For the last few months, the country has been anxiously awaiting the progress report on Iraq by General David Petraeus in September. The Bush Administration and the Republican supporters of the war hope he will say that the surge in troop levels has been effective. The Democrats hope he will say the entire thing is a disaster and we should leave immediately. Everyone acknowledged when he took the job that as the US Army’s top counter-terrorism expert, he was the appropriate and best man for that job.
When Petraeus arrived in Iraq, he completely changed coalition strategy. Instead of operating out of isolated Forward Operating Bases, Petraeus instead has the troops interacting more with the local Iraqis in the population centers. This has led to more intelligence gathering as the locals begin trusting the troops and has also established working relationships between the local tribal leaders/warlords with the US troops. The result has been local cooperation and even fighting between the local population and Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has been mostly driven out of several of the formerly hottest provinces due to the cooperation of the local leaders. Even Sen. Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and no friend to the Bush Administration, recently returned from Iraq saying that significant military progress had been made. The Democratic presidential candidates admit progress has been made. I can tell you since I am deployed out here seeing what is happening that they are correct in their assessment. We are making a lot of progress.
With that as a background, what do CNN and MSNBC do? Because the anticipated report by General Petraeus is now widely expected to be different than the networks own agenda, they are starting a campaign to impugn General Petraeus’ integrity before he arrives to give the report. The same guy who was the best great hope a few months ago has these same network hacks saying he is a partisan lackey and has no credibility. These people are so transparent and vile that it should surprise no one that they have less and less viewers all the time.
I wrote a piece a while back about how the other news network anchors, particularly the ones with obvious agendas, constantly publicly trash Fox News. However, on one recent ratings night, the viewer numbers were:
FNC O'REILLY 2,260,000
FNC SHEPPARD SMITH 1,308,000
FNC BRIT HUME 1,286,000
FNC HANNITY/COLMES 1,278,000
FNC GRETA 1,031,000
CNN DOBBS 813,000
No wonder they trash Fox News. They are being whipped like a Michael Vick dog. Like most liberals, their inflated egos lead them to believe that the people are stupid and are being led around by Fox and the evil Rupert Murdoch. They can’t imagine that most people are fed up with their trashing of the American system and character assassination tactics. In one of the seemingly hundreds of Democratic debates, Hillary Clinton recently said about her negative numbers in polls that any of the other Democratic candidates will have high numbers after the “Republican hate machine” gets through with them. She won’t acknowledge that maybe people just don’t like her or maybe people actually loathe her. In typical liberal fashion, it couldn’t possibly be her fault. Well, folks, keep railing on. People will vote with their remote controls and MSNBC, CNN and the other left agenda news organizations that purposely trash America will continue to wither on the vine. Rush Limbaugh calls them the “drive-by” media for their tactics. I will now refer to them as the “Raisin media” because they are drying up so fast.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
ESPN Jumps the Shark
When did ESPN jump the shark? What was originally a sport reporting network now almost uses sports as a background for their own network self-promotion. In a period of very busy sports activity (major league baseball, football training camps, professional golf events, the Tour de France, major soccer, etc.), what does a significant portion of the hour go to? The “Who is more Now?” contest. First of all, what the heck is “now” anyway? More importantly, who CARES? The anchors at ESPN have fallen into the trap historically set for ministers and politicians who believe that they personally are more important than what or who they represent. The network has gone the way of the National Basketball Association in not promoting its product but rather its individual performers. And performers are what they are, not reporters. Each anchor has an obligation to come up with his/her own catch phrases and uniquely quirky delivery so as to become personalities rather than reporters. I personally want to know the outcome of the sporting event and don’t care to hear the next addition to the sporting lexicon. We are returning to the days of the “Battle of the Network Stars” where sporting events are not covered, they are created, like the reality shows on every network now. I would appreciate it if the people at ESPN could go “back back back back back…” to the days where they reported on sports events instead of trying to be the show themselves.
What Men Really Want
I have theory about the difference between men and women in one great respect. This is not exclusively a male characteristic but it almost always holds true. What is it that men really want? My theory is this: It doesn’t matter if you are talking about a sexual relationship, a job, a vehicle, a night out, car repairs, lawn maintenance, wives, friends or anything else. What men want most is: NO HASSLE.
There is a certain amount of hassle that is just associated with living. If you expect a paycheck, you need to show up for work. If you want to drive a car, you have to occasionally stop to get gasoline. Men can deal with those hassles because they are a given and come as part of the package. What inflames men more than anything else is: unnecessary hassle. Things that are made more complicated than they need to be or require more than an appropriate amount of effort. One of the reasons that all houses of married couples are decorated the way the wife wants it done is that women will always win any argument about things the man has little interest in because women can dial up the hassle meter until the man inevitably says “screw it” (or words to that effect). In any relationship, the last thing a man wants to hear is, “We need to talk”. That phrase always means there is some sort of mental hassle awaiting. Men don’t like deep complicated movies or dramas because it is too much hassle to worry about the feelings of the characters. That is why simple blow up the bad guy, attractive naked women movies do so well. When the check is for $31.95, the man throws in $40 and doesn’t worry about the appropriateness of the tip because he doesn’t want to have to worry about it. There are guys with calculators and a change purse, but we don’t talk about them (don’t ask, don’t tell). I would rather throw away semi-valuable things from my garage to finally be able to walk in it than hassle with a yard sale to make some not worth my time amount of money.
In the male community, those who make things simple and easy are well thought of and those who create hassle are shunned. It is a badge of honor to be someone who makes things go smoothly. So, despite being occasionally accused of being a simpleton, most guys would gladly rather have that accusation than go through the hassle of proven the critics wrong.
I was once in a discussion about how much money I wanted to make. My answer was this: I don’t know how much in actual dollars but what I want is: when I turn the key, my car starts; when I feel like Chinese food, I buy some and don’t worry about not paying my car payment; when someone calls and wants to have a picnic, I go get some munchies and go; when I pull in the driveway, I am happy to live where I do. That is what I want, an income that produces a hassle-free life. So just like all guys, the avoidance of hassle is the ultimate goal.
There is a certain amount of hassle that is just associated with living. If you expect a paycheck, you need to show up for work. If you want to drive a car, you have to occasionally stop to get gasoline. Men can deal with those hassles because they are a given and come as part of the package. What inflames men more than anything else is: unnecessary hassle. Things that are made more complicated than they need to be or require more than an appropriate amount of effort. One of the reasons that all houses of married couples are decorated the way the wife wants it done is that women will always win any argument about things the man has little interest in because women can dial up the hassle meter until the man inevitably says “screw it” (or words to that effect). In any relationship, the last thing a man wants to hear is, “We need to talk”. That phrase always means there is some sort of mental hassle awaiting. Men don’t like deep complicated movies or dramas because it is too much hassle to worry about the feelings of the characters. That is why simple blow up the bad guy, attractive naked women movies do so well. When the check is for $31.95, the man throws in $40 and doesn’t worry about the appropriateness of the tip because he doesn’t want to have to worry about it. There are guys with calculators and a change purse, but we don’t talk about them (don’t ask, don’t tell). I would rather throw away semi-valuable things from my garage to finally be able to walk in it than hassle with a yard sale to make some not worth my time amount of money.
In the male community, those who make things simple and easy are well thought of and those who create hassle are shunned. It is a badge of honor to be someone who makes things go smoothly. So, despite being occasionally accused of being a simpleton, most guys would gladly rather have that accusation than go through the hassle of proven the critics wrong.
I was once in a discussion about how much money I wanted to make. My answer was this: I don’t know how much in actual dollars but what I want is: when I turn the key, my car starts; when I feel like Chinese food, I buy some and don’t worry about not paying my car payment; when someone calls and wants to have a picnic, I go get some munchies and go; when I pull in the driveway, I am happy to live where I do. That is what I want, an income that produces a hassle-free life. So just like all guys, the avoidance of hassle is the ultimate goal.
Cheaters Again
I wrote an earlier piece about how cheating doesn’t seem to bother people anymore. Now, on the verge of Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record and the Tour de France scandal of 2007, it seems appropriate to revisit the issue. One of the things I have always admired about real golfers, not the weekend kind who cheat endlessly, is how they would rather lose than win dishonestly. In almost all other professional sports, the coaches and athletes will wink at missed calls and clear cheating and call it “part of the game”. The coaches who were really good at mentally working over referees were against instant replay. Why would anyone interested in fairness be against something which reveals the truth? Calls are not overturned without convincing credible evidence. I read an article pointing out the hypocrisy of Americans jeering the Tour de France while cheering for Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Shawn Merriman, and the other well-known cheats. Her point was valid. The Tour de France is being transparent and looking for cheats instead of ignoring or praising them. That is actually refreshing. There is a philosophy of “anything you can get away with is okay”. This is not confined to sports. Routinely, Congressmen use the phrase “I did not break any law” when justifying actions which are clearly unethical and wrong. They skirt the edge of legality and use that phrase to “prove” they did nothing wrong. Even when caught breaking the law (e.g, Bill Clinton), supporters quibble about the law. It is okay to perjure oneself as long as the subject is correct.
In the service, we use the code words of Honor, Courage and Commitment. Despite that, there are people like John Kerry saying that military members were too stupid to choose to do anything else. When 70-80% of officers have postgraduate degrees, it is hard to make that argument. In this case, though, consider the source (a proven liar).
I cannot cheer for steroid, human growth hormone using freaks of nature in baseball and football, teams using illegal components in auto racing, or erythopoetin using bicycle racers any more than I could cheer for sailors who gun deck log books or leave their post while on watch. Until the public stops rewarding the athletes who cheat by refusing to pay to attend the games and stop making money for the owners of the teams, the doping will never stop. There will always be someone of low enough moral fiber to break the rules of decency.
In the service, we use the code words of Honor, Courage and Commitment. Despite that, there are people like John Kerry saying that military members were too stupid to choose to do anything else. When 70-80% of officers have postgraduate degrees, it is hard to make that argument. In this case, though, consider the source (a proven liar).
I cannot cheer for steroid, human growth hormone using freaks of nature in baseball and football, teams using illegal components in auto racing, or erythopoetin using bicycle racers any more than I could cheer for sailors who gun deck log books or leave their post while on watch. Until the public stops rewarding the athletes who cheat by refusing to pay to attend the games and stop making money for the owners of the teams, the doping will never stop. There will always be someone of low enough moral fiber to break the rules of decency.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)