Fish Fear Me

Unfortunate Stuff

I've had Michael Yon's website on my blogroll since probably sometime in 2005. He was one of the first independent journalists to embed with US and international troops and bust through the stupid media narratives. I've found his posts from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other spots around the world to be quite interesting and informative, for the most part. I unfortunately have to add that last bit because he occasionally seems to have to drift off into controversy and pissing contests that at times put his credibility to the test. It seems we are back at one of those points now.

I've pretty much stayed out of this stuff in the past and I'm not going to get in the middle of this one either. You can read Michael Yon's side at the link above. You can read the other side from CJ Grisham at his place. And you can read what I think is a very reasonable perspective from Carl Prine over at his place. I'm sure you can also read about a million opinions stretching back who knows long on one side or the other. Like I said, this isn't the first brouhaha Yon's been in.

I bring this up only because I still think there is a lot of value in Yon's dispatches from Afghanistan when he stays in his lane. When he risks life and limb to bring us pictures and stories from real missions he's bringing us a perspective that is sadly lacking from big media organizations today. I strongly recommend reading those posts. I can't say the same about the feuds and controversies.

It is often difficult to "know" what the truth is in these sorts of things. What I can say is that Yon appears to be something of a quick-tempered and quick to judge kind of guy. That's one opinion I've formed over the years. Another is that he is a little too quick to dismiss the wisdom of people who far outrank him and have access to far more information. I was just like that when I was a kid, but nothing rids you of that mindset faster than moving up the chain and finding out the hard way that you didn't really know everything after all. I don't mean to call Yon a kid here, I just think he is sometimes a little quick to dismiss the perspective of people who are a lot more experienced and connected than he is.

The upshot is that when Yon is focused on reporting at the small unit level I think he does some really good stuff. That's why the link is there on the sidebar. The personal drama stuff? I think that's just unfortunate.

Soft

You know, I think this takes some nerve...

“This is a great great country that had gotten a little soft and we didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades,” Mr. Obama said in response to a question about the country’s economic future. “We need to get back on track.”

...considering we've had almost three years of:

 

In just a few short months, you can turn your economy into tender, dead meat too!

*Shock your economy with massive new deficit spending!

*Pummel and demonize its private sector!

*De-energize it with stupid energy policies!

*With Barack's Economy Tenderizer, if it moves, you can tax it. If it keeps moving, you can regulate it. And if it stops moving, you can subsidize it!

Yes, folks, you can do all of that and more with Barack's Economy Tenderizer! 

 

After the shock of the financial crisis of 2008, what was needed most of all was a sense of stability. What we got instead was a frightening display of overreach, not only in the scope of legislation and regulation, but also in the way it was created. President Obama is not responsible for starting all of that, but he did nothing to restrain the excesses of his own party or administration. Only recently has he moved to rein in the EPA, but that seems too little and too late.

As Joe Biden admitted the other day, Barack Obama owns the state of the economy. From day one he has made all the wrong moves in getting it back on track and it shows. The country has not gone soft, Mr. President, it's just waiting for your replacement to come in and simply get the hell out of the way. 

Janeane Garofalo: Racist Of The Day

Janeane Garofalo and Keith Olbermann teamed up last night to do everything but flat-out declare Herman Cain to be the GOP's bought and paid for token black man.

Garofalo:

"Herman Cain is probably well liked by some of the Republicans because it hides the racist elements of the Republican party. Conservative movement and tea party movement, one in the same.

"People like Karl Rove liked to keep the racism very covert. And so Herman Cain provides this great opportunity say you can say 'Look, this is not a racist, anti-immigrant, anti-female, anti-gay movement. Look we have a black man.'"

Go to the link to watch the video, but be careful not to let it turn you into a racist. By the time I got done watching those two I kind of didn't like white people very much.

All Together Now: Thank You, Sirs, May We Have Another?

Great news! We're finally starting to see the benefits of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act:

Bank of America plans to start charging customers a $5 monthly debit card fee.

The fee will be rolled out starting early next year.

A Bank of America Corp. spokeswoman says customers will only be charged the fee if they use their debit cards for purchases in any given month. Customers won't be charged if they only use their cards at an ATM.

You can bet your sweet bippy that the other major banks will follow suit.

Thank you, Congress, protect me some more!

I Can Help

Anyone who was alarmed this morning by The Onion's rather unfunny tweets about gunfire in the US Capitol building should contact me immediately. I have a surefire method of teaching you how to avoid being fooled on the internet.

But first, I would like to present you with a unique and closely held opportunity to invest in a bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn...

 

Yeah, But We Can Handle It

They will get clean, and this time Greece really means it.

Any comparison of the US spending habit to Greece's is ridiculous of course. Unlike Greece, we can quit anytime.

Over The Hump Day

A few things that have been sticking in my craw:

I would take any of the GOP presidential contenders over Barack Obama with the exception of Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman. My issues with Paul are too numerous to list, but Huntsman lost me just with his sneering dismissal of climate change skeptics. That's not to say I think Bachmann, Santorum, or Cain would be ideal, they would just be better than Obama. Gingrich places just above a potted plant and I don't know enough about Gary Johnson yet to say. It doesn't really matter though, because none of the people I've mentioned has a chance. It will be Romney or Perry.

A couple of people booed a gay soldier's question at the last debate and this has set off every political pansy in America. First of all, it was a couple of guys out of an auditorium of 5000 people. Second, they didn't boo him when he stated he was gay, they booed him when he came down on one side of a political issue. When did soldiers become untouchable when they voice a political opinion? The only issue of real substance was how badly Rick Santorum botched the answer. The new policy does not carve out any special place for homosexuality in the military. 

I'm sick to death of the false accusations of racism that are being hurled at Obama's political opponents. Morgan Freeman recently made this astonishingly childish statement:

Their stated policy, publicly stated, is to do whatever it takes to see to it that Obama only serves one term. What’s, what does that, what underlines that? “Screw the country. We’re going to whatever we do to get this black man, we can, we’re going to do whatever we can to get this black man outta here.”

Shocking! One party wants to limit the other to one term in office! It can't be because that party sincerely believes that it is Obama who is screwing the country, it must be racism! And that sort of thing is not just coming from entertainers, it's been coming from black elected officials for more than two years now as well. Presumably they represent their constituents.

If an individual does something racist by all means criticize him for it. But these blanket accusations are corrosive and I think they are doing far more damage than is visible today. If the aim is to try to guilt or intimidate people into silence I don't think it will work, especially in these economic times. Instead, I suspect Freeman and friends are sowing a quiet crop of indifference among people who would much rather help.

And what exactly is being set up for election night 2012? If America votes Barack Obama out of office what will the black community see?  Democracy in action or racism? If it's the latter what will be the natural response? I do not think that President Obama understands just how much he is playing with fire with his class warfare rhetoric combined with his allies screaming racism at every turn. 

Another Careful What you Wish For

Like most NFL fans, I was glad to see the labor dispute resolved this past summer and the 2011 season saved. Three weeks into the season though, I'm starting to think the lockout would have been a blessing in disguise. Between the 0-3 Vikings and my wreck of an FFL team this season is not off to a good start.

Yesterday marked the third game in a row where the Vikings staked a nice lead by halftime and then came out flat in the second half. So flat that their opponents not only erased that lead, they ended up winning the game. I think it was after the fifth time that the Vikings failed to get a first down in the second half yesterday that a brief surge of anger began to rise in me before I was able to suppress it. I decided simple astonishment was probably better for my health. A couple of shots of whiskey didn't hurt either.

The defense and special teams units made a few mistakes and committed some bonehead penalties, but the core problem is the offense is not working in the second half. You can't keep doing three and outs and putting your defense back on the field and expect the other team to not score. Not in the NFL. I don't know what the answer is, but head coach Leslie Frazier better figure it out before his team blows up completely.

Speaking of teams blowing up, my FFL team has lost two in a row after opening with a win. The big problem is a big goose egg in production from the highly touted Arian Foster. I picked him with the #2 overall pick and so far he has been a disaster. I've had decent, though not great, numbers from his supporting cast, but without the star the show is looking pretty bad. I did pick up Derrick Ward as his backup while another owner picked up Ben Tate. It looked like I had won that test of who would fill in for Foster and Ward got me a TD the first week. Then he promptly rolled his ankle and has been out ever since. Oof.

We'll see how this week goes for Foster. If he can get back up to speed I think I can salvage something of this season. If not, I may be out of the running pretty quick this year.

Book Him, Danno, Murder One!

While dinking around the internet I stumbled across a YouTube recording of the #1 track of one of the first albums I pillaged from my older sister circa 1978, "Aloha, Steve and Danno":

 

Radio Birdman, Television, The Suburbs, Roxy Music. I had all the standard rock bands of the time in my collection and those too. My high school friends thought I was okay, but a little weird.

They still do.

Thanks, Sis.

Steve! I wanna say thank you...

Please Don't Hate Me, I Can't Help Myself

Via a link from my cousin Bob's Facebook page:

I know it's wrong, but that just cracks me up.