More First Amendment Neglect

Maybe professional sports franchises don't have to respect the law of the land but they should.This foxsports article tells the story. It seems Albany coach Micheal Ray Richardson ruffled some feathers of the really really sensitive.

Richardson will miss the rest of the CBA's best-of-five championship series
after he told The Albany Times Union that he had "big-time Jew lawyers" working
for him.
"They got a lot of power in this world, you know what I mean? Which
I think is great," Richardson told The Times Union on Tuesday. "I don't think
there's nothing wrong with it. If you look in most professional sports, they're
run by Jewish people. If you look at a lot of most successful corporations and
stuff, more businesses, they're run by Jewish. It's not a knock, but they are
some crafty people."

Ol' BC is missing the anti-semitism here. Actually, it sounds pretty complimentary to me. Would it be a big deal if he had hired big-time Irish lawyers? I doubt it.

Just an observation.

Wake Up Condi

Secretary Rice is on a mission in the middle east. An impossible mission. She should know better.

Secretary of state hopes to get Israelis, Palestinians on the same page

Isn't gonna happen, Condi. Period. Ol' BC figured this out a long long time ago. It goes to the fundamental values of the Palestinians. In the mold of Herr Hitler, they want to kill the Jews and eradicate the state of Israel. Period. This is their ultimate mission. They commit suicide to this end. When is the world going to recognize this "peace" is never going to come to fruition and give up trying to pacify the muderous thugs? Anything the Palestinians agree to, in their own words, is only a temporary pause toward acheiving their ultimate goal - the elimination of the zionist state. That's pretty clear.

The Israelis, on the other hand, will more than likely try to continue to exist. Seems like human nature to me. Seems like Condi may be better off if she would channel her energies elsewhere.

Just an observation.

Gonzalez Comment

While reading an article that invited members to comment, I came across a good one. For context sake, here's where it was.

Here is the comment that I found more than a little interesting.

by DrPaul on 03.18.2007 at 07:50 PM Gonzalez is an incompetent fool who should long ago have been fired. He did not call a grand jury to investigate Sandy Berger's theft of top secret documents at the obvious behest of Bill Clinton. He has not had Rep. Jefferson arrested despite the fact that two conspirators have pleaded guilty to bribing Jefferson, and the presence of 90K in marked bribe money in his freezer. He didn't indict Hillary for lying in front of a grand jury and impanel a grand jury to criminally investigate her possession of almost 1000 stolen FBI files. But Gonzalez did have Libby investigated by a grand jury for lying to a grand jury about a 'crime' that Fitsgerald was not able to establish was in fact a crime. Bush is an idiot and he has the same fatal weekness as his idiot father: namely, they surround themselves with cronies and then don't get rid of them when they misperform. Even worse, both of these morons refuse to fight back at Democrats who constantly try to smear and undermine them. It's always, "I don't want to get into name calling" or some crap like that. If Bush and the Republicans in Congress are going to behave like limp wristed punching bags, then they deserve to lose.

I never really thought too much about it as things went along. When you look at the sum total of the various events referenced by the commenter, you have to at least scratch your head.

Just an observation.

Nutcase Confirmed

From time to time I read columns of nutcases all around. This lends itself to keeping one balanced and away from the extremes. Perhaps that is why I can take issue with both major political parties in a number of areas, but that is another post. This one confirmed one particular nut.

"I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves," Ronald Reagan
said.
I do.

That was the opening line of the column. It clearly confirms Froma Harrop is a nut. She goes on to say

Blame this in part on the cult of homeownership, which the lending industry
relentlessly flogs. There's no disgrace in renting, and home ownership is
generally not the road to riches that real-estate interests make it to be.

"The cult of home ownership?" Could this be the "cult" that enticed immigrants from around the globe for generations? Could this be "the cult of home ownership" that has provided a safety net for families for generations in this country? Could this be the "cult of home ownership" that is the foundation of the American Dream and a better life that millions of immigrants chased for thousands of miles to come to this country? Maybe Froma baby should get "communist" tatooed on her forehead. Before communism failed miserably around the world, only the elite in those countries could own a home.

In case you haven't figured out where she is going, it's all about subprime mortgages which have been getting a ton of attention lately. You see, there are a whole lot of folks out there who can't borrow lunch money from conventional sources either because of unfortunate circumstances or because of poor individual choices. Maybe Froma baby doesn't know that most "prime" banks and mortgage companies are audited regularly by various levels of government to insure that our individual deposits (checking and savings) and investments are being handled in a responsible manner. They frown on underperforming loans, i.e. those that have an abnormal level of delinquency and losses, as well as those whose credit history and loan structure indicate that they will probably fall in to that category. Consequently, a new "subprime" industry developed so the increasing number of credit challenged folks could reestablish themselves in the credit world. She goes on to say,

Those who cannot afford a traditional mortgage probably shouldn't be borrowing
the money.

Maybe she should talk for a while to the guy who got his car and house repossessed because he got sick or his plant closed. Maybe he would like a chance to get back on his feet. How about the guy who made bad credit card choices as a college student, but now has figured it out? He'd like a chance to get a car to go to his first job so he can clean up his credit mess. Yeah, there are some that are never going to pay anyone and they run the cost up for the rest. BUT, there are tons of good people who just can't qualify for a conventional loan...YET.

Just an observation.

Islam and Nazi - Two Peas In A Pod

Oh yeah, I've heard over and again how we would never stand idly by and let Hitler get a foothold like we did prior to WWII if someone started that stuff again. We were awakened by Hitler. That's what I was always taught.

Then here comes today's Hitler. Islam's fascists instead of Nazi fascists. Goals mirror one another.

1. Eradication of the Jews. Islam and Hitler agree clearly on this. Both state it openly.

2. Take over the world. Islam and Hitler agree clearly on this. Both state it openly.

Now here's where the confusion comes in. We would never stand idly by and let Hitler do what he did again. Or so we say. But here we are, criticizing any efforts to repel Islam's agression towards the same ends that Adolf himself pursued. Hmmmmm.

Just an observation.

Grand Idea

Here is a great idea. Algore should fly this airline at any cost. He has to be soooo happy.

Scandinavian airline group SAS AB introduced a voluntary greenhouse charge on
Wednesday for passengers who want to offset the carbon dioxide emissions
generated by their flights.

What a great idea. Everyone can participate if they wish. Doesn't get any better than that.

Just a thought.

Interesting Stuff

While scanning some of my favorite blogs, I found some really good stuff from Ace and Rocker.

There has also been tons written about Ann Coulter and her choice of words. Actually, I'm not sure that the rehab part didn't get most of the press all riled up. They tend to like to talk that stuff up.

Also, Goldberg comments on the GOP. Interesting to say the least and not far off base. Here's the deal for the GOP. It's not that complex. LOWER TAXES, LESS GOVERNMENT, MORE OPPORTUNITY. The last is derived from the first two. This isn't really a Republican stance. Whichever party would truly embrace these tenets would be the darlings of the American people. Maybe not Castro or Chavez, but definitely the American people.

Just a thought.

Blogging Light This Time Of Year

Ol' BC has been busy busy busy. Posting has been quite light as a result. Now, we're coming to the greatest time of the year - March Madness. So, blogging will probably be light for a little while longer as we watch the greatest event in sport - the NCAA basketball tournament. (Unless, of course, there is something that prompts a thought that hasn't been totally worn out across the blogosphere.)

Freedom Of Speech Challenged Again

This story tells about it. It seems that when a high school freshman was being ridiculed for being a Mormon and razzed about her "ten moms" she replied, "That's so gay" and ended up in the principal's office. Guys, it's time to come back to reality.

We do have a first amendment to the constitution. It was enacted as a protection for the masses. Suddenly, it appears alright for schools, etc to disregard that precious amendment if someone says something that can be construed to be what has become known as "insensitive." Frankly, most of the time, the reaction borders on the ridiculous.

After Rice got a warning and a notation in her file, her parents sued, claiming
officials at Santa Rosa's Maria Carillo High violated their daughter's First
Amendment rights when they disciplined her for uttering a phrase "which enjoys
widespread currency in youth culture," according to court documents.

All I can say is I'm proud of the parents of this child.

Just a thought.