The Sporting Life

I’m not a football fan; in fact I don’t follow sports at all. I always have something better, or more challenging to do when sporting events try to intrude in my life. I occasionally watch a game of the sport de jour because the channel  has preempted a more thoughtful show in order to pander to their potential sales audience. I also don’t know the first thing about “Fantasy Football”, and frankly can’t care less about that. I don’t gamble on sports events, and I don’t talk sports at the water cooler, in short I’m not part of the audience the sporting industry depends on.

All of that is by way of introduction to my thoughts on the latest “NFL scandal”. This isn't a scandal at all. The hoopla is being whipped up by people who know and care nothing about football, instead it is being driven by people who want a very lucrative business (the NFL) to feel a deep sense of guilt and give money to their cause.  In short, there is no “domestic violence epidemic” in the NFL, statistics show that it’s a universal social problem but the truth doesn't help drive the agenda being pushed by people with their own agenda.

Domestic violence is not an NFL problem it’s a cultural problem with a particular group of NFL players.  When you read their histories, or charge sheets, you quickly find they usually grew up in families that had poor or no male role models. Penury and abuse were constants in their lives, and they never knew there is a better way. Many of them were desperately poor as kids, shunned education and if not for their athletic ability, wouldn’t be making more than minimum wage. At least one player apparently was involved in some gang activity before he played football and it appears that he was unable to shed his history and upbringing when he reached success in the football world It may be that he didn't want to rise above his origins but the end result is that he now sits in jail awaiting trial for several murders. All of which happened after he signed a very lucrative contract with a professional team. What we don’t see is this kind of behavior among players who grew up in traditional families with strong male role models.

The NFL (and other major league sports) are aware of this problem and offer all sorts of social services to new players. The National Basketball League has problems with a similar player demographic and also offers the same type of program for new players. In addition all pro sports teams have very experienced investigators. The teams know a lot about these young men who are coming in to the sport. Not everything, but a lot. What they do with that information is problematic, but apparently they don’t use the data wisely; perhaps the profit factor is what drives them the most. The new found wealth allows these kids, which is what most of them are, to engage in irresponsible life styles. With no cultural background and no experience handling large amounts of money they tend to live dangerously, father children they have no interest in and ignore social constraints they should be aware of as members of society. They just spent like drunken sailors and have plenty of help from hangers on that wouldn't even talk to them if they weren't famous and wealthy.

I don’t think that the players involved should be banned for life as so many people seem to think is appropriate. If convicted, they should serve whatever punishment is meted out and then be allowed to resume their lives. The idea of prison is supposed to be punishment and rehabilitation. It is a separate discussion whether rehabilitation works or not and I’m not interested in having such a discussion. (My personal experience has given me many and varied lessons in that arena) The voices calling for suspensions and banning and the suspensions and banning being handed out by the NFL are a panic reaction to the media dog pile. Most of which is coming from people who never watch the NFL or have much interest in it other than trying to win concessions and money out of the league. Their shrill cries are mostly based not on criminal convictions, but upon allegations. And I’m not comfortable with that.

Is domestic violence wrong? Of course it is. Should Ray Rice, a thug who beat his girl friend and then married her so she couldn’t testify be sent to prison for some period of time? Yes. Should he be forever more banned from making money in the only way he is capable of doing so? I don’t think so and I think if you asked his wife, she’d agree with me. Do you think she’d be better off if she was married to Ray Rice and he was working at Walmart? Keep in mind that she married him after the assault and battery in the elevator. Sure, it would be satisfying emotionally to ban him forever, but would it be fair? The dynamic is slightly different with another player who is accused of child abuse, in my mind he should not be allowed unsupervised visits with any of his children. That’s pretty clear, but does anyone think that any of them will be better off he can’t play football after this case is settled one way or the other? Of course he has yet to have his day in court and if I were his lawyer I would strongly advise him to not make any public statements. The more he tries to explain and justify his child abuse, the worse he looks. That however is his problem, not mine. These are very emotionally laden issues, but that doesn't mean that people should react with emotion and not with their brains.

All of which makes me glad that I have absolutely no interest in sports and can live my life trying to respect the world I inhabit and those who share it with me.

Theater of the Absurd

Last week the media reported that the Federal Reserve Board believes the reason for the poor economy is that people are “hoarding money” rather than spending every cent they make and overusing their credit cards.

Really!

After six years of an inept administration that has put the economy close to negative growth figures and with consumer spending almost at standstill they still believe that all we need to do is spend more money and tax the other guy. Our economic problems have nothing to do with high taxation rates, inordinate health care expenses for people and businesses or escalating consumer prices for food and energy. The Fed is on record as saying the fault is ours because we aren’t spending enough money.

The Fed and the economist elite fail to understand that Americans have been abused by their decisions to cheapen the dollar by issuing tons of fiat money that has only devalued the money people work so hard to earn. So many jobs have been lost as a result those recent attempts by the administration to create minimum wage jobs have flopped.

The cost of basic goods and utilities such as food, electricity and fuel are nearly double a decade ago yet average household income has sunk to 1967 levels and there is no end in sight to the misery a series of bad decisions by an administration that doesn’t believe Americans are capable of thinking. The result of all those decisions is that people are not able to save money, they are running hard just to keep up with cost, and they are certainly not hoarding! I’ve come to believe that the term “hoarding” and similar pejoratives so freely used by the administration are merely a means to stigmatize certain behaviors they don’t understand.

Come to think of it … don’t be surprised if someday in the future a government representative knocks on your door, enters without cause and inventories your food cupboard to assure that you have no more than a weeks worth of basic food. Any over that amount will be confiscated since your are “Hoarding”.  

Just an airplane ride away

In the late 1980's I was heavily involved with the Ambulance and Rescue Services in Northern Virginia and was a part time lecturer at the Georgetown School of Medicine. The recent outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa reminded me of a previous Ebola event that did (despite counter claims) spread to the U.S., although it did not directly impact any humans.

To explain ... one of the vectors for the distribution of the virus is the Green Monkey, a species that easily mimics human response and is often used for medical research. At that time thousands of monkeys were imported annually from Africa and one of the large importers of the beasts was located just outside Reston VA.. Shortly after a delivery of a monkey shipment some of the animals started to die of a hemorrhagic type disease that  looks suspiciously like an Ebola outbreak in (if I remember correctly) Zaire.

Needless to say there was an immediate and closely guarded medical emergency response that kept the media out of the information loop and caused the authorities to euthanize all the monkeys as the only possible solution to prevent the disease from occurring in the human population of the U.S. As a senior EMS officer I was told that there was a problem at the primate facility and that regional medical groups should be alert for several specific medical symptoms. If we found anyone displaying those symptoms we should isolate and inform. We were not told that there was a potential for an Ebola outbreak, but we were made very aware that it was serious medical emergency.

I didn't really get a good appreciation for Ebola as a disease until the mid 90's when I ran across a book by Richard Preston called "The Hot Zone", which described an Ebola event and discussed the Reston Ebola Scare. It was afterwards determined that the disease the monkeys had was a mutated version of Ebola that was not as infectious as the original strain, but it was still a potential danger to humans. In that instance we lucked out. I can only hope we will continue to be aware, responsive and safe from this mobile disease with a high mortality rate that is only a plane flight away from reaching our shores.

If you want to learn more about Ebola, as a disease, a good starting point would be read "The Hot Zone". I guarantee it is the most frightening book you will ever read.

God v. gods

Political correctness has overcome common sense in our American culture. Any individual can proclaim their “feelings are hurt” over a self perceived slight and society rolls over and lets the complainant force his feelings onto the social body. As a man I can’t tell a lady that she looks good without the risk of being accused of sexism, racism and hatred of women. If I protest I’m told that by protesting I am proving the charge since, obviously I should accept the accusation and punishment without protest because that’s what the accuser wants others to do.

The PC culture has become so insistent and intrusive that finally other minds are starting to question the wisdom of allowing small minds with an agenda to direct the progress of society. A Federal Court in New York, the bastion of PC, recently denied a suit by a group of atheists who claimed they were discriminated against by the existence of a small cross that is on display at the recently opened 9 /11 museum. The cross was dug out of the ruins of the buildings and is a small part of the steel fabric of the building that survived the collapse. The plaintiffs stated that they became “physically ill” and “emotionally offended” by the display. They asked for “immediate injunctive relief” and a permanent removal of the display. The judge in his dismissal of the suit stated that there is nothing in the Constitution or laws of the land that assure individual feelings can’t be hurt and that people can state their desires but should not object when others ignore those desires.

Atheists have made a religious culture out of their objection to any religious culture to the point where the military was requested to allow the Chaplains Corp to accept atheists as chaplains. The irony of that demand is not seen by the practitioners of atheism.

My particular belief system is reflected by the small denomination I belong to and I don’t particularly care what others think, while I might find issues with how others see their position in life and their role in the great wonder of life I also believe that they have a right to practice their belief in peace. I only ask that they allow others to do the same.

One supreme god or small gods that inhabit all things are something I’m comfortable with. After all, its your way of explaining your world and conversing with the powers that influence your behavior. So if you worship in a highly structured manner or converse with your deity privately it’s ok with me. Maybe in my lifetime we will return to a social spirit that says it’s alright to believe in things that others do not believe in.

The Right Decision

As a Mediator I have lots of contact with judges, lawyers and cops and I respect their opinions on many matters. In my experience they are usually straight up and hardworking in their job and believe that the justice system works more often than it fails. The past few days have seen lots of comments from my friends about the Supreme Court decision that forbids law enforcement from looking at your cell phone without a search warrant.  The Justices concluded that an invesigator can’t even look at your phone directory without a warrant.

The media, as usual found a number of people who wept bitter tears over the fact that investigators couldn’t search through an individuals private data without approval and that this meant “the end of law enforcement as we know it”.  When I first heard that argument my reaction was to call “bull shit” and wonder why the talking head on the TV couldn't  remember our Constitutional privacy rights that are central to our society. With those thoughts in mind I roamed the internet reading the thoughts of people who operate our justice system across the country.  I also listened carefully to the comments of the people I work with in the system and without exception all of them feel that the decision of the Court was right and proper.

My personal observation is that people who are engaged in protecting and maintaining society are usually more aware of the fragility of our social order and the importance of protecting the individual and collective rights of our Constitution. Those who would change our society to fit their own concepts of the social structure are in for a rude surprise if they think that the justice system agrees with them.

Principles...A Statement

My Father watched his friends die in WW I,

I watched my friends die in Korea and Vietnam,

The flag they all died for was the U.S. Flag,

My Grandparents on both sides of the family were immigrants and the first thing they did was to integrate into the American culture since they were now Americans living in America…not the Old Country. (Even before they took the oath of allegiance they knew they were Americans.)

In Texas, not long ago, a student raised a Mexican flag on a school flag pole, another student took it down. For that simple act of American patriotism he was expelled from school. When I read about that I had to wonder at the logic of those who punish a young adult for protecting the flag of his country while letting a fellow student get away with raising an alien flag over U.S. territory.

In California kids in a high school were sent home on Cinco de Mayo for wearing shirts with the American flag printed on them. At the same time Hispanic kids at the school were encouraged to wear Mexican flags and iconography as symbols of their heritage! Please explain to me why it is ok for others to celebrate their heritage but wrong for Americans to celebrate our heritage.

Enough is enough.

Let me make this perfectly clear!

THIS  IS MY COUNTRY!  And, because I make this statement DOES  NOT mean I’m, a raciest or against immigration!!!

Every one who wishes to join is welcome here in my country, Welcome, to join with us legally:

1. Get a sponsor! It’s the law!

2.  Get a place to lay your head!

3. Get a job! Isn’t that why you came?

4. Live By OUR Rules!

5. Pay YOUR Taxes!

6.  Learn the LANGUAGE like all previous immigrants have in the past!

We’ve gone so far the other way, listened to politicians who see immigration as a source of willing fools, and treat the citizens of this country as feckless idiots. Because they believe the foolish immigrants (mostly illegally present in our country) will also keep them in office. Americans are told that we must bend over backwards and not offend anyone, while those same politicians allow others to repeatedly offend the very people whose country they are living in.

The American Dream is dying at the hands of politicians who have turned their back on that Dream and think that the Constitution (and the laws that followed) are not for them…the privileged masters of our country.

I will not forget…with every election cycle I WILL affirm that I am an American.

Worthy of his salary

I couldn't write it any better myself. The link below leads to a story of an Air Force B-1 pilot assisting a commercial crew during a medical emergency.

http://www.afspc.af.mil/news1/story.asp?id=123412412