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Sun. Jan 03, 2010

Breaking A Four Decade Hex

The hex is over. No, not the “Hex of the ‘Naughts,” the decade of 2000-2009 that so recently ended. This is a much longer hex. Four years ago, I wrote about what was at that time The Thirty Nine Year Hex

Today, this hex turned the Atlanta Falcons into a sad puddle of loser. Again.

I need to make sure you understand the nature of this. This is not just some fan peeved because his team lost … again. This is a factual anomaly. It’s one thing to say “the Falcons have never ever been able to put two winning seasons together back to back in their thirty nine year history.” It’s another to note that in all of professional sports history in North America … baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, anything … among hundreds of teams, no team comes close to matching this feat. If I recall, the closest was a 32 year run by some minor league hockey team.

Four decades is supernatural. A hex.

The hex has had a 43 year run, one that confounded the team owner, Arthur Blank, so much that at first he didn’t believe it: “I mean, to never have back to back winning seasons — they told me that in the middle of the transaction when I was buying the team and I didn’t believe them. I said, ‘That can’t be accurate,’ and then I looked it up.”

Over the next few years, he discovered not only was it accurate, it was painful:

The owner has compared it at various times to: 1., a Hester Prynne-like mark of shame, or 2., tooth decay. The former quarterback considers it “embarrassing,” a stain on entire generations of players.

There is nothing quite like this situation elsewhere in professional sport. No one else has played nearly so long without happening upon back-to-back winning seasons. In baseball, the Kansas City Royals are the furthest removed from consecutive winning seasons, last recording the accomplishment in 1988 and 1989.

In 2008 the Falcons had an improbably successful year under a rookie GM, rookie head coach, and rookie starting quarterback. That unique combination created an 11-5 record, a (short) trip to the playoffs, and some seriously inflated expectations for the 2009 season.

Those expectations were not met. For various reasons the Falcons hopes for the playoffs ended three weeks ago, when they had a 6-7 record, and three games left. But rather than slack away the rest of the season, the Falcons won all three final games. Including a 20-10 victory over Tampa Bay on Sunday that secured the deal.

11-5 last year, 9-7 this year. The hex is finally over.

Let’s go for three in a row. C’mon, how hard can it be?

Sun. Nov 29, 2009

The Original Dither

Whenever Dick Cheney speaks about how he believes the Obama administration has put America at greater risk of terrorist attack, or whenever a right winger accuses Obama of dithering on Afghanistan, this reality needs to be thrown back in their face:

Osama Bin Laden was within military reach when the Bush administration allowed him to disappear into the mountains of Afghanistan rather than pursue him with a massive military force, a new Senate report says.

The report asserts that the failure to get the terrorist leader when he was at his most vulnerable in December 2001 — three months after the 9/11 attacks — led to today’s reinvigorated insurgency in Afghanistan.

The report calls then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Tommy Franks, the top military commander at the time, to the carpet and asserts the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault on Bin Laden with several thousand troops.

Instead, fewer than 100 commandoes, working with Afghan militias, tried to capitalize on air strikes and track down the ragged band of terrorists.

At the time, Rumsfeld expressed concern over the backlash that could be created by a large U.S. troop presence…

Senate report: Bush adminstration could’ve captured terrorist Osama Bin Laden in December 2001

It was The Original Dither. It’s been vastly detailed in books written by folks who were on the scene; “First In” by Gary Schroen, “Jawbreaker” by Gary Berntsen, “Al Qaeda’s Great Escape” by Philip Smucker, and “Kill Bin Laden” by Dalton Fury. And if books written by two CIA team leaders, a Special Forces officer, and a reporter who were all on the scene are not enough for you, read the 2007 history of the Tora Bora episode by the military’s own Special Operations Command.

And while Rumsfeld allegedly worried about backlash from a larger US troop presence in 2001, troop levels in Afghanistan during the Bush administration show a history of non-stop dithering: 2003 – 10,000; 2004 – 17,000; 2005 – 20,000; 2007 – 26,000; 2008 – 31,000.

I suppose you could argue they didn’t dither, they decided early on that we would never commit the number of troops needed to do the job, and stuck with it for eight years. Those troops would go to Iraq instead.

But now there are about 100,000 NATO forces there (including 68,000 US troops), with another 35-40,000 about to be ordered to join them over the next year. That will approach the troop levels we deployed to Iraq. And none of it should have been necessary.

Knowledgable and experienced people on the scene knew Bin Laden was at Tora Bora, special ops commanders on the scene requested reinforcement by Rangers or Marines who were available (or even just mines dropped in the escape passes), and it was ruled out by upper level command. You would think Darth Cheney would have at least called for a tactical nuke. But we did nothing.

The subject of Tora Bora has made me mad for a very long time, and the truth remains: At Tora Bora, we had the cat in the bag, and eight years later we’re chasing kittens all over Pakistan. It was The Original Dither.

Or as I said back in 2002, “by failing to prosecute war fully at the critical juncture, we have lengthened the war. There is hardly a worse sin.”

Sun. Nov 22, 2009

The Not So Public Option

The so called public option is actually neither public nor much of an option. Yet it appears that the form and/or presence of this so called “public option” is what may make or break health care reform. I’m sure you’ve heard both sides of it.

Either…

The public option will provide needed competition that will force private insurers to be more efficient and cost effective, while offering consumers true choice in health insurance, and finally covering the tens of millions of Americans who have no insurance.

Or…

The public option will provide unfair competition that will force private insurers out of business, and lead to an eventual “socialist” single payer health care system where all your health care decisions are made by the government.

Both sides appear to have read nothing at all about the actual public option included in the bills so far. Because both views above are entirely wrong.

Who will be eligible to purchase the public option as it is structured (i.e., watered down) now? If you are self-employed and have been faced with the astronomical prices in the individual market, you will be eligible for the public option. Same thing if you are unemployed, if you can afford it. And if you work for a small business with a payroll of less than $500,000 per year who does not provide you with health insurance, you will be eligible.

Who is not eligible for the public option? Everyone else. That’s right, if you have insurance through your employer now, the public option will not be available to you. At all.

What, you say? You thought if you had a crappy and/or overly expensive policy now, that you would have a new consumer choice that might benefit you and your family? Silly voter. No, you can’t have it. At all.

In fact, all those times we were told “if you’re happy with the insurance you have now, you won’t have to change a thing,” they should have been telling us something else, like, the truth:

“If you have insurance now, you will not be allowed to change a thing. You are banned from accessing this public option.”

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that about 6 million Americans will be eligible for the public option in its current form, and perhaps 4 million might end up actually using it. Slightly more than 1% of the over 300 million Americans.

But here’s the real kicker, to me. Along with this public option come mandates. Individuals must get coverage, either through their employer or through the public option, or face a financial penalty at tax time.

However, some Congress Critters say they will only vote for reform if states have the right to “opt out” of this public option. And I can just see Georgia’s Republican Governor and Republican Legislature saying to me:

“Reid, you have now have a mandate to get insurance. But you can’t have the public option, Georgia is opting out.” Leaving me looking at the individual market where they currently want over $35,000 a year to cover me and my wife.

In other words, leaving me just where I was before anyone in DC ever mentioned the words “health reform.” Gee, thanks. Helluva job, gang. Send the insurance lobbyists a box of cigars for doing their jobs so freakin’ well.

The so called public option is actually neither public nor much of an option, if states can opt-out. Yet the debate hinges on it as if it was the whole ball game. In reality, it’s the size of a marble in the middle of a football field.

Nearly invisible, and not available to 98% of Americans.

Sat. Oct 03, 2009

We Are Covered In Bipartisan Bull

I was on the road most of last week, and during that time, it’s become even more clear how poorly served we are by our “elected representatives,” on both sides of the aisle. Yes, whether you are red or blue, there’s blood below for you.

On the right, in the past few days we’ve seen a Facebook poll asking “Should Obama die,” followed by a Republican representative declaring that Obama is “an enemy of humanity,” followed by a columnist at NewsMax declaring the only solution to the “Obama problem” is a military coup.

Where I come from, the United States of America, that’s called sedition (The Smith Act of 1940 makes it “a crime to advocate or teach the desirability of overthrowing the United States Government, or to be a member of any organization which does the same. It was often used against Communist organizations.”). Perhaps that’s why NewsMax pulled the column (closing the barn door after the horses are gone). Apparently our time honored tradition of democratic elections that has worked for over 220 years is just not good enough for some on the right.

I feel like I’m witnessing the Republican Party committing an ugly bloody suicide, perhaps seeing who they can take with them. I do know this; until I see some repentance for obvious sins, or at least acknowledgement the fringe has gone too far, this Independent Voter will not vote for a Republican for dogcatcher. The party seems to have not only completely lost its way, but has moved on to endangerment, of itself and others.

Or, in wonkese:

Politics is generally viewed as a zero-sum game: When one party gains, the other loses. But Republicans have pursued a strategy turning politics into a negative-sum game: Both parties lose. They have effectively harmed the Democrats’ agenda but done so at great cost to their own favorability numbers […] In 1994, Republicans managed to obstruct Clinton’s agenda in a way that effectively established them as an alternative. In 2009, they are battling Obama’s agenda in a manner that’s totally discrediting their party.

They even root against America, and cheer when she loses, because their hatred of Obama blinds all else. Apparently they love America during the four to eight years their party controls it, but when they are out of the Oval office, she can’t lose enough for their liking.

Even Joe Scarborough can’t help but see it:

Chicago is a beautiful city that would have made a perfect backdrop for the Olympics. The President was right to fly to Copenhagen to try to land the games, not for the sake of his city, but for the good of his country. The fact President Obama failed makes me respect him more for taking the chance, and the fact many right-wing figures opposed the President’s mission shows just how narrow-minded partisanship makes us all.

For the better part of 20 years, a bitterness has infected our politics that has weakened our country.

We Republicans spent eight years trying to delegitimize Bill Clinton.

Democrats spent the next eight years doing the same to George W. Bush.

Now that a Democrat is in the Oval Office again, it is the GOP who is trying to delegitimize a sitting president.

Some of the rhetoric is dangerous. But what we saw from some conservative corners regarding the President’s failed Olympics bid was just plain stupid.

Punishment at the voting booth is the only option. That is, for those who still believe in democracy. Those who think assassination, secession, or a military coup are solutions, I invite you to move to a country more suited to such attitudes. Perhaps Libya or Somalia. Maybe you could go knock off Castro and take over Cuba. Here, we vote, and accept the outcome, at least until the next election.

Not try and tear down the country for the next 4 years, like some giant hissy fit by a poor loser.

But on the left, We, The People weren’t really served any better this past week. In the Senate Finance Committee, the public option was shot down, not once, but twice. Both times, all Republicans voted against it, as expected, because that’s all The Party Of No has to offer on health care.

But it was truly defeated by Democrats. Five of them. Max Baucus (D-Mont), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark), Bill Nelson (D-Fla) and Tom Carper (D-Del). These five Democratic Senators represent states that contain, in total, less than 8% of the US population. Oh, and they apparently also represent the insurance companies that have collectively given them over $19 million dollars in “political donations.”

Furthermore, “The industry and interest groups have spent $380 million in recent months influencing healthcare legislation through lobbying, advertising and in direct political contributions to members of Congress. The largest contribution, totalling close to $1.5m, has gone to the chairman of the senate committee drafting the new law.”

Let’s call a spade a spade. These contributions are bribes. Perhaps not in a prosecutable sense. But just the same, they are huge multi-million dollar bribes of multiple public officials. And they worked.

We, The People, no longer control anything that happens in DC, left or right. We are so very screwed. I don’t have $19 million to bribe Senators, or a third of a billion to lobby/advertise in favor of a public option. Hell, I don’t even the $35,000 a year it would cost to buy health insurance for me and my wife.

Back in July I twittered, “I don’t want to lead you to believe the people debating our health care policy are self-interested idiots. I’d hate to ruin the surprise.”

It’s no surprise anymore.

On the left, I am at the mercy of the elected & bribed non-representatives, who band together in tiny numbers to gum up the whole works, perverting the idea of “majority rule.” In a country where 65% favor a public option, representatives of less than 8% of the population defeated it. And on the right, I am at the mercy of those who no longer seem to believe or participate in the democratic process, they are too busy rooting for America to lose. At anything, as long as it might make Obama look bad.

We are collectively covered in the bipartisan bullshit they’ve been slinging. And they’ve been slinging it so long, we don’t even notice the smell any more. They have to let loose with some truly noxious offal for us to even notice.

Which is exactly the way they want it. They are winning. We, The People, are losing.

Fri. Sep 11, 2009

For Those Who Still Mourn

A couple of years ago on this day, I wrote:

There will sadly be many who try and use today as a platform to push their own agenda, pro-this, anti-that, red, blue, etc. Take special note of such people. Remember that on a day for the thousands who still mourn, they could not wait for Sept. 12 to try and sell their wares. They could not simply keep quiet in the face of such “opportunity.”

Today is not about them. And it’s not about me. In fact, thinking about this, and reviewing the links above to what I’ve written on this day in the past, I’ve decided this is the last new posting I will make on September 11, of any year. In the future, on this day this site will have a link to one of the articles of which I’m proudest: “‘I’m OK, I’m with the firemen’: In Memory of Bill Biggart.”

But otherwise, on September 11, this site will be silent. In honor of those who still mourn.

Silent, in memory.