Oh, Andy Staples, why are you so moronic? He's trying to be Mr. Sarcastic, Mr. Whitty, or whatever. In his article, regarding the suspension of the OSU players, Andy suggests that fans should sympathize with student athletes' plight of not being able to get paid for work while playing collegiate athletics:
"Just the ones who think you should take your scholarship and shut up. Those people fail to understand that you are asked to work a full-time job as a full-time student. The difference is the guy who works 40 hours a week as a waiter at Chili's can afford tuition, room and board and still take his girlfriend to a movie on the weekend. And he doesn't make millions for Chili's. You do make millions for the athletic department at The Ohio State University. Let those fans get mad. You don't need friends like them."
Are we supposed to feel sorry for Terrelle Prior for getting a full ride to Ohio State University, getting a world class education, because he doesn't get paid as an athlete or is not allowed to get a job? This is the most asinine thing I have ever heard of. First off, Mr. Chili's is only working 40-hours a week so he can get his education at Ohio State. He will end up with $30,000 or more in student loan debt despite his full time Chili's job. If athletes would rather not get the full ride to play sports, just so they can get a job while being a student, then they don't have to play the sport. He's more than welcome to take the SATs or ACTs and be like the majority of students on campus. Heck, maybe he'd get a full ride academic scholarship, which would allow him to get a job and not have the student loan debt at graduation. Andy's whining for college athletes' "unfairness" just makes him look silly and pompous.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Welcome to Royal Dutch Shell, Nigeria
The Guardian (UK) is now reporting that Shell has embedded employees in the Nigerian government. There is a wealth of oil reserves in Nigeria. This stuff is real.
Visa, Mastercard, and the Puppets
The Guardian (UK) is reporting that the Obama administration lobbied on behalf of Visa and Mastercard regarding the Russian government creating legislation that creates a national payment processing service. How ironic Visa and Mastercard would suspend payments. Also being reported, the KKK's website gladly accepts Visa payments and Visa is obliging.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Where Am I?
I've been super busy over the past two to three weeks. The week of Thanksgiving, my wife had surgery to have her gallbladder removed. Everything was successful and she is recovering to almost full speed ahead! In addition, we are preparing our house for our home study for the adoption process. The time is getting near... My wife and I have been working on the house non-stop, cleaning it up, painting the upstairs, putting beds together, and more. It's been tiring, but will be really cool when done.
Monday, November 22, 2010
If Jesus...
...was walking the streets of America, in modern times, and came across a sick person without health insurance, who lost their job 8 months ago, what would he/she do?
A. Tell them that they are not doing their part and to go "get a job."
B. Ignore them
C. Tell them to open up a HSA and buy an affordable insurance plan with a $5,000 deductible
D. Care for them
A. Tell them that they are not doing their part and to go "get a job."
B. Ignore them
C. Tell them to open up a HSA and buy an affordable insurance plan with a $5,000 deductible
D. Care for them
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Lawrence O'Donnell vs. Glenn Greenwald
Although this topic has been covered quite extensively, I think it's a great discussion on why the Democrats lost handily in last weeks elections. This started out as a somewhat contentious debate between Lawrence O'Donnell and Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com on MSNBC's Morning Joe. It started like this:
Since time ran out for the discussion, Lawrence invited Glenn on his show last night. The debate continued, although in a less contentious fashion:
I think both bring up valid points.
Glenn contends that Democrats lost the election by not clearly defining the party's goals and accomplishments and how those affect everyday people in America. He believes that by "Alienating your own base by moving to the Right via Blue Dog dependency is obviously a bad electoral tactic for Democrats." He suggests that Blue Dogs are corporatist Democrats who watered down major legislation, for example health care reform, by catering more to the corporate dollar as opposed to whats best for the Democratic base.
Lawrence believes that the United State electorate is generally moderate, and by pushing overly liberal policies, such as health care reform, the Democrats lost. He contends that Blue Dog Democrats were needed in order to maintain Democratic control of Congress as they serve as a check to the "liberal" Democratic issues.
As I said, I agree with both points. But I think if the Democrats follow Glenn's suggestion in boiling their message down to policy and how those policies would directly benefit them, Democrats may have a better chance. If you watched the second clip above, Lawrence, a former writer of the West Wing, showed a clip from the final season of the show where Santos, the fictional Democratic presidential nominee, sung the praises of liberal accomplishments over time, and that liberal is not the dirty word that Republicans make it out to be.
Santos: I know you like to use that word 'liberal' as if it were a crime.
Vinick: No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have used that word. I know Democrats think liberal is a bad word. So bad you had to change it. What do you call yourselves now, progressives? Is that it?
Santos: It's true. Republicans have tried to turn liberal into a bad word. Well, liberals ended slavery in this country.
Vinick: A Republican President ended slavery.
Santos: Yes, a liberal Republican; what happened to them, Senator? They got run out of your party! What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican Party? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.
Ask anyone, liberals or conservatives, if they value those programs, and I'm sure you'll find that the vast majority people in our country are indeed liberal and value these "practical socialist" ideals. There are many of the practical socialist ideals out there, waiting to be successful in the U.S. such as Universal Health Care.
Since time ran out for the discussion, Lawrence invited Glenn on his show last night. The debate continued, although in a less contentious fashion:
I think both bring up valid points.
Glenn contends that Democrats lost the election by not clearly defining the party's goals and accomplishments and how those affect everyday people in America. He believes that by "Alienating your own base by moving to the Right via Blue Dog dependency is obviously a bad electoral tactic for Democrats." He suggests that Blue Dogs are corporatist Democrats who watered down major legislation, for example health care reform, by catering more to the corporate dollar as opposed to whats best for the Democratic base.
Lawrence believes that the United State electorate is generally moderate, and by pushing overly liberal policies, such as health care reform, the Democrats lost. He contends that Blue Dog Democrats were needed in order to maintain Democratic control of Congress as they serve as a check to the "liberal" Democratic issues.
As I said, I agree with both points. But I think if the Democrats follow Glenn's suggestion in boiling their message down to policy and how those policies would directly benefit them, Democrats may have a better chance. If you watched the second clip above, Lawrence, a former writer of the West Wing, showed a clip from the final season of the show where Santos, the fictional Democratic presidential nominee, sung the praises of liberal accomplishments over time, and that liberal is not the dirty word that Republicans make it out to be.
Santos: I know you like to use that word 'liberal' as if it were a crime.
Vinick: No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have used that word. I know Democrats think liberal is a bad word. So bad you had to change it. What do you call yourselves now, progressives? Is that it?
Santos: It's true. Republicans have tried to turn liberal into a bad word. Well, liberals ended slavery in this country.
Vinick: A Republican President ended slavery.
Santos: Yes, a liberal Republican; what happened to them, Senator? They got run out of your party! What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican Party? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.
Ask anyone, liberals or conservatives, if they value those programs, and I'm sure you'll find that the vast majority people in our country are indeed liberal and value these "practical socialist" ideals. There are many of the practical socialist ideals out there, waiting to be successful in the U.S. such as Universal Health Care.
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