Interview leaves Beck feeling like a Massa pile up on TV.

Even Beck’s intellect is no substitute for Congressman Massa’s no substance show.

For the very first time since I’ve heard of the famous Mr. Glen Beck and his infamous shtick for racing baiting and hating, I actually watched Glen Beck and felt his pain, if only for a moment. No, I am deadly serious here, I felt for the man as he intellectually acknowledged the shortcomings of his guest, the level of priority he had given him with just as high rate of return expected on the gamble of having a ousted member of the opposition party on your show exclusively to provide the world through your venue the proof of what you have been claiming to be true already, that there actually was something in the works by the present administration that was devious, underhanded and potentially dangerous to the future of America as we know it today. This had the potential to be so big that you Mr. Beck decided, requested and got approval to dedicate the entire hour of your evening broadcast so that the world would find out what a danger the black man represented to the future of White America and thusly the world. You would have been a hero for being so bold a broadcaster to have pulled this scoop off you had not one alternate plan in place just in case this loon was actually off the beaten path as it turned out to be. I saw you look at the camera after ten minutes with your hand over your mouth and looking directly into the eye of the lens and realizing that you still had 50 minutes to kill and there definitely was nothing there for you to last another 50 seconds.

That was the moment I felt your pain, for any or all of what you had invested in this particular moment was forever lost and you knew it and still had just under an hour to kill. I worked sometime in the broadcast industry and understand better than most what it had to take in order for you to pull off setting up an exclusive show, people have to jump through all kinds of hoops and request endless favors, some never to be paid back now. I would not be surprised if a couple of sponsors had to give their approval for the hard right perspectives of some of the sponsors/viewers of the programs aired on the network carrying Beck’s show. My empathy and sympathy for Beck didn’t last long as I was warned would happen watching his show for he proceeded to persist. He made every possible effort to determine if the Congressman had the goods on the Obama Administration almost to the point of begging for it. At one point he mentioned; “This is like sticking a needle in my eye trying to get something here”. Glen Beck knew this man just wanted to use him like Larry King gladly gets used all the time and really didn’t have anything new to add that Glen or the audience and as those who had given their approval for an hour, didn’t already know prior to the show trying to have an exclusive right of harvesting what they could out of the breaking news that was to be exposed to the public about major corruption or manipulation of the rule of law or violation of the Constitution by this administration.

What was worse about this whole experience was what the former Congressman actually had to say on this most staunchly conservative of media venues existing today was that he was guilty, he did grope, and was inappropriate with his staffers as is coming out about his time in the military. The Congressman had pictures of his friendly gatherings from the “old days” that would be perceived risky today, X-Rays representing potential return of cancer in his body, things about his discharge from the military, all the evidence the prosecution will be using to send him to jail and he verified that all of it was true. He had everything but what Beck needed, which was information that would make Glen Beck a hero. Glenn realized this and still had more than 45 minutes left. This is where I lost what little respect I had for the man, as he resorted to begging for the information by regurgitating the request from the most complicated to the most simplest of terms for the Congressman to please tell the good viewers of his programs what nefarious shenanigans those black folks where up to in our White House. He had the sense to apologize to his viewing audience and let them know that there was zero or less than zero value for having dedicated an hour to that man and he knew his judgment would forever be in question as he had not anticipated or prepared for the possibility and that is unforgivable in this business and potentially damaging in his relationship with the sponsors of his program. Glen Beck made the ultimate sin in media, he showed poor judgment and an inability to adjust when he knew the cause was lost.

The soldier that he is, was in full effect this evening giving last night’s guest less than a minute of time in today’s dissertation on the evils of having a Black Man run this good country what don’t belong to him and he has no right to even be doing. It was onward and upward with the line of how this country is now snatching up all the land for who knows what evil purpose. Things being done today nowhere near as detrimental as what the Bush people did to this country’s reputation and worse still the citizens of the great country of ours with two wars and the Republicans have all but requested that he be tarred and feathered and driven out of the District of Columbia on a rail on the way to a lynch party. He has been rightfully designated the leader of the Tea Party Pack or the formerly known title of Imperial Grand Wizard and the Klu Klux Klan used to call their leader.  They have refused to participate in what their constituents and all of us are paying their salaries to do, their job, getting legislation passed that is needed by the country to improve the shortcomings of previous administrations and drag America in line with the rest of the western civilization and take care of the health of their citizens. The current Senate is where Bills pasted by the house wind up dying. As has been true to form since there is a ‘Black Man in the White House’, the Republicans are once again tell the want the President to fail so bad, they are willing to destroy America!

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LeBron. Dog, don’t follow the Whitlock road it doesn’t go anywhere.

Dog you have to feel me on this one!

I know Jason Whitlock has been doing this longer than I have and my shtick is politics, but I have to make strong objections to the conclusion he reached in attempting to advise a King about his future.  His is the advice of one who no longer has any fire in his belly and awaits his bell being tolled. As a 55 year old who has finished three marathons and 10 half marathons, who still runs, and looks forward to my next marathon with fire in my belly, I say all challenges lie before us. He, Jason Whitlock also dismisses the real value history lends to the choice the King will have to make when it comes to his future, let’s be perfectly clear here, this is sports where history is everything and LeBron is facing an opportunity that only can come around as often as does the Hailey’s comet!

First, lets crush his premise, Cleveland is your home and you should stay there and make the media come to you because there you are loved and will be protected. Michael Jordan left his home in North Carolina and just obtained full control of the Charlotte Bobcats, you can bet he is still revered there and they will want that team to succeed as time goes on.  No matter where life’s adventures and travels lead you, you can always return home and there it will always be. There are opportunities in Boston, Chicago, New York; Knicks and Nets, Philadelphia, Washington and Detroit for upgrading or overhauling existing rosters and many teams have been clearing cap room in anticipation of the availability of talent this summer. There is honor in bringing championships to the beautiful City of Cleveland and it has been a long time in coming. It would be received in a grand fashion and be remembered through the state for all time. But you will have no glory, LeBron. King James, life sometimes offers one of unique gifts such as yourself larger responsibilities, historic responsibilities such as those attached to the gloried franchises of the professional basketball industry like the ultimate pilgrimage of baseball players to the Yankees. You then become part of something much bigger than just winning multiple championships; you become legendary like Larry Bird and his relationship to Celtic history and Magic Johnson with the Lakers. There was more to it than just a media driven heated rivalry in the Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson heydays of the ‘80s,so was the Bulls vs. Pistons, it also helped drive the frenzy of the fans on both coasts of the country in a way that was great for the business of basketball.

While Cleveland may offer safety and as many championships as the town can afford to surround you with King, you will never obtain the ultimate props you could if you could bring glory back to the Knicks for 4, 5 or more championships and great for the city and even more so the NBA and it’s business of basketball. Make no mistake this is about more than the business of basketball, the business of entertainment, but the history of basketball as well. The return to glory for the Nets who had glory days in the ABA before the merger or the Knicks as recently as 1970 in this town would be huge beyond anything that has happened here in a long time. The star that pulls that off would almost be guaranteed first ballot entry to the hall of fame.

He was right about the coach thing, there is a need for a extremely high profile coach in whatever city you wind up in, Popovich would be ideal and he could share in the glory of bringing a franchise back from the dead. The possibility of the Knicks franchise featuring the King ‘LeBron James’ in the full spectacular of Madison Square Garden holding court to the likes of future playoffs series with the Celtics or the Bulls on the way to a showdown in the finals against Kobe and the new look Lakers. Basketball would be beholden to you for all time. I feel you on the number thing, looks even better as a tribute. The number 6 is fine. Just remember one thing; sports is about history and history will be about many things with sports  being  just one of them. Just think of the challenges all of those playoffs will present you with, all of the potential glory of those victories teamed up with the right accompanying players.

It could be you against D-Wade, or teamed up him with against Boston’s new big three that will have to take place in Boston as KG starts to fade, Wallace retreats and Pierce’s fire burns out. Time dictates all of these things will take place, and the Spurs will be renewed as will the Jazz or Rockets. The one hero who takes up the challenge of resurrecting said franchise and beats you just twice or three times in Cleveland on the way to the finals will be considered ten times more larger than life having done so no matter how many you win in Cleveland, it might as well be you, King James.  No manner of championships in your hometown will ever garner you that type of hero worship or praise, but just three would place you among the basketball gods in just the right town and the King will go down as the greatest basketball player in the history of the game. Isn’t that what you want King? Don’t worry LeBron about the help you will need to win a championship to bring a franchise back from the grave, the wise men of basketball history playing today will want to take part in that type of experience and the will gladly come to where you are to help you win. This is bigger than just the crowns and the rings, this is about history!

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The Stepford Republicans.

A start over, new look, incremental lock step approach doesn’t amuse the President when it comes to getting health care done.

I know many people have either heard of or at least seen the movie: “ The Stepford Wives”, done twice in 1975 and 2004 originally written by Ira Levin. This is a story about a town where somehow the male of the species obtained control of a locked gate community or city and the women therein, namely their wives. All of the women dress in the same fashion as though time stood still in ’55 or somewhere in there. They all have stupid looking grins on their faces and address all men in robotic automated vernacular. Women’s total subservience to men in general and related family men in particular is the theme of the day and the locked gate community so to speak.  For the men of Stepford, satisfaction was priority one above all else including personal safety, really weird. Scared me watching a group of people, mostly men, almost all white, financially well off individuals, if not personally. The pay of the offices they hold either currently as rookies or even more so if they’ve held the office for two terms or more is quite substantial in comparison to the average worker. More so during these troublesome economic times, they can refuse to consider that there are many people out here without the protections or perks they take for granted everyday. Not just the opposition party’s constituents back at home in the districts they are sent to Congress to represent all across America, but those constituents of their own Republican Party. Members who statistics state have to be suffering financial ruin from rising health costs or devastating catastrophic illness as well and say to them, lets start from scratch.  This isn’t a Democratic or Republican thing.

The most base and traitorous hypocrisy of the Republic Party has always been the well developed perception that they really give a damn about the common blue collar working man or his family. That they believe in public service for societal good. The people who serve like teachers, doctors, nurses, cops, firefighters, telephone repairmen, postmen and construction workers, plumbers and pipefitters. Republicans are Wall Street, Business, Money, Finance, CEO’s, Big Deals, Bottom Lines, and Lowering Costs. Deregulation is their mantras, less government intrusion, best support for anti-consumer protection, stop the unions, no minimum wages. These guys are Harvard Business School, Columbia Law, Yale Business and Law, Harvard Law and MIT. The are the moneyed minded, pro-business supported individuals who come to Washington to make even more money, and finagle laws to protect and enable future endeavors in a like manner. Yet they have sold the “hard working, blue color white American on the notion they really represent them, sadly it has worked to date. They have convinced them they are on their side; they support the military, are more patriotic than the Democrats and better at policing up the least principled operating members of our society. They somehow miss the connection between the Republican mantra of less government, more deregulation and the impact of downsizing on the Wall Street Bottom Line. Most of the time it is these same people who allow business the freedoms that cause the damages the “free market” was allowed to bear!

Yet intelligent men and women of the Republican Party knowing their policies have caused this damage to so many people and they continued their robotic march off the political cliff by saying “Up Yours!” to more than 30 million Americans without health insurance coverage. They are always campaigning and holding town hall meetings for this demographic group and working up into frenzy about the total destruction of our country as we’ve come to know it. And I suspect more than 100 million when you include the number of people with less insurance than they really need, and it at least doubles if you add those using emergency rooms and free clinics as their only access to the wonderful medical machine we have. One of them made an issue of pointing out how Heads of State of other countries come here to use our medical system but leaves out the fact they have the resources to cover the expense.  But what caused me great concern was the almost robotic lock-step list of talking points by the Republican Party.  ‘We need to start with a clean sheet of paper’ ‘We should just start from a clean slate’ We need to scrap both the House and the Senate plan already passed and in a bi-partisan manner, discuss how to begin to find a way to address a problem we know both parties agree needs to be looked at’ so, ‘Lets convene a committee here in Congress to investigate the need for a commission to study the problems that exist for many Americans with limited means’ lacking the ability to obtain adequate care. Lets continue down this treasonous road to the point of destroying this beautiful country by letting the insurance industry continue to destroy America for the good of personal financial gain and the continued growth of the bottom lines of the few for the increased misery of the many. Why? Because that is what the true free market will bear!

The President convened this summit with the cameras running in order to let the public see for themselves what they had been experiencing from the Republican Party all of last year while negotiating getting any legislation passed in the Senate and the House. He patiently addressed over and over again the need to step away from the Party Rhetoric and suggested things be picked in the already passed legislation they could live with or start from, to no avail. It was a definite statement of you guys have the majority, you are running the show and are going to do what you want to do anyway through reconciliation, so don’t let us hold you up. Just let us make this perfectly clear, we are not going to assist in this and we think we are right, so there! We will continue to let people suffer not being able to get the care needed in time, or coverage being turned down for pre=existing conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, Sickle Cell Anemia, Asthma or Obesity, Cerebral Palsy Multiple Sclerosis or any other debilitating diseases that have been know to inflict man starting with conception. It matters not to us if you have to wait through another election cycle and maybe then we will still not take up the issue for the insurance companies are not interested in any concept where a government agency might establish basic rights and privileges one should have as a American citizen and their health, it is not good for old fashioned American profit to the point of greed that this be allowed to change. And the Republicans are saying; treasonous or not, traitorous or not, it is more important for us to hold this line as a Party principle for all those little guys we have lied to and convinced we have their interest at heart when we support policy in Washington, as we accept the financing of big business to hold onto our “elected” offices. The Stepford locked step, let’s start over Republican Party is saying “Tough Shit” to America!

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Save that Tiger!

The Tiger Woods infomercial apology tour reveals nothing new but anger.

This column is mostly about politics and leadership or the lack thereof when it comes to how things are run or not in this country. Leadership is not a requirement exclusively needed to be a good politician, but an understanding of it is required being a good role model. That Tiger Woods is a role model whether or not it was appreciated by him or not was clearly stated in the advertising campaign: “I am Tiger Woods” The intent of this campaign besides removing any stigma of a black man as a role model in the mostly Caucasian dominated game of golf, was to say that Tiger Woods was not only a damn good golfer, but he was also as squeaky clean as the game was perceived to be by its elitist nature. I held off from writing this column because I wanted to hear from the man himself with his take on the adventure that has taken place in his life to bring him to the fall from grace he inflicted upon himself and his family. Since that occasion he has become the target of countless jokes and rumors, and justified or not, he did nothing to dispel them with his silence. Now that he has spoken in public for the first time since that fateful night, I am afraid my perception of him as a person I would want my son to emulate has not improved.

First of all, this was a template format 12-step speech of recovery programs designed to give the impression to the required parties that one has recognized that he/she has problems, owning those problems and is working hard to fix them. Second, such a speech by this prominent man of athletic skills had to be written or typed for him to read. It had the required pauses for emotional effect, mentioned few of the people having been impacted by his actions and a vow to change his behavior. He invited a small party of about a dozen or so people who really looked pained to be there, including his mother. It did not include a question and answer session when it was over. His rationale for his behavior was he had worked oh so hard all of his life to get where he was as a sports star and felt with all the fame and fortune he amassed, was entitled to the excesses of his world. He said he felt the rules that applied to any normal family man with a wife and two children did not apply to him so he could take advantage of the temptations of his celebrity position. He stated that it was wrong of the press to hound him, expect an explanation of what happened that dreadful evening of the car crash. It was wrong to want some public airing of his dirty laundry to please the paparazzi and expose the state of his marriage. All of this was already known prior to giving this speech, so what was the purpose?

He stated that this press conference sans press was held to let those close to him know that he was oh so truly sorry he committed those transgressions.  The pundits more famous than myself gave him mixed reviews, some thought he accomplished what he set out to do, and some didn’t. My take was one of disappointment as I hoped that he was really impacted by the hurt he caused so many that he requested at the end of this session to believe in him again. Therein lies the rub. I don’t know of many people who believed in Tiger Woods to begin with as he never represented a cause or movement or took up any societal issues of note. He may have to answer the belief issue with Jesper Parnevik a fellow golfer responsible for connecting Tiger with his wife, as she was Parneviks wife’s best friend. Even he turned a blind eye to the foul language and poor sportsmanship displayed by Tiger on the golf course when things went bad for him.  I don’t think that his mother lost any belief in her son as she had to have some idea of his flaws growing up and did nothing to help him grow beyond them as she let his father run the show. The people involved in his foundation were accomplishing its goal of working with the kids they helped, so they may need some belief support. But for those of us out here just watching, we didn’t really believe anything about him but his ability to play golf.

Let’s cover what he missed in his speech. First, I saw no sincere emotion from him at all during this speech with the exception of anger at the press.  Second, this speech was written, no press was allowed in to even listen to him much less not to have an exchange about the incidents that had taken place to let the world know he and his family had issues. While he mentioned the tournament taking place that day and the fact he didn’t know when he would be returning to the game himself, he never mentioned the impact of his actions on the sport or the financial impact on his sponsors. I never once heard him say how much he truly appreciated a how deeply he hurt his wife, how sorry he was that he caused her that kind of pain, or how much he really loved her or the kids.  He also failed to mention the damage he inflicted on all the parents aspiring their kids to be like him and the kids who believed in his “I am Tiger Woods” series of commercials.  But, that’s just me.

The game of golf just wants this ugly experience to go away and not negatively impact long-term the viability of the game to make the industry and the player’s money.  They just want him to get his ass back on the course, win tournaments and bring back the ratings and the money.  They are not interested in saving that Tiger as they are about saving their bottom lines. This is the tact that would have impressed me; “ I, Tiger Woods am leaving the game of golf behind me for life and I don’t trust myself out there on the road for I spent to much time out there doing what I wanted when I wanted without consideration for anyone”. “Elin, I have hurt you so badly and want you to know I realized that and I never want to do that to you or the kids again because I love you so much this is the most I can do to prove it”.  By this time whether or not she was in that room, I would have been standing there with tears streaming down my cheeks for empathizing with the pain she must have experienced when she found out what I had been up to out on tour as a slut not golf pro.  No matter, which way my speech went, I certainly knew what I did was wrong, why it caused others pain, and definitely would not need to read from some prepared script. But, as usual with Tiger Woods, it is all about controlling his image as the king of golf. It should be about becoming the type of man his wife and family could just respect again.

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