Tonight I witnessed one of the greatest displays of true team basketball that I have seen in the NBA in quite some time. A team led by three guys who could have thrown away a beautiful regular season and it's potential storybook ending by letting their egos get in the way of their success.....Oh but wait.....I forgot......these three guys don't have egos.....They have humility and a willingness to sacrifice individual glory for the greater goal.....
No one who watches basketball needs me to mention their names but I will anyway. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. Tonight we saw a glaring example of why there is no "I" in team.....and why a person who some consider the best player in the game proved that he is not.....I don't need to mention his name either, but I will.....Kobe Bryant.
Tonight Boston played flawlessly in embarrassing the Lakers by 39 points in the decisive game 6 of the NBA finals. Kobe's line? 22 points on 31.8% shooting, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 4 turnovers. Kobe was the only guy with more than 8 shots for the Lakers, while Boston had 4 players with 12 or more shots. The Celtics had 19 more rebounds, and nearly double the number of assists of the Lakers. The Celts also had 4 blocked shots and 18 steals.
They proved that they were the better team, and in the process showed Kobe Bryant to be what I've always thought he was.....A good scorer, but not a person to lead a team. Put Chris Paul in a Laker uniform instead of Bryant and the Lakers might be hanging that banner.....or.....Deron Williams.....Andre Miller.....maybe even Brandon Roy or Raymond Felton.
Give the Lakers a true UNSELFISH point guard who understands that the key to success is to be good enough to make everyone around you better and the Lakers will hang a banner. Keep Kobe as the focal point of that team and they will continue to fall short. Michael Jordan got it. Larry Bird and Magic too.....They all understood the concept of being a team. Kobe understands nothing more than being Kobe.
The Lakers are a good team, and the Zen Master is a good coach. Kobe is as good as there is at one-on-one basketball, but too often he lets his ego get in the way of remembering that there are 4 other guys on the floor. Jordan has 6 rings because he made everyone around him better. Without Kobe we would finally find out how good the Lakers really are.....Lamar Odom should be a perennial all-star, as should Pau Gasol, but as long as they are wearing Laker uniforms we will never know how good they could be because Kobe will NEVER share the spotlight. In typical Tinsel-Town fashion there can be only one star on the stage.....One Headliner.....One person with top billing.....and in Kobe's eyes that should be Kobe......and that is why the Lakers will never be able to beat a team like the Celtics.....A team with THREE superstars, each of whom recognizes that success is predicated on supplanting individual accolades for the good of the whole unit. THREE tremendous talents who have humility above all else.....THREE true gentlemen and class acts who understand that though they play a kids game, it's still work, and that to achieve success they have to work together.....
Congratulations to Doc Rivers and the boys for a job well done.....Hope to see you back again next year.....Thanks for a great season!
Yes amazingly enough I do have other interests than complaining about the ineffectiveness of our government in taking care fo the REAL needs of the citizenry of our nation.....
Good Day!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tomatoes.....This shouldn't be that hard.
As we continue to get alarmist reporting from the various media about the Salmonella infected tomatoes something is truly lacking.....
We get reports about what "States" have been cleared, but we continue to hear virtually NOTHING about imported tomatoes from Mexico.....I "finally" found mention today in one article, about 6 paragraphs down that Mexican imported tomatoes have "not been ruled out" as the culprit.....
Why the abnormal "sensitivity" and political correctness about this? I don't understand that when we are talking about OUR citizen's health!
Tomatoes, like most of our produce, have little stickers on them that tell you where they were grown, or at least who the company is that's selling them to the grocer. They are identifiable by lot number, and it's not that hard to figure out where each lot came from. The distributor has records and those can then be used to back trace to the grower. IT AIN'T ROCKET SCIENCE!!!
You can't tell me that all 167 people who have an illness that can be attributed to these tomatoes only bought ONE frigging tomato and that the stickers are gone so they have no way to back trace them.....That's absurd, and patently under-estimates the intelligence (or over-estimates the stupidity and gullibility....your choice) of the people of this country.
The FDA seems to be working much harder to protect political sensitivities of some at the expense of a quick and thorough investigation to protect the people that it is charged to protect.
If indeed Mexican tomatoes are responsible I think we need to re-examine our trade rules with that nation to make sure that what we import from there is in compliance with the same standards that manufacturers and commercial growers in this country are held to.
And while we're at it.....HEY CHINA! PAY ATTENTION! YOU'RE NEXT! So keep the lead out of the toys and dental porcelain and anything else you send over here.....Oh and keep the poisoned pet food over there as well.....Some of us like our dogs and cats.....
I don't want a Ford built in Mexico, I'll never be convinced it's as good as a Ford made here. I know that "Stanley" hammers made in Mexico aren't even in the same universe as a "Vaughn" hammer made right here at home.....and like many people who buy and use hand tools I'll spend the extra money on quality when I know I'll only need to buy it ONCE, instead of buying a cheap one and replacing it every couple of years.....
I'm all for free trade as long as it's a level playing field, but when price compromises safety and/or durability I draw the line.
I know that most consumers in the U.S. are price shoppers and consider too many of their purchases to be "disposable" instead of durable. That IS a problem, but when I go to Office Max and I can't find a hole punch NOT made in China regardless of price, something is wrong......Same thing when I go to the grocery store and need a kitchen gadget.....all made in China regardless of price.....It's truly sad.....
About the only thing that I saw at the grocers that was not made in China was a wok.....Which I found really funny in an ironic sort of way.....but perhaps they think that we just like hole punches, kitchen gadgets, and any number of other "disposable" things.....but not Asian food.....
Of all the things that the Chinese make for the consumer market in the U.S. one would think that the one item they could make flawlessly would be a wok.....I would think that they probably make a few of those each year for domestic sale in China......Wouldn't you?
Good day!
We get reports about what "States" have been cleared, but we continue to hear virtually NOTHING about imported tomatoes from Mexico.....I "finally" found mention today in one article, about 6 paragraphs down that Mexican imported tomatoes have "not been ruled out" as the culprit.....
Why the abnormal "sensitivity" and political correctness about this? I don't understand that when we are talking about OUR citizen's health!
Tomatoes, like most of our produce, have little stickers on them that tell you where they were grown, or at least who the company is that's selling them to the grocer. They are identifiable by lot number, and it's not that hard to figure out where each lot came from. The distributor has records and those can then be used to back trace to the grower. IT AIN'T ROCKET SCIENCE!!!
You can't tell me that all 167 people who have an illness that can be attributed to these tomatoes only bought ONE frigging tomato and that the stickers are gone so they have no way to back trace them.....That's absurd, and patently under-estimates the intelligence (or over-estimates the stupidity and gullibility....your choice) of the people of this country.
The FDA seems to be working much harder to protect political sensitivities of some at the expense of a quick and thorough investigation to protect the people that it is charged to protect.
If indeed Mexican tomatoes are responsible I think we need to re-examine our trade rules with that nation to make sure that what we import from there is in compliance with the same standards that manufacturers and commercial growers in this country are held to.
And while we're at it.....HEY CHINA! PAY ATTENTION! YOU'RE NEXT! So keep the lead out of the toys and dental porcelain and anything else you send over here.....Oh and keep the poisoned pet food over there as well.....Some of us like our dogs and cats.....
I don't want a Ford built in Mexico, I'll never be convinced it's as good as a Ford made here. I know that "Stanley" hammers made in Mexico aren't even in the same universe as a "Vaughn" hammer made right here at home.....and like many people who buy and use hand tools I'll spend the extra money on quality when I know I'll only need to buy it ONCE, instead of buying a cheap one and replacing it every couple of years.....
I'm all for free trade as long as it's a level playing field, but when price compromises safety and/or durability I draw the line.
I know that most consumers in the U.S. are price shoppers and consider too many of their purchases to be "disposable" instead of durable. That IS a problem, but when I go to Office Max and I can't find a hole punch NOT made in China regardless of price, something is wrong......Same thing when I go to the grocery store and need a kitchen gadget.....all made in China regardless of price.....It's truly sad.....
About the only thing that I saw at the grocers that was not made in China was a wok.....Which I found really funny in an ironic sort of way.....but perhaps they think that we just like hole punches, kitchen gadgets, and any number of other "disposable" things.....but not Asian food.....
Of all the things that the Chinese make for the consumer market in the U.S. one would think that the one item they could make flawlessly would be a wok.....I would think that they probably make a few of those each year for domestic sale in China......Wouldn't you?
Good day!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Economic Crisis in the United States.....It's time for something new.
I keep reading these stories of economic growth all over the industrial world. Yet we are stagnant at best, and continue to ship our national wealth abroad.....For petroleum products.....For cheap goods made overseas.......For foreign aid that is of no benefit to us either economically or politically, since many of the courtries receiving it hate us, will contiue to hate us, and have no interest in "not" hating us because we are a convenient target for all that is wrong with the world.
What do these growing economies have in common? A willingness to use their natural resources to generate wealth, and a willingness to produce goods that the rest of the world needs, and wants.
The biggest problems we have in this country are an industrial base incapable of thinking beyond the current fiscal quarter, a government with absolutely no spine to make decisions that would be beneficial to the "people" rather than the special interests, and a consumer base that won't pay a few more pennies for a better quality product made right here at home.
Russia is getting fat on revenue from Oil and Natural Gas. China is getting fat on making household goods that every one of us uses every day. The collected nations of the middle east are getting just plain obese on their natural resource revenues, as would be Nigeria and Venezuela if their respective governments weren't controlled by whack-a-doos.
No one will ever be able to convince me that we can't make a pizza cutter or a can opener better than the Chinese. No one can convince me that we can't make those products and be competitive in the market against the Chinese if we really wanted to. Yet why isn't it done? Because outsourcing the production looks better on the bottom line for the BIG investors. The bigger the profits the more attractive the Stock.
NAFTA encouraged outsourcing. Other "Free Trade" agreements encouraged the importation of cheap products, and more outsourcing. Government policy pandering to special interests handcuffs our few remaining sources of industry and resource acquisition. Even much of our mining is now done by companies outside of the United States. Canadian companies are mining our copper, silver, and gold for their benefit, not ours.
Yet we remain complacent even as our oil and gas prices skyrocket, our food prices are rising, and we become poorer as a nation.....
What can WE do?.....or more appropriately.....What we CAN do!
Lobby your congress-people to stop this current fiasco with ethanol for starters.....The technology hasn't changed in 100 years, and isn't ready. We need to EAT corn, not BURN it. Our government needs to suspend ethanol requirements immediately and indefinitely. Food crops should be just that......FOOD!
Drive less.....Easy to do.....but not convenient sometimes.....Stop at the store on the way home from work instead of making a special trip. Many of us live fairly close to a grocery store. If you need a bag of chips on saturday ride your bike, because you might need the exercise as much as you need the chips.
Be creative about your recreational use of fuel. Do you really need to tow the boat to the lake each time you want to use it? Is there a friend who lives on the lake who has a dock? Is there a boat dock that will allow you to tie up for a small fee? When you think about the gas you will save by "not" towing the thing the cost might be a wash.....
If your teenagers don't have their own cars.....hmmmm would it kill them to ride their bikes? It's bad enough they are spoiled with their own computers, cell phones, iPods etc. They should be EARNING the money to buy those luxuries.....If they do have their own cars.....Make them EARN the money for gas.....You won't have to pay a landscaping outfit if your kid mows the yard.....Hmmmm and you might just be doing something to discourage illegal immigration in the process.
Lobby your congress-persons to stop the global warming unilateralism talk.....Ultimately this will cripple whats left of our economy. Don't think for one hot second that China, India, and Russia have any intentions of slowing their economies because of the "threat" of global warming. The science just isn't there to support the theory that WE are causing most of it. I find it ironic that most of the statistics around global warming mention Carbon Dioxide as the chief culprit..... Carbon Dioxide is.......wait for it......think 5th grade earth science.....yep you guessed it! Carbon Dioxide is.....what plants breathe to create oxygen!......
Lobby your congress-persons to get serious about our oil and gas needs. Our first refinery in 30 years is being constructed in South Dakota......we only need about 10 more.....but! This refinery will be refining CANADIAN oil......Lobby your congress-persons to open the outer continental shelf and the arctic sea to production. In the Arctic sea.....If we don't produce it, the Russians will. This is a situation where you need to think in three dimensions.....Russia isn't some faraway land. It's just a short hop over the ice.....a few hours by plane. Ideally the postage stamp sized piece of ANWR would be nice too, but Nobody in our government has the balls to do what's right for the citizenry in that arena.....
The financial markets are weak, but they aren't going to get any stronger by using gimmickery to show profits. Banks need to stay in the BANKING business.....Mortgages shouldn't be traded like stocks. I'm not saying there should be more regulation. I'm saying that the executives of these financial institutions NEED to think more clearly for the long term growth in their businesses, rather than trying to find the next best way to make a quick buck.
Our Government needs to be more proactive in dong what is necessary to protect what's left of our economy, starting with making the hard choices about energy. In previous posts I've talked about energy independence.....Now for a few of the other hard choices.
The Fed needs to raise interest rates by a full 50 basis points on Monday. Yes in the short term that will cause some turmoil in the banking industry, but it will show we are serious in taking action to protect the value of the dollar. That in conjunction with some REAL leadership on the development of our natural resources would cut the price of oil by 20% or more in a week. We saw the price drop for $135 a barrel to $122 a barrel when we sent a weak signal that we "might" consider doing something about taking care of the potential inflationary cycle. When this proved to be false hope oil prices rocketed back up to another record.
Double the tax-credits for Solar research and development, and offer a 10 year tax exemption to the first company to develop and bring to market a solar panel that meets certain requirements in terms of energy creation.....Maybe 750 watts of usable electricity out of a panel the same size that produces 150 watts now.....and will be sold for about the same price.
Unilaterally declare a 100% tariff on Chinese goods imported to the United States until they untie the value of their currency (the Yuan) from ours. Chinese goods are cheap here in great part due to the fact that the Chinese artificially keep the value of their currency tied to ours. We are their largest trading partner, and it is to their benefit, not ours, that their currency be valued as a constant to ours so they can maintain their competitive advantage in our market.
Anyone care to explain to me how this helps keep manufacturing here at home?
These are just a few of the many options we have to stabilize our economy. It's time that we remember that we are a NATION of people with common interests and not just a loose collection of people with the freedom to do whatever we wish. Living in a Constitutional Republic provides us with freedoms not enjoyed in many other places in the world, but we need to be mindful that keeping those freedoms requires that WE, as citizens have a level of responsibilty to PROTECT our ability to have those FREEDOMS that is unequaled by the responsibilities of the citizenry of any other nation.
Good day!
What do these growing economies have in common? A willingness to use their natural resources to generate wealth, and a willingness to produce goods that the rest of the world needs, and wants.
The biggest problems we have in this country are an industrial base incapable of thinking beyond the current fiscal quarter, a government with absolutely no spine to make decisions that would be beneficial to the "people" rather than the special interests, and a consumer base that won't pay a few more pennies for a better quality product made right here at home.
Russia is getting fat on revenue from Oil and Natural Gas. China is getting fat on making household goods that every one of us uses every day. The collected nations of the middle east are getting just plain obese on their natural resource revenues, as would be Nigeria and Venezuela if their respective governments weren't controlled by whack-a-doos.
No one will ever be able to convince me that we can't make a pizza cutter or a can opener better than the Chinese. No one can convince me that we can't make those products and be competitive in the market against the Chinese if we really wanted to. Yet why isn't it done? Because outsourcing the production looks better on the bottom line for the BIG investors. The bigger the profits the more attractive the Stock.
NAFTA encouraged outsourcing. Other "Free Trade" agreements encouraged the importation of cheap products, and more outsourcing. Government policy pandering to special interests handcuffs our few remaining sources of industry and resource acquisition. Even much of our mining is now done by companies outside of the United States. Canadian companies are mining our copper, silver, and gold for their benefit, not ours.
Yet we remain complacent even as our oil and gas prices skyrocket, our food prices are rising, and we become poorer as a nation.....
What can WE do?.....or more appropriately.....What we CAN do!
Lobby your congress-people to stop this current fiasco with ethanol for starters.....The technology hasn't changed in 100 years, and isn't ready. We need to EAT corn, not BURN it. Our government needs to suspend ethanol requirements immediately and indefinitely. Food crops should be just that......FOOD!
Drive less.....Easy to do.....but not convenient sometimes.....Stop at the store on the way home from work instead of making a special trip. Many of us live fairly close to a grocery store. If you need a bag of chips on saturday ride your bike, because you might need the exercise as much as you need the chips.
Be creative about your recreational use of fuel. Do you really need to tow the boat to the lake each time you want to use it? Is there a friend who lives on the lake who has a dock? Is there a boat dock that will allow you to tie up for a small fee? When you think about the gas you will save by "not" towing the thing the cost might be a wash.....
If your teenagers don't have their own cars.....hmmmm would it kill them to ride their bikes? It's bad enough they are spoiled with their own computers, cell phones, iPods etc. They should be EARNING the money to buy those luxuries.....If they do have their own cars.....Make them EARN the money for gas.....You won't have to pay a landscaping outfit if your kid mows the yard.....Hmmmm and you might just be doing something to discourage illegal immigration in the process.
Lobby your congress-persons to stop the global warming unilateralism talk.....Ultimately this will cripple whats left of our economy. Don't think for one hot second that China, India, and Russia have any intentions of slowing their economies because of the "threat" of global warming. The science just isn't there to support the theory that WE are causing most of it. I find it ironic that most of the statistics around global warming mention Carbon Dioxide as the chief culprit..... Carbon Dioxide is.......wait for it......think 5th grade earth science.....yep you guessed it! Carbon Dioxide is.....what plants breathe to create oxygen!......
Lobby your congress-persons to get serious about our oil and gas needs. Our first refinery in 30 years is being constructed in South Dakota......we only need about 10 more.....but! This refinery will be refining CANADIAN oil......Lobby your congress-persons to open the outer continental shelf and the arctic sea to production. In the Arctic sea.....If we don't produce it, the Russians will. This is a situation where you need to think in three dimensions.....Russia isn't some faraway land. It's just a short hop over the ice.....a few hours by plane. Ideally the postage stamp sized piece of ANWR would be nice too, but Nobody in our government has the balls to do what's right for the citizenry in that arena.....
The financial markets are weak, but they aren't going to get any stronger by using gimmickery to show profits. Banks need to stay in the BANKING business.....Mortgages shouldn't be traded like stocks. I'm not saying there should be more regulation. I'm saying that the executives of these financial institutions NEED to think more clearly for the long term growth in their businesses, rather than trying to find the next best way to make a quick buck.
Our Government needs to be more proactive in dong what is necessary to protect what's left of our economy, starting with making the hard choices about energy. In previous posts I've talked about energy independence.....Now for a few of the other hard choices.
The Fed needs to raise interest rates by a full 50 basis points on Monday. Yes in the short term that will cause some turmoil in the banking industry, but it will show we are serious in taking action to protect the value of the dollar. That in conjunction with some REAL leadership on the development of our natural resources would cut the price of oil by 20% or more in a week. We saw the price drop for $135 a barrel to $122 a barrel when we sent a weak signal that we "might" consider doing something about taking care of the potential inflationary cycle. When this proved to be false hope oil prices rocketed back up to another record.
Double the tax-credits for Solar research and development, and offer a 10 year tax exemption to the first company to develop and bring to market a solar panel that meets certain requirements in terms of energy creation.....Maybe 750 watts of usable electricity out of a panel the same size that produces 150 watts now.....and will be sold for about the same price.
Unilaterally declare a 100% tariff on Chinese goods imported to the United States until they untie the value of their currency (the Yuan) from ours. Chinese goods are cheap here in great part due to the fact that the Chinese artificially keep the value of their currency tied to ours. We are their largest trading partner, and it is to their benefit, not ours, that their currency be valued as a constant to ours so they can maintain their competitive advantage in our market.
Anyone care to explain to me how this helps keep manufacturing here at home?
These are just a few of the many options we have to stabilize our economy. It's time that we remember that we are a NATION of people with common interests and not just a loose collection of people with the freedom to do whatever we wish. Living in a Constitutional Republic provides us with freedoms not enjoyed in many other places in the world, but we need to be mindful that keeping those freedoms requires that WE, as citizens have a level of responsibilty to PROTECT our ability to have those FREEDOMS that is unequaled by the responsibilities of the citizenry of any other nation.
Good day!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Does anyone else find it a little.....
.....disturbing that the Democrats are manipulating the outcome of their primaries to get the result the party insiders want?
Does anyone else find it a little disturbing that party insiders can decide who the nominee is regardless of how the public votes?
To me this is VERY disturbing.....in moves us a little farther down the path to socialism and the division between the "Party" (i.e. the Government) and the proletariat.....(the rest of us).....
I'm also quite concerned about the direction of our court system.....
Last time I checked the Judicial branch of our government served to uphold the law, not write new law from the bench......
.......and according to the founding fathers wasn't the Judicial Branch SUPPOSED to be completely non-partisan?
.....well that sure went down the toilet.....
Times are a-changing folks.....We need to wake up!
Does anyone else find it a little disturbing that party insiders can decide who the nominee is regardless of how the public votes?
To me this is VERY disturbing.....in moves us a little farther down the path to socialism and the division between the "Party" (i.e. the Government) and the proletariat.....(the rest of us).....
I'm also quite concerned about the direction of our court system.....
Last time I checked the Judicial branch of our government served to uphold the law, not write new law from the bench......
.......and according to the founding fathers wasn't the Judicial Branch SUPPOSED to be completely non-partisan?
.....well that sure went down the toilet.....
Times are a-changing folks.....We need to wake up!
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