Where's the Outrage?

Arizona Cardinals versus Green Bay Packers. Nobody is playing better football than the Green Bay Packers. The defense is outstanding. Somehow, they fixed the problems with their offensive line. Although Peyton Manning won the MVP, Aaron Rodgers is playing as good as any quarterback in the league. Arizona Cardinals, on the other hand, are having problems on offense and on defense. I suspect that Arizona will play better but I think, that they will still lose. If Arizona is able to limit turnovers, they should be able to keep the game close. I look for the Packers to win by seven or more.

Dallas Cowboys versus Philadelphia Eagles. This will not be a replay of last week’s game. The Philadelphia Eagles ran the dullest offense that I’ve ever seen since Andy Reed took over as head coach. I look for the Eagles to open it up. Brian Westbrook only touched the ball five times last Sunday. I expect him to have at least 20 touches today. DeShawn Jackson was either high or sleepwalking last week. If he’s not hurt, I expect him to have a big game. (The Eagles will go his way a lot.) From a defensive standpoint, the Eagles did not blitz much at all. I expect that this will change also. I also suspect that the Cowboys have watched tape of last week’s game just as I have. The offensive line will need to do an excellent job of picking up the blitz if the Cowboys are going to have any opportunity to win this game. Tony Romo is currently playing the best football he has ever played as a pro. He will need to continue to protect the football. If he can limit turnovers, the Dallas Cowboys have an excellent chance of winning. I think that this game will be won in the trenches. Anthony Spencer, Jay Ratliff and DeMarcus Ware will need to dominate the line of scrimmage. The offensive line will not only have to dominate, but they will also have to limit penalties. I look for the Cowboys to win by seven.

New York Jets versus the Cincinnati Bengals. Unless the Cincinnati Bengals are able to generate some big plays through the passing game, the Jets are going to crush them. The Jets have a fantastic defense. The problem is no offense. More specifically, they have a quarterback who’s not getting the job done. Mark Sanchez is still about two or three years away from understanding the NFL. If he’s able to limit turnovers, the Jets will win. I suspect that the Cincinnati Bengals will try to break out of their traditional conservative ways and try and hit a couple of big plays early. If they can get the Jets to play from behind, they will have taken Thomas Jones out of the game and plays the game into Mark Sanchez’s hands. I think this game will be extremely close. I think it’s toss-up.

Baltimore Ravens versus the New England Patriots. I look at this game as a toss-up also. Neither offense is clicking. Neither team has a suffocating defense. This game will come down to turnovers and the play of Joe Flacco. If Baltimore is able to throw the ball down the field, that will open up the running game. Baltimore wins. If Baltimore is not able to get the ball down the field, I look for the Patriots to stack the line of scrimmage and stuff the run. If New England is able to do that, then they win.

My two cents.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson md
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Let me start off by saying that the Cowboys and the Packers are playing the best football in the NFC right now. Six weeks ago, no doubt the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings were playing the best football. Things have changed. I think both the Saints and the Vikings have to figure out what’s wrong with their offensive lines. Neither group is playing particularly well heading into the playoffs.

The Philadelphia Eagles can be any team at any time. They had more of an up-and-down year than most NFL teams. Heck, they went into Oakland and laid a huge egg. As a matter fact, in the last game against Dallas, the Eagles didn’t play particularly well either. If the Eagles want to go to the Super Bowl, they’re going to have to start playing better on both sides of the ball, today.

When I compare the Arizona Cardinals of this year to the Arizona Cardinals last year, their defense is the biggest change. Somewhere around the 13 to 14, their defense started to gel. The offense stopped turning the ball over. They simply started playing better on both sides of the ball. We haven’t seen that this year. As a matter of fact, the last good game the Arizona Cardinals played was up in the Meadowlands against the New York Giants. What was that, week 11 or 12? Unless something amazing happens like two Packer turnovers leading to touchdowns within the first five minutes of the game, I don’t think the Cardinals have a chance at this one. The Cardinals will have to do some soul-searching in the off-season. They need to fix their offense and defense. They need to figure out who’s going to be their quarterback since Kurt Warner only has one or two seasons left in him.

I am a huge Dallas Cowboys fan. I’ve been so disappointed in the Cowboys over the past four or five years and have refused to let myself get drawn into the hype. But, I have seen some signs… some signs that the Cowboys are serious about playing football. I’ve seen fewer missed assignments on defense. I see defensive players playing together for the first time in years. I see a secondary coming together for the first time in almost a decade. At the beginning of the season, both Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin stated publicly that Tony Romo didn’t get it. At the beginning of the season, I think they were right. We saw the same old Tony Romo. Something happened midway through the season. He seemed to be more focused. He seemed to be more in tune to all aspects of the game. I have no idea what happened. Clearly playing the best football is played as a Cowboy. Felix Jones and Marion Barber are both healthy. It looks as if Roy Williams is being downgraded from number one to number two or three. I think he would be okay as a third receiver. Patrick Crayton is playing better. Miles Austin is the Cowboys’ most valuable player at this point. We were struggling in the middle of the season to try to find somebody could make big plays. Austin is the guy. In order for the Dallas Cowboys to beat the Philadelphia Eagles for the third time this year, they’re going to have to limit penalties, protect the football and be ready for the Eagles to pull out all the stops. If the Cowboys can do all of this, they will win their first playoff game in over a decade.

Preview Dallas vs Eagles Wild Card [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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This is a strange group. They fuse jazz and classical guitar with some new age sounds and rhythms and come up with something completely unique.

Artist: Acoustic Alchemy
Tune: Casino

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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I really don’t understand why Rudy believes he is an expert on terror. He was the one who decided to place the command center in the World Trade Center in the first place.

From Salon.com:

For years now — about eight, to be specific — former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has made the terror attacks of September 11th, 2001 an inextricable part of his image. It reached the point where Joe Biden said of Giuliani, “There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, and a verb and 9/11,” and the Onion ran a story headlined, “Giuliani To Run For President Of 9/11.”

But on Friday, Giuliani appeared to have forgotten it ever happened.

In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Giuliani said, “What he [Obama] should be doing is following the right things that Bush did — one of the right things he did was treat this as a war on terror. We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We’ve had one under Obama.”

Of course, 9/11 happened on Bush’s watch. And if he’s counting the failed bombing of Northwest Flight 253 as an attack, then shoe bomber Richard Reid’s own attempt — also during the Bush administration — counts too.

This isn’t the first time Giuliani’s said something like this; on CNN earlier this week, he claimed that the Reid incident occurred before 9/11, which it didn’t.

Steve Benen makes a good point about all this, and about the continued reliance on Giuliani as a terror expert for television:

[L]et’s not forget that this are two angles to this problem. The first is that Rudy Giuliani doesn’t have the foggiest idea what he’s talking about, and routinely lies about basic, easy-to-understand details about recent history and national security. The second is that problems like “Good Morning America” keep inviting him back, despite the fact that he doesn’t have the foggiest idea what he’s talking about, and routinely lies about basic, easy-to-understand details about recent history and national security.

I’d add one other point here: Before 9/11, Giuliani demonstrated pretty clearly that his instincts when it comes to terrorism are lacking when he placed New York City’s emergency command center inside the World Trade Center, which at the time had already been targeted once.

Tags: Obama administration, Terrorism by ecthompson md
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American sports have been depicted in movies, for the most part, as something noble. Field of Dreams, Brian’s Song and even the recent release of the movie The Blind Side all play into this depiction. Now, for better or for worse, we have an opportunity to see some of the ugliness that is associated with our professional and collegiate sports.

James Craig was a great football player for SMU. He was half of the Pony Express which was the feared running attack that SMU had in the early ’80s. (Eric Dickerson was the other half.) He had a solid career in the NFL playing for the New England Patriots and is currently a college football analyst at ESPN. His son, Adam, is a wide receiver at Texas Tech. His son claims after sustaining a concussion that coach Mike Leach locked him in a closet during practice. After some type of investigation by Texas Tech, head football coach Mike Leach was fired. Coach Leach then went on ESPN and basically trashed Adam James, his work ethic and his character.

The NBA is just recovering from their own bit of badness. The rape charges against Kobe Bryant hurt the game and the sport for quite a while. Charles Barkley getting arrested and actually having to do time didn’t help the NBA either, even though he’d been retired for more than five years. But it was the fight in 2004 in which Ron Artest went into the stands and got into a fight with some fans that brought the NBA to its knees. Commissioner David Stern suspended nine players for a total of 143 games. Commissioner Stern made it clear that he was cleaning up the violence in the NBA. This brings me to a recent transgression. Gilbert Arenas, for reasons that are still unclear, brought loaded weapons and kept them in his locker at the arena. There is some question about his getting into a disagreement with Javaris Crittenton, a teammate. There is a question of not paying bets. Commissioner Stern is not happy, again. None of these reasons sound good. Arenas has been suspended and the investigation continues.

The problems in the NBA reflect, to some extent, the problems in the black community. I know that Americans have no desire to deal with the problems of inner-city when they have paid to see a basketball game. Not only have they paid, they have paid a lot of money to see a basketball game. Look for Commissioner Stern to have absolutely no tolerance for anyone who brings a gun to the arena. I would not be surprised if Gilbert Arenas is suspended for more than a year.

The Texas Tech incident reveals many problems that we’ve seen in the college football game for years. First of all, some “old school” coaches treat all players the same. John Smith, the sixth string defensive back, does not bring the fans into the stadium. Someone who is an impact player, like a star quarterback or flashy running back, can help pack the stands. So a coach can’t treat high profile players like everyone else. Some coaches are very good at this and some are terrible. Also, the game of football has changed. The great Woody Hayes would hit players when he disapproved of their play. Those days are gone. My old high school coach used to call us mullet heads. He would go on and on about how stupid we were. You could do that back in the ’70s. You can’t do that anymore, especially at the college level. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds. I’m figuring that Coach Leach is about to be steamrolled. I also think that Adam James’s reputation has been permanently damaged and if he had any thoughts of going and playing in the NFL, that’s been ruined forever.href=”http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/charles-barkley-goes-to-jail/busted/” target=”_blank”>Charles Barkley getting arrested and actually having to do time didn’t help the NBA either even though he’d been retired for more than five years. But it was the fight in 2004 in which Ron Artest went into the stands and got into a fight with some fans that brought the NBA to its knees. Commissioner David Stern suspended nine players for a total of 143 games. Commissioner Stern made it clear that he was cleaning up the violence in the NBA. This brings me to a recent transgression. Gilbert Arenas for reasons that are still unclear brought loaded weapons and kept them in his locker at the arena. There is some question about him getting into a disagreement with Javaris Crittenton, a teammate. There is a question of not paying bets. Commissioner Stern is not happy, again. None of these reasons sound good. Arenas has been suspended. The investigation continues.

The problems in the NBA reflect, to some extent, the problems in the black community. I know that Americans have no desire to deal with the problems of inner-city when they have paid to see a basketball game. Not only have they paid, they have paid a lot of money to see a basketball game. Look for Commissioner Stern to have absolutely no tolerance for anyone who brings a gun to the arena. I would not be surprised if Gilbert Arenas is suspended for more than a year.

The Texas Tech incident reveals many problems that we’ve seen in the college football game for years. First of all, some “old school” coaches treat all players are the same. John Smith who is the sixth string defensive back does not bring the fans into the stadium. Someone who is an impact player like a star quarterback or flashy running back can help pack the stands. So, a coach can’t treat high profile players like everyone else. Some coaches are very good at this and some are terrible. Also, the game of football has changed. The great Woody Hayes would hit players when he disapproved of their play. Those days are gone. My old high school coach used to call us mullet heads. He would go on and on about how stupid we were. You could do that back in the 70s. You can’t do that anymore especially at the college level. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds. I’m figuring that Coach Leach is about to be steamrolled. I also think that Adam James’s reputation has been permanently damaged and if he had any thoughts of going and playing in the NFL, that’s been ruined forever.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson md
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From HuffPost:

Arianna and Rob Johnson, director of the Economic Policy Initiative at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, urged Americans to move their money to community banks during an appearance on the Ed Show with Ed Schultz on Wednesday.

Just last week, Arianna and Rob unveiled Move Your Money, a challenge to Americans fed up with too-big-to-fail banks. The initiative encourages account holders to withdraw their money from big, mismanaged banks and move the funds to smaller, better-managed community banks–institutions that are still lending.

Arianna explained that community banks are more likely to lend, and to help fuel a recovery among America’s small businesses, “Community banks are much more likely to reinvest that money in the community and actually help create jobs…because… $1000 billion less money has been lent to communities from these four banks that we bailed out.”

This sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

Tags: Economy by ecthompson md
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From TP:

One question bouncing around news outlets today is what Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) retirement means for the regulatory reform effort. Does it make him more or less likely to compromise on key parts of the bill, including the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA)?

It’s hard to discern whether Dodd’s retirement will lead him to give in on a host of issues (as one “gleeful” financial services lobbyist told Politico it would) or compel him to put “it all on the line to get what he wants, bipartisanship be damned.”

But one thing is for certain: Dodd’s retirement means that the regulatory reform effort needs to wrap up this year, as Dodd’s likliest successor as chairman is Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), a very bank-friendly Democrat who would almost certainly produce a worse product. And this point hasn’t escaped Republicans, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out:

At the same time, [Dodd's] decision gives Republicans the incentive to draw out the process until after next year’s elections when a more business-friendly Democrat could ascend to the banking panel’s chairmanship. Next in line on the committee is Sen. Tim Johnson (D., S.D.), generally seen as more receptive to industry concerns.

According to Roll Call, “Senate Democrats said that no palace intrigue is expected to take place with the Banking panel” and that Johnson will take the gavel. So Republicans and the financial industry have ample motivation to gum up the works until Dodd is all the way out.

This same concern arose when it looked like Dodd might take the helm of the Senate HELP committee following the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy. Back then, Tim Fernholz wrote that “it would be bad news for regulatory reform if Johnson took over the [banking] committee; he’s received nearly a million dollars from the financial industry in the last 20 years.”

Johnson was the only Senate Democrat to vote against a credit card reform bill last year, and the banking industry has focused on him as one of the Democrats most likely to torpedo the CFPA. “No one is pro-industry today but he’s been historically very receptive,” said a top financial services lobbyist of Johnson. “He’s been sensitive to the impact of legislation on the financial service industry given the large number of jobs he represents.”

Even if Dodd gets a regulatory reform bill passed, as the investment research firm Concept Capital pointed out, Johnson’s chairmanship would likely result in other efforts to rein in banks going by the wayside. “His elevation to chairman should put to restworries over interchange and interest rate caps,” the firm wrote.

There is one note of good news amidst all this, however: Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will be running for Dodd’s seat, and he has been a strong advocate for consumer financial protection.

Tags: Economy, Party Politics, Senate by ecthompson md
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He’s back! The Errington Thompson Show was snowed in two weeks ago and MIA last week, but this week’s show brings back the progressive radio fun with New Year’s resolutions, the Blackwater travesty, healthcare and more. Errington’s guest is Mark Karlin from buzzflash.com. Among the highlights of their review of 2009 is a thoughtful discussion about the healthcare legislation and why it is going the way it is. Of course everybody’s favorite Filibusterer-in-the-Mud, Mr. Joe Lieberman, figures into the mix, as does Nebraska’s Ben Nelson. Both of these guys represent states that are pretty well saturated by the insurance industry (Mutual of Omaha, anyone?) Is it any wonder they’re so gung-ho about status quo?

Another point of contention is the would-be Christmas Day Bomber, the struggling United States economy and Obama’s presidential performance so far. Where are all these new jobs going to come from? Is Obama making mistakes or, as Mark Karlin asks, is he really a great political chess player and we have yet to see the deciding move? Has Main Street been sacrificed to Wall Street or is there a light at the end of the tunnel? The corporate rule of America must be discussed if we are to have hope of attaining the change that we progressive thinkers want for this country.

Now this is progressive radio!

The Errington Thompson Show 1-2-10 [ 53:41 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Podcasts by ecthompson md
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So this is what the teabaggers have to offer the US? Racism? BTW, they cna’t even spel!

Tags: Party Politics, Race by ecthompson md
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When was the last time the GOP stood up for anything to help the average American? I can’t think of anything, but maybe you can. In order for the GOP to tell you that they support the average American you have to use some mental gymnastics — by trying to create an environment where big business can trounce any individual initiative or entitlement, big business can then hire more people, so… therefore (here it comes) they support the American people. This is what the GOP has been arguing for over three decades.

So it comes as no shock that Republicans are going to oppose the new consumer financial protection agency.

From HuffPo:

Senate Republicans are determined to prevent the creation of an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency because they consider it as threatening as their current arch-nemesis regulator: the Environmental Protection Agency.

Consumer advocates, meanwhile, say the CFPA must have strong, independent authority to craft and enforce rules. Anything less, they argue, would be too much of a concession to banks that have gotten enough already.

“From the Republican point of view, the idea of a separate agency is still anathema,” said Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah, a senior Republican on the banking committee. An independent agency, he said, can go too far in the direction of tight regulation without taking into account the effect of the rules it creates on business and the economy. He said he’s seen it happen before.

“Can you say EPA?” he asked, lifting his eyebrows. The Republican Party has regretted for years that President Richard Nixon made the EPA independent. (more…)

Tags: Business, Congress, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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I said when this debate started that we, Americans, should not have to pay another dime. WE are paying enough.

From DK:

Via Nate, here are two pretty striking representations of the same data on the costs of healthcare, versus one measure of effectiveness of a system–life expectancy.

The first one, originally from National Geographic’s NGM Blog Central demonstrates perhaps even more graphically how much of an outlier the U.S. is when it comes to spending per person on health care. The width of each of the lines, representing various countries, shows utilization of care, in terms of average doctor visits per year. That same statistic is represented by the size of the bubble for each country.

So we spend more, use less, and have worse outcomes. The low life expectancy in the U.S. is also a factor of the huge number of uninsured we have in this country, accounting for as many as 45,000 deaths annually. What these graphs ultimately show is that the existing system is severely out of whack, and the dollars being poured in are largely misdirected.

Gearing a “reformed” system toward reinforcing low utilization, as the Senate bill does with its high deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, might not be the silver bullet to reducing costs in the overall system after all.

Tags: Healthcare by ecthompson md
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I love You Tube, because you never know what you will find if you just start clicking.

Sting sings the great Bill Withers song on Night Music in 1989. He’s accompanied by Bill Frisell, Fareed Haque, David Sanborn, Hank Roberts and Don Alias.

Artist: Sting
Tune: Ain’t No Sunshine

I thought that I should post the original with Sting’s version.  This is Bill Withers. I love Sting, but Bill is simply soulful. Enjoy.

BTW, I would be grateful if someone can ID the guys playing with Withers.

Artist: Bill Withers
Tune: Ain’t No Sunshine

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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I wanted to post something thoughtful and witty about the NFL season. That was back when I thought I was going to be off today. Unfortunately, that was a couple of versions of the schedule ago. When my beeper went off at eight, it was clear that I missed a memo or two. So, instead of rolling out NFL predictions for today’s games, I will have to go over the playoffs. Hey, tell me where I’m wrong. Do you think that the Colts can turn it on and off at will? Are the Chargers the best team as you see it? Can we stick a fork in the Patriots?

AFC
Indianapolis Colts — Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts had a good year. They had an opportunity at a great year, but they decided to rest their starters. (Ask Bill Belichick about the wisdom of resting your starters in a meaningless game.) I think going undefeated during the regular season is a milestone, but it is more important to win the Super Bowl. It would be even more gratifying if the Indianapolis Colts could put together two or three seasons in which they win it all. They need to become a dynasty. I think they have that opportunity. Unfortunately, their defense just doesn’t seem to be up to the task. When the Indianapolis Colts put together that amazing run three years ago, their defense just got to it and came together. They need that defense to gel. If they’re able to do that, the Indianapolis Colts could be onto something very special.

San Diego Chargers — for some reason, every year the San Diego Chargers seem to start off slowly. They usually lose three or four of their first six games and people seem to forget about them. Well, this San Diego Chargers team may be unforgettable. Philip Rivers is playing as well as if not better than any other quarterback in the NFL. The NFL today requires a good quarterback in order to win. (The Miami Dolphins would be in the playoffs right now if they had a good starting quarterback.) They have a solid defense with outstanding special teams. If they have a weakness, I’m not sure that they do, it is at running back. I never thought I would say that LaDainian Tomlinson would be a liability. He just isn’t playing very well.

Cincinnati Bengals — I just spoke with my brother for about 20 minutes about football while I was typing this post. He is not all that psyched up about the Cincinnati Bengals but I am. I think because the Bengals do not have any superstars, they may have an advantage. They play together as a team. They have a solid defense and a great running game. This gives them the ability to control the clock. Cedric Benson may be their key. Cedric Benson and Larry Johnson may lead them deep into the playoffs.

New England Patriots — I know that with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick you can never count this team out, but I’m counting them out. The Patriot defense has been porous at best. Sometimes the offense plays well and sometimes they don’t. It looks like they’ve just lost Wes Welker. I think the Bangles, Chargers and Colts can handle the Patriots without much difficulty.

Baltimore Ravens — Joe Flacco is not playing as well as he did last year. I don’t know what the problem is: his receivers or his offensive line. Their running game is above average but their defense is not making the plays. The problem with the Ravens is their defense. They need Ed Reed. They need the great linebacker Ray Lewis to play like he did four or five years ago. They can clearly make some noise in the playoffs, but I don’t see them going past the first or second round.

New York Jets — Mark Sanchez is not quite ready. The Jets have a good solid defense. They have a great running game. The Jets need their quarterback to step up and play big. I just don’t think that Sanchez is ready yet. If they’re able to keep everything in place, the Jets are two or three years away.

Tomorrow I have something to say about the NFC playoffs.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson md
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Bill Powell (pic from AP)

Today, we take a lot of things for granted. Back in the 1970s it was unusual to have more than one TV in the house. Most people only had one car. My father, a family practitioner, took off every Wednesday. For a time, he played golf on his day off. The simple game of golf itself has reflected the great change that we’ve undergone in the last 30 years. The clubs are lighter and more flexible. The balls are more compact; therefore, they can be hit harder and go farther. It is taken for granted that Tiger Woods can play anywhere in the world.

Bill Powell is not a household name. I’d never heard of him until today. He died at the age of 93 of complications from a stroke. He was the first Black man to build, own and operate a golf course in the United States, a course in Clearview, Ohio. The course was built in 1948. His life was chronicled in his autobiography, which I did not know about until today, Clearview: America’s Course. I look forward to reading his autobiography. My condolences go out to his family and friends. I wish I could’ve met him.

From AP:

“Bill Powell will forever be one of golf’s most unforgettable American heroes,” PGA of America president Jim Remy said. “Bill made us appreciate the game and each other that much more by his gentle, yet firm example.

“He was born with a fire within his heart to build on his dream. In the process, he made golf a beacon for people of all color. The PGA of America is better today because of individuals like Bill Powell. We will miss him dearly. We extend our thoughts and prayers to his family as we remember a wonderful man.”

In August, Powell received the PGA Distinguished Service Award, the association’s highest annual honor. In November, he was inducted into the Northern Ohio PGA Hall of Fame and honored as the Person of the Year by the Ohio Golf Course Owners Association.

The Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce also recently presented the Powell family with its Community Salute Award.

“My father made a mark,” said daughter Renee Powell, the second black player to compete on the LPGA Tour. “And, I believe that God wanted people to know the mark that he made on this nation.” (more… )

Tags: Race, Sports by ecthompson md
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More on this later.

Tags: Al Qaeda, Obama administration, Terrorism by ecthompson md
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