Tongue-Tied and Twisted, Just an Earth-Bound Misfit, I

Earlier this week, Glenn Beck outlined on his show, his belief that America is slowly turning into Nazi Germany. To help illustrate his point, Beck shows Nazi propaganda that was once used to create an feeling of apathy towards the disabled. Now, maybe I am confused as to the definition of propaganda, but isn’t Beck using Nazi propaganda to push forward his agenda, to scare his audience into believing that if you are not a member of the dissenting party then you are no better than a German living during the days of the Third Reich?

As support for his outrageous claims, Beck cites that the weakness of the Dollar is reminiscent of the collapse of the Mark, which ultimately ushered Germany into the Great Depression. While it is true that the Dollar is at its weakest in generations, I ask you who was the party of power during its collapse? And does Beck not comprehend the perfect storm of circumstance that allowed the Nazi party to assume power? The hyperinflation of the Mark ceased in 1923, yet the Nazi party did not assume power over the country for another ten years. The collapse of the Mark was not the sole reason behind the Nazi’s rise to power.
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While not officially construed as law, the preamble of the Constitution, was meant by the Founding Fathers, as an outline to the role of the government in its most ideal state.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

When the Supreme Court heard the case of Ellis v. City of Grand Rapids, the court cited the phrase “promote the general welfare” as evidence that “the health of the people was in the minds of our forefathers.” It is in the vein, the issue of health care in America needs to be address. Many Americans are without medical coverage and as a nation, we owe it to those without coverage, to provide a solution. The current bickering in Washington and town hall meetings across the country need to stop and intelligent debated needs to follow. Conservatives need to quit the filibustering and reach a compromise.

However, we should not stop there because we Americans are flawed as well. We need to look at ourselves to improve the health care system in this country. When compared to the rest of the the world, Americans live unhealthy life styles, which only drives up medical cost. If we all vowed to live healthier life styles, then health care may not be as big of a problem. We are a society that wants to have our cake and eat it too… Rather then look exclusively to Washington for a solution, as we do way too often, it might be time to look at ourselves and just put down the cake.

On my walk to the subway, I always pass by the store front for a psychic. The little room is attached to an apartment where I can only assume that the psychic and her family lives. Sometimes, I see the woman, sitting by her glowing plastic crystal ball, along side a deck of Tarot cards and a bust of Queen Nefertiti, alone. In the eighteen months that I have walked by her store, I have only once seen anyone get their future told by this woman. Clearly, business is booming.

The first problem I have with the store are the hours they are open. “8am – 12pm”. I am going to surmise that she meant 12am. Call it a hunch… but when I see her sitting at her desk, late at night, I wonder if she knows that the sign on the outside of the store says that she closed at noon.

Right under the sign for the hours, reads another sign in big, bold letters: CLAIRVOYANT. Now maybe I am assuming too much, but if she is able to see the future, why is there a sign next to the doorbell that says “ring doorbell for psychic”? Shouldn’t she be able to sense that someone wants their palm read? If I were to go to a psychic, I fully expect the person to look at me while I enter their store and say “Welcome… I was expecting you.” Is that too much to ask?

I was at a concert for U.S. Royalty a couple of weeks back (new band, not bad, check em out) and prior to the show, I had a discussion with a couple of friends about which television sitcom was better, Family Ties or Growing Pains. Of the four of us, I was the only one to support Family Ties, which I thought was a bit surprising considering Generation Y’s love for anything Michael J. Fox. This got me thinking, is there any sitcom that could beat Growing Pains in a debate when everyone has been drinking and the arguments for support are more matter of fact than insightful and thought out? Just considering the possible talking points:

• A character named Boner.
• Launched Leonardo DiCaprio’s career.
• Kirk Cameron was once a teenage heartthrob, now a born-again Christian, discuss.
• The butt of all of How I Met Your Mother’s interweb jokes… Alan Thicke.
• The Seavers lived in Smithtown, NY, the neighboring town to where I grew up.
• Seems like there is a reunion episode every 5-10 years or so…
• The show featured a spin-off, Just The Ten Of Us.
• A couple of iconic episodes such as when Mike Seaver gets the water bed.
• Everyone and I mean everyone, remembers the theme song.

So while I still contend that Family Ties was the better show, no one really seems to care about how it’s unjust to not allow someone to write a book report about Huckleberry Finn…

Following Mark Buherle’s perfect game last week, the 18th perfect game in the history of the sport, there has been a discussion about how great of a pitcher Mark Buherle has been. Much of the discussion revolves around the idea that Buherle has thrown two no-hitters in his career. While no-hitters are a rare event (as any Met fan will begrudgingly tell you), typically a handful will be thrown every season. This got me thinking… why are no-hitters celebrated? AJ Burnett once threw a no-hitter but walked nine batters. Why don’t we celebrate no-walkers? At least that would put Burnett’s feat in historical context…

“Yeah… AJ has a no-hitter… but come on… Cliff Lee had seven no-walkers”

After surviving eight years of a president that did not understand the finer nuances of foreign policy, I am proud that we finally have a president that understands the United States’ role in the world. Currently, mass protest are crowding the streets of Tehran, as the repressed citizens of Iran are attempting, via peaceful demonstrations, to have their voices heard. Many serving members of our government, have criticized the Obama Administration for not taking a hard line stance in support of those speaking out against the elections in Iran. One fierce critic has been former Republican Presidential nominee, John McCain.

“He should speak out that this is a corrupt, flawed sham of an election, and that the Iranian people have been deprived of their rights. We support them in their struggle against a repressive, oppressive regime and they should not be subjected to four more years of Ahmadinejad and the radical Muslim clerics.”

While I believe most Americans would agree with the sentiment of McCain’s words, having the administration take sides in this developing conflict, would be disastrous at this stage. America is viewed as the Great Satan by many of the Iranian people and not without just cause. In the past, our government has meddled in the affairs of the Iranian people many times. Our actions helped organize a coup of a truly democratically elected official, install a Shah (Iranian Monarchy) that many felt was corrupt, and supply Iraq with chemical warfare to aid in their eight-year war with Iran. We are hated. If we were to come out and openly support those currently protesting, we would be giving the ruling Mullahs the ability to change the debate. No longer it would the debate center around the democratic ideals of freedom of speech and of the media… rather it would become a debate between the Iranian nationals and the American-supported rebels. Considering our standing in that region of the world, the latter is not a winnable debate.

Back in 2002, there was an attempted coup in Venezuela to overthrow Hugo Chavez. While initially successful, American involvement allowed Chavez to scapegoat the United States, consolidate his power, and resume control of the country. Since then, the freedoms of the Venezuelan citizens have diminished. Seven years later, we are learning from history. Our president understands that the United States needs to remain supportive of democratic ideals, but ensure that our involvement does not compromise the message of those democratic movements we support. It’s a fine line, but President Obama is walking it correctly.

After I made the earlier post outlining how the integrity of the NBA was at question due to poor and somewhat questionable officiating, I came across a conversation between Bill Simmons aka The Sports Guy and Malcolm Gladwell.

Please tell me you’re following the current officiating debacle. The two most-watched regular-season games (both Celtics-Lakers games) were ruined by officials. Game 7 of a classic Boston-Chicago series was ruined by officials. The Mavs’ season was ruined by officials. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to flagrant fouls and how they are called, just that the ongoing indecision has compromised the quality of the games. Bill Kennedy had such a heated incident with Doc Rivers in March that both were fined; somehow, Kennedy worked two Boston playoff games (both must-wins on the road). Dallas went 1-14 in its past 15 playoffs games that Danny Crawford officiated; somehow he worked one of their 2009 playoff games (inevitably, a loss for Dallas). Joey Crawford got suspended two years ago for baiting Tim Duncan, then blew last season’s season-ending Spurs call … and somehow, he worked a must-win San Antonio playoff game in 2009. And the number of competent refs is so bad that Violet Palmer worked a Round 2 game last week. For a league that vowed to clean things up post-Donaghy, why haven’t we seen any real results yet?

And how can you explain a system that relies on officials in their 50s and 60s — well past their physical peak, with undeniable deterioration (however slight) in motor reactions and eyesight — to successfully perform in a profession that hinges solely on motor reactions and eyesight? Shouldn’t this job be performed by people in their 20s, 30s and 40s? You’re telling me Dick Bavetta (69), Bennett Salvatore (59) or Joey Crawford (57) can run around for 150 minutes, then remain at peak physical capacity to make a game-changing call on a split-second reaction? My father is two years older than Salvatore and we won’t let him push a baby stroller for three blocks. I don’t get it. How would you revamp this moronic system? A little birdie told me the NBA’s crew chiefs (the lead official for each game) consist of referees who were hired at least 10 years ago. In other words, the league hasn’t hired an official competent enough to run a game in more than a decade. How is this possible?

Growing up, I was huge a fan of the NBA. Year after year, my team was fighting in the playoffs for the chance to win the title of World Champions. However over time, my interest waned and I became more apathetic towards the league. Once I got to college and had the chance to witness the same sport, but played by unselfish kids who wanting nothing more than to excel and win as a team, my love of the NBA was officially dead.

I remember a playoff game between the Knicks and Heat, where the Knicks were down thirty points going into halftime. My friend, with whom I was watching the game, wanted to turn the debacle off. Instead, I was able to convince him to continue watching the game by uttering the popular sentiment, “The game is on NBC… the refs will make it close with two minutes left.” The Knicks went on to win the game.
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The recent debate over the use of torture while gathering intelligence during CIA interrogations to me is a farce. While one may argue that the ends justify the means, I ask you to view the situation from the other side. How would you feel if American soldiers, who were captured in the middle of a war, were subjected to similar interrogation techniques? We would be appalled… It is a double standard.

As Americans we pride ourselves as a country that promotes freedom. Part of the Bush Doctrine promotes the spreading of freedom and democracy in countries who do not currently share those beliefs. How can we be taken seriously when our actions contradict our words? Shepherd Smith of Fox News recently said it best, “We are America! We do not fucking torture!” We cannot have it both ways.

This country has an image problem abroad. We need to realize that as one of the most influential countries in the world, our actions are scrutinized and used as propaganda against us. We need to live by the example, otherwise we are no different than those who we deem the enemy.

Yet another World Baseball Classic has come and passed, and yet no one seemed to care. Japan defeated Korea for a second time… woo?

For scheduling purposes, Major League Baseball decided to stage the WBC during Spring Training, whilst the players are working on improving their conditioning for the upcoming season. During each round of the tournament, pitchers are held to strict pitch counts and positional players rarely get to see a full game of action in order to prevent injury. In a tournament that should represent the best the world has to offer, instead is featuring players who are no where near the peak of their game and will not be for months. (more…)