Posts Tagged ‘reality’

Can MLB count?

Posted: July 14, 2010 by datechguy in baseball, opinion/news
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Fox news reports the following:

The campaign to move the 2011 All-Star Game out of Phoenix to protest Arizona’s immigration law heated up this week, with some of baseball’s superstars threatening to sit it out and demonstrators trying to deliver thousands of petitions to Commissioner Bud Selig.

The increased pressure coincided with this year’s All-Star Game, which was to be played Tuesday night in Anaheim.

Increased pressure you say. Let see just how much pressure there is as we look at the latest poll from that hotbed of conservatism CBS:

Public support for Arizona’s controversial new immigration law has increased slightly, a new CBS News poll shows, with 57 percent of Americans characterizing the law as “about right” in the way it addresses the issue of illegal immigration.

And the pie graph shows that a further 17% doesn’t think the law goes far enough. Only 23% oppose the law as going too far.

So tell me Baseball owner who wants to draw fans, do you want to draw from the 74% or the 23%. Tell me player who makes millions, how will alienating 74% of the people who pay your salary affect your ability to get a big contract?

Think long and hard before you do something stupid MLB

The Boston city counsel belatedly learns how to count

Posted: July 12, 2010 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
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Back on May 4th I contrasted the 10,000+ tea party rally in Boston with the 300 person open borders rally

The biggest difference between the two groups?

The Tea Party protesters drew 10,000 people to Boston on a weekday and will be a force in the upcoming elections nationally.

The May Day/open borders protesters, drew 300 people to Boston on a Saturday. It remains to be seen if they will have any pull come November.

That very next day the Boston City Council voted for a boycott:

Meanwhile closer to home Boston’s counsel unanimously initiated their own boycott. Governor Patrick blasted the law and questioned the motivations of those proposing tougher rules in the state while in Worcester Tea Party members supporting it were called “racist” and “nazi” as the AG declared: “it is not illegal to be illegal in Massachusetts.”

Well that was back in May but with Arizona Gov Jan Brewer coming to Boston I’m sure they would be able to do better…or perhaps not.

What a bust.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, liberal Massachusetts’ Darth Vader du jour, was supposed to draw thousands to Copley Square yesterday to protest what sign-holders called her “racist” and “bigoted” views of immigrants south of her border.

Only a few hundred showed up.

It may have taken 2 months but the City council of Boston has suddenly learned to count and they don’t like the numbers:

Red-faced Boston city councilors who boldly voted to shun the state of Arizona over its new immigration crackdown are now showing signs of boycotter’s regret.

The grandstanding pols kept a low profile when the target of their boycott came to their city on Saturday. Some acknowledged taking a pass on the much-hyped protest of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer for weekend vacations and other engagements – while one councilor even admitted the embargo was ill-conceived.

In fact the line seems to be Boycott? Moi?

“I wouldn’t refer to it as a boycott. It was a number of things. It was a statement,” said Ross, who was away for the weekend as the protest took place.

The measure passed with great fanfare. Mayor Thomas M. Menino vowed to scrutinize contracts with Arizona firms. But Menino administration officials have failed to respond when asked if any firms have been singled out for action.

Councilors have privately expressed regret, saying they’ve been verbally accosted by angry constituents and taken aback by the level of national attention the boycott brought.

Jules Crittenden is having a lot of fun with this:

This scurrying is taking place in the wake of the much ballyhooed anti-Arizona protest that fizzled in downtown Boston, when only a few hundred diehard activists with “RACIST” signs showed up, many of them bused in from out of town. Tragic, here in the very Heart of Blueness, that they should have to be outsourcing their moonbattery, to do the protesting that local libs apparently won’t do. No wonder they’re caving so easy.

He continues quoting Genghis Khan a bit, meanwhile no word on if the no longer numerically challenged council are going to reverse themselves.

Now a Memorandum thread Captain Ed at Hotair notices some nuance as well.

What an interesting coincidence

Posted: July 8, 2010 by datechguy in employment, opinion/news
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Robert Stacy’s post happens to coincide with a subject that recently came up for me.

As you may or may not know my own unemployment benefits have run out and my wife recently lost her job so things have become incredibly tight around here with only two teenagers working, however I have a liberal friend who has been in much more dire straights for much longer. I’ve been hoping and praying that he would find employment and just got the news today that he has been offered a good job at good money. He will likely start next week.

I had been in a very bad mood to day so this brightened me up considerably. I congratulated him on his change of fortune and we talked about the position. I was arguing that his employment benefits others and talked about the multiplier of employment, he insisted otherwise saying that he learned to live bear bones and would likely keep doing so. Every time I mentioned an item he insisted he would still do without. Finally I brought up shopping suggesting he might purchase perhaps a name brand rather than a generic on some items. His answer blew me away.

He said it was not a fair example since he is still on Mass. Food Stamps the state gives them out 6 months at a time so he will have them for some time while employed. He maintained the example is bad because his food would be paid for with “free money” so of course he would buy better stuff now that he has some other income, but for his own money he would be not be spending a penny that he didn’t have to.

Listening to him describe how foolish Massachusetts is was really something. He talked about establishing residency in NH to avoid the Mass income tax and how he would buy the groceries in NH since stores across the border take them. Liberal views be damned, if Massachusetts was dumb enough to give him the money he was going to spend it and if he could avoid the taxes he would do so.

Liberalism you might want to vote it but you don’t want to live it.

If you want to understand the “Palestinians”

Posted: July 8, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news, war
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then read this:

In Sheba’s pediatric hemato-oncology department was Mohammed Abu Mustafa, a four-and-a-half-month-old Palestinian infant. Protruding from his tiny body were pipes attached to big machines. His breathing was labored.

“His days may be numbered. He is suffering from a genetic defect that is causing the failure of his immune system,” said the baby’s mother, Raida, from the Gaza Strip, when she emerged from the isolation room. “I had two daughters in Gaza,” she continued, her black eyes shimmering. “Both died because of immune deficiency. In Gaza I was told all the time that there is no treatment for this and that he is doomed to die. The problem now is how to pay for the [bone marrow] transplant. There is no funding.”

Pretty sad story, the irony of course being that here is a Palestinian kid in an Israeli Hospital in the first place, the story goes on as the filmmaker realizes something (emphasis mine)…

“I got to her after all the attempts to find a donation for the transplant had failed,” he relates. “I understood that I was the baby’s last hope, but I didn’t give it much of a chance. At the time, Qassam rockets falling on Sderot opened every newscast. In that situation, I didn’t believe that anyone would be willing to give a shekel for a Palestinian infant.”

He was wrong. Hours after the news item about Mohammed was broadcast, the hospital switchboard was jammed with callers. An Israeli Jew whose son died during his military service donated $55,000, and for the first time the Abu Mustafa family began to feel hopeful. Only then did Eldar grasp the full dramatic potential of the story. He told his editor, Tali Ben Ovadia, that he wanted to continue accompanying the family.

…Yup those nasty evil Jews decided to come up with dough so the kid might have a future. And what was the future the mother dreamed of for the kid? One Guess again emphasis mine:

And Eldar was angry. “Then why are you fighting to save your son’s life, if you say that death is a usual thing for your people?” he lashes out in one of the most dramatic moments in the film.

“It is a regular thing,” she smiles at him. “Life is not precious. Life is precious, but not for us. For us, life is nothing, not worth a thing. That is why we have so many suicide bombers. They are not afraid of death. None of us, not even the children, are afraid of death. It is natural for us. After Mohammed gets well, I will certainly want him to be a shahid. If it’s for Jerusalem, then there’s no problem. For you it is hard, I know; with us, there are cries of rejoicing and happiness when someone falls as a shahid. For us a shahid is a tremendous thing.“

Even assuming that she was afraid to say something different on camera it is really something.

I’ll say it again, if the Jews were even half of what the Palestinians and the Methodists thought; the Palestinians would have been wiped out 40 years ago. And if the Arabs were in the Jews place, there would not be a Jew alive in Israel.

This is Radical Islam, it can’t be negotiated with, ignored or changed via nice words. It can only be changed from within, surrendered to or destroyed.

And the longer you ignore the problem the less likely that change option will exist.

Via Elder of Ziyon and Memeorandum.

Update: In case you’ve forgotten this has been going on for a long time. Weekly standard Aug 19, 2002:

Downstairs, before we left, the head of the hospital, an Israeli named Audrey, was showing me the children’s waiting room. I couldn’t help but notice, all around, an Arab woman with her son, an Arab family over there checking in, Arab children playing with the toys while waiting. The doctor saw the look on my face and laughed. “Oh, yes, we treat everyone.” I guess I was astonished. She just shrugged. “We’re Jews. This is how we live. It’s also for the future. They’re not going anywhere, and we’re not going anywhere. There will eventually be peace. There has to be.” When? A month? A year? A hundred years? More? She didn’t know. I had to say it. You’re incredible. You take everyone, you treat everyone, no one goes first, no one goes last, you just go in order of who needs help. That’s, like, Mother Teresa stuff. “We’re not saints, we’re just doing our jobs. It’s not easy, I admit. And it gets hard when they cheer when the bodies are brought in.” I looked at her. What did you say? She sighed. “Yes, it gets hard when they cheer.” This was one of the times during my trip when I held up my hands and said, “Stop. Wait.” I turned and walked away to breathe deeply for a minute. I wonder if they’ve restocked that mini-bar. Yeah, probably. It’s a good hotel.

Can anyone explain to me why we are giving these Palestinian bastards any tax dollars at all? Yes I said bastards, how cruel of me, I should have said barbarian bastards. And yes I’d still treat their wounded and sick. Just because they are barbarian bastards doesn’t mean we should be.

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