Liberals, please consider this!
Since the election in which President Obama won a second term, I have tried to think of why voters kept him in office. I’m sure the liberals reading this would like nothing more than to tell me in person. However, since that isn’t going to happen, why not at least read what I have to say and determine if you see any merit in my concerns.
Please remember, the election was recent and these are only disparate thoughts and are not bound together in any particular order.
- Democrats have the objective of garnering the Hispanic vote. Not just the current population of Hispanics but many new arrivals over the next four years.
- Obama will grant a broad amnesty to Hispanics—current and future arrivals—which will endear him to Hispanics and ensure their vote. He will also grant them the full rights of an American citizen such as driver’s license and the right to vote.
- Democrats have, are and will continue to smother Hispanics with every entitlement program available in the free world. An example of which is the advertising blitz via electronic media along the Texas and Arizona borders on the availability of federal assistance on providing food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. If the illegal immigrants pay any taxes at all, is only a pittance. Even worse than this is the fact that the commercials are being shown over the border as an inducement for Hispanics to come to the United States.
- Why would the Democrats do this? Simple. If they can dramatically increase the number of Hispanics in Arizona and Texas and make the Hispanics dependent on the government for their every need they will win these two states in the general election, garnering their huge number of Electoral College votes needed to remain in office in perpetuity.
I know staying in office is a good thing in the minds of liberals. However, consider this. Young people, college students and those thirty or less, already believe healthcare, college tuition, food assistance programs and 99 weeks of unemployment insurance are a God-given right whether or not they choose to hold down a job and work for a living.
After four years or more of these types of entitlements, does anyone honestly believe that the young people will be happy with JUST the entitlements they have been receiving? The answer is no, it’s human nature to expect and demand more. Also, when if ever, students decide to leave college—after all there are many inducements to stay as long as possible—will they be employable, have a work ethic or even want to work? They will probably prefer to live off the system. They will have no problem allowing other citizens to finance their every need through their hard work.
Finally, who is going to pay for all of the “free stuff?” Fewer people will work so taxes will go up to support the leeches of society; this is just common sense. As working people take home less money they will need more help from the government in the form of food stamps and other government programs.
Our national debt is currently reported at over $16, 000,000,000. We are barely paying the interest on this loan from China and other countries. The debt will increase; the credit rating of the United States will be cut again and again, leading to inflation, the dethroning of the dollar as the World’s Main Reserve Currency and the decline of the value of the dollar both domestically and overseas.
There are so many social ramifications of the democratic strategy that it makes my head hurt.
"They Know They Can't Be Wrong On This One"
.
From MLBtraderumors.com:
The Mariners are ready to pursue a big name free agent, but the stakes are high after the Chone Figgins fiasco. "They know they can't be wrong on the next one," said a source to Olney.
Dr. D is more-or-less as much a fan of Bruce Lee as the next amigo is. So he was stunned to see a Chuck Norris interview in which Chuck discussed his relationship with Lee.
Point A: Norris is, by all accounts, as "nice" a person as it's possible to be nice. He's soft-spoken, gets along with everybody up to and including Sylvester Stallone, and seems to have devoted his life to spiritual causes.
Point B: Norris was a truly great martial artist. He was the 1969 Karate Fighter of the Year, held his title for six years undefeated, and (most impressively) is the only Westerner in the history of Tae Kwon Do to hold the rank of 8th degree black belt Grandmaster. The fact that they'd give him 8th means he's actually a lot better than that; 8th degree would be given to an American when nobody would argue about it. It's like saying "Felix deserves a spot on a major league roster."
Point C: In Norris' opinion, Lee wasn't a real martial artist.
:: blinks ::
An interviewer asked him one time, "So who would have won, you or Lee?," which was a dumb question to start with, considering the weight class difference. But Norris didn't mention that. He smiled, "Bruce never even got into the ring." The interviewer pressed him, but Lee was obviously fast, yada yada ... Norris shook his head and smiled again. "It's a different thing when you're doing it for real."
Much like if somebody were talking to Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, "Hey, man, there's a guy in my flag football league who can throw 105 yards and he can do this and that and the next thing." Brady would say .... what, exactly?
Which brings us to this week's pinch off BJOL:
.....................
Hey Bill, are you surprised that a lot of sports teams keep using the load-up-on-aging-free-agents strategy, even though it seems to fail miserably and expensively most of the time? I mean, adding some veteran pieces around a young or prime-age core is one thing, but counting on oldsters to carry the bulk of the load just seems to be an idea with failure built right into it. When you add in the greater cost of signing veteran players, it seems like a doubly bad idea. Any thoughts?Asked by: OwenHAnswered: 11/12/2012Well, yes, but. ...organizations that have resources tend to look to proven solutions. "Poor" organizations are willing to gamble on younger players, and become comfortable gambling on improvement from young players. Wealthy organizations tend innately to look for "proven" players.
....................
It's easy to play poker for matchsticks, but go sit down and play for real money and EVERYBODY, that's everybody, gets destroyed the first time they play for real. It's just different.
My first chess tournament, 40 moves in 90 minutes time control, I played against other low-ranking amateurs. Five games: 4 losses, 1 draw, and the draw was a miracle. Would you believe me if I said I played out-of-my-mind superbly? I really did. I just didn't have the hang of real battle.
Neither did Paul DePodesta or J.P. Ricciardi, and they'd been ringside for years and years. For you or I to imagine that we could GM a team, and do well, is delusional.
.......................
"Appeal to authority" is listed on Wikipedia as a type of logical fallacy. It isn't. Appeal to authority isn't part of formal logic at all. There's no "If A then B" inherent to it. Now, it is true that you don't want to be handcuffed with dogma like "Bobby Fischer says not to bring your Queen out early, so I'm not going to." But a wise man knows when another man is wiser than he is. And he takes an extra 5 seconds to CONSIDER the opinion of his senior.
When the real GM's have a take on an issue -- such as a free agent -- the worst thing in the world we can do, is to brush it off reflexively for not lining up with our formulas. When real GM's have a take on an issue, the appropriate response is to give the opinion a few seconds' consideration. Sabermigos have a lot to learn here.
...........................
It's fine to count up WAR, and play rotisserie, and say that Mike Carp is a better use of resources than is Nick Swisher. But we're playing for matchsticks. We are, by definition, very limited in our understanding of the situation.
Does James' reply --- > layer your understanding of the reason that Prince Fielder types seem to be overpaid every winter? Does it provide depth to your perception of the Josh Hamilton tour this winter? You might scoff at poker pros for folding out of straight draws; the math doesn't seem to jibe. But they're at the finals table. You are not.
After the Figgins soft-skills fiasco, the Mariners will want to be very careful to get somebody with exceptional talent. That's my kibitz from the penny-ante table. :- )
.
Indigenous Peoples 1 - Australian Aboriginals and Uranium Mining
Previous posts have dealt with uranium mining in Australia. In this post, I want to delve more deeply into the impact on and reaction of the Australian Aboriginals to the mining of uranium on Aboriginal land. All indigenous people in the world have a strong identification with their traditional lands. However, the relationship of the Australian Aboriginals to their ancestral lands goes far beyond the usual strong feelings of indigenous peoples. The Aboriginals see themselves as the custodians of the land and over untold generations they have maintained certain aspects of the landscape as a sacred duty.
When James Cook discovered Australia in 1770, it is estimated that there were about six hundred thousand Aboriginals. After two hundred and sixty years of imported diseases and racial attacks, the population of Aboriginals had dropped ninety percent to around sixty thousand. Murder of Aboriginals was seldom punished. A policy called terra nullius claimed that when Australia was discovered, the land was empty and belonged to no one. This allowed the colonial governments to displace Aboriginals at any time for any reason or no reason. After centuries of horrible treatment, ninety five percent of the Australian voters voted in 1967 for the Australian government to work to repair the damage to what was left of Aboriginal culture and to provide decent treatment for Aboriginals.
The government set up the Council of the Office of Aboriginal Affairs to study situation and to communication with the Aboriginal communities. However, other branches of the government were slow to adopt the new attitude. In 1971, a judge in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territories ruled that the British claim of sovereignty over Australia had canceled all Aboriginal land rights. In 1973, the Federal Labour Party established a Commission for Aboriginal Land Rights and a special Fund to collect and distribute money to Aboriginals to purchase land. In 1976, the Federal government passed the Aboriginal Land Rights Act that recognized Aboriginal rights to own land in the Northern Territories with certain restrictions. The land had to be unclaimed by anyone else and the Aboriginals had to prove their ancestral right to the land.
Kakadu National Park is a desolate nature preserve in a remote part of Australia’s Northern Territories. It is sacred to the Mirrar Aboriginal clan whose ancestors were there for thousands of years. It is one of the 20 sites recognized by UNESCO for its cultural and natural value. Uranium was discovered under Kakadu and the Fox inquiry was set up by the Australian government in 1975 to consider uranium mining in Kakadu. The inquiry considered the Mirrar attachment to the land and said that it had to be respected or set aside. The Fox inquiry recommended that the Aboriginal land rights be ignored and that mining be allowed. In 1978, the Australian government chose to override the provision in the Aboriginal Land Rights law that said that the Aboriginals had a right to veto mining on Aboriginal land. Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) was allowed to open the Ranger mine in the Kakadu Park in 1980.
To date, ERA has extracted twenty seven million tons of uranium ore from Ranger and has milled sixteen million tons of uranium. The tailings from the mine are highly toxic and will be radioactive for thousands of years. Animals and plants have been killed and higher levels of radiation have been detected in the land and water around the mine. There have been over 100 breaches of environmental regulations by the operators of Ranger.
Now ERA wants to open another mine in the same area and the Aboriginals are appealing to UNESCO for help. They wanted UNESCO to say that the mining was endangering the Kakadu preserve. UNESCO debated it but decided not to say that the preserve was in danger, partly because the Australian government said that it would ignore any such classification.
So here we are, three hundred and forty years since the British arrived in Australia and forty five years after the recognition of Aboriginal land rights. But the quest for uranium trumps respect for Aboriginal rights and, once again, their lands are open for exploitation by private corporations.
A collective sigh of relief
This just in: Former President Bill Clinton was discovered sleeping in his New York home late afternoon Friday. That’s right, folks. He was actually sleeping.
There is little dramatic license taken in the above opening. After watching Bill Clinton’s fast and furious campaigning efforts, it’s hard to believe the former President needs sleep at all. In fact, observers might easily conclude that Bill Clinton runs on a form of high-yield biodegradable fuel not found in the rest of us.
While the raw numbers lie with the Obama campaign and perhaps the Harry Reid Agency (BC’s representatives,) a cursory look would put his personal appearances over the last three months in the four-figure range. Easily.
The former President helped seal the deal for the Commander-n-Chief and countless other Dems across the nation. Now that it’s over, those of us who not only marveled at Clinton’s relentless, often furious pace, but who also worried over how such extended activities might affect him physically can breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Time to decompress: Bill Clinton style
What will Clinton’s schedule look like going forward? More importantly, what will he do with all that high-octane energy and post-election free time? After pushing the pedal to the metal for so long, President Clinton is certainly in need of sleep followed by some serious unwinding.
Maybe this Clinton quote in Golf Digest magazine provides a clue as to how BC plans on decompressing after his tour-de-force:
“One of the reasons my late stepfather lived to 89 and lived as well as he did was because he played a lot of golf.”
If hitting the links is the relaxation and wind-down cure for the former POTUS, then Bill Clinton Talk hopes the President gets plenty of time out on the greens!
tester
sdfgfsds
Personal communications for the jobseeker
Building upon last week’s post, the first examples of key communications begin with the informational interview. Getting a “yes” for informational interviewing is a lot easier than getting hired, yet it is an indispensable and often overlooked method to furthering your successful job hunt.
Your goal in an informational interview is to uncover in-depth knowledge about the career, company and/or field you have targeted and to gain valuable connections in your network who may help you get hired down the road. Finding professionals to interview is also fairly simple.
For graduates, start with your alma mater’s social network or directory listings. Look for professors and alumni who offer career development advice within your field. You might call the career development office for such a list.
Anyone can sort through their social networks for potential interviewees. LindedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others are all great places to look. Found someone you’d like to interview? Here’s how to reach out for the request:
On LinkedIn, you may uncover a 3rd or 2nd connection in your network to someone you know would give a strong informational interview. Send a pm asking to be introduced.
“Hi Mary, I’m seeking relevant information about working in the field of _______, and noticed you are directly connected to John Q. who would be a valuable source for me to interview. Would you consider sending an introduction to Mr. Q on my behalf? Your assistance is deeply appreciated, and if I can reciprocate or assist you in any way, please let me know. Thanks Mary! –Sally Smith”
Using this as a guideline, you should send requests to anyone you think would make a strong, relevant informational interview candidate. It is best to seek out local interviews or those that you can meet with in person. However, doing informational interviews by phone is also an option.
Remember these personal communications tips when conducting a session by phone. 1) Conduct your phone interview in a quiet setting or room where there are no distractions. 2) Have a silent alarm or timer set up for the 15 or 30 minutes you have scheduled so you don’t over-extend yourself. 3) Dial *70 before you call to disable call waiting, opt for your landline, or fully charge your cell phone beforehand. 4) Have your list of questions before you, and always begin by asking how your interviewee is doing. 5) Use a headset so that you can navigate between any prepared documents and take notes.
Your Elevator Pitch
An “elevator pitch” is a brief, descriptive summary of who you are and what skills you possess as a professional. It can be verbally communicated in less than 60 seconds, and should end on an enticing or positive note. After initial greetings, you should begin your informational session by introducing yourself with your pitch (sometimes called a personal statement.)
Come back next week for specifics on how to develop your elevator pitch. Until then, remember to focus on putting your best foot forward and as always, good luck!
Oh No They Didn't: Insane Taxi Driver and more crazy dumps
Jay Bruce - Mystery Comp
.
Mucho info-tainment at Prospect Insider this month. He's playing Home Run Derby with the fun names out there on the baseball landscape, and it's a target-rich environment. He's got Stanton in there, Hamilton, lately Anibal Sanchez, Asdrubal Cabrera (HEH!) and now here comes Jay Bruce.
I know jack squat about the National League and in fact am not sure I've ever seen Jay Bruce play. As you know, Dr. D doesn't let a little thing like complete ignorance hold him back. Give 'im 5 years' worth of results to look at, and a game's worth of aiki mechanics analysis, and he'll be only too glad to play a Doctor. He sleeps at Holiday Inn Expresses, so. Yes, really.
.
=== Let's Go To! the Video! Tape! ===
You cue up Bruce on the trusty ol' MLB.com and .... whaaaa? Hang on a second. We've seen this shtick before. Watch the video and tell me who this is.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
You guessed it. Michael Saunders.
All of the component skills line up too, like a shadow on the wall at high noon. 60 walks and 150 whiffs per season, .250 batting average, tall guy, falls over the plate, 30+ homers, Bruce runs fairly well, is long to the ball and short throught it, yada yada yada ... sort of a topswing finish to the followthrough. Both Jay Bruce, and Michael Saunders, have high-torque swings even based on upper-body levers alone.
(In fairness, Bruce looks visibly like Saunders only on his disorganized swings. On other swings, such as these, he mirrors Saunders' dynamics in a more subtle way. Bruce does have better plate coverage, high and low, than Saunders has had so far. There isn't any question that Bruce has been a Saunders v2.0, at least to date.)
... which tells us what? Okay, Jay Bruce is Michael Saunders if Saunders got his pitch sequences together, kept his lower body quiet, and stayed agile high-to-low in the strike zone. Bruce got it together much sooner than Saunders is doing. You learn what from that?
I dunno. That Bruce would be superfluous to the M's? That Michael Saunders is headed for a 7 WAR season shortly (Bruce had a 5.4 and wasn't a fast CF)? Neither? Both?
.
=== Dr's R/X ===
If you look at Bradley Woodrum's fine side-by-side of Bruce crushing high and low pitches, you can't help but admire Bruce's smooth, natural solution to the Saunders Plate Coverage Problemo.
Hitters bunt the ball by setting their bats at the top of the strike zone and then they either (1) let higher pitches go by, or (2) lower the bat down to anything below that. Of course, this also promotes contact with the higher half of the ball.
Bruce stands nice and tall, and if a high pitch comes in he whacks it comfortably. If a low pitch comes in, he uses his natural fall-over-the-plate mechanic to fall down on top of it. Brilliant! ::guinness::
If I'm Michael Saunders, I'm grokking this idea for use in my own thought organization.
.
NEXT
Jay Bruce - Talking Points
.
Talking points meaning, SSI doesn't claim to have this guy surrounded. We saw chatter and so we chittered.
.
(1) Some people see major upside here. Here's a fangraphs article comparing Bruce and ... Giancarlo Stanton. In Bruce's comps list, at b-ref.com, are Darryl Strawberry, Reggie Jackson, and Jack Clark. You're talking about a 25-year-old who was a good ML player at age 21.
..............
(2) Bruce's PX (power index) is 150-160, legit 40-homer territory. He's a real big lefty, generates obvious torque, mostly with the upper body, and hit HR's in the majors at a young age. Though he looks visually different, his PX curve isn't all that different from Adam Dunn's.
.............
(3) Bruce is signed for a measly $11M x 5 years. He's been worth $21M, $15M and $11M the last three years; $15M per is probably a baseline going forward, and $20M more likely. And salaries will inflate quickly. So your "net profit" on Bruce is probably around $25-$50M -- he'll give you like $80-100M of performance for $54M.
Of course, if you don't have Bruce, you might have Stefen Romero (or Nick Franklin or Brad Miller or Vinnie Catricala or whoever) in the same position, giving you $80M of performance over those 5 years, for about $15M in salary.
The bottom line is, WAR is going to undersell Jay Bruce, because WAR undersells "hard" skills like 100 RBI with marginal defense and oversells "soft" skills like Chone Figgins'. Analysts are going to want to pay him for 3 WAR, but on a real team he's worth 4 to me, and could be in for some 5 seasons. In any case, he's a legit MOTO thumper and that's fiiiiiiiiivvvvvve looonnnnnnnng years he's locked up while salaries go bananas.
...............
(4) Jay Bruce's plate coverage is impressive. Bradley Woodrum does a great job, I think, showing that Bruce is comfortable getting to the low ball, and he hit a home run last year on a pitch 4 feet off the ground.
In the previous article we discussed some. Bruce's 150 K's last year might create the impression that he's a mess at the plate. Nay verily. He simply put the pedal to the metal. His HIT tool looks better than he gets credit for.
The EYE is related to the HIT tool and Bruce's pitch selection is very encouraging. For example, his 29% swing rate on balls outside the strike zone is better than the league average, impressive for a guy with a 150 PX and a weak EYE. His OOZ was better than Ryan Zimmerman, Carlos Beltran and Matt Holliday, much better than Ryan Braun, and almost as good as Buster Posey.
His swing % in the zone was 76%, wayyyyyy higher than league average - meaning that this is one dude who can tell a ball from a strike.
Baseball's about the strike zone, and Bruce sees the ball exceptionally well. Looks like he's headed UP, not DWN.
...............
(5) The Reds had a measly 90 OPS+ last year despite Votto, Bruce, and Ludwick. Stars & Scrubs isn't working for them right now. We don't mean, "the system is inappropriate for the Reds." We mean, "the Reds have somehow taken three excellent MOTO hitters and turned it into 669 runs." If the Reds have seen failure at the plate, who knows. Maybe they'd be interested in a Seager + Hitting Prospect + Erasmo type package for Bruce + ? We can easily imagine Jay-Z going for Bronson Arroyo as this year's Jeff Suppan.
As the second man in - the M's need two bonking OF's - Bruce would be exciting. He may have a string of 35 HR, 100 RBI seasons in him, and beyond that, a Justin Morneau-type MVP isn't out of the question.
On the other hand, maybe you want to take your shot at Michael Saunders doing a Jay Bruce ... from CF.
Cheers,
Dr D
Evil Is Good: Villainous Art
Above pic by Jack Kirby
There simply just are not enough comics featuring Fin Fang Foom. It also gets kind of tough to peg down which version of him is showing up, and once you figure out it’s anyone’s guess if he’s alive or dead currently. Still, you have to love an ancient dragon alien with tiny purple trunks.
By Mike Mignola
By Don Flawes
By Jim Cheung
By Lee Weeks
By Tradd Moore
By Paul Hanley
By Jack Kirby