By Rick Morris
Start of April rankings in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 Washington (1)
SECOND TIER
2 San Jose (2)
3 Chicago (3)
4 Phoenix (4)
5 Vancouver (5)
6 Detroit (9)
7 New Jersey (8)
8 Pittsburgh (7)
9 Los Angeles (11)
10 Buffalo (6)
11 Nashville (10)
THIRD TIER
12 Colorado (14)
13 Ottawa (12)
14 Boston (16)
15 Montreal (15)
16 Philadelphia (17)
17 Calgary (13)
18 St. Louis (19)
19 NY Rangers (21)
20 Anaheim (20)
21 Dallas (18)
22 Minnesota (24)
23 Atlanta (22)
24 Tampa Bay (23)
25 Carolina (26)
26 Columbus (25)
27 NY Islanders (28)
28 Florida (27)
29 Toronto (29)
FOURTH TIER
30 Edmonton (30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Detroit (3 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: Buffalo and Calgary (4 spots), Dallas (3 spots)
Monday, April 12, 2010
Morality play at Augusta? Ya, you betcha!
By Rick Morris
Inevitably, the vapid talking heads of Big Media are out there cautioning those of us who they think are lapping up their gems of “wisdom” not to apply the “black hat/white hat” dynamic to the fates of Tiger and Phil at Augusta?
Well, why the f not?
Seriously, we saw all of the entitled punk act from Tiger Woods that he falsely told us would disappear from his game when he came back … from the creepy “Exploit Earl” ad from his enablers at Nike to his loud, foul and repeated use of God’s name on the Sunday after Easter to his ungracious final interview, the garbage continues to flow apace. Deep down – and if you looked hard enough, you could see this even before his multiple scandals – Eldrick just isn’t a very nice guy. Fair enough, and he’s in broad and deep company in the world of professional sports, but he feels bound to try to portray himself as a better person than he really is in order to keep his sponsors happy. That spells P-H-O-N-Y. I don’t waste a minute hating him, and anyone else who does is really a loser, but I do have a sense of “just go away” whenever he pops up on my teevee.
And as for Phil Mickelson, I have to admit, I haven’t always been a huge fan for reasons I can’t quite pinpoint. He too seemed to me to be something other than what the public image was supposed to be … perhaps not quite the clean family man he portrayed. But I have to admit, I have come around on him and I could not be happier that he was able to win one for his mom and his wife, both battling breast cancer. My family was hit with the same disease and I know the immense challenges he faced to be able to concentrate this weekend through the pain of his family. In the process, he took an enormous step towards permanently rehabilitating his big-tournament reputation, but amazingly, that’s actually a distant second in the grand scheme of things.
If you believe as I do that all things happen for a reason, you don’t have to look far to contemplate the meaning of this past week. We in American society entered The Masters consumed with the story of a man whose family had suffered immense pain – through his selfishness and irresponsibility. We exited the tournament consumed with the story of a man whose family had suffered immense pain – and were inspired to keep fighting by his grace under pressure and the unselfish love and dedication he showed in always putting them first.
That doesn’t sound too random to me.
Inevitably, the vapid talking heads of Big Media are out there cautioning those of us who they think are lapping up their gems of “wisdom” not to apply the “black hat/white hat” dynamic to the fates of Tiger and Phil at Augusta?
Well, why the f not?
Seriously, we saw all of the entitled punk act from Tiger Woods that he falsely told us would disappear from his game when he came back … from the creepy “Exploit Earl” ad from his enablers at Nike to his loud, foul and repeated use of God’s name on the Sunday after Easter to his ungracious final interview, the garbage continues to flow apace. Deep down – and if you looked hard enough, you could see this even before his multiple scandals – Eldrick just isn’t a very nice guy. Fair enough, and he’s in broad and deep company in the world of professional sports, but he feels bound to try to portray himself as a better person than he really is in order to keep his sponsors happy. That spells P-H-O-N-Y. I don’t waste a minute hating him, and anyone else who does is really a loser, but I do have a sense of “just go away” whenever he pops up on my teevee.
And as for Phil Mickelson, I have to admit, I haven’t always been a huge fan for reasons I can’t quite pinpoint. He too seemed to me to be something other than what the public image was supposed to be … perhaps not quite the clean family man he portrayed. But I have to admit, I have come around on him and I could not be happier that he was able to win one for his mom and his wife, both battling breast cancer. My family was hit with the same disease and I know the immense challenges he faced to be able to concentrate this weekend through the pain of his family. In the process, he took an enormous step towards permanently rehabilitating his big-tournament reputation, but amazingly, that’s actually a distant second in the grand scheme of things.
If you believe as I do that all things happen for a reason, you don’t have to look far to contemplate the meaning of this past week. We in American society entered The Masters consumed with the story of a man whose family had suffered immense pain – through his selfishness and irresponsibility. We exited the tournament consumed with the story of a man whose family had suffered immense pain – and were inspired to keep fighting by his grace under pressure and the unselfish love and dedication he showed in always putting them first.
That doesn’t sound too random to me.
FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume III, Issue XIV
By Rick Morris
For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week's newsletter.
For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week's newsletter.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
FDH Lounge Show #98: April 7, 2010
By Rick Morris
The “Road to 100” gets ever closer to the final destination on the 98th installment of THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com) and our trademark blend of variety will stand out this time as always.
After The Opening Statements of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries and our look at This Week in The FDH Lounge, we bring you what we promise will be the best and most comprehensive breakdown of the NCAA’s disastrous forthcoming expansion of the NCAA men’s hoops tournament to 96 teams. Original FDH Lounge Dignitary Nate Noy, who is also the FDH Chief College Hoops Correspondent, has analyzed this move from all sides – in preparation for a feature on this site that will be forthcoming shortly – and he will present his findings to his fellow show participants. In some cases, he will debate his predictions going forward, because this decision and the implications have so many ramifications that we at FDH have some internal differences on our predictions for the implementation of the concept. At any rate, you won’t find a better look anywhere at the consequences of the money-grab that the NCAA is foisting on the American public.
In Hour Two, we take a last look back at the great NCAA tournament we just saw and the fiasco that emerged from CBS’s One Shining Moment transformation. From there, the hoops talk continues into your FDH preview of the NBA playoff tournament. Before the top of the hour, we preview a segment tentatively slotted for Episode #99 or #100 by taking a look back at one of the great moments in the history of the show: an interview with Dhani Jones! Back on July 29, 2009 – that’s Episode #67 – he joined us to take a look at Season One of his big TV show. Here’s what we said at the time:
“This guy is a dual threat and we don’t mean that he’s adding offensive snaps to his linebacker duties; this Bengal linebacker is also a media superstar! His Dhani Tackles the Globe series on the Travel Channel showcases slivers of other cultures in a completely unique manner and his multimedia contributions to the ESPN media family stand out as well.”
With his return to The FDH Lounge targeted for the very near future, we’ll revisit one of the great moments on the “Road to 100.”
On THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER at the top of Hour Three, we utilize the NFL Draft analysis of FDH Senior Editor Jason Jones to view all of the offensive players in the draft through a fantasy-like prism: the different tiers of talent at each position. Then, we close with THE GOON SQUAD and an in-depth examination of the way that the NHL playoff bracket is materializing.
As always, we urge you to watch the show live (or listen if you’re on dial-up), but if you can’t catch this as it’s happening, you can always catch the FDH archives 24-7 right here or catch us now on iTunes!
The “Road to 100” gets ever closer to the final destination on the 98th installment of THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com) and our trademark blend of variety will stand out this time as always.
After The Opening Statements of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries and our look at This Week in The FDH Lounge, we bring you what we promise will be the best and most comprehensive breakdown of the NCAA’s disastrous forthcoming expansion of the NCAA men’s hoops tournament to 96 teams. Original FDH Lounge Dignitary Nate Noy, who is also the FDH Chief College Hoops Correspondent, has analyzed this move from all sides – in preparation for a feature on this site that will be forthcoming shortly – and he will present his findings to his fellow show participants. In some cases, he will debate his predictions going forward, because this decision and the implications have so many ramifications that we at FDH have some internal differences on our predictions for the implementation of the concept. At any rate, you won’t find a better look anywhere at the consequences of the money-grab that the NCAA is foisting on the American public.
In Hour Two, we take a last look back at the great NCAA tournament we just saw and the fiasco that emerged from CBS’s One Shining Moment transformation. From there, the hoops talk continues into your FDH preview of the NBA playoff tournament. Before the top of the hour, we preview a segment tentatively slotted for Episode #99 or #100 by taking a look back at one of the great moments in the history of the show: an interview with Dhani Jones! Back on July 29, 2009 – that’s Episode #67 – he joined us to take a look at Season One of his big TV show. Here’s what we said at the time:
“This guy is a dual threat and we don’t mean that he’s adding offensive snaps to his linebacker duties; this Bengal linebacker is also a media superstar! His Dhani Tackles the Globe series on the Travel Channel showcases slivers of other cultures in a completely unique manner and his multimedia contributions to the ESPN media family stand out as well.”
With his return to The FDH Lounge targeted for the very near future, we’ll revisit one of the great moments on the “Road to 100.”
On THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER at the top of Hour Three, we utilize the NFL Draft analysis of FDH Senior Editor Jason Jones to view all of the offensive players in the draft through a fantasy-like prism: the different tiers of talent at each position. Then, we close with THE GOON SQUAD and an in-depth examination of the way that the NHL playoff bracket is materializing.
As always, we urge you to watch the show live (or listen if you’re on dial-up), but if you can’t catch this as it’s happening, you can always catch the FDH archives 24-7 right here or catch us now on iTunes!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Happy Easter
By Rick Morris
We in the FDH family wish everyone a very Happy Easter and in keeping with our holiday tradition of posting videos to help get across the message of the day, here is a look at the Stations of the Cross – a ritual that takes a walk through the painful yet inspiring final days of Lent.
We in the FDH family wish everyone a very Happy Easter and in keeping with our holiday tradition of posting videos to help get across the message of the day, here is a look at the Stations of the Cross – a ritual that takes a walk through the painful yet inspiring final days of Lent.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
2010 MLB predictions
By Rick Morris
These predictions are updated from our FANTASY BASEBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2010 guide, released in early March.
AL EAST
X-New York Yankees 95-67 (Pitching may be a bit overrated and the outfield could be shaky, but the team is 2-3 years away from the kind of salary inefficiency we saw from 2005-2008.)
Y-Boston 91-71 (They won in '04 and '07 with dominant middle-of-the-order hitting and they're now not even making a pretence of getting that back.)
Tampa Bay 89-73 (The third-best team in the league is in the one division where that gets you bupkis.)
Baltimore 73-89 (Super-dangerous ... in 2011 or 2012.)
Toronto 71-91 (Few standouts, lots of patching, a poor man's Mets -- how depressing!)
AL CENTRAL
X-Chicago White Sox 86-76 (The best rotation in the division and a reborn outfield make them the one-eyed man in the land of the blind.)
Minnesota 85-77 (What a role reversal, as their lineup is now miles ahead of their rotation; loss of Nathan hurts just enough to cost them the division.)
Detroit 81-81 (They're in flux right now and better hope to know by 2011 whether they're trying to be a team of the present or the future.)
Kansas City 75-87 (They have just enough standouts to finally escape the cellar, if not mediocrity.)
Cleveland 73-89 (A Swiss cheese rotation and a slaptastic lineup equal last place.)
AL WEST
X-Los Angeles Angels 83-79 (Losing to the Yankees in the ALCS caused the team to pull back on their aggressive commitment to win it all this year, but they benefit from their foes' remaining issues.)
Seattle 82-80 (Still too many slappys in this lineup to take it over the top.)
Texas 82-80 (Before Ron Washington controversy, they looked like a time that could win the West, but now such a pick is too risky.)
Oakland 75-87 (They're a year away from making this a legitimate four-way scrum for the divisional crown.)
NL EAST
X-Philadelphia 90-72 (If they'd have kept Cliff Lee and also brought in Roy Halladay, they'd be the slam-dunk World Series favorites; as it is, they remain solidly on the short list of potential winners.)
Atlanta 84-78 (A lineup that is below-average in power even with Jason Heyward will cause Bobby Cox's last season to be a playoff near-miss.)
Florida 84-78 (A still-young core could either take the wild card or finish below .500 if the wheels come off altogether.)
New York Mets 77-85 (Too few standouts and too many questions: a microcosm of the Minaya era.)
Washington 72-90 (Progress is coming for this organization, albeit way too slowly.)
NL CENTRAL
X-St. Louis 91-71 (They're still arguably the best-balanced team in the league.)
Milwaukee 83-79 (Wild-card contention is the ceiling for this mid-level team right now).
Chicago Cubs 82-80 (Way too many questions going on right now at many positions.)
Cincinnati 81-81 (They're close, but you can't really count on either the pitching or the hitting yet.)
Pittsburgh 73-89 (Some excellent young pieces are in place, but not nearly enough and probably not for at least two years.)
Houston 71-91 (If it weren't for Brad Mills being able to get a lot out of this collection of journeymen and aging stars, they could easily lose 100 games.)
NL WEST
X-Colorado 86-76 (Unlike 2008, their momentum should carry over to an extent this year.)
Y-Los Angeles Dodgers 85-77 (Due to ownership squabbles, the pitching wasn't shored up as much as it needed for the team to finally get over the hump.)
Arizona 81-81 (If Brandon Webb is healthy and some of the question marks of the past few years get answered, this team could make a nice run.)
San Francisco 80-82 (Way too limp of a lineup to tally more than .500.)
San Diego 67-95 (They'll really be horrible in the short run once they trade Adrian Gonzalez.)
DIVISIONAL ROUND OF PLAYOFFS
New York Yankees over Los Angeles Angels in 4
Boston over Chicago White Sox in 4
St. Louis over Los Angeles Dodgers in 5
Philadelphia over Colorado in 5
LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
New York Yankees over Boston in 6
St. Louis over Philadelphia in 6
WORLD SERIES
St. Louis over New York Yankees in 6
AWARD WINNERS
AL Rookie of the Year: Neftali Feliz
AL Most Valuable Player: Kevin Youkilis
AL Cy Young Award Winner: Felix Hernandez
AL Manager of the Year: Ron Gardenhire
NL Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward
NL Most Valuable Player: Hanley Ramirez
NL Cy Young Award Winner: Roy Halladay
NL Manager of the Year: Bobby Cox
World Series MVP: Albert Pujols
START OF APRIL POWER RANKINGS
TOP TIER
1 New York Yankees
2 St. Louis
3 Boston
4 Philadelphia
5 Tampa Bay
SECOND TIER
6 Colorado
7 Los Angeles Dodgers
8 Chicago White Sox
9 Minnesota
10 Atlanta
11 Florida
12 Milwaukee
13 Los Angeles Angels
14 Texas
15 Seattle
16 Chicago Cubs
17 Arizona
18 Detroit
19 Cincinnati
20 San Francisco
THIRD TIER
21 New York Mets
22 Oakland
FOURTH TIER
23 Kansas City
24 Baltimore
25 Pittsburgh
26 Cleveland
27 Washington
28 Toronto
29 Houston
30 San Diego
These predictions are updated from our FANTASY BASEBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2010 guide, released in early March.
AL EAST
X-New York Yankees 95-67 (Pitching may be a bit overrated and the outfield could be shaky, but the team is 2-3 years away from the kind of salary inefficiency we saw from 2005-2008.)
Y-Boston 91-71 (They won in '04 and '07 with dominant middle-of-the-order hitting and they're now not even making a pretence of getting that back.)
Tampa Bay 89-73 (The third-best team in the league is in the one division where that gets you bupkis.)
Baltimore 73-89 (Super-dangerous ... in 2011 or 2012.)
Toronto 71-91 (Few standouts, lots of patching, a poor man's Mets -- how depressing!)
AL CENTRAL
X-Chicago White Sox 86-76 (The best rotation in the division and a reborn outfield make them the one-eyed man in the land of the blind.)
Minnesota 85-77 (What a role reversal, as their lineup is now miles ahead of their rotation; loss of Nathan hurts just enough to cost them the division.)
Detroit 81-81 (They're in flux right now and better hope to know by 2011 whether they're trying to be a team of the present or the future.)
Kansas City 75-87 (They have just enough standouts to finally escape the cellar, if not mediocrity.)
Cleveland 73-89 (A Swiss cheese rotation and a slaptastic lineup equal last place.)
AL WEST
X-Los Angeles Angels 83-79 (Losing to the Yankees in the ALCS caused the team to pull back on their aggressive commitment to win it all this year, but they benefit from their foes' remaining issues.)
Seattle 82-80 (Still too many slappys in this lineup to take it over the top.)
Texas 82-80 (Before Ron Washington controversy, they looked like a time that could win the West, but now such a pick is too risky.)
Oakland 75-87 (They're a year away from making this a legitimate four-way scrum for the divisional crown.)
NL EAST
X-Philadelphia 90-72 (If they'd have kept Cliff Lee and also brought in Roy Halladay, they'd be the slam-dunk World Series favorites; as it is, they remain solidly on the short list of potential winners.)
Atlanta 84-78 (A lineup that is below-average in power even with Jason Heyward will cause Bobby Cox's last season to be a playoff near-miss.)
Florida 84-78 (A still-young core could either take the wild card or finish below .500 if the wheels come off altogether.)
New York Mets 77-85 (Too few standouts and too many questions: a microcosm of the Minaya era.)
Washington 72-90 (Progress is coming for this organization, albeit way too slowly.)
NL CENTRAL
X-St. Louis 91-71 (They're still arguably the best-balanced team in the league.)
Milwaukee 83-79 (Wild-card contention is the ceiling for this mid-level team right now).
Chicago Cubs 82-80 (Way too many questions going on right now at many positions.)
Cincinnati 81-81 (They're close, but you can't really count on either the pitching or the hitting yet.)
Pittsburgh 73-89 (Some excellent young pieces are in place, but not nearly enough and probably not for at least two years.)
Houston 71-91 (If it weren't for Brad Mills being able to get a lot out of this collection of journeymen and aging stars, they could easily lose 100 games.)
NL WEST
X-Colorado 86-76 (Unlike 2008, their momentum should carry over to an extent this year.)
Y-Los Angeles Dodgers 85-77 (Due to ownership squabbles, the pitching wasn't shored up as much as it needed for the team to finally get over the hump.)
Arizona 81-81 (If Brandon Webb is healthy and some of the question marks of the past few years get answered, this team could make a nice run.)
San Francisco 80-82 (Way too limp of a lineup to tally more than .500.)
San Diego 67-95 (They'll really be horrible in the short run once they trade Adrian Gonzalez.)
DIVISIONAL ROUND OF PLAYOFFS
New York Yankees over Los Angeles Angels in 4
Boston over Chicago White Sox in 4
St. Louis over Los Angeles Dodgers in 5
Philadelphia over Colorado in 5
LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
New York Yankees over Boston in 6
St. Louis over Philadelphia in 6
WORLD SERIES
St. Louis over New York Yankees in 6
AWARD WINNERS
AL Rookie of the Year: Neftali Feliz
AL Most Valuable Player: Kevin Youkilis
AL Cy Young Award Winner: Felix Hernandez
AL Manager of the Year: Ron Gardenhire
NL Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward
NL Most Valuable Player: Hanley Ramirez
NL Cy Young Award Winner: Roy Halladay
NL Manager of the Year: Bobby Cox
World Series MVP: Albert Pujols
START OF APRIL POWER RANKINGS
TOP TIER
1 New York Yankees
2 St. Louis
3 Boston
4 Philadelphia
5 Tampa Bay
SECOND TIER
6 Colorado
7 Los Angeles Dodgers
8 Chicago White Sox
9 Minnesota
10 Atlanta
11 Florida
12 Milwaukee
13 Los Angeles Angels
14 Texas
15 Seattle
16 Chicago Cubs
17 Arizona
18 Detroit
19 Cincinnati
20 San Francisco
THIRD TIER
21 New York Mets
22 Oakland
FOURTH TIER
23 Kansas City
24 Baltimore
25 Pittsburgh
26 Cleveland
27 Washington
28 Toronto
29 Houston
30 San Diego
Health care debate post-mortem
By Rick Morris
The aftermath of the recent adoption of ObamaCare by the federal government brings up several different points, some related and some unrelated. As I noted during our debate on this subject during Episode #97 of THE FDH LOUNGE this past week (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EDT on SportsTalkNetwork.com), because I am a paleocon and thus not tethered to inane partisanship -- the worst aspect of which being the infantile notion that one political party actually constitutes the "good guys" instead of the "slightly less evil screw-over guys" -- my perspectives are bound to be different than the norm on either side.
^ First of all, I differentiate among the talk-radio screamers. Rush Limbaugh, Mike Gallagher, Mark Levin, Hugh Hewitt and Sean Hannity are Republican toadies who spent eight years trying to convince America that George W. Bush was on a par with Lincoln and Washington. They're party-line hacks with no credibility when it comes to intellectual honesty. But there are some guys who have that intellectual honesty and come at this from interesting points of view, like Dennis Prager, Michael Savage (although he really is a loon!) and especially Glenn Beck. Mr. Beck is technically correct when he describes the entangling of Big Government and Big Business as being similar to what the National Socialists practiced on a much bigger and more sinister scale in the Germany of the '30s. Certainly, Big Insurance and Big Pharma were bought off by this crowd, which should only drive home once and for all the paleo point about how small business and not Big Business should be exalted. The great columnist Timothy Carney also writes about this with great regularity. But unlike Beck and some of the more panicked Tea Party members, I don't fear Barack Obama and his congressional Democrats. Left to their own devices, they'd have delivered a much more harmful bill and really throttled off free enterprise -- but they couldn't, and that's the point. With overwhelming majorities in both houses, they got a bill that falls short of what the biggest screaming liberals really wanted and that was at the height of their power (now, I do believe that it could set the stage for single-payer or at least the public option in another decade by collapsing key industries -- but that just makes a rational, cold-eyed approach to assessing the situation that much more important). The question of whether Republicans could have made it "less bad" through negotiation is a valid one even if it was raised by that weenie David Frum, but in the end it seems doubtful that the pluses would outweigh the minuses in terms of the Republicans having to co-sign onto a bill that would still make matters worse. The November pasting that is on the way assures that we have probably seen the worst of what this crowd can do, at least in a first Obama term (more about that later).
^ Do we still live in America? So now Henry Waxman is summoning CEOs who are talking about how much ObamaCare will cost their industries and lead to job loss to hearings where he will badger them and live out his fantasy of acting like a Third World junta leader. Remember when we actually still had free speech in this nation?
^ Elections have consequences. If anybody thought that Obama's election as president would mean avoiding at least one large negative being passed through, they were naive and unrealistic. Don't want the bad public policy? Then don't lose the elections. Grown-ups understand this basic principle. And that leads to the next point and the election of 2012.
^ Playing into Obama's hands at this point is worse than stupid, it is immoral. When Newt Gingrich, in his crowning moment of sheer babbling public incompetence, bungled the budget negotiations with Bill Clinton in 1995 and led the GOP to get blamed for the government shutdown, he ensured Bubba's second term. Now, nincompoops like Hewitt are calling on the GOP to promise to defund ObamaCare if they take control of both houses in '11. Given the complete inability of the Republican party to handle basic public relations even in a good climate, is there a political observer worth his salt who sees a fall showdown in 2011 ending any other way than the one 16 years earlier? If the Republicans don't wake up and realize that rollback cannot possibly occur before winning control of both the executive and legislative branches (by definition, no earlier than 2013), they are doomed. No wonder the Republicans are better off coming up just shy of winning control this year; they would only serve as the blame-deflecting target that President BO needs to win re-election. But then again, succeeding in spite of themselves has worked out really well for the GOP in the Obama era, as they have been able to rehabilitate themselves completely through the unrelated efforts of a fired-up grassroots element.
^ Good politics is good policy. In pandering to the Rush Limbaughs of the world, too many powerful Republicans outwardly embrace the label of obstructionist and "Party of No." I have actually even heard that "change" is a dirty word among many in Republican circles because of Obama's use of it. Frankly, this is insane. They cannot cede that ground to Obama; to do so is fatal. Do Republicans really want to act like the status quo is great, either in terms of health care or any other government functions? Not if they have any clue (which leaves the question completely open). They need to be pushing other-side alternatives, market-oriented solutions like the ones bravely submitted by Congressman Paul Ryan. On health care, there is much that can be pointed out in terms of the distortions in the market that were instigated by Medicare and Medicaid and how these disruptions are actually the enemy and not the free market. But then again, that would take guts and principle and this is a political party that unfortunately still values the shallow advice of the likes of Karl Rove. And they're also a political party that believes in stupidly bragging about trying to shut down all functions of the Congress, as McCain recently did. Going back over several decades, if Democrats had to win elections on their own merits instead of Republican bumbling, they'd really have been in trouble and the more things change, the more they stay the same.
^ In the long run, Republicans can only win by being intellectually honest. The Republican tendency to chastise Obama for squandering the "Garden of Eden" on January 20, 2009 is a huge insult to the intelligence of the American people. Nobody is going to forget just how bad the situation was that Obama inherited and polls continue to bear that out. But what's worse is that the lie is unnecessary because the truth would work much better if only the GOP could summon up the humility for it. It would go a little something like this: "OK, our bad. We spent like drunken sailors and didn't police corruption when we were in charge. But this crew is doubling down on all of our mistakes. They're taking everything we did poorly and going much further in that direction. If you vote for us, we will move matters back in the other direction, if for no other reason than we know that you won't trust us again if we don't." It's a compelling message that people will understand. John McCain tried to run on a similar message in 2008 (remember the whole "we lost our way" honesty, which was remarkable even though it came off as desperate because the GOP was trying to avoid the punishment that inevitably comes with losing your way) and only succeeded because the American people pretty much will not avoid delivering a harsh message to political parties who anger them. The Republican party has come a long way in 15 months, far more than anyone could have forecast, but they have reached the limits of where they can go as "Not Them." They cannot hold onto and consolidate any gains they make this fall, much less achieve a durable governing majority, without treating the American people as adults.
^ As part of being intellectually honest, be honest about what ObamaCare represents. Pretending that this bill represents a zero-to-sixty nationalization of the health care sector gets the grass roots fired up, but it doesn't pass the smell test. As previously mentioned, Medicare and Medicaid started us down this road almost a half-century ago and wacky crap like George W. Bush's prescription-drug boondoggle moved us further in that direction. The Republican party always underestimates the number of people who would be receptive to them if they quit the show-biz gaga and leveled with them. I know many such people, but they are turned off when they hear obviously phony buzzwords substituted for earnest analysis.
^ Call for people to stay within the bounds of the political process. Given the Saul Alinsky/ACORN playbook, I'm very dubious that those who were actually against ObamaCare were responsible for the alleged N-bombs and F-bombs directed at congressmen on the day of the vote. But the pinkos at MSNBC and elsewhere are clearly ready to lay everything at the feet of the Republicans. Rachel Maddow actually has the temerity to put a TV show on the air tying the spirit of Timothy McVeigh to today's anti-government protesters. Bill Clinton and his crew spent 18 months waving the bloody shirt of Oklahoma City in order to ensure their own reelection -- and it worked. In the climate that we are now in, where (and I'm choosing my words carefully) some people and institutions will stop at nothing to label opposition to the federal government as illegitimate, Republican leaders need to be on record as denouncing anything except lawful protest specifically tied to public policy at every occasion.
The aftermath of the recent adoption of ObamaCare by the federal government brings up several different points, some related and some unrelated. As I noted during our debate on this subject during Episode #97 of THE FDH LOUNGE this past week (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EDT on SportsTalkNetwork.com), because I am a paleocon and thus not tethered to inane partisanship -- the worst aspect of which being the infantile notion that one political party actually constitutes the "good guys" instead of the "slightly less evil screw-over guys" -- my perspectives are bound to be different than the norm on either side.
^ First of all, I differentiate among the talk-radio screamers. Rush Limbaugh, Mike Gallagher, Mark Levin, Hugh Hewitt and Sean Hannity are Republican toadies who spent eight years trying to convince America that George W. Bush was on a par with Lincoln and Washington. They're party-line hacks with no credibility when it comes to intellectual honesty. But there are some guys who have that intellectual honesty and come at this from interesting points of view, like Dennis Prager, Michael Savage (although he really is a loon!) and especially Glenn Beck. Mr. Beck is technically correct when he describes the entangling of Big Government and Big Business as being similar to what the National Socialists practiced on a much bigger and more sinister scale in the Germany of the '30s. Certainly, Big Insurance and Big Pharma were bought off by this crowd, which should only drive home once and for all the paleo point about how small business and not Big Business should be exalted. The great columnist Timothy Carney also writes about this with great regularity. But unlike Beck and some of the more panicked Tea Party members, I don't fear Barack Obama and his congressional Democrats. Left to their own devices, they'd have delivered a much more harmful bill and really throttled off free enterprise -- but they couldn't, and that's the point. With overwhelming majorities in both houses, they got a bill that falls short of what the biggest screaming liberals really wanted and that was at the height of their power (now, I do believe that it could set the stage for single-payer or at least the public option in another decade by collapsing key industries -- but that just makes a rational, cold-eyed approach to assessing the situation that much more important). The question of whether Republicans could have made it "less bad" through negotiation is a valid one even if it was raised by that weenie David Frum, but in the end it seems doubtful that the pluses would outweigh the minuses in terms of the Republicans having to co-sign onto a bill that would still make matters worse. The November pasting that is on the way assures that we have probably seen the worst of what this crowd can do, at least in a first Obama term (more about that later).
^ Do we still live in America? So now Henry Waxman is summoning CEOs who are talking about how much ObamaCare will cost their industries and lead to job loss to hearings where he will badger them and live out his fantasy of acting like a Third World junta leader. Remember when we actually still had free speech in this nation?
^ Elections have consequences. If anybody thought that Obama's election as president would mean avoiding at least one large negative being passed through, they were naive and unrealistic. Don't want the bad public policy? Then don't lose the elections. Grown-ups understand this basic principle. And that leads to the next point and the election of 2012.
^ Playing into Obama's hands at this point is worse than stupid, it is immoral. When Newt Gingrich, in his crowning moment of sheer babbling public incompetence, bungled the budget negotiations with Bill Clinton in 1995 and led the GOP to get blamed for the government shutdown, he ensured Bubba's second term. Now, nincompoops like Hewitt are calling on the GOP to promise to defund ObamaCare if they take control of both houses in '11. Given the complete inability of the Republican party to handle basic public relations even in a good climate, is there a political observer worth his salt who sees a fall showdown in 2011 ending any other way than the one 16 years earlier? If the Republicans don't wake up and realize that rollback cannot possibly occur before winning control of both the executive and legislative branches (by definition, no earlier than 2013), they are doomed. No wonder the Republicans are better off coming up just shy of winning control this year; they would only serve as the blame-deflecting target that President BO needs to win re-election. But then again, succeeding in spite of themselves has worked out really well for the GOP in the Obama era, as they have been able to rehabilitate themselves completely through the unrelated efforts of a fired-up grassroots element.
^ Good politics is good policy. In pandering to the Rush Limbaughs of the world, too many powerful Republicans outwardly embrace the label of obstructionist and "Party of No." I have actually even heard that "change" is a dirty word among many in Republican circles because of Obama's use of it. Frankly, this is insane. They cannot cede that ground to Obama; to do so is fatal. Do Republicans really want to act like the status quo is great, either in terms of health care or any other government functions? Not if they have any clue (which leaves the question completely open). They need to be pushing other-side alternatives, market-oriented solutions like the ones bravely submitted by Congressman Paul Ryan. On health care, there is much that can be pointed out in terms of the distortions in the market that were instigated by Medicare and Medicaid and how these disruptions are actually the enemy and not the free market. But then again, that would take guts and principle and this is a political party that unfortunately still values the shallow advice of the likes of Karl Rove. And they're also a political party that believes in stupidly bragging about trying to shut down all functions of the Congress, as McCain recently did. Going back over several decades, if Democrats had to win elections on their own merits instead of Republican bumbling, they'd really have been in trouble and the more things change, the more they stay the same.
^ In the long run, Republicans can only win by being intellectually honest. The Republican tendency to chastise Obama for squandering the "Garden of Eden" on January 20, 2009 is a huge insult to the intelligence of the American people. Nobody is going to forget just how bad the situation was that Obama inherited and polls continue to bear that out. But what's worse is that the lie is unnecessary because the truth would work much better if only the GOP could summon up the humility for it. It would go a little something like this: "OK, our bad. We spent like drunken sailors and didn't police corruption when we were in charge. But this crew is doubling down on all of our mistakes. They're taking everything we did poorly and going much further in that direction. If you vote for us, we will move matters back in the other direction, if for no other reason than we know that you won't trust us again if we don't." It's a compelling message that people will understand. John McCain tried to run on a similar message in 2008 (remember the whole "we lost our way" honesty, which was remarkable even though it came off as desperate because the GOP was trying to avoid the punishment that inevitably comes with losing your way) and only succeeded because the American people pretty much will not avoid delivering a harsh message to political parties who anger them. The Republican party has come a long way in 15 months, far more than anyone could have forecast, but they have reached the limits of where they can go as "Not Them." They cannot hold onto and consolidate any gains they make this fall, much less achieve a durable governing majority, without treating the American people as adults.
^ As part of being intellectually honest, be honest about what ObamaCare represents. Pretending that this bill represents a zero-to-sixty nationalization of the health care sector gets the grass roots fired up, but it doesn't pass the smell test. As previously mentioned, Medicare and Medicaid started us down this road almost a half-century ago and wacky crap like George W. Bush's prescription-drug boondoggle moved us further in that direction. The Republican party always underestimates the number of people who would be receptive to them if they quit the show-biz gaga and leveled with them. I know many such people, but they are turned off when they hear obviously phony buzzwords substituted for earnest analysis.
^ Call for people to stay within the bounds of the political process. Given the Saul Alinsky/ACORN playbook, I'm very dubious that those who were actually against ObamaCare were responsible for the alleged N-bombs and F-bombs directed at congressmen on the day of the vote. But the pinkos at MSNBC and elsewhere are clearly ready to lay everything at the feet of the Republicans. Rachel Maddow actually has the temerity to put a TV show on the air tying the spirit of Timothy McVeigh to today's anti-government protesters. Bill Clinton and his crew spent 18 months waving the bloody shirt of Oklahoma City in order to ensure their own reelection -- and it worked. In the climate that we are now in, where (and I'm choosing my words carefully) some people and institutions will stop at nothing to label opposition to the federal government as illegitimate, Republican leaders need to be on record as denouncing anything except lawful protest specifically tied to public policy at every occasion.
'Mania 27 card we would like to see
By Rick Morris
My mediocre WrestleMania 26 predictions notwithstanding, I'm ready to take a stab at laying out next year's event (thanks again, BTW, to WFAN's Evan Roberts for his awesome recap of last Sunday's big show).
First, a few basic parameters for the next year in terms of how I would use the draft:
^ I would move Randy Orton to Smackdown rather than clogging up the main event babyface picture on Raw.
^ I would move MVP and Mark Henry to Smackdown, using MVP as more of an occasionally-wrestling "super-agent" character with Henry as his bodyguard. Such an "Arli$$" persona could be used to represent disparate main-event heels who would otherwise never cooperate on a regular basis (i.e. Jack Swagger, Chris Jericho and Edge if/when he turns back).
^ I would move John Morrison to Raw with the setup that he will eventually be the man to take the US Title off of The Miz. Morrison is an underutilized player with big upside which the company should be looking to tap sooner rather than later.
^ I would move Christian to Smackdown to pair back up with Edge eventually and Evan Bourne over to team up with Rey Mysterio in an "ultimate high-flyer" combo that would give Bourne an excellent "rub" for the future.
Now, here's the card I would like to see, 12 months out from the big night in the Georgia Dome:
^ World Title Match: CM Punk (Champion) vs. HHH. While cross-brand world title matches are not ideal in the sense of maintaining storyline continuity about the belts that the wrestlers are chasing during the year, they can help ensure fresh matchups. Punk as the sneering champion trying to make his bones by taking down one of the company's biggest remaining legends would be gold.
^ WWE Title Match: Batista (Champion) vs. Randy Orton. This too would be a cross-brand match, holding off on it throughout the course of the year instead of hot-shotting it by summer -- which would be inevitable if they stayed on the same brand. Much as Orton/HHH II seemed fresh when it first began (before it was beaten into the ground) because significant time had passed since Orton and HHH both turned again, we need another year for this match to really resonate notwithstanding each's successful (so far) and recent turns.
^ Undertaker vs. John Cena. OK, I've been calling for this match for the past few years, and maybe it makes more sense for 'Taker's shot at 20-0, but at this point it can't be assumed that the Dead Man has that many years left to finish the checklist of dream opponents. The heat would be at obscene levels if Cena won, as he should -- and the "rub" would be the greatest in history.
^ Sheamus vs. Goldberg. Rumors abound that Goldberg will be back in a wrestling capacity with the company, with the obvious details to be solved surrounding his willingness to "give back" in terms of jobbing. The best scenario would be for Goldberg to get a strong push when he comes back -- maybe even a WWE Title run -- and make his eventual put-overs all the more impactful. If Sheamus is to be one of the key players in the company going forward, and he is going to be one of the defining big men of the next decade if he stays healthy, he would be the obvious recipient of this J-O-B on the big P-P-V. This match would fill the non-title, non-'Taker "big match wild card" function of the show that we have seen on the program in the last decade (such as any of the Mr. McMahon matches, Angle-Michaels I, Rock-Austin III, the Flair retirement match, or, ironically, the Goldberg-Lesnar fiasco).
^ Unified World Tag Team Title Match: Edge & Christian (Champions) vs. Hart Dynasty vs. Legacy vs. Rey Mysterio & Evan Bourne. I was dubious about the company's decision to merge the tag belts from the different brands, but I was wrong, because they have come to mean a great amount -- less meaningful than the world titles, but certainly much, much more than the secondary singles titles. This could be one of the greatest tag team matches in 'Mania history, matching up strong elements of the past, present and future with workers ranging from well-above-average to great. This would be a great place to put the belts back on the Harts (as presumably they will carry them at some point in '10) or maybe on Dynasty for the first time.
^ United States Title Match: John Morrison (Champion) vs. The Big Show. Having survived inexplicable early jobbing in the WWE (well, it was the WWF then), Show has actually gone on to become one of the company's most versatile players. Like his former tag team partner Chris Jericho, he can move back and forth between the midcard and main event and work well in both. Like Kane, he's a great "main event gatekeeper" in that wins over him carry great impact (witness John Cena's WrestleMania 20 US Title win over Show at MSG). Here, a win by Morrison would go a long way towards establishing him as a main event player.
^ Diva’s Match. It's impossible to forecast who will be on the roster from one year to the next and these matches never draw money (because they're not in a position to do so, not because all of the women are stinko workers), so it's not worth seeking a specific match.
^ Money in the Bank: Shad Gaspard vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Ezekiel Jackson vs. Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Yoshi Tatsu vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Mystery Opponent. This match provides the opportunity to put the final touches on the main-event elevation of The Miz -- and hopefully, the company will not blow that by hot-shotting him in the next year inasmuch as he has unfinished business with many fellow mid-carders. Rather than including ten wrestlers like 'Mania 26 featured, I would limit it to eight -- with one "Mystery Opponent" spot reserved for the winner of a battle royal to be held at WrestleMania Axxess. Highlights of that battle royal would precede the big ladder match.
^ Jack Swagger vs. Kane. There's not an endless supply of "big match" slots on the show, so a win for Swagger here would have much the same purpose as the wins for "main event holding pattern" stars HHH and Randy Orton did last Sunday.
^ Chris Jericho vs. Matt Hardy. Again, with prime matches having been filled in by other wrestlers, you know you can structure a good program and an excellent match with these two. That's the blessing and the curse of having the versatility to work anywhere on the card.
My mediocre WrestleMania 26 predictions notwithstanding, I'm ready to take a stab at laying out next year's event (thanks again, BTW, to WFAN's Evan Roberts for his awesome recap of last Sunday's big show).
First, a few basic parameters for the next year in terms of how I would use the draft:
^ I would move Randy Orton to Smackdown rather than clogging up the main event babyface picture on Raw.
^ I would move MVP and Mark Henry to Smackdown, using MVP as more of an occasionally-wrestling "super-agent" character with Henry as his bodyguard. Such an "Arli$$" persona could be used to represent disparate main-event heels who would otherwise never cooperate on a regular basis (i.e. Jack Swagger, Chris Jericho and Edge if/when he turns back).
^ I would move John Morrison to Raw with the setup that he will eventually be the man to take the US Title off of The Miz. Morrison is an underutilized player with big upside which the company should be looking to tap sooner rather than later.
^ I would move Christian to Smackdown to pair back up with Edge eventually and Evan Bourne over to team up with Rey Mysterio in an "ultimate high-flyer" combo that would give Bourne an excellent "rub" for the future.
Now, here's the card I would like to see, 12 months out from the big night in the Georgia Dome:
^ World Title Match: CM Punk (Champion) vs. HHH. While cross-brand world title matches are not ideal in the sense of maintaining storyline continuity about the belts that the wrestlers are chasing during the year, they can help ensure fresh matchups. Punk as the sneering champion trying to make his bones by taking down one of the company's biggest remaining legends would be gold.
^ WWE Title Match: Batista (Champion) vs. Randy Orton. This too would be a cross-brand match, holding off on it throughout the course of the year instead of hot-shotting it by summer -- which would be inevitable if they stayed on the same brand. Much as Orton/HHH II seemed fresh when it first began (before it was beaten into the ground) because significant time had passed since Orton and HHH both turned again, we need another year for this match to really resonate notwithstanding each's successful (so far) and recent turns.
^ Undertaker vs. John Cena. OK, I've been calling for this match for the past few years, and maybe it makes more sense for 'Taker's shot at 20-0, but at this point it can't be assumed that the Dead Man has that many years left to finish the checklist of dream opponents. The heat would be at obscene levels if Cena won, as he should -- and the "rub" would be the greatest in history.
^ Sheamus vs. Goldberg. Rumors abound that Goldberg will be back in a wrestling capacity with the company, with the obvious details to be solved surrounding his willingness to "give back" in terms of jobbing. The best scenario would be for Goldberg to get a strong push when he comes back -- maybe even a WWE Title run -- and make his eventual put-overs all the more impactful. If Sheamus is to be one of the key players in the company going forward, and he is going to be one of the defining big men of the next decade if he stays healthy, he would be the obvious recipient of this J-O-B on the big P-P-V. This match would fill the non-title, non-'Taker "big match wild card" function of the show that we have seen on the program in the last decade (such as any of the Mr. McMahon matches, Angle-Michaels I, Rock-Austin III, the Flair retirement match, or, ironically, the Goldberg-Lesnar fiasco).
^ Unified World Tag Team Title Match: Edge & Christian (Champions) vs. Hart Dynasty vs. Legacy vs. Rey Mysterio & Evan Bourne. I was dubious about the company's decision to merge the tag belts from the different brands, but I was wrong, because they have come to mean a great amount -- less meaningful than the world titles, but certainly much, much more than the secondary singles titles. This could be one of the greatest tag team matches in 'Mania history, matching up strong elements of the past, present and future with workers ranging from well-above-average to great. This would be a great place to put the belts back on the Harts (as presumably they will carry them at some point in '10) or maybe on Dynasty for the first time.
^ United States Title Match: John Morrison (Champion) vs. The Big Show. Having survived inexplicable early jobbing in the WWE (well, it was the WWF then), Show has actually gone on to become one of the company's most versatile players. Like his former tag team partner Chris Jericho, he can move back and forth between the midcard and main event and work well in both. Like Kane, he's a great "main event gatekeeper" in that wins over him carry great impact (witness John Cena's WrestleMania 20 US Title win over Show at MSG). Here, a win by Morrison would go a long way towards establishing him as a main event player.
^ Diva’s Match. It's impossible to forecast who will be on the roster from one year to the next and these matches never draw money (because they're not in a position to do so, not because all of the women are stinko workers), so it's not worth seeking a specific match.
^ Money in the Bank: Shad Gaspard vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Ezekiel Jackson vs. Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Yoshi Tatsu vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Mystery Opponent. This match provides the opportunity to put the final touches on the main-event elevation of The Miz -- and hopefully, the company will not blow that by hot-shotting him in the next year inasmuch as he has unfinished business with many fellow mid-carders. Rather than including ten wrestlers like 'Mania 26 featured, I would limit it to eight -- with one "Mystery Opponent" spot reserved for the winner of a battle royal to be held at WrestleMania Axxess. Highlights of that battle royal would precede the big ladder match.
^ Jack Swagger vs. Kane. There's not an endless supply of "big match" slots on the show, so a win for Swagger here would have much the same purpose as the wins for "main event holding pattern" stars HHH and Randy Orton did last Sunday.
^ Chris Jericho vs. Matt Hardy. Again, with prime matches having been filled in by other wrestlers, you know you can structure a good program and an excellent match with these two. That's the blessing and the curse of having the versatility to work anywhere on the card.
FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume III, Issue XIII
By Rick Morris
For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week's newsletter.
For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week's newsletter.
WFB called Afghan problems -- back in '89!
By Rick Morris
In the otherwise superlative movie CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR, the case was made in ham-handed fashion at the end (as is often the case in Hollywood) that the US abandoned Afghanistan after playing a key role in helping them dislodge the Soviets in the 1980s. The point is true, but I'm dubious about 20-20 wisdom in this regard, since there weren't many experts who said so at the time.
So imagine my surprise when I ran across an old William F. Buckley, Jr. column from February 15, 1989 in National Review [I do have some old magazines on different subjects that I enjoy pulling out from time to time particularly for the "time capsule" perspective of what was being said at the time and which theories are valid even today]. It was about the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and it was meant to be a sobering note about the euphoria many were feeling about seeing the mighty USSA military suffering their version of Vietnam (in retrospect, it's almost impossible to believe the mega-events that would follow in less than three years, from the fall of the Berlin Wall, to German reunification, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the brief coup sidelining Gorbachev and inevitably, the dissolution of the Soviet empire itself).
In light of the rise of Al Qaeda in the 1990s and ultimate culmination of the group's evil attack on a cloudless Tuesday in September 2001, WFB's warning about this group and the Taliban is chilling:
"We have much to be apprehensive about in the months ahead. The mullahs who are destined to take over the country they defended so vigorously are, so to speak, not PLU (People Like Us). It is even conceivable that a few years down the line some people will publicly mourn the government of President Najibullah ...
"In an indication of what may unfold in Afghanistan, two elderly maulavi -- judges appointed by the mujahedin -- have sent out edicts to rebel commanders urging them to exercise more control over the civilians by curbing such excesses as 'the playing of tape-recorded music ...'
"The judges have ordered the execution of murderers, the stoning to death of adulterers, and the surgical amputatin of a thief's hand.
"Still, we must do what we can to influence the mujahedin to moderation ..."
We did not, and the consequences began to make themselves known first during the Clinton Administration when terrorist actions around the world were not answered with sufficient force, then with 9/11 and continuing now with a war that ranks as one of the longest in American history. While the last decade has proved the limitations of neocon adventurism, so too has it shown the fallout of isolationist disregard for the birth of terrorist states. Both approaches are woefully inferior to a rational, America-First approach to solving problems, preferably proactively, on a case-by-case basis.
In the otherwise superlative movie CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR, the case was made in ham-handed fashion at the end (as is often the case in Hollywood) that the US abandoned Afghanistan after playing a key role in helping them dislodge the Soviets in the 1980s. The point is true, but I'm dubious about 20-20 wisdom in this regard, since there weren't many experts who said so at the time.
So imagine my surprise when I ran across an old William F. Buckley, Jr. column from February 15, 1989 in National Review [I do have some old magazines on different subjects that I enjoy pulling out from time to time particularly for the "time capsule" perspective of what was being said at the time and which theories are valid even today]. It was about the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and it was meant to be a sobering note about the euphoria many were feeling about seeing the mighty USSA military suffering their version of Vietnam (in retrospect, it's almost impossible to believe the mega-events that would follow in less than three years, from the fall of the Berlin Wall, to German reunification, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the brief coup sidelining Gorbachev and inevitably, the dissolution of the Soviet empire itself).
In light of the rise of Al Qaeda in the 1990s and ultimate culmination of the group's evil attack on a cloudless Tuesday in September 2001, WFB's warning about this group and the Taliban is chilling:
"We have much to be apprehensive about in the months ahead. The mullahs who are destined to take over the country they defended so vigorously are, so to speak, not PLU (People Like Us). It is even conceivable that a few years down the line some people will publicly mourn the government of President Najibullah ...
"In an indication of what may unfold in Afghanistan, two elderly maulavi -- judges appointed by the mujahedin -- have sent out edicts to rebel commanders urging them to exercise more control over the civilians by curbing such excesses as 'the playing of tape-recorded music ...'
"The judges have ordered the execution of murderers, the stoning to death of adulterers, and the surgical amputatin of a thief's hand.
"Still, we must do what we can to influence the mujahedin to moderation ..."
We did not, and the consequences began to make themselves known first during the Clinton Administration when terrorist actions around the world were not answered with sufficient force, then with 9/11 and continuing now with a war that ranks as one of the longest in American history. While the last decade has proved the limitations of neocon adventurism, so too has it shown the fallout of isolationist disregard for the birth of terrorist states. Both approaches are woefully inferior to a rational, America-First approach to solving problems, preferably proactively, on a case-by-case basis.
NHL power rankings for start of April
By Rick Morris
Mid-March rankings in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 Washington (1)
SECOND TIER
2 San Jose (2)
3 Chicago (3)
4 Phoenix (6)
5 Vancouver (4)
6 Buffalo (9)
7 Pittsburgh (5)
8 New Jersey (7)
9 Detroit (12)
10 Nashville (11)
11 Los Angeles (8)
12 Ottawa (13)
THIRD TIER
13 Calgary (14)
14 Colorado (10)
FOURTH TIER
15 Montreal (16)
16 Boston (19)
17 Philadelphia (15)
18 Dallas (21)
19 St. Louis (17)
20 Anaheim (22)
21 NY Rangers (20)
22 Atlanta (24)
23 Tampa Bay (23)
24 Minnesota (18)
25 Columbus (25)
26 Carolina (28)
27 Florida (26)
28 NY Islanders (27)
29 Toronto (29)
FIFTH TIER
30 Edmonton (30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Dallas and Detroit (3 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: Minnesota (6 spots), Colorado (4 spots), Boston, Buffalo and Los Angeles (3 spots)
Mid-March rankings in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 Washington (1)
SECOND TIER
2 San Jose (2)
3 Chicago (3)
4 Phoenix (6)
5 Vancouver (4)
6 Buffalo (9)
7 Pittsburgh (5)
8 New Jersey (7)
9 Detroit (12)
10 Nashville (11)
11 Los Angeles (8)
12 Ottawa (13)
THIRD TIER
13 Calgary (14)
14 Colorado (10)
FOURTH TIER
15 Montreal (16)
16 Boston (19)
17 Philadelphia (15)
18 Dallas (21)
19 St. Louis (17)
20 Anaheim (22)
21 NY Rangers (20)
22 Atlanta (24)
23 Tampa Bay (23)
24 Minnesota (18)
25 Columbus (25)
26 Carolina (28)
27 Florida (26)
28 NY Islanders (27)
29 Toronto (29)
FIFTH TIER
30 Edmonton (30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Dallas and Detroit (3 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: Minnesota (6 spots), Colorado (4 spots), Boston, Buffalo and Los Angeles (3 spots)
NBA power rankings for start of April
By Rick Morris
Mid-March rankings in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 Cleveland (1)
SECOND TIER
2 LA Lakers (2)
3 Orlando (3)
4 Dallas (5)
5 Phoenix (10)
6 Utah (7)
7 Denver (4)
8 Atlanta (6)
9 Boston (8)
10 Oklahoma City (9)
11 Portland (11)
12 San Antonio (12)
THIRD TIER
13 Miami (15)
14 Milwaukee (13)
15 Charlotte (14)
16 Memphis (17)
17 Houston (16)
18 Toronto (19)
19 Chicago (20)
20 New Orleans (18)
FOUTH TIER
21 Indiana (25)
22 LA Clippers (21)
23 New York (22)
24 Philadelphia (26)
25 Sacramento (23)
26 Detroit (24)
27 Washington (27)
28 Golden State (28)
FIFTH TIER
29 Minnesota (29)
SIXTH TIER
30 New Jersey (30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Phoenix (5 spots), Indiana (4 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: none more than 2 spots
Mid-March rankings in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 Cleveland (1)
SECOND TIER
2 LA Lakers (2)
3 Orlando (3)
4 Dallas (5)
5 Phoenix (10)
6 Utah (7)
7 Denver (4)
8 Atlanta (6)
9 Boston (8)
10 Oklahoma City (9)
11 Portland (11)
12 San Antonio (12)
THIRD TIER
13 Miami (15)
14 Milwaukee (13)
15 Charlotte (14)
16 Memphis (17)
17 Houston (16)
18 Toronto (19)
19 Chicago (20)
20 New Orleans (18)
FOUTH TIER
21 Indiana (25)
22 LA Clippers (21)
23 New York (22)
24 Philadelphia (26)
25 Sacramento (23)
26 Detroit (24)
27 Washington (27)
28 Golden State (28)
FIFTH TIER
29 Minnesota (29)
SIXTH TIER
30 New Jersey (30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Phoenix (5 spots), Indiana (4 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: none more than 2 spots
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