CSPAN

Well I have officially made my CSPAN debut. No I am not on CPSAN, but I am working for them as a free lance video reporter for the Road to the White House series. I recorded Senator Biden in Carson City, Nevada and they played about 30 minutes of my footage. You can watch here, although I have been having problems with the viewing it from my computer. Hopefully this is just the first of many.

Andrew Sullivan & Same Sex Showers

I must say I am big fan of Andrew, and I do support gay rights. That being said, he is way off base with one of his posts today.

I'm sure that's true. As a gay guy who grew up showering among straight guys in school, there was a moment during puberty when it was a little overwhelming. Your hormones are in full throttle and I was a mobile trouser-tent half the time. But I managed to keep it, er, down in the showers. I was probably looking around much less than straight guys because I was scared of getting a woody. Of course there were some guys who turned me on. But the first thing gay guys learn is to overcome that, not to let that stuff come between being mature, adult or committed to the team or whatever. And most straight guys I know can deal with it very easily. It's the insecure ones who have a problem. And the problem is their insecurity, not anyone's orientation. (My emphasis)

He is completely wrong and totally callous when it comes to showering people with someone of a different sexual orientation.

I ask him, why men and women don’t shower together? Is it because people are scared there will be mass rapes? Certainly a high school or college could easily prevent rape. Forty people of different sexual orientations showering together would not be the ideal time for a rapist to strike. Is it because they are worried about sex? Again, people of the same sex could just as easily have sex in the shower. The reason it does not happen is because people of both sexes would be uncomfortable or as Andrew says some people are insecure. Fine, I will grant him that; I would be totally insecure to take a shower with women or gay men. Does that make me a homophobe or hetrophobe? In a previous post Andrew claimed that he played the lead role in the play Equus, ironically he was too insecure to bare it all. I’ll answer my own question. No I’m not a homophobe or hetrophobe because I am too insecure to shower with people of the opposite sexual orientation, men or women. I’m human. Andrew says it’s my problem, sure it’s my problem but let me hear him state his case for integrated showers. Let’s stop all of this sex discrimination and have both men and women shower together.

Andrew has addressed the issue from an emailer with the same concerns. I think the emailer states it best to say any pleasure derived from someones naked body with out consent is a violation. I agree.

Andrew says it would be wrong to vet school boys to discover sexuality. Perhaps, but what about admitted gay adults. I.E. a gay athlete, or a gay soldier (although this is not allowed as of now).

Insecurity is not homophobia. Keep it real Andrew.

The battle with Islam

Must be waged from inside Islam. Muslims must overtly reject this brand of Islam.

Spread Spectrum

I just finished an interesting article on spread spectrum. I got the article from a university subscription site so I won’t link but the title is “Into the Great Wide Open” by Jesse Sunenblick for the Columbia Journalism Review. Although I was told these issues have not been resolved, the article is a few years old so I am not positive.

The basic crux of the article is scarcity—in relation to radio spectrum—is bullshit. Admittedly, I can barely grasp the concept of delivering audio and video around the world via airwaves, so I won’t spend anytime trying to explain the technology. Here is his explanation:

…When you connect to the internet at Starbucks, when you use your cell phone, or when you use many of the other radio technologies that constitute our current wireless craze, you are using spread spectrum. Spread spectrum works by contradicting the traditional rules of radio communication, in which a signal is sent over a single frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum for which it has no license from the FCC…licenses aren’t necessary for spread spectrum transmissions, but the devices currently aren’t allowed to operate at more than a few watts of power…Spread spectrum offers a far more efficient way of using the radio spectrum…Now the FCC is considering a series of rule changes that would open up more of the spectrum for unlicensed radio…

Needless to say, the television and radio networks are lobbying hard against these rule changes. If the FCC did open up the spectrum, there are endless possibilities. However, that is a very big “if.” It is the exception rather than the rule for commissions to defy powerful lobbies. These lobbies are powerful precisely because they persuade commissions to implement their wishes. The sheer amount of money that could be lost by media conglomerates means that these lobbies will spend a lot more money fighting deregulation than the opposition will advocating it.

At the heart of this article is an idealistic notion that we would use this technology to increase public dialog, increase community activism, increase global education and even advance world peace. These noble ideas perhaps would be a component to this advance in technology. However, it is also likely that this would further segment audiences into smaller sections. Hate groups, exploitive pornographers and even increased governmental intrusion would likely result from this as well. The same things this article claims are possible is the same thing possible with the internet. To an extent some of these concepts have been realized. The internet has definitely torn down borders and made increased dialog and instant communication possible.

The latest trend of the internet blogging and online communities such as “My Space” seem to fall short of the ideal. Rather than increase dialog and understanding, blogs seem to further entrench people in their beliefs. For example, a good deal of blogging centers on politics. However, many bloggers are not attempting to find mutual consensus but rather rallying around ideologies and reading counter points only to attack, not to enter genuine dialog. Reinforcing beliefs and values rather than broadening them. Likewise, sexual predators have used MySpace.com as a hunting ground. Pedophiles use the internet to share pornography and further exploit children. Terrorist groups also create blogs, websites and videos to spread their hateful messages.
This does not mean that the negatives outweigh the positives. The possibilities of deregulation seem limitless and this alone is reason enough for me to support it.

Quote for the Day!

"Fear is stronger than love." Tupac Shakur

The Palestinians

Perhaps Israel should pull out of the West Bank. If the problems in the Gaza Strip are a sign of what we can expect, Israel might be better off pulling out and letting them fight it out.

Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead!

Well demoted at least. The Raiders offense has been non-existent this year and demoting Walsh from his coordinator position while 12 weeks too late is still welcome. I do believe that my dreams of Troy Smith are probably dead too. We will win just enough games to lose out on him.

While the lack of production is not entirely his fault, I am glad that Art can make the tough decisions. I didn't think he had it in em.

A Raider Villanelle

The agony of defeat has ignited my previous dormant artistic side. Here is my ode to the Raiders and the debacle that they are passing off as pro-football. Please win this weekend Raiders, please!



They have hit an all time low
fumbling and bumbling causing me pain.
If they will progress, I do not know.

At the beginning of their record stands an O!
An entire off-season in vain.
They have hit an all time low.

The coach says that this is—oh
shut up! Please you sound so lame.
If they will progress, I do not know.

If there was hard work, it does not show.
There is more than one to blame.
They have hit an all time low

The play caller seems to blow
from a wilderness retreat he came.
If they will progress, I do not know.

Curse words out of my mouth do flow
for my season you did maim.
They have hit an all time low.
If they will progress, I do not know.

Iraq

Wouldn't it be nice if our politicians could deal with this issue without politicizing it. I am directing this at both parties. If Bush and gang did not attempt to use it as a wedge to beat the dems in 04 and the Dems would participate perhaps they could think of some ideas such as this perhaps we could turn Iraq around yet.

I am not holding my breath. As someone who supported and still supports the mission the complete incompetence of our political machine is astounding. A stable, secure Iraq is in the interest of the entire world. Yet the D's and R's act like it is a political weapon.

Enough is Enough

Sex scandals, corruption charges and pork barrel projects seem to be the only thing coming out of congress these days. No wonder the approval rating for congress is lower than at any point in the last twelve years. Ironically, twelve years ago was when the voters threw the Democrats out of the house, which they controlled for years. Notice the trend? Both the Democrats and the Republicans take turns controlling congress before the public gets so mad that we throw them out and hands the reigns off to the other party. Sadly, this begins the completely twisted cycle all over again.

Voting these days is like playing Three-card Monte, no matter which candidate you pick it’s a loser. Don’t believe me though, watch their campaign ads. The candidates gladly inform us their opponents are incompetent and dishonest. Is it any wonder half the country chooses not to vote? The big question is, why does the other half continue to play this no-win game? First off, responsible citizens must exercise their right to vote. This is what makes free societies strong. People that choose not to exercise their right to vote, lose any legitimacy when complaining about government. I believe part of the reason the government behaves the way it does is because they don’t think anyone will hold them accountable. A politically active public is necessary to force change in government.

Enough is enough! It is time to quit voting for the lesser of two evils; there is an alternative. Vote for a third party. I know, you don’t want to waste your vote, right? Therefore, you force yourself to vote for the lesser of two evils. If voting for someone who cannot win is a waste of a vote, then voting for someone you don’t like is a waste of democracy. You waste your vote, when you vote for someone that you know is not the right person for the job. The system will only change if we the people force it to change. If enough people began to vote for third parties, we might be able to create a better democracy. The greatest country on the planet must be able to field better choices than this. By monopolizing elections, the Democrats and Republicans force us to vote for their watered down the list of candidates thereby propping up this broken system.

Third party candidates are not beholden to the interests of a national political party. Both the Democrat and Republican candidates must conform to the national agendas that their parties set. These agendas do not represent local values. We must hold Government accountable. The parties have to realize the people are angry and are not going to take this corruption and incompetence anymore. The government can deal with a politically apathetic electorate but a politically active electorate can spur change. We all complain about political scandals, but we are just as responsible for allowing these parties to dominate politics. So a vote for a third party is a vote for change.

Me? I'm voting Libertarian.

Ouch!

It seems like just yesterday I posting about an impressive 3-0 preseason record for my beloved Oakland Raiders. My how things change; we are now 0-2 and 2-14/3-13 seems inevitable.

There have been so many breakdowns that I would spend all day if I were to try and list them all. Obviously the O-line is the biggest concern. We have a huge line (avg ht/wt 6-5, 315) and the majority of them were drafted in the first three rounds. We have two coaches that are in the hall of fame for their O-line play. I thought for sure our line would be solid.

Going in to the season my biggest fear was the offensive coordinator Tom Walsh. He has not coached in the NFL since he was fired by the Raiders in 94 and it is evident. I hate to dump on a coaching staff after 2 games but OH the games. Hopefully Shell will not let Walsh drag him down this time like he did in 94.

Thank god for Fantasy Football!

Five Years Later

Can it really be five years since 9-11? More attacks seemed certain and the future was dim. I entered college (at 25) and now I am 3 semesters away from graduating with 2 bachelors degrees. One in political science and one in Public Relations. I am seriously contemplating law school (we'll see how I do on my LSAT's) , oh yeah I also received an A.A in liberal arts. Not bad for a high school dropout (tamest part of my past) who never planned on going to college. But this is about 9-11. That day certianly focused me and impcacted me as nothing before had. I will forever be a better person for the horror of that day. I really decided to change my future and do something positive. It is not much but that is my way of giving back to those who had everything taken from them. I will never forget!

No Class

In the most recent episode of Real Sports, Bryant Gumble closed the show by offering this advice to new NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

"Before he cleans out his office," Gumbel said, "have Paul Tagliabue show you where he keeps Gene Upshaw's leash. By making the docile head of the players union his personal pet, your predecessor has kept the peace without giving players the kind of guarantees other pros take for granted. Try to make sure no one competent ever replaces Upshaw on your watch."

Is it too much to ask Gumble to conduct himself with an ounce of class. Don't get me wrong I enjoy controversial rants by the likes of people like Coulter as much as the next guy. However, if Gumble is going to pretend to be a journalist he should at least act like a professional. If however he is wants to be a controversial commentator then he has no business calling NFL games. His recent deal to do play by play for the NFL channel should be instantly revoked.

Besides showing absolutely no-class Gumble demonstrated that he does not understand the sublties of the CBA's. Most of the criticism leveled at Upshaw & the NFLPA is the fact that they agreed to a hard salary cap and that players don't get guaranteed contracts.

Sure MLB and NBA both have guaranteed contracts but to the detriment of the game. Teams are constently saddled with underachieving players that have ridiculous contracts. In NBA & MBL only a handful of teams are competitive each year and both leagues have experienced extended strikes or lock-outs in the recent past. Let's not forget that NFL teams have 53 man rosters and there is no way that teams could have 53 guaranteed contracts. The average career for an NFL player is 3.8 years rookie contracts are six years. If contracts were guaranteed that would ruin the NFL.

True, it was Upshaw that agreed to a hard salary cap in exchange for free-agency. Since this agreement the television contracts for the NFL have skyrocketed. So while a salary cap might seem like a bad deal for players, it is not a bad deal if the revenue is significantly higher. Teams are The NFL is head and shoulders above the NBA & MLB in total revenue. If the NFL adopted the CBA of MLB or the NBA the result would be an uncompetitive league with lower ratings and smaller television contracts. That means a smaller pool of money with which to pay players.

Ther is a reason that the NFL has all of their playoff games aired on network television not cable like NBA & MLB. Also baseball and basketball have far more games than the NFL to generate live gate revenue. With only 8 regular season games, TV contracts are imperitive to the financial success of the NFL.

Raiders 3-0

I know it is only pre-season but any time the Raiders beat the niners I am happy. We looked great in our third game, the O-line was solid, the D was awesome, it seems that Art just might turn this team around yet!

About time!

I think the Democrats are finally on to something. Although it remains contrversial they have inserted Nevada and South Carolina into the primary mix. story. Nevada will hold its caucuses prior to New Hampshire and S.C. will hold it's primary right after N.H.

I realize the traditionalist do not like this but this is a good thing. The primary system as it is now run is broken. I would like to see the primaries broken down by region, North West, East and South. It is silly that candidates can win Iowa and New Hampshire and end up the defacto candidate. I would like to see more radical changes to the primary system but this is a start.

Is it time?

To divide Iraq into three seperate states? It worked for Yugoslavia, I believe it will work for Iraq. Some people say we must respect the territorial continuity of Iraq but I say Iraq was a make believe country when the lines were arbitrarily drawn in the first place. Hopefully this would stop much of the sectarian violence that has become common place over the past year. I also think that this would stop much of Iran's influence. While it is true that both countries have a Shia majority, the Shia in Iraq are Arab and the Shia in Iran are Persian. Lets not underestimate the power of racism. If the Arab Shia were not fighting Arab Sunni's everyday then perhaps they would not need the help of Iran. As for the Kurds, they have had there shit together for along time.

Discover the meaning of life

Accoding to this article mushrooms produce a spiritual effect on users that can be compared to the birth of a child or death of a parent. Now I have never had a child nor have either of my parents died, but I have done, errr, know someone who has done mushrooms. My "friend" claims that he too had a spiritual trip. I guess he attempted to discover the meaning of life. "He" went rock climbing and actually did find the meaning before he lost it while coming down. According to the study 2/3 of the respondents said the experience was the five top meaningful experiences of their lives two months after taking the drug.

This is NOT an endorsement of mushrooms, mind you, just passing on some information.

Plight of the Wiccan

The wife of a Nevadan soldier that died in military service in Afhghanistan is fighting for the government to place a Wiccan emblem on her husbands tombstone at the memorial wall at the Northern Nevada Veterens Memorial Cemetary. full story

The emblem which is an encircled five point star is not on the approved list, which according to different stories is between 35 & 39. Unfortunately I cannot find the list to review accepted symbols. Personally, I think that with 30+ approved symbols there has to be many marginal religions represented. Therefore the state should place the symbol on his marker. To be clear, I do not think that the state should just place any old symbol on any tombstone but I have heard of Wiccan's for at least 15 year, which seems to mean that it cannot be that marginal. But then again I am from California and my view of the world is skewed accordingly.

Good Ridance!

While I am not usually one to pile on a dead person, Ken Lay was a scum bag who just got out of the lengthy prison sentance that he rightfully deserved. All of his assets should be siezed and his wife should be forced to start over from scratch.

Criminals like Lay and Skilling effected much more people than any street thug ever has. White collar crimes like these two pulled off are much more harmful to society than street crime. Thankfully the justice department has started handing out harsh sentances to these criminals. (in the interest of full disclosure, I had to pay outrageous energy costs due to Enron scamming California)

The hottest new blog

I recently stumbled onto the hottest new blog for fantasy football, ok, it is really my new blog for fantasy football and I have only done 1 initial post but I am excited none the less. Check it out here.