Now I have no love for the BCS (Bowl Championship Series), but there is no reason at this time for Rep. Barton (R- Texas) who by the way is the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to introduce legislation that would force college football (Div 1) to adopt a playoff to determine the national champion. Do we have nothing more to do in government anymore then to come down on sports both professional (see Baseball) and collegiate? Are there not more important things to do like figuring out how to ease the economical stress the average American is experiencing? Would we not be better severed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee if they looked into more important matters like how to ‘kick start’ the economy into adopting next generation energy technology, so we as Americans can become and stay energy independent?
Apparently, no. It is by Rep. Barton’s (R-Texas) estimation that because the unreliable way the BCS ranks the schools "In some years the sport's national championship winner was left unsettled, and at least one school was left out of the many millions of dollars in revenue that accompany the title,'' Barton said in a statement released ahead of the bill's introduction. "Despite repeated efforts to improve the system, the controversy rages on.'' Well said Rep. Barton but might I ask your solution to the problem? Well according to the legislation he submitted to the Committee there is nothing specific in what sort of playoff he wants — only that the BCS should go to that format. However in surprisingly strong language, in which he also named the co-sponsors of the legislation Reps. Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat, and Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, This “will prohibit the marketing, promotion, and advertising of a postseason game as a 'national championship' football game, unless it is the result of a playoff system. Violations of the prohibition will be treated as violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act as an unfair or deceptive act or practice.''
Now I can kinda understand the reason behind the legislation in that the ‘wealth of the bowl games’ are not being evenly distributed among the schools. If this is the sole reason why Rep. Barton is looking into this legislation I can get beside it, it doesn’t mean that I like it, but I get it there are deserving schools who won’t get a shot at the National Champion title because they are a smaller school or from a smaller conference even if they went undefeated. There are large schools or large conferences that have teams looking in from the outside because of a late season loss or some other team gets hot even if they lost earlier in the year. Look if it fixes the broke system great if this is a tactic to get the focus off the economical woes or the ineffectual ability for the government to govern then shame on you sir. Shame on you and your compatriots for trying to sham the people with busy work.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Revolution
They’re calling it Stonewall 2.0.
I call it about time. I do not share the same views as my cohort RA, as such I think that’s what makes us an interesting pair of pseudo-journalists. You see her take on same-sex marriage although an interesting one built of convictions and such is far from my view on the subject. However that’s not what I’m here to talk about today. I want to talk to you about this “new wave of advocates” this cultural revolution of sorts; you see some California voters were outraged by the Prop 8’s passing. There is nothing better than the youth of America becoming outraged at a moral or cultural situation. If there hadn’t been these pioneers and their outrage today’s America would be a very different one. The cultural revolution of our parents during the 60’s and 70’s changed the path of America. In the sixties you had the Rise of feminism which brought the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Chicano movement which among other things saw to the rise of the MALDF in 1968, the counterculture/social revolution you know Hippies. Together they created a new liberated stance for society, including the sexual revolution, the youth of America began demanding more freedoms and rights for women, homosexuals, and minorities. The seventies saw more social progressive values that began in the sixties, the rise of Environmentalism and the United States celebrating its first Earth Day on April 22 1970. Civil Rights took a severe blow with the deaths of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. and Senator Bobby Kennedy, but continued to march on.
And now we have a new wave of advocates, shaken out of a generational apathy, having pushed to the forefront of the gay rights movement, using freshly minted grass-roots groups and embracing not only new technologies but also old-school methods like sit-ins and sickouts. You see a Mr. Palazzolo (32 year old male from California), recently founded the group Equal Roots Coalition with some friends stating “I’d been focused on other things in my life, then November fourth happened, and it woke me up.” Isn’t that often how it is? The youth and it’s political inexperience making social change because of some other social awaking. The youth trying to make a difference, not just for one’s self but for the community. This isn’t just for the realm of gay rights, but this new awakening can mean a leap for civil rights for everyone. Let us hope that this is the case, and not a flash in the pan situation that our generation is known for.
I call it about time. I do not share the same views as my cohort RA, as such I think that’s what makes us an interesting pair of pseudo-journalists. You see her take on same-sex marriage although an interesting one built of convictions and such is far from my view on the subject. However that’s not what I’m here to talk about today. I want to talk to you about this “new wave of advocates” this cultural revolution of sorts; you see some California voters were outraged by the Prop 8’s passing. There is nothing better than the youth of America becoming outraged at a moral or cultural situation. If there hadn’t been these pioneers and their outrage today’s America would be a very different one. The cultural revolution of our parents during the 60’s and 70’s changed the path of America. In the sixties you had the Rise of feminism which brought the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Chicano movement which among other things saw to the rise of the MALDF in 1968, the counterculture/social revolution you know Hippies. Together they created a new liberated stance for society, including the sexual revolution, the youth of America began demanding more freedoms and rights for women, homosexuals, and minorities. The seventies saw more social progressive values that began in the sixties, the rise of Environmentalism and the United States celebrating its first Earth Day on April 22 1970. Civil Rights took a severe blow with the deaths of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. and Senator Bobby Kennedy, but continued to march on.
And now we have a new wave of advocates, shaken out of a generational apathy, having pushed to the forefront of the gay rights movement, using freshly minted grass-roots groups and embracing not only new technologies but also old-school methods like sit-ins and sickouts. You see a Mr. Palazzolo (32 year old male from California), recently founded the group Equal Roots Coalition with some friends stating “I’d been focused on other things in my life, then November fourth happened, and it woke me up.” Isn’t that often how it is? The youth and it’s political inexperience making social change because of some other social awaking. The youth trying to make a difference, not just for one’s self but for the community. This isn’t just for the realm of gay rights, but this new awakening can mean a leap for civil rights for everyone. Let us hope that this is the case, and not a flash in the pan situation that our generation is known for.
Fake plumber is too fake author as Idot is too...
Hey, Joe the Plumber is back. Come on you remember Joe, aka: Joe Wurzelbacher, yeah the unlicensed plumber who Senator McCain used as a prop. You know the guy who told Katie Couric he was upset by the answer he got from then Senator Obama, when they met on the campaign trail, to his question about the Democratic presidential nominee's tax plan. "And unfortunately I asked the question but I still got a tap dance. Do you -- almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr." Yeah that one, see you remember. Well guess what, he’s got a book out. [Insert sarcastic response] And in the fine tradition of “shoving it to the man”, he’s biting the hand that fed him. Or perhaps snarking down the whole arm. You see the book’s not quite out yet. He’s just promoting it, and in doing so he went on Glenn Beck’s [insert something about a moron here] radio program yesterday ((12/9/2008) to discuss “Fighting for the American Dream”. Now what is it we can expect from the unlicensed brain of a plumber [insert snide remark about the unlicensed brain part]? Why the vaunted “inside look” at the campaign. Why? Because, according to Mr. Plumber he’s smarter than most. “I like to think I’m a little more educated than some out there in politics just because it is interesting to me,” he said. Just cause it’s interesting to you? I’ve got an interest in global warming does this make me smarter then you? Well according Joe yes. Hard to argue I guess. However since there are so very few other people interested in politics ((or global warming)) it should be a page turner of enlightenment.
So how did good ol’joe like the campaign? “I honestly felt more dirty after I was on the campaign trail and saw some things that took place [sic]” Wurzelbacher said. Such as? Well Joe really doesn’t say. Why? Well you see kiddos he’s doing the “promote-a-book” thing where you tease someone with enticing parts so they can get you to buy the book (which is out later this month). The problem is, he didn’t really have anything enticing to say. So Beck [insert snide comment about crap journalism] pushed him on it: “Tell me something about John McCain that I don’t know.” Radio silence. Followed by a lot of “uhhhh, ummmm, uhhhhh, well, uhhhhhhh…..” Finally, [read about time] he came up with the bailout. Yeah, good job Joe that’s showing the masses you’re above average intelligence when it comes to politics, way to stay topical, that’s the ticket. So what about that bailout Joe? “When I was on the bus with him, I asked him a lot of questions about the bailout because most Americans didn’t want it to happen - yet he voted for it,” he said. “At the same time he’s talking about making someone famous if they even think about putting pork in the bill. We all know how much pork was in the $700 million bailout package. Why did he vote for it?” uh-huh what else? “I asked him pretty direct questions, and some of the answers you guys are going to receive … they appalled me,” he said apparently alluding to the promise that his book will be a tell-all. “I was angry. I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him.” So why didn’t you? “Because the thought of Barack Obama scared me even more,” he says. Hmmmm…. OK, Joe. We’ll see if your strategy of throwing Senator McCain under the bus works out - even if he didn’t discard you when he could have. You see ABC’s Jake Tapper [reason for this blog] hit the nail on the head this morning when he reminded us that McCain stood by Wurzelbacher even when the faux plumber astoundingly began dispensing foreign policy advice. Let us recall that McCain stood by Wurzelbacher even after he agreed that a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for the “death of Israel,” prompting Fox News’ Shep Smith to say of Wurzelbacher, “it just gets frightening sometimes.” Well said, well said indeed.
So how did good ol’joe like the campaign? “I honestly felt more dirty after I was on the campaign trail and saw some things that took place [sic]” Wurzelbacher said. Such as? Well Joe really doesn’t say. Why? Well you see kiddos he’s doing the “promote-a-book” thing where you tease someone with enticing parts so they can get you to buy the book (which is out later this month). The problem is, he didn’t really have anything enticing to say. So Beck [insert snide comment about crap journalism] pushed him on it: “Tell me something about John McCain that I don’t know.” Radio silence. Followed by a lot of “uhhhh, ummmm, uhhhhh, well, uhhhhhhh…..” Finally, [read about time] he came up with the bailout. Yeah, good job Joe that’s showing the masses you’re above average intelligence when it comes to politics, way to stay topical, that’s the ticket. So what about that bailout Joe? “When I was on the bus with him, I asked him a lot of questions about the bailout because most Americans didn’t want it to happen - yet he voted for it,” he said. “At the same time he’s talking about making someone famous if they even think about putting pork in the bill. We all know how much pork was in the $700 million bailout package. Why did he vote for it?” uh-huh what else? “I asked him pretty direct questions, and some of the answers you guys are going to receive … they appalled me,” he said apparently alluding to the promise that his book will be a tell-all. “I was angry. I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him.” So why didn’t you? “Because the thought of Barack Obama scared me even more,” he says. Hmmmm…. OK, Joe. We’ll see if your strategy of throwing Senator McCain under the bus works out - even if he didn’t discard you when he could have. You see ABC’s Jake Tapper [reason for this blog] hit the nail on the head this morning when he reminded us that McCain stood by Wurzelbacher even when the faux plumber astoundingly began dispensing foreign policy advice. Let us recall that McCain stood by Wurzelbacher even after he agreed that a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for the “death of Israel,” prompting Fox News’ Shep Smith to say of Wurzelbacher, “it just gets frightening sometimes.” Well said, well said indeed.
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