As I was saying to my friend Wavy Davy, no one needs another diatribe on the Cordoba Cultural Center or the goofy political exploits of Sharron Angle of Nevada. However, armed with the notion that isitjustme has wasted four years pontificating on subjects no one wants to hear about, it might become necessary to broach these issues at a later date.
Today, however, we turn our attention to the sports pages. As many are aware, football season is upon us. This is a special time of year for citizens of the Washington DC area. Stephen Strasburg and Alex Ovechkin notwithstanding, Washington is a football town. People in this market take the burgundy and gold seriously. (Not like "Philadelphia" seriously but, seriously.) During the run-up to the regular season, before any games have been lost, before any fingers are pointed, before fans renew their demand that boy-owner Daniel Snyder sell his billion dollar toy, hope springs eternal. Every team is a Super Bowl champ in August.
One of the reasons for optimism this season is the acquisition of former Super Bowl coach Mike Shanahan. With their short-term memories firmly in place, the Redskin faithful are confident that Coach Shanahan will succeed where Norv Turner, Terry Robiskie, Marty Shottenheimer, Steve Spurrier, Joe Gibbs and Jim Zorn have failed. (These are the coaches hired and fired during the Snyder stewardship, 1999-2010.) Whatever magic Coach Shanahan brings to the sidelines, he figures to get about two to three years to convert it into a Lombardi Trophy.
Coach Shanahan is just the latest in a litany of "the next sure thing" personal moves by Snyder, a man with way too much money and way too little savvy. He has turned the folly of over-paying aging superstars/football divas into an art form. Think George Steinbrenner without the rings. Joining this cavalcade of mediocrity in 2009 was Albert Haynesworth. A one-time pro bowler with the Tennessee Titans, Haynesworth spent seven seasons proving: 1) that he was among the best defensive players in football and, 2) He was among the worst head cases ever to stick his head in a helmet. Ignoring the latter, Dan Snyder rewarded the former with a seven-year $100 million free agent contract in 2009. (By the way, approximately $41 million of that money is guaranteed. He doesn't have to play a down.)
And Haynesworth hasn't disappointed...at least not as a world class asshat. He clocked a decent season in '09, missing four games due to...who cares. When you make that kind of green, you play, barring a note from an undertaker. When you see an overpaid diva sit out the last game of a losing season, he's told you all you need to know about his character. Haynesworth started the '10 campaign by not starting it. He claims that the new defensive scheme put in place by defensive coordinator Jim Haslett does not suit his particular talents. That's strange because Albert's particular talent appears to be seeing how big a jerk he can be and coaches don't normally interfere with that.
Petulantly, Haynesworth arrived at training camp (having skipped a mandatory workout earlier) and immediately failed a conditioning test, repeatedly. He has groused, bitched and whined for the last three weeks about everything except the color of the locker room towels. After the preseason game against the Ravens last Saturday, Fat Albert bemoaned having to play into the third quarter, a rare occurrence for a veteran. One suspects Coach Shanahan was sending a message, namely if you won't move your ass in the off season, you'll move it now. Haynesworth has been diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis. This is a condition common to athletes who work out in August when they are out of shape. Boo! Hoo! Let's all feel sorry for this 300 pound bag of ego. Just before Haynesworth threatened to hold his breath until he turns blue, he pouted that he won't attend conditioning camps next year either. When told he was behaving like a fourth grader, Albert replied "I know you are but what am I?"
Professional team owners are mystifying. They cry poor-mouth but continue to pay obscene salaries and bonuses to washed-up stars (think "Neon" Deion Sanders) or untried rookies (Sam Bradford of Oklahoma springs to mind). Snyder went so far as to sue his own season ticket holders for not buying their contracted tickets. Nice! Complain if you must about the "look at me" antics of Chad Ochocinco or Bret Farve but at least you get full value on the field. Owners who pay ridiculous amounts to primadonnas should be forced to sit through an entire season of games between the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers. Each is in first place and they rank 29 and 27 respectively in payroll among 30 baseball teams. (The Cubs, by comparison, are third and currently 20 games out of first. That is a story for another day).
Money doesn't buy happiness (ask Lindsay Lohan) but it should at least purchase a little commitment. You should expect that these giant egos who, were it not for their size and speed would be wearing a paper hat or an orange apron, might feel some obligation to earn the seven figures they get paid. If Albert Haynesworth feels that his talents might be better utilized at NASA or the Brookings Institute then please, return Dan Snyder's cash and return to the University of Tennessee. Just stop crushing the football hopes of the citizens of Washington DC. We already have to suffer with John Boehner. Enough, already!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Thursday, August 05, 2010
..or should lower Manhattan be declared a "Muslim-free zone"?
Oh, the things we choose to get worked-up about: a ten commandments statue in a courthouse, a creche on public property, a cross in the middle of a national park. Today's tempest involves a Muslim-sponsored, seventeen story cultural center in lower Manhattan which, in additional to a swimming pool and meeting rooms, will contain a mosque. Mosque, by the way, means Muslim place of worship. The only thing that distinguishes this facility from the banquet hall at the Ramada are a few quotes from the Koran which decorate the walls. As you can imagine, it isn't the swimming pool that is making Conservatives crazy.
The problem is that the cultural center sits on Park Place between Broadway and Church St. (ignore the irony) about two blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center. Muslims worshiping or meeting or swimming or breathing anywhere in lower Manhattan makes a segment of the population apoplectic. OK, everyone gets it. It was Muslims, acting, they said, on behalf of Muslims that attacked America on 9-11. The idea that any representative of Islam would build an Islamic anything so close to ground zero strikes some as supremely arrogant and offensive. I'm not nuts about it either. Another site might have shown more sensitivity. Real estate in New York isn't so hard to find. Another location certainly would have seemed less provocative.
That said, this is still America...teabaggers notwithstanding. We do not make laws or, in New York's case, grant landmark status, because something makes us uncomfortable. We don't deny the KKK the right to assemble. We don't consign the Aryan Nation to Toronto to hold rallies. Freedom means freedom for everyone. Hell, we don't even object to fat, old, white people parading through the Capital in funny tri-corn hats. Building an office building containing a mosque near the site of 2,700 deaths might be in bad taste but it's not illegal and it's only a big deal if we make it one.
As with most conservative rage issues, this lends itself to dumb slogans and phony indignation. Everybody wants to hate Muslims. George W. Bush did an admirable job of minimizing any hate-related response to 9-11 but the feelings are still there. Newt Gingrich has been trying desperately to gin-up a fight over whether Sharia law will replace American jurisprudence even though no such movement exists. He has an audience because of the fear of Muslim jihadists. These guys are friggin crazy, right? Islam is, in some forms, a very aggressive religion. Stories of fatwas and beheadings have painted all Muslims as wild-eyed fanatics. (Not that there aren't a few of those out there.) The issue isn't whether some Muslims hate Americans but whether we allow our stereotypes and prejudices to override our sense of justice.
Signs like "why can't we build a church in Mecca?", as usual, miss the point. (Jesus, at least carry a sign that makes sense.) This is about us. The fact that Saudi Arabia is a closed society is about them. Stoning and honor killing in Iran is about them. We are the tolerant ones...maybe to a fault but so what? Our Declaration says "all men are created equal". You get the benefit of the doubt whether you are black or brown, man or woman , Christian or Buddhist. Mayor Bloomberg made maybe the most definitive speech on the subject. He said "We would betray our values and play into our enemies' hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else". And you thought the Mayor was just another pretty face.
The problem is that the cultural center sits on Park Place between Broadway and Church St. (ignore the irony) about two blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center. Muslims worshiping or meeting or swimming or breathing anywhere in lower Manhattan makes a segment of the population apoplectic. OK, everyone gets it. It was Muslims, acting, they said, on behalf of Muslims that attacked America on 9-11. The idea that any representative of Islam would build an Islamic anything so close to ground zero strikes some as supremely arrogant and offensive. I'm not nuts about it either. Another site might have shown more sensitivity. Real estate in New York isn't so hard to find. Another location certainly would have seemed less provocative.
That said, this is still America...teabaggers notwithstanding. We do not make laws or, in New York's case, grant landmark status, because something makes us uncomfortable. We don't deny the KKK the right to assemble. We don't consign the Aryan Nation to Toronto to hold rallies. Freedom means freedom for everyone. Hell, we don't even object to fat, old, white people parading through the Capital in funny tri-corn hats. Building an office building containing a mosque near the site of 2,700 deaths might be in bad taste but it's not illegal and it's only a big deal if we make it one.
As with most conservative rage issues, this lends itself to dumb slogans and phony indignation. Everybody wants to hate Muslims. George W. Bush did an admirable job of minimizing any hate-related response to 9-11 but the feelings are still there. Newt Gingrich has been trying desperately to gin-up a fight over whether Sharia law will replace American jurisprudence even though no such movement exists. He has an audience because of the fear of Muslim jihadists. These guys are friggin crazy, right? Islam is, in some forms, a very aggressive religion. Stories of fatwas and beheadings have painted all Muslims as wild-eyed fanatics. (Not that there aren't a few of those out there.) The issue isn't whether some Muslims hate Americans but whether we allow our stereotypes and prejudices to override our sense of justice.
Signs like "why can't we build a church in Mecca?", as usual, miss the point. (Jesus, at least carry a sign that makes sense.) This is about us. The fact that Saudi Arabia is a closed society is about them. Stoning and honor killing in Iran is about them. We are the tolerant ones...maybe to a fault but so what? Our Declaration says "all men are created equal". You get the benefit of the doubt whether you are black or brown, man or woman , Christian or Buddhist. Mayor Bloomberg made maybe the most definitive speech on the subject. He said "We would betray our values and play into our enemies' hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else". And you thought the Mayor was just another pretty face.
...or are the teabag Republicans contemplating tossing the Constitution over the side?
Really? The Republican solution to illegal immigration is the repeal of the Fourteenth Amendment? WOW! At least they didn't suggest anything radical like the use of nuclear weapons against illegals or shooting every other person in Texas named Gonzales. Has the supposed "debate" over illegal immigration become so toxic that Republicans are discussing, out loud, a repeal of the Amendment which grants American citizenship to any person born in this country?
Lindsey Graham, once a rational voice for real reform is talking about "dropping a baby" as though Latino children were so many pesky rabbits. The consummate coward, John McCain, is condoning hearings on the subject lest he be accused of not being enough of a radical right-wing nutjob. This from a man who once said "These are God's children as well and they need some protection under the law and they need some of our love and compassion". "Love and compassion" are in short supply when bile and fear are the coins of the realm in a primary fight.
Not that anyone on the Right would care but the facts are these: Illegal immigration is down by around 40% since 2000. Deportations are way up (137,000 have been designated as criminals and deported. 60% more than in the last year of GWB). The number of businesses cited for hiring illegals has quadrupled. According to Homeland Security there are 1 million fewer illegals that in 2007. The border with Mexico is 1,951 miles. A "secure" border is a myth. Don't take my word for it. Ask the East Germans. The border between East and West Berlin was 87 miles with two heavily guarded walls and a "death strip" between. Still, 5,000 people made it across. There are twice as many border agents in place now than in 2005 and there are 5,000 national guard troops. We are reaching a point where the cost of stopping the next illegal would be prohibitive.
Let's talk about "drop and leave". The fact that any American with any shred of decency would suggest that Latino women would risk a dangerous border crossing to "drop" a child on American soil speaks volumes about what we are becoming. This conversation is the worst kind of racist pandering. If you are serious about reversing the flow of illegals, stop singing to the teabaggers and craft workable legislation; a law that will address the needs of farmers and small business as well as those of taxpayers. Jan Brewer is right about one thing (amazing). Border states should not be required to bear the burden of immigrants alone. Washington must act.
"Act" however does not mean taking an Exacto-knife to the Constitution. This is a Republican canard anyway. Repealing the Fourteenth Amendment would require a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and approval of 3/4 of the state legislatures. The legal term is "fat chance". So, like George Bush Sr.'s discourse about a flag burning amendment and George W's desire for a marriage amendment, this bit of racist nonsense is being promoted by people who know it has zero chance of being enacted. Like secession, they may sound like "fightin' words" but the cause is hopeless...Thank God.
Lindsey Graham, once a rational voice for real reform is talking about "dropping a baby" as though Latino children were so many pesky rabbits. The consummate coward, John McCain, is condoning hearings on the subject lest he be accused of not being enough of a radical right-wing nutjob. This from a man who once said "These are God's children as well and they need some protection under the law and they need some of our love and compassion". "Love and compassion" are in short supply when bile and fear are the coins of the realm in a primary fight.
Not that anyone on the Right would care but the facts are these: Illegal immigration is down by around 40% since 2000. Deportations are way up (137,000 have been designated as criminals and deported. 60% more than in the last year of GWB). The number of businesses cited for hiring illegals has quadrupled. According to Homeland Security there are 1 million fewer illegals that in 2007. The border with Mexico is 1,951 miles. A "secure" border is a myth. Don't take my word for it. Ask the East Germans. The border between East and West Berlin was 87 miles with two heavily guarded walls and a "death strip" between. Still, 5,000 people made it across. There are twice as many border agents in place now than in 2005 and there are 5,000 national guard troops. We are reaching a point where the cost of stopping the next illegal would be prohibitive.
Let's talk about "drop and leave". The fact that any American with any shred of decency would suggest that Latino women would risk a dangerous border crossing to "drop" a child on American soil speaks volumes about what we are becoming. This conversation is the worst kind of racist pandering. If you are serious about reversing the flow of illegals, stop singing to the teabaggers and craft workable legislation; a law that will address the needs of farmers and small business as well as those of taxpayers. Jan Brewer is right about one thing (amazing). Border states should not be required to bear the burden of immigrants alone. Washington must act.
"Act" however does not mean taking an Exacto-knife to the Constitution. This is a Republican canard anyway. Repealing the Fourteenth Amendment would require a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and approval of 3/4 of the state legislatures. The legal term is "fat chance". So, like George Bush Sr.'s discourse about a flag burning amendment and George W's desire for a marriage amendment, this bit of racist nonsense is being promoted by people who know it has zero chance of being enacted. Like secession, they may sound like "fightin' words" but the cause is hopeless...Thank God.
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