Update

Hey all.  It’s been very long since I last posted.  About 5 months ago, I got a job working for a non profit.  Unfortunately, due to my affiliation with the organization, I am no longer allowed to write a blog.  Don’t want to have people associated with my craziness.  You know how it us.  Until later, hat tips to all, good night, and good luck.

Filed under: Uncategorized

“see through” government

During Obama’s campaign, he promised transparency throughout his administration, and the federal government.  His goal?  To urge the public to become more involved in the political process, and if the inner workings of government become easier to witness, then there is a chance to change our perceived culture of government.  Additionally, those that are opposed to big government bureaucracy will cite the inefficiencies of these federally run departments.  Well, the more transparent these sectors can become, the easier it may be for the private sector to help fix efficiency problems.  After all, it is our money that goes into government programs, we might as well make sure that what we “own” runs smoothly and doesn’t waste any more of our salary.  Recovery.org is one of the first attempts, take a look.

The administration released their open government plan to the heads of executive departments and agencies, describing how to implement these transparencies…

The three principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration form the cornerstone of an open government.  Transparency promotes accountability by providing the public with information about what the Government is doing. Participation allows members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise so that their government can make policies with the benefit of information that is widely dispersed in society.  Collaboration improves the effectiveness of Government by encouraging partnerships and cooperation within the Federal
Government, across levels of government, and between the Government and private institutions.

Reading through the docoument, you see the steps laid out to actually bring about this change.  Agencies will be required to post more and more of their data and information online in a timely manner.  New quality control managers will be required for agencies to promote better efficiency and production.  A combination of, “policy, legal, procurement, finance, and technology operations to work together to define and develop open government solutions.”  Obama is basically implementing standard business solutions to fix inherent problems in our government.  Viva capitalism?

This seems all good and well, but holding government agencies accountable, and making sure that they follow through on their directives will be the real test.  People have been screaming for more of an open government, and hopefully this is a promising first step.  It can be very difficult to change the culture of such a massive public sector, so it is understandable to be pessimistic about this.  More money will be to be thrown into these transparency programs too, providing checks and enforcing regulation are not free endeavors.  Hopefully our President can fulfill this campaign promise, and as a result, spend taxpayers dollars more efficiently.  At the very least, it will be easier to see where our money goes, and determine if it’s at all worth it.

Filed under: Political Pondering

christmas comes early in indy (pictures!)

Major League Baseball’s winter meetings is one of the most exciting times of the year for baseball fans.  All of the powers that be in baseball, the GM’s, some owners, the agents, the media, scouts, players, bloggers, all convene in one hotel and go nuts.  The rumors are endless, player will get signed, traded, and rule 5 drafted.  Most of the meetings are just one giant tease, but that’s one of the most exciting parts.  Late last night, there was a huge rumor about a 3-way trade with Curtis Granderson and the Yankees.  Fun while it lasted, but it’s pretty much dead right now.  If you’re interested in following the winter meetings, check out MLBTraderrumors.com.  It is the place to be, up to the minute updates on any and every rumor.  I also recommend checking out Craig Calcaterra over at Circling the Bases at NBC.  He’s a former lawyer turned full time baseball blogger. If you’re a fan of baseball and you’ve got a favorite team, then the winter meetings will fullfill your baseball fix this week.  Hopefully I can be at next years if I can find a job working for a team.

*lots of fun things to click on in this post*

Filed under: The On-Deck Circle

Democrats are better at creating jobs

With the modestly optimistic job report that was released last week, it seems that the economy and the job market are on the track back to recovery.  Throughout the Bush administration, jobs created in the private sector were at a miserable low.  During the Clinton administration, they were near an all-time high.  Well, who is better at creating and sustaining jobs in the private sector, Democrats or Republicans?  You would think that Democrats prefer to create public jobs, and Republicans to favor private jobs, ideologically, right?  Here’s the raw data too. (h/t to kos)

Filed under: Political Pondering

What do you want in your president?

The complexity of the Afghanistan situation revealed itself in Obama’s speech on Tuesday.  You could tell that through the months of internal deliberation and analysis, Obama reached a decision that he is not, himself, completely comfortable with.  When you have to fight a war on multiple fronts that are so drastically different, you know that you’re undertaking a battle that could potentially end in failure.  The fronts: defeating the Taliban, building trust with the Afghan people, establishing a legitimate Afghan government, improve the states infrastructure, hunting down al qaeda, re-committing to relations with Pakistan, helping the Pakistani’s keep al qaeda out of their mountainous regions, and to bring the international community back into the fight.  I’m sure I am missing a few important aspects of the fight also, but as you can see, the challenge that we face may be near impossible.

I do not envy Obama at all, but what he is doing, is keeping true to his campaign promises, fighting the war that he feels is the “just,” war, a war that actually effects our national security.  I had a serious problem with his speech however, and this is a problem that chose me to support Hillary Clinton during the campaign.  Obama is a beautiful orator, and his rhetoric has the potential to change minds and energize the world.  But Obama toes the line between intellectual and preacher far too often for me.  Don’t preach to me about the moral imperative that we have as a nation, or the shining beacon of hope that America is.  We have not even come close to realizing a true democracy, we have our own failings, and who is to say that our form of government is the only successful one?   So I ask the question, what do you want in your president?  What personal characteristics are most valuable to you?

For me personally, I don’t want, or need my President to try and inspire me and light a fire from within.  I can understand how millions of Americans want this, and how valuable it can be however.  This is one of the reasons Obama was elected, and his election, hopefully, has inspired countless Americans to set goals that were once seen as only dreams.  But this is not for me, I don’t need my President to speak to me like a minister, this type of rhetoric has a tendency to frighten me.  Whether your message is correct or not, “evangelical speak,” can be manipulative…Its power cannot be understated.

However, I do want my President to be a great public speaker, but I want him to be an intellectual speaker.  I want my President to be so much smarter then me that it’s scary.  I surely would never vote for the candidate that I’d most like to have a beer with.  What does that have to do with anything?  There’s no reason we should dumb down our candidates to a level of ignorant folksiness.  Our President should be allowed and expected to use language that we might not be able to comprehend.  I don’t want my President to be a “real guy,” someone that middle America can relate to and want to bake a pie with, like Sarah Palin.  I don’t care if I like the person or not, I just want them to be able to get the job done.  To be so brilliant that they will see things that the normal person cannot, a President should be exceptional, not a “real American.”

Does Obama fall into this category?  Yes, I think he does.  He is a genius of a man, and as we have seen throughout his first year of office, the international community has already rallied behind his Presidency.  His style may not have been what I need in my leader, but I do think that it is what this nation, and the rest of the world needs. We desperately need a transcending figure like Obama.  Do I think Clinton would have been a successful President?  Of course, but she would not have had the glory, respect and revolutionary nature that Obama brings to the table.  But maybe this would have been a good thing?

It’s still early, but Obama has an image that he created, an image that was so powerful that he must live up to.  I think he has succeeded in maintaining that image thus far, even though many people have labeled him as a failure already.  There is a major problem, or challenge, that comes about when you paint yourself as a “spiritual, cultural, and ideological” figurehead for a movement.  Anything short of a dramatic paradigm shift will be seen as a disappointment, and can cripple your party and your beliefs for multiple election cycles.

Filed under: Political Pondering

Technical difficulties

I’ve been without computer access for the last week or so.  My hard drive was corrupted or something, so I had to get a new one, and it took a bit longer then expected.  Things are still rolling though, and I’ll have some posts up in the next couple of days…stay tuned.

Filed under: Quick Hits

Our President’s Thanksgiving address

Here is the video.  Have a great Thanksgiving everyone.  I appreciate all of the readers and comments.  You’ve made my blogging experience very rewarding…

Filed under: Quick Hits

BCS bowl predictions with colin

Before I even begin, I don’t want to hear it. College football designed a championship system with the sole purpose of placating the sports talk radio and TV world, to give people lots of things to talk about. Furthermore, they drew up a system that purposely leaves out, statistically, the 3^rd or 4^th best conference (Mountain West Conference) because the teams in it have tiny fan bases. This ignores the fact that Utah finished last year beating Alabama in New Orleans and BYU smoked an (admittedly bad) Oklahoma in Fort Worth. The Mountain West can play.  This is why TCU gets so much love right here. Without further ado, here are how I think the bowls should pan out.

* Notable assumptions: Texas beats Nebraska for the Big 12 championship, Alabama beats Florida for the SEC championship, Georgia Tech beats Clemson for the ACC Championship.

1.  BCS National Championship Game: TCU vs Winner of National Semi-Final (SEC Championship Game.)

Rationale: TCU is faster than six cheetahs on Red Bull driving Saleen S7s. I saw Texas play in Laramie, Wyoming, and TCU will run all over them. I’ve seen TCU play a lot, because I get the Mountain West Channel. They make fast teams look like they are playing in slow motion. This is a team that deserves to play for a national title. TCU’s big wins are Virginia, who was unexpectedly disappointing, and Clemson, who will play for the ACC championship. And they have beaten three times more ranked teams than Texas (who beat Oklahoma, who isn’t even ranked anymore.) In any event, TCU will finish the year ranked higher than Boise State and garner the minor-conference at-large bid for finishing in the top 12. I will assume Alabama/Florida’s pedigrees are such that they needn’t be defended.

2.  Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs. Pac-10 Winner (probably Oregon.) The Buckeyes are already in. Oregon is playing well after a big road win in Tucson and will make a formidable Rose Bowl opponent if they can get by the Beavers in one of the best rivalries in college football. This is a traditional Big Ten-Pact 10 matchup.

3.  Fiesta Bowl: Usually Big 12 Winner vs. At Large. This game should be Texas vs. Cincinnati or Pittsburgh. The Fiesta Bowl loves Pittsburgh, and the winner of their game this year will have earned the right to beat a generally unimpressive but still undefeated Texas squad.

4.  Sugar Bowl: Usually SEC Champ vs. At-Large. I would put Florida and Boise State in here. Boise State can’t get BCS conference teams to play them, and they beat Oregon, the probable Pac-10 champ. They can’t do anything more to get in, and they play exciting football. It’s simple, really: If they beat Florida, they permanently establish themselves as a deserving top-five power. If they lose, it’s back to winning the WAC and praying for respect each year.

5.  Orange Bowl: Usually ACC vs. At-Large. The BCS gets ugly here. The feasible remaining teams are Iowa, loser of Pitt/Cincy, Oklahoma State, and surprisingly, 10-2 Utah, if they beat BYU this week. Should Cincinnati lose, they will have one loss but they have a tiny fan base, especially compared to Iowa or OK State. Penn State would be in here, but Iowa beat them at home and they lack wins (yes, any wins) against ranked teams. Thus, I think Iowa will appear in this game. But one should consider the following wild cards:

– T. Boone Pickens is an Oklahoma State alumnus.

– The BCS loves LSU and USC.

– 1/8 people in the United States with any college degree holds one of them on Penn State letterhead.

– Cincinnati will be the only remaining at-large one loss team, even if they lose to Pittsburgh.

 

Clearly, crazy things should happen. If you come away from this with one thing, it should be that TCU deserves to play for the National Championship.

Filed under: The On-Deck Circle

Some videos and pictures that’ll turn your head

Here is the winner of the, “Health Care Reform Video Challenge.”  As a disclaimer, it’s sponsored by the DCC…

Humble Oil is now Exxon by the way.  How much (or how little) things have changed huh?  This is an actual ad from 1960′s, weird…

Here are the health care uninsured rates from 2008, via the census.  It’s amazing how regional the health care crisis is, and how the region that is suffering the most is voting in a bloc against health care reform.

Here’s an interesting article on a study that just came out.  It appears that…

The risk of dying from traumatic injuries is 80% higher for those without insurance.

The massive turnout at Countdowns sponsored free health care clinics.  Take from it what you will, I know he is a bit controversial…

Filed under: Quick Hits

South Park “gets it”

I have just recently rediscovered the satirical brilliance that is South Park.  For the first time, I watched their Emmy award winning episode, Imagination Land, and of course, I’d recommend it to anyone that is mature enough.  It crosses the line a bit more often than their other episodes (little woodland creatures anyone?), but that’s the beauty of the show, Parker and Stone are never afraid to push the limits of humor.  While at times, they rely on crude, toilet rim humor, it is their satire on current events and American society that elevate the show to a different level of brilliance.  This is probably why the show has been on the air for over 10 years!

 

Quickly, Imagination land is about our imagination being invaded by terrorists, the South Park gang going into the land to try and save it, the U.S. government trying to nuke it, and Cartman’s plan to get Kyle to suck his balls…standard stuff.  However, what I want to focus on, and what shows me that South Park really “gets it,” is when Stan asks, why do the people that we invent throughout history, have some of the strongest impact on our society?

 

Now let me just throw a few names out there and let’s see what type of reaction I can stir up; Santa Claus, Harry Potter, Darth Vader, Holden Caulfield, God (?), King Arthur, the Greek Gods, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, Cinderella, Odysseus, Uncle Sam, the Marlboro Man, Uncle Tom, Romeo and Juliet, Jim Crow, Barbie, superman, Rosie the Riveter.  Just think for a bit now, on how much of an impact all of these literary figures, or in other words, made up people, have had on global and American culture…

 

Throughout history, every society creates their own mythical figures that take on a life of their own.  They hold such power that eventually, they are treated like they actually exist, like a part of society, and more importantly, it becomes normal to think this way.  Not only do they seem real, but they become the envy of actual humans, and they establish themselves as models of society.  Look at Barbie, Harry Potter, and the Marlboro Man; they became such influential figures that children and adults alike have modeled their behavior and appearance to resemble these imaginary people.  Now these may seem like harmless figures in the books we read and the advertisements we see, but the power and persuasiveness they wield is the envy of any dictator throughout history.  Boys and Girls will dress up like Harry Potter, dedicate years of life to the films and books, and it will leave such a lasting mark in their minds that it will last for generations to come.

 

Now if you want to look at the most extreme examples, you can turn to religion.  Whether you believe in god or not, that’s fine, but if you look at the monotheistic and polytheistic gods throughout history, you cannot deny how the belief in the existence of an all encompassing being has transformed the world forever.  I don’t think I can do it justice here, and many other have written about the impact of religion on civilizations, but if there is one example of how our imaginations can lead to hope, love, death, destruction, prejudice, and salvation, the god(s) are the prime example.  God can be seen as a staggeringly brilliant, incomprehensible creation of human society, a real tribute to the power of our minds.

 

Now, what is the point of even bringing this up?  Is the power of human imagination a positive or negative genetic trait?  Clearly, this is open to interpretation, and history has shown us the pros and cons surrounding the influence of literary figures.  But what I have been pondering, is that the power of imagination is what makes human beings so remarkable.  We have the ability to use our minds to create entirely different worlds outside of our own.  The power to design a person, whom only survives in our brains, to exist in the real world as if they walk amongst us.  Yes, this can be both a good and bad thing, but more importantly, it is an awe-inspiring aspect of human society, a trait that helps us survive, enlightens us, and progresses us as a society.  Whether it is used on a personal level for your own enjoyment, or on a transformational level in our lives, our imaginations influence is unparalleled, and is a biological trait that has and will continue to change the world.  Part of the American dream, is that if you believe in something hard enough, it will come true.  When you think about it, we have all been taught to be our own Peter Pan’s at heart.  And it is this hope and belief in dreams that makes the imagination a beautifully human experience.

Filed under: Theoretical Thoughts