Outrage At Tiger Stadium... Er, Comerica Park

Armando Galarraga got hosed last night. This is not in dispute and there are better sources for information on this topic than Furriners... so I will not rehash it here.

However, I would like to add a few comments to what is already out there.

One, for those who didn't watch the game, I would like to point out that Jim Joyce (who people like Tim Kurkjian are defending as one of the best umpires in major league baseball) also got a call wrong in the 8th inning! With two outs, Johnny Damon hit an infield grounder where the throw beat him to first but Joyce called him safe. It led to two runs as Magglio Ordonez followed with a hit that drove in Austin Jackson and Damon scored on a throwing error by Shin-Soo Choo. This was, obviously, not a historically awful call as was the call a half inning later - but it could have easily decided the game given that it was 1-0 game before the Ordonez hit.

Also, for the "I Call Bullshit" moment of the game, we had this exchange from Tigers announcers Mario Impemba and Rod Allen regarding the retirement of Ken Griffey, Jr.:

Mario: "(E)verybody has their opinion of who the best player they've seen play and I know there are a lot of great ones but I still maintain Griffey, for me, was the best overall talent that I've seen play when healthy."

Rod: "There is not a lot of people that would even argue with you on that."

BULLSHIT!

Love 'em or Hate 'em... well, let's face it... we all HATE him but Barry Bonds would have the support of "a lot of people". If Mario had qualified it by saying that Griffey was the best that we presume was clean... fine. But as an unqualified statement, to say that not a lot of people would argue with that is bullshit.

Are you concerned about our National Debt?

If you are really concerned about our National Debt there is a way for you to be proactive. You can donate to the cause. Below is the information from the Treasury page about how to participate.

How do you make a contribution to reduce the debt?
There are two ways for you to make a contribution to reduce the debt:

•You can make a contribution online either by credit card, checking or savings account at Pay.gov
•You can write a check payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt, and in the memo section, notate that it's a Gift to reduce the Debt Held by the Public. Mail your check to:

Attn Dept G
Bureau of the Public Debt
P. O. Box 2188
Parkersburg, WV 26106-2188



Note: The Bureau of the Public Debt's Office of Public Debt Accounting maintains this FAQ. Keep in mind that these questions may not fit all situations and are only intended as a guideline.


We here at Furriners would like to issue challenge to our reader. The current record donation to the national debt is $3.5 million. If you have the stones to top that we will dedicate an entire column to you. Gauntlet thrown!

Government take over?

Much has been made recently about the so called "government take over" of the banks and GM. While I don't like that this is tax payer money for private businesses, I certainly understand the logic behind it and happen to agree with the course taken.

Similarly there are many people now concerned about the oil spill and calling for more government action maybe even a....government take over. I would like to point out that you can not be against the take over in the first instance and for it in the second. You have to pick a side here, or brandish yourself a hypocrite. I assume that BP is doing everything it can to stop the well because A) every gallon in the ocean is a gallon less for the to sell and B) a massive oil spill is not good publicity. But I also believe that the government can help out. We could put a few thousand people to work and charge BP for the cost of the clean up. Now that is my idea of a bailout.

Mock Draft Mocking

The staff at Furriners happens to love a good draft. I'm not saying we're having a draft party to watch the WNBA Draft or anything but I'd be lying if I didn't acknowledge checking espn.com to see where Courtney Paris was picked last year.

Also, as residents of the Detroit-area, the NFL draft is even more closely watched considering the Lions are so often picking near the top of the draft. Last year, while there was a healthy debate about whom the Lions should pick at #1 (locally, it was mostly between Matthew Stafford and Aaron Curry... with Pat Caputo wanting to take B.J. Raji). It is legend around the Furriners office that there was a national writer who put up a mock draft saying the Lions should take Everette Brown at #1. Everette Brown! You might ask "who is Everette Brown?" Well, he was the 43rd overall pick of the Carolina Panthers who finished his rookie season with 19 tackles and 2.5 sacks. I searched the internet for a bit to try to find a link to that mock draft but couldn't locate it. Whomever wrote it probably wants to scrub it from interest history. And I don't blame him.

The reason I bring this up is that I recently looked for an mock draft update from nbadraft.net. There most recent revision (as of today, 6/2) has Patrick Patterson going #6! They are officially f'n insane! I don't need to rehash what I think of Patterson but if you're just finding this site: please see here and here and here.

And I'm here to predict to that nbadraft.net is going to want to pretend in the years ahead that they didn't have Patrick Patterson in the top 6. They will be lying. Much like Pete Hoekstra.

Udoh over Patterson.

Econ 101 for Americans

NPR recently reported that there are more cash advance locations in the US than Starbucks. The particular store in this story had an interest rate of something like 526% yearly. The main question of the story revolves around the question of predatory lending. The store posted in plan view the interest rate yet they still get business.

While I hate that these businesses exist, the problem here is really more about our education system than the capitalist that exploit this issue. Most of these people have very poor credit ratings and can not get a loan through normal channels or they spend beyond their means. The reason for this is because they have no idea how to use money.

I made it all the way through college without ever having to take a class on economics. Luckily people around me understand money and taught me how it can work for me. Since making money is practically as American as apple pie I'm at a loss as to why there is no requirement to teach our children about things like interest rates, credit cards, credit ratings, filing taxes, balancing a check book, or how the stock market works. These things are not like Nascar or hunting that are completely unnecessary, you need to understand how to use money to be successful. I would argue that this is more important than teaching History, yet it is not given that level of importance by our government.

Another good example of this problem is the great recession. While much of the blame for the recent housing bubble falls at the feet of big business, the blow could have been lessened if many of these people who took out loans they could not afford understood exactly what they were getting themselves into. Ironically the phrase that best sums up this issue is one I learned in History - "Those who can not learn from History are doomed to repeat it".

MMS and Regulations

It seems to me that some of the big business apologists are trying to steer the blame for the oil spill back to government by pointing the finger at the MMS and their failures. While the MMS people in charge of the Deep Water oil rig certainly failed to do their job properly the conclusion of this failure is not putting an end to regulations in an effort to cut back on big government.

As mentioned here before, big business's only responsibility to "the common good" is in how much cash can make off of it. Government and it's regulations on big business are the voting publics only means of insuring that more accidents like this one do not occur.

What we need is better regulations or at the very least improvement in the methods these regulations are enforced. How we get there is certainly a topic for debate, but when you consider that most of the offences of the MMS come back to money it make you wonder if the regulators need to be paid more for their job which might lower their incentive to take a bribe. Another possible improvement could be finding people who are passionate about the work and the protections these regulations offer rather than someone who just sees the position as a job.

Clearly the government needs change, but ending regulations on big business would be a giant step in the wrong direction (see Bear Sterns).

Reader Feedback on Sarah Palin

A recent conversation in the Furriners office made me wonder what our reader thinks of this topic. We were discussing Sarah Palin and the question that our discussion boils down to is what does Sarah Palin add to the debate (other than a well placed "you betcha" followed by a wink). We are drawing a collective blank and would appreciate any input you may have.

Obama Has A New Policy!

Attorney General Eric Holder was discussing the BP Oil Spill on the TV machine yesterday and he had this to say:

"We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who has violated the law. We will prosecute anyone who has violated the law."

No offense... but no you will not! I was paying attention last spring/summer when some of us were looking for the Obama administration to maybe, just maybe, hold the Bush administration officials who sanctioned an illegal torture program accountable. Nothing happened. Well, unless you count some tepid rhetoric from AG Holder and even less from President Obama. We all remember Obama's "I am more interested in looking forward" rationale. Wasn't that the logic that got Mark McGwire rightly ridiculed back in 2005? I expect more from our president!

Well, believe it or not, I am actually more interested in looking forward with regards to the oil spill than I am with regards to the torture policy of the Bush administration. I certainly do not mean that I want to let BP off the hook. I guess my point is that the oil spill did not happen in a vacuum. It happened in the context of massive corruption of the MMS. I want to see that that is addressed. I mean REALLY addressed... not just finding a few scapegoats and hope that everyone will believe that the problems have been resolved. (This, of course, very much mirrors my opinion of what needs to happen with regards to financial regulatory reform). Moreover, I want to know that the oil companies currently operating in the United States have up-to-date safety inspections - meeting U.S. standards NOT the standards of the countries with so-called "flags of convenience". I want to know they have legitimate plans in place to deal with an emergency (which BP clearly did not). I want the tax-system addressed that lets junk like this happen.

So, overall, I guess my priorities are:

1) stop the leak
2A) clean-up the oil (BP pays - not US taxpayers)
2B) address the systemic failure and culture that allowed this to happen
2C) for christsake... let's invest in clean, renewable energy
5) hold BP/Transocean/Halliburton accountable with criminal/civil penalties (as the facts of the investigation dictate)

The party of nothing

If the Republican Party has become the party of No, then the Tea Party would have to be considered the party of nothing. At least the Republicans know what they are against. At this point there is no tangible bond between "members" of the Tea Party other than being mad. This is a group of people who are mad but their not sure what they are mad about. Some want less government spending but have not solution for how to do it. Others make the recent health care reform their basis for their Tea Party association while some have decided that Acorn was the straw that broke the camels back.

The problem is not that these people don't have a right to their opinion or a right to fight for it but rather the issue is that they can't agree with each other on what their party stands for. It will be hard to support a candidate when that candidate only represents a small portion of what your organization stands for.

Where the real fun starts is in the fall when a Tea Party candidate is put up against a Republican or Democrat in a debate on the issues that Americans care about. For a party that has decided to avoid the topics that they consider divisive like abortion or gay marriage these debates will provide the perfect forum for them to fall flat on their face. How better to be the party of nothing than to have nothing to say when discussing real topics.

Even George Will understands the immigration problem.

This week on This Week George Will (representing the conservative view on the panel)pointing out something that we here at Furriners have been saying for years now.

"Bush, I think, sent 6,000 troops to the border, didn't have much affect. The numbers of agents has increased 80% since 2004 and we now have learned exactly what slows down illegal immigration; a real serious world class recession."

Yes even the people on the Right are starting to understand that the issue is jobs. Mexicans want money. Since Mexico is corrupt and poor they come to America where they work for cheap taking jobs most Americans are not interested in down, especially for the wages offered. If you want to drive the Mexicans out of America make the Mexican economy viable.

Lakers, Celtics. Who Cares.

While David Stern is probably sporting wood the likes he has not seen since his last Viagra enema, I can tell you that a finals of Lakers and Celtics gets a collective yawn from the Furriners staff. Better viewing options will include The Bachelorette, a CSI Miami repeat, Phineas and Ferb, and anything on the WE network.

Here's hoping for a Clippers, Bucks finals next year.

Keep your eyes on your own paper

Moronic or big steely ones...you decide.

Liberal Media Bias?

I'm not saying you're stupid I'm just saying your not smart if you have been convinced that there is a Liberal Media bias. Aside from the obvious fact that big companies own most major news outlets and these companies are overwhelmingly conservative. The fact remain that the media reports good stuff because of capitalism. There are two types of media outlets: legitimate and entertainment. The legitimate news sources will align themselves with the white house because if you ask the tough questions and report the bad stuff you don't get to ask any more questions (just ask Helen Thomas). If you never get the inside story then people have no reason to watch your channel which means no money for you. This is why democrats sent around stupid emails titled "you won't see this on the main stream media" when Bush was in charge and Republicans have taken up the torch with Obama as president. That is unless you are an entertainment news source. Then all bets are off. You can basically make up anything you want and claim it to be true (see Glenn Beck).

We here at furriners base all of our opinions on facts (except the man love for DA)so please feel free to quote us at any time.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the big media programs don't need to report on insignificant stuff. There are political things happening almost everyday, but that doesn't mean they are news worthy. Was there an important speaker at this event or did some get hurt or a least some minor conflict happen? If not, it won't be making the news. Again this is more about money than bias. If there is no news to report then there is no report filed. Would it be some sort of shocking headline that some people disagree with the Presidents policies?

In the end the debate over media is meaningless. It keeps people from looking at the real issues. If you never listen to the other side because you believe nothing they say is true you only hurt your own understanding. Additionally this debate is based on perception. Find me multiple studies that prove a media bias and I'll concede, but the only examination done on this topic is from the far wings trying to prove a point and their information is, ironically, completely slanted. No self respecting political scientist will do a serious study on this because they realize there is no way to make facts out of opinions. You're more likely to find definitive evidence that unicorns exist than you are to determine which way the political winds are blowing with regards to the media. If it were a real problem Politicians would make it part of their platform "to end the liberal media bias". It’s a manufactured debate meant to distract you from real issues.

Good Luck, Stevie!!

Here in the Furriners offices, we tend to be a pretty critical bunch. What with the BP oil spill disaster, Democrats unwillingness to actually get tough on Wall St, and Matt Leinart threatening to unleash his noodle arm as the starting QB of the Arizona Cardinals... it can be pretty tempting to feel disheartened.

Well, I am here to share some positive thoughts:

It was announced today that Steve Yzerman will become the new GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It would be hard to overstate what a local icon "Stevie" is here in the Detroit area. If Brett Favre wasn't a big baby and had won three titles instead of one, he could have meant in Green Bay what Steve Yzerman means to Detroit.

I mean, of course, we love Nick Lidstrom. We love Barry Sanders. We love Al Kaline. We love Ernie Harwell. We love Bo Schembechler. We love Vladimir Konstantinov. We love Derek Anderson... uh, actually, maybe that is just me? (By the way, memo to ESPN: we hate Matt Millen. Please do not let him broadcast any University of Michigan football games. Thank you!)

But Yzerman is The Captain. He is different. He is special.

There's probably going to be a lot of bittersweet feelings in Detroit today. Early in the day, former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to up to 5 years in jail for probation violations pertaining to crimes committed while mayor of Detroit. Certainly, there will be a lot of people thinking justice was served even as, perhaps, they still feel a bit unsatisfied (like when Brad Pitt shot Kevin Spacey at the end of Se7en). And Steve Yzerman leaving to be the GM of Tampa Bay? Well, I think most Wings fans are more than satisfied with the job done by current GM Ken Holland. So, it's unfortunate it had to happen but I can truthfully say that I wish Steve Yzerman nothing but the best of luck in his new position. (Let's just make sure he doesn't have the phone number for the agent of Nicklas Lidstrom).

Glenn Beck finally conservative enough to get the call from the big guy upstairs

Bill Maher recently made statements about religion being the cause of most wars. While I am not completely sold on this idea religion has certainly led to its fair share of killing and anyone who asks you to do something in the name of God is asking you to do the work of the Devil. This brings us to Glen Beck.

What is odd to me is that when God apparently talks to people he never tells them to save the very planet that he (or she) created. God seems to prefer death and greed in his requests.

- God told George W. Bush to invade Iraq. I'm not sure why God didn't just have Bush Senior finish the job if it was really important. You can't tell me that God created both of these guys and decided W. was the man for the job.

- God told Oral Roberts to raise 8 million dollars or he would kill him. This is insultingly moronic to anyone who considers themselves a Christian.

- Apparently God instructed David Koresh on who to marry and a litany of other things including being good with Koresh having sex with children.

While I can't believe it took this long God is finally talking to Glenn Beck. Like Jesus before him Beck has been tasked with changing the world (starting with the US of course). To pander to the racists that make up the bulk of the "Beckerheads" Beck will announce his plan on the same day and place of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. At this speech Beck will lay out "The Plan" that God has asked him to "Articulate". I can't see how this can possibly go wrong. A man who pulls things out of thin air to make and argument using chalk boards and embarrassingly rudimentary flow charts is going to put together a plan to save the US from...?

Let me put this plain and simple. If you believe in a God that can do all of the shit you think he can do, he ain't using George W. Bush, Oral Roberts, David Koresh, and Glenn Beck to get things done. If you want to listen to Glen Beck because you think his ideas are sound then great, but don't embarrass yourself and believe for one second that Glenn Beck was given a direct line to the man in charge. As Beck him self would point out "believer" contains the word "lie" and that is exactly what Glenn Beck is doing.

Have They Watched The Interview?

There has been a national debate over the "Papers Please" Law in Arizona. It has become a cliched talking point amongst conservatives to query "have you actually read the law?" as if the reading of the law would it seem perfectly reasonable to those of us with concerns. They are, of course, banking on the fact that people actually will NOT read it. And, admittedly, I have no intention of doing so.

I was thinking of that in relation to the conservatives like Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin who have come to the defense of GOP senate candidate Rand Paul (KY) for his recent comments regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on NPR and on The Rachel Maddow Show (as well as other media outlets). Moreover, he was expressing identical ideology as far back as 2002 with regards to the Fair Housing Act.

If you watched the interview, it really wasn't that complicated to see where Dr. Paul was coming from. There is now some backtracking being done and he claims he would have voted for the Civil Rights Act in 1964. This is all spin (in the Maddow interview, he waxed not very poetically about how it's a tough call whether you should vote for something when you object to certain aspects of it... yeah, no shit! Health Care Bill anyone?). It is very clear if you watch the interview that Dr. Paul believes that private businesses should have the right to deny service to anyone they see fit (outlawed in Title II of the Civil Rights Act). This does not make him a racist or a bad human being. It is my contention only that it makes him out of step with mainstream America about what is the appropriate role of government.

So if we had any conservative readers here at Furriners, I would urge them to watch the interview with the realization that they probably never would. But at least maybe we could make "have you watched the interview?" as much of a cliche as "have you read the law?"

P.S. Rachel's next day follow up is also very much worth a view.

Eliot Spitzer Buries Summers and Geithner

"Some of us have been saying for a long time that (Larry) Summers and (Timothy) Geithner come straight out of Wall Street, straight out of the trading side. They were very comfortable with taxpayer subsidized investment banks that got the upside, not the downside. I've never believed these guys were genuine capitalists. Somebody used the metaphor...they're like teenagers... the moment they're in trouble they come running to mommy and daddy. They scream when you impose limits on them. And they want you to believe that the rules don't apply to them. It simply isn't capitalism. They're socialists, not capitalists. Capitalists take real risk with their own money... they know how to win and lose and that's why me and many others have utter scorn for these guys." -- Eliot Spitzer on The Dylan Ratigan Show (5/24/10)

"Utter scorn"?!? Wow... that is harsh! It's no secret that the Furriners offices are fans of Mr. Spitzer and we pay special attention to what he has to say.

Between this rant, a rather unsympathetic portrayal of Mr. Summers (in particular) in Simon Johnson's "13 Bankers" (regarding Mr. Summers lead role along with Robert Rubin in convincing President Clinton of the benefits of deregulation), and reports that Summers and Geithner are leading the executive branch opposition to tougher financial regulatory reform including the Brown-Kaufman Amendment, the derivatives language offered by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, and the Merkley-Levin Amendment (essentially the Volcker Rule) which didn't even get a vote! Well, let's just say I am frustrated by more than the mere presence of Joseph Lieberman in the Senate. I have about had it with these two guys.

The details of the vote for/against the Brown-Kaufman Amendment can be found here. This is the vote that I will not forget... you know how a lot of people are angry about TARP (particularly Tea Partiers and other conservative factions)? Well, this should be the mirrored image on the left... those who voted 'Nay' on Brown-Kaufman have, in my opinion, betrayed the values of the Democratic Party.

And another thing while I am worked up about this... where the fuck was Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow in getting the word out about Brown-Kaufman? That was the real chance to end "Too Big To Fail" and neither show was covering it? It is just a big, big letdown.

BP Oil spill does not equal Katrina

As John Stewart pointed out the pundits from the right have a way of taking something that they previously defended as good policy like the failures of the Bush administration during Katrina and attributing them to the Obama administration with negative connotations.

Let's be clear, the BP oil spill is not Katrina. BP, regardless of my opinion of them, is not a natural disaster. The oil spill is a man made, big business screw up. Katrina required government intervention because it is responsible for the people of this nation and acts of nature are not sponsored by the private sector. BP, Transocean, and Halliburtion all shit the bed on this one. The government seems to have been lacks in its regulatory duties however the people who are trying to pin this on the Obama administration are the very people who call for no government interference in the private sector. Government interference is code for too many regulations. You can't claim to hate regulations and then act like they could have prevented the issue that the private sector created.

Tea Party: Everyone is welcome...except for those of you who are certainly not welcome...you know who you are.

Mark Williams the leader of the National Tea Party movement posted the following on his blog recently:

The monument would consist of a Mosque for the worship of the terrorists' monkey-god (repeat: "the terrorists' monkey-god." if you feel that fits a description of Allah then that is your own deep-seated emotional baggage not mine, talk to the terrorists who use Allah as their excuse and the Muslims who apologize for and rationalize them) and a "cultural center" to propagandize for the extermination of all things not approved by their cult. It is a project of American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, essentially the same group of apologists (but under 2 different names) for terrorists and the animals who use it as a terrorist ideology. They cloak their evil with new age gibberish that suggests Islam is just misunderstood.

All that sweet talk just makes me tingle inside. What more could you ask for out of a political movement than unabashed hatred for segments of the American voting public. Even the KKK leadership is embarrassed for this douche bag.

Lynn Rivers eviscerates Dale Robertson...Sort of.

The man holding the sign in the picture to the right is Dale Robertson the founder of Teaparty.org and the self proclaimed originator of the Tea Party movement. Mr. Robert (I assume based on the sign I need to address him as such) was the guest on the Lynn Rivers show this morning. Unfortunately there is not a podcast or transcript of their discussion because while Lynn Rivers is a very respectful and polite host she asked a number of poignant questions about the Tea Party movement most of which Mr. Robertson struggled to answer. At one point Lynn asked Mr. Robertson about examples of a one of the ideas which he based his Tea Party movement on and his answer was dead air followed by a few "um's" and he finally said something to the affect of I have a good answer for that but I just can't think of it right now. What? All you need is an example of why you started this movement in the first place and nothing comes to mind. Really?

Mr. Robertson actually spoke very intelligently on many other topics related to the Tea Party movement but he struggled mightily to provide a concrete description of what he was trying to accomplish answering a question of "what tax cuts would you make" with “I really don't want to get into specifics”.

In the end Mr. Robertson did more to persuade me that the Tea Party movement is made up of white people whose overriding similarity is that they are mad, than he did to convince me that he or any candidates he supports have a solution to the very issue that their party is supposed to stand for.