"There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people."
William Adama, (Lorne Greene) Battlestar Galactica
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
A few questions and thoughts
With President Bush's approval rating at an alltime low of 32%, is there anythign the American public do to show its outrage beside vote for the alternative Democrats in November? There is a lot of time between now and then at it implies that our democracy is now so inefficient that the public cannot demand changes and expect to be heard for months or years at a time.
The retired CEO of the reconstituted Standard Oil (Exxon/Mobil) was give a $350 millon dollar compensation package, that is $190,000 a day, which translates roughly to 4 times the average american family annual income. It is just wrong that we are paying in excess of $3.00/gallon at the gas pumps, and the big oil companies are making record profits. It is one thing to get a 5% increase in profits from last year, but this is just greedy and ridiculous.
I honestly believe that Connecticut politicians are by far the most corrupt group in the country. Two years ago, Governor John Rowland was forced to resign, convicted and sent to prison. Today, two more of his henchmen have pled guilt to various bad doings and are going to jail. If this happened in a bigger state, it would be national news. I don't know if that is good or bad.
The retired CEO of the reconstituted Standard Oil (Exxon/Mobil) was give a $350 millon dollar compensation package, that is $190,000 a day, which translates roughly to 4 times the average american family annual income. It is just wrong that we are paying in excess of $3.00/gallon at the gas pumps, and the big oil companies are making record profits. It is one thing to get a 5% increase in profits from last year, but this is just greedy and ridiculous.
I honestly believe that Connecticut politicians are by far the most corrupt group in the country. Two years ago, Governor John Rowland was forced to resign, convicted and sent to prison. Today, two more of his henchmen have pled guilt to various bad doings and are going to jail. If this happened in a bigger state, it would be national news. I don't know if that is good or bad.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Moussaoui Trail a Farce
I have not been following the Zacarias Moussaoui trial very closely, but can someone please tell me the relevance of opening up the wounds of 9/11 all over again? It almost seems as if they are going overboard, as if the government can take out the entire fury of this event in this trial. It is a big farce to me, if you look at the basic premise of the government’s case. Essentially they are saying if Moussaoui had confessed to the conspiracy prior to 9/11, that the proper agencies would have been able to thwart the hijackers and prevent the terrorist attacks. Quite frankly, I don’t buy that theory for one minute.
In reality, if someone, anyone, was arrested before 9/11 and admitted to being part of a major conspiracy to hijack multiple airplanes and fly them into buildings as flying projectiles, they would have been on there way to a psychiatric facility for observation. If the officer, agent, or marshal leading the investigation actually thought there was some credibility to the story that his or her supervisors would have laughed the subordinate off the job. If by chance it made it out of the local office, the information would have died in the regional office. Even if it made it to the say the FBI in Washington, they would have had to coordinate the search for hijackers with the CIA, INS and various other agencies and since they still cannot effectively communicate today, four and half years later, then why does the prosecution think that these agencies would have had there act together to do this before 9/11.
I don’t believe that the putting Rudy Giuliani on the stand and talking about 9/11, or putting the father of a passenger on one of the planes, or play the black box recordings from Flight 93 or playing the 911 calls from the World Trade Center have any value in determining if Moussaoui is guilty or innocent, or if guilty if he deserves the death penalty. The latter issue is split by a persons feeling on capital punishment in general and the former issue has no relevance to the aftermath of 9/11. All that is happening is we as a country, or maybe just as we New Yorkers are being forced to relive this tragedy and are not allowed to move on, since every news station keeps showing the images. It is like pouring lemon juice on an open wound.
Either Moussaoui is guilty of being the 20th hijacker or he is not. If he was the 20th hijacker, or part of another conspiracy with a different goal then he is guilty. If he is eligible for the death penalty then he should be to death like an old dog. If he is not eligible then he should rot in jail for the rest of life, but not at the expense of the American taxpayer. Either way, the death and destruction of 9/11 is irrelevant to the current proceedings and just makes our legal system look more like a joke every day.
In reality, if someone, anyone, was arrested before 9/11 and admitted to being part of a major conspiracy to hijack multiple airplanes and fly them into buildings as flying projectiles, they would have been on there way to a psychiatric facility for observation. If the officer, agent, or marshal leading the investigation actually thought there was some credibility to the story that his or her supervisors would have laughed the subordinate off the job. If by chance it made it out of the local office, the information would have died in the regional office. Even if it made it to the say the FBI in Washington, they would have had to coordinate the search for hijackers with the CIA, INS and various other agencies and since they still cannot effectively communicate today, four and half years later, then why does the prosecution think that these agencies would have had there act together to do this before 9/11.
I don’t believe that the putting Rudy Giuliani on the stand and talking about 9/11, or putting the father of a passenger on one of the planes, or play the black box recordings from Flight 93 or playing the 911 calls from the World Trade Center have any value in determining if Moussaoui is guilty or innocent, or if guilty if he deserves the death penalty. The latter issue is split by a persons feeling on capital punishment in general and the former issue has no relevance to the aftermath of 9/11. All that is happening is we as a country, or maybe just as we New Yorkers are being forced to relive this tragedy and are not allowed to move on, since every news station keeps showing the images. It is like pouring lemon juice on an open wound.
Either Moussaoui is guilty of being the 20th hijacker or he is not. If he was the 20th hijacker, or part of another conspiracy with a different goal then he is guilty. If he is eligible for the death penalty then he should be to death like an old dog. If he is not eligible then he should rot in jail for the rest of life, but not at the expense of the American taxpayer. Either way, the death and destruction of 9/11 is irrelevant to the current proceedings and just makes our legal system look more like a joke every day.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
2006 NL West Predictions
No discussion of this division can only begin with two points. One, this is the worst division in all of baseball and it is possible that the division winner could be at or under .500 for the season. Two, is Baroid Bonds and the decisions of the managers to pitch to him, pitch around him, or throw everything including the kitchen sink at his steroid infested battered and broken down body, with the hope that this forces him to retire before he can hit 715 or 756.
Los Angeles Dodgers – The Dodgers had the strongest off-season and should be rewarded with 82 wins and a divisional championship. Grady Little is back managing after being exiled from Boston in 2003, and should be an excellent fit for this club. He is sound manager, with good instincts, who has been betrayed and trashed in northern New England for years and now has the chance to redeem himself. With Rafael Furcal, Kenny Lofton, Nomar Garciaparra, and Bill Mueller joining the team this year, along with returning Jeff Kent, a healthy (for the moment) JD Drew, and Jose Cruz Jr, this should be a well balanced offense. The catching will be split between former Yankee prospect Dionar Navarro and up and coming Russell Martin, someone projected to be the NL All-star catcher through 2015.
The pitching staff is led by Derek Lowe, Brad Penny, Odalis Perez and Brett Tomko. Closing out the rotation, is a pitcher who might possibly lead the team in wins, and innings pitched, former Met Jae Seo. Eric Gagne is back in the closers role, and the off-season acquisition of Lance Carter and Danys Baez from Tampa Bay should help solidify both the setup role, and either can step in if Gagne elbow needs a day off here or there. The rest of the pen is solid, and Yancy Brazobahn can continue to develop into the closer of the future, with support of the veterans around him.
San Diego Padres – The Padres continue to have strong pitching with Jake Peavy blossoming into the ace of the staff. Following him in the rotation will be Chris Young, Shawn Estes, the overrated Chan Ho Park, and the veteran Woody Williams. The bullpen will be anchored again, as it has been since 1933, by Trevor Hoffman. The Padres have always been able to find very effective middle relief and this year should be no exception with Scott Linebrink, Alan Embree, Doug Brocail and Dewon Brazelton. This pitching staff will keep the club in many games, which is good, because the offense is going to be sporadic at best.
The offense is anchored with Ryan Klesko and Vinny Castilla at the corners, both players are far past their prime. Adrian Gonzalez is a big time player, but does not play the field which is a huge problem in the NL, which begs the question of why SD traded for him, Mike Piazza will be playing 100 or more games behind the dish, which has to be the biggest mistake defensively, since I foresee a lot of stolen bases against Piazza, which begs the question of why they signed him. Khalil Greene has the makings of an excellent short stop, but he has a tendency to break his fingers, and needs to stay off the DL. Josh Barfield, son of Jesse, is the starting second bagger, and the reason they felt justified getting ripped off by the Red Sox when they traded Mark Loretta for Doug Mirabelli, who might still be traded back to the Red Sox to catch Tim Wakefield. Barfield will be good, but he will also look like a rookie many times over the course of the season. The outfield is probably their biggest asset with an aging, but still agile Dave Roberts, Mike Cameron, and Brian Giles. This will be a growing year for the pitching staff, but going no where for the rest of the team.
San Francisco Giants – Lets face it, they will go as far as Barry Bonds goes. This team was built for one reason, and around one player. If Barry is healthy, then they will win some games. If Barry goes in the crapper (my hope) and finds the press, his knees, his elbow, his head, his mistress, his website, whatever too painful to play, then the Giants will stumble, bumble and tumble through the season, and start playing for 2007.
Arizona Diamondbacks – I still cannot believe this team won a World Series just five years ago. They have many up and coming players Chad Tracy, Conor Jackson, Johnny Estrada, and Orlando Hudson. They have solidified their defense up the middle, which should make ace Brandon Webb happy since he is a ground ball pitcher, and solid defense means more outs. They have brought in the ageless El Duque from the world champion White Sox, to bring some maturity and guile to the staff. The rest of the rotation is average to below average. The closer is Jose Valverde, but they are going to have trouble getting to him with a bunch of journeyman and no names in the pen.
Colorado Rockies – I think it was “The Onion” that had a headline that said, the Rockies have left the National League and no one even noticed. That pretty much sums it up
Los Angeles Dodgers – The Dodgers had the strongest off-season and should be rewarded with 82 wins and a divisional championship. Grady Little is back managing after being exiled from Boston in 2003, and should be an excellent fit for this club. He is sound manager, with good instincts, who has been betrayed and trashed in northern New England for years and now has the chance to redeem himself. With Rafael Furcal, Kenny Lofton, Nomar Garciaparra, and Bill Mueller joining the team this year, along with returning Jeff Kent, a healthy (for the moment) JD Drew, and Jose Cruz Jr, this should be a well balanced offense. The catching will be split between former Yankee prospect Dionar Navarro and up and coming Russell Martin, someone projected to be the NL All-star catcher through 2015.
The pitching staff is led by Derek Lowe, Brad Penny, Odalis Perez and Brett Tomko. Closing out the rotation, is a pitcher who might possibly lead the team in wins, and innings pitched, former Met Jae Seo. Eric Gagne is back in the closers role, and the off-season acquisition of Lance Carter and Danys Baez from Tampa Bay should help solidify both the setup role, and either can step in if Gagne elbow needs a day off here or there. The rest of the pen is solid, and Yancy Brazobahn can continue to develop into the closer of the future, with support of the veterans around him.
San Diego Padres – The Padres continue to have strong pitching with Jake Peavy blossoming into the ace of the staff. Following him in the rotation will be Chris Young, Shawn Estes, the overrated Chan Ho Park, and the veteran Woody Williams. The bullpen will be anchored again, as it has been since 1933, by Trevor Hoffman. The Padres have always been able to find very effective middle relief and this year should be no exception with Scott Linebrink, Alan Embree, Doug Brocail and Dewon Brazelton. This pitching staff will keep the club in many games, which is good, because the offense is going to be sporadic at best.
The offense is anchored with Ryan Klesko and Vinny Castilla at the corners, both players are far past their prime. Adrian Gonzalez is a big time player, but does not play the field which is a huge problem in the NL, which begs the question of why SD traded for him, Mike Piazza will be playing 100 or more games behind the dish, which has to be the biggest mistake defensively, since I foresee a lot of stolen bases against Piazza, which begs the question of why they signed him. Khalil Greene has the makings of an excellent short stop, but he has a tendency to break his fingers, and needs to stay off the DL. Josh Barfield, son of Jesse, is the starting second bagger, and the reason they felt justified getting ripped off by the Red Sox when they traded Mark Loretta for Doug Mirabelli, who might still be traded back to the Red Sox to catch Tim Wakefield. Barfield will be good, but he will also look like a rookie many times over the course of the season. The outfield is probably their biggest asset with an aging, but still agile Dave Roberts, Mike Cameron, and Brian Giles. This will be a growing year for the pitching staff, but going no where for the rest of the team.
San Francisco Giants – Lets face it, they will go as far as Barry Bonds goes. This team was built for one reason, and around one player. If Barry is healthy, then they will win some games. If Barry goes in the crapper (my hope) and finds the press, his knees, his elbow, his head, his mistress, his website, whatever too painful to play, then the Giants will stumble, bumble and tumble through the season, and start playing for 2007.
Arizona Diamondbacks – I still cannot believe this team won a World Series just five years ago. They have many up and coming players Chad Tracy, Conor Jackson, Johnny Estrada, and Orlando Hudson. They have solidified their defense up the middle, which should make ace Brandon Webb happy since he is a ground ball pitcher, and solid defense means more outs. They have brought in the ageless El Duque from the world champion White Sox, to bring some maturity and guile to the staff. The rest of the rotation is average to below average. The closer is Jose Valverde, but they are going to have trouble getting to him with a bunch of journeyman and no names in the pen.
Colorado Rockies – I think it was “The Onion” that had a headline that said, the Rockies have left the National League and no one even noticed. That pretty much sums it up
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Wow, is she ugly
Apparently Brigitte Bardot does not believe in Plastic Surgery nor with keeping up her appearacnce. It is unbelievable to think she used to be considered sexy. Just makes you wonder what other "lookers" will be like in 30-40 more years
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