This issue is still unfolding as I type this, and this may be the first time I've written about something the same day it happened, but this is just too much. I watch The O'Reilly Factor. Sure, throw whatever you will about Fox News in the comments section, I've heard it all before. I watch Fox, and I listen(ed) to National Public Radio in order to diversify the sources from which I obtained my news. No longer is that the case.
One of my favorite people on both Fox (every so often as a contributor) and NPR (where he was employed for 10 years) was Juan Williams. The guy was a common sense, rational, reasonable, honest liberal that Bill O'Reilly liked to bring on because he was a guy you could have an intelligent discussion with, and at the same time expose the broadcast to varying points of view. On Monday, Williams said the following:
"Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."
Williams went on to caution O'Reilly about classifying an entire group of people as "extremists", such as Christians for Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing.
To sum it up, "I feel this way, but it's not right for me to feel this way, and in no way are all Muslims hateful and terrorists."
On WEDNESDAY, not immediately after the program, or the following morning at work, or even the FOLLOWING morning, Williams was notified of his release via phone call after being employed for 10 years with NPR (which tells me that it wasn't a big deal until someone threw their left-wing weight behind the idea). Reason for the contractual termination was that as an analyst at NPR, public expression of opinion is forbidden and Williams should have kept his feelings about Muslims between himself and "his psychiatrist or publicist". NPR analysts are also forbidden from going on shows that "feature punditry or commentary", which was a second reason given for his firing. The thing is, Williams has been going on The Factor, Fox News Sunday, and Special Report With Bret Baier for MONTHS now, and has even guest HOSTED the show in O'Reilly's absence. That's how much he was trusted and valued, even as a notable liberal personality. So is this timing a coincidence? Not a chance. This is a liberal radio station that is funded with TAXPAYER dollars (and donations from George Soros, the AFL-CIO, MoveOn.org, The Huffington Post, MediaMatters, and the elitist arm of the left wing) becoming even more rigidly entrenched as a leftist organization while sucking up tax dollars. To all of you that think "Hey, well what's wrong with that?": Imagine all of that money that gets withheld from your paycheck and sent to the federal government being channeled to Rush Limbaugh. That's the same thing. It's simply disgusting, and if Jim DeMint passes the proper legislation, NPR will go bankrupt and we'll be one step closer to a balanced budget.
Was the firing of Williams racially motivated? Maybe NPR didn't agree with where an African-American like Williams stood on the political spectrum. Maybe every African-American should be 100% liberal and detest Fox News. Maybe, because Williams wasn't white and a loony lefty like Nina Totenberg (the same Nina Totenberg that, in 1995, "hoped" that a Republican member of Congress, Jesse Helms, contracted AIDS through a transfusion), George Soros and his 1.8 million dollars didn't want him around his radio station.
I digress. NPR's "Contact Us" page is down due to an "unusually high user volume", and 13,431 REGISTERED USERS of NPR have commented on articles relating to Williams. I think if they're going to fire hardworking, honest, reasonable people like Juan Williams, they should give every cent back of those public grants they accepted and used on the stationery that Williams resignation notice was used on, as well as those left-wing broadcasts that just lost the only reasonable person on them. Juan Williams, best of luck at Fox News.
Vivian Schiller, President/CEO of NPR: Shame on you. Take your "ethical journalistic practices" back to the elite left with George Soros, and stop taking my money.
On an unrelated note, the National Football League has implemented a rule that allows players to be suspended for helmet-to-helmet hits. People are up in arms about the new rule, players and former players alike. From the best standpoint that a fan can have, I like the rule, so long as it is used properly. Inadvertent hits should not be punished, but direct, brutal, unwarranted massacres should receive a suspension. Something has to be done. I realize it is a contact sport, but safety standards are necessary.
Ending on a light note, here's a list of things I hate about winter:
-Cold
-Snow
-Wet entryways and shoes
-Shoveling
-Snowblowing
-Shoveling
-Slipping
-Snow in my shoes
-Short days
-Cold floors in the morning
-Getting all wrapped up to go outside
-Cold cars
Things I like about winter:
-Christmas
-Break
-Driving
So, to sum up the wall of text above: Juan Williams got shafted, the new NFL rule has potential to be a good one, and I hate winter. Leave a comment or something. I'd really appreciate it.
Good luck at Fox, Juan.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
With Rod, We're Busts
This might not hit my target audience directly on the head, but I have watched my beloved Michigan Wolverines underperform and embarrass themselves for too long. Rich Rodriguez was a terrible hire. The program has sunk to new lows, and there is not an end in sight. There are several pathetic statistics that have surfaced in the Rich Rod era; some are firsts for a program with a storied history dating back to 1879.
-2008 season record of 3-9, the worst in school history.
-Failure to make a bowl game in 2008, the first such failure in 33 years.
-A 1-7 conference record in 2009 (2008 saw a 2-6 record), with the lone win being a 36-33 win over Indiana.
-0 wins in the two biggest games of the year: Ohio State and Michigan State (0-5 combined).
-3 separate 3-game streaks involving giving up 33 or more points (once each season). Prior to 2008, it had NEVER occurred.
-A current pass defense that ranks last in the Big 10 and 120th out of 120 FBS teams.
-Formal charges before an inquiry board involving serious rule infractions (first time in school history).
-Current Big 10 career record of 4-15 (Wins against Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Indiana twice).
Not only are the above statistics appalling, but I have issues with his schemes. He runs the spread offense, which is based around speed. It's high octane and when it works, it's electrifying to watch. But it's such a gimmicky offense in the sense that it doesn't work if "it's rainy", or "windy", or "cold", or you don't have the right personnel. Denard Robinson is a star, don't get me wrong. But it's dangerous to base your whole scheme on one player, and as you see against MSU and Iowa, when that player doesn't have a good game or gets shut down, the offense doesn't score as much as it should. Which leads into my next point:
If you have a decent defense, not scoring isn't a major deal. Rich Rodriguez is an offensive genius, no doubt. But he doesn't know a damn thing about defense, and he set a scheme and forced his defensive coordinator to run said scheme without the proper players. By that token, if our offense doesn't score 45 points a game, we don't win.
It's obvious that against defenses that know what they're doing, Denard can be stopped. It's happened two weeks in a row. Thus, don't beat your head against a wall and leave him to the dogs, throw Forcier in. He opens defenses up with his arm, something that Denard is incapable of.
The special teams are another story entirely, an arguably more infuriating one than the defense. Kickoffs out of bounds, missed/blocked field goals, botched punt returns... the list goes on. Tony Gibson, the special teams coach, should have gone way before now.
The players are a direct reflection of the coach. All of the stupid mistakes and fundamental breakdowns are all coaching, and I don't care what Rich Rod fanboys say about it. It's a lack of focus, intensity, and discipline. There is no sense of urgency from Rich Rodriguez.
I'm going to compare Mark Dantonio to Rich Rodriguez around the time of the Michigan/Michigan State game each year:
Dantonio: Clock that counts down the months, weeks, days, hours, and minutes to kickoff. Awards gold pins to those players on a team that beat a Wolverines team. Upon beating said team, purchases a billboard congratulating his team on the win, and resets the clock. The whole season is predicated on beating Michigan.
Rodriguez: "We want to beat Michigan State. But that said, we want to beat Iowa, and Illinois, and Penn State, and UMass. We're out to beat whoever we're playing."
That shows me no intensity, and that Rich Rod doesn't understand the rivalry. The two red-letter games are MSU and OSU. You have to put a team together for those days, not whatever you've tossed on the field the past two years.
Bring on Jim Harbaugh, Dave Brandon. That guy knows what a rivalry is.
-2008 season record of 3-9, the worst in school history.
-Failure to make a bowl game in 2008, the first such failure in 33 years.
-A 1-7 conference record in 2009 (2008 saw a 2-6 record), with the lone win being a 36-33 win over Indiana.
-0 wins in the two biggest games of the year: Ohio State and Michigan State (0-5 combined).
-3 separate 3-game streaks involving giving up 33 or more points (once each season). Prior to 2008, it had NEVER occurred.
-A current pass defense that ranks last in the Big 10 and 120th out of 120 FBS teams.
-Formal charges before an inquiry board involving serious rule infractions (first time in school history).
-Current Big 10 career record of 4-15 (Wins against Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Indiana twice).
Not only are the above statistics appalling, but I have issues with his schemes. He runs the spread offense, which is based around speed. It's high octane and when it works, it's electrifying to watch. But it's such a gimmicky offense in the sense that it doesn't work if "it's rainy", or "windy", or "cold", or you don't have the right personnel. Denard Robinson is a star, don't get me wrong. But it's dangerous to base your whole scheme on one player, and as you see against MSU and Iowa, when that player doesn't have a good game or gets shut down, the offense doesn't score as much as it should. Which leads into my next point:
If you have a decent defense, not scoring isn't a major deal. Rich Rodriguez is an offensive genius, no doubt. But he doesn't know a damn thing about defense, and he set a scheme and forced his defensive coordinator to run said scheme without the proper players. By that token, if our offense doesn't score 45 points a game, we don't win.
It's obvious that against defenses that know what they're doing, Denard can be stopped. It's happened two weeks in a row. Thus, don't beat your head against a wall and leave him to the dogs, throw Forcier in. He opens defenses up with his arm, something that Denard is incapable of.
The special teams are another story entirely, an arguably more infuriating one than the defense. Kickoffs out of bounds, missed/blocked field goals, botched punt returns... the list goes on. Tony Gibson, the special teams coach, should have gone way before now.
The players are a direct reflection of the coach. All of the stupid mistakes and fundamental breakdowns are all coaching, and I don't care what Rich Rod fanboys say about it. It's a lack of focus, intensity, and discipline. There is no sense of urgency from Rich Rodriguez.
I'm going to compare Mark Dantonio to Rich Rodriguez around the time of the Michigan/Michigan State game each year:
Dantonio: Clock that counts down the months, weeks, days, hours, and minutes to kickoff. Awards gold pins to those players on a team that beat a Wolverines team. Upon beating said team, purchases a billboard congratulating his team on the win, and resets the clock. The whole season is predicated on beating Michigan.
Rodriguez: "We want to beat Michigan State. But that said, we want to beat Iowa, and Illinois, and Penn State, and UMass. We're out to beat whoever we're playing."
That shows me no intensity, and that Rich Rod doesn't understand the rivalry. The two red-letter games are MSU and OSU. You have to put a team together for those days, not whatever you've tossed on the field the past two years.
Bring on Jim Harbaugh, Dave Brandon. That guy knows what a rivalry is.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Fight or Flight
With election day a bit over a month away, I feel this is an an appropriate time to urge all of my eligible readers to get out and vote for Dan Benishek for the U.S. Representative seat in Michigan's 1st Congressional District. Here's the way I look at it:
This is a purely independent viewpoint that I'm using to explain this. Yes, I'm a conservative. Yes, I agree with Dan's political views, social and economic. However, I know not everyone does, so here's how I look at it from an unbiased independent standpoint. If I'm neutral on the social views, neutral on the economic views, it means it comes down to the personality, ethics, and professionalism of the two candidates. This isn't to say that Gary McDowell is a slimeball. I'm sure he's a class act and an upstanding member of society. All that aside, it comes down to constituent service.
Gary McDowell is a career politician; a current State Rep. If things start going south, he gets concerned with re-election and making the decision that is the most popular, not necessarily what is best for the average American. He becomes concerned with party lines and keeping support on his side, no matter the consequences, because hey, it's fight or flight. He's got a family to take care of, and the survival instinct kicks in. It does with all career politicians that pass through the halls of our Congress.
Dan Benishek, on the other hand, is not a career politician. More like a concerned patriot that has the right ideas and morals to turn this country around. No special interests here, no games, no innate survival instinct. He'll tell either party to turn around and get it right if it's not satisfactory, or in the country's best interests. He'll stand up and say "enough is enough". He's not worried about reelection, because hey, he's got the medical practice to fall back on. Supporting a family is not his primary concern, his country is.
Vote Benishek for Congress in November.
This is a purely independent viewpoint that I'm using to explain this. Yes, I'm a conservative. Yes, I agree with Dan's political views, social and economic. However, I know not everyone does, so here's how I look at it from an unbiased independent standpoint. If I'm neutral on the social views, neutral on the economic views, it means it comes down to the personality, ethics, and professionalism of the two candidates. This isn't to say that Gary McDowell is a slimeball. I'm sure he's a class act and an upstanding member of society. All that aside, it comes down to constituent service.
Gary McDowell is a career politician; a current State Rep. If things start going south, he gets concerned with re-election and making the decision that is the most popular, not necessarily what is best for the average American. He becomes concerned with party lines and keeping support on his side, no matter the consequences, because hey, it's fight or flight. He's got a family to take care of, and the survival instinct kicks in. It does with all career politicians that pass through the halls of our Congress.
Dan Benishek, on the other hand, is not a career politician. More like a concerned patriot that has the right ideas and morals to turn this country around. No special interests here, no games, no innate survival instinct. He'll tell either party to turn around and get it right if it's not satisfactory, or in the country's best interests. He'll stand up and say "enough is enough". He's not worried about reelection, because hey, he's got the medical practice to fall back on. Supporting a family is not his primary concern, his country is.
Vote Benishek for Congress in November.
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