2009 in Review

As I am sitting here today I have realized that I have neglected this blog terribly for the past few months. I try and determine why that might be, and I realize that it is the same reason that I do not go to the gym on a daily basis... I don't make time for it. That is going to change in 2010. Now it might not be everyday, but regularly I will post my thoughts on the current events in the world. What I ask of you is that if you have a comment, please post it. I really like reading other peoples thoughts. With that said here is my last post of 2009.

I look back over the year and so many things have changed, yet many stay the same. We innaguarted this countries first minority president in January and asked him to revitalize this country and get it moving back in the direction of properity. Now depending on what side of the arguement you fall on, will determine your thoughts on his success/failure. Not what I am getting at here today. The main thing is that in a majority of cases this country has moved past looking at the color of the person skin, and looking into the content of what they say. That to me is wonderful. Is there work to be done, absolutely. But taking this major step is something that can never be taken back.

When you look at the sport world, wow what a year. I never thought the say would come that I would have to boo Brett Favre because of the jersey that he wears. But as a PACKER FAN first, I am obligated to boo him when he plays the Packers. On the flip side I am exteremly excited that our new QB has proven the critics wrong and shown why they were able to say good bye to a legend. Thanks Aaron for another great season of Packer Football. The Yankees won again in baseball, and I believe once again shows that baseball is behind the times and needs to institute a salary cap to even the playing field... But that will not happen in the near future. And really what happened to Tiger Woods. He went from the greatest golfer/person in the world, to just the greatest golfer. My hope for 2010 is that he can regain some personal perspective and then come back and be the golfer that we know and love. To me he still remains the best golfer ever... Maybe on day he can regain the best person in the world as well.

On a personal level, 2009 was overall a good year for my family. After enduring a layoff in January, I was able to land a job that moved my family back down to FL. This is where we have wanted to live for some time and now have the opportunity. After enduring another layoff in June, I believe I have found a job that I can stay with for a very long time. I love what I am doing and being able to do it in my hometown, is even better. As with all things in life, there were downs as well, but faith in God and much hard work; we have gotten through it.

I wish everyone a safe end of the year and wish you the best for 2010. As I mentioned I promise to post more this year and make this something that I make time for. Please help me by posting your thoughts to mine and lets have a great discussion in 2010.

Interesting New Polls

According to Fox News polls, the presidents approval rating is still at 54% , which is up 1% from last month. Also 48% of Americans oppose health care reform. By my math that means that 52% are for it. Maybe members of congress you should look at that and get something passed. The majority of Americans want it.

Note: Republicans will oppose anything you put forward. Know it and accept it. It is the democratic play book from years ago. "The party of NO" Read the Baccus plan, it is a good start. We do not have to have a public option if there is competition that lowers healthcare.

I fully Disagree

I have to post that I fully disagree with a majority of what former President Carter and many other liberals are claiming right now that the uproar over healthcare is racially based. Am I nieve to think that there is not a fringe of the group that only hates our President because he is black. Of course I do... and most of you would agree that there is a portion that can not see past his color. With that said, I do not agree that this is the main stream of these people.

Where I disagree with a lot of what the conservatives are doing right now, and do not feel that they deal with all facts, only half truths, and much enuendo. I do not think that it has anything to do with the color of President Obama's skin. People like Rush, Sean, Glenn, Bill, etc are disagreeing with the policy of the president. They firmly believe that what he is about is wrong. (again whether I agree or not is not what this post is about) Memo to Liberals.... If you stop making it the case then you give them less and less to talk about!!!

We as a coutry need to move past the color of each others skin. No person should ever utter the word cracker, nigger, chink, spic, etc.... It is defamatory IN ANY CONTEXT. And please do not believe for one minute that I am not talking directly to myself in this post as well. It starts with me and goes to you. If we stop and never utter another word like this it will carry on to the next person. If we walk away or tell someone to stop when they tell jokes that are defamatory, they will get the message. If people like Jackson, and Sharpton would stop running out when something happens to a minority and start to preaching about how it happened because of the color of skin. not always, sometime people are just plain stupid!!!

I make this pledge today that I will never utter another defamatory word about minority group, tell an off color joke about race, or participate in conversations that go down that path. If I walk away from you or tell you to stop, understand that I still like you but will not listen to another word of that conversation. I do not want to be included on forwarded email, or anything else that talks about a persons skin color. IT DOES NOT MATTER TO ME!!!! Join me if you want to end the conversation regarding race and get down to the real meat and potatoes.

I was impressed

I want to step away from the polical conversation for a little while, because quite frankly it is giving me a headache. I wanted to talk about someone that impressed me today. That person was David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox. He held his new conference today to talk about his name on the 2003 list of PED use in Major League Baseball. I was impressed with his openess about the fact he used to use supplements and vitamins, that he had no idea what was in it. He is in the process right now of trying to figure out what exactly he tested positive for, so he can determine what it was and make it public. Most of the time when something like this happens, the person implicated goes into hiding or does not want to talk about the issue. In this case David is trying to figure it out.

I personally think it is displicable that first of all these names are being leaked out. And lets be clear, it is being done illegally. The union and owners agreed that the testing would be annonimous, to determine what course of action would be taken. It remained that way until....wait for it....lawyers, government, and as many as 200 people got a hold of the documents. Now they are being released and someone is being paid for those name.

My suggestion to all the players, MLB, and union is to release all the names at once. It will cause a stir, all be a small one, for about a week. After that the issue will fade away and the players can continue to play. As it stands right now there will be a name a month for the next 6 years or so. Baseball does not need that and I think if you put it to a vote of all the Major leaguers it would get approval to realeas them all.

Mr. Ortiz thank you for standing up and taking the blame, adressing the issue and trying to figure out what you did. I appreciate the honesty and being up front. You are a class act!!!

"Main Street Media"

I was listening to a TV show last night and they were discussing the "Main Street Media" and their biased coverage of everything. It really got me to thinking.... Who exactly is the main street media? I have asked many people this, and if I have asked 10 people I will get 10 different answers. It begs the question, if we are so frustrated with their coverage, who exactly are we frustrated at.

I have a very strong theory on where this notion of Main Street Media came from and I believe we should be leery of their claim. I have a very strong feeling that this term started in the Conservative Radio Media. Yes I am talking about Rush, Sean, Neil, Bill, and many other around the country. Yes this says a lot, that they have a strikingly strong ability to influence our vocabulary; but should we believe that the "Main Street Media" is as biased as they say. Lets not forget that if we stop listening or watching these outlets, who benefits the most. THEY DO!!!
It makes me laugh that we are supposed to get unbiased news from the "Main Street Media," yet those who talk the loudest about it being a problem are the ones that are even more biased with their perspective.

Is every news story fair and balanced... Absolutely not and I will not pretend that they are. But why do they have to be. Anyone who cares enough knows that there are 100 different ways to get news. Internet, radio, TV, book, papers. Lets also remember that all media outlets except for Public Radio is a business, and even public radio is funded in large part to donations of the public. In most cases, what is one way to make a business change its ways. Do not buy the products. If you don't watch or listen they will either change or stop existing all together. Look at print newspapers, they are dying off left and right because people go to the Internet or have 2 hour news cycles. The same will be said of all other media outlets.

Let be careful throwing blanket statements around and make sure you know who the source of those statement are. They may have an agenda!!!

This is just plain stupid!!!

I saw this on a website today and think it may be the dumbest thing that I have seen yet. If I look back, the recession was started long before the election of 2008. Most say that in part the recession was started with the last years of the Clinton Administration. Any way you slice it, it does not come up with it starting on January 20, 2009.

Lets all be smart about recessions, the do not happen overnight and many times they just happen. This one was helped along by the events of 9/11, a war in Iraq and Afganistan, and most of all greed, greed, and more greed. Had we had better regualtions on what the banks were doing and not had the interference of the governement pushing people to get as many people into homes as they could; some of this could be avoided.

No one knows what the future holds. The GOP wants you to believe that we are going to head father down because of the Obama Admin domestic policy. The DNC wants you to believe that we are on the up swing and that these new initiatives will not hurt but help. All I know is that some of the indicators that I look at are right now positive (Stock Market, homes prices, talking with local business owners); while others (unemployment, state and federal budgets/deficits) are not good. What this means in the long run, time will only tell. With that said, lets be smart enough to know that our current President is not the direct and only cause of this recession.

This is America right

I learned this evening that a city manager for Fort Myers Beach was fired in a 5-0 vote last night. No he did not steal funds from the stimulus packages, he did not use city funds to fly to Argentina, nor did he have a woman in his office with a blue dress and a cigar. He married an adult films star. Yes, he met and fell in love with someone who chose to perform in adult movies and they got married.

From the examiner.com "Kiker acknowledged that Janke had violated no rules or laws and added that he had done a good job for the island town that had about 6,500 people, according to the 2000 Census. But the mayor was concerned whether Janke could remain effective."

Why could he not remain effective. By your own admission he had done a good job, even while married to a porn star prior to you finding out. Don't ask, don't tell???

We have enough problems with our elected officials across this country. When you have someone doing a good job, who give a rats ass who they are married to. In my opinion the council reacted without thinking about this. If I am Mr. Janke, the first phone call that I made after hearing the news is to the best lawyer in Fort Myers. This is an absolute travesty. The last time that I check ADULT porn was legal, and I can walk into any adult establishment and purchase adult material. This does not make me a less effective sales person.

I see this situation going only one way. The city of Fort Myers Beach will be served with a lawsuit in which they will most likely settle with Mr. Janke. At that point, wait for it, the tax payers will be paying the bill to someone who was receiving a salary and "doing a good job." Instead he will win and receive at least hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars of your money. By the way for you tax payers, if he gets $1M that is $153 more dollars you have to come up with. Does not sound like a lot, until you realize that you were paying about $15 bucks.

Call the city council today and tell them to re-hire Mr. Janke, apologize for being stupid, and give him an "We are stupid and sorry raise!" It is less money that the law suit will be.