Do Look Down

There has been a big deal made out of Senator Joe Wilson (R-SC) yelling "Liar" during President Obama's big speech last night in front of a joint session of Congress. People are outraged that someone would yell at a President. I heard one analyst on CNN call a joint session of Congress "one of the most sacred meetings of our government". Sacred? Really? Regardless, if I recall, this is the United States of America. We have the 1st Amendment here; the right to free speech. Granted, Wilson represents everything I hate about the Republican Party (rich, white and Southern), but he stills has the right to voice his opinion, and the opinion of his constituents. This episode, and the reaction to it, represents how elitist our politicians are. Since when do we have such a high standard of manners in this country? Furthermore, what would the reaction be if someone yelled that at Bush during one of his speeches about Iraq?

Although I disagree with him, I admire the fact that a congressman had the fortitude to publicly call out the President. The job of the Legislative Branch is to check the powers of the President. Senator Wilson did just that. Had Democrats and Republicans had the same fortitude in 2002 and 2003, about 50,000 more young Americans would be alive today rather than dead in Iraq. The President is not our King, not our one Ruler. He must constantly be kept in check by the people and those who represent the people. It's about time someone stood up to the Office of the President. The Executive, under W. increased its power exponentially. Obama has not once mentioned scaling back executive power. No ruler will give up his power once given to him. People yelling at the President is necessary to an active democracy. What is even more vital, however, is that we, as the American public take every opportunity to yell at our elected officials.

H.L. Mencken is credited as saying that, "The only way a reporter should look at a politician is down."


Yea.

According to Plan

I should say that this post is inspired by the recent premier of The Dark Knight being on HBOHD at least once a day. If you haven't watched it in HD, you are definitely missing out. Also, I'm writing this the day after the "tragic" death of Michael Jackson.

The outpouring of grief and emotion after the King of Pop's death is, among other things, pathetic. While my man could sing and dance better than anyone, back in the day, he really hasn't done anything good in about 20 years. And it goes without saying that he touched little boys. It's sad that so many people worship someone who is best known as an entertainer. People don't line up outside of VA hospitals when a 21-year-old soldier dies of complications from shrapnel in his brain.

I think this speaks to the misplaced priorities in our culture. People are putting so much energy into grieving for a man they never met. They are spending money to buy roses to put on makeshift memorials for a person who never even knew they existed. Fans are crying over the loss of someone who sang and danced for a living. And furthermore, did I mention he touched little boys? Sure, yea, I know, he was never convicted of anything, but he did settle a bunch of those cases out of court for millions of dollars. Also, what grown man puts himself in situations like that? Boo hoo, I know, Michael Jackson didn't have a childhood and Joseph beat him. So what? Unfortunately, thousands of children in this country are abused and have to grow up too fast, but that's not an excuse for being a creeper. Joe Torre got beaten by his dad, nuff said.

One of the most evil characters in American cinema, The Joker said, "You know... You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go 'according to plan.' Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan." But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds! "

People don't really care when most people die, but when anybody with any amount of fame passes on, it's a "tragedy", "so sad", "a shock". It really upsets me that people shed tears over this man. Yes, he was undoubtedly a big part of American culture (in the '80s and '90s) and there will probably be no one like him again (parents of little boys are rejoicing). But that's not sad, that's just life. Something sad is that 12.7% of all American deaths in Iraq have been 21-year-olds or that 79% have been under that age of 30. Something sad is that 15 million kids in American don't get enough food. Those things are sad. Put people don't shed tears for things like that or spend money to try and rectify the situation. I guess we shouldn't care because that's all "according to plan".

Are You Not Entertained?

Howdy there folks. Been some time I know and I apologize to the 3 people who actually check this blog. My bad, but I've been busy. I've talked a lot about politics and some of the generally horrible stuff going on in the world, but for this post, I'm going back to the one thing I know really well: sports. This year, the sports world has been shocked by the allegations and confessions that both Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez are (and most likely were) steroid users. Talking heads talk of their "disappointment" and "dismay" that players of their stature would even consider using steroids. When it comes down to it, however, it doesn't really matter. Steroids or no, , the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL and even the MLS are as exciting as they've been as least in my 23+ years on this planet. Professional sports are, have always been and always will be a diversion; an organized form of entertainment. Regardless of the health and moral issues associated with steroids, have you not been entertained during the so-called "Steroid Era"?

To start, anybody who hates on steroids and steroids users has a short memory. How many among us were not enthralled during the summer of 1998 when Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were pumping out homeruns at incredible paces? For all the sanctimonious baseball writers who say they will never vote either of these men into the Hall of Fame, without them, most of you would not have a job right now. Those two men, not Cal Ripken, saved baseball after the strike of '94. Sure, it was awesome and impressive to see Cal break Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak, but let's be honest, stadiums don't sell out to see a guy show up to work a lot. Chicks dig the long ball. Admit it, even for those of us who appreciate a seeing eye single between short and third, a home run is still the coolest thing in baseball. As Roger Angell succintly put it, "Home runs tend to stop a game--the men on base, the defensive deployments, the pitcher's struggles, the count, the score--has been snipped, and all our attention falls on the hero."

Second, and I've said this before on this very blog, sports is a business. As much as we like to thing that there is something pure about sports (and there is to some extent), sports are a BIG business nowadays. Just like everything else, capitalism has turned sports into a commodity; something bought and sold at ever-increasing prices. As competition increases, participants in the commodity chain have to take ever more drastic steps to gain an advantages over others. This in turn makes them big bucks. I do not judge or hate on any ahtlete for using steroids. If owners are going to pay me to hit balls 500ft 50 times a year, then I'm going to take their money. Show me a person who wouldn't want to get paid to play any sport for a living and I'll show you a psycho. ARod, Manny, Sosa, McGuire, etc. get or got paid to play ball everyday. Sure beats sitting at a cubicle, teaching bratty middle schoolers or picking up garbage (nothing wrong with any other things, but playing ball everyday is definitely better). Judge ARod and Manny all you want, but you'll have to judge them all the way to the bank. Sure, you may be disappointed in them, but their checks still clear every two weeks. And if you really want to judge somebody, judge the people in the financial sector who have shaken our economy to the ground. ARod may be an asshole, but it's not his fault that your 401(k) has no money in it anymore.

Finally, let's take baseball, and all sports, for what it's worth. They are entertainment. They give us something to look forward to after a long day of work. They, perhaps more than any other institutions in the U.S. bring people together to focus on something positive. They keep thousands of children and adults in shape by offering a cheap form of exercise. They allow us to follow rules that, for better or worse, make sense to us. Sports are just plain fun. Steroids don't ruin the fun. What steroids have done is pulled away the curtain that protects us from seeing the business of sports. And always remember, no matter the level, it is just a game. As the man Reggie Jackson said, "I am reminded that when we lose and I strike out, a billion people in China don't care." There are far greater problems in the world than anything that happens in the sports business. But business though it may be, it is the most entertaining business I know.

Please Read This

Please, just read this article. It's a little long, but please do it. It'll be worth your while.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover

Madoff Mayhem

Ok, before I begin this rant, look at this picture. My man Bernie is straight pimpin'. Not only does he not have to carry his own umbrella, but the person who carries it for him remains out of his sight. Shalom L'chaim bro.

Bernie Madoff is an asshole. He knowingly defrauded hundreds of his own people out of their life savings in order to make himself a fortune. As of today, he's set up to spend his last days behind bars. That's fine, but for people like this I'm a bigger fan of the firing squad (that's quick, no sodium pentathol).

So Madoff is done (sorry, but Bernie in my book is CF #51, so I won't tarnish the name anymore). Good job justice system, you got something right for once. But, one question: Where are the prison sentences for the CEOs of AIG, Lehmann Bros., Bear Stearns, Citi, BofA and the heads of Fannie and Freddie? All these usurers got us to where we are now; in a drain spinning down.

It would be hard to any lawyer or politician to convince me that these people don't belong behind bars making friends with some poor minority inmates. Not only would it be an interesting experiment to see the winner of Darwinism v. Social Darwinism, but it would be righteous. We are a country that jails 2.2 million citizens. Over 1 million of those are for non-violent drug offenses. Most of these 2.2M come from poverty. Yet those with suits and an MBA get a slap on the wrist. Their children get to keep their trust funds and Upper West Side palace apartments. This has nothing to do with white or black, but everything to do with rich or poor.

It's the white collar criminals who really ruin people's lives. In hard times, people want their money to be safe, yet the greed of a few has ruined the frugality of the many. You never hear of bank robberies anymore; maybe it's that the bankers have already taken it for themselves.

Drugs are bad, but a drug dealer never took hundreds of his own people for their life savings. Drug dealers buy for a nickel and sell for a dime. Drug dealers are trying to be successful in a society that has set them up for failure. Drug dealers never bought up bogus mortgages. Drug dealers know better than to lend money to people who can't pay it back. What is and is not a crime is a social-construction. Selling drugs is illegal because poor people do it. Buying up bad mortgages and speculating with other's money isn't because people do it from an office with a suit on.

"Capitalism is glorified institutionalized street crime. "

No, You're the Asshole

Let me start by saying that I have never been a big fan of ARod. I never wanted the Yankees to get him, but hell, the man is an incredible baseball player no matter what I think of him personally. As anyone who hasn't been living in the Congo knows, it turns out that ARod used steroids between 2001 and 2003 (at least). Once again, I need to say it: So What? Why is this such a big deal?

I can't tell you how many times I've heard the expression, "Well, [insert players name] knows that [insert sport here] is a business" whenever a player is getting cut or traded. Owners and GMs will do almost anything to win. They'll cut or veteran players who have played their hearts out for a team. They'll give up on young players before they have a chance to prove themselves. Anything. As long as the team remains profitable. But when a player tries to get an advantage to make himself more profitable and get paid, this is a problem.

If we, as fans have to accept the fact that baseball is indeed a business, then we have to accept that everyone involved is, in his own way, a businessman. ARod did the equivalent of bankers giving out bad loans in hopes of a personal payout. People will judge ARod and people will hate on him a ton. He made a raitonal choice: the risk of taking steroids did not did not outweight $25 million per year. I'm sure whoever came up with that headline figured the risk of public insulting someone did not outweigh the notoriety he would get in his job. But I ask of anyone willing ot cast judgement: If you knew you could get $25 million per year for the next decade, but you had to take steroids, wouldn't you at least consider it?

Michael Phelps, Rockin the Ganj

Michael Phelps is pretty much the man. He has 14 Gold Medals, 7 world records and was born 31 days before yours truly. I've graduated college, that's about it. Now Phelps has experimented with the most deadly drug in the world, marijuana. The drug that automatically makes you try heroin within seconds of inhalation. The drug that has been the scourge of the inner cities since the 1980s. The drug that will make you bigger, faster, stronger and get you into professional sports. The drug that you can get from a doctor and then sell to all your friends who want to stay up late and study for finals. Oh wait, none of those things are pot. My damn memory's going....

There's an old saying that you can't judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes. Fair enough. So, anyone who wants to start throwing stones at Phelps, feel free to do so, but remember, you have to walk a mile in his shoes. You have to imagine being the most famous swimmer in the history of the sport. You have to imagine being the person who made millions tune into the Olympics even though doing so would be tacit acceptance of China (ew, gross). You have to imagine having broken Mark Spitz's record for individual gold medals in one Olympics. You have to imagine having done all this and being 23 years old. I wish I could be a criminal like Michael Phelps.

Everyone needs to back the fuck up. The dude toked a bong at a party, the reefer equivalent of taking a shot of Cuervo someone hands you even though tequila makes you sick. Yea, I know he's a role model and kids look up to him. It is parents' responsibilities to make sure their kids aren't smoking pot (or maybe to make sure they are smoking pot to aid them in winning 14 gold medals - think about it); so sucks to that argument. Yea, he broke the law. I broke the law about 20 minutes ago, I was going 55 in a 40 zone and that endangered a lot more youngins than Michael Phelps. This incident is perhaps the greatest argument for the legalization of marijuana. The United States, where pot is illegal but the President, a Supreme Court Justice, and its most famous athlete have toked. The United States, land of free, home of the hypocrites.

Spittin' Truth

I'm going to keep this simple. I've been considering keeping up with the election and blogging like every few weeks, but there hasn't been much to talk about as far as I'm concerned. Most of the real issues that I care about are never discussed.

I voted for Obama, absentee, two weeks ago. There, I said it.

Look at this http://www.economist.com/vote2008/. Countries like Cuba and Iraq support McCain, so that should tell you something. And another thing, forget all the jokes and personal attacks on Sarah Palin, the woman doesn't fucking read. Why isn't that a bigger deal? She chooses to be ignorant. She couldn't even name a news magazine or a newspaper. I'm sorry but I don't want anyone in public office to not even read. Call me an elitist, but I don't want anyone running my country who chooses to be ignorant.

What's also bullshit is that people think Obama getting elected puts us in a "post-racial" society. No way. A kid I met in a bar one night down here in Blacksburg, VA (the real Virginia, a little pocket of the real America) who introduced himself so: "My name is Wes, the W stands for white power". Like I'm down with that ignorant crap just because I'm white. You think Obama getting elected is going to change his mind about black people? Hell no. And he's only one of many in this country I'm sure.

I apologize for the rant but its been frustrating to see our country and world at the brink of disaster and yet people in this country still focus on bullshit like "Joe the Plumber". Does it bother anyone else that no one ever talks about poor people anymore? NAFTA is a non-issue somehow. We've lost over 900,000 jobs to it in a little more than a decade. Get out of that nonsense and our economy will improve. It's not free trade if only big corporations get to trade freely. Ok, rant over.

In conclusion, I just hope the next 4 years will be better than the last 4. I hope Barack Obama can make them better.

Postscript. Just a reminder: The New York Football Giants are reigning SuperBowl Champions and currently have a record of 6-1. Go Giants. Oh, and the Terps are ranked in football, so I guess things arent' that bad.

Douche v. Turd 2008

Well, it's time to concede. Q's man Ron Paul is out of the running for the Presidency in 2008 and once again, Americans are left with less than stellar options for their choice of President. I'll freely admit that I'm not staunch Republican or Democrat (it's hard to be staunch anything when both parties are both composed of ambitious millionaires). It seems as though McCain's economic policy is similar to Bush's (= less money in your and my pocket). And for all the imagery of Barack Obama which would no doubt be positive for America's international image at a time when it is so low, there are a few questions I would like all of you to consider when picking your candidate on November 4th (or earlier for those of us with an absentee ballot):


1. Mr. President, what do you intend to do with the PATRIOT Act? Will you try to revoke this legislation that limits our civil liberties and allows greater spying powers by our own police forces? Furthermore, how will you deal with the detainees at Guantanamo Bay? Will they be given fair trials like any other prisoner of war or we continue to be the country that "spreads democracy" while not giving it to our own people or our prisoners of war?


2. Mr. President, what, if any Executive powers will you give back to the Congress, to the states, to other governmental entities, and most importantly to the people? Mr. Bush in his tenure has increased the unchecked powers of the presidency exponentially. Will you exponentially give them back or are you as power-hungry as your predecessor?


3. Mr. President, how willing are you to pander to the religious zealots in this country? Will you concede that issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion have no business in the federal government? If I recall there is nothing in any section of the Constitution about such matters, therefore they should be given to the states, no?


4. Mr. President, how do you feel about the legislation of morality? Why are penalties for recreational drugs under the guise of the federal government (FBI, DEA, ATF, etc.)? Those issues should also be handled by the states as they are not explicitly mentioned in the constitution either. Will you still allow federal agents to trump state power (unconstitutional) and raid state sanctioned marijuana distributors in places like California? Shouldn't cancer patients be able to get some relief from their pain? Is not the purpose of drugs to work? If you want a boner, don't you take a Viagra? People use it because it works.


5. Finally Mr. President, why aren't we out of Iraq yet? You've wasted all this time talking to me and yet our troops are still being shot at by angry Iraqis. When will you realize that country has been fought over for centuries with no clear winner? Ask the British, they tried the same thing and they failed. What excuse could you possibly have to have our young men and women killed and maimed in a desert? We cut and ran in Lebanon and Vietnam, why is this war any different? Staying in Iraq justifies what George W. Bush did and I thought you were different from him. Maybe nogt.

WWPOTMD?

Unlike the title of this post may have you believe, this has nothing to do with the internet, pot or doctors. The title is an anagram: "What would Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez Do?" I'll tell you what they wouldn't do. They would not let the Red Sox come into Yankee Stadium, in their last series in the Bronx, and take 2 of 3 in some of the most atrociously played baseball games this Yankee fan has ever witnessed. The "new Yankees" of superstars and overpaid primadonas simply does not have the passion and fire that the men to the left of your screen brought to all 162+ (they actually made the playoffs and won series in the playoffs every year) games; day in and day out. There is simply no grit, passion and fire on these Yankees. Teams who don't play with that don't win championships.

I was just discussing this with a good friend of mine, an incredibly intelligent baseball fan who appreciates all of baseball, not just Yankee baseball. I told him, "It's actually a good thing that the Yankees aren't gonna make the playoffs this year." As any Yankee fan would do he said, "How in the hell is that?" I responded by saying that this will weed out what I call the CEO Yankee fans; the fans who sit in the first level of every game in their blue Polo button down shirts and khakis on their Blackberrys the entire game who don't give a shit about winning but only saying, "Hey I went to a Yankee game last night with my sweet corporate seats". Any true baseball fan knows that real fans sit in the cheap seats because baseball is the working man's game in this country although its current form would demonstrate otherwise.

My friend and I went on to discuss that the reason why the fans of our favorite football team, the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants are such great fans are that they have endured a decade of bullshit in between championships. We, as Giants fans, have dealt with Dave Brown, Jesse Palmer, losing to Trent Dilfer and the Ravens 35-7 in the 2000 Super Bowl, all capped off with going 4-12 in 2003. Yet we still loved the Giants because they were OUR team, they're called the New York Giants but they play in the filth of the Meadowlands. They are gritty, they are tough and they play with passion. We endured a lot of terribleness before glory this year; making it all the sweeter.

Yankees fans are spoiled, plain and simple. We got to witness our team making the playoffs every year from 1995-2007 and 4 World Series, including 3 in a row. No other fans have experienced such a run, but all such runs must come to an end. The fans, like the team, have become richer. As tickets become more and more unaffordable for the average family, the teams payroll skyrocketed with players who have done what amounts to a pile of shit, either in the regular or post seasons in their careers as Yankees (ARod, Giambi, Damon, Abreu, Pavano, etc.). Perhaps next year us real Yankee fans (those who remember the whe Don Mattingly was the only shining light on the team) will see the true colors of those Polo blue CEO fans.

Yankees fans are the AJ Sopranos of Major League Baseball. They were given everything and pissed it away by being arrogant whiny little bitches. I love the Yankees and always will, but that organization and its fans need to wake up and appreciate all we've been given over the past decade. As I closed the conversation with my friend, "fuck giambi, fuck arod, fuck pudge, fuck damon, molina is cool, fuck abreu, i'm out."

American Injustice System

On Friday 25 April 2008, a New York City judge acquitted 3 NYPD officers charged with murder and reckless endangerment. They were on trial for killing 23-year-old Sean Bell outside a strip club in Harlem. He was killed after celebrating his bachelor party; it was the early morning before he was to be married. Now, perhaps, you may be thinking that Bell was up to no good, selling drugs or pimping whores, or something. He was not, he was shot at because two of his friends were suspected of having guns. Oh, and by the way, the cops fired a total of 50 bullets at Bell and his companions. One officer even had the audacity to reload and fire 31 shots single-handedly. Yet today, the 27th of April, these police officers are free men and Bell, his widow and his young child are without a husband and a father.

There are many issues I have with this verdict, other than the obvious protect-your-own cronyism of New York City politics. I could possibly understand not convicting these officers of murder, but acquitting them on charges of even reckless endangerment? Really? I could be charged with reckless endangerment by driving 50 MPH in a school zone. But I guess if you're a cop, the bar is so high that you have fire more than even 50 bullets to be convicted of such a charge.

If you really want to get your blood boiling, as mine currently is, read the following New York Times Op-Ed from today by former NYPD Lieutenant Kyle Murphy. This article not only proves how most police just love to pull the trigger, but how it seems that to be a cop you either have to have no ability to criticize a fellow officer, or you have to give it up that skill for the badge and gun.

Interestingly, Fmr. Lt. Murphy cites that the officers there on that fateful night were there on a prostitution sting. So, let me get this straight: in this country, in the biggest city on earth, we still feel that prostitution is something that should have armed officers outside strip clubs in the early hours of morning? Don't worry about murderers or robbers or muggers in New York City, no focus on prostitutes. Focus on the world's oldest profession of getting money for adult consensual sex. Yes, people, this is the real problem facing America. Murphy also says that Bell's friends were suspected of having guns (FYI, no guns were ever found). I also forgot that it was illegal to have a gun in this country (the 2nd Amendment was repealed the night before Bell was shot and killed). This case is a shining example of why everyone should arm themselves. Poorly-educated, trigger happy police officers have guns, and so should you. Although I would trust most people would know that one clip is usually enough to kill somebody.

There is a large consensus in America that just because someone is a cop, they are automatically immune from any wrongdoing. Sure, all cops are good guys. No. As any college student will tell you, cops are assholes. Many of them are good and honest people who just want to enforce the law sternly and fairly. But far too many are not, they love being cops because they love the power. Cops are people too, they are capable of amazing feats of heroism and also incredible brutality and stupidity. Too bad people are too complacent to riot anymore; the murder of Sean Bell calls for such drastic action. Regardless, this is a case of incredible injustice, but we don't have to put up with it.

"Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." - Frederick Douglass

Umm...I Guess I'll Drive

Flying sucks. Plain and simple, there is nothing fun about getting on an airplane and going anywhere. I can't speak for anyone else, but the thought of getting to an airport 2 hours early so I can wait in line to take half my clothes off, get scowled at like a convicted felon only to wait another hour for my flight in a tiny airplane not meant for someone with a 6'2" frame is not my idea of a good time. So why? Why is flying, the most efficient form of travel, such an inconvenient pain in the ass?

The answer, simply put, is that the major airlines in the United States have an oligopoly over air travel. There is no open market for air travel in America like there is in Europe. After flying all around Europe last summer, their system is not only less of a hassle, but a lot cheaper too. Airfares in this country have done nothing but rise since the $15 billion federal bailout of the airline companies in 2001. And why were they bailed out? Oh yea, that's right, because their own employees thought nothing suspicious of a bunch of Saudis with one way tickets to the afterlife. The airlines, along with the CIA, FBI and the Bush administration have as much blame for the September 11th attacks as anyone else. So how are the airlines punished after the largest attack on American soil ever? Free money!

"Hey airlines, we know you fucked up. Your mistakes led to the deaths of thousands of innocent Americans. Here's $5 billion".

"Why thanks. We know we fucked up too. So what we're going to do is pocket your money, fire our employees, raise airfares and make air travel a royal pain in the ass."

American neo-cons love to use the term "free market". Yet, we give government handouts to big business. If we really believed in free markets in this country, Bear Stearns, the airlines and countless others would be allowed to crash and burn to the ground like they deserve. If I invest my money and lose it all, does Uncle Same give me a million dollars for my trouble? Fuck no. This country has embraced corporatism and moved away from democracy. I wouldn't say we're getting closer to Mussolini's Italy because in Mussolini's Italy, the trains ran on time.

Ode to The Wire

It's been a while, but I had to take my Spring Break, work's been busy and St. Patrick's Day is what it is for folks of my heritage. Although The Wire ended its run more than three weeks ago, I find it fitting for a small and most likely insignificant tribute to perhaps the greatest television show ever created. While the last statement sounds quite hyperbolic, let me explain how I came to formulate such an opinion.

The Wire was one of the few television shows, or any form of media, to expose truth to its viewers on a weekly basis. Writers David Simon and Ed Burns lived a lot of what people saw each episode. They did not try to sugarcoat the actions of the stevedores' union nor the police department. Unlike a lot of the hip hop admiration that goes on in most media, The Wire in no way glamorized life in the street; making fast money selling drugs or hustlin' to get high. The show painted a disturbing and frustrating picture of young teenagers in a system that offers few options; a police department focused on politics and bureaucratic nonsense rather than keeping people safe, a school system trying its damnedest to do right by its students while consistently failing to societal conditions out of its control, and a city ruined by crony politics, the War on Drugs and neoliberalism.

To borrow a title from one of the last episodes, The Wire was closer to a five-season long novel by Dickens than a television show. It showed how the poorest of the poor scraped by on a daily basis to obtain the necessities: food, shelter and heroine. The show depicted how city hall politicians made decisions everyday based more on their own political benefit than for the good of Baltimore residents. Furthermore, the character development of unforgettable characters like McNulty, Omar, Bubbles, The Bunk, Herc, Carver, Cutty, Stringer Bell (just to name a few) is unparalleled in any television program I have ever seen. Even the immortal Tony Soprano was not as well-developed as Jimmy McNulty; few characters have the knot wrenching inner struggle of this alcoholic, cunning, brash "real police". There has never been a character like Omar. He was a violent stick up man with a huge shotgun who would stop at nothing to get revenge on anyone who crossed his path. Yet, at the same moment, he is the only character who never cursed and was openly gay (openly gay like waking up naked next to a cornrowed Puerto Rican man gay). Despite their usual homophobia, most NFL players labeled Omar as their favorite character. With Bubbles, The Wire bought a deeply troubled, yet lovable homeless drug addict into our lives.

Finally, and most importantly, The Wire was a show that explicitly and implicitly called for social change. It exposed us to the waste of the War on Drugs, the desperation of workers whose jobs have been outsourced to cheaper markets or to machines, the frustration of police officers trying to help people but bogged down by red tape and careerism. It showed how schools that only teach to the test not only do poorly on the tests but also fail the students in the long run. It painted a world of ambiguity where drug dealers gave money to kids for back to school supplies, a murderer had morals and a cop who broke all the rules actually made the city a safer place. The Wire was entertaining, but the reality it depicts is anything but. The real reason The Wire is the greatest television show ever created is that it makes us think about the world we live in, how fucked up it is, but also that there is hope. We are that hope and we can change the fucked up world in which we live.

JV Vietnam

If you are wondering where this picture is from, I'll tell you. Although it looks like something out of Platoon, this was an image taken last year in Iraq. It is one of the last pictures taken of an American casualty in Iraq. Rules implemented by military brass last year make it extremely difficult for photographers to publish pictures of wounded or killed soldiers. One of the rules stipulates that the photographer needs written permission from the casualty. It's really hard to get a signature from someone being taken to a battlefield hospital in a helicopter and it's even harder to get a signature from a dead man.

That aside, this picture's resemblance of a scene out of Vietnam bring me to my real topic. While all the candidates, as well as the vast majority of Americans ignore Iraq, many of our young men and women are coming back dead or wounded. Hawks point to the fact that there are far fewer deaths than there were in Vietnam. They fail to mention, however, that many of our soldiers are coming back without one or both limbs, other wounds, not to mention the psychological trauma of living through such horror. There have been, luckily I guess, 3,963 deaths in Iraq since the "war" began (it's not a war if it's not declared by Congress, but only the Constitution says that). There have also been 29,133 American wounded in Iraq. That's over 33,000 total casualties in this pointless war. That's far too high a number for the people who said the war would be a rollover victory.


In Vietnam, that war continued because the fear was if we pulled out, Communism would take over all of Asia and then the entire world. We stayed in Vietnam basically over ideology. So why are we staying in Iraq? Numerous reports have shown that not only did Saddam Hussein have no connection with the September 11th attacks, but also that al Qaeda has only grown in Iraq since we invaded the country. Iraq has diverted attention (what little there would be anyway) and resources from the forgotten war being fought in Afghanistan. By the way, bin Laden is still on the loose in Pakistan. We have no real ideological reason for being there. If we really wanted to end all dictatorships, we'd invade North Korea, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sudan, and a dozen others. Furthermore, terrorism is rarely, if ever, state-sponsored. The thing that's so scary about terrorism is that all your need is pissed off young men, money and bomb-making materials. We went in to get Iraq's oil; we all wanted gas back at 50 cents a gallon.


The reason people started giving a shit about Vietnam is that the government instituted the draft. Once that happened, all the people on college campuses said, "Hold on, man. I'm not going over there to fight your war dude." They got pissed and, in time, we completely pulled out of Vietnam. Sure, many Vietnamese people got killed and that's a terrible thing. The blood is on our hands. If we leave Iraq many, perhaps millions of Iraqis are going to be slaughtered. The real question is how many Americans are we willing to sacrifice in the process? We are going to have to leave eventually, so why delay the inevitable? Why not get out while we can still save some American lives and limbs? We won't be leaving Iraq any time soon. Most Americans don't give a shit and the Democrats in Congress (who got elected to end the war) are a bunch of bed-wetting sissies. As long as they continue to give President Bush billions of dollars to fight this war, the war will continue. Congress needs to read the Constitution, realize that they control federal spending, and turn off the faucet.


I was once told by a professor, "Politics is the most deadly profession in the world." If you want to be in politics, you need to have the fortitude to make decisions that will cause people to die. Nobody wants to do it, but leaders HAVE to do it. Our political leaders now do not have the guts to do so. It is sad that we won't leave because we value Iraqi lives over American ones.

A Hope for America

Oddly, this post will probably not be the only time I go on for a while about a 72-year-old former gynecologist. Amidst all the talk about Hillary and Obama, McCain, Huckabee and Romney (people finally woke up to realize that Rudy doesn't know anything about how to run the country), one man is forgotten. It is this man to the left. Congressman Ron Paul (R) from Texas, if you didn't know, is running for President. He has crazy ideas about things like personal freedom, constitutionalism, smaller government and ending the war in Iraq just to name a few. Of the five remaining candidates in the Republican race, Ron Paul is the only true Republican remaining. Republicans, traditionally, have stood for smaller federal government, more states' rights and more personal freedom.

Perhaps most importantly, of all the candidates both Democratic and Republican, Ron Paul is the only one who is for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraqi soil. Yes folks, even the beloved Barack would not bring our boys home from Muslim lands. His logic for this is simple: we did the same thing in Vietnam and Vietnam did not fall apart as hawks claim Iraq will. It is simple really, millions of people are going to die in Iraq because of the instability that has plagued that country since the British ended colonial rule in the 1920s. The question is how many Americans do we want to be part of those millions of dead? My answer and Paul's answer is, as few as possible and the easiest way to do so would simply be to leave right now. bin Laden and other terrorists hate us because we are over on their soil. Leaving Iraq would not guarantee that we would never be attacked again, but it would certainly tilt the odds in our favor. Iraq, for the other candidates, is not even a topic of conversation at the debates (to which Paul is usually not even invited despite his rather large following and fundraising capabilities), which is frightening.

Speaking of frightening, I think fear is the reason why more people and the media do not want anything to do with this man, sometimes labelled a "radical". People in this country are too afraid of freedom or they simply don't care that they have none. We think we are all free because we can buy whatever we want or watch whatever we want on television, but this is only freedom to consume. Where is our true freedom, our freedom to live in peace? I shouldn't have to worry about my emails being read or my phone being tapped. I simply want to be left alone. I'll pay my taxes when I'm asked to, but other than that, just let me live. I don't need the government to tell me what to eat, what drugs are bad for me or that cigarettes are bad. I can figure out what is good or bad for me on my own; and even if something is bad for me, it's my choice to be an idiot and do it anyway.

I guess the whole point of this diatribe is that the thing that makes America the greatest country on earth, freedom, is the same thing for which Ron Paul stands. I may not agree with all his policies, but I agree with more of his than do I Hillary's or Huckabee's. America is supposed to be the land of the free. That statement has come into question in recent years. I truly believe that Ron Paul can make America free again.

Mitch the Snitch

For all the big fans of the Quikstop Blog, I apologize for my sporadic blogging since the beginning of the school year. 12 credits of graduate work plus an overseer of a boss. Furthermore, there really hasn't been much that I've felt I needed to write about. That being said, the release last week of the much-anticipated Mitchell Report really grinded my gears.

Former United States Senator and Northern Ireland peace broker George Mitchell released his report last Thursday. The report stated that steroid use in baseball was wide-spread and that the League and the Commissioner should take immediate action. Furthermore, the report named dozens of current and former baseball players accused of using steroids and/or HGH.

Who cares?

Even the most casual of baseball fans knows that plenty of ball players have been juicing for years. Why wouldn't they? Hitting 40 homers with 120 RBIs in a season means millions for these guys with few other skills. How many among us wouldn't inject ourselves with something if it meant the chance of financial security for ourselves and our families for the rest of our lives? Professional sports are just that, a profession. The whole point of a profession is to make money. Begging, stealing and cheating are all part of the game. Hell, it's the American way. No one ever called Rockefeller or Carnegie a cheater. The Mitchell Report, through evidence which is hearsay at best, has told baseball fans nothing knew and muddied the good names of current and former baseball players. David Justice, "Mr. Playoffs" was named in the report and all he did is inquire about how to get steroids; he never took them. Regardless, his career achievements are brought into question just because a locker room attendant was trying to avoid jail time for selling steroids.

All sorts of baseball writers and commentators always talk about baseball as part of America and its history. Then why are we, as Americans and as baseball fans, so shocked when scandal arises? Scandal, cheating and corruption have always existed in American life, so why should America's sport be any different from the rest of American society? 100 years from now, the steroid era will be nothing but a minor period in baseball and America's history. It is arrogant of us to think that this is the biggest scandal ever to hit baseball simply because it is in our time. Individual players may have gained an unfair advantage but umpires weren't fixing games or anything like that (i.e. soccer in Italy).

Considering that the major focus of Mitchell's report was to "move forward and look towards the future", it is pointless and damaging that he has ruined the reputations of many a good player in an effort to tell Major League Baseball, its owners, players and fans nothing they didn't already know. Did we really need to spend $20 million to learn that Roger Clemens took steroids? Umm, no. I would have done the same thing for a pair of bleacher seats and a hot dog at a Yankees v. Royals game. The whole report is just pointless. I'm going to watch baseball next year no matter what. The whole point of people watching baseball is for entertainment. Watching baseball makes us forget about all the other crap going on in our lives for a few hours. If nothing else, steroids made the game more entertaining. We must all ask ourselves as Maximus the Gladiator asked us, "Are you not entertained?!" We were all entertained in 1998 with the McGwire/Sosa chase for 61; they were both on steroids. To condemn all these players to baseball hell is hypocritical and un-American. I am still going to love and follow baseball with a deep passion. Derek Jeter is still the man and I still hate the Red Sox (but god dammit do I respect them). Those things will never change. Sen. Mitchell, thanks for peace in Northern Ireland and thanks for wasting my time.

Shitty Wok

The media has made much of the 2008 Summer Olympics being held in Beijing. Finally, this Communist country will be opening it self up to Western democratic nations. China will be putting its incredible mix of capitalism and communism on display for all the world. China has indeed made an astronomic leap in the past few years to become a world economic and military superpower. Many people say "Hooray for China!" These Olympics will be the final step in China opening up its borders to unlimited Free Trade from the West. I mean a market of one billion people who all have jobs should give even the most amateur economist a reason to wake up in the morning.

No country, however, can make such an economic and military jump forward without buckets of blood. China is the biggest importer of Sudanese oil. china is the biggest financial supporter of the corrupt and oppressive Burmese government. China is a supporter of Kim Jong Il in North Korea for they want peace on all their borders Chinese products sold in the United States and around the world have proven to be toxic at best and lethal at worst. China's government is very beneficial to the very small urban population of the country, but keeps the vast majority of its rural population in medieval times. An estimated 900 million Chinese are rural farmers; their number more than doubles that of those living in the cities (an estimated 400 million).

Perhaps worst of all, however, is China's support, whether explicitly or tacitly of the corrupt and oppressive governments of Burma and Sudan. The guns used for genocide in Dar Fur on are bought from China and the Sudanese government makes millions and is legitimized by selling most of its oil to China. China will do nothing to oust government in Burma that said results of a democratic election in 1988 were not valid. It has, by extension, supported a government that forces its own citizens into slavery with rape, imprisonment and death as the only alternatives to a life of enslavement.

So, what is to be done? I have a fairly simple solution. Since no one watches the Olympics anymore anyways, I suggest that we all boycott the Beijing Olympics. China has done nothing to earn the Olympics and sowing millions into an already corrupt country will only reap more corruption. American athletes should not go. American athletes have nothing to prove; we know we can destroy everybody in basketball, track and field, etc. If America truly wants to take a stand against a totalitarian and corrupt regime, it will not sponsor of send athletes of Beijing in August. If there is one things human beings are good at, it is repeating mistakes. Supporting the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be repeating the mistake of supporting Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics. Let's not have blood on our hands again in the name of sporting competition.

TV Timeout

I have officially had it with ESPN. Here's why: As I always do on Sunday evenings, I check out the 7 o'clock edition of Baseball Tonight on ESPN to see all the highlights of a Sunday of baseball. Today's show had a theme. Bar and bat mitzvahs have themes, proms have themes, Sweet 16s have themes; not Baseball Tonight. The theme was cards, as in playing cards. Considering all the great pitchers pitching today, they talked about which aces were pitching and then which team had an ace up their sleeve heading into the last 6 weeks of the season and then to top it off, the top 3 Cardinals home runs of all time. To make matters even worse, Steve Berthiaume of SNY, the Mets network (Yankee fans will understand the implied disrespect), fame was host. Why in God's name does Baseball Tonight need a theme? Anybody who watches the show just wants to see nothing but baseball highlights. The whole point of the program was to cut out all the bullshit of SportsCenter and get right to what SC is actually supposed to show: highlights.

The whole episode is emblematic of the problem with ESPN. ESPN, for some reason or another, panders to the casual sports fan with their "Who's Now" (newsflash: every athlete still playing is now, they aren't "later" or "in a while") bracket and their Chris Connelly and Bob Holtzman human interest stories about retarded kids with one eye, one leg and AIDS who shoot a 120 at the local golf course. Worst of all is the ESPY Awards. Its a chance for Stuart "Looking At The Camera And The Coffee Machine" Scott, Dana "Too Tall" Jacobson, Trey "For Real Man, What's Your Real Name?" Wingo to feel important as they interview Nelly and Peyton Manning one after the other and feel like ESPN actually matters for something.

ESPN is to sports what MTV is to music. You can watch either for hours and hours and see neither sports nor music. Poker is not a sport. The Real World is not music. ESPN is an acronym for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. I would be very entertained if SportsCenter would simply show a baseball, football or (God forbid) hockey higlight in its entirety and then show complete stats, not just two lines next to the score. ESPN used to do this, but it no longer can because actual games are less important than knowing about a drug addict who runs marathons high on meth (how inspiring!).

SportsCenter, and now unfortunately Baseball Tonight have lost touch with their original purposes: to show all the days sports highlights. There is no reason for themes or popularity votes or in depth stories about steroids and dog fighting. As an avid sports fan, I just want to see highlights. If I were a casual sports fan, I would just think ESPN was lame. I know this whole thing is hypocritical as I am watching ESPN as I write this, but hypocritical does not mean incorrect. ESPN needs to take a timeout. Just go off the air for like a month or so and then realize how far away they are from being a true sports network. There are baseball, basketball and or hockey games played virtually every night, yet ESPN shows only a few (in hockey's case none) a week. It is sad and pathetic that ESPN has more time slots devoted to poker than to real sports. Sports fans only need sports and casual fans can only get into sports by actually watching them. Take a timeout ESPN, get pumped and show some full highlights.

756 Doesn't Get You 1

Congratulation to Barry Bonds for breaking Hank Aaron's career home run record last night with homer #756. Regardless of the rampant accusations of steroid and HGH use, the man still hit the ball over the fence a lot of times. In addition to that, Barry Bonds, with or without steroids would still finish his career as one of the best all-around baseball players of all time. This brings me to my point for this blog: Bonds' legacy. Sure Bonds is top in a multiple of offensive and defensive. I mean 7 MVPs, 13 All-Star selections and 6 Gold Gloves is pretty impressive even with steroids. But there is one number Bonds possesses that few seem to mention in his chase for 756. That number is 0; as in the number of World Series rings Bonds has.

Can you really consider an individual player in a team sport the greatest of all time if he has not done what it takes to help his team win a championship? Q certainly does not think so. Bonds can have all the offensive records he wants, but honestly, what difference does it make if you don't have a ring? Barry Bonds will go down in history as the Dan Marino of MLB (or I sincerely hope so). Sports fans forever will say, "Yea, he was awesome in the regular season, but he couldn't and didn't do shit when it actually mattered." In my opinion, that is the single greatest insult to be placed on a "great" player. I mean, Joe Montana doesn't have to do Nutrisystem commericials, but Dan Marino does. The difference? Championships. The same will be for Bonds. In the end, what is really the point of individual accomplishments in a team sport especially when your team doesn't win?

Q's two favorite baseball players are Derek Jeter and Paul O'Neill. You won't find either one at the top of any offensive list, except maybe batting average, but they have 4 and 5 rings respectively. Why? Because they are team players. They know/knew what it takes to win as and with a team. Sure, people will always remember Bonds 73rd and 756th home runs, but no one can legitimately call him the greatest of all time because he has not fulfilled the one thing all baseball players are paid to do: win. Bonds has great individual regular season numbers, but he also has a .245 post season batting average and 0 rings. A great player, absolutely. The greatest of all time, absolutely not.

For The Dogs

Once again, it has been awhile. Quikstop has been really busy moving down to Va. Tech and starting my new job, so hopefully you can excuse me. Well I'm back because there is just so much going on right now, I just couldn't resist blogging it up.

Let's see, what should I talk about? Well, in honor of my being at VT, I think I will discuss the Michael Vick dog fighting investigation. It looks as if Michael Vick may never play for the Atlanta Falcons again because his house in Virginia was the center of a huge illegal dog fighting ring. As the former owner of an awesome German Shepherd, the fact that innocent dogs were electrocuted, hung and killed is nauseating. PETA has threatened to protest the NFL if Commissioner Roger Goodell does not severely punish Vick for his alleged actions (if I recall people were innocent until proven guilty in this country, but oh well). This brings me to my major problem with this "scandal" and PETA people in general. Michael Vick's actions were certainly questionable at best and deplorable at worst, but at least he didn't harm any PEOPLE. Should the FBI really be investigating dog fighting instead of terrorism or organized crime?

I'm not at all a fan of cruelty to any animals, (excepts cows and calves, they are just too tasty) but seriously people. Considering the deplorable things happening to actual human beings these days, should Michael Vick be a front-page story or the subject of a federal investigation? I don't think so. Almost two years after Hurricane Katrina, people in New Orleans are still living in a 3rd World situation (but it's cool because the Saints drafted Reggie Bush). Thousands are meaninglessly slaughtered in Dar Fur on a daily basis. Jews are still murdering Palestinians and vice versa. 190,000 American Veterans are homeless on the streets. These are real problems that mean the death of millions of innocent people every year, and yet Michael Vick's dead dogs are what everyone seems to care about.

What sickens me most about Vick-gate '07 is that if Michael Vick wasn't a $100 million athlete and the starting Quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, no one would give a damn about the dead dogs. Have we become such star fuckers in this country that crime only matters if done by or to the famous? Dog fights go one everyday somewhere in America, but when Michael Vick runs it it becomes a national scandal. People don't give a shit about the dogs, they care about getting their faces on television. So PETA, the FBI, the NFL, ESPN are all dogs, because a dog likes nothing more than getting attention.