Boiling Rage

We have a freezing fog warning tonight. I am thirty-three years old, and have lived in such places as Winnipeg, Manitoba, Oshawa, Ontario, and Berrien Springs Michigan. Never in my life have I heard of freezing fog before today.

Right off the top, condolences to the Haitian people. Last week their capital Port-au-Prince - and by extension their entire nation was rocked by a 7.0 earthquake, leveling about 50% of the capital and resulted in the deaths of what could amount to hundreds of thousands of people. Haiti was already the poorest country in the hemisphere prior to this disaster and things can only get worse from here, at least in the short term. The good news is that there has been a swift and robust international aid effort supplying both search and rescue manpower and desperately needed resources. It is true that rescue efforts have been hampered by earthquake damage as well as the state of - or lack of existing infrastructure, but at least there is an effort. We all need to understand that if there is such thing as ideal conditions under which to run an aid effort, these ARE NOT those conditions, so as much as we’d like to believe that we can work miracles, get food and water and shelter and medicine and search and rescue to everyone in need the moment they need it, we may have to accept that we can’t. Millions of dollars have already been donated to the relief effort with millions more still to come, and even more pledged for long-term rebuilding efforts. Hopefully this time we’ll be able to leave Haiti in better condition than we found it.

There is an episode of the Simpsons in which, after enduring particularly egregious torment from Bart, Lisa responds with the following: “Well, I’m just going to start kicking my legs like this, and if you happen to get in the way, that’s your problem!” To which Bart then replies, “Oh yeah? Well I’m just going to start swinging my arms like this, and if I happen to hit you, that’s your fault!” Unfortunately, that seems to be a fairly accurate representation of the American electorate right now.

Tuesday evening, Republican state senator Scott Brown defeated Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley for the U.S. Senate seat formerly occupied by the late Ted Kennedy - a seat Democrats have held for almost 50 years. Coakley’s defeat gives Republicans their 41st vote, enabling them to filibuster any and every piece of legislation from now until at least January of 2011, depending on the outcome of the midterm elections. And make no mistake about it, that is precisely what they intend to do. Congratulations Democrats. You have somehow managed to screw this up - again.

If you appreciate this development, good for you. Congratulations, you are a winner. Odds are that for at least the next 11 months, you will act like one. If you happen to be disappointed by this development, I’m sorry. My condolences, you are a loser. Chances are you got that way by failing to act like a winner for the past 11 months. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of blame to go around. But after said blame has finished making the rounds, it can all come back to one place, the Democratic Party. They can blame the economy, they can blame Republican obstructionism, they can blame the blue moon on New Year’s Eve, but the fact is they have no one to blame but themselves. One year ago this President had a 70% approval rating, Democrats in Congress were polling well above 50% and their opposition was stuck in the low 20s with nowhere to go but down. So to kick things off, they rolled out a can’t-miss Democratic proposal, healthcare reform. Everybody in the country knew the system was broken, everybody agreed it needed to be fixed, and an overwhelming majority claimed they trusted Democrats more than Republicans to fix it. Democrats extended invitations to their opposition to provide input on the impending legislation, loading the bill with amendment after amendment demanded by GOP representatives and dropping nearly every single initiative favored by their own members more liberal members in an effort to win bipartisan support. But it quickly became evident that regardless of what was in the bill, regardless of how favorable it was to Republican interests, not a single Republican ever intended to vote for it. At the very moment that truth became evident, the Democratic Party should have re-written the legislation the way they wanted it, closed ranks and passed a bill they were happy with (or at least content with), sold it to their constituents and moved on to other business. Ah, if wishes were fishes.

Instead, they proceeded as though this legislative session were business as usual. They debated and conferenced and wrangled some more, until they left for August recess without a coherent piece of legislation. This allowed the opposition to exaggerate, implicate and fabricate all sorts of things that were or not in or accomplished by the bill that did not yet exist. Four weeks later public opinion had turned against the non-existent bill and the Republicans never looked back. Instead of learning the lesson of August, closing ranks, quickly passing a bill they were content with and moving on to other things, they allowed their discussions to drag on for 120 more days before Democrats in the Senate finally came to agreement on a bill completely different than the ones their colleagues in the House had already passed. By this time the GOP had managed to take the shapeless, formless underlying anger at the now improving economy and direct it toward Democrats, claiming their decent management of terrible circumstances set the country on the expressway to Communism and the only way to derail the train is to kill healthcare reform - and the rest of the Obama presidency. Unfortunately, because intellectual laziness is so much easier than patience and intellectual diligence, a large portion of voters - at least in Massachusetts - seem to have bought into whatever empty packaging the GOP is selling. Sure, Martha Coakley was a weak candidate, uninterested in doing many of the things most candidates know they have to do. But honestly, Massachusetts is the most liberal state in the union. A monkey in pants should have been able to defeat any Republican fielded against it. Turns out that 2010 may indeed look a lot like 1994. So much for progress.

Both Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh said some pretty stupid things last week regarding the situation in Haiti. But I’m not going to give either of those yahoos any more ink than they’ve already had. Instead I’d like to focus on another non-story that broke last week. It came to light in a newly released 2008 campaign book that leading up to the Democratic primary, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid encouraged Barack Obama to run for president, in part because he was “light-skinned” and “had no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” Republicans immediately labeled Reid a racist and demanded he resign his position as majority leader. Reid apologized to the President and when nothing more came of the “scandal” Republicans began to complain of a double standard. They insisted Reid was being given a pass for his “racism,” while former Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott was not granted the same leeway. This story serves to prove that not only does the Republican Party have a problem with race, they don’t even understand WHY they have a problem with race. At a birthday party for the late Republican Senator and former presidential candidate Strom Thurmond, Lott offered a toast, during which he made the statement that he felt it was unfortunate that Thurmond had not been elected president, and that if he had been, the country would be better off now. The problem? At the time Thurmond ran for president, he was an outspoken segregationist, a staunch opponent of civil rights, and a racist in the mold of Alabama Governor George Wallace. Republicans tried to equate advocation of a segregationist president with an old man’s ineloquent, outdated statement of an arguable fact. There are many people in this country - black and white - who will tell you that for a black man to become president in America today, he MUST have a lighter complexion and speak the queen’s english. Nothing less would be enough. The difference between the two statements is, pardon the pun, black and white. What Harry Reid said was politically incorrect. What Trent Lott said was racist.

It seems the only people less capable of succeeding than Democrats are the brass at NBC. Four months ago the peacock network moved Jay Leno to 10:00 p.m., Conan O’Brien to 11:30 p.m. and eliminated all of their 10:00 p.m. dramas in an attempt to cut costs and increase ratings. They have accomplished neither. In fact, they have accomplished exactly to opposite. Ratings plummeted so much that local affiliates revolted, demanding that the network return to the previous format or said affiliates would simply refuse to carry NBC’s programming. Message received. NBC has reportedly paid Conan $40 million to leave the network, clearing the way for Leno to return to the 11:30 p.m. time slot. I couldn’t care less about NBC’s late night line-up, but there is an interesting aspect to this story. With all the prognosticators talking about how the internet is destroying / has destroyed network television, I’m a little surprised people cared enough about their 10:00 p.m. dramas to mount a revolt. I was told television was dead. Apparently, rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.

My NFL thoughts for Divisional Playoff Weekend:

Just like Wild Card Weekend, football fans were treated to three duds and one entertaining game.

Fresh from their week off, the well-rested New Orleans Saints, with the help of a completely retooled Reggie Bush, lit up the Arizona Cardinals defense for 45 points in their 45-14 victory. Over the span of two games the Cardinals gave up a total of 90 points. The reason the Cardinals made it to the Super Bowl last year was because they suddenly figured out how to play defense the moment the playoffs started. Whatever they learned last year they forgot last Saturday.

Forty-year-old Brett Favre and his Minnesota Vikings put on a clinic in the Metrodome last Sunday, wiping the astroturf with the Dallas Cowboys 34-3. The Cowboys, who had scored 75 point points over their last three games moved the ball well early on, but then just seemed to fold once the Vikings defense turned up the pressure. After the best statistical season of his career, Favre threw for four touchdowns, including a late fourth down toss that drew the ire of Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking, who expressed his displeasure at what he termed a “classless act” by stalking over to the Minnesota sideline and barking at the back of several purple jerseys. Funny. I didn’t see Brooking talking about class when his team defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 24-0 and 34-14 in two consecutive weeks. Brooking’s complaint always tweaks me the wrong way. This is professional football. The object of professional football is to score points. If you don’t want your opponent to score points, stop him from scoring. It is not his responsibility to lay down and quit to keep you from looking bad.

Two weeks ago Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco completed 4 of 10 passes for a grand total of 34 yards, yet his team still trounced the New England Patriots 33-14. He was less fortunate last week. The Colts came out off their bye week sharp enough to defeat the Ravens 20-3, but the game was deceptively more intriguing than the score might indicate. As well as Indianapolis played, they got more than a little help from their opponents. Ravens all-star safety intercepted Peyton Manning twice in three consecutive passes, but fumbled the ball away once on the return and relinquished it the second time due to a pass interference penalty called on a teammate. On the other side of the ball, the game just seemed too big for the Baltimore offense which made stupid mistake after stupid mistake until they were no longer in a position to recover.

Finally, the 13 and 3 San Diego Chargers made a swift playoff exit to the 9-7 New York Jets in the most closely contested game of the weekend. Yes, the Jets played remarkably well, I have to give credit where credit is due. But the reason this game was so close was because the Chargers played what might have been their sloppiest game all season, following negative running plays with needless penalties with absent-minded interceptions with missed field goals. San Diego’s all-pro kicker missed all three field goals he attempted, two of which should have been automatic for him and just one or which would have at least tied the game. This isn’t the first time the Chargers have found themselves colossal disappointments. Several years ago, following a 14 and 2 regular season, the Chargers unceremoniously exited the playoffs after surrendering a late lead to the Patriots, which cost the then head coach his job. (It is the first and only time in my memory a coach has been terminated after a season in which he won 87% of his games.) Most in the media, and everyone in Southern California was convinced this would not be a repeat of that 2005/2006 season. But I guess that’s why we play the games.

My Super Bowl Predictions for Conference Championship Weekend:
Indianapolis Colts vs Minnesota Vikings.

Finally, last week, former Illinois Governor Rod “the Hair” Blagojevich stated, in an interview with Esquire magazine, that he was, “blacker than Barack Obama.” Blago went on to elaborate, saying that he shined shoes, grew up in a five bedroom apartment, and had a father that owned a laundromat in a black neighborhood, all of which he felt made him more of a part of the black experience than the actually black Barack Obama. How incredibly boring would our politics be without characters like Rod Blagojevich?