April 2, 2006
A Few Good Men
I was channel surfing last night and stumbled onto the last 15 minutes of "A Few Good Men". Tom Cruise's scene with Jack Nicholson brought up some interesting parallels to our present situation. Check out the video.
Posted by Chip Spear at 9:18 PM | Comments (1)
March 30, 2006
Immigration Game Update
We are still early in the first quarter of this game, but the play is hot, fun-filled and furious. Check out the video.
Posted by Chip Spear at 12:20 PM | Comments (1)
March 28, 2006
Player of the Week - 3/27 - Kim Jong Il
Kim Jong Il wins this week's Political Sports Player of the Week Award. President Kim, fearless leader of North Korea said that North Korea now has the ability to launch a preemptive strike against its enemies (AP)
North Korea suggested Tuesday it had the ability to launch a pre-emptive attack on the United States, according to the North's official news agency. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the North had built atomic weapons to counter the U.S. nuclear threat.
"As we declared, our strong revolutionary might put in place all measures to counter possible U.S. pre-emptive strike," the spokesman said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "Pre-emptive strike is not the monopoly of the United States."
You have to hand it to the little man. He might be crazy, but no denying that he has guts.
Posted by Chip Spear at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2006
Fabulous Fumble of the Week - 3/27
This week's winner of our Fabulous Fumble of the Week Award goes to former First Lady Barbara Bush. Despite stiff competition from the Afghan government for "allowing" a man who converted from Islam to Christianity to be put on trial and face execution, and Michael Chertoff, who now, four and one-half years after 9/11, advocates a security program for the chemical industry but only provides minimal safeguards, we feel that Barbara's Katrina relief donation takes the cake. She specified that her donation end up with a software company run by her son that provides educational programming for schools. Barbara really dropped the ball there. Congratulations Barbara for winning this week's award.
Posted by Chip Spear at 6:33 PM | Comments (2)
November 22, 2005
What Now?
I certainly like the "sport" aspect of politics, but I am not too excited to see a team self-destruct, especially since it is in full control of every branch of the Federal government. I don't think it is particularly healthy for the country. From our current vantage point it seems we are headed to 3 years of scandals, criminal investigations, accusations, disasters (Iraq), and failure (Iraq again). Inside of four years the United States went from great respect in the international community to pariah. Our actions belie our ideals. Freedom, human rights, respect for individual thought and the rule of law have been pushed aside in so many ways. The U.S. as a beacon of hope has a serious electrical problem.
So how do we get back on the right track? Let's be realistic. Is it possible with Bush/Cheney? Do we just endure for 3 years until the next administration? What can we do? Better yet, what can you do to fix our great country?
Posted by Chip Spear at 2:11 PM | Comments (3)
November 15, 2005
Fabulous Fumble of the Week, Nov. 14 - Pat Robertson
Last week was special. There were so many fumbles that we actually had a very hard time determining which one was most deserving of our award. Some weeks the play is hard, with few mistakes, but not this past week. Who would it be, Hadley, Robertson, O'Reilly, Santorum, Frist? It was a hard choice. Even the Pres was in the running again. How many times can you run the same play (his Veteran's Day speech) before it becomes ridiculous?
After much reflection, discussion, argument, dice rolling and dart throwing we came to the conclusion that our pal Pat should win this week's award. Pat said,
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they "voted God out of your city" by ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design.
All eight Dover, Pa., school board members up for re-election were defeated Tuesday after trying to introduce "intelligent design" - the belief that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power - as an alternative to the theory of evolution.
"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city," Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club."
I guess this guy has a brain, and many people think he is smart, and has meaningful things to say. They believe him, hold him in high regard, feel that he will provide them with guidance to a better self and more peaceful world. Wow, it is hard to believe. In non-Presidential elections, especially when there is no large state election, voter turnout is low. The four districts in Dover had voter turnout of 40, 40, 35 and 23 percent. So because of those numbers, Mr. Robertson, who has a direct connection to God, unlike the rest of us, contends all the good citizens of Dover may expect disaster. This would include all the folks who didn't and couldn't vote, like children, the sick, folks who couldn't get to the polls, those that forgot, or whatever. It is a good thing he has a Christian heart. This is an award that Pat truly deserves, you win our Fabulous Fumble of the Week.
Posted by Chip Spear at 10:15 AM | Comments (6)
November 1, 2005
Alito
President Bush scored with the right wing Republicans by nominating Sam Alito to replaced Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. Bush made clear his intent to ignore the moderates and the left of the country by selecting someone who most consider a hard right judge. So much for inclusiveness. He obviously feels he can force the country to the right whether it wants to go there or not. Pat Buchanan said today, on Imus, that the Court was the last branch of government where the left is imposing morality on America. Wow, if that is not a case of the pot calling the kettle black, I don't know what is. Try flying a plane with only a right wing. See how far you get.
Posted by Chip Spear at 3:19 PM | Comments (3)
Fabulous Fumble of the Week, Oct. 31 - Trent Lott
We had a hard time choosing a worthy candidate for our Fabulous Fumble of the Week Award. Scooter Libby seemed an obvious choice, but most of his fumbles actually occurred months and years ago. He greatest fumble was probably not learning from the master of deception and evasion, Karl Rove, who never seems to get caught. However, after great debate we decided that Trent Lott is our winner for his comment:
I want the president to look across the country and find the best man, woman, or minority that he can find.
I guess a minority does not qualify as a man or woman. By definition then they aren't even human. I think that Southern Republicans have enough problems with the racist tag, they don't need any additional help from Senator Lott. Congratulations Trent for winning our Fabulous Fumble Award.
Posted by Chip Spear at 2:35 PM | Comments (2)
October 31, 2005
Player of the Week for Oct. 31 - Patrick Fitzgerald
Patrick Fitzgerald is this week's Political Sports Player of the Week. All last week Washington focused on the Special Prosecutor waiting for the shoe to drop. Straightforward, precise and no nonsense, Fitzgerald never strayed out of bounds. He explained his findings and the indictment against Libby without indulging in politics. He didn't deceive or play any additional games. He played straight, which is something many believe is missing in Washington these days.
Posted by Chip Spear at 11:32 AM | Comments (2)
October 18, 2005
The Global War on Terror, Iraq and WMD
Did we forget the Global War on Terror, that everyone was so gung ho about immediately after 9/11? Where is that support now? Do we no longer see the forest through the trees? The Administration has badly managed the war, no question. However, very little of our invasion had to do with WMD, and it had everything to do with the Global War on Terror. Watch the video as I explain why it was a means to pressure the Saudis to crack down on extremists within Saudi Arabia, it was a way to get the Iranians to dismantle their nuclear weapons program and drop their support of other terrorist organizations like Hezzbollah and Hamas. It was also a way to tell Syria and Libya to shape up and a way to signal to the fundamentalists that the U.S. was not going to act passively and wait while they continually attacked us. The reasons are more varied and numerous than those, but that is a start. We are not thinking about the bigger picture here and I think that is a mistake.
Posted by Chip Spear at 3:49 PM | Comments (2)
October 16, 2005
Play(er) of the Week for Oct. 16 - Iraq Referendum & G.W. Bush
Watch the Player of the Week video here.
The big game this week was the referendum on the Iraqi constitution. normally I pick an individual as our Player of the Week, and if I kept to that I would have to pick the President. He has pushed and shoved and done everything possible to get democracy started in Iraq. There is no question that there are problems, many of them. The President has failed and been thrown for more than a few losses. That said, there is no question that the fact that this referendum occurred, with relatively few problems is a major accomplishment. Yes, the constitution is imperfect, and yes, there is no guarantee that the country won't turn into total chaos, but it is a very significant step. Congratulations George, you are Political Sports Player of the Week for Oct. 16th, 2005.
Posted by Chip Spear at 11:57 AM | Comments (3)
Fabulous Fumble of the Week, Oct. 16 - George and The White House
Watch the video here
One would think that after all the problems that the President has had over the past couple of months that he and the White House would be a bit more careful about deceiving the American public. The teleconference, the denial by McClellan that it was scripted, then the proof that it clearly was scripted, was a massive fumble for the President.
Scott McClellan was asked whether the teleconference the president had with troops in Tikrit was scripted. Here's what he said ...
QUESTION: How were they selected, and are their comments to the president pre-screened, any questions or anything...
MCCLELLAN: No.
QUESTION: Not at all?
MCCLELLAN: This is a back-and-forth.
Here's how the pool reporter, from the designated reporter on the scene, described the event.
The soldiers, nine U.S. men and one U.S. woman, plus an Iraqi, had been tipped off in advance about the questions in the highly scripted event. Allison Barber, deputy assistant to the Secretary of Defense for internal communication, could be heard asking one soldier before the start of the event, "Who are we going to give that [question] to?"
You might think that they would just stop it, stop the nonsense and play straight, for a while at least. However maybe this sort of activity is so ingrained in their psyche that they can't act any other way.
Posted by Chip Spear at 11:24 AM | Comments (2)
October 13, 2005
Playing Fantasy Football is Not Playing Football & Playing Fantasy Government is Not Governing
Watch the video of this post, it is VERY interesting, insightful(?), brilliant(?), and possesses a much higher "fun-factor" than all the writing. ;-)
I don't play any of the online fantasy sports. I have enough trouble keeping up with the real ones, plus participating in a few myself. I do realize however that many people do, otherwise it would not be as big a phenomenon as it is. Fantasy sports are a great outlet for fans. They get intimately involved in players, teams, coaches, maybe strategies, depending on their interest level, but there is no question or confusion whether they are playing the real game or not.
This brings me to our government and especially today's article on the front page of the NY Times and some statistics via Talking Points Memo. First the Times article, which you can find here.
"Deplorable. Disappointing. Outrageous. That is how I feel about it," said the Atlanta mayor, Shirley Franklin, a Democrat, in a telephone interview on Wednesday. "The federal response has just been unacceptable. It is like talking to a brick wall."
Even conservative housing experts have criticized the Bush administration's handling of the temporary housing response. "I am baffled," said Ronald D. Utt, a former senior official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Reagan administration aide who is now a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, the conservative research organization. "This is not incompetence. This is willful. That is the only way I can explain it."
...the temporary housing program has been troubled since the start, observers say. Instead of setting up as many as 30,000 trailers and mobile homes every two weeks, as of Tuesday, just 7,308 were occupied. Even counting berths on the four ships that FEMA has leased and rooms on military bases and elsewhere, the agency has provided only 10,940 occupied housing units for victims in the three Gulf states.
And at TPM:
Over at the blog of Reason Magazine, Editor Nick Gillespie has posted a list of how much each two-term president increased spending going back forty years.
Specifically, the list measures increases in discretionary spending over five successive budgets, adjusted for inflation.
Here are the numbers ...
LBJ: 25.2%
Nixon: -16.5%
Reagan: 11.9%
Clinton: -8.2%
Bush: 35.2%
What is one to make of this? Consider the state of the Iraq war, the budget deficits, the Federal response to the hurricanes, the tax cuts for the wealthy, the increase of people living in poverty, the number of folks living without health insurance, the international torture scandals, the legal problems within the Republican leadership, Osama still on the loose, and the runaway spending, exceeding the so-called worst of the Democrats. What can one conclude? Is this incompetence? Or is it truly willful? George Bush and his team campaigned on the promise of competency and better management. That has clearly not occurred. If this is a case of willful action on their part to not only destroy government but to take advantage of everything they can along the way, then it is incredibly heinous.
When we elect leaders we give them a sacred trust to act in good faith, to not lie, cheat, steal or mislead us. We elect them to act according to accepted principles of moral, ethical behavior. Granted Clinton had some serious personal issues and was not the most honest on that score, but this administration has betrayed our trust in ways that Clinton never came close to approaching. It is as if they believe they are really playing a game, like a board game of Fantasy Government. They must believe that what they do has no impact on the lives of real people. They are so very, very wrong. This is no game, it is all too real. Far too many of us are going to suffer by their actions.
Posted by Chip Spear at 12:20 PM | Comments (3)
October 7, 2005
The Sharks Smell Blood
Right Wing Republicans reacted to President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court much as a group of sharks might respond to fresh blood in the water. Uncharacteristically critical of their fearless leader, they are openly questioning his choice. Their reasoning is probably based on self interest, they sense the President is weak and will not provide them with the support they need to hold the House and Senate next year. In addition they feel that he is reneging on a promise he made to nominate a hard, right wing conservative. Given that Harriet Mier's views are largely unknown at this point, they fear the worst. You can watch my video analysis here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 10:29 AM | Comments (1)
October 3, 2005
Political Sports Player of the Week
John Roberts is this week's Political Sports Player of the Week. It is not every day that someone becomes a Chief Justice of SCOTUS. With so few, 17, in our history, it is a "supreme" accomplishment. Thousands dream from the time they think of the law and law school, but so very few make it. Our congratulations to him. Watch the video here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 1:35 PM | Comments (2)
September 26, 2005
Player of the Week - North Korea's Kim Jong Il
One day after the big U.S. announcement of an agreement, Kim Jong Il and the North Koreans threw the administration for a big loss, insisting that the "appropriate time" for discussion regarding the light water nuclear reactor was now and not some day in the far distant future after they had dismantled their nuclear weapons facilities. Watch the video here and learn why our President just missed winning.
Posted by Chip Spear at 11:51 AM | Comments (2)
Leadership
In light of the controversy regarding Bush's "crony" appointments I feel it is important to question what defines good leadership. Think back to organizations in which you participated, i.e. athletic teams, social organizations, business, religious groups, any group of individuals trying to accomplish a goal. Who were the good leaders and what personality charactistics drove their actions and commanded respect. Watch the video here where I question the age old leadership issue.
Posted by Chip Spear at 9:30 AM | Comments (1)
September 25, 2005
Who's On First
The military told President Bush today that there needs to be a Post-Disaster Plan to deal with search and rescue efforts following a national emergency. That is a joke, right? What is FEMA? What is the Department of Homeland Security? Bush said that he was interested in the proposal. The fact that this would even get into the news and that Bush said he was interested in any way is more than a little disturbing. What have we been doing the past couple of years? Not planning? Not coordinating? Not training? Watch my video here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 1:38 PM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2005
A Little Grandstanding with Hurricane Rita
The cynic in me sees many politicians, officials, and media using this hurricane to do some grandstanding, much like all those football players dancing and/or pounding their chests after a tackle or touchdown. Watch the video and let me know your thoughts.
Posted by Chip Spear at 5:16 PM | Comments (2)
September 20, 2005
Player of the Week for Sept. 19th
We name Karl Rove as this week's Political Sports Player of the Week for his surprise appointment to lead the Gulf Coast reconstruction effort. A political strategist with no or little administrative experience, Karl was named by President Bush to lead one of, if not the, largest reconstruction efforts in U.S. history. Known as an extremely partisan political operative, Karl scored big with the appointment and is sure to help his friends to huge gains in both the political and economic arenas. Congratulations Karl! Watch the latest video here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 9:33 AM | Comments (2)
September 19, 2005
Hats! Political Hats?
Check out the hats! Watch it here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 1:39 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2005
North Korea Wants to Play Poker Well Into the Night
North Korea is in no hurry to give up its nuclear weapons. Perhaps I should say that Kim Jong Il is in no hurry to give up his weapons. Watch the video here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 7:46 PM | Comments (0)
Why Political Sports
Find out about Political Sports. Watch my video where I explain some of my goals. Get a clearer idea of what Political Sports is all about.
Posted by Chip Spear at 11:22 AM | Comments (1)
September 13, 2005
Halliburton, Our Team of the Month
Halliburton is our Team of the Month, for successfully exploiting their political connections to score big not only in Iraq and but the Gulf Coast. The Oil and Gas industry scored a close second and would have won if not for the call for investigations of price gouging by members of Congress. Watch the video here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 3:33 PM | Comments (2)
Joe Allbaugh, Our Player of the Week
Joe Allbaugh is our Player of the Week. The former predecessor to Michael Brown as head of FEMA, Allbaugh has been a busy boy securing contracts in Iraq and the disaster torn Gulf Coast for all his friends. Watch the video here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 3:29 PM | Comments (0)
September 9, 2005
Republicans Announce Bipartisan Congressional Committee to Investigate Disaster Problems
Rep. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House, and Sen. Bill Frist, Majority Leader of the Senate, announced a bipartisan Congressional Committee to investigate all issues related to the Federal response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. The only problem is that Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader knew nothing about it. Watch the VIDEO commentary from Political Sports here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 4:41 PM | Comments (0)
September 8, 2005
FEMA Fumbles Two More Times (Watch the Video)
Wow, somebody ought to tell these guys to get their act together. Two firefighters who were heading to New Orleans to help with the relief effort, were being trained in Atlanta at the FEMA training center to hand out flyers. They went home.
People in need of relief aid were directed by Michael Brown, head of FEMA and Chertoff, Director of Homeland Security to register by phone (of those needing relief how many have phones?) or via the Internet (and how many have a computer?) Watch my VIDEO here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 1:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 7, 2005
The Political Blame Game Really Gets Started
You can watch the latest VIDEO analysis from Political Sports here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 3:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 2, 2005
Nuclear Talks Resume With North Korea
Watch the newest (actually the first) Political Sports video on the resumption of Nuclear Weapons talks with North Korea
Posted by Chip Spear at 1:25 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack