How does evolution explain rooting for the Detroit Lions?

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!? I’m a Lions fan. Have been since first grade. Long before we landed a man on the moon (wink wink, nod nod).  Since BEFORE Jim Schwartz, the current Head Coach of the Detroit Lions, was born.

Suspended for gambling in 1963

I remember riding in the back seat of my grandparents’ car Sunday afternoons from “up north” back home in Michigan, vainly trying to get the Lion’s game on my a.m. transistor radio.  I remember when Dick LeBeau was playing safety for the Lions (he’s currently the 70- something defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers). 

I confess, I DID NOT REMEMBER the Lions drafting Bill Parcells–yes, the Bill Parcells, in the 7th round of the 1964 draft.  Or Fred Biletnikoff in the 3rd round in 1965.   My earliest recollection of the Lion’s draft was Nick Eddy out of Notre Dame in 1966 (he finished third to Steve Spurrier and Bob Griese in the Heisman Trophy balloting his final year.)  You Redskin and Dolphin fans may have heard of those two quarterbacks.   As is common for the Lions, Nick Eddy got hurt on maybe the 1st time he touched the ball during pre-season, and wasn’t the same thereafter.  The Lions are jinxed, and always have been since before I was born. 

Supposedly, the jinx (or curse) was put on the Lions by Bobby Layne:  “In 1958, after leading the Lions to 3 NFL Championships and providing Detroit nearly a decade of Hall of Fame play, the Lions traded Bobby Layne. Bobby was injured during the last championship season and the Lions thought he was through and wanted to get what they could for him. According to Legend, as he was leaving for Pittsburgh Bobby said that Detroit ‘would not win for 50 years’.” 

The Other McCain: The New York Times for us* average Americans

Where else can you go to read the actual progress of a real reporter as he burns shoe leather in order to report on a recent story of national interest?  Robert Stacy McCain–a real reporter–but more importantly, someone bright enough to not vote for his cousin John McCain–traveled to Clay County Kentucky to seek leads in the recent census worker murder er, ugh, unsolved unnatural death. His stories coming back from Clay County have been informative and fun. So don’t miss his stories at “The Other McCain.” And hit his tip jar.  All that moonshine traveling isn’t cheap.

* Or is it we average Americans?  I’m too lazy to check.

47% of American households pay ZERO income taxes

47% will pay ZERO Federal income taxes in 2009.  This statistic is one of the primary reasons for America’s desperate economic situation.  You know that if that many pay nothing, many, many more pay next to nothing.  When so many have little or no stake in whether the government should tax more, the natural inclination of unscrupulous politicians will be to tax and spend more.  When those who will be hurt by higher taxes are out-numbered by those who will not have to pay any taxes and who will benefit by higher spending, taxes and spending go up.

The system is rigged against us.  Four changes would instantly bring us back to fiscal conservatism.  1) Make everyone who earns money pay taxes. No exceptions. 2) Eliminate tax withholdings from paychecks.  Everybody has to experience the pain of stroking a big fat check to the IRS on April 15th.  3) Anybody who does not pay taxes does not get to vote. Period. 

The fourth change deserves its own paragraph.  4) Eliminate all other taxes other than the income tax.  Americans are hit by so many taxes that they are nickle and dimed to death by taxes that individually seem so petty that they aren’t worth fighting about, but which collectively steal great deals of our money.  Which the Government subsequently wastes. Phone tax. Gas tax.  Sales tax (when you buy and again when you sell). Property tax. Real estate tax. Hotel tax. Meal tax. Tolls. Licenses.  It’s death by a thousand cuts.

If these changes were made, suddenly, Americans would be outraged when taxes increased.  Suddenly, Americans would be outraged wasteful spending. Suddenly, Americans would demand that their elected representatives not spend like drunken sailors and drive up our deficit. Because the deficit would be owned by everybody, instead of just “some other dude”, or”the rich.”

Harsh? Maybe. Radical. I suppose.  But those who do not pay taxes should not have a say in how America spends its money.  Under this system, would Americans become selfish and cut benefits of those who truly need them? I doubt it. Americans never shirk from helping those in need.  Perhaps I would allow an exception for those who truly are disabled. But not for those who just choose not to work in order to avoid paying taxes.

President Obama, have you no SHAME?

I haven’t read anything anywhere else that quite expresses my feelings towards the Obama-Olympic hustle going on in Copenhagen.  I am glad that some Republican politicians scolded him, but their responses missed the mark.  Rep. Boehner scolded Obama for running off to Copenhagen while “we’ve got serious issues here at home that need to be debated.”  As if a President can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.  Congress went on recess, Obama went on vacation, the country didn’t fall apart.  Personally, I prefer Obama out of the country. It is harder for him to screw things up when he is out of the country. 

Sen. Kitt Bond said Obama’s top responsability is “to keep our country safe.”  Sorry, I disagree. That job is the military and law enforcement, two things about which Obama knows nothing.  I feel equally safe whether he is here or abroad, thank you.  From that same article, Michael Steele called the trip “a distraction.”  Weak, Mr. Steele.  A distraction from the Dems trying to force ObamaCare and “Crap and Tax” “Cap and Trade” down our throats?  If so, good, keep up the “distraction” as long as possible. 

Please, Suh, allow us to have the Olympics, Suh!

To me, the proper criticism is that it demeans the office of the Presidency of the United States.  He is traveling over to a foreign country, hat in hand, begging for them to give Chicago the Olympics.  He’s not our Commander in Chief, he’s our Car Salesman In Chief.  Our Hoover Vacuum Salesman in Chief. 

Presidents don’t negotiate with thugs and petty tyrants.  Obama didn’t drop everything and run over to Africa when Americans were held hostage by pirates.  By lowering himself to the level of salesman, he lowers the office of the President.  And he elevates the status of those who will eventually make the decision where the Olympics will be held.  Can’t you almost hear them snickering? “The President of the most powerful country in the world came begging to us…”

Sure, bringing the Olympics to Chicago would be a great thing. But Presidents don’t do house calls to make sales pitches. Leave that to Chicago. Hell, let Bubba do it–he has repeatedly proven that he has no scruples.  But retain a shred of respectability, and leave, now.

UPDATE: After hearing that Rio beat out Chicago, my reaction was “DUH!” Nothing against Chicago, but if I had a choice between traveling to Rio or Chicago, it would be like choosing between a Saturn and a Porche.  I’m not sure anybody could have convinced the Committee to pick Chicago–unless they packed a multi-million dollar bribe with them.