Thursday, December 16, 2010

WikiLeaks: The Truth or A World Danger?

I'd like to say up front that I always thought Julian Assange's rape charge was something Sweden did under pressure from America because of WikiLeaks. You can believe that World Governments act this way or not but it's one Hell of a coincidence, isn't it?

The problem I have is that Mr. Assange was supposedly getting these highly classified cables from some Private in the Army. Let me say that again; A Private in the Army. A Private? Really?? Do Private's normally have access to documents that are this classified? Yeah. No, I'm not sure I'm buying that one either. There's obviously a leak high on the command ladder and this poor Private is going to be the fall guy.

Hey, remember that TV show The Fall Guy with Lee Majors? Shedding his Six Million Dollar Man image to play a Hollywood Stuntman who...solves...crimes. He did have a kick ass truck, from what I remember. I'm digressing, though.

Jemima Khan had this to say about Assange's rape charge:
"Assange has not even been charged, let alone convicted. Swedish prosecutors do not have to produce any evidence that he committed the alleged sexual offences to justify the warrant. On the basis of the allegations that I heard read out in court, the evidence seems feeble, but I concede that I don't know the full facts. Neither does Assange. Stockholm's chief prosecutor, Eva Finne, who heard the evidence against Assange in August, threw the case out of court, saying: 'I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape.'"

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore has lended Julian Assange a variety of help stating, "We were taken to war in Iraq on a lie. Hundreds of thousands are now dead," Moore wrote on his website. "Just imagine if the men who planned this war crime back in 2002 had a WikiLeaks to deal with. They might not have been able to pull it off. The only reason they thought they could get away with it was because they had a guaranteed cloak of secrecy. That guarantee has now been ripped from them, and I hope they are never able to operate in secret again."

Love him or hate him, the guy has a point.

Our final bite comes from John Ziegler (pictured below):

"I agree that there are important speech issues involved here, but I think it really has far more to do with the fact that Hollywood types love celebrity, danger and anti-Americanism. Assange now represents all three of those."

Huh?? Danger and Anti-Americanism? Why because he published documents about things that American Politicians said about other World Leaders?? Yeah, don't see that, either.

The moral of this story is don't write down unflattering things about other people! Just say it quietly behind their back. THAT'S the American way!!

On the lighter side; Chernobyl is going to be opened to tourists next year!
Yeah, that's where I want to go. What, do they give you a free geiger counter when you book your trip? "It perfectly safe. Pay no attention to two-headed dog." I'll pass.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

My Prediction

For those who read my blog about what the Cleveland Indians had to do to contend, let's take a look at what actually happened...and what didn't.

The pitching had to be there and, so far, it really hasn't. Fausto Carmona HAS returned to 2007 form posting an 11-8 record, 3.78 ERA and really only having about 3 or 4 non-quality starts. Mitch Talbot has been a nice surprise but walks way too many (not surprising for a young guy). Jake Westbrook has come back from major elbow surgery and contributed innings but not quality innings. Surprisingly, the Cardinals traded for him and his first start for them was pretty good so maybe a league change will work.
Not much complaint about the bullpen. They've been steady and I was actually happy to see them trade Kerry Wood to the Yankees. He blew too many games for my liking.

Well, the Indians didn't trade Travis Hafner but he still isn't hitting. .267, 9, 33 in the fourth and fifth spot just doesn't get it done. I'm sure there were no teams willing to take on Hafner's contract but when the year ends they may have to eat the rest and release him. Use the money to try and get Carl Crawford!

They needed to start hot and finish hot. A 9-13 April wouldn't necessarily constitute starting hot, especially when followed by a 9-18 May. Injuries are starting to pile up again. Santana and Hafner just went on the DL and even with all that the Indians could leapfrog out of last place over the Royals. They're 5-6 in the last 11. Playing .500 ball the rest of the way WILL get them out of the basement and allow them to play spoiler down the stretch with their last 16 games against divisional opponents.

They've got a super-young lineup but the promise is there, as long as the front office does the right thing. Let's see how the rest of the year goes. Go Tribe!

Monday, August 2, 2010

The First Amendment in the Computer Age

According to an opinion piece in the July 20th USA Today, students in schools are turning to blogs, Facebook and all kinds of Internet sites to voice their displeasure over Teachers, Principals...and other students.

A girl in Pembroke Pines, Fla. was suspended after complaining about "the worst teacher I've ever met." Now that she's graduated she's pursuing civil claims.
The story intrigued me so I did some digging (if only the author of the article did likewise [sigh]) The REAL story, according to a NY Times article published February 2009, states the girl DID start a Facebook page about the teacher and got a few responses. Some students even stood up for the teacher. At any rate, the page was taken down within a few days. Two Months later, the girl was called into the Principal's office and suspended for "cyberbullying."
Unfortunately, what the girl did doesn't really fall under the guidelines of cyberbullying.
StopCyberbullying.org, an organization dedicated to Internet safety, security and privacy, defines cyberbullying as: "a situation when a child, tween or teen is repeatedly 'tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted' by another child or teenager using text messaging, email, instant messaging or any other type of digital technology." (Thank you, Wikipedia!)
Of course, the Principal couldn't very well call her to the office and say, "We're suspending you for exercising your right to free speech." So, I'm thinking the Principal must have taken up to a month to figure out how he could suspend the girl and cyberbullying was the only thing he could find, even though, it appears, the teacher had no clue about the Facebook page to begin with!
Pamela Brown, assistant director for the Broward County School District who oversees expulsions says “You can express an opinion on whether someone is a good teacher, but when you start inviting people to say that they hate a teacher, that crosses the line.”
Huh?
So, it's fine to follow the herd and say good things about people but as soon as you disagree and invite others who also disagree, well, then you're crossing a line. Of course you are! Because you're inciting rebellion against the status quo, isn't that right, Ms. Brown. Can't have that, can we??
Somehow, I can picture Ms. Brown sitting in her office with a huge swastika hanging behind her.
Sieg Heil!

So, does the student from Pembroke Pines, Fla. have protection under the First Amendment? I say 'yes.' If after school she was with a group of friends talking about how terrible this teacher was and the Principal happened to overhear, yes, he could try to suspend her (and the rest of the group) but he wouldn't get very far because her speech is protected by the First Amendment. Putting it down on an Internet page makes it different? Nope. She doesn't have First Amendment rights because she wasn't legally an adult? Nope.

As an update to this story: As of Feb. 2010, a Federal Judge has ruled that the former student can go ahead with the lawsuit AND has rejected the former Principal's claim of qualified immunity. You go, Girl!!

Are there any violations of Free Speech in your area? Let me hear about it!

Monday, April 26, 2010

The Yin and Yang of the Universe

Mr. Stephen Hawking is one of the smartest, if not THE smartest, person in the world. I would imagine that when the man dies scientists will want to study his brain in detail and probably compare it to Albert Einstein's to find a comparison. Hopefully, in finding similarities, they will then even attempt to genetically create super-smart clones! Sound far-fetched?

The Universe is a big place. Let me re-phrase that; The Universe is a BIG place. I can almost guarantee that alien life exists in the Universe in some form or other. Mr. Hawking believes the same thing.

Where we differ is that Mr. Hawking believes we should become Universal hermits and shun any contact with alien civilizations. He believes that any aliens that happen to be wandering in space are Attila the Hun-like nomads who want to rape planets for their natural resources.

Now, I can see humans from Earth doing that so it is possible. Aliens wandering space could also be explorers looking for alien civilizations to learn from. Aliens wandering space could also be looking for a new home after their planet was destroyed by its sun going nova or even by nuclear war. It doesn't have to be bad. After all the negative publicity that aliens get you'd think a guy as smart as Stephen Hawking would want to put a positive spin on it to ENCOURAGE contacting aliens.

The U.S. has pretty much scuttled its space program due to money constraints. Bad move. Our natural resources aren't going to last forever. We need to expand out into space for more resources. Yes, one day our sun will go nova and the planet Earth will cease to exist. Shouldn't we encourage space travel and the development of a propulsion system to get us to a life sustaining planet BEFORE that happens?

A fair percentage of the planet believes that we are alone in the Universe. That we truly are a gift from God to have put us here. Contacting an alien civilization will unite the planet in the same belief that the Universe is so vast that there could be a myriad of aliens existing.

Yes, Mr. Hawking, there could be "bad" aliens. There could also be peaceful aliens, as well. Becoming hermits does no one any good.

My hope is that we one day contact an alien civilization. I also hope I'm alive when it happens.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Bankruptcy and Baseball

A lot of stuff has been happening since I last wrote in my little corner of the internet. Let's get to it!

Greece is bankrupt and none of the other countries are going to help her. And why should they? Greece's Socialist and corrupt system is what got them in this mess in the first place. Of course, it's the people that are suffering while the Administration is still eating lobster every night. Sure, they've got their headaches in trying to figure a way out of this mess but don't let them fool you--they're still living high on the hog.

They also probably wouldn't be in this mess if they hadn't bought into the whole one-currency-for-everyone shtick that Europe came up with. If you dig deep enough you'll find that there was talk years ago by the United Nations of one currency for the entire WORLD!

On the one hand you can say that it might force corrupt governments to change but the reality of the situation is that they would continue on doing what they always do and, when it got as bad as Greece is now, they would just dump it on the people while they continue to sit pretty.

Well, until an irate citizen with a rifle started some changing of his own! It's a good recipe for revolution. Keep an eye on Greece!

In other news, remember Mike Newdow, the Sacramento Atheist who wanted 'under God' erased from the Pledge of Allegiance in all schools? The guy who originally WON his lawsuit and then subsequent appeals overturned the original decision? Well, a Federal Appeals Court has finally ruled that the Pledge stays as is along with 'In God We Trust' on our currency.

Mr. Newdow states, "The whole argument that 'under God' wasn't placed into the pledge for religious purposes is bogus. I hope people recognize this is not against God or people who believe in God. It's about the government not treating people equally on the basis of their lawful religious views."

My question to Mr. Newdow is, how is the Government treating you differently, as an Atheist? No one is forced to recite the Pledge in school. I just think he can use his energy in a more constructive way than bitching about our Pledge of Allegiance. No wonder his wife divorced him!

There are several things that have to happen in order for my Cleveland Indians to contend in the AL Central:
1. The pitching has to come around. Fausto Carmona has to return to his 2007 form, Jake Westbrook, coming off major elbow surgery, has to contribute innings and quality, Justin Masterson has to show to Cleveland that Boston didn't make a mistake choosing him with their 2nd round pick. The problem is that, outside of Carmona, none of the other pitchers in their rotation haven't pitched close to 200 innings in years, and most of them never have! That spells trouble down the stretch.

2. Travis Hafner has to start hitting again. For the last two years we've heard all about his tired elbow and shoulder and blah, blah, blah. Cleveland is hamstrung financially because they are paying this guy a boatload of money! If he doesn't hit this year, I say buy him out, release him and spend the money on a Free Agent who WILL hit.

3. Start hot and finish hot. The Indians are notoriously slow starters. April and May have to find them, if not in first, then just a few games out. If they can stay close and then have a 19-7 or 20-6 September, like they did a few years ago, they could find themselves in the post-season.

Many 'ifs'. I can't wait to see what happens! Go Tribe!

Monday, January 4, 2010

The Definition of Faith

You can't touch it.
You can't see it.
You can't hear it.
You can't smell it.
To have faith is to believe in something that may or may NOT exist.
Personally, I have a hard time believing that Jesus Christ was the actual and literal Son of God. I have a hard time believing that he made the lame walk and the blind see and cured the lepers.
Jesus WAS a minister and taught people to be kind to one another, even when they are not kind to you. He taught people to think about their actions and to ponder any possible consequences of said actions. He taught a radical teaching system of that time.
He was the Founder of Catholicism in a land of Jews and Muslims.
It was this same church that came up with the "story" of Jesus as the Son of God and the miracles he performed because they didn't want to elevate a normal man. They didn't want to worship a normal man much less a normal Jewish man.
Jesus of Nazareth was a real man. Jesus Christ is a fabrication of the Church.

Yet, what happens when we die?
Do our Souls (if they exist) ascend to Heaven or descend to Hell? Is there such a thing as Purgatory, Limbo or resurrection?
Personally, I find it hard to believe that we can live an average of 77 years, accomplish things, become known or not, collect all of our stuff and then just die...and that's it.
No afterlife. No resurrection as a different person to live life all over again. No God. No Devil. No Heaven. No Hell.
Just life. And death.

I suspect just about everyone finds it hard to believe. Which is why we have Faith.

Faith.

Is it justifiable? Or a lie?

I suppose we all learn the answer to that question right after we die.