THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS

What is it with John Kerry and taser incidents? For the second time in two days, there was a discussion involving tasers, with John Kerry being too oblivious to notice.

I will spend little time discussing the famous taser incident, since Criminy Jicket summed it up perfectly. For more in depth coverage, Michelle Malkin is on top of it.

http://criminyjicket.wordpress.com/2007/09/19/taserit-does-a-body-good/

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/09/17/student-tasered-at-john-kerry-forum/

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/09/19/document-drop-the-andrew-meyer-taser-stunt-police-report/#comments

The gist of the incident is that a maggot infested Moveon.org type creature started screaming at John Kerry for having the nerve to allow President Bush to continue governing even though Mr. Bush won the election.

This screaming bag of filth acted in a manner similar to other Americans who have been institutionalized for similar fits of rage. The police subdued him, he played “truth or dare,” with them, and they accepted his dare to be tasered.

I am no supporter of Smarty Jones (Kerry), but as a conservative tired of seeing conservative speakers shouted down, I must support Kerry’s right to bore people to death unimpeded. What if this fellow had a gun? Had Senator Kerry (God forbid) been shot, the police would have been criticized for reacting too slowly. If the police officers were republicans, the Jayson Blair Times would have run a front page story about a deliberate plot to let him die. Instead, the police did their jobs, and subdued a lunatic. The rager against the machine was disturbing the peace, and could have instigated a riot.

The only thing Kerry seems guilty of is ignoring the entire episode around him. Fine, so John Kerry is a liberal gasbag who is self absorbed. In this case he was right to ignore the fellow in the same way that television cameras now refuse to show sports fans who run onto the field naked. Kerry may have come across as shallow, which he is, but at least Kerry inadvertently ignored a publicity hound worthy of ignoring. I would have either deliberately ignored him or organized cheerleaders to taser him again. Heck, I could have done my best George W. Bush impersonation (college version) and branded the guy on his hide myself.

However, there was a second incident that Kerry and the mainstream media ignored that was far more serious. Past and present members of the National Football League were testifying before congress, and the issues could have been brought by any Americans.

I know, a good part of my life revolves around the NFL, but this was not about wins and losses. It was about human beings trying to survive.

The NFL is being sued by former players who claim that the NFL pension system does not take care of former players. Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association Rep Gene Upshaw were testifying about the pension system, but the real heartbreaking testimony was by former players.

The NFL is now a multi billion dollar industry, but this was not always the case. In the 1960s, heroes such as Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry had to sell insurance in the offseason to survive.

Football is a violent, brutal game, and while the players play voluntarily, they deserve the same right to a decent pension as a coal miner, a schoolteacher or anybody else since that pension is promised.

Garrett Webster is the son of former Pro Bowl Center Mike Webster. Mike Webster played for the Pittsburgh Steelers dynasty in the 1970s. He retired from the game, but was not able to live a normal life due to severe injuries. He could not walk or move. This brings us to the taser. Garrett Webster would have to taser his father just to be able to help him move, so that his father could get up and use the restroom. Sometimes he could not make the trip, and would live like an animal, the trip to the restroom being too painful on his once proud Superbowl and Pro Bowl body.

Again, It took a taser to help this man move. So how does this relate to John Kerry? While North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan was asking tough but fair questions at the senate hearing, John Kerry was sitting in the hearing talking on his cell phone. His cell phone? Are you kidding me? No, I am not. He then got up and walked out of the hearing in the middle of the most crucial part of the testimony.

Yes, this condescending, self absorbed man whose only talent seems to be marrying wealthy women really cares about the working man. He cares so much that he leaves senate hearings in the middle of a man talking about his dying father’s pain and inability to be given his pension. Again, do not confuse all football players with millionaires. The NFL did not explode from a salary standpoint until the 1990s. Many players from the 1930s through the 1970s are starving, often selling their possessions to survive.

How can a senator who claims to care about unions and working men ignore men like Garrett Webster? John Kerry apparently was too busy to hear Hall of Famer Mike Ditka stating, “Don’t make grown men beg. We have dignity.”

I want to make it clear that I am not taking sides in this pension dispute. I do not have all the facts. All I know is that many Americans, especially those on the left, complain that the rich get richer while good people go hungry and homeless. Rock star Bret Michaels of Poison in his song “Something to Believe In,” sings, “It just makes me wonder, why so many lose and so few win…give me something to believe in.” Where are the hordes of people protesting that some football players make millions while the players who built the modern NFL have to beg for their pensions?

Again, I personally am not taking sides, but why are unions so unwilling to represent those that are not in sympathetic lines of work? Why are men like John Kerry so willing to speak about how important helping those in need is, yet so unwilling to follow through in terms of at least listening to these very people?

The answer is simple. It is never about doing right with these limousine and lear jet (thank you Sean Hannity) liberals. It is about preening for the cameras. It is about making speeches. It is about Hollywood actors sleeping outside to feel like a homeless person rather than inviting one into their mansion. It is about presidential candidates talking about poverty while building 30,000 square foot homes, while owning businesses that evict poorer neighbors from their homes. It is about Hillary Clinton decrying the politics of personal destruction while refusing to condemn human filth like Moveon.org that traffics in smearing honorable soldiers.

I can understand why John Kerry would turn a blind eye to some young savage baboon ranting and raving to get 15 minutes of fame. I cannot understand how John Kerry can show complete indifference to congressional testimony that affects human lives. The next time he compliments the Green Bay Packers at “Lambert (it’s actually Lambeau) Field,” it will not seem so funny.

I hope that Good men like Roger Goodell and Gene Upshaw can figure out a way to preserve the integrity of their pension system. They have every right to be concerned about abuse of the system by fraudulent claims. Players who took illegal drugs, or suffered injuries unrelated to football, are not entitled to aspects of the pension (unless the drug use or reckless behavior was sanctioned by the teams, as opposed to off field unrelated behavior). However, the NFL does not consist of millions of people. It is a few thousand at most. Separating the legitimate cases that require financial assistance from the fraudulent cases is a serious matter.

Making sure that elderly crippled men that cannot walk, feed, clothe or bathe themselves receive honorable treatment from their employer that they fought, bled, and scored touchdowns for is a serious matter.

Making sure that a man does not have to be tasered to be able to tell that he is still alive is a serious matter.

It is so serious that the (dis) honorable senator from Massachusetts might wish to stop talking about caring and start actually caring by sitting down, being quiet for once in his windsurfing and windbagging life, and just listening.

eric

For those who do not know, I have always preached that socialism is a colossal failure, and that capitalism is a spectacular glorious success. Capitalism creates and spreads wealth, and socialism creates and spreads misery.

The pilgrims experimented with socialism in the 1600s. It failed. They then tried capitalism, and lo and behold, it worked. This has been the case with both philosophies in the ensuing 400 years.

Yet I am forced to admit by the overwhelming evidence in front of me that there is one aspect of society where socialism has succeeded. The National Football League is a socialist model, and it works.

Former Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens Owner Art Modell once remarked that the NFL Owners were “32 republicans who vote socialist.” He also ruefully remarked that, “The President can bomb a nation with a simple bare majority, but NFL Owners need a 3/4 majority to go to the john.”

One does not need to understand anything about football itself to understand the NFL business model.

First of all, the league has a unique revenue sharing arrangement. Revenues from the ticket sales to the games are split equally between all 32 teams. Additionally, the NFL makes most of its money not from people attending the games, but from television. The NFL has a multibillion dollar television contract, and that is also split equally between all 32 teams.

The ramifications of this revenue sharing is that small market franchises such as the Green Bay Packers can compete with large market franchises such as the New York Giants.

There are some chinks developing in this model, but they are being dealt with. Revenue from luxury boxes is not shared equally, but in due time every franchise will have luxury boxes, nullifying that advantage. Also, some franchises, such as the New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys, have owners who own not only their teams, but the stadiums those teams play in. This is critical with regards to advertising revenue. If the NFL has an official contract making Coca Cola the official league beverage, no team can promote Pepsi. However, while Jerry Jones as the owner of the Dallas Cowboys cannot promote Pepsi, Jerry Jones as the owner of Texas Stadium can.

However, even if some owners make more than others, the NFL has one other element of socialism that works…a hard salary cap. Each team is allowed to spend the exact same amount on players. There is a minimum that must be spent, since some owners would prefer to field losing teams in order to line their pockets. The minimum forces them to try and compete. The maximum forces teams to make hard choices. Individual players can still earn astronomical salaries, but at the expense of their teammates. The term “capanomics” refers to teams that try to temporarily circumvent the cap using creative accounting methods, but when that credit card bill comes due, teams have a fire sale known as “salary cap hell.”

Major League Baseball is raw capitalism. Several years ago, the New York Yankees had a player payroll of 200 million dollars. The Montreal Expos had a player payroll of 9 million dollars. You read that correctly. Why should someone play for one million for the Expos when the Yankees would pay 20 million? The result is that the Yankees are perennial contenders for a championship, and the Expos now cease to exist.

The main issue then becomes why this is all relevant. How can one endorse capitalism in business yet endorse socialism in professional sports? Isn’t this hypocritical?

No it is not. The ultimate goal is successful ventures. One cannot have liberty and equality. They are in direct conflict. In American society, especially in business, liberty is the key. The profit motive is a powerful incentive. People do not want to work harder unless they believe they will be rewarded more for that hard work. If I can get the same pay as my neighbor for doing less work, perhaps personal pride or ego would allow me to work hard. However, if I choose the lazy route, my neighbor has no recourse.

In professional sports, equality is the key to success. Some mistake the NFL for being obsessed with parity, aka mediocrity. However, the correct phrase is not parity. It is competitive balance. Parity would mean having each team finish around 8-8. This is the type of socialism that destroys most societies. Competitive balance is what brings the phrase “any given Sunday” into the American lexicon. An 0-6 team can go on the road and defeat a 6-0 team. Every week in the NFL something like this happens. The 1998 Rams went 4-12. The 1999 Rams won the Superbowl. The irregular becomes the regular in the NFL. Mismatches on paper become shocking upsets, as ESPN uberannouncer Chris Berman reminds us that, “That’s why they play the games.”

So why can’t the rest of the world take socialism and make it work the way the NFL has?

The answer is that the world does not have an undisputed governing body to enforce regulations and punish cheaters. It is why the Kyoto treaty went down in flames. It is why the European Union, filled with socialist nations, is failing. The stronger nations do not want to be dragged down by the weaker nations. One can argue that the stronger nations could lift up the weaker nations, but if even socialist countries do not believe this will work, what does that say about socialism itself?

The NFL has two powerful elements. The first is labor peace. The unions and management work together on many issues. There has not been a work stoppage in two decades. Gene Upshaw, the head of the NFL Players Association, often testifies side by side with the NFL Commissioner on league matters. They socialize together. Brinksmanship is rare, and getting a deal done to ensure labor peace is paramount. It helps that the revenue sharing agreement forces owners to be united. Contrast this with baseball where the owners have incentives to cheat each other, so they do. Negotiations between the players and owners makes Fallujah look like a walk in the park.

The second element of the NFL is a strong commissioner. For the last four decades, from Pete Rozell to Paul Tagliabue to Roger Goodell, the NFL has had a commissioner whose word was and is law. Any player or owner that breaks the rules is punished, often severely. Michael Vick was one of the greatest players in the league. He broke the rules, and was suspended from the game. Bill Bellichick is one of the greatest coaches in the league. He broke the rules, and was fined and docked draft picks. Nobody is above the game of football itself. Some would consider the commissioner authoritarian, but the leader of the NFL can be fired. Also, the leader of the NFL cannot use the military to crush dissention.

The main reason socialism fails is because for it to succeed, everybody in the collective must buy into it. Money and other perks are given up in the present for a brighter day in the future. Since past experiences prove this brighter future to be a fraud, skepticism sets in as people begin to see the benefit of cheating. It has failed in the past, so people believe it will fail in the future, therefore it is sabotaged in the present. To try and ask people to ignore history and have blind faith in a system that has never succeeded is to ask people to go against human nature.

However, the NFL has a history of financial success. Owners may grumble from time to time about sharing revenues, but deep down they all believe in the system. There is simply so much wealth that the idea of jeopardizing that golden goose is heresy to owners that even briefly consider it.

The only criteria in judging a system should be results. Intentions are worthless. Results, in the form of metrics, are what matter.

The world should embrace capitalism because it works. It is often described as the worst system except for every other one. It is why France, Germany, China and virtually every other nation previously mired in economic stagnation, bureaucracy and mediocrity wants to try some form of American style capitalism.

Capitalism should be the order of the day in business because it has succeeded where socialism has failed, which is virtually everywhere. Where liberty is paramount, which is again virtually everywhere, socialism should be reduced to the ash heap of history.

May the National Football League be the one place on Earth where socialism is allowed to reign supreme, because it is the one place where equality is the desired result, rendering the universally disgraced philosophy a complete success.

eric

As the Jewish world celebrates the second and last day of Rosh Hashanah, I wish and pray for peace…and for truth. Without these, there is nothing left that matters.

While I might be the only person on Earth to relate 1980s singer El Debarge to Rosh Hashanah, his lyrics to the song, “The Rhythm of the night,” echo the holiday’s intent perfectly. Debarge tells us to, “Forget about the worries on your mind…you can leave them all behind.”

I did take two days off from work, but I have been unable to pull away from everything. I can’t do it. I would say I tried, but not that hard. There is simply too much going on in the world, and I want to soak up information as quickly as possible. When reviewing various occurrences, I pray that peace and truth emerge triumphant.

On the political front, General Petraeus spoke to the nation, followed by President Bush in a prime time address. I am concerned about the vitriol directed at these men.

First of all I want to say that while I detest liberalism as a philosophy, I do not detest the liberals themselves. I believe that their beliefs are poison, and that liberalism destroys societies. However, I simply refuse to hate another human being simply because they have different beliefs than me. I hate Hitler. Everyone else is nowhere close. When President Bush is compared to Hitler, it enrages me. For those who refer to Hillary as Shrillary Or Chillary, that is one thing. For those who call her Hitlery, please just stop it.

No, I do not hate Hillary. I disagree with her. I want her to live a happy life with Bill and Chelsea nowhere near the White House. I refuse to dehumanize her.

Yet many on the left simply cannot give President Bush that same common decency. Some will claim that they hate him because of the Iraq War, but this is often dishonest. They hate him because of the 2000 election. This hatred causes them to oppose anything, everything, and anyone connected to him. General David Petraeus was referred to as General Betray Us. This is disgusting. How can a man universally praised for integrity be called a liar simply for being connected to a President that his critics dislike?

I asked this because I voted for President Bush. Does that make me a hatemonger and a liar? I look in the mirror and see a man who loves children, animals, and the elderly. I have given up vacations to other exotic world locations because I use vacation days to spend time with my 99 year old grandmother in Brooklyn. One day she will not be around, and then I will visit the rest of the world. My grandmother is an FDR democrat, and she seems to think I am a good person.

Disagreements are healthy, but hatred is not. Some of the best people I have ever met in this world have been Muslims. They don’t hate Jews. They hate terrorists, whatever stripe they wear.

There is conflict in this world, but the good gets ignored. I ran into some Chinese people yesterday. They instantly recognized me as a Jewish person. They wished me a Happy New Year. I was thrilled by these well wishes. I ended the converstion by saying, “xie-xie,” which is Chinese for “thank you.” They were surprised and pleased that I said something to them in Chinese.

So many people in this world think that nobody understands them or cares about them. The tiniest gesture can make peoples’ days. We can overcome cultural gaps, yet political differences often seem unbridgeable.

I worry about this because there can never be peace without truth. If we do not trust those we deal with, we cannot deal with them.

The left needs to stop despising the President not just for his sake but for theirs as well. At some point, be it 2008, 2012, or 2016, the democrats will win the White House. How can they expect their president to be treated with civility? The argument will then become “who started it?” It does not matter. We can declare the political well poisoned for eternity, or the democrats, as the party out of power, can simply stop the viciousness on their side. Then the republicans will have to do the same. If we give our word to do so, we have to honor that word.

I think about the issues of peace and truth in sports as well. When the Raiders play the Broncos, I get passionate. When the Broncos quarterback goes back to pass, I yell, “Get him! Nail him! Kill him!” I then want to see him belted down hard. I then after that want to see him get up safely. We take for granted that this will happen. Tell that to Buffalo Bills player Kevin Everett. On a routine play, he went down and did not get up. For 24 hours in the hospital, there was a chance this young man would die. By what might be a minor miracle, this young man might walk again. He might be a quadriplegic. His career is finished, but at least he is alive.

The Jets and Patriots are embroiled in a dispute over a cheating scandal. The blood is so bad that the coaches can barely shake each other’s hands after a game. No, football is not Fallujah, but have we gotten to the point where men cannot legitimately congratulate their opponents for a job well done? The players kneel in prayer after the games together. Maybe they know that they are one play away from a possible career ending injury, and that their opponent today could be their teammate tomorrow.

This is one example where the politicians could learn from the athletes. Sparring is acceptable, but it must stop when it gets beyond policy.

I disagree with virtually everything Barbara Boxer stands for, but if I saw her in the street, I would say, “Senator…Happy Rosh Hashanah.”

The hebrew word Shalom means, “hello.” It also means, “goodbye.” Yet, its third meaning is “peace.” The concept of peace is so vital. Yet people who claim to be peaceniks are often the most hostile and virulent towards those that do not support their vision of how peace can be carried out. It is one thing to get in a circle and sing “Kumbaya,” or “If I had a hammer.” It is another to hurl rocks or even epithets at people who support President Bush and the War in Iraq. Doesn’t supporting peace extend to being peaceful towards conservative republicans?

Many people oppose the President and the War. I respect them, and see them as patriots who disagree with me. Where I draw the line is those that call war supporters liars and murderers. The rebuttal to the President’s speech contained a line claiming that the President did not lay out any rationale for his point of view. Of course he did. It is one thing to disagree with the rationale, but to claim it does not exist is to say that I have been supporting something for irrational reasons. It invalidates me as someone capable of having intellect, reason and logic.

The goal is to make the world a better place. Whether we are soldiers, politicians, or private citizens sparring on my blog, we must remember that since the ends are the same, we cannot impugn those that have different means to get to those ends, without hard evidence that those means truly fall under the category of “evil.”

If Jews and Muslims can develop common bonds while celebrating Yom Kippur and Ramadan, and if Raiders and Broncos can watch football together, then liberals and conservatives can knock off the hatred and simply have spirited but respectful disagreements that lead to bonds of trust, which is the first step towards peace.

Shalom…and shalom.

eric