Super Bowl

This upcoming weekend can be considered by most sports fans the most favorable weekend of the year, for it is the weekend in which the two best teams in the NFL face off on the Grid Iron, and the winner is crowned champion.  A lot of people are favoring the New Orleans Saints in this bout which is understandable; they have a very good QB with more than explosive offensive weapons, they have a defensive guru, and a above par defense.  Also in the Saints favor, the Indianapolis Colts (their opponents) have had key injuries to their secondary, young wide receivers, and as of recently their defensive stalwart Dwight Freeney is questionable with a leg injury.  Based on these facts, you would think the Saints have the upper-hand, however I don’t believe they do.  I believe the Colts will prevail and reign as Super Bowl champions for the second time in the past four years for one reason, and one reason only; Peyton.

Peyton Manning has already made his name as a post-season beast, and is arguably one of the best QBs to ever play the game.  If he wins this one,  he will no doubt be in consideration for THE best to ever play.  He won his fourth MVP award this season throwing to a WR core that had 1 receiver with more than 2 years experience.  The Saints plan to blitz and confuse Manning, but they can not, he is who is because of his capacity to change the the offensive play at the line of scrimmage based on what the defense shows.  I think it will be a very close game, I dont want to take any credit away from the Saints team nor their amazing QB Drew Brees, but  hes not Manning. Colts by 7 or less.

“wolf in sheep’s clothing”

Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of HP computers and economic adviser to John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign,  has herself begun campaigning  for the open seat of Senator in the state of California. Recently her campaign released an attack ad aimed at former US Rep. Tom Campbell, one of her rivals in the republican primary. The ad is, to say the least, insane.  It starts out with a narrator softly reading, “purity…piety…”, with the image of sheep grazing a green meadow. The tone quickly changes as a Morgan Freeman impersonator begins telling of Tom Campbell’s flip-flops and betrayals to TRUE fiscal conservatism. At some point a demonic sheep appears, as a metaphor to  Tom Campbell’s treachery.

Its hard to tell if the insanity of this ad is on purpose or not. on one hand, it could be an attempt to garner more attention, i.e. make the video “viral” online. On the other hand however, political campaigns have been known to sink this low before.

Glenn Beck is crazy

Fox News is the number one rated cable news outlet in America, and for the last year they have employed a former radio disc jockey named Glenn Beck for an hour-long self-titled program. On the show, Beck portrays himself as a concerned common man trying to find “truth” by “asking questions” of our government; while in reality he is a brazen racist, saying anything to incite controversy and drum up publicity for his books/radio show/”comedy tour”.  The thing that scares me about him is that I can’t tell if he really believes all the bullsh** he says, or if even his hysteria is all hype. for example, his tendency to cry on air:

If his emotion is all an act, than hes even more dangerous of a person. He knows there are people out there watching him that are on the fringe, and yet he continues to incite them with his vague government-is-evil, populist sentiments that do nothing to inform, and everything to create a climate of fear and xenophobia. obviously we cannot allow a man like that to become a bigger part of the media, especially when he says things like this:

“You know, it took me about a year to start hating the 9/11 victims’ families. It took me about a year… when I see 9/11 victim family, you know, on television, or whatever, I’m just like, ‘Oh, shut up.’ I’m so sick of them. Because they’re always complaining. And we did our best for them.”

Last Nights State of the Union

Last night President Obama spoke on capitol hill, relaying the state of the country both economically and socially. He mostly focused on the economic issues the nation continues to face, such as the rising level of unemployment and the increase in foreclosures. Recently his administration has been criticized for the drawn-out and divisive battle over health care reform that has taken place over the last quarter. He addressed this controversy head on, stating:

“Do not walk away from reform. Not now. Not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people.”

I was also impressed with the fact that President Obama took a shot at the supreme court when he addressed the matter of political campaign contributions. He spoke of his disapproval for the recent court decision to allow corporations to donate huge amounts of money to campaigns, effectively opening the floodgates of special interests into policy making.  He proposed new rules for lobbying in Washington; that a lobbyist must make every government contact they make public, even him. This was good to hear, as its apparent that outside influences were a big catalyst for the failures of the health reform.

Overall I thought the speech was well-written, but perhaps not as substantive as the American public probably needs. I guess the grand, long-winded speech about the policy changes is what one would come to expect out of a state of the union. At least we no longer have a president who mentions an “Axis of Evil”.

Hoes need love too!

Prostitutes in Greece are taking to the streets! Well, I should probably say trying to take it from the streets to the room!  In Greece prostitution is legal, but brothels are not.  Prostitutes are protesting the denial of the proposition of asking for licenses to run brothels.  Prostitution is legal in Greece, and the prostitutes have permits to do their duties (no pun intended), but the only way the can do this is roam the dangerous streets looking for customers.

I feel that if you are going to permit them to have sex for money by making prostitution legal, at least make it safe for them.  There are too many risks for these women while they hunt for customers on the streets, whereas if they had a brother or a sheltered structure of some sort it could work more efficiently and be way more safe.  On the contrary you can also say that the government did enough by legalizing it, but by making it legal they have serviced their approval of these young woman’s acts, and now they need to take the initiative and approve the next step in stimulating this business.  And given what they are asking it is only fair and right.

Venezuela on Haiti Quake: America is to blame.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez  has yet again accused the United States of playing God, however this time it is Haiti’s disastrous earthquake that he thinks the U.S. was caused.  Chavez believes that the magnitude of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti was caused not by the rupture of tectonic plates, contrast he believes the quake came as a result of the United States testing a new experimental shock wave system. But it does not end there, he also believes that this shock wave system can cause weather anomalies of any means, whether it be causing floods, droughts, or even hurricanes. WAIT, there is EVEN MORE!  Chavez  stated that this was a test, and we ask a test for what? He believes that the United States will use this system to,

“… execute the planned destruction of Iran through a series of earthquakes designed to topple the current Islamic regime.”

Wow.  Now not only are these claims ridiculous, but there senseless and are being backed up with no type of fact nor knowledge.  Chavez’ long time criticism of the United States and its political figures (He called Bush the devil himself in 2006) is creating unnecessary propaganda and is just hurting his reputation with other countries political leaders, excluding the current president of Iran (the country the U.S is planning on attacking) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  Hopefully soon enough Chavez will be out of office and we will not have to hear his absurd remarks regarding our country, yet until then the comparisons to god and the devil are going to continue to come our way.

steroids

In the past few years, and more notably in the past few days, there has been a lot of discussion in the media over steroid use in major league baseball. Former home-run king and possible hall-of-fame contender Mark McGuire admitted recently that he had in fact used steroids for a 10 year period, including the season he broke the home run record. He claims that his use of the performance enhancer was not for  professional growth, but began out of a need due to injury.That seems highly questionable though, when you reconsider how long he was using it. No one stays injured for 10 years; and if they did, they wouldn’t be playing major league baseball.

It seems to me that the flood of players suddenly gaining moral resolution are doing so because of the number and caliber of the players already outed softens the blow to their public relations. Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Jason Giambi have all been implicated; arguably some of the greatest players of our time. If such big names have already been soiled, whats the harm in one more? the easy out seems to be what one would expect to be the most difficult and humiliating; revealing the truth to the public, apologizing, and crying on a given TV interview. but in the long run, players like McGuire will still be remembered for their accomplishments more than their faults.

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the portayal of muslims in the media

Earlier this week I came along a video that has been making rounds on the internet; a clip of  fox news contributor and retired air force lieutenant general Thomas McInerney making statements in regards to the recent attempted underwear bombing . In the clip, McInerney asserts that all 18-28 year-old Muslim men should be strip-searched before passing through airport security to prevent the possibility of another attempt.

“If you are an 18-28-year-old Muslim man then you should be strip searched. And if we don’t do that there’s a very high probability we’re going to lose an airline.”

Comments like these are unacceptable. They create a atmosphere of fear and xenophobic sentiment towards the most populated religion in the world. Its no surprise that the comment was made on the fox news channel, as they have consistently used scare tactics to further the agendas of their owners and to influence their viewers. I’m sure the intention of his remark was to show his determination in alleviating terrorist threats to the public, but the fact that he cites such a broad group, 18-28 year-old Muslim men, as the de facto enemies of the state is telling of his ignorance and prejudice towards the religion as a whole. Fox news should take every step to separate themselves from such biased statements if they ever want to be considered a reputable news outlet again. (they won’t, of course; controversy and morbid curiosity has always kept them paid)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_McInerney