Ben Roethlisberger, the Findlay Ohio homeboy who is the starting QB of the Pittsburgh Steelers was suspended 6 games today for violating the NFL personal conduct code after an incident in Georgia in March. While the punishment seems harsh for actions that didn’t result in any criminal action, hopefully it will serve as a wakeup call for Ben.
Ben is single, extremely rich, and hangs out with an entourage but it seems he forgot where he came from and that stupid decisions have consequences.
He needs to settle down, drop the gang, and grow up. Hopefully his 6 games off will help him do that before he does end up in the criminal justice system.
One mode of transportation missing or not as well known in the US is rail travel. In Europe, where gas prices are large and distances relatively short, rail travel is common. Here in the US the oil and auto industries got all the local urban rail systems torn up in the mid 20th century to force people to buy cars and gas. Now the momentum is swinging back but in Ohio the same tired argument is being heard – “it will cost too much…”. However the facts say different.
One argument being used is that building a passenger train that would connect Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Cleveland (the 3C rail plan) would cost too much to build and maintain in a state where budget issues are a common problem.
To the first part – building it will be expensive because the infrastructure was all torn up back in the 1950’s
The second part about the cost of maintaining the system, there is this:
It’s unfortunate to see fiscal conservatives resort to a double standard in claiming to protect Ohio’s taxpayers from the imminent doom of the Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati (3C) passenger-rail project.
The hyperbolic Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, even said he feared the 3C trains’ $17 million annual operating cost would grow into “the biggest money pit in state history.” Perhaps he forgot that the immensely larger, debt-ridden and justifiably celebrated Ohio canal system threatened to be just that to our state as a fledgling.
Or perhaps he mistook Ohio’s ballooning highway subsidy for the 3C trains’ operating bill. On behalf of Ohioans who seek 0.005 percent of the state’s transportation budget for First World travel options other than highways, I ask for fairer treatment.
The double standard is revealed in the $7 billion of highway projects due in the 3C corridor in the next few years: the innerbelt rebuild in Cleveland, the I-70/I-71 reconstruction in Columbus, the I-75 ramps project in Dayton and the Brent Spence Bridge in Cincinnati. No one doubts that quality highways are needed. But no one has scrutinized how Ohio taxpayers can afford to sustain this massive infrastructure tomorrow.
In other words, at least $1 billion of ODOT’s operations and maintenance budget was from subsidies in 2010, and that will grow to $1.4 billion by 2017. Meanwhile, the State Highway Patrol’s $318 million annual budget is no longer funded by the gasoline tax. The patrol’s budget is now a general-fund subsidy to highways.
Once again my TV was filled with images of angry people complaining about big government and runaway spending and too many taxes. The facts really say otherwise so why are they so upset and have been. I know the primary reason is they lost the 2008 election and their GOP partners can only complain and stomp their feet. But what I just don’t get is why are the tea partiers so upset – really.
With Tax Day again upon us, two story lines will predictably dominate the media coverage on April 15th. In their perpetual war on taxes, conservatives will claim that rates are too high even as those Americans who receive tax credits get “welfare.” Meanwhile, frothing-at-the-mouth Tea Partiers will protest about being “Taxed Enough Already.”
Here, then, are 10 Inconvenient Truths for Tax Day:
1. Over 95% of Working Households Got Tax Cuts
2. Only 2% of Tea Baggers Know Obama Cut Their Taxes…
3. …and 52% of Tea Partiers Think Their Taxes are Fair…
4. …and Think the Federal Tax Level is Over Double What It Is
5. 1% of Families Earned 24% of All Income…
6. …and 57% of All Capital Income
7. 400 Richest Taxpayers Saw Incomes Double, Tax Rates Halved
8. Only 1 in 500 Families Pay the Estate Tax
9. Corporate Taxes Have Plummeted as a Share of GDP
10. The U.S. Loses $345 Billion a Year to Tax Evasion and Fraud
I also don’t understand how a rational compassionate human being can be against a needy person getting the health care they need without having to destroy their financial lives. Do tea partiers really believe that affordable health care is something open to merit? Really?
I know the protesters aren’t all racists but why do they automatically use images and words that invokes racism? I know if President Obama wasn’t black that some of the words and images wouldn’t be used in the protests.
Why does it seem that the protesters will take the word of known liars and not do their own research when forming beliefs on public policies. Are they that gullible? Really?
Where were these people when Bush was running up huge debit to fight an unneeded war and violated our 4th amendment rights with impunity?
Oh that’s right – then they agreed with everything. Really??
Iam sick and tired. I have tried to watch them but I can’t stand it any more. They are hurting the political discourse in this country and outside the wonks who live and breathe politics, they have no relationship with average people. I’m talking about political talk shows. Here is the ultimate guide so you never have to watch them again.
I should clarify one point. The shows and the news in general on the broadcast networks have an effect on average people more than those on cable but all of them still are pretty much worthless unless you obsess about politics.
Ultimate Political Talk Show Guide
1. The shows covered under this guide is as follows:
ABC This Week
CBS Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer
Fox Fox News Sunday w/ Chris Wallace
NBC Meet the Press with David Gregory
PBS The McLaughlin Group
Cable
CNN State of the Union with Candy Crowley
CNN Reliable Sources
MSNBC The Ed Show
MSNBC Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann
MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show
FOXNEWS Any show at any hour
2. Formats are pretty much the same in that they allow for unquestioning press release spin
3 Except for the MSNBC shows, the spin is at least misleading and in most cases lies.
4. Again except for the MSNBC shows, the hosts never really ask follow up questions.
5. The shows all have the same guests and those guests lean toward the GOP with a token Democrat in some cases. Again MSNBC is the opposite – having mostly Democratic or left leaning guests but the GOP rarely appears on MSNBC shows even as tokens.
6. MSNBC shows are better because they at least stick with facts and the truth even when it looks bad for Democrats and liberals in general. The other shows “concern troll” for the Democrats on all topics and accept the GOP talking points as true on their face.
7. The hosts and/or guests on any FOX “News” shows are either stupid, racists, or both at the same time.
8. All shows tend to have stories and topics that are important only to those who live inside the Washington DC beltway. Occasionally, most likely the MSNBC shows will actually have a topic of importance to all Americans.
9. Most of these shows favor “drama” over substance where yelling and arguing is seen as “good”, except for Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann, and The Rachel Maddow Show. Or they obsess on the political process which is like watching sausage being made.
10. You don’t have to watch any of the shows live or on your DVR. You can go to the network websites and watch clips, watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report to get a funny take on what the shows have on, or visit these websites:
http://crooksandliars.com/
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
and for special handling of FOX “News” crap:
http://mediamatters.org/
11. Although it seems some shows might be better than the others, at the end of the day you don’t need to watch them to keep yourself informed. They take up time better spent with friends and family and laughing and having fun.
There has been whacked out part of the whole Tiger Woods and now the Jesse James adultery stories that just drives me crazy. It seems the mistress’ claim they are victims in the affairs and in Wood’s case some of the women did interviews and cried about being betrayed by the men they slept with and had an affair. Hogwash, the only real victim are the women the men are married to.
This Huffington Post article is an example of the ridiculous celebrity crap we see in the news today:
Joslyn James, the busty porn star who says she was twice impregnated by Tiger Woods, spoke out Monday afternoon following the golfer’s first live press conference since his massive sex scandal was paraded before the public.
The adult actress and attorney Gloria Allred, who has also represented a host of other prominent women, criticized Woods for not apologizing to his former lovers. “He said that he’s being more respectful to the fans, and that’s good; but how about being more respectful top the women that he’s hurt,” Allred said.
Joslyn James and the other women involved with Tiger or Jesse James are utter morons.
They have to be not to know that the men were married and sleeping with them was not a good thing to do. To claim to be betrayed or a victim just shows the women’s own stupidity.
If either man promised anything to these women then the women share in the lies and went into these affairs knowing that the men are liars and so they deserve nothing – no apologies nothing. If anything they should apologize to the wives for enabling their husband’s cheating and keeping it a secret.
