I didn’t think I could dislike LeBron James
GoneGator 
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Four games into the Cleveland-Orlando series, I have come to despise LeBron James. His sense of entitlement, illustrated best as he whines to refs, is unbelievable. I took great joy in watching him commit turnover after turnover to help his team lose Game 4 to the Magic.
Attention Heteros: Your Marriage is Not Threatened
I’ve had just about enough of the doomsday declarations since Vermont passed legislation legalizing marriage between consenting homosexual couples.
Their argument: Homosexual marriage threatens the very institution.
For the life of me, I don’t understand that logic. If Jack and Jim — or Brenda and Betty — decide to get married, and the state gives its blessing, how is that damaging to my traditional marriage?
Hmm, let’s see. I’d still be married. Still have the same civil rights. Still get health insurance. Still drive my car. Still wear my wedding band. Still go to the church of my choice.
Why, my marriage hasn’t been affected at all!
Though the following needn’t be said, as obvious as it is, I’ll say it anyway: This is yet another example of fear-mongering by the extreme right wing of this country.
Do they ever get tired of living life scared shitless?
Cantor is Not Good for the Republican Party
Eric Cantor is a nasally, whiny defeatist with absolutely no ideas to present. Is he really the best the Republican Party can offer as minority whip in the House? Says it all about the GOP.
Conference Tournaments ARE Meaningful
Doug Gottleib needs to do his homework before opening his mouth.
For three days, I’ve listened to this ESPN college basketball “analyst” rationalize an early exit by a potential No. 1 seed as having no bearing on their NCAA seeding or their national title hopes.
First he rationalized No. 2-ranked Pittsburgh’s loss to West Virginia in the Big East quarterfinals. Then No. 3 UConn’s loss to Syracuse in the same round. Now, No. 1 North Carolina’s loss to Florida State in the ACC semifinals.
In fact, Gottleib suggested that it might be a good thing that those teams lost so they can be more rested as they enter the NCAA Tournament.
That struck me as wrong-headed, so I did some research and discovered that the road to the national championship followed a familiar route in recent years.
The last five NCAA champions:
- 2008: Kansas Jayhawks. Warmed up by winning the Big 12 Tournament.
- 2007: Florida Gators. After winning the SEC Tournament.
- 2006: Florida. Won the SEC Tournament.
- 2005: North Carolina Tar Heels. Lost in ACC Tournament semifinals.
- 2004: Connecticut Huskies. Won the Big East Tournament.
So, four of the past five NCAA champions also won their conference tournament. And I’d bet that any of those teams would agree that the experience they gained winning their conference tourneys — by winning three games in three days — better prepared them for the grind of the Big Dance.
Doug, are you paying attention?
Finally, there’s the most important reason conference tournaments matter. If you win one, you get to raise a championship banner over your home court that will be there forever.
I don’t recall banners being raised very often for earning a No. 1 seed.
Stimulus working in SW Va.
Southwest Virginia may be populated by a large “good Republican” majority, but they sure seem to be falling in love with a Democratic initiative: the $8,000 tax credit to first-time home buyers. http://snurl.com/d0mbo
Petri Dish Politics: It’s What’s for Dinner
It’s been too long since my last blog post, but several things have been beating me down. Illness. Economic meltdown. Winter blues. So rather than focus on a single subject, I’m gonna hit you with some recent ruminations.
A verbal drive-by, if you will, in a nod to my pal Miss Andrea.
Let’s start with the Florida Gators. Right now, I’m watching them get their asses beat in Gainesville by the hated Tennessee Volunteers. Just as I feared, the Gators’ weak early-season slate (their strength of schedule ranks 101st in Division I) has left them totally unprepared for the intensity of the stretch run. And it’s looking more likely that a second straight NIT bid awaits.
As the Gators struggle, President Barack Obama is backing his campaign rhetoric with action in the form of ambitious plans and proposals that at once inspire and scare the shit out of me.
I firmly support his three-pronged strategy to reform our health care system, foster energy independence and a green economy, and ensure that Americans are the most educated population in the world. But I just can’t see how he’ll pay for it without raising taxes across the board.
So a theory hit me today (one that relies upon the Dems holding onto power for 12-16 years): Obama and the Democrats are gambling on this “new new deal” being a runaway success, delivering myriad benefits of undeniable value to society. Affordable health care. Better roads and bridges. Cleaner, cheaper energy. Reformed entitlements. World-class education.
If that becomes our reality, the majority will come to happily rely upon the feds for essential services. Then when they stick us with the bill by raising taxes, we might not mind as much.
Dems may deny it, but we are headed down a more socialist road. And perhaps that is necessary as our nation’s population grows too large to be supported by a purely capitalist system.
That provides a nice segue to some thoughts on population control. Genesis 1:28 (yes, I’m quoting the good book) commands us to “be fruitful and multiply,” but when those words were written I doubt anyone imagined a world of 6.8 billion souls. There are simply too many people inhabiting the planet, and they’ve stretched the world’s resources to the breaking point.
We must make population control a priority. Nothing would go further toward solving the world’s crises.
Having a large family in this day and age is one of the most selfish acts I can imagine. That’s why it infuriates me to hear news of the birth of quadruplets, quints, and now even octuplets. What are these people thinking? If you need in virto fertilization to have a child, perhaps nature — or your God, if you believe in such — is making its own attempt at population control.
In an op-ed piece last year in the Roanoke Times, Robert F. Boyd wrote:
“What kind of world will we have if we are crowded together like a colony of rats? Are we no better than the planet’s ‘lower’ animals? If not, we too may suffer the fate of overpopulation, famine and possibly extinction.”
The answer is not a Chinese-style limit on offspring. I do not believe couples should be denied their right to have a family, if that’s what they desire and they are able.
But they must have a plan. And that requires sex education (sorry GOP) and an altruistic world view. (You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.)
Consider your motivation to have a child and your ability to care for one. Think about the impact on the lives of others. No matter what you decide, practice birth control.
And please — put down the damn tubes and Petri dishes. If you can’t conceive naturally and still must have a child, there are plenty of unwanted children waiting to be adopted.
Digital Distress
GoneGator Uncategorized I can’t believe Congress caved and pushed back the digital TV date another four months to June. After all the publicity and attention over the past two years, anyone who wasn’t ready for this is clueless.
Nothing a Shiv to the Jugular Couldn’t Solve
I know this is going to come as a shock to loyal Main and College readers, but there are a bunch of chicken-shit Republicans in Congress who have it all wrong.
They shouldn’t fear the possible transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the States to await trials in U.S. courts.
They should welcome it.
At Guantanamo, these detainees are coddled. House Republican leader John Boehner said as much last week (wink wink, nudge nudge) after President Obama signed an executive order to close Gitmo:
“I don’t know that there is a terrorist treated better anywhere in the world than what has happened at Guantanamo,” Boehner said. “We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build a facility that has more comforts than a lot of Americans get.”
OK John, then let’s start treating them like Americans! Drop those detainees into the general population at the most violent of United States penitentiaries, turn a cheek back to Washington, and let the system complete the mission our military started at Gitmo: the neutralization of “military combatants.” Without so much as a single torturous interrogation.
Believe me, America’s prisons are the last place a terrorist detainee wants to be.
At Gitmo, detainees are surrounded by sympathetic brothers in jihad. At Leavenworth or Sing Sing, they’d be surrounded by American mother fuckers ready to stick a shiv in their jugular.
Come on, it would only be a matter of time before hardened American prisoners beat the life out of every last terrorist detainee — saving American lives and money. Can you think of a bigger trophy for a violent criminal pulling a life sentence? Eliminating a “towel-head” could be the one thing to give meaning to an otherwise meaningless existence.
And don’t forget the innumerable asshole guards who’d love a few minutes with one of those terrorist bastards.
So you go, Barack! Do the right thing by non-terrorist detainees and release them. But throw the rest into our system of justice, where the Geneva Conventions are not an issue.
Then watch them disappear.
Government in the Sunshine Would Be Nice
Within seconds (give or take) of Barack Obama taking the oath, another more stealth transition took place when his administration launched the new WhiteHouse.gov website. Obama’s Director of New Media (man, I’d love to have that job) posted a “change has come” letter on the site’s blog simultaneously with some very encouraging words:
“WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration’s online programs will put citizens first.”
The new site’s priorities: Communication, Transparency, and Participation.
The executive branch has gone Web 2.0. Finally.
I plan to spend more time tonight exploring the new site, but a few things jump out at me right away:
1. The Agenda
This section lists in great detail Obama’s agenda for 24 major issues. And if you participated on the Change.gov site during the transition, you know that his agenda was shaped in part by ideas submitted by ordinary Americans — and extraordinary ones like my friends and me ; )
2. White House 101
Subtitled “Facts and Fun For All Ages,” this section includes a bunch of great stuff about presidential pets.
3. Office of Public Liaison
This “front door to the White House” is in its infancy, but promises great opportunity to interact with the Obama administration. Overseen by Obama’s longtime Chicago pal Valerie Jarrett.
I expect to have more to say later once I have a chance to review Obama’s inaugural address and digest its meaning.
Inauguration Day Should Be a National Holiday
Sure, I might be more excited about this Inauguration than any other in my lifetime, but such an important event that occurs just once every four years absolutely should be a national holiday.
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