Awesome article, good citizen. Remember, Batman's superpower is within himself. He does not fly, see through things, or turn into a fireball. He uses his heart and mind to solve issues. This guy is a REAL superhero!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/rosenwald-md/post/who-is-the-route-29-batman-this-guy/2012/03/28/gIQA8nPjgS_blog.html
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Monday, December 12, 2011
POSITIVE LEADERSHIP
from NATIONAL JOURNAL
Common Sense - "Common Sense" is an outside the Beltway perspective on American politics and culture.
Quarterbacking Our Country: Tebow Style
by Matthew Dowd
Updated: December 12, 2011 4:00 p.m.
Last night, watching Denver quarterback Tim Tebow’s post-game press appearance and President Obama’s interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes, I was struck by the fact that one man is offering his team (and the country actually) the leadership they need while the other is trapped in traditional discourse and scoring political points.
Tebow is not even close to the most physically talented quarterback in the NFL (and he probably isn’t even the most physically talented quarterback on his own team), but he has taken a team sitting in the cellar and lifted it up to playoff contention.
Do I buy into some intervention by God because Tebow is a man of incredible religious faith? No. I do believe there is a divine presence in every one of us and in every thing, and the power of that presence remains a mystery of the ages. It can’t be proven or disproven by an intellectual conversation or scientific method, but it is hard not to accept if you are a person of faith and connection to something outside our mere humanity. Yet that is not what this Denver rise and winning streak is about.
First, I would be very surprised if God is concerned about whether one NFL team is winning and whether one is losing. Even if God was concerned, I would hope he would have helped my hometown team -- the Detroit Lions -- who have had no success in the Super Bowl era.
Second, there are many players of faith on every team in the NFL, so I don’t think the Creator is picking and choosing which player or team or faith He likes more or less.
I do think this Tebow boomlet is about faith. And it’s about confidence. And leadership. And humility -- a humbleness born of strength and conviction. It is about Tebow’s faith in his own teammates. It is about his faith and confidence in his own organization. It is about him acknowledging his own weaknesses and failings and mistakes and understanding that if his team looks good, then he looks good.
Obama, and so too the Republican candidates for president, can learn a lot from what is going on in the Mile High City. Our economy, and this country, are struggling with huge deficits of confidence and faith. We need a leader who can bring us together, exude confidence in us as a team, and lead us to where we need to go in the 21st century. A leader who is willing to admit mistakes and approach politics not by pointing fingers or scoring points but by helping us all be better people.
Take a look at Obama’s latest interview. It does not make you feel better about where we are heading. You don’t feel like we are going to win under his leadership. He points fingers and refuses to admit his own mistakes or weaknesses. I often wonder where is the Barack Obama of the 2007 and 2008 campaign. That Obama was much more like the leader we need at this time. He offered hope, he had soaring rhetoric, he offered a change from the bitter politics in Washington, and he made us feel we could win.
Tebow is the kind of leader for his football team that our country needs at this crucial moment in history. Yes, the Denver Broncos streak will probably end, and the odds are a team like the Green Bay Packers will win the Super Bowl. But no matter the outcome, Tebow has shown what faith, and confidence and humility can do for a team of limited skills that was losing consistently before. This is exactly what President Franklin Roosevelt and President Reagan understood about leadership.
This economy, and our country, do not need more programs out of Washington, D.C., or legislation from Congress, or tax cuts for the wealthy, or more spending on government stimulus. What citizens and businesses need is a leader who can raise us all up to a level we didn’t know we had in us, give us confidence in ourselves, give us a common goal to work toward, and make us believe in and have faith in ourselves again.
It seems this is a leadership lesson we keep having to learn over and over again through our country’s history. It is so easy to forget how successes were achieved along the way by Kennedy-style exhortations such as “we are going to the moon.” It is so easy to default into failing Washington-style, us-against-them, to try and get short-term political success.
But maybe a quarterback who seems as much boy as man can show us all, including the candidates for president, how to win and how to get our country back on track. And how to have a little fun along the way. Now that is a leader I would enthusiastically go in the huddle with.
Common Sense - "Common Sense" is an outside the Beltway perspective on American politics and culture.
Quarterbacking Our Country: Tebow Style
by Matthew Dowd
Updated: December 12, 2011 4:00 p.m.
Last night, watching Denver quarterback Tim Tebow’s post-game press appearance and President Obama’s interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes, I was struck by the fact that one man is offering his team (and the country actually) the leadership they need while the other is trapped in traditional discourse and scoring political points.
Tebow is not even close to the most physically talented quarterback in the NFL (and he probably isn’t even the most physically talented quarterback on his own team), but he has taken a team sitting in the cellar and lifted it up to playoff contention.
Do I buy into some intervention by God because Tebow is a man of incredible religious faith? No. I do believe there is a divine presence in every one of us and in every thing, and the power of that presence remains a mystery of the ages. It can’t be proven or disproven by an intellectual conversation or scientific method, but it is hard not to accept if you are a person of faith and connection to something outside our mere humanity. Yet that is not what this Denver rise and winning streak is about.
First, I would be very surprised if God is concerned about whether one NFL team is winning and whether one is losing. Even if God was concerned, I would hope he would have helped my hometown team -- the Detroit Lions -- who have had no success in the Super Bowl era.
Second, there are many players of faith on every team in the NFL, so I don’t think the Creator is picking and choosing which player or team or faith He likes more or less.
I do think this Tebow boomlet is about faith. And it’s about confidence. And leadership. And humility -- a humbleness born of strength and conviction. It is about Tebow’s faith in his own teammates. It is about his faith and confidence in his own organization. It is about him acknowledging his own weaknesses and failings and mistakes and understanding that if his team looks good, then he looks good.
Obama, and so too the Republican candidates for president, can learn a lot from what is going on in the Mile High City. Our economy, and this country, are struggling with huge deficits of confidence and faith. We need a leader who can bring us together, exude confidence in us as a team, and lead us to where we need to go in the 21st century. A leader who is willing to admit mistakes and approach politics not by pointing fingers or scoring points but by helping us all be better people.
Take a look at Obama’s latest interview. It does not make you feel better about where we are heading. You don’t feel like we are going to win under his leadership. He points fingers and refuses to admit his own mistakes or weaknesses. I often wonder where is the Barack Obama of the 2007 and 2008 campaign. That Obama was much more like the leader we need at this time. He offered hope, he had soaring rhetoric, he offered a change from the bitter politics in Washington, and he made us feel we could win.
Tebow is the kind of leader for his football team that our country needs at this crucial moment in history. Yes, the Denver Broncos streak will probably end, and the odds are a team like the Green Bay Packers will win the Super Bowl. But no matter the outcome, Tebow has shown what faith, and confidence and humility can do for a team of limited skills that was losing consistently before. This is exactly what President Franklin Roosevelt and President Reagan understood about leadership.
This economy, and our country, do not need more programs out of Washington, D.C., or legislation from Congress, or tax cuts for the wealthy, or more spending on government stimulus. What citizens and businesses need is a leader who can raise us all up to a level we didn’t know we had in us, give us confidence in ourselves, give us a common goal to work toward, and make us believe in and have faith in ourselves again.
It seems this is a leadership lesson we keep having to learn over and over again through our country’s history. It is so easy to forget how successes were achieved along the way by Kennedy-style exhortations such as “we are going to the moon.” It is so easy to default into failing Washington-style, us-against-them, to try and get short-term political success.
But maybe a quarterback who seems as much boy as man can show us all, including the candidates for president, how to win and how to get our country back on track. And how to have a little fun along the way. Now that is a leader I would enthusiastically go in the huddle with.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Earning it...
My favorite QB from my grade school years....the scrambler....the Viking....opines on NFL vs Teacher's Union.
Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league. It's about tenure, not talent. The same scale is used for every player, no matter whether he's an All-Pro quarterback or the last man on the roster. For every year a player's been in this NFL, he gets a bump in pay. The only difference between Tom Brady and the worst player in the league is a few years of step increases. And if a player makes it through his third season, he can never be cut from the roster until he chooses to retire, except in the most extreme cases of misconduct. Let's face the truth about this alternate reality: The on-field product would steadily decline. Why bother playing harder or better and risk getting hurt?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204226204576601232986845102.html
Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league. It's about tenure, not talent. The same scale is used for every player, no matter whether he's an All-Pro quarterback or the last man on the roster. For every year a player's been in this NFL, he gets a bump in pay. The only difference between Tom Brady and the worst player in the league is a few years of step increases. And if a player makes it through his third season, he can never be cut from the roster until he chooses to retire, except in the most extreme cases of misconduct. Let's face the truth about this alternate reality: The on-field product would steadily decline. Why bother playing harder or better and risk getting hurt?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204226204576601232986845102.html
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Prayer on 9-11...
The mayor of NYC may have excluded clergy from the memorial ceremonies, yet religion found its way into the services. Both President Obama and President Bush spoke the words of President Lincoln, all of which centered on religion. Most people reading the names also referred to God. There is no doubt that this country is rooted in religious freedom and religious values. God Bless America.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Earthquake or Hurricane??
The east coast experienced an earthquake on Tues, 8/23 and a hurricane on Sat/Sun, 8/27-28. Quite unusual events for the east coast, DC, Phili, NYC, and New England. Both events came and went quickly, leaving some damage and minimal loss of life. All is well. All was well. And all continues to be well. However, the media coverage of the hurricane was relentless (more so than the hurricane itself!). And the politicians couldn't resist instructing us about every little detail and ensuring us that they were there to 'help us'. The earthquake came without warning, had limited impact, and was actually pretty cool for those who felt it. We didn't have days-upon-days of 24/7 media coverage speculating about what could happen. We didn't have politicians assuring us that they are 'there for us' and will provide everything we need (implication: we are too stupid to take care of ourselves). But after both events, we will have politicians proposing programs and more spending somehow related to 'protecting us'. Enough!
Today's technology is wonderful. Would it have been good to have warning of the earthquake? Maybe. Would it have changed the outcome? No. Was there an overreaction to the hurricane? Yes. Should we have backed off? Probably not. Better to be careful than careless.
A retrospective look at the earthquake informs us that east coast events are different from west coast events for a variety of reasons (see excerpts below). Therefore, our earthquake was felt from NC to NH. Interesting stuff. Let's take the opportunity to learn something new.
Given a choice between experiencing an earthquake or a hurricane again, one might choose the earthquake simply to avoid the overblown media onslaught as well as the political parenting we experienced in the lead up to Hurricane Irene. Thanks, but we're adults, and we can take care of ourselves. Seems pretty logical to me...
Tuesday's quake was felt across a wide swath of the region because the rock formations deep beneath the surface are old and cold, and so transmit seismic waves more efficiently than thick layers of ancient sediment.
While the strength of the quake was unusual, the wide spread of the shock waves was common for the East Coast, according to Peggy Hellweg, a research seismologist at the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory in California. This is largely due to the difference in the terrain, Hellweg said in a telephone interview. "Our ground is all of this chopped-up stuff ... like a pile of marbles," Hellweg said of California's geology, which means that the waves from a quake don't spread out all that far. In the Eastern United States, she said, "What you've got there is gorgeous bedrock and ... the waves propagate beautifully."
Another difference between the East and West U.S. coasts is that the West Coast is over the boundary between two active tectonic plates, the North American and the Pacific, and the force of these plates sliding against each other generates quakes regularly, Fisher said. In the East, she said, "There's no driving engine in terms of the two plates sliding past each other ... so that's why it's much more unusual."
Today's technology is wonderful. Would it have been good to have warning of the earthquake? Maybe. Would it have changed the outcome? No. Was there an overreaction to the hurricane? Yes. Should we have backed off? Probably not. Better to be careful than careless.
A retrospective look at the earthquake informs us that east coast events are different from west coast events for a variety of reasons (see excerpts below). Therefore, our earthquake was felt from NC to NH. Interesting stuff. Let's take the opportunity to learn something new.
Given a choice between experiencing an earthquake or a hurricane again, one might choose the earthquake simply to avoid the overblown media onslaught as well as the political parenting we experienced in the lead up to Hurricane Irene. Thanks, but we're adults, and we can take care of ourselves. Seems pretty logical to me...
Tuesday's quake was felt across a wide swath of the region because the rock formations deep beneath the surface are old and cold, and so transmit seismic waves more efficiently than thick layers of ancient sediment.
While the strength of the quake was unusual, the wide spread of the shock waves was common for the East Coast, according to Peggy Hellweg, a research seismologist at the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory in California. This is largely due to the difference in the terrain, Hellweg said in a telephone interview. "Our ground is all of this chopped-up stuff ... like a pile of marbles," Hellweg said of California's geology, which means that the waves from a quake don't spread out all that far. In the Eastern United States, she said, "What you've got there is gorgeous bedrock and ... the waves propagate beautifully."
Another difference between the East and West U.S. coasts is that the West Coast is over the boundary between two active tectonic plates, the North American and the Pacific, and the force of these plates sliding against each other generates quakes regularly, Fisher said. In the East, she said, "There's no driving engine in terms of the two plates sliding past each other ... so that's why it's much more unusual."
Friday, August 12, 2011
They STRENUOUSLY object...
OK, now that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the indivicual mandate in Obamacare, the White House issued a brief statement, part of which states: "We strongly disagree with this decision and we are confident it will not stand." Well then...I guess it won't stand. Hardly the case! The decision written by Judge Vinson of the Federal Appeals Court in FL was impeccable and worth the read (see second link below). He lays out the case that the individual mandate is inextricably linked to the rest of the legislation, and therefore one can't move forward without the other. The mandate IS unconstitutional. Let's hope the Supremes keep the two issues linked and overturn the entire mess.
11th CIRCUIT OF APPEALS: “We have not found any generally applicable, judicially enforceable limiting principle that would permit us to uphold the mandate without obliterating the boundaries inherent in the system of enumerated congressional powers,”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61218.html
JUDGE VINSON: "Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void."
http://www.lifeandhealthinsurancenews.com/News/2009/1/PublishingImages/vinson-1-31-2011.pdf
11th CIRCUIT OF APPEALS: “We have not found any generally applicable, judicially enforceable limiting principle that would permit us to uphold the mandate without obliterating the boundaries inherent in the system of enumerated congressional powers,”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61218.html
JUDGE VINSON: "Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void."
http://www.lifeandhealthinsurancenews.com/News/2009/1/PublishingImages/vinson-1-31-2011.pdf
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Christie is the real deal
Gov Chris Christie proposed and got passed legislation that will save our state $130 billion over 30 yrs by implementing sanity. Public sector workers will contribute to their pension and healthcare like we do in the privat sector (albeit their contributions will still be less as a %....for now). Other Govs have instituted similar legislation (VA, OH, WI), but they had a majoirty of their own party in their legislatures. Christie did it with a Dem majority. Wow. NJ may finally be on the right path!! Can we dare hope to be red by Nov 2012??
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/christie_wins_again_sLgLIMkudd869izxv01icJ
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/christie_wins_again_sLgLIMkudd869izxv01icJ
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