Following his benching in a 38-0 blowout by the New York Jets during which he fumbled the football 12 seconds into the game and followed up with two more interceptions - all of which resulted in New York touchdowns, a reporter asked Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell what he thought the problem was. Russell’s response? “Well, I don’t think it’s me.” Uh huh.
In less than 24 hours, the prospect of an healthcare reform public option has gone from being mostly dead, to being somewhat alive, to being the target of a likely filibuster, and thus, dead again. While other moderate to conservative Democratic senators decided to at least reserve judgement until the Congressional Budget Office returned with the cost numbers, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman virtually stumbled over himself racing to the nearest television camera to issue the statement that he will vote with Republicans to filibuster any attempt to pass legislation containing any form of public insurance option.
Yes, that Joe Lieberman. Remember him? Ran for vice president on the Democratic ticket in 2000. Six years later he was defeated in the Democratic primary, then ran as an Independent, supported by many prominent Democrats - including Senator Obama, and retained his seat. Two years later he campaigned vigorously against now President Obama, yet somehow managed to retain his Democratic senate committee chairmanship at the start of the current session in January of this year. Since then, we haven’t heard much from Joe Lieberman. So now, like a petulant child throwing Cheerios on the floor for attention, he has re-asserted himself on the national stage, intent on holding his former party ransom for reasons only he understands at this point. He claims his opposition stems from a belief that any sort of public option will only increase the deficit, and that Americans simply don’t want a government-run insurance plan. I guess he could come to that conclusion if he chose to ignore all the CBO scores to date showing that reform plans containing a public option will reduce the deficit/debt by between 25 and 100 billion dollars over the ten year projection period, depending on which version of the public option is used. Of course he would also have to ignore the opinion polling which indicates residents of Connecticut support a public option by a margin of 64-31. But since when have actual facts and official projections meant anything to those in opposition to reform.
There is an astonishing amount of fear in this country. Much - if not most of it irrational. In the wild, fear is a tool of self-preservation. It perpetuates the survival of species. It prevents the zebras from wandering away from the herd and into the pride of lions across the savanna. It triggers rabbits to zig zag for the nearest gap in the fence when they hear my dogs barking with glee as they round the corner of the house into the yard. But in civilized society, fear is far more often nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to a change in an established condition. It doesn’t seem to matter how absurd the established condition was. The very fact that a condition had been previously established is enough to make any alteration in said condition the equivalent of global Armageddon to those opposed to the change. This afternoon on PBS, Ray Suarez interviewed two “experts” with competing views on a public health insurance option. One expert was appalled that under a public option, as outlined in the current Senate proposal, a family of four earning $74,000 per year would have to pay the first $7,000 in premiums out of pocket, before any government subsidies would kick in to assist them. Oh my goodness! Seven thousand dollars! We can’t ask a family earning only $74,000 a year to spend 9.5% of their income on health insurance! That’s preposterous! Then I looked at how much I would be paying for a family of four under my current employer-provided, private, health insurance plan. Yeah. That comes to $11,568 per year. Only a paltry $4,568 MORE than proposed insurance costs under the dreaded public option. In what bizarro universe is it preferable to ask people to pay 65% more for insurance under the current system than they might under a reformed one? Yet, fear of anything outside the status quo motivates obstructionists like Lieberman to paralyze this Congress. Sometimes, the devil you know, is worse than the devil you don’t.
Speaking of the devil, former vice president Cheney crawled out from under his rock again last week, accusing President Obama of “dithering” on Afghanistan policy. Translation, please, oh please oh please, clean up the mess I created and then ignored for seven years. Once you stop laughing, take a couple deep breaths, grab a drink of water and consider the following. The reason Barack Obama has to make any kind of decision regarding troop levels in Afghanistan is because Richard B. Cheney and his administration refused to make any such decisions for EIGHT years! The previous administration rolled into Afghanistan in October of 2001, slapped a victory stamp on the folder in December, then apparently forgot about it until last week. To hear Cheney tell the story, the war was going great until President Obama took over and changed nothing except increase troop levels. That was the point at which the whole thing went to hell. And if he doesn’t send 40,000 more soldiers off to war yesterday, he’s putting more American lives at risk. I’d like to remind Cheney - since he obviously doesn’t remember - that it took President Bush THREE MONTHS to decide to surge 20,000 troops into Iraq, FOUR YEARS after the suggestion was made that not enough troops had been sent in the first place! It’s like he doesn’t remember anything that happened, or failed to happen on his watch.
In response to discovering his “scoop” on Obama’s Columbia thesis was really a satirical paper issued by a comedy website, Rush Limbaugh responded, and I quote, “We stand by the fabricated quote because (I) know (Obama) thinks it!” And that’s about all you need to know about Rush.
My NFL thoughts for Week 7:
How about them Saints. Down 24-3 to Miami just minutes before halftime, New Orleans rallied to score 43 points in 32 minutes, while holding the Dolphins to only ten, cementing their status as the best team in the league thus far. As for Miami, this is the second time this season they’ve lost a game to an undefeated opponent that they really should have won. Good teams don’t relinquish 21-point leads.
In the past two games, the Patriots have scored 94 points. Their opponents have combined for seven. What happened to parity in this league?
Game of the week goes to the Minnesota Vikings and the Pittsburgh Steelers In a league which discourages defense, it was the Steelers defense that ended the Vikings run of perfection with two returns for touchdowns in the final five minutes. I don’t particularly care for Pittsburgh, but I like defense, so that makes me happy.
Last Sunday the Washington Redskins decided that poor play-calling was the reason they had only defeated two of the six winless teams they’d faced. So they stripped their head coach of the play-calling duties and turned them over to a guy who only two weeks ago was calling bingo games in a Michigan retirement home. The result? A 27-10 loss to the Eagles on Monday night. Seriously. At what point does the ownership have to break down and admit that the real problem in Washington, is the ownership?
I hate to dwell on losers, but the Cleveland Browns have got to be the most inept professional football team I’ve ever seen. That includes the 2009 Raiders, and the 2008 Detroit Lions. The best they could manage against a suspect Packers defense was 3-points, even with a first and goal from the two yard line. Challenging the Browns for the cellar are the Panthers, with a quarterback who has four times as many turnovers as touchdowns, and has made the most explosive receiver in football about as effective as Homer Simpson after a two-foot hoagie. Yet, in the face of such utter incompetence, the head coaches of both franchises steadfastly refuse to consider making a changing quarterbacks. Granted, there are very few options behind Anderson and Delhomme, but little MUST be better than nothing, right?
Seven games into the season, I’m still not sure how good the Cincinnati Bengals are, but they certainly are fun to watch. To the chagrin of everyone football fan in Chicago, ex-Bears running back Cedric Benson and his new team lit them up for 45-points, and looked very much like the 2005 division championship team. The Steelers are better now than they were earlier in the season, and there are ten weeks left to play, but the Superbowl champs might be looking up at Cincinnati come January.
Contrary to what the sports writers would have you believe, the play of the week was not Adrian Peterson steamrolling a Steelers cornerback for a big gain Sunday afternoon. He does that every week. The play of the week was Reggie Bush doing his best Michael Jordan impersonation, launching himself from the six yard line over two defenders and into the end zone. See video below. Case closed.
Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez was filmed eating a hot dog on the sidelines during a defensive series. I am still trying to figure out why this made news. Apparently no media outlet in New York has ever witnessed a football player eating anything.
My Superbowl picks for Week 7: New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts.
Finally tonight, sports and business collide at the University of Central Florida. Marcus Jordan, son of the legendary Michael Jordan, has decided to attend school, and play college basketball at UCF. The school has a standing contract with Adidas, requiring every player on the basketball team to wear Adidas shoes. However, due to his father’s status as a Nike icon, Marcus is adamant that he be allowed to wear Nike sneakers. If he does so, the team would be in violation of its contract with Adidas, and would risk losing upwards of $3 million dollars. Marcus seems to be having trouble deciding what to do. I am not. Setting aside the idea that perhaps scholarships should be reserved for students that need scholarships, Marcus Jordan is attending UCF on a basketball scholarship. Not a golf scholarship or a tennis scholarship, a basketball scholarship. Basketball is a team sport. It requires five individuals to act in concert, with a single purpose to achieve an objective. Therefore, if Jordan the lesser wants to be a team player, he will choose not cost his teammates, his team and his school 3 million dollars in sponsorship money and wear the Adidas shoes on the court during his games. Or, if he still insists on thinking only of himself, reimburse UCF for the money they will lose due to his choice. Sometimes, doing the right thing, really is just that simple.
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