Someone Understands Why David Stern Is Wrong

Normally, the commentators on ESPN and elsewhere seem to have a diverse set of opinions. You can find them on each side of any issue. So it was exasperating to me to find no one (e.g. Tony Kornheiser and Dan LeBatard of Pardon The Interruption) criticizing NBA Commissioner David Stern for letting his referees gamble in casinos. They said it was a good idea for Stern to relax the rules and be less authoritarian.

Then I stumbled upon Fox Sports’ Kevin Hench, who had this to say:

The reason refs — and online poker addicts — shouldn’t gamble is because next to a massive coke habit it is the fastest way to financial ruin. And that’s when things get dicey. A broke ref is a susceptible ref. And a susceptible ref — as we thought Stern just learned — is a time bomb for his league.

Of course, Hench is right. The image of refs gambling, even if it is simply at a casino and not at a sports book, is not one the league should be encouraging. The thought of a referee in financial trouble should send shudders down Stern’s spine. And Stern, who has been a stickler for applying the rules as written (and I applaud him for his past decisions of sticking to the rules while the whole world screams bloody murder), decides this is a rule that can be relaxed. Incomprehensible.

How Digital Photography Was Invented

Steve Sasson, recently inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame, describes how he and his team invented the first digital camera.

I Can’t Read The News Anymore

America tortures, illegally spies on its citizens, illegally and unnecessarily invades Iraq wasting trillions of dollars and resulting in countless deaths and injuries, and refuses to provide health care for its children.

Democrats, elected to end all of these horrors, take impeachment off the table, cave to almost all Republican demands (even though the public seems to support the Democrats positions in polls after polls). Now, those telecom companies that enabled the spying on Americans are on the verge of receiving (or are they buying via contributions?) retroactive immunity for turning over confidential data to the government without a proper legal warrant. And the top Democrat in the Senate is speaking as if he will ignore a “hold” placed upon this bill by another Democrat, while having many times honored “holds” placed by Rethuglicans on other bills in the past.

Naturally, we should not have to contact our elected representatives to tell them what a bad idea this is. They should know, immediately, what a bad idea it is. However, because many of our elected representatives, and at least one high-profile presidential candidate, don’t seem to grasp how the Constitution is being torn apart, we need to prod them to defend the constitution by not granting retroactive immunity. I have called, written snail-mails and sent e-mails. If I knew how to send thoughts via ESP, I would use that method as well.

And I’m thinking about moving to Finland if the telecom companies are granted retroactive immunity.

McCain’s Non-Plan for Health Insurance

John McCain wants to give families a $5,000 tax credit for health insurance. That’s great, but health insurance for a family for an entire year is well over $10,000. Recently, one family found the cost was $14,400 per year, and that presumes that they won’t be disqualified from coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Conservatives just don’t get it. The system is broken and failing, and instead of fundamental reforms that fix the problems, they propose non-plans that treat a small part of the problem. (via)

Christians Support SCHIP

From Catholics United:

“Building a true culture of life requires public policies that promote the welfare of the most vulnerable,” said Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United. “At the heart of the Christian faith is a deep and abiding concern for the need of others. Pro-life Christians who serve in Congress should honor this commitment by supporting health care for poor children.”

Indeed, it is surprising how rarely this comment seems to be made. It is a ongoing and constant feature of most conservative arguments that they do not want the government reaching into their pockets to fund services for others. If those other people need help, they can rely upon themselves. Which brings us to the key point: do you want to live in a society where you are on your own and there is no social safety net, or do you want to live in a society where we all take care of each other, because you never know when misfortune may hit you? I prefer a society where everyone takes care of each other.

I also point out that a friend of mine moved to Italy recently. She is married to an Italian citizen, but she is not a citizen of Italy. She does not have a job there, other than housewife. And yet from the first day she arrived, the government of Italy provided health care for her. If Italians can be so generous and civic minded, why can’t Americans be so generous and civic minded? Why can’t we show the same compassion for people that Italians show?

Update (10/13/07): A radio commercial from a traditional conservative supporter says “I’m the mother of three children, and I’m pro-life. I believe that protecting the lives our children must be our nation’s number one moral priority. That’s why I’m concerned that Congressman X says he’s pro-life but votes against health care for poor children. That’s not pro-life. That’s not pro-family. Tell Congressman X to vote for health care for children. Call him today at XXXX, that’s XXXXX.”

Hannah Montana

The other day, I had the opportunity to watch the incredibly popular television show, Hannah Montana. I hadn’t seen this show before, and the episode that I watched may be my last.

I know you will be shocked, just as you were shocked when I said I didn’t like Ben Stiller, but I didn’t like Hannah Montana. I thought it was poorly written, poorly acted and the singing by Miley Cyrus (who plays Hannah Montana) was only average.

Poorly written? Yes. I felt the dialog was extremely contrived and not the slightest bit funny. It’s hard to be entertained by teenagers who behave unlike other teenagers I know. The attempts at slapstick comedy were lame. Example: someone carrying a caramel apple trips and the apple flies and somersaults through the air, landing on, and sticking in, another characters hair. Are you cracking up yet? No, oh wait, that’s because there’s a second caramel apple from someone else tripping flying through the air and landing on the same character’s hair. Now it’s funny, right? The characters and plot were not believable, and they were not believable in a non-funny way. You see, there are some characters and some contrived plots out there in TV Land which are not believable, but hysterically funny. Think Mr. Kimball on Green Acres, or Steve Urkel on Family Matters. But a lot of the attempts at humor were nothing but contrived one-liners that made my head hurt.

Poorly acted? Yes. Ms. Cyrus seems to excel at delivering snappy one-liners, but her poor body language, lack of facial expression and wooden emotion just left me cold. Her counterparts were not any better.

I am a big fan of the Disney show Lizzie McGuire. The difference? The writers had the characters on Lizzie McGuire act like teenagers. They were happy, they were sad, they got mad at each other, they made each other laugh, and they were completely believable in those roles without snappy one-liners. They behaved as teenagers behave. And the actors, even though they were teenagers, could act. Hannah Montana is a far cry from Lizzie McGuire.

Linx

Some links from around the blogosphere:

The Washington Post talks about the economy doing well in Europe, despite what some conservative pundits might tell you. Paul Krugman also defends Europe. Demosthenes adds: The only advantage for America “principally consists of increased compensation to the already fantastically wealthy and slightly greater pay for those with no time to enjoy it.” (via)

National Guard troops that just spent nearly two years in Iraq are denied education benefits in “A Shameful Way To Support The Troops.” Seems you need to serve 730 days overseas to get those benefits, and these troops only spent 729 days overseas. Could it be that the Pentagon rotated these troops home to avoid having to pay for the education benefits? I sure hope not, but I suspect that is the case.

Locally, Stlo7 at Rochester Turning shows the heights that citizen journalism can rise to. He covers the recent “theft” of state money allocated to school districts by the Monroe (NY) county government. He shows by videos taken at the County Legislature meeting how thuggish and anti-democratic the Republicans have been in how they brought this issue to a vote. But wait, he’s not done, he’s everywhere, covering protests at local Congressmen’s offices, where citizens are trying to get their Republican Congressmen to vote to overturn the veto of the SCHIP Children’s Health bill. Here is a page of many of his contributions to citizen journalism.

Mahablog looks at criticism of what a liberal government would be like, written by a conservative. Many of the supposed horrors that this conservative envisions have already come to pass at the hands of the Bush “administration”. Says Maha: “... much of it — the gutting of the military, runaway national debt, free speech restrictions, rising crime rates, escalating global conflict, a deteriorating economy — is happening now.” (via)

Finally, anyone who has ever been approached to join a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) or Direct Marketing company should read these comments at Water Buffalo Press. What is apparent to me is that these are simply disguised pyramid schemes, where the people who enter early make money off the effort of the people who enter later. (Note: I am not a lawyer, I have no idea what the legal definition of a pyramid scheme is, all I know is that it sure looks like one based upon my knowledge of what a pyramid scheme is.) Locally, a company that I call NEGATIVEfiveLINX fits that description. Of course, that’s not their real name, I put the word Negative in front of their name because I believe that the typical investor’s earnings will be negative, and this is backed up by statistics actually provided by the MLM company.