December 16th, 2009: Bill Plaschke’s Bad Writing

Bill Plaschke is a sports Writer for the LA Times. His recent Op-ed is “The Tiger Woods story grows bigger, and juicier”  Basically, is a horrible conjecture that Tiger Woods has been using HGH because he looks big. And why does Plaschke come to this idea. Because of Woods adultery, of course. The man believes we are now free to question if Woods is a cheater in Golf because he is a cheater on his wife. He claims that a while back he saw woods from the back and he looked a lot like the cheater Barry Bonds. Yet, at the time he could not write about it because the story was not believable. Not that this has come out, it is believeable.
 

Woods used a doctor who is involved in the HGH business after an injury and claims that everyone who deals with these kind of doctors ends up being found guilty. What is sick is that people are piling onto woods sins he may or may not have done just because he is hurt. Woods approval rating has fallen from over 80% to under 40%. Plaschke is a fraud just like Woods because he would not call out an 80% approval Woods, but now he will at 35%. Either make your accusations at the time you notice them or don’t make them at all.
 

Don’t use one tragedy to be an opportunist to be in front of another. The NY Times did some good reporting in finding this link between Woods and the Doctor, now don’t go make your own conclusions in order to make a buck.

December 11th, 2009: The Proper Role of the US Police Force

The Neoconservative argues that the United States must be there for nations who are being tormented by evil people. The US needs to be a world police force so to speak. Isolationists such as Ron Paul argue that the US has no business being involved in any of these things.  They do not fall upon the classic left-right paradigm that operates in America today, contrary to popular belive because of the vast Neoconservative strain in the George W. Bush White House.
 

What brings this issue up is what Obama said yesterday when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. An award that Obama did not deserve, yet Obama gave one of the best speeches of his Presidency. I believe Obama is spot on in terms of his position. Read what Obama said here:
 

In a speech accepting an award for peace, Obama is making and argument for war.  But when is violent action necessary? Obama continues:
 

I like Obama because he is an idealist yet he wants to live by reality. There are times where violent action is necessary, because there are truly evil people in the world. Obama looks at the most clear example, Hitler. He then links that to the current example al-Qaeda. Both are evil, and both must be confronted. They are not confronted just because they are evil but because in fact if not confronted massive damage can be, or will continue to be handed down.
 

The Neocon reaches to the use of force too often. The isolationist does not do so enough. Obama has it exactly right with his practical idealism. As my hero Mike Huckabee said, “We stand for those things, we live or die by those things.” There are things worth fighting for, there are times to fight for them, and there are times that fighting for them requires war. Let me close with one more Obama quote, where he quotes JFK.
 

Let us hope and strive for peace on earth, but know that in this fallen world we will never be able to attain it.

December 8th, 2009: Bowling Embarrassment

I was driving home from small group today and right before I got to the Little River Turnpike I decided I wanted to go bowling. Being from Cleveland I love to bowl more than most people. There are lanes off the Little River Turnpike exit in Annandale where its $1.99 a game, a good deal after 9 PM. Most people think its odd to bowl by yourself, but its something an independent introvert such as myself loves to do.
 

I don’t have to talk to anyone, I can just bowl and bowl and bowl. I bowled 3 games, as I typically do. Since I am not really breaking, I usually break a good sweat and it’s a real challenge to myself. Some people give me odd looks with this big footed guy bowling by himself. On top of that, my bowling style is one I was suggest no one use, imagine your grandma trying to squat a little like a baseball catcher from the closer dots. The ball also goes slower than all but the most weak girls and children under 16.
 

What I lack in style I gain in precision. As a child I was on a church bowling league with my father and my two brothers, and I became an expert at hitting where I wanted with precision. Due to my slow ball and light weight due to my back problems, strikes were rare, but I was among the leaders in spares, the bulk of the time knocking down every non-split spare opportunity.
 

My precision is still good, but it was better when I bowled regularly. I have a little more speed and a 10 lb ball, the heaviest amount I am supposed to carry, and two pounds heavier than what I used as a child. Today my 3 games were going fine, but not great. With me, any game below 125 is bad and any game above 150 is good. My best game ever was a 191. My two goals are to throw a 200 game and bowl a game where I close every frame, meaning that I get a strike or a spare in each fram.
 

I entered my final frame with a 118, which isn’t great but it isn’t horrible either. I threw the first ball and got a strike, my first of the game. I threw the second and got another strike, which is called a double in bowling lingo. The think about that strike is that it was very late developing. The 6 pin fell so late that the electronic reader marked that it was still up. So I go to the machine and change my 9 to a proper strike. The lane sits there open waiting for a 2^nd ball to be thrown with no pins, so I tell the machine to rerack it.
 

I then prepare to try to cap off a mediocre game with a turkey, bowling lingo for 3 strikes in a row. I see the pins are set and I get into my grandma like stance. I take my steps and throw the ball, it feels good. I look up and the pins are resetting again. I put my hand on my head thinking “Oh-no!!!” not because I think I got jipped on a strike but because its going to hit the bar in front of the pins. It does, with an embarrassing bang and my ball starts coming back toward me. It enters the gutter and slowly rolls toward me. It makes it about ¾ back down the lane and it stops. The machine records me getting a zero and it automatically shuts off because my bowling is over.
 

Yet my ball sits there. Normally I would just throw another ball down the gutter and send them both down. I cant do that here and I contemplate what to do. I decided that I might as well just get it myself. So I walk down the lane in the gutter, grab my ball and go. It’s a small bit of shame on what was a relaxing end to my day.
 

PS: I am back blogging, sorry about the break