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.