreign terrorists have constitutional rights, they don't stand back in awe of our legal system and wonder whether they had misjudged us all along. Instead the terrorists see just what they were hoping for - our unity gone, our resolve shaken, our leaders distracted. In short, they see weakness and opportunity."

Wow! I am trying to find out how this concern plays into his relentless desire to perpetuate this argument on a public stage. If the Obama administration was the only voice this story would largely be buried by the momentous activity that has been accomplished in such a short time, but the fact that Cheney won't shut up continues to propel this debate into the top of the media headlines.....

Now that I do have some perspective, I decided to actually weigh in :

Cheney slams Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. However, the effort to shut down the facility, began during Bush's second term, promoted by Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Cheney has yet to cite any specific plots that were disrupted by aggressive interrogations. Cheney is seeking the release of CIA reports that will show information gained from the interrogations, but the fact that suspects gave up information after harsh questioning does not definitively preclude the possibility that they might have given up information through less physical forms of interrogation – which is one of Obama’s central points. In addition, the hypocrisy of his line of attack, since his initial rallying cry is that the release of the memos by the Obama administration endanger our National Security? I guess it is OK to endanger National Security in an effort to vindicate your personal legacy??

Obama's line on this has not been without flaw, as he stated in his speech that, "We are not going to release anyone if it would endanger our national security, nor will we release detainees within the United States who endanger the American people.” In reality, he really can’t make this promise. If detainees are brought to U.S. soil it is at least possible that courts could order the release of prisoners brought to the U.S. to face military commissions or civilian trials and release a prisoner who is acquitted.

So to close lets just state what we do know as fact.... As Joe Biden says Cheney went too far and became an independent power center at the White House, keeping many of his activities secret from other policymakers and creating a Machiavellian decision-making process.

Mr. Cheney with all of the fear-mongering and proclamations about keeping this country safer 9/11 happened on your watch. You ignored warnings from experts in the CIA , the Defense Intelligence Agency , the State Department , the Department of Energy and other agencies, and used false and exaggerated intelligence supplied by Iraqi exile groups and others to help make the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenant, Ayman al Zawahri , remain at large nearly eight years after 9/11. Your administration began diverting U.S. forces, intelligence assets, time and money to planning an invasion of Iraq before finishing the war in Afghanistan against al Qaida and the Taliban .

There are now 49,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan fighting to contain the bloodiest surge in Taliban violence since the 2001 U.S. invasion, and Islamic extremists have launched their most concerted attack yet on neighboring and nuclear-armed Pakistan.

So spare us from the rhetoric that accomplished little when you actually had the power to do SOMETHING!!!!

Good Mavs or Bad Spurs?

2009-05-04T23:17:00.001-07:00

I make no secret I have been down on the Mavs since the day Mark Cuban fired Avery Johnson.

I will give credit to Rick Carlisle (the new Coach) with inconsistent play all season, the Mavs rolled into the playoffs on a high, and won over 50 games. Fans immediately begin to ponder maybe this coaching change was the right thing to do.....

I still maintain my initial argument and position that this was not a good change. The most recent defeat of the San Antonio Spurs in the 1st playoff series the Mavs have won since losing in the NBA finals in 2006.

At first glance this looks impressive, a few things must be considered:

1) This is a Mavs team with 1 1/2 years of playing with Jason Kidd not just 2-3 months. I will give credit where it is due. Jason Kidd is the type of leader that refuses to let his team lose. He gives them "the heart" that has been sorely missed the past few seasons. I believe he will make an excellent coach in this league some day.

2) The Mavs roster was constructed to beat one team in particular, the San Antonio Spurs. Similar to the match up for the Mavs in 2007 against Golden State, this was a bad match up for the Spurs.

3) Finally, what we actually witnessed in this series was BAD SPURS. The Spurs went into this series without the services of Manu Ginobli. This is equivalent to the Mavs coming in without Jason Terry and Josh Howard combined. In addition, Tim Duncan played with a an injury for most of the series. The shooting was horrendous, the Spurs lacked any consistent offensive production outside of Tony Parker. If a Spurs fan made this claim I would clown them for making excuses for that profound beat down they experienced, which NBA pundits coined, "The End of an Era."

The proof will be in the pudding, the Mavs will be just like the teams that beat them in the previous 2 years. An impressive 1st round series, only to get mauled in the next round where the best team generally wins, not the best match up! The Mavs are already off to a good start in preparation for Summer Vacation.

Conventional Wisdom

2009-05-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

Pondering on the Obama Administration's decision to release the Bush torture memos. It took me a while to figure out what I believe is the ultimate logic behind this decision.

Releasing under the vise of transparent government, attempting to turn the page on a dark side of American History. At the same time refusing to support pursuing legal action against members of the Bush Administration. This enraged Progressives, who are blood thirsty to see all of the members of the Bush team for an assortment of illegal actions that began before "W" even took office.

President Obama took a lot of heat for not pressing the issue, but as I reflect I see that he once again is manipulating this issue. It would be a perpetual wedge with conservatives to pursue legal action on this issue. So he introduced this in the mainstream, confident that the Democrats that are out for blood will be the ones to take on this issue and begin to put in place the appropriate actions to result in at a minimum consideration of the evidence for violations of the law.

This way just as he ran his campaign, he is not the one pursuing the unpopular issue that must be addressed. Relatively ingenuous... Not sure it will sell with Conservatives as at the end of the day his administration released the information, and the Conservatives have already drove the wedge in the ground deep enough that it will not be coming out anytime soon!

God is Not an Elephant

2008-11-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

There is this notion in the Political realm that the Republicans are the party of Christian Americans. To the point now that Christians tell each other that you can't be a Christian and vote Democratic. My original intent as a Democrat was to outline the corruption, scandals, and hypocrisy in the Republican Party to illustrate how this notion is a total misrepresentation, but the Sunday before election day my pastor gave a sermon on this topic. Keep in mind I go to a fairly large predominantly White Evangelical Church. Our congrgation is agressively Republican to the point where McCain bumper stickers are outnumbered only by "NOBama" bumper stickers. There were a few bumper stickers that just said "Sarah!" I even saw one that said something about "Palintology" (which I thought was ironic given that her thinking does seem to be from a different universe). But I digress....

I felt the message that my Pastor presented is much more pragmatic and appropriate than what I planned to present so I am going to share those thoughts. I will post a separate blog post to include my own relatively objective, but of course Obama leaning commentary (which I would argue leans because of the facts not my personal opinion). I have also included a video of the sermon so that you may hear for yourelf and not be solely subjected to my summary of the message.

Before I start I must say, one has to wonder what prompted my Pastor to even do a Sermon like this one. There is talk how this topic is splitting up churches all over the country. So why even discuss such an emotionally charged topic. I presume he felt compelled for 1 of 2 reasons. 1) He was being pressed by the Congregation to come out and take a side on this issue, as his counterparts across the country had put out a rallying cry for White Evangelicals to get out to the polls and vote Republican. 2) He was so deeply disturbed from the type of chatter he was hearing full of hatred and devoid of any Biblical principles he felt some response was required.

the believer, the Bible, and the ballot box

I. Participate in the Process - 39% of Evangelicals do not vote, 50% say the Church has no place in Politics. The Separation of Church and State was not intended to keep Christians away from Politics. The intent was to protect citizens from the State (a.k.a the Goverment) imposing religious values

II. Vote Biblical Values - The Sanctity of Human Life, Justice for All, Peace on Earth, Moral Conviction

A) The Sanctity of Human Life breaks out into the follwing categories: Protection of unbornchildren; dignity and compassion for unwanted pregnancies; compassion for the elderly; how we deal with the handicapped or disabled; children dying globally each day of preventable hunger and disease; genocide; war; the dealth penalty

B) Justice For All breaks into the following categories: Candidate that will pay attention to the poor, focus on overcoming the scandal of extreme global poverty and the shame of such unnecessary domestic poverty in the richest nation in the world; demonstrate compassionate treatment of Aliens promoting an immigration system with comprehensive reform in ways that are compassionate, fair, and just; no tolerance for crime; foreign policy that seeks to rid the world of injustice.

C) Peace on Earth breaks into the following categories: Peace is a God-centered quality, candidate that works across party lines, strives to establish equality, regards God's favor on those Nations who have blessed Israel.

D) Moral Conviction breaks into the following categories: Candidates character and background matter; accepts responsibility for mistakes; will best exemplify and articulate strong family values speaking of sexual restraint and integrity, marital fidelity, strong parenting, and putting family values over economic values

III. Choose the Better Right - At the end of the day most candidates have the same goal, the difference is how they intend to get there. Choose the view that has the fewest difficulties.

IV. Ask for Wisdom - Vote based on a Christian World view, not a Traditional view (Proverbs 29:2)

V. Pray for our Leaders - All requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone. For kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

VI. God continues to Sit on the Throne - Our hope must remain in God, our leaders are never apart from the soverign hands of God (Daniel 12:20-21)

Beyond Expectations

2008-11-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

I can boast that I never once doubted Obama's Victory, but I must admit to doubting the potential for a landslide. Even with empirical data to support it, I just didn't think it would it happen until it did. So much so I even neglected reliable sources that predicted a much wider margin.

So let's look at what I predicted and what actually happened.

I predicted an Obama victory of 276-262. The actual results are 365-173. This actually outperformed even the most pro-Obama polls. So what happened?

The poll buster like a 15 seed in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament was Indiana. This was not shown as a win for Obama in any poll. Few polls even showed the race within the margin of error. This was a solid red state having voted that way since before I was born. 2 things happened in Indiana to help Obama win the state:

1) Voter Turnout: The Obama campaign having such a strong ground game in Indiana got word to the HQ that there was a chance in Indiana. Indiana being a neighboring state with a large part of the population basically considered Suburban Chicago. The Obama Campaign dispatched campaign workers and volunteers from states like Illinois and Wisconsin where victory was considered certain and flooded Indiana. Exit polls in Indiana showed that 37% of voters in Indiana were contacted by the Obama campaign, while only 22% were contacted by McCain. This happened in NV and CO also where Obama performed much better than shown in the polls. So it was more likely that voter turnout supported the victory than Republicans that decided to vote for Obama. The Democrats just got more people out to the polls than the uninspired Republican voters. The Democratic base was mobilized in this state becuase of the Primary Election where Clinton narrowly won, and the Democrats capitalized on this energy.

2) Reverse-Bradley Effect: There was a lot of talk about the Bradley Effect but it appears the reverse actually happened. I can appreciate this being in Texas (a Red State), where unfortunately Whites feel in the minority when claiming their intent to vote for a Democrat. I don't think these folks necessarily said they would vote for McCain, they more likely said they were undecided or not going to vote at all but in the end cast their vote for Obama.

So what else happened?

VA, OH, and FL. Ohio and Florida aren't total surprises as Democrats have won in these states fairly recently. More than anything Obama did "The Economy" and Sarah Palin basically handed these states to Obama. In these states people that had intended to vote for McCain changed their minds due to one or both of these issues and voted for Obama. Now in VA, I believe we have seen a shift in the electorate. Due to the margin of victory, and the fact that Democrats have prevailed overwhelmingly in political races here for the past 2 years this state may become a stronghold for Democrats. The Party must take note that the supporters in VA are Centrists (or Moderates) and maintain that position or the momentum may be lost.

North Carolina is somewhat of a cross between VA and IN. All of the factors I have mentioned came into play in this state.

The LANDSLIDE win is amazing. Obama won the Popular Vote by 8M votes and he won 28 states, DC, and even 1 Congressional District in Nebraska who distributes their electoral votes using the Congressional District Method. Equally as exiting as the states he turned BLUE NM, CO, OH, FL, IA, NV, VA, NC and IN are the states in which he collapsed the large margins the Republicans won in 2004. Looking at the map below it blends blue and red to make "purple" in many of the states that have been traditionally "red." Unlike the general electoral maps that show much of the South and Cenral US as "deep red" you will see Obama was competitive in essentially every state West of the Mississipi River and you see blue in purple in states like Montana............

A lot of gains were made across the board, maintaining the momentum that began in 2006. Obama and the majority Democratic Congress have been dealt a bad hand, but hopefully they will come together to make some real progress.

Everything that could go wrong!

2008-11-10T16:37:00.001-08:00

Sticking with my new theme of nailing my blogs down to 3 points, I am going to sum up my impression of the insurmountable task of winning this election for the Republicans:

BUSH: Or as the pundits would say BUSH BUSH BUSH as all 3 major reasons. Pretty much every human being in the W--O--R--L--D (and most animals too) are ready to see this Cowboy ride off into the sunset. Probably hoping that he would fall off the horse on his way out! I need not elaborate on his many failures. The problem for McCain is that he was campaigning against himself. He tried to appeal to the conservative base, he promoted many of the most unpopular Bush initiatives, he failed at any point to distinguish any meaningful issues in which he would turn us around from the failed policies of Dubya..
Caribou Barbie: At the end of the day, most would put the Economy ahead of this colossal flop, but there is not one person Obama can help more for his successful campaign than Sarah Palin. She appealed to NO ONE but the "extreme right" of the Republican Party. The Clinton supporters McCain had hoped to sway were essentially frightened at the thought of her being a "heartbeat" away from the Presidency. So much so, Obama raised $10M the night she spoke at the Republican National Convention. Most stating they were so inspired by her speech that they gave as much as they could to the Obama campaign to make sure to keep her away! What is funny is the move by Arizona Jones to pick a woman was a stroke of genius. When Obama was first asked about it, the look on his face was like, "Oh, this is a good one John, you got me with this one." Caribou Barbie was immediately labeled as unqualified, but that Katie Couric interview will go down in history as the catalyst to the unraveling of the McCain campaign. It was sooooooooo bad that even the SNL parody on the interview could not match how funny her poor performance was in the actual interview. She proved that she could make a good stand up comedian, but never outlined what makes her qualified to be the VP. She was unqualified, incompetent, and unknown? Lastly, the role of "sexism" in politics is strong, but Arizona Jones forgot that it exists strongest in his own party!!
Race and Class: At the end of the day the Republican Party has to realize that they need to focus a lot harder on voter turnout and voter registration than on voter suppression. The Republicans can no longer win elections completely disregarding minorities. Running around the country talking about Joe Six Pack, Hockey Moms, Joe the Plumber, Small Town America, and "Real" Americans to minorities pretty much sounds like, "C'mon White people let's stick together and let these Blacks, Mexicans, and all the other foreigners know that WE still control this country." If the Democrats get the full electorate out to vote every year they will crush this type of rhetoric every time. As for class, McCain never made the case for the Middle Class. He spent so much time talking about Obama he failed to articulate what HE would do. Obama spent so much time defending his plans because he a-c-t-u-a-l-l-y had some plans, McCain didn't have any and Obama is the one that was really saying the things that Joe Six Pack wanted to hear.......

It's A New Day (The ClintonSlayer Strikes Again)

2008-11-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

So I could have wrote this blog entry in June. As I said then was proven on the 4th. John McCain was not a formidable opponent in this battle. He breezed through little competition only to get in the ring with a World Class heavyweight fighter that fights regularly on HBO PPV. Clinton knew this, and that is why she so desperately fought during the Primaries; because she knew to the winner goes all of the spoils. So to keep this one short I want to discuss my thoughts in 3 simple points:

Obama wasted no time, energy, and resources trying to convert the minds of idiots. He realizes early on that his best asset was voter turnout; because there are more registered Democrats than their are Republicans so the goal is to get them out to vote. He sought after new voters, an energized electorate that stayed motivated because he kept them focused on tuning out friendlies! They remained motivated because they were not getting beat over the head daily trying to persuade idiots like "Joe the Plumber."

Obama played the game like no one has ever played the game before. This was like watching Jordan totally revolutionize the game of basketball, while at the same time bringing up the level of all players in all sports. They all benefited in endorsements, contracts, TV deals all because Jordan made sports exciting again. Obama has done this for politics. He out hustled everyone, he out worked them, he raised more money, he was more organized, he inspired a whole new generation to participate in the electoral process. When he looks over his shoulder it is like the Verizon commercial, "who are all of those people behind you?" "That's my NETWORK!"

Obama kept his head above the fray. He did not go negative, not to say his campaign did not at times, but you never heard it out of the mouth of Obama. In the 3rd debate when given the opportunity to "roast" Caribou Barbie he said he was proud of the fact that for the first time a woman was on the presidential ticket for the Republicans and he would let the American public decide if she was qualified. This after she had been on a Nationwide Comedy Tour in which the punch line was Barack Obama. To the point she was inciting passion filled chants of hate at her rallies like "kill him!" Caribou Barbie and Arizona Jones talked a lot of Barack Obama, while Barack Obama talked alot about rebuilding the Economy, putting Americans back to work, ending the War in Iraq, and overall making life better for the Average America.

The American people decided that they liked what they heard from Obama, and that at a time when a new generation of Politics and Leadership was required there was only one man to bring it!

A Bluer America, but not for me..

2008-11-07T15:53:00.000-08:00

This Electoral map was posted in the New York Times showing a county by county voting shifts. The redder the area the more people shifted towards Republicans, the bluer the area the more people shifted toward the Democrats. Looking at this map if you are in a red area you need to move; because the dark red is where they are hanging nooses...... Notice Destin is red, we may have to find a new vacation spot!!

Better Left Unsaid

2008-09-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

So I am hanging out with some friends a few nights ago, and one of my friends brought a new fish to our hangout spot. She was really nice and fit right in with the group. So after we had been there a couple of hours, they are both like we have to go. Mind you this is a guy we generally have to drag home when it is time to go.

We were not even certain that they had come together, but they definitely left together. We were like OK, he got a new girl and they had some business they needed to go and take care of…..

Well it turns out, this was really like a first “not so much a” date for them. They had just recently met. So just being messy (and a hater) I sent him a text to see what he was doing…

His text back to me said that he had just dropped her off, and she was already sending him a text telling him what a great time she had. Which sounds pretty cool, but he did not actually think so. He was tripping on the fact that she really did not let on that she had a good time until that point. He could not understand why she seemed to have a problem expressing herself when they were face to face. I asked if he had expressed himself? Of course he had not…. I reminded him that it was his first “not really a” date, and that his impression really is unwarranted. I told him they will be a little more comfortable next time.

He just could not seem to get over why they could not have expressed themselves then, why did they need to wait? I was like it depends on what you mean by express yourselves!!! To be honest that is kinda what we all thought you were doing when ya’ll left so abruptly. I told him he was being e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y impatient.. But he explained to me it was not about being impatient, what bothered him is that she wanted to express herself with him, but did not feel comfortable doing it in person; she waited until they were apart.

Well I said maybe she was not quite as comfortable as you think. I think she intended to communicate precisely the way she did. Her communication was more appropriate at a distance based on her intentions. I told him things went really well, and he was tripping over nothing. It would almost have been better if what she had to say would have been unsaid!!

A little misleading……

2008-09-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to bring something to your attention as you may have read articles or heard news reports about the ratings audience for McCain’s acceptance speech and the overall ratings for the RNC being equal to or greater than Obama’s acceptance speech and the DNC.

There are a few facts here that can’t be addressed from a ratings report:

1) The Obama Campaign pushed supporters to host watching parties. So in many cases the average viewer per household would have been much greater for the DNC as I had 12 people at my house to watch his speech. The Precinct Chair in my area attended a watch party at a local restaurant which he reports had 50 people in attendance. This took place all over the country!

2) Take a straw poll of the people around you of conservatives, liberals, moderates or whatever they may call themselves. As I spoke with my friends that are Obama supporters about 80% say they watched the speeches of McCain and Palin. When I talked to people that generally support McCain barely 10% state that they have watched Obama or any parts of the DNC.

3) Lastly, pretty much everybody remotely interested in politics tuned into see Palin’s speech. Everybody is trying to figure out who in the world she is? Unfortunately she spent her speech offering very little personal insight and chose to launch into personal attacks against Obama, and establishing herself as a Pit Bull with lipstick. So most people woke up Thursday with the same questions…..

Call me a biased Obama supporter, but don’t take my word for it ask around for yourself!!!

The Case for Obama Pt. XIII

2008-09-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

The Truth is in the Numbers

There is a reason that I feel relatively confident about our chances for Obama to win this election. Although the landslide potential that once existed is all but gone, there are some pretty good reasons to feel optimistic. It’s called the Electoral College. Obama will undoubtedly win the popular vote; because without question he is MORE popular. The question is will this be enough votes in enough key states to get the 270 Electoral votes to be sworn in as President of the United States.

So let’s take a look at the numbers…….

The following table shows the number of electoral votes to which each state is entitled:

Let’s start with the states that are traditionally Democratic and tally up those Electoral votes: California, Connecticut, D.C., Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington. These states equal 190 votes.

States that vote traditionally Republican are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming. These states equal 178 votes.

For the most part when I use the phrase “traditionally” it represents how the voters of these states voted in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections. For many of these states this represents their voting pattern for the last 30 years, for other states it may represent a shift. Nevertheless you won’t get much argument from anyone that these states for 2008 will pretty much remain in line with the parties that won in the 2 previous elections. So we are left with 14 states: Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin which make up the remaining 170 Electoral votes.

So here is where the discussion begins. These states are what we call “close” states, which means in most elections the outcome is by less than 10% points and in most cases less than 5%. Some of these are truly swing states (meaning the party that wins elections often shift); the others typically go for the same party with a margin of victory that just happens to be close in every election. So let’s start with the latter.

Close states that are “traditionally” Democratic (the year in parentheses is how long state has voted Democratic): Michigan (1992), Minnesota (1976), New Hampshire (1992), Wisconsin (1998), and Pennsylvania (1992). To keep the explanation of my analysis simple; the conventional wisdom is that Obama is not going to lose any states that John Kerry won in 2004. This would take all of these states out of play for the Republicans. There is a lot of talk about Pennsylvania, and although the margins have become increasingly close with the Democrats winning by as little as 2.5% in 2004. This state has voted Democratic pretty consistently. The Governor, both U.S. Senators, and the Mayors of the 2 largest cities are all Democrats. If Obama does not win in Pennsylvania he will lose this election, there is no further debate needed! Obama would pick up 62 Electoral votes by winning these states.

Close states that are traditionally Republican (the year in parentheses is how long state has voted Republican): Indiana (1968) and Virginia (1968). You hear the Obama campaign taking a lot about these states, but to be honest these are Republican strongholds. Indiana is almost ridiculous to discuss as the Republicans have experienced double digit margins of victory in this state for decades even when the other MW states voted Democratic. Virginia is an interesting discussion as it was a little closer in the last election with a margin of victory of 8.2% for the Republicans. There is a lot of talk of the large population of Black voters and high potential to enroll many unregistered voters likely to vote Democratic. As well as having recently elected a Democratic Governor and US Senator, and with a new Senate seat coming open that is likely going to be won by a Democrat. It all sounds good, but personally I just think 8% points is an unrealistic gain to make up. If Obama can make gains this huge in some of these states being discussed we are talking about a landslide victory, but I would say this is unlikely. Just to give you a sense of how great of a margin 8.2% is; consider that a Democratic stronghold like CA was only won by 10%. McCain would pick up 24 Electoral votes by winning in these states.

I think in the states where a party loses by a margin of greater than 5% points I would take that state out of play for the losing party. Meaning it is unlikely they would be able to gain enough support to win that state for the 2008 election This logic is consistent in my overall analysis. I even considered some states less than 5% of out of play simply because although the results are close they consistently support the same party.

So this leaves the following as the “true” swing states: Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, and New Mexico.

Obama will win: Colorado, Iowa, and New Mexico. Obama would pick up 21 more Electoral votes by winning these states. Most would not argue Iowa and New Mexico as they typically vote Democratic and Obama seems to carry the same themes that have rallied these states in the past. The stretch here is Colorado which although very close in the last few elections at 4.6% wins for the Republicans. This state has only voted for a Democrat for President once since 1964. So I have to admit Colorado is based on more of a gut feeling than anything else. I just so happened to have a gentleman from the Denver area stay at my house as he worked for the Obama campaign during the Primary Elections in Texas. We discussed the energy for the campaign in Colorado. Large numbers of volunteers, a lot of fundraising and an extreme hatred for the Bush administration that seems to have successfully carried over to McCain makes winning in Colorado a strong possibility. In addition, Colorado has a fairly well balanced roster of elected officials considering it has leaned Republican for President. In Colorado, the Governor, 1 US Senator, and 4 of the 7 US Congressional Representatives are Democrats. Over 70% of the State Legislators are Democrats, as well as the Mayor of Denver and many other cities across the state. Many of which have been voted into office since the 2004 election. So I do have a little empirical data to support my gut feeling!!

McCain will win: Florida, Ohio, Missouri, and Nevada. McCain would pick up 63 Electoral Votes by winning these states. All of these states typically vote Republican, but have shown the tendency to vote for the other party if they like the candidate. For the voters in these states for whatever reason Obama does not appear to be that guy! These states will be close again, as in the urban areas in these states Obama will do well, but these states all have a lot of rural voters that I just don’t think are going to be persuaded to change their typical voting pattern. In addition unlike Colorado theses states do not have a Democratic stronghold of Elected Officials. In fact most of these states have about as a significant Republican stronghold as the case I made about the Democrats in Colorado.

So pull out your calculator and do the math, based on my analysis this would score Obama 273 - McCain 265. Wow that is close!! If I am wrong about a state here or there the outcome could definitely be different, but I think I did a fairly conservative analysis…

The Case for Obama Pt. XII

2008-08-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of talk, but with the Democratic National Convention (DNC) starting today, the Campaign season officially begins. If the Clintons and their following fall in line this thing could be over by the end of the DNC. If they show U-N-I-T-Y they will galvanize this nation to what I am prediciting will be a 273-265 win for Obama in the Electoral College. This blog entry is not about that though, I will give the details on that prediction another day, today the topic is on nothing else than talk of the VP. We will call this one:

"Obama Bites Back with Biden"

I am of the opinion that VP selections do not necessarily help a candidate win an election, but they can certainly hurt your chances to win! This is precisely why Biden is the safe pick. Biden brings 3 things to this fight that will prove to have some value:

1) He has a wealth of experience and conficence that will allow him to mop the floor with anyone on the list of Republican VP candidates

2) His story is great, he raised his childern after his Spouse died, drives back to Delaware from DC every night to be with us family, he has a son being deployed to Iraq, the list goes on almost as if it was scripted (which it probably is)

3) He will flourish in the role of attack dog and may make the campaign more appealing to the "White People won't vote for a Black Man" demographic that Clinton referenced so often in her campaign.

What has been presented as negatives for Biden is what I a going to spin as strenghts for the Obama campaign. The Republicans are attacking this choice on 3 fronts, each of which I think can play right into Obama's hand:

1) Biden is quoted saying that Obama is not ready to be Presidnet during his own campaign for President. This is an interesting argument to present, cosidering it did not work for Clinton or Biden since they both lost to Obama being more prepared under whatever definition one chooses to make this argument. In addition, Obama picked him anyway! What better argument that this man is a uniter? He selected as his VP a man that said he was not ready to be President, and was able to convince this man to join him on the campaign trail.

2)Biden is quoted giving praise to McCain, which from the Republicans viewpoint means that he is endorsing McCain. Interesting... The man that endorses you has decided to run against your campaign for the Presidency? When Biden made those comments he was making a contrast to Bush and other Republicans that remained uncomprosing in their views even when they have been proven to be wrong by all accounts. McCain has basically spent the last 18 months disassociating himself from the positions that garnered these praises from Biden. Lastly, this is what reinforces the central message of the Obama campaign to unite and come to a common ground on the issues. Who better to do so than one who isn't afraid to praise the other party and recognize their value in the process. For all this talk of changing Washington, unfortunately Obama does not have the power to go in on Day 1 and fire every member of Congress. Most of the 535 members Congress that are there today will still be there. So all of the progress he wants to make will be through the same bunch of guys and girls that are in there today. In most cases it's the system or the process that needs a change not the personnel.

3) The McCain Campaign is using this opportunity to go after supporters of Hillary Clinton. Wow! This is pretty good, actually all of the attacks are good. At the same time they all have major flaws. Is McCain really going to rally Democratic voters running a campaign in which he has opposing viewpoint on almost every issue, and rally Women voters by proposing his wife compete in the Miss Buffalo Chip Contest??? If you are a lifelong Democrat and you are tempted to vote for McCain because you are angry at the Democratic Party what do you accomplish in voting for McCain? We'll show those Democrats! Oh, wait a minute I am a Democrat, duh... This would be the equivalent of punishing your child for making an A-, and the punishment would be not allowing him to go to school anymore.

Obama made a good choice, we now have 2 men on the ticket whose political ambition is centered around making life better for every day people. Unlike the Bush-McCain politicians interested in making life better for those that are already better off...

How Much Longer???

2008-08-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

President Bush holding the flag backwards. I think this picture summarizes the entire term of the Bush Presidency. Maybe if he had been wearing his lapel pin, he would have been able to firgure out the right way to hold the flag. I think Keith Olberman from MSNBC stated it best,

"From his viewpoint everyhting appears to be OK!"

Love is...

2008-08-14T05:25:00.000-07:00

When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then it subsides. When it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is!

Love is not breathless. Love is not excitement. Love is not the desire to mate every second of the day. Love is not lying awake at night imagining that your lover is kissing every part of your body.

That is just being in love--which any of us can convince ourselves that we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away.

Doesn't sound very exciting does it? But it is!

The Case for Obama Pt. XI

2008-08-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

When I first saw the McCain funded "The One" attack ad against Barack Obama it had to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Not the actual ad being humorous, but the thought that this is what the McCain campaign considered a relevant attack ad. An attack ad to say don't vote for the popular guy, that every one loves, and speaks well, vote for the stumbling bumbling idiot like you did in the last 2 elections. Isn't that the guy that is more like you? Why vote for greatness when you can vote for mediocrity?

I am not sure either of them (Paris or Brittney) would have crowds of over 70,000 in Oregon and Denver, and over 200,000 in Berlin, but he is ignoring a very simple fact. People come to see Britney Spears to see a concert and be entertained, they would come to see Paris Hilton because?? I guess because she is hot?

When they come to see Barack Obama they come to stand in line for several hours, sit in a stadium for another hour, and listen to him give a speech for an hour describing economic policies, strategies for energy independence, improving our educational system, rescuing our health care system, among a dozen other topics. If this is the same audience that goes to see Britney and Hilton than the world is in for a CHANGE because you have just mobilized a NEW GENERATION of voters.

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

I would have never expected the best response to this attack ad would come from Paris Hilton herself. Paris nailed it in her video, not just for McCain but for Obama and all other politicians as well. The answer to the issues that affect the American people are not based on what political party you belong to. The best answer is the best answer no matter where it comes from, and there is usually multiple solutions that are necessary to make any significant progress.

Daily Observations: "Overexposed"

2008-08-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

This one follows my usual trend of very silly daily observations, but this has to be one of the most disturbing. At this event a few days ago I had to make a pit stop in the men's restroom. As I walked in and walked towards the urinal I saw something I can honestly say I have never seen in over 30 years of living on this place we call Earth.

As I walked in there was a man standing in front of the urinal with his pants down all the way to his ankles, and yes accompanying those pants were his underwear. So I walked in on bare buns. I have never seen that before when walking into a men's restroom. I am not certain what he may have been doing.

After about 2 seconds of shock I quickly exited the restroom, not even acknowledging what I had just seen. I left too quickly to understand what it is he may have been doing and why he chose the urinal for this and not one of the stalls. Very Disturbing....

Silly, Tricks are for Kids

2008-07-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

I am almost ashamed to tell this story, but at the Texas Democratic Convention the best story that you will hear from anyone that attended has to be about the resolution for Precinct Conventions that was up for vote on the floor of the convention.

In a nutshell to get a resolution to be considered on the floor, a petition has to be signed by 1/3 of the delegates in attendance. Which would be roughly 3000 people. Well, a team of people work feverishly to get a petition signed to remove the apportionment of delegates that are sent to the Democratic National Convention based on the outcome of the Precinct Conventions. Now, I can make as many arguments as anyone as to why the the Precinct Convention process needs to be significantly improved, but we have to keep in mind a few things:

It is very rare that the person that wins the popular vote does no win the caucus vote. This can only happen in a very close contest.
The turnout was unprecedented, so for most election years all of the improvements being proposed would not even be relevant.
Is the best place to challenge the Precinct Convention, in a room full of people that were attending because they were selected during the Precinct Convention??

So my actual opinion is although the process needs improvement, stripping the delegates from the process would destroy it altogether. You must consider the reason they were so well attended is because the candidates campaigned for people to attend and participate because they needed those delegates. Not a single communication that I received came from the state or local party. In addition, this new found interest will serve as the catalyst for future generations for the party. Now that I have witnessed the role the Conventions play in the organization of the party, a vote to abolish the Precinct Convention is a vote to once again isolate the party from a large segment of the electorate, and essentially allow the party to fade back to the nonexistent state we witnessed at the turn of the century.

Nevertheless, a lot of hard work earned this resolution for consideration on the floor. The original resolution was up for a straight up or down vote, but the Convention Chair decided to amend the resolution to table this resolution until a Task Force assigned to make recommendations can complete their work and give a report. This amendment to the resolution was argued for 20 minutes. Largely due to the fact that tabling the resolution essentially meant it would not be voted on at the convention and be dismissed. (You have to wonder why the target date for the Task Force to complete their report was NOT in time for the convention).

So finally after much discussion the amended resolution was put to a voice vote on the floor. The convention overwhelmingly supported the amendment, but the naysayers argued it was too close to call (which it wasn't) so we had to take a floor vote and caucus within our districts. So let me clarify at this point, they way it breaks down is the Clinton supporters wanted the resolution to pass, and wanted the amended resolution to fail. The Obama supporters obviously favored the opposite.

As we were taking a floor vote, I got into a discussion (OK more like an argument) with a Clinton supporter who was calling this process unfair. To which I said, you can't call it unfair just because your preference doesn't prevail. If majority of the people agreed with you they would be voting your preference, but in fact they are voting against it overwhelmingly. The vote was almost a 70-30 split.

As the floor vote was in process, the fire alarm in the building was pulled and all of the delegates were told to evacuate the building.... UNBELIEVABLE, the sore losers realizing that there resolution would not prevail pulled the fire alarm before the vote could be reported. I presume the hope was that many people would be disgusted and not return, giving them better odds. It actually backfired; because it pissed us all off so much that we all made it a point to return and cast our votes. For many people this was their last action for the day.

This entire ordeal took about 90 minutes.... As I stated earlier the amended resolution carried about 70/30. Which for all rational people was obvious from the voice vote. What makes it even more sickening is that if the Convention Chair would have would have just allowed the vote on the original amendment it would have been voted down overwhelmingly and saved us about 85 minutes!

Can't we all just get PAID?

2008-07-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

If you have not noticed, almost half of the topics I discuss on the blog come from Time Magazine. I found this article very interesting, I have summarized below:

I have no clue what my colleagues make. I suspect some earn more than I do and others take home less.

Lilly Ledbetter began working at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in 1979, In 1998 someone placed a memo in her mailbox that listed her base salary—about $44,000 a year—and that of three male colleagues of equal if not lesser tenure and title. They earned from $53,000 to $62,000.

Ledbetter sued her employer, and a federal jury awarded her $3.8 million in damages in 2003, later reduced to $300,000 by a judge, but Goodyear appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. The employer's case:

“While the Civil Rights Act forbade pay discrimination on the basis of race, gender or religion, the act held that employees must lodge a formal complaint within 180 days of the initial discriminatory paycheck. According to the law, Ledbetter needed to have sued within six months of her being hired—never mind that it took her, nearly 20 years to learn she earned less. "

What in the world is wrong with the Supreme Court? This may be one of the most illogical opinions since Plessy v. Ferguson.

Ledbetter's life since then has been a long campaign to change the law. The U.S. House approved a bill in 2007 that would hold employers accountable for the most recent discriminatory paycheck, not just the first one. But the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act failed to gain a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. (Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama support the bill; John McCain is against it.)

I've got another idea. What if employers made all employee salaries known? If you think about it, who is served by all the secrecy? Not you. Transparency even benefits management, workers liked knowing where they stand. It takes away the mystery so they can focus on their work.

So show me your pay stub, and I'll show you mine.

The Case for Obama Pt. X

2008-07-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

I decided to do a continuation of my previous discussion on Iraq. We will call this one:

"Thought from a distance, may be less tainted than getting up close and peronal"

Colleague after another set off on fact-finding missions to Vietnam, and each returned convinced that America could win the war. It is dangerous when travel is substituted for thought. Senator Jim Webb, a former Marine and Secretary of the Navy, called congressional Iraq visits a "dog and pony" show.

When you take a guided tour, your tour guide decides what you see. In Iraq today, as in Vietnam, they have an incentive to show good news; which isn't always the same as the truth. They (General Davis Patreaus and Ryan Crocker) report to the President, and unfortunately this war has been politicized along partisan lines so it's much easier for them to reinforce the Administration's view than to contradict it. By making Patreaus and Crocker the spokesmen for Iraq policy, the Bush Administration has encouraged Americans to believe they are independent analysts who just happen to agree.

The first priority of McCain and Obama's hosts are to ensure that the candidates leave Iraq alive, they would by necessity take them to places the U.S. and Iraq have made safe and avoid places they have not. Meetings would tilt heavily toward those Iraqis who want the U.S. to stay, and away from those who are trying to force America to leave.

This is not to say the security improvements in Iraq are an illusion. It's just that the realities of war are too elusive to grasp on a brief trip led by people with a vested interest in what you see. The wisest U.S. officials seek out journalists who have spent years traveling the country, and former diplomats and military officers who had the freedom to say what they really believed.

McCain thinks winning in Iraq is the single most important foreign policy challenge facing the next President. As a result, he's willing to spend billions more dollars, impose a far greater strain on the military and divert attention from other problems. Obama thinks Afghanistan and Pakistan are more central to the war on terrorism and that our resources in those countries would bring a higher rate of return.

If anyone knows that clarity often comes with distance, it's Obama, who spent 2002 and 2003 in Chicago, far from the secret briefings that persuaded many Democrats to back the war.

The Case for Obama Pt. IX

2008-07-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

Finally, I am kicking off the part of the series that begins to evaluate the candidates, their parties, and the electorate that support each. My main goal is to point out the major policy difference that exist on the issues that matter most to the American people, and to shed some light on some common misconceptions that Republicans get credit for without actually achieving any legislation to support their position on the issue. I will start the series off with this one:

"Closing the gap between the world as it is, and the world as it should be."

This year's general-election race features vastly different approaches on so many political issues. There will be a clearer choice this year than there has been in a generation.

The contrasts between McCain, 71, a white former Navy pilot and Vietnam POW, and Obama, 46, a black Harvard Law School graduate and former community organizer, go far beyond the personal.

Most evident on the issue I will cover today: the Iraq War

McCain was a prominent and ardent supporter of the decision to invade Iraq and vows to keep U.S. troops there until the war is won. In recanting his highly publicized comment of "A hundred year war," he offered 2013 as a reasonable date for achieving that goal and ending U.S. involvement. Obama, was an early opponent of the war who has promised to remove U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.

McCain as well as most Republicans are ignoring the obvious. The goal of this war is not to win? This is not a football game. The initial mission was supposedly to rid Iraq of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), then to remove an evil dictator. Both far contrasts from the mission everyone initially supported which I can scarcely remember but I believe it was "actively seeking out and destroying terrorist regimes every where they exist in the world.

As Obama said we took our eye off the ball, and now we have to pull the bus out of the ditch before we can get on the road again. While we were searching for WMD in underground and in caves in Iraq; Iran and North Korea had WMD in broad daylight. Each more capable and likely to use them than Iraq would have ever been. The presence of terrorist groups in the Middle East alone has actually increased during the time we have spent in Iraq.

The entire discussion of whether the surge is working has became a partisan outcry. Taking the lives of young American men and women and putting them in extreme danger, poor living conditions, and away from their family for multiple tours of duty is a non-partisan decision to the people that are affected.

Of course the surge is working, it's not because the Republicans supported it, it's because it is a logical idea that was crafted by the Commanders on the ground in Iraq who Bush chose not to listen to until his approval ratings plummeted to the point it has put in jeopardy almost every elected office currently held by a Republican. I believe the fundamental principles of Counterinsurgency are extraordinary, “Be professional, be polite, be prepared to kill.” The problem with this rhetoric is when we say the surge is working, what exactly does that mean? Do we even know the purpose of the surge? How could we when we are uncertain about the purpose of the war. Is the purpose to bring stability to the very society that we de-stabilized with this war? What political gains have been achieved?

The central reality in Iraq is this: The Iraqi government is failing to serve the needs of the people or to provide security. Real military progress won't matter very much if political progress is lagging. At this point even the Iraqi government has called for a timetable for withdrawal. So now what? Are we going to refuse to allow the very government we put into power to establish itself? How dare they attempt to set forth conditions to re-establish their "own" country, they can't do that on their terms, they have to do it on our terms... Makes you say were they ever really concerned at all about the people of Iraq?

Greatest Games in Cowboys History

2008-07-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

Saw this post on Dallas Cowboys.com. I thought this was some good stuff for the Cowboys fans.

Warner Home Video is producing the latest in the NFL Greatest Games Series. The DVD will feature the complete television broadcast, without commercials, of the top 10 games. It will include all five Super Bowl games and five games from the list of 9 below:

1975 Hail Mary Game Cowboys vs. Vikings - 12/28/75 - One of the greatest comebacks in NFL history. With seconds remaining in the 1975 NFC Divisional Playoffs, Roger Staubach threw a desperation touchdown pass to Drew Pearson to upset the heavily-favored Vikings at Metropolitan Stadium, 17-14. Dallas would go on to a berth in Super Bowl X.

1977 NFC Championship Game - Dallas vs. Minnesota 1/1/78 - The Dallas Cowboys rolled over the Vikings, 23-6, to advance to their fourth Super Bowl. The Cowboys defense held the Vikings to 66 rushing yards and 6 points. Turnovers set up each of Dallas' three touchdowns as they burst to a 16-6 halftime lead and never looked back.

1980 NFC Divisional Playoffs - Cowboys vs. Falcons 1/4/81 - Danny White led a furious comeback with 20 fourth-quarter points as the Cowboys bested the host Falcons, 30-27. Drew Pearson scored two touchdowns in the final 3:04 as the Cowboys moved on to the 1980 NFC Championship Game.

1/3/83 - Cowboys at Vikings (Dorsett 100-yard run) - On Monday Night Football, Tony Dorsett electrified a national-television audience with his record 99 -yard touchdown run. Arguably the greatest run in NFL History, Dorsett's dash overshadowed a 31-27 loss to the Vikings in the regular-season finale of the 1982 season.

1992 NFC Championship Game - Dallas vs. San Francisco 1/17/93 - Dallas advanced to its first Super Bowl in 14 years as they defeated the 49ers, 30-20 in an epic clash of two NFL powerhouses. Dallas forced four turnovers and, led by two Emmitt Smith touchdowns, overwhelmed the 49ers.

1993 NFC Championship Game - Dallas vs. San Francisco 1/23/94 - In a much-anticipated re-match of the 1992 NFC Title Game, the Cowboys again collided with San Francisco. In a victory personally guaranteed by head coach Jimmy Johnson, Dallas rolled to a 28-7 halftime lead and held off a furious 49er rally to win, 38-21 securing their second straight Super Bowl berth.

1995 NFC Championship Game - Dallas vs. Green Bay 1/16/96 - Dallas earned a trip to their third Super Bowl in four years by beating Brett Favre and the Packers, 38-27. Trailing by three in the fourth quarter, Dallas erupted for two Emmitt Smith touchdown runs to finish off the Pack.

10/27/02 - Cowboys vs. Seahawks - Emmitt breaks rushing record. Dallas legend Emmitt Smith surpassed Walter Payton to become the NFL's all-time leading rusher. Smith broke the record on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter to secure his rightful place as one of the game's greatest running backs.

2006 Thanksgiving Day - Cowboys vs. Buccaneers 11/23/06 - In just his sixth NFL start, Tony Romo erupted for five touchdown passes as Dallas rolled over the Bucs, 38-10, in front of a national-television audience. Romo completed 22 of 29 passes for 308 yards in a game that marked his ascent from obscure back-up to sure-handed leader of America's team.

You can vote for your favorite until July 11. The "Dallas Cowboys 10 Greatest Games" DVD will be available in retail stores on October 28, 2008.

I voted for 1992 NFC Championship Game - Dallas vs. San Francisco 1/17/93.

Save Your Breath

2008-07-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was hipped to this video:

You may need to listen to it twice to actually figure out what is happening. I have to admit over all of the talk about it 3 thoughts come to mind:

1) This woman is crazy, I should have known that before she even started singing based on the hairstyle

2) It is actually more funny than offensive, considering thought #1

3) This is quite an impressive feat, to arrange the song, and then remain focused enough to keep the tune of one song while inserting the lyrics word for word from another song.

It's amazing, I mean I would have been able to grasp it better had she intermingled the words of the 2 songs. Just try it! Try to play the music from one song, and sing another song while that music is playing, then take it a step further try singing the other song word for word to the tune of the song that is playing.

It is almost impossible, further proof that this woman is c-r-a-z-y.....

That being said what she did was in her own words "an artistic statement." It should be nothing more than that, I liken this to someone singing the National anthem in a drunken rage at a Baseball game, forgetting the words altogether, or not actually knowing all the actual words to the song. Although this seems more intentional and calculated belive me it is all the same, "an artisitic staement."

To read all of the back and forth on this topic equating it to race and politics are unbelievable. I will give the mainstream media credit for NOT running with this story, appreciating its insignificance. One of the City Council members even stated that this was inappropriate, she must of thought she was at an NAACP Convention or something! Wow! Buddy we sing the National Anthem at ALL Black events. There is not a Black person on Earth that had ever heard Lift Every Voice and Sing sang to the tune of the Star Spangled banner. Let's not forget America's favorite version of the Star Spangled Banner was sung by a Black person.

Plus, being that I have never heard of Ms. Rene Marie I have to wonder has she ever been invited to sing at a NAACP meeting.

Ms. Marie is not the voice of Black people. She is a woman capturing her opportunity for some free publicity. As you see she has a recorded version of this song on her website. Being that she was virtually an unknown to most of us, this whole charade has given her more than the 15 minutes she could have hoped for.

So don't find yourself in any discussion attempting to explain any of this, just save your breath.......

The Case for Obama Pt. VIII

2008-07-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

The Party does not stop. My 8th installment, and I have not even begin to highlight the policy differences between the parties that significantly favor the Democrats and are often misrepresented by republican party officials, and misunderstood by republican voters. I promise my next blog in the series will begin to crack that up. Today I want to drop a little VP talk, we will call this one:

"Obama/Webb 2008"

I mentioned in an earlier blog that Obama would have a tough sell not selecting Clinton as his VP. Because of that comment I was asked if I felt he should pick Clinton? My response, "No way, no how, no chance, it may help in winning the Office, but it would completely undermine his ability to run the Office." Aside from the disdain shelled out towards Obama from "Billary" that has been the centerpiece of the RNC campaign Democrats vs. Obama. Billary has even discussed the possibility of an assassination on at least 3 different occasions. Really??? Can you pick someone that regularly references your death, in hopes that it happens within the not so distant future.

So then the question is who would I prefer Obama select as his VP? Without going through reasons why I think one candidate is good, and another is bad, and another is better, and another would be OK. I am going to just flat out tell you why I support Senator Jim Webb form Virginia.

-He is a former republican who worked under the Reagan administration as Secretary of the Navy, which makes him a moderate Democrat who will balance the ticket with Obama
-He serves on the the committees for Foreign Relations, Veterans' Affairs, and Armed Services.
-He is a Southerner with strong Appalachian, Scots-Irish roots (the very same group Obama has trouble reaching)
-He is a decorated war veteran, having served in Vietnam and being awarded the Navy Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart
-He is not just the "working class" hero he is also an intellect who has penned several books...the latest "A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America" is a best seller. He also wrote the story and was the executive producer for the 2000 movie Rules of Engagement, which starred Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson.
-He is a fighter (he co-sponsored a bipartisan GI bill & pushed it through the senate & put McCain in the hot seat for voting against it)
-He won VA from a Republican incumbent and although it was a narrow victory, by teaming up with fellow Democrat Virginia Governor Tim Kaine may bring the 13 electoral votes with him.
-He is and was against the war, his sons served in Iraq,the following exchange with President Bush is reason enough by itself to support this guy:

On November 28, 2006, at a White House reception for those newly elected to Congress, Webb declined to stand in the line to have his picture taken with the President, whom Webb often criticized during the campaign. The president approached Webb later and asked him, "How's your boy?", referring to Webb's son, a Marine serving in Iraq. According to Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia, aides warned the President to be "extra sensitive about talking to Webb about his son, since Webb's son had had a recent brush with death in Iraq." Webb replied "I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President." Bush responded, "That's not what I asked you. How's your boy?" Webb responded, "That's between me and my boy, Mr. President." The Hill cited an anonymous source who claimed that Webb was so angered by the exchange that he confessed he was tempted to "slug" the president, but of course did not. Webb later remarked in an interview, "I'm not particularly interested in having a picture of me and George W. Bush on my wall."

Webb and Obama naturally complement one another Obama himself referred to Jim Webb saying, "Let me tell you something, if you're in a fight -- and we're gonna be in a fight -- you want Jim Webb to have your back."

As with any politician he has his "cons," being labeled somewhat as a misogynist for his position against Women in the Military and being on his 3rd wife doesn't help much. As well as some of Webb's novels reported to have sexual content, including graphic references to female anatomy and purported pedophilia, homosexuality and incest, but most of this was addressed during his race against George Allen so he would know the attacks would be coming and how to address it. He would clobber any candidate the republicans send out as a VP. The main thing I like is that Webb speaks his mind and would not be afraid to tell you what he thinks even if its something you don't want to hear.

You need people like that when you are President. All this being said Jim Webb announced today that he intends to serve his term in the Senate, stating, "under no circumstances will I be a candidate for Vice President." I can only hope he will re-consider, as his response comes in regards to the Obama campaign informing him about the specifics of their apparently fairly rigorous vetting process.

The Case for Obama Pt. VII

2008-07-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Contrary to the "Kill the Witch" campaign launched by the Republicans. One of the strongest cases for Obama is Michelle Obama. We will call this one:

"What Makes a Strong Woman"

I have officially become an Obama groupee when I find myself setting the DVR to record "The View" because Michelle Obama is going to be a guest on the show. My wife even hates The View so there is no reason it should ever be on in my house.

So the next day I sat down late in the night and watched the episode. Beyond how much the hosts of the show annoyed me, there was something that really began to resonate with me. Michelle Obama is going to be a dynamite First Lady and is more than apparent that having her by his side is what makes Barack such a great candidate.

Hillary has given this impression that to be a strong woman you have to be like a man, act like a real B, and walk around in pant suits. Michelle's strong personality put substance behind the facade. In Michelle you could see the characteristics of what make a strong woman. She was intelligent, confident, well-spoken, thoughtful, pragmatic,compassionate, the list goes on and on.

If people want to vote for a woman that acts like a man they may as well vote for a man. Michelle showed us to get beyond how you look and act, by exemplifying the true characteristics of a strong woman.

Watching Michelle, an educated woman, professional, mother I am at a loss at how someone could say the Obama's don't represent the values of the average American family. You have a choice between the perfect nuclear family a life long public servant, a mother that is a professional that gave up her career to raise her beautiful children and allow her husband to pursue his ambition. The other choice is a 72 year old man on his 2nd trophy wife.

So is the issue really values? Be honest with yourself....

Michelle has solidified herself as the feminist champion as she denounced the wearing of panty hose. Women across America have been liberated! So I can understand if the folks that work for Leggs, Hanes, and Bali don't vote for the Obamas.

They Need to Quit

2008-06-19T05:22:00.000-07:00

As I read the Dallas Morning News I see this image with the following story. I laugh in my mind about all of the Black people that want to call themselves Republicans, and I then look up the website for this company Republican Market.com and saw these:

At this point I become a bit enraged. Hopefully by now you know me well enough to know that my rage is not directed at a bunch of ignorant rednecks. My rage is with the Dallas Morning News. I am disappointed that a newspaper that calls themselves an endorser of Senator Obama desires to fan the flame of Black-White hatred. I have absolutely no problem with them covering the "black house" button, but is there a reason they did not cover the button that is misogynistic, or the one that would offend Hispanics, or the one that makes fun of fat people, or the one that basically says anyone that does not vote Republican is not a true American?????

Instead of trying to continue this unrelenting banter about racism towards Blacks, lets take a look at all of the issues that illustrate the type of attitudes in the Republican party that show lack of respect for Women, Blacks, Hispanics, and basically anyone that has a differing opinion.

As we have heard over an over again about the 18 million people that voted for Senator Clinton I would think they would take issue with the dozens of buttons slamming her, or maybe this large group of women voters would have issue seeing a woman with a strong personality being labeled as a "B". Or maybe the 51% of Americans that did not vote Republican may take issue with being told they are not REAL Americans.

I am just disappointed with the Dallas Morning News, Obama's message has been to actually dig into the root of the issue, not just to try to find the best sound bite to incite some emotion.

Daily Observations, Pt III

2008-06-17T16:12:00.002-07:00

Third edition of this series. This one is simply called:

"Where did they come from?"

So I went to the local theatre in my neighborhood to see "The Happening" the latest movie by M Night Shyamalan. I try to refrain from doing movie reviews on the blog so I will simply say I thought it was pretty good. I like it, if you like his other movies you would like this one, if not you will probably not like it. It is an anti-Hollywood movie, not conforming to any of the typical cliches and plot lines of your typical movies.

When we entered the theatre there were almost no seats left. So we went back out to get tickets to another show. My wife was set on going to see Sex and the City, and as we walked to the customer service desk to exchange the tickets I must have had quite the look of despair; because the manager says to us, "You may just as well wait for the later show because Sex and the City is so long that it will end about the same time anyway." This guy is my HERO, this guy gets my nomination for the "Band of Brothers" award for 2008.

So we get our tickets to the later show and this is where I get my 2 observations for this blog:

The 1st, since we have an hour wait before the next movie begins we hop across the street to a restaurant and hit the bar, so we can grab a drink and I can catch the highlights from the US OPEN! As we are sitting at the bar a girl walks in and asks me, "Is she (the bartender) taking a long time to get orders?" I tell her not too long, and why do you ask. She says, "Well I was watching a movie and I went out to get popcorn and I thought why not just go grab a couple of shots before I go back in." As you can imagine that was a little tough to absorb so I had her repeat it to me again. She did, and then she placed the order. The bartender asked her if she wanted the same thing she got earlier? She nodded, got the drinks, paid for them,,downed them back to back almost all in one motion and she was out!!! Everybody at the bar was in a buzz, laughing and discussing what we all just saw. The bartender hears all of the discussion and says, "Yep, she came in right before the movie and ordered the same thing." Something tells me she was not done drinking that night. If alcoholics go to AA this girl needs to go to AAAAAA.

The 2nd, when we got to the theatre still laughing at the story above (but only slightly as technically we had just done the same thing, only more tastefully). There was a theatre filled with Black people. Keep in mind the demographics of Blacks in my neighborhood is so small that on a bar chart you would not be able to even read what percent we make up because it is so small. So seeing Black folks at the movies is pretty rare. Seeing a lot of Black people at the movies is very rare, and seeing them in a M Night Shyamalan movie is even more confusing. Down right shocking! I couldn't figure out if there was some attraction or rapport that he (Shyamalan) has built up among Blacks with his movies? I mean I can't say I have ever discussed one of his movies with another Black person.

I asked a friend about it, and he says he would not have called that one? Maybe it was just because there was just nothing else out that WE wanted to see at the theatre???

Daily Observations, Pt II

2008-06-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

This is the second edition of this series we will call this one:

"Just Trying to Eat"

I stopped by a local fast food chain early Saturday morning to pick up some breakfast after coming from the barber shop. When I pulled up the drive-thru the line was wrapped around the building so I parked and went in.

As I am walking up to the door past all of the big, nice, new Pickups and SUV's (one of which was my own so I am jabbing myself too) you could not help but notice a hoop-d parked right at the entrance. This car was in dire need of paint, it had no front bumper, major damage on the left front passenger side, and the back bumper was hanging. Inside the car was a middle-aged White woman that appeared to be styling her hair as if she was coming in for an interview.

So I went in and placed my order, and shortly after she entered, she had a noticeable limp, and the little bit of styling she was tyring to do in the car appeared not to have helped much at all. She walked up to the counter and asked to speak to the manager. I was assuming she was inquiring about a job, but she started in with this crazy story about what had happened to her the night before, and how she did not get all of the food that she had ordered, and she had called numerous times to talk to someone about it. It was more than obvious a fabrication, and the manager asked if she had her receipt. Of course she was unable to find it.

At this point between the fact that they were very busy, and he probably really didn't care he went ahead and gave her what she asked for without argument.

The woman looked relieved.... The 2 things I found interesting in this observation:

1) The fact that I am in a neighborhood where the average household income is above average, a parking lot full of expensive cars, and this woman would rather come in here and tell this crazy story rather than ask for money so that she can get some food to eat. This is our society, your odds are better making up a lie to the restaurant manager than asking your fellow neighbors for money to buy some food.

2) The fact that her order was filled was a testament to the difference in service that you get in more affluent areas. Just in an effort not to cause a scene he gave her what she wanted and sent her on her way. In the neighborhood I grew up in, or the one I moved from a couple of years ago, there is no chance they would have gave her that food. They would have made a point to cause a scene and publicly embarrass this woman over $3 worth of food........

What is a MAN 2 do?

2008-06-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

One of my good running buddies is having some deep marital problems. To the point that they have now separated and he has moved out and got his own place.

It was to the point where even I (Mr. pro-marriage) had to say you 2 are so fixated on how great life would be apart it is virtually inevitable at this point that you separate for a while. Of course the look my boy had in his eyes could tell you, if she wanted to keep him at all she best not to let him move out.

So now he is OUT. I stopped by his house last week, he already has it set up, 2 bedroom townhome on the side of town where all of the beautiful people live, 5 minutes form work. He has both bedrooms furnished, got his wi-fi and cable hooked up, got a plasma screen hanging on the wall. I mean the house is fully furnished and he even has it setup nice for the weekends when he has his 2 girls. This by no means appeared to be a temporary arrangement.

So when I asked how things were going between him and the wife (since there was obviously no need to ask how he was doing), he said everything was great!! He said they talk to work out the bills, he gets to pick up the girls and keeps them regularly everything was all good, but not in a getting back together way.

So later that week after sitting through his wife and her friends (of which my wife is one) having yet another "he aint sh*t rap session." My wife is like, what you described doesn't fit my expectation. Well, she was right! The bottom fell out real fast on the Bachelor. The next time I talked to him he tells me that his wife will not let him see the girls and is not responding to his calls....

I say to him that she must have asked him for some money and he refused to pay. Man, the dude blew up on me! He was like, Oh she told you that! Well did she tell you she forged one of my checks that came to the house too.....

OK, always cool I look at him and say you know damn well I have not talked to your wife. Ya'll are predictable dude, ya'll don't have a patent on dysfunction. It always comes down to the dollar. I tell him wives sign checks for husbands all the time, it's no big deal when you are together.

Then I went Dr. Laura, all that aside here is what you need to do. First get a PO BOX and get your business straight. Next, you guys need to settle on what you are going to pay her to support the children and the household. None of that I'll buy them what they need when I come get them. You need to set an agreed upon amount and you need to get that money together immediately and regularly. You need to record every penny you give her and ever dollar you spend on the children and to support the household, and I mean tangible records not quoting amounts from the top of your head.

Lastly, if you are not going to make any attempt whatsoever to mend your relationship then you need to file for divorce. Not just be out here running around having a good old time. As of now you still have a wife and 2 kids, and 2 households to support since you moved out..

He argued a bit, but I was not up for much debate, as I am not trying to be a marriage counselor. I don't need to be convinced. Then of course we went back to my favorite subject, S-P-O-R-T-S!I left feeling blessed that I was on the outside looking in at this situation.

I haven't heard from him since?

We have been Enlightened!

2008-06-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

As a Delegate representing my Senate District and Precinct in Tarrant County I traveled to Austin to vote my support for Barack Obama for President for the 4th of what will ultimately be 5 times (Primary election, Precinct Convention, District Convention, State Convention, and of course the General Election in November).

When asked what made this one of my most memorable experiences I can name more than a few. To see thousands of people excited about our candidates not only for President, but for Congress and other state and local elections as well. To meet and hear speeches from well known Democrats mayors, state representatives and senators, and even nationally recognized figures like Chelsea Clinton and Tim Kaine Governor of Virginia who may very well be our next Vice President. To see friends and family most of which I had no idea would be attending. To see almost 30-40% of the attendees were Black people excited about Obama and getting involved in the political process.

Let it be said Black people in Texas and across this country have been ENLIGHTENED. Even deeper than what Obama has accomplished. You could feel the impact of Blacks in every aspect of the convention. When I watched Texas become a laughing stock because of the kaos and dysfunction of the Precinct Conventions I thought this process needed to be abolished immediately, but after going all the way to the State Convention I now understand this is the way we get people involved in the process.

The convention is where candidates are selected, it is where the party rules are written. If you ever wondered how it is that the Democratic Platform has seemed to go astray from the fundamental beliefs of Black people. It is easy to understand, we have not been participants in the development of the platform. Black people united at the Convention and we now have a number of Black people on every Committee that sets policies and makes decisions on behalf of the Democratic Party in Texas. We voted out people that have been doing the jobs forever that have ignored our issues, and have watched the party reach an almost dismal state to the point we barely had a gubernatorial candidate in 2006.

It really makes you sick to the stomach to think that we have not had a voice in this process for many years now. Many say this is all about Obama and we'll be lucky to see 1/2 as many people as we did this year at future conventions. That is undeniably true, but that is still twice as many than we have ever had in past years! This year we set forth a new generation of leaders for the Democratic Party in Texas!!!

Monica Lewinsky's Ex-Boyfriend's Wife for President

2008-06-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

After attending the Texas Democratic Party Convention there was definitely a lot of discussion around Hillary Clinton. I actually witnessed firsthand what the media has presented as a deep division in the Democratic Party. After a long weekend, in which Chelsea Clinton gave a speech to all of the attendees on the importance of unity, a live web stream of the Clinton "so-called concession speech," and just a lot of time spent talking amongst each other. You could definitely see things falling back into place as we were reminded that fundamentally we all agree on how our candidate should address the issues of greatest concern.

What was very noticeable is some of the misconceptions of Hillary Clinton's base. You always knew with Blacks making up only 12% of the population that Obama had to carry a lot of White voters to win the nomination. The interesting fact was how even the spread of support for each candidate is among women. The media would have you believe Hillary controlled the woman vote like Obama carried the Black vote, but on the floor of the convention you could see this was not actually the case.

Why didn't more women vote for her? Clinton overwhelmingly won with older women, Obama resonated strongly with younger women. What happened to the professional, well-educated women who came of age during the modern women's movement? Why were they not moved overwhelmingly by the opportunity to put one of their own in the White House? It maybe unreasonable to expect for her to sweep 90% of this demographic, but 60% would have been enough to claim the nomination.

Unfortunately, Obama was the "girl" in this race with messages of bringing people together and offering hope and reconciliation. Clinton came out as the tough guy! Clinton failed to demonstrate many of the resounding qualities that resonate with many women voters. Clinton has come to believe she and only she can adequately represent them. Clinton and her supporters have charged that sexism is responsible for her loss of the nomination, but it seems more likely that women themselves cost her the nod.........

Soaking it all in!

2008-06-04T15:55:00.001-07:00

I have not done a blog on my Cowboys since they loss to the Giants in the Playoffs. That game really hurt, I knew the odds were slim to beat a team 3 times in one season, but I was hurt that hosting our first playoff game in years we were still unable to get out of our drought of winning in the playoffs. To make matters worse the Giants won the Super Bowl! Ugh!

So as the summer settles in, the Stars and Mavs are at home watching the finals in their respective leagues, and the Rangers are peddling false hope again. So my attention has once again focused in on the Cowboys. OK, maybe I have been following all along!

So I start getting excitement when I realize this team was arguably the best in the NFC for most of the season last year. A record of 13-3 brought a lot of joy, and gives me a lot of excitement about the year to come.

To begin, I am overjoyed we were able to retain our Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett. This is a guy that was basically offered 2 head coaching jobs on the spot, so his football IQ is certainly impressive. I am assuming he is the Coach in waiting here in Dallas, I hope by that time we still want him to be the head coach!

After "The Coach" made a run on our coaching staff, front office, and some of his old players. We were able to fill in with a number of top notch coaches. Many who have been head coaches and coordinators at previous stops.

Then came the draft. I must say this was the first time in years where I left the first day of the draft excited. We added Felix Jones at RB to replace Julius (coach made me run like a robot) Jones, Mike Jenkins, and Martellus Bennet. Then on the 2nd day we picked up Tashard Choice form GT who at one point was rated one of the Top 5 backs. As an Aggie fan I have a question mark in my mind about Bennett, as he seemed to disappear in games last season. I'll credit that to Coach Fran's poor use of his talent and just hope to see him reach the potential of all of the hype he has received.

I also was terribly disappointed in our lack of drafting a WR. I see that as a huge concern, considering the 3 top receivers have all missed a fair amount of playing time over the past few seasons. Heck we are still not certain Terry Glenn is even coming back. Patrick Crayton who predicted we would make the Super Bowl dropped the pass that may have got us there. The back-ups are all unproven to say it nicely. I actually have no issue with not drafting a WR in the first few rounds as they made a run on receivers in Round 2 of the draft and to select one would have been a reach, but somewhere in the 2nd day I thought they would take a shot on someone. You still had Mario Manningham from Michigan (who went to the Giants of all teams) Marcus Henry from Kansas, and Adarius Bowman from OSU who were all big time college players, playing for big time schools, in big time games. They say few receivers make an impact in their first season, which is precisely why we needed to draft one so we didn't have to spend next season still trying to find and groom a young receiver.

What I will say is I am feeling overwhelmingly confident about our running game. Marion the Barbarian is a Pro Bowler and relentless runner. I am a little nervous about him moving up as the feature back, but adding Felix Jones who is a Home Run Hitter and brings that "wow" factor, and Tashard Choice who will make an excellent back-up as he as projected as an every down back. Playing at GT he is already familiar with Pro Sets and blocking schemes and responsibilities as he played under former Cowboys coach Chan Gailey.

The Secondary is going to be smothering. You already have 4 guys that have the ability to play at a Pro Bowl level. There are times when they were inconsistent though, as well as battling injuries, so we added 2 rookies Mike Jenkins who was rated the one of the Top 3 DB's in the draft, and Orlando Scandrick who may turn out to be the best flat out athlete on the team. Lastly, they brought in Adam Jones (he is a Cowboy now so I refuse to refer to him as Pac-Man). I recall as he spent the last 2 years embarrassing himself and the league being thankful he was not on my team. Ouch, now I have to deal with him. On the field this kid is a playmaker, I recall watching a few Titans game where he basically single-handedly lead them to victory. As a DB!! There aren't many players on defense that can take over a game like he did. So you add him to the secondary and you have All-Americans as starters and back-ups at every position.

My excitement was somewhat tempered as I realized that the Giants, Redskins, and Eagles all made significant gains in the off-season. Plus, we play the rough schedule of a Top Tier team this year. So no one is laying out the Red carpet for us, we are going to have to play every bit as well as we did last year, and get a boost from our new additions.

Lastly, we re-signed pretty much all of our desired free agents, and signed several of the guys on the last year of their contract to long-term deals. Jerry Jones is handing out so much money they need to change his name to Texas Lottery. Something will have to give, he is looking for this to pay out big over the next 2 seasons before the bottom falls out.

The Case for Obama Pt. VI

2008-06-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

Shifting directions to get my focus on McCain. I really had intended to do so several weeks ago after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, but anyhow... Let's call this one!

Time for Some Action?

There is an interesting problem for the democrats as they campaign against McCain. I am uncertain how much success they will continue to achieve from the McCain is Bush position that is being pushed now. Although his approval rating is low, the fundamentals of what he represents are still supported by most conservatives, Bush just failed to actually preserve, implement, or accomplish any of them. So this is actually helping McCain do what he has struggling to do himself is appeal to the conservative base.

McCain is facing the same problem that haunted John Kerry in 2004, by attempting to pander to the party base it goes against his track record and against his true beliefs. So it comes across as flip-flopping because he is trying to sell something that he doesn't even believe. The problem this presents for the Democrats is they really don't want to embrace the side of McCain that has consistently went against conservatism; because that may appeal to all of those independents that are more moderate.

So is there a strategy to present the worst of McCain from both angles, to expose him as pandering to the conservatives, but with a long track record that shows he really isn't. Yet at the same time put a question in the minds of the independents that the free-thinking John McCain that they like will have a presidency that is directed by conservatives.

I think they can, but they need to do a much better job at it. I think the primary focus should be highlighting our own candidate who is changing the entire political climate, really publicize the fundamental policy differences on key issues (a few of which I will point out in my next blog on this topic) , and lastly remind voters of the reasons when given the choice they felt Bush was a better candidate than McCain. So just imagine that McCain could actually be worse......................

The Case for Obama, Part V

2008-06-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

This is the last of these installments that will reference Clinton, unless she becomes the VP, which I am not in favor, but not selecting her will probably be one of the toughest sells Obama has ever made. We will call this one.

What would you say then?

As an Obama Supporter I am often asked would you be pushing for Obama to drop out of the race if the shoe was on the other foot? I laugh because I have never said that, I am being asked this purely because they see me wearing an Obama button or the one on my bag.

My response, I don't have to ponder that question because he is W-I-N-N-I-N-G!!

Since I realize that we are overall part of the same team, I add I think Hillary is entitled to continue her pursuit of the nomination. She has been a more than formidable opponent. I am still shocked that she is losing, as she was the front runner not just for the Democratic nomination but as President just a few months ago. Everybody else seems to get the blame, but to lose that much support you had to play a big part in your own demise. I believe the Democratic Primary is the Heavyweight battle, either of these candidates should be able to beat McCain. I believe that is why she is fighting so hard, if she could somehow get this nomination in hand she would almost assuredly be President.

The interesting answer to your question is.... that Clinoton is the only candidate that would be able to do what she has done. For most candidates once they got behind and started seeing significant decline in campaign donations they would have been forced to drop out of the race. Except for maybe Ross Perot there is no one else arrogant enough or that has enough discretionary cash to drop $11M into their campaign that is already $23M in debt, while their opponent has raised almost twice as much cash.

In other words, no other candidate would need to be asked to drop out!!!

I am getting reports that Obama and Clinton will speak tonight. Setting the path forward for the campaigns, so I may do one more installment that references Clinton. Barack Obama the ClintonSlayer.......

A "Delegate" Situation

2008-06-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

I think the Wall Street Journal coined it best with the headline, "Count Every half vote."

In any realm outside of politics this would be preposterous. The Democratic Party set the rules for its primaries, barring delegates from Florida and Michigan for advancing their primary dates. The candidates agreed to abide by those rules. Clinton's chief political enforcer, Harold Ickes, helped write the original primary rules.

Yet when the contest began to look closer than Clinton ever thought possible, her campaign decided that those rules were no longer valid. Clinton kept her name on the Michigan ballot, while Obama and the other candidates took theirs off. Then after both candidates barely campaigned in Florida, she demanded that its results be counted. Changing the rules in the middle of the game.

I take strong exception to the Obama camp conceding to this settlement of the delegates, but I realize he did so as the presumptive nominee seeing it having little impact on the nomination. Although I disagree as the mere fact that they made any concession leads to support the case that the rules being non-binding would make them moot if it was to be interpreted as law.

The overall opinion of the Rules Committee and the Obama campaign is to reconcile with disenfranchised voters in these states and begin to unify the party again.

Let's examine each of these arguments disenfranchisement and unification of the party.

Disenfranchised?

1) To start only those that voted for Clinton feel disenfranchised. Every one else is satisfied with the outcome. By counting the delegates having you just disenfranchised all of the electorate that did not vote because they were told their vote would not matter?

2) The point they were disenfranchised is when the party agreed to to strip the states of their delegates rendering their primaries meaningless. Seating the delegates does not change this feeling, most voters don't even understand any of this delegate talk anyway...

3) Clinton agreed to these rules in arrogance when she thought she would win by a landslide. It also calls into question. Is her allegiance to the party platform or more to her own interests? Yes, this is a rhetorical question.

4) In Florida at least all of the candidates names were on the ballot, but in January with all of the candidates essentially faceless except for Clinton she knew this could work to her advantage and that she would obviously win. Clinton thought she would use it as a trump card if she needed it to clinch the nomination, but she just happens to be too far behind. If Obama had campaigned in Florida it would have been closer, but I will concede that she would win the "primary" in Florida if the election were today. Plus the 1.7M voter turnout is respectable based on the trend of voter turnout. All of the other states with closed primaries were at about 59% of the voter turnout for John Kerry in the general election in 2004. In the Florida 2008 Primary it was 48%.

5) In Michigan, we have a whole different ball game. To start she was the only one on the ballot so I am not sure how you even begin to develop an allocation of delegates. The fact that 45% voted uncommitted rather than voting for Clinton says a lot to me. In addition, the voter turnout was 600K. This is Michigan not South Dakota. This represents only 24% of voter turnout compared to the 2004 general election votes for John Kerry. When all of the other states with open primaries were at about 79% of the voter turnout for the general election. Which means two-thirds of the voters in Michigan essentially felt that the primary didn't matter and wasn't worth their time.

Party Unification?

1) The 2 parties have major differences on key issues, so it is somewhat a misnomer to presume there is going to be an overwhelming backlash from Clinton voters who in most cases are life long Democrats.

2) There is no true reconciliation for those that feel scorn, as you witnessed at the DNC Rules committee meeting. Democrats vehemently heckling their own party. These people cannot be consoled by so called "softening the blow." They are either going to take the lick and bounce back or they are gone. Better to do it now than to prolong it as they will only become more scorn the more energy they put into it.

3) You have to ask what exactly are they scorn about?

a)Clinton is being asked to play by the rules she agreed to. The person that Clinton has arguing on her behalf during the committee is the one that created the rule to strip states of delegates if they moved up their primary elections.

b) She is losing. If you would have had a meaningful election in Florida and Michigan and allocated all of the delegates in full and based it on the most Clinton-biased trend you can find she would have a net gain of 10-14 more delegates than she did in the compromise that was reached on Saturday. So she would still be losing by more than 100 delegates. So what it really equates to is a sore loser outcry.

4) Both Clinton and Obama have deeply divided this party. Obama divided the base that although not overwhelmingly excited about Clinton would have generally given their support. Problem is this is the same base that lost in 2 previous general elections. Clinton has deeply divided the party almost to disrepair with her "White people vote for me" argument.

5) I think there is a misnomer that putting Clinton on the Obama ticket brings back these voters or the base they are trying to reach out to.

a) The only satisfactory outcome for them is for Clinton to steal (I mean win) the nomination.

b) You have to wonder by the time you add up the folks you gained, if it's negligible. You must consider those that will not come back, those "independent" voters that will defect because they won't vote for a ticket with Clinton on the ballot, and the awakening of the Republican "Right." With Clinton on the ballot that may show up in record numbers to make sure she does not get anywhere close to the White House.

c) I think the demographic we are discussing will have a fundamental issue with him being over a White Woman (or a White Man if they hope having him as VP rallies support among Whites). If they do not suffer from this fundamental issue then they should have no problem voting for Obama when you consider the major differences on key issues between the parties, and the almost neglible policy positions between Obama and Clinton. Right?

So I will close with a few closing thoughts on all of this:

1)Of all the states to disenfranchise 2 swing states like Florida and Michigan. These 2 states represent 44 electoral votes. We have to win at least one of these states to win the general election. Why would you take any chance at putting the outcome in theses states at risk?? In Florida especially as the State officials are primarily Republican and have little concern to the impact this would have to the Democratic primary. Howard Dean played right into their hands.

2) The Super Delegates need to announce who they will be supporting and put this discussion to rest. By stating their allegiance they can end all of the speculation and we can reach the more than obvious conclusion. If some choose to vote for Clinton they should do so and we'll just see who wins (or who has already won) in the end...

3) As soon as Clinton concedes which I hope will be sooner rather than later to allow time for Howard Dean to be removed as the DNC Chairman. Under his leadership, by failing to control this situation he has squandered what was set to be a landslide victory by either candidate in November. In addition, while not settling this foolishness he has failed to put together any substantial campaign material against McCain. The McCain is Bush ads took 2 weeks to come up with, what the heck have they been doing since then? He has allowed this to become a laughing stock. He is responsible for this predicament, and now with this penchant for making rules they don't intend to keep. How they decide to escape this mess in the coming weeks will tell voters a lot about how they'll govern.

Rude or Not?

2008-05-19T14:08:00.001-07:00

I am back in Destin for the 2nd time. Enjoying myself in the condo we rented for the week overlooking the beach. On my many trips to Florida, one thing that can't be ignored is how rude the people in Florida can be.

You realize as many of them have transplanted to Florida from Northern states, or rather snowbirds down for a week or several weeks that it isn't so much as they are rude as it is just the way they are.

It is to the point now that I just laugh about it. The latest is at this Car Wash we went to. This shows how the way of thinking breeds bad service and rudeness.

As we pull in there is a special called Wash & Go for $6.99. As we get to the attendant I tell him we want the special, he says OK, but we charge $2 extra for bug remover. I look at him and say that is kinda the purpose of getting the car washed is to get it clean. So paying $7 washes the car but doesn't get it clean? Then he says to get it hand-dried will cost $2 more. OK, so now drying is not part of the washing process. If you want us to wash it, you have to pay extra for us to wipe it off so it doesn't get spots on it and looks like it was never washed.

I am reminded of another pet peave, where they charge you a per tire fee to rotate all 4 tires. Everytime I hear this I can't help but think did you actually rotate my tire if you didn't remove another one so you have somewhere to rotate it to? If that is the case can I just get a 1 tire rotation? Charge me the same price in the end, but don't charge me per tire! Anyhow, this is an aside, back to the story:

I am like wow, so at this point I say well I may as well get the $11 wash since you are charging me for it anyway. He says yeah but we still have to charge you $2 extra for bug remover. I just laugh, whatever! I charge it to my nearly maxed out Floridians are rude account and wait patiently while they wash the bugs, but don't hand dry my car!!

My fault for being from Texas where for $5 they spray down your car to remove the bugs, and hand dry it at the end. Almost to say is there any other way to wash a car???

Daily Observations

2008-05-19T13:48:00.000-07:00

Starting a new series. Doesn't mean I am going to post these every day, I am more so just mentioning something that I observed that although insignificant I found to be interesting. We will call this one:

"I'm not sure..."

I stopped by CVS Pharmacy a few weeks back to get a shaving brush.

You know how at the pharmacy they have candy at the front counter with all of the cashiers, of which there is usually only one. As I searched for a pack of gum, I hear a man saying, "are you in line?"

Initially I paid it no attention since I wasn't exactly standing in front of the cashier, but then he said something else, which I take was another way of basically asking the same question. So I looked back to see this Asian girl standing behind me. She was short with long hair, real tight jeans, and a clean face.

I just kind of looked for a moment, then I looked around for the guy that had asked, "are you in line?" Thinking maybe he was talking to her, but I saw no one else standing around, so still not really grasping what was going on I answered, "go ahead," and the girl preceeded to the cashier.

So I look on in astonishment as she converses with the cashier, and realize that the voice I heard belonged to this girl. Ar first I was like wow, she talks like a guy, then I was like acutally she is a guy.

So as he leaves, I walk up to the cashier and say wow he caught me off guard, I thought he was a girl. The cashier was like I know he does, he was giggling so, and he was buying cigarettes so I thought maybe he was underage, but he was 25.

I was like he wasn't dressed up as a girl or anything, he just looked like a girl. We agreed and just shrugged at each other, as to say s-t-r-a-n-g-e!

MFFL

2008-05-05T12:47:00.001-07:00

For those of you that don't know what MFFL means it is "Mavs Fan For Life."

I will admit to being rather bandwagon fan of the Mavericks. Considering I am a Sports Nut, the NBA is way down on my list. That being said I probably go to 5-6 games a year, probably watch all or part of 20 games a year on TV, and heck I was even a ball boy for the Mavericks for several years growing up. So I may not bleed Mavericks but I am more than qualified to give a rational opinion.

Rational, which is the subject of this blog in regards to the Mavs and the firing of Avery Johnson.

If you know me you know that I am not defending Avery as the "Black" coach. If you look back to one of my earliest blogs on Ron Washington you will see an illustration of that fact. That was before he even coached a game, I am SO utterly displeased now I can't even write a blog on the Rangers and hold to my commitment to keep the blog PG!

I have 2 issues, the first is very simple:

1) Teams don't usually find success after firing coaches that win 75% of their games. The hopes that you just need the right guy to come in and give you the nudge over the the top is very much an exception. It just creates a bad vibe to fire successful coaches, particularly one that is young and on the rise. Avery's winning percentage was trending towards Red Aurebach...

2) Cuban keeps making bad decisions that are considered as "reasonable" at the time.

a) We refuse to pay Nash and he goes to PHX and becomes a 2-time MVP. As much as everyone thought it made sense to move Nash the Jason Terry-Devin Harris-Jason Kidd experiment at PG have been huge failures and we are still in search of a PG.

b)We refuse to pay Finley and he moves 5 hours away and wins a Championship. As much as everyone thought it made sense to move Finley the Doug Christie-Eddie Jones-Jerry Stackhouse experiment at SG have been huge failures and we are still in search of a SG. I mean really Doug Chrisitie is your plan? That pretty much makes my whole argument by itself!!!

Now we fire Avery.... Just to name a few, and the irony of it all is we are much farther above the salary cap than had we re-signed Nash and Finley.

All of these were considered reasonable at the time.... the problem is he (Mark Cuban) keeps making these decisions without a plan!

The latest seems to follow the same questionable pattern. The plan is to bring in a coach (in Rick Carlisle) that is also defensive minded and has been fired from his previous 2 jobs??

In regards to the state of the franchise Avery is probably fortunate. Things are looking bleak as this team is well over the salary cap, with minimal tradeable assets, and no draft picks for the next couple of years.... We may have seen the end of an era and it is likely that Carlisle will be gone and Cuban will have to remove himself from Basketball Operations before it bounces back!

Old Zaggin....

2008-04-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

This is actually the opposite of my Case for Obama. This blog is to discuss self-hating O-L-D Black People who make the Case against Obama!!!

As I watch Jeremiah Wright make a spectacle of himself in the media, it just re-affirms my disdain with Old Black People. He really thinks that people are going to sit up and listen to him, and have a revelation and join his cause?? He fails to realize that there is not one word he can say that can change the opinion people have of him.

I really am not addressing my opinion on his statements. My issue is what he represents. To see him out there makes you wonder is he being paid by the Clinton Campaign? Is he that angry at Obama for shutting him out? Is he really that ego-maniacal? You have to ask if there was some reason his world tour could not wait until after the Primary elections in the 2 largest remaining states...

Self-hating OLD Black People remind me of Uncle Ruckus from Boondocks. I was talking to one a couple of days ago. 1) Obama doesn't have enough experience, 2) I ain't voting for him just because he is Black. 3) He hasn't done anything for Black people. 4) He hasn't accomplished anything. The excuses go on and on.

I tell them,
1) if you are voting solely based on experience you should be voting for McCain not Clinton.
2) Actually as a Black person you should vote for him because he is Black, and you should know that better than anyone as an O-L-D Black person, but assuming you actually take the time to consider some other qualities about the candidate than skin color, I promise you his position on almost every issue will be an equal or better match for you than any other candidate.
3) His campaign is to empower Poor People and the average American, I think this pretty much encompasses 98% of Black people.
4) So, being the President of the Harvard Law Review, a Civil Rights Attorney, a Professor of Constitutional Law, a Community Organizer, a State Senator, a U.S. Senator, winning the Primary election in 30 of 45 contests, leading in the Popular vote, leading in the delegate count, raising over $200 million, and signing up over 2 million donors isn't an accomplishment?

The OLD Zaggin response, "Uh,, well I still ain't gonna vote for him."

Old Black People suffer from 2 primary issues when it comes to self-hate:
1) they are bitter seeing a young person accomplish something that they or someone from their generation could never achieve
2) they don't believe a Black person is competent enough to do anything but be told what to do.....

For those of you unfamiliar with Uncle Ruckus I included this video.

Have you ever had one of those conversations, pt II?

2008-04-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

You answer your phone and the person calling you asks, "hey how are you doing?" Then you say fine, or OK, or not bad or whatever pleasantry you like to use. Then they say, "What do you have going on this weekend?" Then you say without even really thinking about, "Oh, nothing!"

It is all downhill from here. They say, "Good because I need someone to help me move my stuff this weekend." Or worse they invite you to some pyramid-marketing presentation, or invite you to some other type of cheesy event!

Well, I no longer make this mistake. My answer to the question "What do you have going on this weekend?" Is "Oh man, I am busy almost every minute this weekend, you wouldn't believe." Then I rattle off an endless list of activities not even leaving 15 minutes of free time for them to try to weasel in.

Sometimes they may even tell you what they had in mind anyway hoping you will cancel an activity (or maybe they think you are lying)!

The first time I did this, I felt kind of bad as I try to be open and honest with people as I can, but then I realized:

1) They really don't care what I am doing this weekend, it is just a lead in
2) It is never anything good if it was they would say upfront; because they know you would drop everything if they tell you they have the suite at the Dallas Stars game
3) 98% of the time it really is true that you are busy, but when asked you really aren't thinking, and once you say "nothing" if you try to come back and say you are busy it sounds like an excuse.

So, now you know if you want me to do something or go somewhere with you the conversation needs to be, "hey how are you doing?" and then "hey man I bought a washer and dryer and I need to get you to help me pick it up." There is no way I am gonna say no, we just may have to do it when I am available, and I need you to have your stuff together when I get there.

If you got tickets to the game you don't even have to ask, you just need to tell me when and where.

Otherwise, I AM B-U-S-Y!!!

The Case for Obama Pt. IV

2008-04-30T21:32:00.000-07:00

Today's installment. Just another simple example of why Obama is the candidate for all Americans!!! Let's call it:

"Judgement"

Article today from Reuters Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday slammed as bad idea

This is precisely the reason there needs to be a change. You would think once Clinton realized she was on the same side as McCain she would have backed off, but she chose to go all across the state talking about how Obama was out of touch with the voters.

For those of you that are reading challenged and have not already read the link above in summary it says Economists feel that the "tax holiday" being proposed is a B-A-D idea. Economists state refineries cannot increase their supply of gasoline in the space of a few summer months, lower prices will just boost demand and the benefits will flow to oil companies, not consumers.

Clinton-McCain say that we will pay for it by imposing a windfall profits tax on the big oil companies. Really? Is there some reason we aren't doing this now? Does this need to be tied to a "tax holiday"? Or is it really just meant to be a sound byte to appeal to the weak-minded??

Obama said in a speech, "This isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer, it's an idea designed to get them through an election."

I think one economist said it best when he said, "If you want to provide households tax relief, a direct rebate ... is more effective. Not all of the tax relief from a gas tax holiday will be passed on to consumers. Some will likely be kept by refiners."

The rookie with no experience and out of touch with the American people is the one that every economist in America agrees. What people fail to realize is Obama is the American People, and he is in touch with Washington. Things will never be the same now that they have let a "regular guy" in the door.

So my case for today, "this is the type of judgement and straight talk we need from our elected officials. Not someone jumping on the issue of the day and coming up with a gimmick to get votes, with a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y no intent on helping a single person or actually even following through on the plan."

It is time for a change in Washington, and as I have said before you don't just change the face at the White House, but you must CHANGE the entire outlook of our government. Bush-Clinton-McCain politics are done.....

Have you ever had one of those conversations?

2008-04-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

Where you are talking to someone, and you know the person you are talking to, but you somehow mix up the conversation you had with someone else and apply it to them. So you are asking them a bunch of questions based on a conversation you had with someone else.

What makes it even more crazy is some of the facts match up, so the questions seem odd to the person but they answer them based on what they think you meant. Then you finally realize who it actually was that told you the things you are asking this person about, and you try to change the subject and get back on track..... By this time the other person is ready to move on; because they aren't completely sure what you are talking about, or that you actually know who they are!

Man I am getting old................ Did I totally confuse you?? Here is the story, not necessarily all that interesting, but just an example of what I meant.

So I ran in to James at Church the other day. For some reason I am thinking the last conversation I had with him he was telling me about his step-children that recently moved in, and how he was adjusting to fatherhood never having children of his own. We exchange the usual pleasantries and greetings, and then I asked him how his kids were doing? James was like HE is doing pretty good. Keeping me busy, he has me running so, you see how I am losing weight. I was like yeah, I was just about to say you were looking pretty trim. So it's good to hear everyone is adjusting well. He kind of looks at me like, huh? So I say how long did you say they have been here now? He says let's see HE is 9, we moved down here from Wisconsin in 2000 so about 8 years.

OK, so I finally realize this is not the right person. I am thinking of a conversation I had with a guy named Dan who has a wife from Thailand, and her kids just moved here from Thailand some time last year. In my defense James has a wife from Korea so it is plausible mistake right??

So at this point, I just change the subject and asked him if he attended the Easter Service? He kind of had this look like, what just happened here? He mumbled an answer and was pretty much making his way to the Sanctuary.

The Case for Obama Pt. III

2008-03-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

I was asked by a friend, how is it that I am making the "Case for Obama" and have never stated personally (on the blog) why I am supporting him. I thought about the comments I shared with regular citizens when I went out canvassing in my neighborhood encouraging people to get out and vote, and to vote for Barack Obama!

When is the last time someone knocked on your door and asked you to get out and vote for a candidate? Obama has inspired me and millions of Americans to get involved.

I have always voted, but never have I felt truly passionate about a candidate like I do now. In the past I picked my candidate because they were the lesser of 2 evils, or because I just disliked one of them so much I voted for the other one. With Obama all of that has changed. I really believe that we can turn around the downward spiral that the Bush administration has placed us on. I believe that the time to do it is NOW and Obama is the MAN that can do it.

I have read Obama’s Blueprint for America and as an Engineer I know that a good Blueprint is the foundation to getting something built. I know that his solutions are just as good as his speeches. I know that he can make a difference in Washington by bringing the parties together, and bringing our country together. I know that the biggest problem we have had over the past decades is not a lack of quality candidates, but more so men of questionable CHARACTER. When I see Obama I know by his candor that he is a MAN of Integrity.

I know that when facing a tough decision that whatever decision he makes will be what is in the best interest of our country, not in his own best interest, not in the interest of lobbyists, not in the interest of being re-elected, not in the interest of the wealthiest Americans.

That is what is important, and that is what is missing in the White House. A man of good CHARACTER that believes in the people of America, and realizes to make CHANGE you don't just change the face at the White House, but you must CHANGE the entire outlook of our government. Just as he has inspired me, he has inspired millions of others. He is the one that can create unity between the parties, he is the one that will get things doe that REALLY MATTER to the AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!

The Race of Life

2008-03-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

There is an African Proverb that goes.....

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle awakens.

He has only one thought on his mind: To be able to run faster than the fastest lion. If he cannot, then he will be eaten.

Every morning in Africa a lion awakens.

He has only one thought on his mind: To be able to run faster than the slowest gazelle. If he cannot, he will die of hunger.

Whether you choose to be a gazelle or a lion is of no consequence. It is enough to know that with the rising of the sun, you must run. And you must run faster than you did yesterday or you will die.

“This is the race of life."

A few weeks ago I was watching the movie Higher Learning. Not to go into too much detail, the lead actor was an All-American collegiate track star. He was in the office of his academic advisor complaining about how difficult it was to be in school, be an athlete, and be being black.

He told his advisor he was ready to quit school. The advisor says to him:

You are a runner, a big time track star!

What happens when you get to the race and you suspect that the opposing team has a runner, that is bigger, faster, stronger, and more big-time than yourself? What do you do then? Do you leave the track???

He replies, “Heck no, I RUN FASTER!”

We can all run faster, we all must run faster:

We RUN FASTER because we know that we can, we know that anytime we are giving all of our effort we can win the race.

We RUN FASTER because we have to at least be able to tell ourselves that we tried, we can’t accept defeat without trying, if we fail we know we have to keep trying harder

We RUN FASTER because we know you don’t always win because you are the strongest, or the fastest, or even the smartest. The winner is the one that has the most heart.

The film has a very simple message, if at any time we are giving any less than our best, I mean everything that we have, we are cheating ourselves.

Are you Listening?

2008-03-20T05:52:00.000-07:00

Several people supporters and opponents of Obama have asked my opinion of the inflammatory comments made by Obama’s former pastor (Rev. Wright) and Obama’s speech confronting racism.

On the comments from Wright?

I can’t say I am surprised to hear the statements, but I can say I was surprised to hear them from the pulpit. Being from the South, I guess socioeconomically we are doing better as a race, so most of the preaching we hear is what is coined as “Prosperity Preaching.” I imagine in areas like Chicago that just does not sell. You can’t tell a congregation of people that don’t even have a car to pray to God they get a new Cadillac Escalade.

The biggest surprise to me is that Obama attended this kind of church. Not so much because of the comments from Rev. Wright, but just how he said it. My wife and I have said that, “the days of the jumping and hollering preachers are over!” This is as we left a similar church we had attended for years. We left because we had issue with the Pastor and the Church message was becoming less Bible-centric, but even he would have never spoke words like these from the pulpit.

I never considered Obama a deeply religious man. This shows that he was really just “going to church just to be going.” This Church in Chicago like most large churches is a pillar in the community, and Rev. Wright was wildly popular as an advocate for improvements in quality of life for Blacks. It is apparent as you see how well decorated he is, even making an appearance in Fort Worth to get yet another award from Texas Christian University (TCU). Obama attended this Church because it was en vogue to say among Black People that he was a member.

I think what this brings in to question more than anything is the sincerity of his Christian faith. As the saying goes, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, any more than sitting in the garage makes you a car.”

On Obama’s Speech?

My thoughts are simple, his entire point was to say, “Do not allow yourself to marginalize ME based on race." The point WAS NOT to defend Wright. It was to recognize and appreciate racism exists. Hate is rampant in the U.S. and everyone that hates sees themselves as right.

So I will just say, anyone that makes the point of this speech a defense of Wright misses the entire point of the speech.

To continually ostracize every single person that has a position that opposes someone else's is just not progressive. It was why racially and socioeconomically Americans are more divided today than ever before. The past generations have failed miserably to bring us together. The H-O-P-E is in our generation and future generations to strive for more progressive thinking.

I think his speech was a little Black-centric because he was trying to offer some insight and understanding on the Black experience in America. What he needs to realize is that White people DO NOT want to understand Blacks. He should have been more focused on listing out all of the White people that have been labeled as "racists" for making remarks of what are essentially commonly held beliefs by a large segment of the population, and explained why this is wrong. Blacks suffer from the same problem, they DO NOT want to understand.

At the end of the day it is not racism that we suffer from so much as it is selfishness. The problem is that selfishness breeds resentment, which breeds hate, and that hate lashes out on whoever appears to be the obstacle.

White people want to live the American Dream, Black people want their 40 acres and a mule. Funny thing is all of us have more than we will ever need, we just get stuck on wanting what somebody else has and end up fighting each other.

What is even more funny is that the person you are fighting has no more than you do, so in winning that fight you gain nothing!!!

It’s NCAA Tourney Time

2008-03-20T05:45:00.000-07:00

As a sports fan this is the most exciting time of year for me. I am one of those fanatics that take off work for the Opening Round! I tried taking off a ½ day but always got stuck at work. I tried working from home, but people always scheduled meetings during the middle of the day, so I would be on the conference call with the game on in the background (on mute of course). Of course that did not work after my outburst in the middle of the meeting because one of the teams I picked to make the Final Four had just loss on the 1st day. So I have just resolved to take the entire days as vacation…..

This year I am interrupted because I have a friend that scheduled his Service Anniversary for Thursday, and I am leaving out for a “Road Trip” to Memphis early Friday morning.

This year’s tournament has already proven to be interesting before any game has been played. For the 1st time I can remember the 4 teams that I thought should be the #1 seeds actually were selected. Mostly due to the fact that all of the Top Teams won their Conference Tournaments making it a little easier for the Selection Committee.

Other Notables:

1) A number of teams from Mid-Major conferences (like Drake, Gonzaga, George Mason) have been seeded to play against each other in the 1st round. I have to wonder if this is an effort to marginalize their impact in the tournament to keep them from knocking out schools from the Power Conferences (like Purdue, Arizona, Villanova), or if it is an effort to try and increase the opportunity for them to advance deeper into the tournament. Of course you know I believe it is the former not the latter reason. The logic does not add up to create more opportunity by ensuring that less Mid-Major teams are eligible to play in the next round.

2) The other is the relative agreement across the nation that the Selection Committee pretty much got it right. The only questionable decision was putting in Arizona over Arizona St, when they played twice this season and loss both times.

3) There has been some talk about expanding the tournament, or getting rid of the automatic bids. I have blogged on this topic before…..

So I will end putting my picks on the line. Last year for only the 2nd time ever I pocked the Final 4 perfectly, but somehow managed not to pick either of the teams that played in the Championship! This year my Final 4 is my team “KU”, Tennessee, TU (Longhorns), and UCLA. As you know if I am picking the Jayhawks to make the Final 4 I have picked them to win it all….

Rah, Rah, Jayhawk, KU! Rock Chalk Jayhawks!!!

The Case for Obama Pt. II

2008-03-12T20:54:00.000-07:00

This is the 2nd installment of my series on my case for Obama. I probably have about 10, not sure I will get around to all of them. I will call this one....

Voters Judge Issues and Character Not Race

It is frustrating that racial issues keep rising to the top of this presidential primary. Most responsible voters will base their decisions on substantive issues. Voting based on a preference is not limited to race or Obama. Just as their are Black people that vote for Obama because he is Black, there are people that DO NOT vote for him because he is Black, there are people that vote for Clinton because she is White, or because she is a woman. Just as there are people that vote for McCain because he is White, or because he is old, because he is a Republican (even though he really isn't they still do).

Obama has primary victories in an array of states and has proven he can draw support from all races and regions, and that he is not overly reliant on Black voters. In my precinct which is 2% Black and heavily GOP Obama won the Precinct and Caucus. As I attended rallies, house parties supporting Obama in my area I found myself often as the only Black person. When I visited the Obama campaign office in North Fort Worth there were predominantly Whites of all ages, from all over this country California, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Colorado.

Obama himself frustrated said, "We keep on thinking we've dispelled this, and it keeps on getting raised once again. In each new primary, we seem to have to prove this stuff all over." Unfortunately neither he or anyone else can accomplish the political divisiveness of race.

Critics suggest he hasn't proven that he can win white, blue-collar workers, but he won in Virginia, Wisconsin, Missouri, Colorado, and Iowa!

The Case for Obama

2008-03-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

Instead of doing one long blog entry I thought I would break this up into a series.

Did I miss something? I thought we, the American people, wanted something different in a presidential candidate this time. Someone civil, decent, cultured. An intelligent moderate. A man or woman who would do us proud on the world stage.

That was the way it was presented to us when the campaign started a year or so ago, but now that higher version of ourselves seems to be falling. After initial defeats to the elegant Obama, the angry Hillary has bounded back with an almost savage energy, and we, the American people, were impressed enough with her "toughness" to give her 3 state primary victories in a row, not knowing what that quality would really represent in a president.

Obama was "unprepared" to be commander in chief of the United States, the tough and commanding Hillary declared. Obama was unprepared for the crisis of the nuclear call at 3 a.m., her ads did more than insinuate. Obama's advisers even began publicly advising him to "change his tone" and to "fight back," and lose the lower ground to which she had so deliberately carried the discussion.

He rightly answered: "The question is not about picking up the phone. The question is what kind of judgment will you make when you answer?" To which Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia commented, "What matters most in the Oval Office is sound judgment and decisive action. It's about getting it right on crucial national security questions the first time -- and every time."

But that is not what Hillary is talking about these unpleasant, unnecessary days. Her mantra now is, "I am a fighter. I am a fighter." Very well, but what exactly does that mean?

Does that mean she is fighting the Republicans? It does not appear so, not when she says so unnervingly that Republican candidate John McCain is eminently capable of being commander in chief, but that her fellow Democrat Barack Obama, supposedly for "lack of experience," is not.

She is a fighter against Democrats -- men and women who essentially believe in the same precepts and principles as she does? So the fighter mantra ultimately comes down to merely a struggle to advance her own intense and often reckless ambition.

Obama made the point. "She had the view that what's required is simply to fight," he said, referring to her doomed healthcare plan of the '90s. "And Sen. Clinton ended up fighting not just the insurance companies and the drug companies, but also members of her own party."

What's more, Hillary Clinton's insinuations about Obama's supposed inexperience are quite amusing. When you look back at Bill Clinton's eight years, they were years of almost unmitigated disaster for foreign policy. I "loved" Bill Clinton as much as anyone, but....

Under his commanding leadership, we helped Russia "democratize," a series of disastrous interventions that led directly to the new anti-American autocracy today; the White House sent a directive to Somalia to go after the head chieftain there, ending in the tragic death of Americans and the end of the Somali mission. It took years of disaster in the Balkans before Bill Clinton moved to take any action at all in 1995 with the Dayton Accords and 1999 with the bombing of Serbia and the freeing of Kosovo.

As for Hillary's other big foreign policy question -- should an American president speak to undesirable foreign leaders? The question in foreign policy is not to have a president who sets rigid parameters, but one who understands the mentalities at work in the peoples and leaders of the world, and thus knows what will work and what will not. Obama has that crucial capacity Former Secretary of State James Baker III, said, "There's no such thing as presidential experience outside of the office itself." The quality we ought to seek, he went on, "is leadership."

That is a quality that Obama has, but also with a refusal to get down and dirty with some of his less discerning opponents. Leadership is not fighting whatever gets in your precious way at any moment. It is exemplifying an entire set of profound American principles and beliefs and giving such expression to them on the international stage that other peoples will want to be more, and not less, like us.

Isn't it strange that, as the campaign gets more unpleasant Hillary sounds, looks and acts more and more like the man she would replace. One can almost hear her replaying W's attitude of anytime, anyplace, at any cost.

We are the Ones

2008-02-29T15:09:00.000-08:00

As you know I can ramble on for days so there is no need to borrow material from someone else, but this dipdive by will.i.am was just to awesome not to post on the blog.

You may or may not have seen the video

but I wanted to make sure you saw these words....

people say Obama’s words are just words...
but...when was the last time "words" weren’t important...???...

when was the last time a great leader didn’t use words to lead...??...
when was the last time a person didn’t use words to describe how they felt...?...
when was the last time "words" weren’t empowering...?...

and we can all recall the last time "words" were used to divide us and install fear...

Bush used words to fear us into voting for him the second time around...
terror this...terror that...nuclear here...weapons of mass destruction there...

and those words effected a lot of people’s choices...

"enough is enough"...let’s rebuild...let’s change ourselves...let’s allow positivity to guide us...let's take action....let’s activate our passion...

we are Americans....and this is the first time in forever that someone running for president represents "US"...

some say this is all excitement...I call it “proud to be an American”...

some say this whole Obama movement is "cult like"...well...if it comes across cult like...then...the cult is called America...

the Obama movement is connecting America, and it has made "US" realize our importance...the youth are excited and activated...adults are passionate and motivated...the elderly are proud to know the country they built is in safe hands...

we are one...

for too long politics has been corrupt...separate from the American people...with agendas that go against what the American people "need"...education...health...safety...jobs,etc...

politicians have spoken a different language...

making it so the youth and poor people feel as if voting was only for the wealthy and old people...making "US" feel as if "we" had no voice...making "US" feel powerless...making it feel like if "we" did vote it wouldn’t change anything...

but wait...
that did happen...
some of us voted, and it didn’t change anything...

we were in the dark...we had no voice...we were powerless...

because America was not a united America...and "they" spoke a different language... and they had an agenda different from our well being...

correct me if I’m wrong... or speak up if I’m missing something...

we want education, health, safety, and good jobs...right???... oh yeah...and "a healthy planet to live on"...

but here we are...

in a war... poor education... poor health programs... the dollar is down... the planet, polluted...the rich, richer... and the poor, struggling...with sky high gas prices to top it all off...

and now even the rich aren't really rich internationally because our dollar is has fallen so far down...in our slumber... a very small few got really rich...

because when you’re sleeping..."it’s hard to change agendas"...we know what happened in 2000 and 2004...but in 2008...it’s different...

we are awake...and there is a movement...and "it’s hard to change a movement"...

last time "we" didn’t have a movement...America wasn’t united...and now "United and "Standing"...for something...we know the power of "US"...and we have a person who represents the "U.S."...

"US"…

"we are the ones we’ve been waiting for"...

I’m proud to be an American...

will.i.am

2008 Presidential Candidate Calculator

2008-02-01T14:37:00.000-08:00

As Super Tuesday is almost upon us I thought I would share this for those that want to see how the presidential candidates align with your beliefs:

2008 Presidential Candidate Calculator

When I went through it actually matched me up with Ohio Representative Dennis Kunich, which at the time I had only vaguely heard of him, but after reading his campaign material I had to agree with the match based on the given criteria from the calculator. Of course a few days later he dropped out of the race.

A few editorial comments I would like to share. One about what the calculator calls the Top 5 issues and one about the election in general.

The calculator ranked the Top 5 issues for the voting public as Abortion, Irag Support, Universal Health Care, Same Sex Marriage, and Gun Background Checks. OK, we all know the #1 (and #2 and #3) issue for ever voter is the ECONOMY, but since it wasn't a specific choice it can't show up on the Top 5 (although you would think you would see more of the issues that impact our economy).

Now I can understand Irag Support, Universal Health Care (for which I am unsure at this time how I feel), and Gun Background Checks (in light of all of the tragic shootings last year), but Abortion and Same Sex Marriage as Top 5 Issues?????????

My main reason for having a problem with each of these? Exactly what is a President going to do about either issue? You have 2 positions Pro-Choice or Anti-Abortion. Ironically 50% of the people that are Pro-Choice (maybe even more) are Anti-Abortion they just happen to be Anti-Government as well and they don’t see this as a decision to be made by a bunch of Old Rich White Men in Washington. Last I checked Abortion is legal, and Bush has put in several Conservative Judges in the Federal and Supreme Courts and that still has not changed. The issue isn’t that abortions are legal. The problem is that so many women feel the need to have them for various reasons, and that is going to exist whether it is legal or not.

As for Same Sex Marriage, are people going to vote for the Candidate that says he is going to institute a Marriage Amendment? Really? Will people really allow themselves to be suckered into this again? Bush made this promise, and at the time he had majority in the House and the Senate. He was less than 2 months back in office before he dropped this as a priority due to lack of support. "You mean the same lack of support that was in place when you campaigned on this issue in the first place?" Of course the Democrats are to blame for allowing Bush to use this issue to get votes knowing there was no chance he could follow through. The Democrats have it easy they can say they are in favor of the Marriage Amendment as well, I mean really are gays and lesbians going to vote for a Republican??? As a Christian I can appreciate the debate and concern, but a Top 5 issue?

That leaves me to my comments on the progress of the election in general. I mentioned before beware of the Republicans crossing party lines to vote for Obama. Believe me behind the curtain in November they will be punching the ticket for the nearest available White male. Which at this point appears to be McCain. He is a serious candidate as some of his liberal views attract the Moderate voters and he is just Old and White enough for the rest of the Conservatives to fall in line. As they say Democrats have to “fall in love” with candidates, Republicans just “fall in line.”

What I have found most interesting is the Clinton’s using the race card to polarize the Democratic voters. Brilliant! Now Obama’s worst fear has happened. He has become the “Black” candidate. As seen on this SNL clip your “electability” is a product of your degree of “Blackness.”

The worse thing that could have ever happed for Obama is to have rooms full of Black people supporting him, and to have the general Black population running to his defense. This has awaken the “W” chromosomes in all White people. As they begin to see Obama's similarities to Tyrone, Pookie, and Ray Ray. They begin to see him as a sympathizer to these type of people……. Just Brilliant Bill and Hillary! They (the White voting public) are not going to stand by and watch him be an aid (or enabler) for Black people. They realize what they have to do now!

As I have said before he has more than served his purpose in the eyes of the Democratic Natiobal Convention merely by creating an interest in voting by a new demographic. Most of which would have no problem voting for Hillary if she wins the nomination. Not sure I can say the same if Obama were to win!

People U meet at the BAR!

2008-02-01T14:34:00.000-08:00

I think this is the longest blog I have written, but I thought I would share this story I thought was interesting. Let me know what you think, maybe I will share more stories like this in the future.

So one night I go out with a buddy of mine to hang out and watch Sunday Night Football. We go to a place that he wants to meet up with some of his friends from work. By the time we get there they are completely loaded, they are taking shots and chasers back to back to back to back to back. As guys are getting their tabs they have spent anywhere from $200 - $300, and this is by no means one of those swanky clubs nowadays where you are ordering bottle service to get a table. This tab is from ordering round after round from the bar.

Since my buddy (for the record is also married, but he is a white guy) and I are late, we are way behind the curve on the buzz… Plus most of the people are getting ready to leave (probably about 15-17 people in all). That leaves me with my buddy Jason, his co-worker and friend Mandy (who is Black) and her friend Jamie (who is white).

As you may imagine this is quite embarrassing for 2 married guys to be hanging out at the bar with 2 extremely drunk girls. To make matters worse they are still trying to order more drinks (considering they haven’t paid for any all night). Fortunately, shortly thereafter the waitress cuts them off. I am expecting there to be a scene but they were too drunk to even argue. The waitress offers to bring them coffee, and they are like whatever!

So they are drinking the coffee, and Jamie is stirring the coffee and spilling it all over the table and her (it is really a sad sight). I don’t think she ever even drank any, but somehow she happens to drop her spoon on the floor. I see the spoon on the floor, but I am thinking what is the point in picking it up? It’s not like she is going to use it. Plus I am doing my best to pretend that WE are not all here together (which is technically true).

Well Mandy decides she is going to pick up the spoon, and as she reaches down for the spoon she isn’t coming back up…… This was truly a sight to see as Mandy is about 5’-10” and 200+ lbs (closer to 300) and it looks like she has just passed out on the floor. At this point everyone in the bar is looking at her, and then looking up at Jason and I like are ya’ll going to help her? You guys sat there and let her get wasted…..

So at this point there is no possibility of saving face, and you can tell the bar staff is about ready for us to head out. The waitress is bringing over our checks and begins asking Mandy and Jamie if she needs to call them a cab as they obviously are unable to drive home. Mandy says that she has called her sister and that she is on her way to pick her up. Jamie almost too drunk to even answer looks over at me and says. “He is going to take me home…..” The waitress seeing a look on my face that is a combination of “I know she didn’t just say that” and “There is no way that is going to happen” asks me if I am going to give her a ride home.

The waitress is looking at me, and I am looking at Jason and Mandy like “Can I get some help here” and I say to the waitress, “She has not asked me to take her home.” The waitress says to me, “I think she is asking you now.” So I say OK, at this point really having no intention of driving her home. Little did I know the waitress went and told the BOUNCER to be on the look out for Jamie who was in no shape to drive home and that I was going to be taking her home. So as we are leaving the BOUNCER grabs me and is like you are going to take her home right? So I say yes! As we walk out the door Jamie is stumbling around the parking lot looking for her car and Jason and Mandy are yelling at me, “Go get her you said you were going to take her home.” Jason hops in his car and leaves, and Mandy’s sister shows up about the same time and she leaves. I am in disbelief! They just r-o-l-l-e-d out and left me here with this “drunk white girl” that I just met! Plus the BOUNCER is looking at me like put the girl in the car right now and get off my property.

So I let her get into my car, with 2 major worries: 1) She is too drunk to even tell me how to get to her house, and 2) that she is going to vomit in my truck. Surprisingly she is able to give me directions although I kind of had to follow the context clues as she was pretty hard to understand. She also didn’t vomit so I am actually feeling pretty OK about the whole thing at this point. So I am helping her walk to her door (yes she is unable to walk on her own), but at least I didn’t have to try to carry her. I am basically planning to get her to the door and leave her laying right there in the foyer for the rest of the night.

Surprisingly once she gets the door open she is able to stagger to her bedroom on her own and basically passes out on the bed. I call out to her to see if she wants to try to lock the door as I leave, but she is pretty much out. I close the door behind me and start laughing out loud, partially in relief, and partially at myself thinking if she was a little more than moderately cute, not sloppy drunk, and I didn’t have to be at home by 11 this may have been a story that never would be disclosed on the blog…….

So the next morning I get a call on my cell phone from a number I don’t recognize and it’s Jamie. You have got to be kidding me…….. She is thanking me for taking her home and asking me if I would take her to get her car from the bar? My response, “How did you get my phone number?” I told her I couldn’t do it, but since she rides the DART rail, there is a rail stop that is probably only a block and a half from the bar (neglecting to tell her that it is probably a 10 minute walk from the rail stop to the street).

So the second I hang up my next call is to Jason, My question, “Why in the world did you give that crazy woman my phone number? He said, “I didn’t I gave it to Mandy.” I asked him if he knew she was going to give it to Jamie? He said no, she said she just wanted to call you and thank you for taking Jamie home. I asked him why he punked out on me and left me at the bar with his drunk friend? He laughed, and said “Man I had to get home, I owe you one next time we are out 1st round is on me.” I told him 1st and 2nd round is on him!

My next call was to Mandy. My question, “Why in the world did you give that crazy woman my phone number?” “I was actually going to let you and Jason slide with pawning her off on me last night since everything turned out OK, but this is way way over the top.” She said she (Jamie) called me and asked for your number so that she could thank you for taking her home last night. To that I said, “Why in the world didn’t you offer to take her home in the first place?” She said, “I didn’t want to fool with her because she was drunk, plus my sister wouldn’t have been to keen about picking her up.” She says. “I am sorry, next time we hang out the 1st round is on me.” What am I now a Mexican Construction Worker pay me off with a couple of beers? I told Mandy that the whole night is going to be on her. She laughs and says Jamie is the one that should be paying. I told her, Jamie and I are not going to be in public ever again, particularly at some place that serves alcoholic beverages. Also the next time I see you (Mandy) again will probably be my last….. She laughs and says you are so crazy! To that I say, but I am so so serious………..

Why are they even published?

2008-01-29T16:16:00.000-08:00

A little more for the College Football (CF) fan. I was talking to some friends and they were calling this past season, THE GREATEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON EVER! We witnessed Appalachian St. beating Michigan, no team was able to stay unbeaten (well Hawaii, but you see how that played out), and the fact that #1 and #2 teams where losing every week (sometimes to unranked teams).

That is where I had to insert my dissent. The week I published the blog entry May Never Happen Again referencing the fact that it was the first time in history I agreed with the weekly ranking system, all but one of those teams proceeded to lose that week. The other team lost the following week. Everybody laughed….. But by the end of the season all but 1 of these teams was back in the Top 10! What happened in the polls in those subsequent weeks is precisely the point I was trying to make. The #1 and #2 teams were losing every week, Top 10 teams were losing every week. As that does establish that there is more parity in CF. What it really establishes is that the pollsters are I-D-I-O-T-S!!! Most of those teams should have never been ranked that high in the first place.

Those teams were not victims of upsets, they were victims of a ranking system full of idiots. Just because USC loses a game doesn’t mean that KU is a better team. Just because West Virginia loses a game doesn’t mean that BC the next best team in the Big East is the 2nd best team in the nation?

This played out beautifully in the Big 12 Championship when the #1 team in the nation is going into a game as a 7 point underdog against a team they loss to earlier in the season. You are left thinking the bookies in Vegas appear to be more qualified to rank teams for the polls as Mizzou went on to get rolled by OU. Doesn’t mean Mizzou was not a good team, but #1 in the nation?

If the #1 team goes into a game and is an underdog your entire ranking system is worthless… Maybe if they are playing the #2 or #3 team on the road, but otherwise they should never be an underdog…..

So I ask the pollsters, go out to Vegas spend a long weekend and get the proper training on how to rank teams. Then at the end of the year the teams you have ranked high all along will be the teams that are playing in the BIG GAMES, and not the team that is getting knocked off week after week!

How 2 Know Right from Wrong

2008-01-29T16:06:00.000-08:00

Proverbial wisdom says if you have to ask if something is right or wrong, it is most likely wrong, but here is a very simple formula that asks 4 questions:

1) Is it helpful spiritually, physically, and mentally?

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial.

2) Does it bring me under its power?

Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

3) Does it hurt others?

If what I eat causes my Brother to fall into sin, I will never eat again. I will not cause him to fall.

4) Does it glorify God?

Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Very simple, but powerful in developing conviction. These questions are searching, but they must be asked if we are to pursue an ethical way of life.

PLAYOFFS!

2008-01-29T15:54:00.000-08:00

Unlike most sports fans I have never really been all that in favor of a playoff system for College Football (CF). Keep in mind I am not a really big CF fan, as my love is for NFL Football, and working in Corporate America it is very difficult to devote your Saturday and Sunday to watching football all day. So it’s not that I don’t like CF, I actually think it is really great I just don’t have the opportunity to follow both CF and the NFL every weekend. That being said my argument for not wanting a CF Playoff is very different than the norm. I actually probably agree with 80% of the arguments for a Playoff system and 20% of the arguments against one.

My reasons are simple in reference to what I said before, I am just not that interested in devoting a month of my time to following a CF Playoff. My love for CF essentially comes from growing up (and still today) being able to sit down on New Years Day and watch CF all day long. On a day I am able to watch it all day, it used to be great to sit down and watch some meaningful games and some great match-ups a-l-l d-a-y l-o-n-g.

Not only has the BCS failed as a good system (a discussion for another day), but it has really created a lot LESS interest in the sport for people like me. At the beginning of the season I picked LSU and USC as the best teams in the country , at the end of the year that argument still rings true and it did not take the BCS or a Playoff system to prove that. I am disinterested in spending the next 3 days after New Year’s watching Bowl games. I mean really most of us have to go back to work.

The 1 week period (or what seems like a week) between the BCS Championship and the last Bowl Game is also a hype killer. By the following Monday you have watched the NFL Playoffs and you pretty much satisfy your interest just to find out who won the game instead of watching it.

I will say that I became a little more interested in CF one Saturday when I relaxed at home and watched game after game after game. No exaggeration I think there was as many as 20 games on at one time with all of the channels available on my AT&T U-Verse. This is without paying for any of those extra packages. I sat down the next weekend on Sunday, I had an entire day to watch more football. The Cowboys were playing the Bears in the Sunday Night game, I had friends coming over to watch the game with me that night. I was going to spend an entire day watching football. I rushed home from church grabbed a bite to eat, got everything set up. ONLY 1 GAME showed all day…. Out of 4 programming slots they showed 1 GAME! I was taking a nap by 3:30….

I appreciate that you have to pay for the NFL Ticket to be able to see all of the games, but to only show 1 GAME on Network TV?? I realize there are agreements in place not to show games opposite the Home Team games, but in this case there was no game? Starting to feel I was getting a lot more bang for my buck watching CF.....

The Power of Oprah

2008-01-07T15:34:00.000-08:00

I mentioned some time ago I was going to do a blog on the immeasurable sphere of influence of Oprah Winfrey. Not one of those academic pieces that illustrates all of her life achievements and the impact she has made on the life of others. More simply I want to make note of a few personal observations I have experienced of Oprah's power. More notably the recognition and awareness of Black arts and entertainment that she has instilled in her White audiences.

Remembering a conversation I had with a friend of mine that is White, that was sharing with me how much she appreciated Black entertainment. Later, after a few drinks she was sharing with me about this time she was in NY and saw Samuel Jackson and ran up to him and said, "OMG!, it's Danny Glover can I have your autograph?" To which she said he gave her a look like, "Stupid White B****, thinks all N*** look alike," and got in his car and left.

This is awareness of Black entertainment? She sees a movie with Will Smith in it and says she went to go see a Black movie.........

More recently though as I walked into a theatre to see The Great Debaters (which is a great movie and a must see) and it was semi-full, but wait all of the people in the theatre were White. Mind you I live in a neighborhood that is probably 80% (actually closer to 90%) White, but typically when their is a Black movie out (particularly if it is not a comedy) the audience is almost always completely full of Black people. I turned to my wife and said they must have talked about this movie on Oprah. Sure enough as the movie began to open flashing across the screen the movie was produced by harpo films....

My wife and I have always resigned that White people do not go and see Black Movies. Especially at the theatre, and especially if it is not a comedy. Not that this isn't a well chronicled and widely known fact, but we have always kind of took pride in the fact that Black Movies have become huge Box Office successes without support from the White mainstream. Most recent occurrence is a friend that told us he went to the theatre hoping to see a Christmas movie, but said he really couldn't find one he wanted to watch. So we were like, "This Christmas," which at the time was the #1 movie in America. He said he saw it on the marquee, but he didn't know anything about it. Hmmm, you never heard of it, but you know that you didn't want to go see it??? No big deal this is typical!

I digress though this is about Oprah. So the Oprah machine has a theatre in a White suburban neighborhood full of White people to see a movie about Black people. Where all of the main characters in the movie were Black. A racially charged movie in fact! This is the Power of Oprah! It transcends the general indifference that White People have towards Black arts and entertainment. I recall a neighbor that was at my house and on my bookshelf they saw the novel The Pursuit of Happyness. They were like we saw that movie. I was like really what made you go out to see that movie? They said we heard about on Oprah, but it wasn't a very happy movie though in spite of the title. I said, you should read the book, he is a billionaire now! The early days were even darker than what the movie shows, but there is a Happy Ending!

No way that is happening, they don't go to Black movies, no way they are reading a Black book. Obviously these are just a few colorful examples that pale in comparison to the true sphere of influence of Oprah. As I look at all of the #1 sellers that are listed as books to read in Oprah's Book Club, to the unprecedented weeks at #1 that Josh Groban's Noel album spent at #1 after appearing on Oprah. Be honest have you ever heard of him?

Now Oprah is on the Campaign Trail for Obama who pulled a major upset in Iowa and is gaining ground in New Hampshire.. Although Republicans crossing party lines to vote in the Democratic Primaries should raise as much concern as it does excitement. As this is an age old tactic to ensure that the opposition has a candidate that would galvanize your own party to go out and vote instead of being apathetic.

Oprah wants to help Obama "Change" the political landscape of America, as Obama said, he wants to make Politics "cool" again! With Oprah on his side his odds are much better!

Talking Football in December

2007-12-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

So this is my first blog on the NFL as a whole since May. I made my Predictions of the Patriots then, little did I know they would accomplish this in conjunction with THE PERFECT SEASON!

Let me begin with some notes on the Pats.
1) Every great team in history has some near misses, "shoulda losses" never matter, it is the "coulda wons" that kill ya.
2) People took the close games, and started to think that there is a formula that teams can follow to beat the Pats. Problem with that is: a) you need the personnel to employ the same formula, and 2) you have to consider that Billichek isn't winning Super Bowls allowing teams to shut his team down with the same strategy week after week. If you need an illustration of this see the 34-13 victory over the Steelers in Week 14.
3) This week the Giants have no chance to slow down the Pats. I will give you 1 reason 'Eli Manning.' The Giants defense may play relatively well, but Eli will be putting forth his best effort to give the game away every chance he gets (for the record I believe Eli is salvageable as a QB, but his weaknesses will be exploited in this game). All the talk about the team resting their starters will be put to rest by halftime as the Pats will have opened up 20+ point lead. All of the starters for both teams will be able to sit...
4) For some reason, I feel like the Pats are going to get tripped up during the Playoffs. There really is only 1 team that can do it and that is the Colts. The Colts are Custer's last stand against another feather in the cap for Bill and the Brady Bunch.
5) As all indications are the Jags will play and beat the Steelers, I am not sold on their ability to beat the Pats when they show up there in Round 2 of the Playoffs. They have the right formula, they play good defense, control time of possession, and don't make many turnovers on offense, but I just don't think they are good enough to close the Pats out... Look for this one to be a thriller.

For the rest..... Watching the Packers implode in cold weather, I think the Bears may have done them a favor. They may fare much better in a much warmer Texas climate if both the Cowboys and Packers make the NFC Championship. They will both have their hands full as I predict the Redskins, who will win this week against the Cowboys and go up to Seattle and pull the upset, will be a good match in the "anything can happen" series between the Cowboys and Redskins.

Wade Phillips may be smart to go up to DC and close the door on their playoff hopes so it doesn't come back to bite him (remember what happened to Avery and the Mavs against Golden State). Of course that means the Vikings or Saints would get in and go up to Seattle and most likely get rolled and send the Giants to Big D for Round 2. So pick your poison, there is no easy roads to the Super Bowl.....

So to sprinkle in a little homer in this blog post, I have to pick the Cowboys to slide there way in to the Super Bowl. Both playoff games are going to be unbelievable brutal for them, but if this team can come back healthy they are going to be hard to knock off at home (ironically both losses this season were at home). As for the Super Bowl winner, as I stated earlier there is only one team in the NFL that can beat the Pats, so if they make the Super Bowl they are going to win. If the Colts can squeeze by them by going up to Boston and winning (does that possibility sound as crazy to you as it does to me)? The Cowboys vs. Colts Super Bowl would be one for the ages. As I recall their meeting at Texas Stadium November 2006 in which the fans stood on their feet the entire game (Aggie style) because the game was just that exciting!!

Choose the Better Right

2007-12-27T16:25:00.000-08:00

Using the sermon points of the the believer, the Bible, and the ballot box I have scored these principles with my own commentary to reach what I see as an obvious conclusion.

I. Participate in the Process

This election had the highest voter turnout of any election. I believe more Christians voted in this election than any election before. Christian pastors made an outcry to White Evangelicals to go out and vote Republicans and President Obama prevailed overwhelmingly. I believe many were like me and after truly evaluating Biblical principles and not divisive talking points and wedge issues came to an obvious conclusion.

Score: It is unfair to assume that because more people participated in the process that the winner of the election was the benefactor of this participation so we will call this one even.

II. Vote Biblical Values

a. The Sanctity of Human Life
If you read the context of this question it put a much larger context around this principle than the typical non-negotiable pro-life rhetoric. Candidates should be chosen based on who has the best chance to pursue the practical and proven policies which could dramatically reduce the number of abortions in America and therefore save precious unborn lives, rather than those who simply repeat the polarizing legal debates and "pro-choice" and "pro-life" mantras from either side. Republican candidates have received a free pass from upholding all other Biblical and Conservative principles by stamping Pro-life on their campaign poster.

Score: That being said I do believe that God’s Word is non-negotiable so I will ignore the other principles on the sanctity of human life and score this for McCain.

b. Justice For All
With more than 2,000 verses in the Bible about how we treat the poor and oppressed, candidates must convey what they will do to overcome the scandal of extreme global poverty and the shame of such unnecessary domestic poverty in the richest nation in the world. Such a central theme of the Bible simply cannot be ignored at election time, as too many Christians have done for years. Any solution to the economic crisis that simply bails out the rich, and even the middle class, but ignores those at the bottom should simply be unacceptable to people of faith.

Score: This one is not even competitive the candidates are on complete sides of this principle score this one for Obama.

c. Peace on Earth
From the biblical prophets to Jesus, there is at least, a biblical presumption against war. We must choose the candidates who will be least likely to lead us into more disastrous wars and find better ways to resolve the inevitable conflicts in the world. The candidate that best understands that our security depends upon other people's security (everyone having "their own”, so no one can make them afraid). I do not want a pacifist president, but we can insist on one who views military force only as a very last resort, when all other diplomatic and economic measures have failed, and never as a preferred or habitual response to conflict.

I would also regard God's fragile creation and choose the candidate who will likely be most faithful in our care of the environment. A candidate that will take on the growing threat of climate change, and show a strong commitment to the conversion of our economy and way of life to a cleaner, safer, and more renewable energy future. This could accomplish at the same time a key priority like reducing our Middle East oil dependence. In addition job creation and economic renewal from a new "green" economy built on more spiritual values of conservation, stewardship, sustainability, respect, responsibility, co-dependence, modesty, and even humility.

Score: Again this is not a competitive comparison Even if you don’t believe in global warming; McCain has pronounced himself as war-monger who is only rivaled by former Vice President Cheney in his desire to see the destruction of all conflicting nations. Score this one for Obama.

d. Moral Conviction
If you read the explanation of this principle this really needs know explanation. Healthy families are the foundation of our community life, and nothing is more important than how we are raising up the next generation. Only one candidate exemplifies and articulates strong family values. The White House should be used to speak of sexual restraint and integrity, marital fidelity, strong parenting, and putting family values over economic values.

Score: You have one candidate that divorced his wife after she was in a car wreck and began an affair with hispresent wife. In addition selected a running mate that had an illegitimate child (do the math child’s age minus years married), and raised a child that did the same thing. In the middle of all of the backlash made false claims that they would marry (which still has not happened) and the baby daddy (never thought you would hear this term applied to someone proposing to be in the White House) is contemplating posing in Playboy magazine and the proposed mother-in-law has been arrested for six felony drug counts. The moral valley actually goes much wider and deeper than the few items I have mentioned.

This would basically disqualify McCain from the position if there were NO other opponent, but there is… Obama is married and actually loves his first and only wife, he has 2 beautiful children and almost let’s no occasion pass when he is not speaking passionately about the important role of a strong father and mother and the strength of the American family as the backbone of all that is good in our great Nation. Throw in his running mate that lost his wife and raised his children as a single father commuting from DC to Delaware daily so that he could be with his family at home. Even if you absolutely hate Obama with every fabric of your being, you have no choice you have to score this one for Obama.

III. Choose the Better Right

Just reviewing the 4 basic Biblical principles above I amazed that anyone could come to any other conclusion than to vote for Barack Obama. Even if you disagree with my opinions if you listed it out every single component of each of these Biblical principles and actually evaluated the candidates positions based on facts (not rhetoric that you hear on MSNBC or Fox News) it is undeniable that the agenda being promoted by Obama lines up significantly more so than what is being promoted by McCain. I believe if a lot of liberals or progressives actually took time to evaluate the specifics of his views they would be a little more tentative about their support. The “Change” Obama speaks of is not just rhetoric to be more tolerant it is actually pursuing the teachings of the Bible not just cherry-picking them for political gain.

IV. Ask for Wisdom (Proverbs 29:2)

If you note in the scripture referenced it says that when the “evil rule the people groan.” The people have never groaned as loud as they did this November and throughout the campaign season. Obama won more so from the people’s displeasure with the Bush administration than he did on his own merit or anything that John McCain did or said. Only the wealthy thrived under Bush the rest of us are left to support the burdens of their prosperity.

V. Pray for our Leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

Regardless if the candidate you supported prevailed as Christians we are called to pray for our leaders. I fault all of the so called Christians that failed to pray for President Bush as we watched him digress from the Christian and Conservative principles that he campaigned for to succumb to his ambition for economic gain and power. Let us not allow President Obama to lose his tenacity to pursue God’s agenda because Christians fail to support him with our prayers.

VI. God continues to Sit on the Throne (Daniel 12:20-21)

In verse 21 Daniel says God sets up Kings and disposes them. I truly feel that God allowed President Bush to lead this nation for two terms to prepare us for President Obama. Obama could have never succeeded under the mindset that Americans held at the turn of the century. God allowed us to see a disintegration of everything Americans believe before they could see beyond their fear and hatred and accept one that is truly capable of promoting God-centered qualities and equality. President Obama presents the best picture to both sides. To liberals he represents a purer representation of Biblical and moral principles that go beyond your personal faith, but just make plain sense to all men. To conservatives he stands as one that can actually articulate actionable items to achieve those moral and biblical standards not just use them as rhetoric to score political points.

In closing, to me this is such an obvious conclusion I cannot help but be disturbed by many Christians that have chose to disregard the teachings of the Bible and aggressively demonize President Obama. I have actually heard him ridiculed for statements that are specific principles and teachings from the Bible that all Christians supposedly use as instructions for our life. What is it that blinds you to the abhorrent symbol that McCain and Palin represent of morality, conservatism, and human decency. Is it really Obama’s stand on abortion (which is a topic for another day) that bothers you?

"God's Politics" will often turn our partisan politics upside down, transcend our ideological categories of Left and Right, and challenge the core values and priorities of our political culture. There is no easy jump from God's politics to either the Republicans or Democrats. God is neither. In any election, we face imperfect choices, but our choices should reflect the things we believe God cares about as people of faith. Therefore, people of faith, should be "values voters" but vote all our values not just a few that can be easily manipulated for the benefit of one party or another.

As I Always Expected

2007-12-27T15:49:00.000-08:00

The Mitchell Report was released. As many have stated I am not sure if there is any value and identifying a list of players (most of which are inactive) as users of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). I really do not see that there is anything that can be done at this point. Maybe there will be some attempt to keep some of them out of the Baseball of Fame which I would say probably not a single person reading my blog will ever visit. At the end of the day the biggest surprise is the amount of money and time that was spent to produce much ado about nothing. There just might be a few more prevalent items that need some attention.

At the time there was no rule in MLB against the use of PEDs, or at least there was no formal testing policy. So to make matters worse none of the players identified ever tested positive for using PEDs, it is basically based on financial records and witnesses who attest to the purchase and in some cases subsequent use.

There were really no surprises, and most people don’t even believe the report uncovers a significant amount of the players that used PEDs because of the lack of support from MLB and the MPLBPA.

So really the point of this blog, is to throw stones at a few of the findings in light of the lynching that Barry Bonds receives for his alleged use of PEDs. Only 2 stones, the first of which:

The New York Yankees…. The report basically substantiated that the entire period of Yankees dominace in the 90’s and beginning of this century is completely tainted. It is actually easier to list the Yankees players that were not listed on the report. Every level of player, from their biggest stars, to guys that just passed through and made an impact for one season. This brings into question every bit of success the Yankees and their fans enjoyed. For all those that want to disregard all achievements made under the auspice of PEDs, the Yankees have made a mockery of themselves and MLB. I realize that the reason that so many players from New York were identified because of the source that provided the information was from the organization, but to me that further reflects the detestable nature of what they did. They cheated, and did not even have enough character in the organization not to disclose the information that has resulted in destroying the team’s image. In the case of Barry Bonds, Greg Anderson sat in jail for 15 months and never once disclosed any information on Bonds use of PEDs. Bonds is the one with the character flaws, but yet is able to gain this kind of loyalty??

The other stone goes to Roger Clemens. I admit I mainly dislike him because he is a Longhorn, but at this point he has to become enemy target #1. He is every bit of a decorated athlete as Bonds, and has achieved a number of records, and was certainly a Hall of Famer. They showed that in 1998, Clemens started the season 6-6, took some PEDs and preceeded to win his next 14 games ending the season 20-6. I will give Clemens credit this is not quite as staggering as Bonds 73 HR's having hit no more than 49 in any other seaon in his career. I would say in 2005 when playing for the Astros at the age of 43 being able to pitch 211 innings with a 1.87 ERA would be equally as questionable as 1998 for Clemens.

So for the next several weeks we'll all have to hear damage control from the accused players and agents, talking about how they took it one time while recovering from an injury, it was a bad decision, and they never ever used it again.... This is probably the most sickening part of the entire charade!

Awesome Wonder

2007-12-06T16:07:00.000-08:00

My wife and I have a list of musical artists for which we have always said no matter what the cost (well within reason), and no matter where we may have to travel to see the concert we are going. We had 2 artists remaining on that list, and one of them is Stevie Wonder.

So you can imagine how excited we were when we heard he was on tour again, and that he was actually coming to Dallas and performing at the best venue (of its size) for a concert the Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie. Maybe I am a homer, but this place was built to host a musical concert, this arena + your favorite musical artist makes for a memorable experience.

Before I discuss the concert I have to mention 1 thing. The day the tickets went on sale, I called my wife a little after 10:30 a.m. (tickets go on sale at 10). I asked her how good were the seats she was able to get? She said, oh my I completely forgot! How could this happen before we left for work this morning this was the last thing we discussed?? If the shoe was on the other foot, I would have been roasted!!! So I did what women claim to do, but we all know how it really gets done, if you need to get something done do it yourself. Surprisingly I was able to get good, but not great seats (look for a future blog on what I like to call the self-congratulator).

I consoled myself by thinking how close to the stage do I really need to be? It's not like Stevie is going to break it down and do the Souljah Boy (although he seemed like he would have if he could have, and he did dance a little). Also, surprisingly the video screens were on for this concert. You wouldn't think this was significant, but I have been to at least 10 concerts at this venue and recall the screens being on only once before. We weren't certain if they were on because the high cost of the tickets, or if it was because 50% of the audience was w-h-i-t-e??? In any event the video screens, plus my binoculars, and the fact that the seats really weren't too bad set the stage for a great concert.

OK, if you are still with me let me talk about how awesome Stevie Wonder's concert was. Too start this was the most people I had seen for any event I had every been to at this venue. Every seat was filled, and the crowd was pumped.... I mean so pumped that the crowd roared at the start of every song, one time they roared so loud, Stevie was like "Hold on ya'll let me sing the song!" Stevie went for 3 hours straight, no opening acts or nothing. I walked out of their dripping sweat sitting (and dancing) in the audience , I don't see how he does it!

Aside from the fact that at this point in life his body is shaped like a "pregnant penguin" (as stated by the woman sitting next to me) and his hairline is much closer to the back of his head than it is too the front, and that his daughter Aisha sang several songs, but is actually 1/3 the singer of his other back-up singer Kim Brewer this was about as hype of a concert as I have ever been too. You really can not appreciate how great he sings until you have seen it in person. I think he can sing in every key there is, and his voice never seemed to go weary.

As I recorded he sang the following songs, but frankly we were up and dancing so much I can't honestly tell you whether the order is correct or if I missed a song in there somehow:

1. Love's In Need of Love Today (with Aisha)
2. Too High
3. Visions
4. Living for the City
5. Master Blaster (Jammin')
6. Impromptu jamming with voice box
7. Higher Ground
8. Golden Lady
9. Ribbon in the Sky, Ribbon in the Sky Remix, Ribbon in the Sky Extended Version (with audience participation)
10. Overjoyed
11. You and I
12. Days of Wine and Roses
13. Send One Your Love
14. How Will I Know (with Aisha, and the only song from his most recent album that he played)
15. If You Really Love Me
16. Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing
17. Signed, Sealed & Delivered
18. Signed, Sealed & Delivered (countrified)
19. My Cherie Amour (with Stevie letting crowd sing first verse)
20. For Once in My Life
21. I Was Made to Love Her
22. Ain't Gonna Stand for It
23. Boogie on Reggae Woman
24. Sir Duke
25. I Wish
26. Do I Do
27. You Are the Sunshine of My Life
28. Superstition
29. I Just Called to Say I Love You

I probably missed a few. At the end of the night we could only come up with 1 popular song he did not sing, "Isn't She Lovely." Another friend reminded me today that he didn't sing, "I Never Dreamed You Leave in Summer." It's from the Poetic Justice soundtrack. I promise you, after 3 hours of non-stop rocking (because every song is "The Jam"), you were not wanting for more. You had more than you can handle and felt like you really didn't pay quite enough for the ticket considering the show he put on. Not to mention between all the great songs you got to see a whole lot of that great Stevie Wonder personality, sense of humor, and some good old preaching as only Stevie can do.

Every artist needs to sit in one of his tour stops, so that they can see how a concert is supposed to be done, the guy sitting behind me was from Detroit and said this was good as a Motown show back at home in the 70's! If you missed him, I encourage you to not even hesitate to make a fun trip to see him at one of his upcoming tour stops, I promise you it will be the highlight of your trip!

Wildfires in Southern California

2007-10-24T15:03:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to make a very brief pre-emptive strike to the masses that will be clamoring in a few days on how much better the disaster response from the Bush Administration and the Federal government has been for California opposed to what happened in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina.

In California, the evacuees said they were pleased with the official response to their needs, the clean conditions, abundant food and water and even yoga, acupuncture and massage. Even animals were being accommodated, with evacuated horses put up at the county fairgrounds.

Just want to make a note that this response from the evacuees is prior to any federal assistance having even arrived on site. The response, which is far less than what is needed for response to the enormity of this disaster was all pre-planned and is being implemented through coordination among the State of California and the municpalities and agencies in the impacted area.

I like to Bush Bash with the rest of them, but this illustrates the importance of preparation activities and organized coordination at the State level to really make an impact for their own residents. By the time the feds come in the worse has generally already passed.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those impacted by this event, several of which are friends, family, and co-workers. I hope all states have put forth the same effort to coordinate disaster recovery in this manner.

Respectable as a Man

2007-10-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

Not planning to use the blog for movie reviews, but for as much heat as I give Mr. Tyler Perry I have to give him KUDOS to his most recent movie "Why did I get Married?"

For those of you that know me, you know how much disdain I hold for Tyler Perry and the buffoonery displayed in the Ma' Dea movies and plays. I have a major issue with effectively a role model for young Black men to be running around stage in a dress acting like a complete fool. His entire identity as a man centered around his character as a woman, not for the brilliance that he obviously has as a gifted author and director.

I will not even elaborate on my thoughts on the quality of some of his previous stories (I'll just say I can't relate and I come from a pretty dysfunctional family), but the latest movie is one for the ages. When the wife asked me to go and see it, I was surprised as she shares my disdain for his previous work (more from the standpoint of she just doesn't find it funny). I couldn't believe she wanted to see it, and was completely in shock that she wanted me to go as well!!!

So when I said it was out of the question, I don't support Tyler Perry in any way; she told me he was not dressed up as a woman in this movie. I said, well that's good but it is still going to be silly. She said this one is better it is REAL and it has a very positive message and is a very entertaining story. I was like sure it does they all do, but the positive message is generally an "uncreative" cliche, or the characters in the movie make such a mockery of themselves that the positive message is lost in translation and becomes an afterthought. She told me that Janet Jackson and Jill Scott were in the movie, I said OK I'll give it a shot!

I must admit, when Mr. Perry decides to put on the clothes that he was ordained to wear by birth and not jump around like a blind rooster in a hen house it makes for a very entertaining and effective movie. The casting was very good for all of the characters (well maybe not Janet Jackson). The story line and issues covered in this movie were REAL. Not the "keeping it real" variety you get in many of his other stories.

Normally you mention a Tyler Perry movie to me and you have pretty much lost your privilege to discuss choices of entertainment with me, but in this case I'll go so far as to recommend this movie. This movie is the quality Black movie that we are always asking for, but can never seem to get. Mr. Perry has a contract to make several movies because they have all been wildly successful, and it seems as each story continues to get better. Mr. Perry has been given the right to call the shots on what he feels is a story is going to sell at the theatres. There is no question Mr. Perry is a brilliant and gifted author and director, and I certainly hope he continues to make the choices that are Respectable as a Man!

Collateral Damage

2007-10-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

Not the name I would have chosen, but a friend of mine coined the phrase so I am going to roll with it, the Cowboys have been labeled "Team Body Bag." This refers to the size, strength, and speed of this team, and what they have done to the opposing team players as they have really been dominant the last 4 weeks. The offense has been averaging 35 points a game, and with an offensive line led by BIG Leonard Davis they have been laying the wood. The defense has chipped in a few as well. Here is the list, many of these guys were just knocked out during the game against the Cowboys and returned the following week. Some of these guys have yet to return, some may never return:

Osi Umenyiora
Brandon Jacobs (c'mon man this guy is bigger than every player on the Cowboys defense)
Eli Manning (he actually made a conscious decision not to come back into the game)
Zack Thomas
Rex Grossman (OK, didn't get hurt but they made him look so bad he was benched and still is)
Lance Briggs
Nathan Vasher
Tommie Harris
Rueben Brown
Issac Bruce (He actually guaranteed a victory)
Marc Bulger
Corey Chavous
Raonall Smith
Leonard Little
Adam Goldberg
Ben Watson
Sammy Morris
Tavaris Jackson

I'll try to re-post this every week with the latest collateral damage....

Slow Down Young Feller

2007-10-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

Cowboys are 4-0 so it is past time for me to drop some Cowboys talk on the blog. I hate to admit it, but I am drinking the Kool-Aid. This team is arguably the best team in the NFC right now. If we can continue to minimize our injuries, and if the guys that are injured keep returning to play this should keep going.

All seems to be good so far under Head Coach Wade Phillips, and even more impressively under Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett. Most fans around here are pretty much expecting to see this team get handed to "the anointed one" after a few fun-loving seasons under Wade. Hopefully we can keep Garrett around that long.

This offense is rolling over teams mercilessly like General Sherman, so much so my boy has been keeping a running list of collateral damage. The Barber-Jones tandem at running back has continued to be productive. People are arguing over who should be the starter since they have both played so well. No argument that MBIII has been better, but why change the formula that is working so well.

There are as always a couple of causes for concern. The first of which is the defense, after the Giants game to open the season it looked as if they were going to be a busted sieve. In the last 3 games they have seem to sure it up a lot better, so much so even Jacques Reeves seems to be gaining confidence filling in as a defensive back.

The other of course is the "elephant in the room" that you can't ignore and that is the combined 3-13 record of the teams the Cowboys have played this season. 2 of those teams have yet to win any games this season at all. You will hear a lot of homers make excuses, but I don't make excuses. Recent history surrounding this team requires for them to make believers out of people they have to go out and continue to win games.

The Showdown on October 14th against New England is about to rival the hype of a BCS Championship Game (I promise I am not looking past the game this week against Buffalo)..... Some would question, how much of a showdown this will be considering how unstoppable New England has been this season and in previous years in addition to the lackluster opposition the Cowboys have been rolling over. But considering how things looked during the off-season and up until the season began the fact that this has become "The Game" should be exciting for all Cowboys fans!!

All that being said this blog entry is really intended to talk about 1 player. Young Tony Romo! When they picked him up as a rookie free agent in 2002 I told my friends watch this kid he set all kind of passing records in I-AA while at Eastern Illinois. Having attended a I-AA school myself I have a strong appreciation for I-AA talent (Jerry Rice, Micheal Strahan, Steve McNair to name a few). Move forward 4 years by the time he had his first chance to play in a regular season game in the 2nd half against the Giants in Week 7 in 2006. I was thinking we have just threw away our entire season putting him in the game.

Move Forward 15 starts later and I am wondering what "The Coach" was thinking having this kid on the bench behind QB's already well past the twilight of their careers. In 15 games this kid has eclipsed the stats of just about any QB you can name over the same time period. He has passed for 30 and ran for 2 TD's. He has only thrown 16 INT's. He has thrown for 4100 yards and has a career passer rating of 99.8.

This season he has been virtually unstoppable, averaging at least 3 per week of what we like to call "pay me" plays. Plays so amazing that when he does it you can hear the money chips falling down all around him (referring to the fact he is about to get a new contract). My buddy showed up to the game in an All-White #9 Tony Romo jersey, and he told me that they come in All-Black as well. Now, I am not a jersey guy, but I am telling you I am digging this kid so strong I might have to get one!

To think a whole segment on the Cowboys and not one mention of "The Player."

May Never Happen Again

2007-09-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

I had to mark this point in history where the AP Poll for Division 1-A football actual has the Top 5 correct. When I look at the top 5 today I have little argument that these are the 5 best teams in the Country. Arguable if the rank is exactly right, but no argument these are the five best.

1) USC - I have a feeling several years from now we are going to find out about all the shady stuff Pete Carroll did to get recruits. He will probably be on his way to the NFL by then.

2) LSU - Hands down in my opinion the best team in the country. Re-affirmed by the loyal fans on a brief stop at a gas station in Baton Rouge a few hours before the game against VT. They felt this was the best team ever..... They may be unfortunately they are in the SEC where anything is possible!

3) Florida - much like the basketball team. Until somebody beats them, they are the best team. Tebow has stepped in nicely at QB. They ran circles around Ohio St., and they are even faster this season. The SEC Championship this year might be the true National Championship game.

4) OU - I am in disbelief that they have found a good QB. They have not had one in quite a while. With all that talent and a good QB they will be dangerous. They present a serious problem for the BCS, as they will undoubtedly be undefeated. So if LSU or USC happens to lose a game they are in. Which is a shame because they aren't quite in the class with the Top 2.

5) West Virginia - I know you are laughing, but realize we are talking about a team with 2 Heisman Candidates in the backfield in Pat White and Steve Slaton, and they just added another one in Joel Devine. So now they have 3 players that are a threat to score on every play. Add in the coaching prowess of Rich Rodriguez having led them to back-to-back BCS Bowl wins! This is one of the Top 5 teams in the country...

The rest of the Top 25 is suspect, but I am just happy they got it right at the top for a change.

The That Just Ain't Right: Man-Law

2007-08-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

I recently had the chance to attend the wedding of a long-time friend. At the wedding one of the other groomsmen just really seemed to be the life of the party if you know what I mean...

At the reception, my wife comes up to me and says to me you didn't tell me this man's ex-roommate was gay. Now let me explain to you my wife has a Gay-dar that is not available in stores, and probably illegal in most states (well at least in California and Massachusetts). I told her that I just met the man last night for the first time. As you can imagine that still didn't satisfy her as an answer to what to her seemed obvious.

So although I was pretty well convinced, why did the man have to put the icing on the cake. After coming off the dance floor from doing the god-awful Electric Slide he turns to me and asks. "Who is that guy over there that you have been talking to all night?" I was really speechless for a moment. In my entire life I don't think a man has ever asked me that before about another man.

So I was like, "Oh that's Big Baby we all used to work together. He is one of the guys that came up with me from Dallas." He got a little twinkle in his eye, and said, "OK, well I think I am going to go introduce myself to that brother." I tried to call out to him I didn't think that would be a good idea, but he was gone...

So after that experience I have to declare a MAN-LAW, "A guy should never ask another guy, who is that guy over there that you were talking to?"

How I Became a Pirate

2007-08-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

I was talking to one of my co-workers a few weeks ago. She is the co-worker that has the big mouth and gives the dirt on everybody (me included). She mentioned to me that another co-worker had eye surgery that was specifically for people that did not qualify for Lasik. On top of that if you carry a certain insurance through our company they even pay for it.

So I went to talk to my co-worker that had done the procedure. She excitedly told me all about it. I mentioned to her that I had the same problem. That I went to the Clearview Eye Care Center and they told me that Lasik would do more damage to my eyes than good, and too absolutely not tell anyone ever perform Lasik on my eyes...

She then told me that Clearview is the same place that she got the procedure done. Are you kidding me? No Way! So I called the contact she gave me the next day to find out about the procedure, and the woman asked do you think you can come in today? Really? So I went to the battery of tests to see if I qualified. Unbelievable, did you ever know that you could get fatigued from an eye exam? I set an appointment for the next week for the 2nd round of tests and to find out if I qualified.

Did I mention that this woman was muy caliente.. and I didn't need vision correction to see that! Needless to say I was feeling very comfortable with the whole idea. So I qualified and they scheduled me to come in for the procedure 2 weeks later. Wow! I wasn't expecting this all to happen so fast. I needed to rush and get this procedure approved through the insurance. My co-worker had given me a contact, but initially I didn't use it, I figured that I would just go through the official process. When I called I the rep was Black (need I say more). So 10 days later after I had called and called at least 5 times I am frantically calling the contact she gave me to help me out.

This brother took over like a General. He took over and handled everything, and I mean everything and had all of the paperwork wrapped up by the next day, and was on vacation the day after that. I can't thank that brother enough, that is the type of service we should be giving each other!

So I go in the day of the surgery and I am so nervous I am sweating, and probably at a body temperature of 101. Having never had a surgery of any kind, I was nervous about the anesthesia, I was nervous at the thought that even though this man has been doing opthamology longer than I have been on Earth that he could have an off day and I could go from nearsighted to blind.

Things got worse, the nurse that was trying to insert an IV for me to get the anesthesia was having a hard time finding a vein in my hand. Yes, her having a hard time means I was in severe pain. She said I had thick skin, I told her that she just must not be used to seeing Black people as patients. I must have had quite a look on my face; because she got up and ran (literally not a figure of speech) to get the doctor to finish the job.

So after that was done, shortly after I am in he operating room. They are talking to me explaining the procedure, and the doctor comes in to give me the feel good juice. Thank you and good night! That is the last thing that I remember... They told me that I was talking and that I had something to drink and ate a cookie. I recall nothing!

So I come back the next morning for a post-op exam and I had 20/16 vision in my left eye. That is why I am a pirate, as I don't get the right eye done until November.

All because I took time to talk to the gossip girl at work... Maybe they aren't all that bad!!

I Must be Guilty

2007-08-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

My wife has always labeled me as fanatical football fan, and with the Dallas Cowboys as my favorite team, an incorrigible fan.

I never really agreed to this, as Sunday is pretty much the only day I religiously watch fooball, and plus as an avid fan I compare myself to other fans I see and in my eyes I see a clear distinction.

This clarity took a huge blow last Christmas (I am writing this now as I am reminded of this as we enter football season, plus I had not set up the blog back then)! At the end of the day after I had sorted through all of my presents you would have thought I had recently been drafted by the Dallas Cowboys.

Here is a list of the gifts I received branded with the Dallas Cowboys:

A Santa Hat
A Fossil Watch
A Pajama bottom
A Baseball Cap
A Pullover Sweatshirt
A Blanket, throw or tapestry (whatver you want to call it)
A Mug (w/ shot glasses)
A Poster of the Cowboys Cheerleaders (which I didn't get to keep)
Playoff tickets in the mail (which i paid for myself and didn't get to use)
A Frog wearing a Cowboys Jersey that sings 50 Cents "In Da Club"

These gifts came from family, fellow fans, a couple of vendors I work with, even my brother's girlfriend chipped in. If you combine this with the fact that I am a Season Ticket Holder, attend 1 road game every year, I tivo every game, the folks at church tease me that they know I will not be there when the Cowboys play a home game, and that I just got back from visiting training camp in San Antonio. I probably would be found unaminously guilty in any court. Even the worst of trial lawyers could nail me on this charge.....

The Run-In

2007-08-06T13:21:00.001-07:00

A few months ago my neighbor stopped by with his usual "me against the world" stories, and how he didn't care what anybody said about him. So I had to casually remind him that when he was recently verbally attacked by one of our other neighbors aggressively suggesting that he remove some of the "yard art" from his front yard that he moved most of it shortly thereafter.

So while we were conversing I took the opportunity to let him know I had an issue with him parking his cars in the street all the time. The guy has 4 or 5 cars that park at his house, and you will drive into the neighborhood at times and all of them would be parked on the street.

The guy immediately began catching an attitude. I found myself explaining to a man that owns a $350K home why it is not good for the neighborhood for him to park his cars in the street.

Since they were not in the street at the time, he first tried to play dumb like he did not know what I was talking about. I called him on that, and he began quoting the deed restrictions which only restrict daily overnight parking on the street. I explained to him that the essence of the rule is so that people don't leave cars parked in the street all of the time which although his move periodically and at night his cars are always parked in the street. So to me it's basically the same problem and he needs to park his 5 cars in the 7 available parking spaces on his property.

He mentions that he is unable to park any of his cars in his 3 car garage at this time. So I ask him that since he can't park his cars on his own property that he should park his cars on the street? He stated that it was public property, and I told him that the public is telling him that there is an issue with him parking his cars in the street.

Seeing he was not going to win this argument he began to get belligerent. He told me we were all picking on him, and that he was Sicilian and we didn't know who we were messin' with ("we" is in reference to the Board of the Homeowners Association of which I am am member and probably the lady that attacked him about the yard art). That we need to be worried about why the "GD" trees that are growing over the street sign and leave him alone.

Wow! Here I am talking to a 70 year old man, that is yelling at me in front of my house.

Let me briefly take you back 3 years ago, living in a different neighborhood, I knocked on my next door neighbor's door for the same reason. I asked him to move his car and to stop parking it in front of my house. Now let me explain, this was a brother that smokes weed, is never sober (always has a cup in his hand), owns a Rottweiler that we nicknamed Cujo, has a wife that also smokes weed and curses like a sailor, and a teenage son that also smokes weed and looks like the type of guy that takes Cujo to the local dog fighting spot every weekend.

All that being said which one do you think would be the worse run-in?

Erase all stereotypes; because my man was like no problem man, and came out and moved it immediately and never parked it there again. Never a tense moment, it was no big deal at all.

But the 70 year old white man, wants to talk to me like I am his grandson? So I simply told him that I speak to him 2-3 times a week and the trees had never been a problem until I told him to move his cars, and that I am telling him that I do not want him to park his cars in the street, and that it was time for him to go on back to his house.

He left and did the usual walk and talk, of which I pretty much ignored. He then called my next door neighbor who is the President of the Homeowners Association and complained about our confrontation. Ironically, most of the time I talk to this guy (the guy that parks his cars in the street) he is usually complaining about him (the president). I had previously told the president I was going to say something to this guy about the parking situation and he agreed, but on this phone call he folded like a lawn chair. Then had the nerve a few days later to try to shake my hand congratulating me for addressing the situation.

This brings me to the whole point of this blog entry (you probably thought it was to prove that I am right)... You can't tell a white man nothing! Especially when you look like me!! I talked to this guy all the time, but I tried to tell him not to do something and he catches an attitude. My neighbor agrees with me, but when he gets a call from his brethren he falls back in line and supports his fellow white man in doing whatever it is he wants to do.

He actually did stop parking his cars out there as much. It would only be 1 car from time to time. Until, my other neighbor got involved. The woman across the street from me (that is white and looks like she bites), also confronted him about the parking situation. I have not seen a car since.....

So after the white woman says something it's put to rest or otherwise stated after it stated to him by anyone that does not look like me!

It's the Spurs that make the horse go!

2007-07-31T20:11:00.000-07:00

For those of you that know me well, when you read this you will be like I must be on the wrong blog; because I know D Brown is not talking NBA and it is not April. Really just an overall surprise I am talking NBA period.

I just happened to be inspired on my recent trip to SA, and seeing all of the spirit down there so I had to make a brief entry.

I pretty much hate the NBA, and of all the teams I hate the most in the NBA the Spurs are #2 on my list (Lakers are #1 of course). I have to show nothing but love to the Spurs fan though and their passion for those Spurs. They really put on a class act celebrating the most recent Championship (plus they showed love for my Cowboys too)!

I started thinking about this whole sentiment that goes on with the media and the fans that the Western Conference is dominant and the East Conference is irrelevant. To tell the truth this really all comes down to the Spurs. The Spurs are carrying the West! Yes the other teams in the West give the Spurs some decent competition, and yes the West dominates the East in the "regular" season.

When it comes to the Finals it's all about the Spurs, not the West. Since Jordan left the Bulls in 98. There have been 9 Championships, the Spurs have won 4, the Lakers (w/Shaq) won 3, the other 2 winners came from the East.

Now that the Lakers have traded Shaq and became irrelevant, it's only the Spurs. Honestly, who else is going to win a Championship form the West?

The Dallas Mavericks? Great team, but in the Finals up 2-0 playing a team they had beaten the last 6 times they played them, they proceeded to lose the next 4 games.... Do I even need to mention the meltdown against Golden State this season?

The Phoenix Suns? Really? They haven't played in a Finals since Charles Barkely was there in 93? Has a team playing the style of play Phoenix does ever won a Championship? I think they are a great team, but you can't honestly say they could win a Championship when they haven't even came close.

So who else? There isn't another team in the West that you can throw out there confidently. The Spurs swept Lebron James and the Cavs this season, they beat them so bad it was boring. In game 3, they actually tried to give Cleveland a chance to win the game, but they just couldn't play bad enough to give the game away.

So you would assume that the Mavs or the Suns could have smoked them too, they did in the regular season. Not so fast the Cavs style of ball plays to the weaknesses of both the Mavs and Suns. They play tough team defense, they penetrate the lane, and they have a "Superstar" (Lebron James) that gets all of the calls.....

Can't say they would have loss, but you are kidding yourself if you would put $100 on them to win. Believe me, I did and I lost!

Expanding March Madness

2007-06-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

There have been suggestions to expand the tournament? Is it just me or are teams being left out a non-issue?

I have mixed emotions on this one.... I really hate that a lot of times the small conferences lose their best team in those meaningless conference tournaments. I kind of think the high seeds deserve the virtual bye they get by playing these teams. There has to be some reward for having an outstanding season so the regular season is not completely meaningless.

Including all of the conferences is a good PR move, you avoid the Boise St. situation (like you have in NCAA football), and the visibility over time can turn into some fairly well established programs see So. Ill, Creighton, Gonzaga, Butler, George Washington. 5 years ago we would have said they didn't belong....

Through the visibility in the tournament they were able to establish themselves. They never win as 16 seeds but as 15 and 14 seeds we have seen a few upsets, don't let one of them get the 12 seed!

All that being said, there is no argument you don't have the 64 best teams in the tournament, but none of the teams left out are likely to win it either.

If you are to expand the tournament, you should have 4 play in games that consist of the top eight bubble teams. These slots would 4 "at large bids." Teams who won their conference tournaments (i.e. FAMU vs. Niagra)should not be in "the play in game." The play in game (as it stands now) should consist of the top two bubble teams (i.e. Drexel vs. Syracuse).

The Discman

2007-06-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is a real quick story on how I came to purchase my first MP3 player.

They opened up a new 24-Hour Fitness near my home. When you are using the fitness equipment there are always televisions, and headphone jacks on the fitness equipment (treadmills, stairmaster, etc.). At this particular location they had televisions, but they didn't have the headphone jacks for you to listen to the programming. After 45 minutes of cardio with no entertainment, I knew something had to give. In addition, at the club that I usually went to the programming was increasingly slanted towards the Lifetime Network persuasion.....

So I noticed that pretty much everybody at the gym had some type of media player, i-pod, mp-3, one of those walkmans on a arm-band they all had something. So I decided to take matters in my own hands and went home to search my house to find my own portable media device so that I can listen to my favorite music at the gym. When I got home the only device I could find was a CD Discman. I thought cool, I can take all my old CD's I can jam every day during my workout!

So my next day at the gym, I had my CD of the Lox (Money, Power, and Respect). The CD is hype I am thinking I will be so inspired I will do an hour of cardio easy and just be throwing up sets of 225 on the bench like nuthin..

OK, first problem. On the modern equipment there is no where to put a discman!!! I failed to notice that every one else had i-pods and little cute mp3 players they could comfortably slide in their pockets. Next, when I finally did find a way to get the discman situated on the treadmill it skipped so much it would not even play. I turned on the 10 seconed ESP (electronic shock protection, do you even remember what that is?) thinking that would solve the problem, it basically saved 10 seconds worth of the CD skipping at a time.

I literally messed with this thing for 15-20 minutes. People were walking by looking at me as if I had totally lost my mind... I must have looked like I had just got off a time machine and they couldn't figure out what era I was from and what that device I kept messing with was supposed to do. I think this is the vision they had in their head.

So after another 30 minutes on the treadmill, with absolutley no music at all. I proceeded to work out and as you can imagine I evidently had not thought about what I was going to do with the discman while going from station to station at the gym, before long I had to lug that bad boy to the locker room and store it in my gym bag.

Needless to say I invested in a mp3 player. I share this story as apreemptive strike, as my wife has had entrie groups of people doubling over clowing how "throwed off" I must have looked up there with that d-i-s-c-m-a-n...

Indifferent

2007-05-14T23:29:00.000-07:00

Since pretty much every one that knows me, knows I am a HUGE fan of the Dallas Cowboys I have been asked at least 100 times what I thought about the Cowboys hiring Wade Phillips.

For the most part I am pretty much indifferent. My team has not won a playoff game in 10 years, and I am not sure how a coach that has never won a playoff game is supposed to change that fact. That being said I was more than ready to see the exit of the fatty fish. I do feel this team underachieved, but fans for probably every team feel that way about their team except for the Colts and maybe the Saints!

The thing that disturbed me the most about Parcells staying around for another year was the 2007 NFL Draft, and his uncanny ability to pick flops. Aside from Jason Witten, even the good draft picks could have been better. Compare Stephen Jackson to Julius Jones or Shawn Merrimam to Demarcus Ware. Not only did he grossly overestimate talent, but he was drafting talent that couldn't even make the team roster. Our 1st round pick last season did not even dress out on game day for half of the season, and this was not due to injury....

But enough on the Toxic Tuna. When asked about Wade, I stated my indifference but said I will have to look at the signs I see leading up to the season. The first of which of course would be the 2007 NFL Draft. I said at the end of the draft I was left saying huh? That would be the first strike against him.

Let's just say he has 2 strikes left. When they traded out of the 1st round and got the 3rd pick of the 2nd round, and a 1st round pick in 2008, I was very impressed (I promise not to participate in the what if we had drafted Brady Quinn talk 3 years from now). Then we traded back in to the 1st round to draft Anthony Spencer?? To quote Deion Sanders, do you even have this guy on your board??? I followed the proposed draft boards extensively and not once did I hear this guys name.

I even understand Wade's logic here. He looks at how this defense fell apart at the end of the season and the most logical explanation was the loss of Greg Ellis. So his priority was to minimize this vulnerability. This guy Spencer also appears to be quite a playmaker.

So what is my problem? To start I think we reached to get him, giving up a valuable 2nd pick in the 2nd round. The 3rd pick of the 2nd round is effectively a 1st round pick in a draft this deep with talent, and Spencer would have still been available. Secondly, this guy has the stats of being quite a playmaker, but I have to wonder that he may have piled up these stats against teams like Illinois and Northwestern as opposed to Michigan and Ohio St.

The remainder of the draft is even more disturbing. I am left wondering if Spencer may be the only draft pick that may ultimately make the team? I can't figure out the reluctance to draft on the first day and constantly trading to stockpile a bunch of late round picks. The worst of which is the spin they are trying to put on Isiah Stanback. An injured QB that we want to convert to a WR, in a draft where there were as many as 10+ WR's projected to be starters by the start of this season. I guess they are hoping to get the second coming of Patrick Crayton???

I just hope the 2008 Cowboys draft pick doesn't end up being a better pick than Cleveland's.

Doesn't Necessarily Bother Me...

2007-05-14T23:02:00.000-07:00

I am mentiong this although it doesn't necessarily bother me. What do you do when you find out what you thought you understood about a person isn't exactly the case?

A couple of minor infractions, but misconceptions none the less. The first of which was a little over a year ago. Each year I bought a pair of 10-packs to go to the Mavericks games. I thought this was great as an avid Sports fan I was excited that there was a sporting event that my wife found entertaining as well. I didn't catch on to it from the constant mention that there was no point in watching the game until the 4th quarter. I would almost have to agree with that, particularly as it pertains to the NBA.

Then the following year, I called to review the games we should go to in the upcoming season, and to my surprise the repsonse was I don't care, I don't really like going anyhow. Huh??? So I am thinking what's wrong with the Mavs? At this time they had several seasons of 50+ wins, played tough into the 2nd round of the playoffs in the previous season, and had Avery Johnson as their new coach. This was an exciting team to watch. So I am like, what's the deal with the lack of interest? Her response, I was just going to the games because you liked it...... What?? Next time please, feel free to tell me you don't want to go before I spend the $500.

So no big deal, didn't necessarily bother me. The next time was a little more interesting. If you have seen my profile one of my favorite singers is Kenny Latimore. We have every CD he has made, including the duet albums with Chante Moore. We have seen him in concert twice, we even got married to his song "For You," needless to say I am a big fan.

So what makes a better Christmas gift than to buy the greatest hits and sneak it in the wife's CD player for the next time she hops in the ride. Set at the perfect volume, on the perfect song. So a few days later, no mention of the CD, so I ask what do you think of the Kenny Latimore CD? The response I don't know I don't really like his music??

OK, I am starting to see a disturbing trend. I am continually uncovering pleasures that I thought we shared, only to find out I was projecting my own desires on her. Makes me wonder what else it is that I love, that she could just assume do without....

Doesn't necessarily bother me, just thought I would write a blog about it?

Talking Football in May..

2007-05-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

Had to make a quick entry based on my disappointment in every single NFL General Manager (GM)for being inept and essentially handing the Lombardi Trophy to the Patriots this season.

It really bothers me that the team that was a 1st down away from playing in their 4th Super Bowl in 6 years was able to upgrade their team so significantly. To start they got the #1 Free agent (FA) player on the market in Adalius Thomas. They were able to re-sign there own hottest player on the market. There used to be a day when free agents from one the league's best team was coveted..

They had a major concern at the wide receiver (WR) position, so they signed Donte Stallworth, Wes Welker, and Kelly Campbell. Stallworth was at the top of the FA list for WR. Welker is a coveted player, and Campbell is a former 1st round draft pick from the University of Tennesee who has had limited playing time sitting behind 2 Pro Bowl WR's in Cincinati.

They also managed to have 2 1st round draft picks, to address there only outstanding need at Safety. The other they used to get a 2nd 1st round pick in 2008.

To cap it all off the icing on the cake. The Patriots get Randy Moss, at one time arguably the best WR in the game, with no reason to believe he will not be able to re-gain that status. They get him for a 4th round pick, which turned out to be John Bowie??? This is after the Raiders had already drafted 6 players in 4 rounds. Are you kidding me, not one NFL team could make a better offer than this? This is unbelievable? The Raiders were shopping Moss for a 1st round pick, but every NFL team stepped to the side and let the bull run right by........ Every NFL GM gets an F grade for this off-season. They will all get time to study to make a better grade next year while watching the Patriots in yet another Super Bowl!

B-O-N-D-S

2007-05-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

Why is it that in their hearts every sports fan in the U.S. wishes they can be in the stadium when Bonds breaks the HR record, but won't admit it?

This is going to be the biggest sports moment of our era. He is the greatest hitter people my age have ever seen. He has nearly 3000 hits, is a career .299 average hitter, and he hits a HR every 13 at-bats (AB). That is amazing especially considering he is walked every 4 at-bats. Put those together and he is hitting a 1 HR every other game.

I had the opportunity to attend a San Francisco Giants game just recently. It was my birthday and I was in SF and I could think of no better way to celebrate than to go to AT&T Park and see Bonds play.

It was a great experience. To begin I was overwhelmed by the fan support. The game was a sellout on a Thursday over 41K fans, 80% of which had on Giants gear. To those of you Cardinals, Red Sox, Yankees fans this is no big deal, but for a guy coming from Texas this was awesome. I had to purchase tickets on a website where season ticket holders can sell their unused tickets.

I can definitely attest that the Bonds "hate" comes from outside of SF. When Bonds came up to bat he received a standing ovation. Are you kidding me they see this guy every day? His first AB he slaps a double off the center field wall for an RBI. The whole crowd sighed with disappointment. How many players can hit an RBI double and the home fans are disappointed??? We all truly believe that he is going to hit a HR every time he steps up to the plate (assuming he is pitched to).

He may not have the greatest personality. The steroids cloud may always follow him, but we can' forget that at the time most players were using. So whose to say he would not have hit more if the pitchers of that day were not using. He admitted using the cream and the clear, but he denies knowledge they were steroids. So he is lying, they can't substantiate this as a fact, and at the time MLB was not testing. He still holds to the fact that he has never tested positive for steroids......

The old-timers can put an asterisk by his name for the rest of their lives, but when I am siting in the room with a bunch of young kids talking about baseball. I will be telling them about Barry Bonds, the greatest hitter that I ever had a chance to see play the game of baseball.

Get a grip on life

2007-04-17T21:34:00.000-07:00

I never cease to be surprised by my people. After spending a day overwhelmed and consumed by the media coverage of the VT massacre, and just really being speechless that such an atrocity took place. I have heard 2 comments from Black people that are really working my nerves.

The 1st was a Black broadcaster that chose to compare this incident to the Don Imus situation. Saying that these were just helpless students trying to pursue an education and were the victims of senseless attacks. You can see the parallel being murdered versus being called an offensive name? This one isn't even worth a response.

The 2nd was a large group of Black people that are enraged at Bush's plan to visit VT to show support for the victims of this tragedy. They say he never made an effort to visit the Katrina victims, and if this would have happened at a Black College he would not be going there to offer his consolation. They say how can he go there for a tragedy that affected 33 people when Hurricane Katrina affected thousands.

I open my impression of these statements with this statement "get a grip people, and recognize that the world does not revolve around you."

If you share the thoughts above, and you have a hard time understanding Bush's logic for not getting on the ground in Katrina just take a look at yourself because you are just alike. You decided this event has lesser importance based on the demographics of the people involved, if this event had happened at a Black College you would have no issue with his visit at all.

Lord knows I hate Bush as much as the next person, probably more than most, but I try to have an opinion of his administration that is based on the facts and not self-serving. So let me start with the assertion that the impact of the VT massacre is about 33 people?

Not only have the 32 victims and the shooter suffered this tragedy, but all of their family and friends share this loss. Not to mention the 25K students that attend this university and their family and friends, the alumni of this university and their family and friends, and the entire community of Blacksburg. So we are already at thousands.....but let's add on the rest of the population impacted by this event. This event represents 2 major concerns in American society: 1) the safety of our children while at school, 2) and the continuous gun violence that plagues this nation.

You add that and we are talking millions impacted. I fully support Bush's presence and support for the victims of this tragedy, and I do that as a human being and as an American not as a Black person.

I have been in a hurricane zone, I have witnessed flooding, I have driven by tornadoes, even floated around from place to place for a period of time w/o a place to call home, but if you gave me the choice to experience all that again vs. being in a building with some lunatic shooting and killing people all around me. I would go through it all again every day of my life rather than going through the experience of the victims of the VT massacre.

This message is not at all to downgrade the horrible tragedy experienced by the victims of Hurricane Katrina or to pacify the hatred I had for Bush at that time and still have now. It is an attempt to recognize that each tragedy stands on its own, you do not have to degrade one tragedy to have an appreciation for another.

When I decided to make this post I had planned to do a spill on how the disappointment and anger about Hurricane Katrina goes far beyond the Bush administration, although I did expect that he would assert himself as the President and provide all assistance he had within his power and restore order. He did not, he failed. I decided not to really go into that because at this moment I don't want to detract from the issue at hand.

Bush along with all of us, need to get a grip, step away from our selfishness and focus on supporting the victims of the tragedy.

Would one of us had said that....really???

2007-04-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine brought to my attention he was surprised at my anger about the Imus controversy. He reminded me that I never get mad about these type of remarks. I didn't even get angry at Michael Richards (although I no longer watch Seinfeld re-runs). For goodness sake I listen to conservative talk radio on a regular basis.....

So it made me think, why did this incident make me so angry, and it dawned on me. I don't think one of us would have made this comment. Most Blacks that actually sat down to watch this game or those familiar with the story of Vivian Stringer and the Rutgers women's basketball team have nothing but a sense of pride for what they had accomplished and what they had been through as a team and as individuals. I believe that if Vivian Stringer walked into any congregation of Black people she would have received a standing ovation.

Then to hear Imus discard them like they were crackheads on the street, welfare mothers with 5 illegitimate children, or Celie from the Color Purple. It reaffirms for me exactly why White people can't use words they hear Black people say; because they do not understand the context. I think even the so-called rappers and comedians that keep being assaulted for their use of this offensive language would have showed this group of women nothing but love if they were speaking in a public forum. If they had watched that game they would most likely have been commenting on how "fine" Candace Parker looks.

I was at a baseball game last week, and it was Dollar Dog Night. So the lines at the concession stands were 30 minutes long. So my brother comes back with a stack of hot dogs and this White guy in front of us is like, "man, you must have been in line for a long time." My brother responded, "yeah I was in line for a minute." The guy says, "really, you must be a VIP or something." We all just laughed he obviously did not understand.

So I thought I would offer up the following qualifications for White people to be able to have a "free pass" to say the things that we say. If you want to say what we say you must do what we do.

If you meet all of these qualifications you can tell anyone you have earned your stripes:

1) You actually own a CD of 2 of the so-called rap music artists that use offensive language, and have listened to at least one of them within the last 6 months.

2) You have purchased and attended a concert of a Black Comedian.

3) You have visited an African American Art Museum.

4) You have read a book written by a Black author that you did not hear about on Oprah.

5) You have seen at least 3 Black movies in the past 5 years, not directed by Spike Lee, or one that you heard about on Oprah (look for a future blog on the power of Oprah).

6) You can drive to a "soul food" restaurant for dinner w/o looking up the address or calling someone to help you remember how to get there.

7) You have had Black people in your house that are not the parents of your children's friends.

8) You can pick up your cell phone right now and in your contact list is a Black person you can call and say hey man let's go out to the Bar tonight have a drink and watch the game (someone besides me).

9) You realize that for Black people Kwanzaa is a celebration of culture, not a replacement for Christmas.

10) You hate George Bush!

What the White people that meet these qualifications will realize is that if you have this type of identity and understanding of the Black race you would never make that statement! At some point you have to ask yourself why would I even want to say somethimg like that?

I will say this and close on the Imus situation (I promise)! This is not written to give Blacks a pass to use offensive language towards one another, this still needs to be condemned. It is just to illustrate that there is a perfectly rational reason why Whites should not share this freedom (what I said plus the fact you may lose your job, or get your butt kicked).

I will give credit where it is due, as I heard this controversy polarize this nation as a race issue, I realize that most Whites were outraged by this as well. I can't say that I patronize one single Black media outlet, yet I constantly heard this action being condemned on televison and radio.

Ultimately, Imus did not lose his job because a bunch of Black people were outraged, he lost it because the advertisers were pulling support from his show. So really his demise was a product of pressure from White people!

So you all get love for that....really!