Ann Romney: "You know, we lost, but truly the country lost by not having Mitt as president.”

Not that I'm saying I told you so, but I told you so.

America has it's own party of dissent, and anything that feels like government (or government as usual) brings these folks out of the woodwork._______

The cover picture to the movie "Mitt" is one of him fresh after Ann scrambles his hair up at the end of a tough debate.  The caption reads "Whatever side you're on, see another side".  Why? 

If the answer is to sell the Netflix movie to the masses then I would understand the caption.  Since I watched that movie days ago when Mitt gave it away for free on YouTube, I am left asking why.  Either Mitt is in collaboration with the release of this movie, or he is in breach of some copyright law.  

When you finish watching this film you are left with a certainty that Ann Romney could never endure another run. Now Ann Romney seems ready to publicly lament the failure of America to make the correct choice. In the film, his family seemed happier that he lost than Barack himself. However, his consistent need to remain relevant since the defeat is not being driven by financial reason's.  The only thing that compels Romney or Palin or Cain or any of those political mouthpieces that keep  swallowing microphones is the vision of another chance, or appearance checks.  Romney is so wealthy that he probably loses appearance checks in route to the bank, so its becoming harder and harder to disregard his constant pursuit of relevancy. 

According to Mitt, the person that was hired to capture this video was given the freedom to use it as he pleased just as long as he waited until after Romney's presidency, which didn't happen.  Are we suppose to assume that this was pro bono filming with the payment being the ownership of the film? Most people would hire him to document your story, pay him for his effort and keep your home movie to yourself.  Some of this footage goes all the way back to the first run at the presidency.  It shows a few interesting self deprecating moments in which he describes himself as the flipping Mormon, but if you look carefully his is not really attacking himself but deeply contemplating on how to destroy the notion.

Mitt Romney has been called the flipping Mormon from way back when he ran and won the governors race in Massachusetts.  To a business man, every obstacle is nothing more than a brainstorming session and a coordinated plan away from becoming forgotten history.  This business man has accomplished so much in the world of profit generation that he simply turns voters into a monetary achievement and stacks them up like gold.  

What Romney is missing is that it he is trying to make his story history, which is the only story that can get him elected.  He is treating America like the next  business deal in which you simply need to clarify the assets from the liabilities more clearly than the opposition.  Most importantly, Mitt Romney is doing one of the most dangerous versions of Monday morning quarterbacking.  Mitt is listening to the discontent with Obama to sooth his own campaign failures.  

Mitt is becoming so utterly confused by the voices of  Obama dissent, he hardly recognizes that many of them are the same one's who did not like George Bush either.  America has it's own party of dissent, and anything that feels like government (or government as usual) brings these folks out of the woodwork.  They are the one's who uncovered Area 51 even if they were wrong about what is in it.  Right now they are researching 9-11 conspiracy theories.

Mitt Romney has allowed that same crowd to trick him into thinking that he simply miscalculated his corporate takeover plan a bit.  

As for Ann?  

You know what ride or die wives do.  They complain, and then they jump in the car.

Is There More Good Than Bad With Hillary Clinton?

If you have a dog in the fight, there is an inherent danger in counting your political chickens before they come home to roost (or hatch).  It is easy to anoint Hillary Clinton as our likely next president for more reason's than our love of Hillary Clinton. In fact, the reason's for Hillary may have nothing to do with Hillary at all.

First and foremost, Hillary Clinton is looking more an more like the beneficiary of republican division.  The challenge that exists between internal factions of the conservative movement will need a quick and definitive resolution.  Quick because 2014 and 2016 have already begun.  Definitive because the war will not end until someone defines the conservative agenda.  Ask Bill Clinton.  It is easy to declare the end of the era of big government, but impossible to agree on what should go away first.

As republicans try to recapture a national government equal to the beginning of the industrial revolution, the realist are hoping to do a little less killing abroad and reduce our deficit over the next several years by simply stopping the bleeding.  Meanwhile, Hillary will benefit from the "all president for all people" image that her husband Bill currently enjoys.  History informs us of both the left leaning failed proposals of the Clinton years and the actual center shifted legislation's like NAFTA that make conservatives love Bill as much as liberals do.

If we did not have enough intangible reason's for a president Hillary Clinton, here is one more to try on for size.  Sexism is harder to disguise than racism. If Hillary confronts the same unexplained obstructionism that Obama couldn't figure out, then the obstructionist' may no longer be able to hide behind a made up war against liberalism, fascism, communism and narcissism.

When bills that have the requisite number of votes are held up in congress in order to stonewall a man's legacy, then it might be time for a woman. Hillary can finish immigration for Obama like he did with healthcare for her.

Apparently the bad part is her husband.....the predator.

Hillary Clinton Is Front Runner For Feel Good Story Part Two

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Rodham_Clinton

You may not like the delay in the Keystone Pipeline or bungled ObamaCare.  You may not appreciate all of the food stamps we've given away over the past few years or trust drone warfare.  No matter how disappointed you are with the status of America and the role that Barack Obama has played in it all, you can't deny how surreal it was to wake up the next day after we elected the first black president.

Before Barack Obama, racist couldn't declare the absence of racism by the presence of a black president.  Now they snap it out like a badge of honor.  Good for them.  No person should have to live in the despair of guilt along the journey towards being better.  Grace insures this freedom to every racist.  Even myself.

As for a sexist like myself, I have to admit that I can't wait to declare the end of sexism by electing a female president. Every other sexist is eager to do the same.  The early coronation of Hillary is more of a declaration that we like the feeling of shattering social mores.  Unless someone comes to the surface that offers a greater opportunity to feel good in 2016 (you know, like an Hispanic female), then Hillary might want to start shopping for an amazing inauguration dress.

Imagine that.  An inauguration dress

Is Mitt Romney Still Campaigning? Romney Reveals Inside View Of Presidential Campaigns

The Mitt Romney documentary was posted free to YouTube by Mitt Romney himself.


The freedom he exhibited in giving this film away on YouTube pales to the free access to his life that we enjoy from the intimate view represented in this documentary.

I initially only watched the trailer and still felt the pain and anguish from Mitt and his family as they endured the process of fighting, and ultimately losing the battle.  While he exposed some real vulnerability in the making of this film, it has only reignited the question about who is Mitt Romney, and is he electable for the highest post in the land?

My knee jerk reaction to this expose was that it was simply too much.  Gravitas typically demands restraint from overly intense moments of sensitivity, nor can you be overly revealing of personal insecurities.  After all, you are  the head of the free world. In further consideration, I see exactly who Romney is attempting to appeal to with this film and I sense that it is not by chance that we are seeing it now.

According to Mitt Romney and the filmmaker who created the documentary, he could do anything that he wanted with the film footage just as long as he did not release it during a Romney presidency.  The assumption of such an agreement was that Romney would win and this would be a really cool inside look at an over achieving man earnestly pursuing a new goal.  Since he did not win, the filmmaker was free to use the footage as he saw fit.  Are we buying this story, or is there more than meets the eye.

Personally, I am not really sure whether this film ruins his chance at future office or benefits him.  In the eyes of those who don't see the strength in being vulnerable, this may have hurt him, but in the eyes of those who appreciate vulnerability, he has gained some image points.  Is it pure coincidence that a film that could improve Mitt's "binder full of women" image came along just in time for 2016?  Doesn't giving this film out for free on YouTube undermine the filmmakers profit, or has Mitt compensated the film maker to do what he hired him to do all along; get rid of those binders and improve his image among women?

If there is one thing that you learn from this documentary, it should be that campaigning is hard.  Hard on the candidate and harder on those who love them.  You should also learn that Mitt's family never seemed in favor of what he wanted to do, they are simply in favor of Mitt.  The stress that exudes from the camera in the eyes of Mrs. Ann Romney is palpable to say the least.  Mrs. Romney suffers from MS and has to maintain a strict medical regimen to keep the disease at bay. When Mitt jokes about using pills to stay calm on the stump, I immediately had visions of where he could get such pills.  Yet, in the end I was most convinced about one really noticeable Mitt Romney trait.

Mitt Romney really, really, really hates to lose.  No, really.

Enough to run again?  Maybe!


Related Post:  

Romney Film Exposes Washington D.C.'s Taste For Roasted Duck...(especially lame duck)

Blue Ivy Blasted By Blogosphere For Black Facial Features

Is black bravado insecurity in disguise?  Why do blacks attack black features?

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2011/12/22/happy-to-be-nappy-barbie/

The racial identity complaint we blacks leveled against Michael Jackson was not a problem that Michael dealt with alone. Way too many blacks hate looking  black.


Last week, the article I read on this topic involved the issue of black women in the workplace having to decide if natural hair is an impediment to corporate mobility.  This week we find black people leaving blog posts attacking Beyonce for marrying a black man with African features.  Apparently, Blue Ivy is starting to look way too much like her daddy.

If you are a black person who has these type of "Jay-Z" features (big lips and nose) and despise them for some apparent stigma towards those who possess them, you immediately notice these features in others.  It would be nice if we all realized that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For every person that does not like your features, there are others who do.

The reality is that it is too late for all of that.  No matter how often fashion magazines attempt to deviate from our normal view of beauty, they quickly return to the mold.  Barbie defined beauty for way too many young people who have now chiseled her hand picked features into the psyche of the American conscience.  Even the black and brown skinned kids whose parents bought the ethnic dolls noticed that she looked just like the white version but with darker skin color ( and now nappy hair).

American's have allowed popular culture to define beauty for all of us, and the minority is rapidly being assimilated into the majority image.  Black American's are in a social tug-o-war over principle or economic mobility.  You can absolutely take the activist route, but you do so realizing the automatic stigma that accompanies the happy to be nappy movement.  Moreover, conforming to popular demand makes all of us an accomplice to social conformity. Anyone can be made to look pretty, but it takes something divine and natural to define beauty.  As a result, real beauty is becoming endangered.

As for all of you big lipped blacks that are blasting Blue Ivy, I would remind you that thanks to ObamaCare, mental health is more accessible than ever.

Carmelo Anthony Is Back On The Clock. This time we will see who really wears the pants.

Carmelo Anthony is functionally a free agent on February, 20th.

If he plans to stay, the Knicks have a $33 million dollar option that no other team can match.  Melo is under contract through next season, but has already declared that he will opt out to test free agency.  Trading him this year is the best option for all involved because it would mean Melo starts next season with a new team instead of a mid-season start.  By next year, trade strength is out of the hands of the Knicks who will be on the clock to move him, or lose him with no compensation in return. It's now or never in essence.

Word in the wind is that the Anthony family pants have always been in the closet of La La, Carmelo's wife and television star.  Word is that La La would rather take her family to la la land, (Los Angeles, CA) to join Kobe and the Lakers.  The rise in her television exposure after arriving in New York makes it pretty easy to surmise that L.A. would be a sensible next move.  The question over whether or not Melo' stays in New York and builds his legacy under the brightest of lights has several fingerprints worth of clues. Just ask Denver.

La La not only insisted that she does not have anything to do with Melo's decision, she did so by reminding us that she stayed with Melo in Denver.  If she could do that she would go anywhere with Melo.  If we missed her in Denver we might be offended. We do not and we are not.

Denver is not only a fantastic city (thank you),  our Denver Nuggets are a virtual case study in the 'get what you can, when you can' ideology.  Denver experienced Mr. Waiting to Explore my options Anthony, and we are here to tell you that back when he first re-signed, he signed right away.  When he chose to leave, he needed to explore his options.

Our franchise is the same one that lost Dikembe Mutombo with no compensation, so we could not risk losing Melo in the same fashion.  In hindsight, we probably would have traded earlier.  After Lebron's "Decision", waiting to re-sign a star is like pulling the pin on a grenade and holding back the explosion with your thumb. Amazingly, Denver wrapped that grenade with duck tape and handed it over to New York.  In exchange, they took all the young studs of the Knicks (Mosgov, Galinari and Chandler) and their first round draft choice next season. If Melo can not put a pen to this grenade, the Knicks will have to pass the danger on to someone else.

Melo already knows what to expect from New York, including the money .  If  these things  make you still explore options, then you could be easily persuaded by the mere illusion of something  better.  The Anthony's thought he was going to something better in New York, but Denver has been consistently better since he left.  The reality is that Ty Lawson  and Melo could have made sweet basketball music together.  New York may be the worst city in America when your team is not winning. If trade deadline Melo still can't turn this team around, it might be time to head out west.

Melo has learned this game rather well, and if he puts his underground search engine to work for job opportunities like he did from Denver, he will force the Knicks to trade him just to minimize the damage of losing him outright.  No team will engage in this type of deal and risk losing Melo themselves unless they have some assurance (like the Knicks had from Denver) that he intends to stay with the new team.  In other words, trading Melo to just any team won't cut it.

This is not your daddy's NBA.  In the end, the teams only own the rights to the scrubs in the NBA.  All of the superstars have carte' blanche selection of all teams throughout the league.  If you don't secure their services, the stars realize that someone else will.  Furthermore, if you can't satisfy the superstar, they become virtually useless as a mid-season trade piece because they will make it clear that another team has no hope to re-sign them

The Knicks not only have no choice but to trade Melo soon, they have to trade him to the place she wants to go........and stay.  If he ends up in in Hollywood, we should all simply give La la the wink, and complement her on those nice slacks.

Obama Isn't The Only One That CARES. GOP Offers Twisted Alternative To ACA

When the healthcare.gov roll out got botched, the republican party saw some daylight.

https://www.healthcare.gov/

The second term election of Barack Obama was a signature achievement alone.  Republicans may not have put as much support into Romney as was needed for victory, but they certainly staked all of their hope on him winning.  When he didn't win, the disappointment became bitterness rather quickly.

Nothing like a botched roll out to sweeten sour puss conservatives.  The opposition against ObamaCare was virtually silent prior to the roll out, and suddenly the passions peaked once again.  Websites that don't work well are certainly a cause for controversy, but they are also fixable, and the fervor for an ObamaCare repeal has died with increased enrollment.

Chicken Little has declared the sky to be falling for so long that he has now lost his audience.  If you need a new audience to listen to you fight the Affordable Care Act, you create an alter ego to the Affordable Care Act.  Enter, stage right, the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility, Empowerment Act (nicknamed CARE).  The PCAREA (nicknamed care?) is a peculiar solution to the ACA because it does many of the same things, but eliminates the mandates and many protections of the ACA.  It is also a failed attempt to create a cool acronym.

After reading about the plan, I found a few elements that could be cherry picked into the ACA, but the general idea feels like ObamaCare light with the feel of repeal.  My real hunch is that republicans will  not push this agenda forward to repeal the ACA, they will push it forward to silence the critics (some from their own camp) who say they do not have a formal plan.

Up until now, if you asked a republican for an alternative to ObamaCare they would simply say, 'there are a lot of ideas out there to consider'.  What they failed to accept is that a lot of ideas is code for none worth speaking about.  Until you can refer to a specific plan, and offer up details that represent a difference, then you sound like you are arguing for the sake of argument.

Now republicans can say "we CARE too".  Disregard that the Patient choice affordability responsibility empowerment Act requires you ignore the patient and the act to create the CARE.  This kind of CARE is not like healthcare.  It is like political care which only cures soundbites and polling numbers.

If you would actually like healthcare,  sign up at healthcare.gov while you still can.

Denver Nuggets Steal Kings Gold In Second Of Back To Back

Sometimes in sports its about the team you beat.  Other times it is about the way you get it done.

Last night the Nuggets headed out to Sacramento for the second of a back to back.  The Sacramento Kings were short handed, but that same short handed team forced the Indiana Pacers to overtime before sending them off to Denver with a hard fought victory.  The advantage for the Nuggets against the Pacers was getting a team that had fought hard the night before and got in late before we saw them. Sacramento had that same advantage against us.

What  makes the Sacramento game significant was the manner in which they beat Indiana the night before. They came one point short of tacos, beat
the team with the best record in the league and played minimal minutes while doing it.  There is no way to play the second of a back to back with totally fresh legs, but the Nuggets came close.

Sacramento played us like they hoped we would wilt.  When we did not, they wilted instead.  The Denver Nugget team defense is impressive when it needs to be. On occasion they disrespect their own defense with poor rebounding, but they are capable of defending and rebounding with any team in the league.  They have the versatility to hurt your with their speed or match you strength for strength up front. In fact, the new Nuggets can also knock it down from deep and are posting the highest scoring average in the league over the past 10 games.

In a recent interview, I was happy to hear Wilson Chandler declare himself as the number two option behind Ty Lawson.  This was a clear sign of a declared hierarchy in the Nugget locker room.  Lawson is grabbing hold of his team and is starting to show signs of real maturity by creating shots early in the quarter and scoring himself to close the quarter. That formula demands that others get actively involved in the scoring early and Chandler has risen to that challenge.

Playing smart and hard is vital on the road and even more vital in back to backs.  Saving enough energy to close strong is an economy of wisdom that inexperienced teams seldom achieve.  You know, like the Nuggets usually are except for last night.

Romney Film Exposes Washington D.C.'s Taste For Roasted Duck...(especially lame duck)

The Netflix documentary on the Romney campaign came out and offered a revealing exposure to a strong man enduring a trying process (full video).  Some have said this film could have bridged the gap in offering the humanity that Romney lacked.  Others believe it was way too revealing of his vulnerabilities and makes him unable to ever run for president again.  While I have yet to see the film (see link above), I keep thinking about Romney as a candidate when I stretch my mind towards who will be our next president.

If not Romney or Christie or Ryan or Rubio, than who?  Republicans are not tingling over any candidate because they are terrified about the fantastic four, Bill and Hillary, Barack and Michelle.  Obama has already handed over his campaign engine to the Hillary for president prospect team even though she has yet to announce.

Obamacare is more than a signature piece of legislation, it is an historical marker.  It's success will return credibility to the president that was lost during the ACA roll out.  Its failure will return the republicans to the white house with little demand for an opposing agenda outside of a repeal.  No matter what opposing idea that conservatives offer over the next two years, they will still have the demand of getting it to the office of the president for approval.  Way too much of the republican agenda has been attached to deficit reduction anyway. Deficit reduction is always reasonable in theory but does not gain much bi-partisan support in the midst of a sputtering economy.

Despite the screams from the masses for a solution to the healthcare crises, republicans must double down on the destruction of Obamacare and put a little more heat on Obama in the process.  The botched roll out put this duck on the fire and those who crave roasted lame duck are determined to throw every log they have at this fire to make sure Obama's goose gets fully cooked. A powerful president in any election has the risk of overwhelming republicans in every election, including the upcoming elections of 2014 and 2016.

The house will remain in the hands of republicans, but the senate and the white house are up for grabs.  Grab them all and the game changes for republicans.  Lose any two and the republican goose will be cooked and  feasted on by democrats for a few years.

In Washington D.C., roasted foul is the rave, especially from the hind quarters of the opposition.

Grammy Award Show A Hip-Hop Hooray. Was America Ready For It?

When I was a kid they used to laugh at our music.  In the absence of a radio and a cassette player, we learned to bust a beat.  That beat often required a little extra spit in the air to create the super low bass sounds (hence the laughter), but it never stopped us from dropping a beat and busting a rhyme.

By the time the legendary Beastie Boys came around even I grew weary.  The style was dope, but it didn't sound like they were actually saying anything so I thought it was rap mockery and decided that the elders were right.  This rap stuff was just a fad.

Public Enemy, the Jungle Brothers and KRS One; rappers who made you listen closely and grab a dictionary to digest the message, brought me back for good.  Throughout the years, it felt like the rap lovers were trying too hard to keep the genre alive in a world without a taste for it.

Suddenly one day, a magical group called Run DMC showed the world how to 'walk this way' and the world said yes.  Their rap rock fusion with Aerosmith ushered in the ever increasing demand for the world of hip-hop music.

Last nights Grammy award performance began with a sizzling performance from Beyonce and Jay Z that had me feeling the beat and the heat (if you haven't seen it, watch it).

Soon after, we saw an awesome live performance from newcomer Lorde who's hit song, Royal is melodic hip-hop at it's finest with a rap cadence to the entire song.


On a hip-hop side note, the Grammy's offered a mythical war between the new white rapper Macklemore, and the crowned king of hip-hop, Kendrick Lamar who is black.  Both were up for similar awards and rap aficionado's began a debate over who would win the most.  Both artists did perform, but the review's after the show made it clear that neither are in the same category of music,  they simply share the title of rapper.

 Lamar had a "here I am world" performance for all of those who don't follow rap closely enough to know that he's been here for a while now.  His total mastery over the spoken word is breath taking to even those who don't have a clue how hard it is to rhyme with time and flow at a show.

Macklemore offered his signature tune 'Same Love' as background music to a 33 couple, gay marriage ceremony led by none other than hip-hop legend Queen Latifah.  If hip-hop didn't have enough of a fingerprint on the Grammy's, than the "momma said knock you out" punch came from the show's host,  LL Cool J, a rap legend himself.

The show closed with a killer collaboration.  Performing the record of the year "Get Lucky" by the euro group Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.  Williams is famous for his production work in the world of hip-hop and might be the king of hip-hop fusion. Stevie Wonder thought highly enough of this record to join the gang on stage to perform it.  One word....Awesome.

There will clearly be those who enjoy this tune but do not see it as the record of the year, but they are missing the worldwide appeal that this group already had, and that this song achieved.  Get lucky is clearly more disco than hip-hop, yet the beat feels familiar even if the Grammy show was not.

This ain't your grandma's Grammy's, especially if your grandma  grew up with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.  However, you can tell grandma that they were both in the crowd rocking with the rest, and they approve.

Peyton (last name Manning) Is Ready To Call It Quits, but he still wants to play.

When the final story is written on the story book career of Peyton (last name Manning), there might be a retrospective on the good and bad of greatness.  Peyton has been so great over the course of his career, that he went long stretches of many season's barely getting hit by the opposition because he is simply too hard to hit.  And then he got hit so hard he almost had to quit.

Did his penchant for near perfection prolong his career in the end, or is it the key contributor to why his neck required three surgeries?  In other words, if Peyton was a regular Joe and had made his body more accustomed to the beating, would he have been more capable of taking one, or is it inevitable for all of these guys to leave battered and bruised?

Since his return, Peyton has vowed to take each year as a one year mission to be re-evaluated at the end of each year.  As it stands, he says he is ready to quit if his body is unable to allow him to achieve excellence.  Was Peyon providing the prelude to retirement?  Is there something wrong with that neck that might encourage him to shut it down sooner, not later?  According to Peyton, he enjoys the entire process and still wants to play. But does wanting to play have anything to do with being able to play safely?

It seems clear to me that the man upstairs is truly invested in Peyton's success. Not God silly.  Elway.  John Elway has funneled the message to his coach to tell his franchise quarterback to relax and be yourself.  Don't try to win it all by yourself and trust the rest of the team to do their jobs (including the coaches) .  If Peyton performs at his best, he will certainly be a champion this year.  Will the man upstairs (not Elway) and a pain in the neck force him to finish the El-way , or is his retirement even further down the line?

The Book of Peyton is a classic tale of a focused and driven superstar with just enough failure to dampen his shine.  The Book of Manning is a much more elaborate and complex tale of a football family that has seen the highest of highs to the lowest of lows and remain bonded by their experiences.  The matriarch of the Manning clan, Archie Manning, is probably the best losing quarterback to ever play in the NFL.  He was the first in his family to be known by one name. For a dozen seasons, Archie remained with the same franchise, and for every one of those seasons he lost.  If you saw him play, it seems unreasonable that Archie never won a thing.  How could a man so humble off the field, and so dominating on it experience such terrible luck?

The answer?

The 'man upstairs' knew that exuberant joy of parenthood and decided to bless the Manning clan with two Superbowl championship sons; one who could become the greatest quarterback to have ever laced them up. When I think about the way this story might end, I think back to good ol' Archie (last name Manning), and I imagine the way this story should end.

Colorado Avalanche Loaded With Young Talent. Who Is Their Best Player?

Numbers never lie, but they don't always tell the entire story.  When you examine the new look Av's under the  microscope of hope and change, you hope that what we are seeing is the change we've been hoping for.

This team is young and fast and gritty like the coach they embody.  They are as good as their record suggests and better than many had projected.  The Av's are so loaded with new talent that casual fan's who stopped caring when things got tough are getting to know these guys as we speak.  There are some remnants of the past years and a couple of special draft picks and trades as well.  In fact, this team has started to remind me so much of the championship Av's, that I am finding myself asking the same question we asked way back when.


Who is the best player on this team of really great players?

Back in the day when Peter Forsberg patrolled the ice, Joe Sakic made it really hard to call Forsberg our best player.  Hindsight will give added points to great defensemen like Ray Bourque and Adam Foote, but the joy of it all was simply having the conversation and walking away not really caring because they all played for us.

The Av's are not the Bronco's or the Nuggets.  They wouldn't even be in the same league as the Rockies if they had not brought our first professional sports title to Denver.  We love hockey to the extent that we expect to win.  More of us will tolerate baseball simply because of its heritage and because Coors field is magical.  Until the Rockies are a legitimate contender, we will basically ignore them as well.

This team is easily as loaded with talent as the Av's of old.  Experience they lack, but talent is at a premium and the Av's are demanding the attention of the entire league.  The numbers paint the picture for me, because every player that the eye test told me was possibly the best Av, has the numbers to back up my vision.

At first I was inclined to choose the first in line, Matt Duchene.  Duchene is an incredible skater with a litany of moves to score himself, and even more moves to share the puck.  Duchene is like water in his ability to adapt and adjust to what the defense has offered at that time.  Not many guys in the entire league can do what Duchene can do.

Ryan O'Reilly can.  Well at least most of it.  O'Reilly is not the breathtaking trick skater that Duchene is, nor is he the pure playmaker, but he is the most consistent individual scorer on the team.

At least he appeared to be until we uncovered the magic of the rookie Nathan Mackinnon.  Mackinnon was too new for us to be sure that what we thought we were seeing was for real.  It's for real, and in a year the question will have to be asked again simply because of the rise of Mackinnon.

Paul Stastny is of legendary pedigree and has done little to disappoint an amazing family legacy, but when we thought we had drafted the leader for our future, Gabriel Landeskog came along to take that mantle and the team captain label as well.  Landeskog is the strongest player of the bunch and the most like Forsberg in stature and maybe even in his game.  Of the names mentioned above, Landeskog maintains the highest plus minus rating of +10.  He may not do as much to take your breath away as some of these other guys do regularly, but his steady play is a comfort to the entire team and the coaching staff.

While I eluded to the coaching staff,  Patrick Roy is as much a key to the resurgent Av's as anything, but I held his name back to withhold the answer to both of our questions.

Who was the best Av's player way back when.  Roy was, and similar to the impact that he had for the original Av's, Semyon Varlamov is having that impact for this bunch of developing players.  Varlamov has allowed these young Av's to successfully experience on the job training, and to avoid the depressive impact of losing with loads of talent.

Varlamov is not only our best player, he might be the reason that we compete for a Stanley Cup soon.  How soon is soon?  Ask Roy.  He recognizes the type of goal tending that wins championships.

Richard Sherman: He's the man, he's the man, he's the man....and we've all been duped.

To all of us who met Richard Sherman for the first time in the NFC Championships game, he did his best to impersonate the thug that he's been wrongly accused of all of his life.

Ironically, Sherman either ran out to tell everybody that he's the man, he's the man, in the locker room after the game winning play, or he already cut that commercial for the Beats by Dr. Dre headphones.  Before he and Dre' made it clear that he doesn't like that thug label, he told us in a poignant interview how guys from Compton that go to Stanford are an oxymoron.

Where did this Richard Sherman come from?  Given the odd release of that commercial and the coordinated misbehavior to support the marketing effort, I am left to wonder if that street smart, book smart oxymoron with dreads is pulling a fast one on us all.  Disregard that last sentence.  I know for certain that he is pulling a fast one on us.  He would be under utilizing his book and streets smarts to do any less.

Football is a game of big guys hitting other big guys and hoping you're the one who gets up in the end.  If you survive to have a long career, you are the beneficiary of luck and blessings that defy the typical career of an NFL player.  The NFL is not a guaranteed contract world like other pro sports, so you better front load your contract, and bleed the life out of any endorsement opportunity that you get.

When I wrote that the Richard  who made the amazing play, and later correctly used the word oxymoron in a sentence, was Dick'd by the loud mouth with vibrado, little did I know that he had already cashed the check that vibrado earned him.

Sherman will make a load of money before his days are done and could go down as one of the best who every played if he remains on this current path.  His game continues to cash the checks that his mouth writes for him, and his notoriety has gone viral with both lovers and haters joining together to justify his publicity stunt.

The beauty of intelligence is its power of self expression.  Richard Sherman is a beautifully self expressive person. To simply call him intelligent would miss the mark. His power of self expression is as impressive on the field as it is at the podium.  If by the end of his career he has maintained his thug image, than thugs should be proud.

Denver Nuggets Experiencing Rocky Mountain Season. Trading for new shoes may be the answer.

Rocky season is an understatement.  This mountain lifestyle is demanding the Nuggets be deft of foot.  With every misstep has come a slide.  We've learned to drive our pick ax into a crack to stop a slide, but we simply can't maintain our footing.

The best hope that we appeared to have for a late game closer would have been Danilo Galinari, but he's is not coming back at all this season (ACL surgery).  Even without him, Denver has proven themselves capable of beating any team in the league despite having to cross  fingers if the game is close late.

Every attempt that Brian Shaw makes to turn Ty Lawson into the all-star he hopes to become, he reverts into timid Ty who doesn't force his game upon late game situations.   The Nuggets have won and lost during nationally televised games this season.  Someone needs to tell Ty that these are the moments that all-stars are made from.  Tonight against Portland, the Nuggets lost a 15 point lead and ultimately the game late in Portland, but they did so as a result of second chance rebounds by the Blazers (sound familiar), and piss poor execution down the stretch themselves.

I  hate to pile on with this latest 3 game skid, but Lawson and the Nuggets have another national television audition against the Indiana Pacers this weekend.  Indiana is the team where Shaw coached  last season, so he should know a thing or two about this team. They play hard and fast, and have the closer we dream about in Paul George. They also have the NBA's best record.

Did I mention that the trade deadline is coming soon and players, especially young players, are afraid to be  traded and might be clenching a bit?  Teams on the edge of playoff potential like the Nuggets become buyers or sellers at these moments, but no one is clear about which one we will be.

I have called for a trade and may be leaning stronger towards the idea with the up and down trend of this team appearing to be the expected reality.  The trade deadline is February 20th and the all-star break will come a week earlier to create a needed break in the action.  Until then, we are what our record says we are.  A mediocre team with inconsistent focus and energy.  Without a closer, inconsistent energy and focus are death nails.

The future is uncertain because this team is way too capable of winning for us to turn our heads in disinterest, but it is hard to continue to watch a team that rarely displays the signs of winning it all.  Introducing the fans to the future of this team with Evan Fournier and Quincy Miller is valuable, but only to the extent that someone is still in the Pepsi center stands to care about the future.

Our best play may be to call around and shop Carmelo Anthony to someone for the New York Knicks who we are counting on losing a lot since we have their first round pick next year.  I am okay with building for the future, but I am not okay with missing out on a robust trade market.  Right now their are impact players who are plentiful and ripe for the picking.  Will the Nuggets play or pass is the question.  The answer remains close to the vest of Nuggets brass.

Did Obama Succeed With The Iranian Nuclear Agreement? What About Syria?

Iran will have to dismantle and halt a significant part of their nuclear program within six months. This is a victory for America and for our allies, but you wouldn't know it if you listened to the Iranian officials.


The six month timeline is both an element of the negotiation and an acceptance of our total lack of trust in Iran.  In the journey to make America safe by making the world safer, are we falling down on the job?  Let John McCain tell it, Barack Obama is worse than Jimmy Carter.

Before Iran, there was the Syrian issue that McCain is referring to. Obama chose to spray the blood of the Syrian decision all over congress by testing them for congressional approval before taking military action as other presidents have done in the past.  Congress had cold feet too.

Barack Obama has done the absolute next best thing that you can do when you declare to the world that you have cold feet to war. We have functionally declared to all of our enemies that this is a great time to test our limits and spread your wings a bit (which explains the al Qaeda resurgence).  Is Iran really content with the victory that they are claiming over Obama or is this simple political rhetoric?  Here's the CNN report on this one.

Sunday at 10 a.m. on "Fareed Zakaria GPS"

(CNN) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif insisted Wednesday that the Obama administration mis-characterizes concessions by his side in the six-month nuclear deal with Iran, telling CNN in an exclusive interview that "we did not agree to dismantle anything."

To me the question is laughable.  Zarif has to ease sanctions without losing control over a politically volatile nation.  How do you satisfy the skepticism of Americans who insisted on longer, tougher, harder sanctions without sacrificing your own image at home?  There is simply not much Zarif could have said differently and there should be no one who expected otherwise.  As white house press secretary Jay Carney declared "we are much more interested in what they do......"

Carney is right, but I  almost agree with John McCain.  Despite his back handed compliment of Jimmy Carter, Carter was our best international relations president in modern history and none of those who followed, including Obama, accomplished more in this area. The stock market and our entire way of life changes when our enemies discover how to bring the war to America's soil like 9-11.  Sometimes you must negotiate with your enemy (Iran) and other times you must insist that they realize where the line is drawn (Syria).

Barack Obama has failed America in part because he verbalized our weariness.Our military action against Syria needed to be for the sake of humanity at large and even Russia must be made to realize where society will draw the line. 
 

To Obama's credit, he declared that he would act without congress, causing Russia to force Syria to give up the weapons.  Yet, have we uncovered them all, and will those who did these crimes against humanity  be prosecuted accordingly?   Our role in the world should be as the negotiator until the hour of negotiation has passed.  Within a righteous nation, war should never be a choice, but the responsibility of privilege.

Mental Health Should Become Focus Of Affordable Care Act

I realize that most of our debate over healthcare has been an unhealthy debate over health insurance premiums and provider networks, but I suspect that we might move past all of this stuff when it becomes a normal part of everyday life.

For now I will simply dream of the day that healthcare, as a matter of debate, brings us closer to healthcare as a matter of civic responsibility.  More importantly, it might be time to closely examine the healthcare conversation as it relates to mental health.  Many of our current societal shortcomings can be traced back to the root cause of mental illness.

Mental illness appears in the PTSD of homeless soldiers or personality disorder for their homeless friend.  We have mental illness with our children who are shooting up schools  when they commit suicide, or the mental illness of those who haphazardly allow kids access to guns.  We recognize the need and offer free mental healthcare for the surviving children, even if only for a short time.

Mental illness is impacting the parents who are suffering from the depression of a lost career.  Mental illness  extends itself into our children who continue to see the destruction of the American family happening before their eyes, and grow up blaming themselves for it.  Even our physical health, which has suffered due to the lack of affordable healthcare options, is better than our mental health which, by and large, gets ignored as a separate problem and not the actual root. We won't even begin to discuss mental healthcare for convicted felons (another blog for another day).

When we stop yelling about the cause and discuss ideas for a solution, we may finally agree on the problem.  Abortion will never be removed by laws so must be minimized through mental health support.  School shootings will never be eliminated with tougher gun laws but could improve with better mental health screening of at risk children.  Depression, PTSD, personality disorders are all common problems with common solutions that begin in the office of a mental health professional.

The physical health of our nation is connected to the mental health of each individual.  Affordable care is important, but proper care is vital.  It would be exceedingly sad for us to usher in the era of universal care for all and remain functionally just as sick as before.

In fact it would be more than sad.  It would be crazy.

If Preserving Life Matters, Should We Re-examine The Womb To Tomb Debate?

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named
Samuel Alexander Armas, who grabs a finger while being
operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner. 

I am a Christian and fully torn over the abortion issue, especially in this era of knowledge.  Our claim of ignorance does not ring to be true in this enlightened age.  Access to birth control and even the day after pill should allow us to reconsider the conversation about abortion and consider setting limits.

Unfortunately, that is probably as likely to happen as getting the NRA to support a gun ban.  While I use that analogy partly in jest, I am starting to believe that we may need to connect these issues together like a rope.  If preserving life matters, do we need to re-examine the womb to tomb ideology.  After all, life is precious from beginning to end even if we debate over when the beginning begins.

Moreover, the voices of those who long for comprehensive gun legislation have been known to support women's reproductive freedoms. Conversely, gun rights advocates scream hypocrisy at their opponents who support abortions while fighting for the lives school children.

The voices are singing a similar message, just not in harmony.  If the genuine motive of each side is to save lives, then the agenda of each has matrimonial potential.

We seriously do not need to allow every form of abortion anymore.  This notion becomes restrictive of more people than one imagines when attempting to legislate it.  Some people who get abortions are poor and disadvantaged, but abortions are not cheap so I have a hunch that more than just poor people are keeping this industry alive.  Gender selection abortions?  Late term abortions? There must be some way to save more lives than we currently do.

Especially in our schools. Even if we arm ourselves at every entrance of our school, we do so in order to shoot down our mentally ill kids. Is this a knee jerk reaction or a long term solution?  Will we persist in shooting at suicidal children instead of rescuing them if we can?  I wouldn't care if gun's became less restrictive for most as long as they become more restrictive for the people who need such restrictions.

When it gets down to it, the only way we save lives from womb to tomb is to offer mental health education
and intervention efforts.  If preserving life matters, that is.

Mental illness is addressed in the aftermath of school shootings but rarely before.

Official press release for recent school shooting in Pennsylvania.

When I researched this recent school shooting, I was listening to a news report that spoke of 5 school shootings in the past week.  

Towards the end of this letter, the school promises ongoing mental health personnel for all of the students and a heightened security posture.  Within a short while, the mental health workers will leave and assume all is well and the security standards will drop back to normal awareness levels.

If you ask the conservatives what the solution is, they don't really offer one, they simply point out that these shootings are happening in gun free zone's.  Somehow the rule that seeks to keep the potential for gun violence away from our schools is getting in the way of the shootout with crazy children who kill.  The goal inherent to this idea is keeping deaths to a smaller number.   Hopefully just one or a few people (and the gunmen) would be considered a success I imagine.  

Opponents of guns have questioned the reason that children have access to guns and whether or not we should simply deal with gun access through proper background checks and an examination of gun safety in the home. Gun advocates defy the connection between suicide killers and access to guns because suicide killers could use knives or any other means of murder.  It is hard to imagine them gaining access to something more dangerous than a gun, but the point is legitimate.

Here is where I get really confused by proponents of guns.  Often they blame the absence of God in our schools for the loss of morality and the subsequent killings, but then they declare that opponents are foolish if they think we can rid evil from our schools.  Apparently, only God can intervene in the lives of mentally ill children who might be considering suicide by mass murder.  Mental health professionals are only useful after someone gets killed in the school.  

Mental illness and the killing it causes may not be preventable, but it is detectable.

Freedom won't allow us to profile our own children in this way, but I am sure that we could.  We must be free from scrutiny and free to bear arms anywhere we want and we need to be free from religious oppression and free to worship in our schools as well. The land of the free, but are we very brave? With all of these freedoms, we sacrifice our children's freedom to feel safe at school . 

I sense a rise in home schooling soon.

Obama Blames Racism For Low Polls. Is racism the town that we grew up in but never like to visit?

Should Obama remind us of  black and white America?

For many years, Barack Obama carried the duty to usher in the notion of a post racial society in order to convince enough white people, whom he desperately needed to win the white house, that he would not be the guy to remind them of this shame.

Black media pundits across the spectrum screamed at the notion of a post racial America and even balked at the term, but there is both a legitimacy and a  fallacy to this notion.  I recently watched a host on  the 5pm Fox news program admit that to be called a racist these days is so hurtful to whites that it often will end the conversation before it starts.  At that moment, I started to understand the extent of white guilt relative to race.

We are in post racial America, but only to the extent that political correctness demands.  The anger towards any person who invokes the issue of race is something that works to silence the conversation in more ways than the Fox host realizes.  It is unfair to be judgmental of white America for the tendency towards this anger because they are inspired by the same spirit that divides us all through racial intolerance.  These divisive spirits work to keep most blacks FAR away from their real feelings about race in fear that they will be accused of using the race card when expressing genuine concerns.

Black Americans have been forced into skillful expressions of  feelings on racism because it is clear that most white people are still incapable of objectively dealing with it. The most insecure of whites have learned how to turn the mirror of racism around towards race accusers pointing out another absolute truth to deflect from their own shortcoming.

What I have learned in marriage is that there are a lot of issue's that legitimately deserve to be addressed, but it simply isn't smart to try and cover them all in one sitting.  If black racism towards whites is an issue that requires conversation (and it does) in order to freely turn the mirror around as the president has done, then lets finish one of these conversations and stop pretending that two wrongs makes it not worth discussing.

If America did not experience financial meltdown, would we have voted for a black man?  If a white man had achieved similar accomplishments since the days of the meltdown, would he have gained better poll numbers?  These feel like legitimate questions, but maybe only because my skin is brown as well.  Maybe the mere election of Obama is enough of a transcending of race to say that race is no longer enough of an issue to reference anymore.  Maybe there is a new post racial reality that deserves a legitimate examination to help advance black America out of needless contempt.

What I know for sure is there are some people who do not wish to travel down this road ever again and are enraged that the president would dare take us into the black and white neighborhood of our past.  It simply is a town that some just don't care to visit anymore.

Was Wes Welker Cheap For Hitting Aqib Talib? (Or is Belicheck Whining)

When the word got out that Wes Welker had received a slight ringing of the bell, he was targeted.

On a couple of plays in the first Kansas City game, it was clear to me that the Chiefs needed to shut down Welker.  They hit him with purpose every time they had a chance until one of the hits rung his bell.  When he showed up out on the field against New England and Kansas City in the weeks following the first ringing of the bell, he was hit hard with every opportunity.

Finally against Tennessee, he took a pedestrian hit that cracked the bell in two.  Two things are for certain.  If you are not a great player, no one cares if you are injured, and if you are a great player and injured, you will be tested.

Aqib Talib got tested and failed.  He got tested in a way that corner backs and safeties tested Welker for weeks before he finally broke down.  Talib was fragile and is the best player in the Patriot backfield.  He had to be tested, and he got tested in the only way that receivers get to test DB's, on a cross field block.

This play was illegal in regards to the rules of football, but must have been viewed by official on the field as an accidental collision.  Accidental collisions happen all the time, but even accidents can take you out if you are playing while fragile.  Welker can tell you first hand because he had been targeted for weeks before he was forced to sit out and to get a space helmet before returning to the field.  Running around with a space helmet demands a little extra strength from the neck because you have a little more weight and a lot more incentive to keep your head on a swivel.

Welker had every reason to play the game with a self preservation mindset, and even on the Talib hit, he could have run the risk of Talib recognizing the collision and raising a defensive forearm at the head level.  Because he did not give the worse, Talib got the worse of a shoulder to shoulder hit.  Watching the rest of the action, Talib proceeds to limp off of the field from a hit to his shoulder and chest area.  If that caused him a leg strain, he was playing with an injury that would have probably made him go down eventually.

Welker did what any smart player or smart team should do to an all-pro player with possible injuries.  They tested him and he failed.  Talib probably was the key to any hope of a Patriot win, but Patriot coach Bill Belicheck should have prepared for this eventuality.

Next man up coach.

Peyton Manning Must Overcome Voices Of Skeptics, Not Seahawks

Superbowl's are the pinnacle of team sport championships.  With the other major sports, a series of games crowns a champion so there is simply no way to dispute who is the best team.  Football is 2 parts preparation and 1 part luck.  When two teams bring similar preparation and talent, they had better hope everyone remains healthy, and there is no adverse weather to increase the necessity of luck.

The Denver Broncos enter into this year's Superbowl as an uncertain favorite.  The educated sports world has seen this scene before, and it rarely ends with Peyton Manning walking off of the stage in victory.  Even now, the game opened with Vegas on the doubting end of this Peyton Manning story.  Why did Vegas open at 2 points for the Seattle Seahawks?  Because Vegas feels the same way about Manning as most of his skeptics.

As fate would have it, Manning has placed his future in the hands of a man (and a team) who has surely walked in his shoes.  John Elway reminds me of Bill Clinton.  At one time in his career, Elway was very much maligned and developed a sizable crowd of skeptics too.  Despite his success, he had to win and walk away to define his legacy.  Like Clinton, we simply remember more of the good than the bad as time goes by.

Unlike Manning, Elway did not dominate the statistics year after year. Unlike Elway, Manning has not even played for as many championships as Elway lost.  To play in a Superbowl is legendary stuff.  To win them is mythical.  You will never be treated like football royalty until you wear the football crown and have a ring or more for both hands. Jim Kelly was an amazing player that is mostly forgotten.

Manning is one game away from rewriting his story a bit.  Along the way, he will have to overcome the doubt of millions of skeptics who expect the Broncos to win but do not see Manning as a winner.  If fans are described a the 12th man, then Manning skeptics might be the 13th.  Fair or unfair, Manning will need to silence the unlucky 13th man who lives in his head in order to be a champion again.

Free from the voices, he could win two.

Richard Being Richard? Sherman Only Dick'd Himself

Richard Sherman is the best cornerback in the league.  He is also now the most revered.

I had always heard of Richard Sherman and have watched as many Seattle Seahawk games as my Bronco colored lifestyle can stand.  He strikes me as an exceptional tackler and a really good cover guy, but it is his thunder that he's made his name for.  Sherman brings the thunder when he plays, and opponents who get a chance to catch the ball will either pay dearly, lose the ball or both.

The last guy who had this status of best of, Darrell Revis, is not the kind of player to lock you up and knock you out like Sherman.  In his prime, Champ Bailey covered and tackled well, but is not considered a thunderous hitter. Not Deion Sanders, not Champ not even Darrell Green.   Sherman might be the first cornerback with the speed of a corner but the sting of a safety.

I say all of that to say that his game left a calling card long before we got to meet him on the highest stage.  As we sit back to consider the question of who is now the best corner in the game, we are probably lying if we put anyone above this guy.  The problem with this consideration is that we usually like to bring up these questions on our own and allow them to develop obvious conclusions.  Richard Sherman's mouth declared for us all what his game had already said more eloquently.  He sounded like the guy who talks stuff to get his game going and doesn't yet have the wisdom to shut it off when dignity demands.

Actually, that's exactly who he is.

Millions who praised his play as their first introduction to this legendary talent, instantly revered him for his legendary rant. Is there power derived from the collective power of those who are rooting against you?  Maybe not, but I would not want to imagine how many advertising executives had the Richard Sherman light bulb go off with that deflection, and then crushed it soon after the game.

Richard was a Dick.

The Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos once shared a division, now share a bowl.

The sun rose in the Colorado sky with that familiar orange glow.  It glows orange all the time but we notice it more when the Denver Broncos are victorious. Especially over Tom Brady.

In the moments leading up to the contest, I tried my best to avoid watching interviews with Tom Brady, but I did not succeed.  Brady resorted to the under dog motivation tactic in claiming that no one really gave them much of a chance all season long.  The truth is, we did not give your team much of a chance.  Everyone has been forced to accept the greatness that is Brady, regardless of how bad the team is.

Manning is a much more humble quarterback legend.  He hasn't achieved as much as Brady, but you never found yourself rooting against Peyton Manning, even when he wasn't a Bronco.  Brady is a full fledged love him or hate him character which means he is really really good and really bad at hiding how good he knows he is.

For the Broncos to defeat the Patriots 26-16 Sunday at Mile High, they had to overcome a legend with a lot on the line.  In the end, it was clear that the inspiration of our legends was much greater than the fear of theirs.  Champ Bailey and Peyton Manning are leaders worth winning for.  Their leadership, on and off the field, has inspired this team to play for each other in a way that appears to be unstoppable, but they'll face a stiff challenge in former division rival, the Seattle Seahawks

When the Vegas line opened up for the Broncos .v. Patriots game, the Broncos were favored by 10 points.  Vegas had it right, but they also opened the upcoming Superbowl line with Seattle beating Denver by 2 points.  Within 1  hour that line moved to Denver by 2 points. It is always hard to really know what Vegas is up to, but the early line says that if Seattle wins, it won't be by a field goal.

Early polls gauging fan support for these two teams has Denver in a landslide.  The only states on the map that had Seattle winning the Superbowl happened to be in the Seattle area and in the New England area.(haters).  Early polling of a Seattle player declared that this would be the leagues best offense against the league's best defense, but was he overlooking the team that held Brady to 16 points in the biggest game of the season.

If the same defense that shut down Brady shows up against Russell Wilson and the Seahawk's, then we are likely to crown Denver the champions of the NFL.  This Superbowl  might make us begin next season with new questions about who truly is the best defense in the league, and does legalizing marijuana and professional football performance have a correlation.

2016 Campaign Is Under Way. With or Without The Candidates.

Elections are beginning to feel like Christmas.  They begin too early and last too long.

Ready or not, here comes Clinton .vs. Christie.  Currently the campaign posters say Benghazi versus Bridgegate.  Soon it will sound like ObamaCare; the good, the bad and the ugly.  Two of those three images will benefit conservatives and should not be hard to accentuate unless the good of Obamacare gets pretty darn good.  Christie is certainly a fast enough talker to sale the bad and the ugly, but will he get the chance and will it be enough?

Benghazi is a dead story that will play to the ear of the electorate for no other reason than the dead that were involved.  Bridgate will become a continued series of "no comments" from Christie until it finally fades a bit.  My hunch is that Clinton and Christie will functionally silence their own sides by agreeing not to talk about these matters.

Sadly, that moratorium is at least another year away.  In the mean time, we had best prepare for each side of the media war to prematurely litigate the case for their candidates.  Both political party's are prone to follow the winds created by today's media, and today's media has spoken.

This race is on.  With or without the candidates.

Related Posts:

• GOP Goes All In Against ObamaCare.  How much is at stake?
• Libertarians Carrying Conservative Message into political jungle.
• Why Did Christie Shut Down The Bridge?
• Will 3 month UI extension take 3 months to pass?

Obama NSA Speech Offers No Real Change Except More Oversight

NSA records about 5 billion cellphone locations daily.
"We can and should be more transparent" says Obama.

Every morning president Barack Obama wakes up to national security intelligence updates.  Every morning for the past 5 years (1825 days).

When you and I are wishing our coffee could automatically find its way into our veins, he has already ingested potential threats to the safety of America. Every morning.

No wonder Obama and Bush mirror each other on this issue.

If there is anything of real value that we can take away from his speech, it is the reality that everything we wish to recapture from before 9-11 is no longer coming back.  Our world is now subject to the impact of terrorism and is thus subject to the demand of diligence and vigilance.


President Obama did a fabulous job at easing the concerns of our citizens and our allies, even as he reminded everyone of our leadership role concerning technology and or duty relative to technological security worldwide.  By March 28th, the NSA program will come under congressional review demanding they vote to end or extend the program.  Since this program  was a reactionary response to a social crisis, the NSA data collection practices and procedures have never been subject to a reasonable debate.  In today's speech, president Obama encouraged that debate, and offered a few other basic proposals that will end up informing us of what we should already know.

There is nothing we can do about curtailing this governmental power because we have yet to discover the extent of its necessity in the worldwide battle against terrorism.  We know that out of control powers can abuse this information, but there is really no way of closing pandora's meta data box or breaching the confidentiality demands of those we've entrusted with our safety and security.

In the war of protecting ourselves from the unknown, the standard for what should remain unknown has yet to be determined.

Related Topics:  Drones and Cellphones.  Is the cost of freedom too high?

Related Topics:  NSA Phone Records Debate Ignites Government Conspiracy Theories