As a general rule of thumb, I've tried to avoid questioning the wisdom of my critics. I try to accept criticism as meant to be constructive feedback from engaged readers, and I appreciate it whenever anyone takes the time and goes to the trouble of expressing their thoughts about my work, both positive and negative. However, there are exceptions to every rule. When James L. "Jimmy B." Bradbury recently posted a rather inflammatory comment in response to my article on Brian Bell and the bizarre death of Kendrick Johnson, I decided the gravity of his very serious accusation warranted and even mandated a rebuttal. Mr. Bradbury strongly implied that I became an accessory after the fact in a murder when he wrote: Dear John, Either you haven’t done your homework or you have some personal interest in helping cover up this murder. Unless you’re just a complete moron you have to give some credence to the very suspicious happenings surrounding the videos, the two autopsy’s [SIC], the fact that the Bell brothers refuse to speak to investigators, the missing body parts, the police incompetence in gathering the physical evidence and all the other elements involved. This is a real mystery and that’s why the government is investigating. It took the Police 3 month to close the case, Why is it that the Federal Government has already taken 16 months, If nothing was wrong they would have closed their investigation long ago. Nice try, Jimmy B. That is a very powerful accusation, indeed. It is my intent to go well beyond merely responding to"Mr. B.'s" somewhat insidious accusations … [Read more...]
Education versus indoctrination
Recently Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was visiting London when a reporter tried to sandbag him, asking if he was "comfortable" with and accepted the theory of evolution. Walker apparently sensed the question was intended to be a trap. So he replied that he was going to punt the question, cleverly adding that it was a topic on which politicians shouldn't be asked to give an opinion. Uber liberal Democrat Howard Dean then tried his best to turn Walker's non-answer into an advantage for his political party on CNN's Morning Joe. Dean said that because Walker dropped out of college his senior year and refused to say that he believed in evolution theory, he should be considered "uneducated" and therefore unqualified to be elected President of the United States in 2016. Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough accused Dean of taking a cheap shot at Walker, who had dropped out of Marquette to take a lucrative job with the American Red Cross. Scarborough correctly pointed out that people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg were merely a few examples of extremely successful businessmen lacking college degrees. Dean tried defending his comments. He stammered, "Evolution is a widely accepted scientific construct. People who don't believe in evolution easily, easily either do it for hard right religious reasons or because they don't know anything." Really? Howard Dean has a medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University after receiving his undergraduate degree in political science from Yale University. So I won't … [Read more...]
The worst contract in American sports
[Hat tip to Kevin Weakley for sending me the link to the article that inspired this blog.] The worst contract in American sports -- that's what Sports Illustrated magazine's Andy Staples called the National Letter of Intent, a document that commits a high school athlete to a scholarship from a particular university. Upon signing the Letter of Intent, that athlete forfeits one year of college eligibility in the event he or she fails to enroll in that school. In contrast, the school doesn't really have to honor the scholarship offer to the athlete. As Staples points out, Sure, the NLI claims to guarantee a scholarship, but that simply isn't true. That is contingent on the player being admitted to the school and on the football program staying below the 85-scholarship limit. A school can dump the player at any point between Signing Day and preseason camp, and he would have no recourse. This guarantee is no different than the one on a conference-approved financial aid form, but it costs the player something the financial aid agreement does not. This situation drew national attention when highly sought linebacker Roquan Smith verbally committed to UCLA in a ceremony televised on ESPN, but news broke revealing the primary recruiter who gave Smith his very first scholarship offer and cultivated a relationship with the player over three years would be leaving to take a coaching job in the NFL, working for the Atlanta Falcons. Had Smith signed the letter of intent and faxed it, he would have forfeited a year of eligibility unless UCLA granted him an unconditional release. … [Read more...]
The American worker versus H1-B visa employees
I'm asking...no, I'm begging you. If you read this post, please share it with everyone you know. This information must become viral, if the economy of the United States is going to survive in the long run. This is a call for action. PLEASE, call the office of your representative in Congress, and your state's senators. The layoffs of 400 IT employees at the utility company Southern California Edison has finally caught their attention. The time for action is now. PLEASE -- call every politician you know. The only power the American worker still holds is their vote. The politicians need them. The corporate terminology used to describe this sordid business of laying off qualified American employees is called a reduction in force. As in, when you now get the pink slip, you say "I just got RIFFed" instead. Here is the obscene lie -- the workforce isn't being reduced. They're probably bringing in three or four foreign employees to replace one American worker, because they are that much cheaper than experienced American talent. Those numbers are empirical evidence, observed through personal experiences, not from some "study." The unemployment rate for American-born workers as a percentage of the workforce is at an all time high. Uber-rich businessmen and women have convinced Congress that their businesses cannot flourish without importing wave after wave of technically skilled people from India, China, and other sources of cheaper labor. So they literally bring in these people, have them trained by the U.S. employees, and then lay off the American … [Read more...]
Unsolicited advice for Roquan Smith
Dear Roquan Smith: We've never met, in case you might be wondering. My letter is addressed to you, but I'm posting this on the internet in the hope it will catch your attention, as well as those of others who might find my advice beneficial. This advice would probably be equally useful to any other young athlete who faces a tough decision about which school to attend...I am not speaking as a college football fan, but as a grandfather. I am a grandfather. My intention is to speak to you as any grandfather would speak to his grandson, with no disrespect intended to your actual grandparents. I want to offer you the exact same advice I plan to give my own grandson, if he works hard enough and grows into an athlete talented to be offered similar opportunities to those you currently have. But before going any further, in the spirit of full disclosure I must tell you that I am a Georgia Bulldog fan, plain and simple. My opinions are often jaded. I shall make every effort to not show any favorable bias towards UGA in this open letter directed to you, but you should know that it naturally exists. However, I don't know or speak for Mark Richt, nor do I represent the university in any official capacity. I do love UGA, graduating in 1983 with a degree in Management Information Systems from the business school that has served me very well in my professional career. For twenty years, I helped develop computer software that did everything from making an electronic deposit into your checking account to encrypting your PIN after a device captured it, and all sorts of … [Read more...]
