Unbelievable!

Check out this from Blogger, Black Informant in regard to Dyson's Theory of Random Fate:
Link: http://blackinformant.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/dysons-theory-of-random-fate/

Fanz's Sports Take - HB -Booo!!

Hey sports fans, this commentary is going to be short and hopefully sweet and I want to start with boxing. So lets get started.

Boxing: Shocked, awed, dismayed, I'll be damned were words described of the feeling of some "expert" analysts and boxing fans. And so they should be, if a heavily favorite boxer is beaten so bad. But for the second time in as little as 6 months, HBO's boxing crew has shown their willingness to be so biased and so wrong. In case you guys didn't catch it, on Saturday, Miguel Cotto, the favorite and champion defended his title against Antonio Margarito and Cotto basically got his azz kicked! So here's the problem, besides the fact, that no-one should have been surprised by Margarito winning:

HBO's side judge: Had Cotto winning the fight, as much as 2 rounds, when in fact, after the first 4 rounds, the fight was even. By my and other observers of the fight, had Margarito winning the 8 rounds to 2. But HBO's fight team, had their noses so far up Cotto's backside, and hell bent on giving up punch stats, as if the Judges need this to determine, who's winning.

Next, Emmanuel Steward, is supposed to the technical expert, he's supposed to tell us the mindset and strategy of each fighter. Well, anyone who watches boxing, saw that Margarito hit Cotto, with a vicious body shot to the left side of his ribs in the 4th round. After that no one on the team noticed that Cotto was basically fighting to survive the constant pressure and protect his ribs from further injury.

Margarito maintained his pace and pressure all freaking night and yet HBO had Cotto winning the doggone! fight or even. Folks, rounds 3 thru 11 were exactly the same, with Margarito chasing and cornering Cotto in the rounds, pounding away and doing heavy damage, until in the 11th round Cotto and his corner had enough.

Either HBO changes it crew or allow radio play by play announcing, these guys are brutal and biased.

Baseball: Congratulations to Goose Gossage for making it to the Hall.

Baseball: BOSOX looking to run Manny, congratulations to the NL team that gets him. Look I get that Manny is out there and dances to a different drum from other players, but to trade him for his outbursts. If the BOSOX's do that, they deserve to go another long stretch without a pennant.

NFL: Training camps has begun for some teams and I'm a little concerned about the press coverage, the Dallas Cowboys are getting, without even being defending World Champs. I think there might be a little let down.

NFL: I'm tired of talking or hearing about Brett Favre. But since it's the news, oh well, Hey Brett, if you still wanted to play, then why retire. Why waste all the press coverage and articles talking about you! you conceited bas-terrrr!! Look! admit you made your decision coming off a disappointing showing in the NFC championship and you didn't' think thing through. Next, if you really are a team player, you should say something to the effect, that Aaron Rogers is our quarterback and based on me quitting, cause that's what you did, he should get his shot of being at the helm.

But you didn't say that.

Canadian Healthcare

Quote: "We thought we could resolve the system's problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it," says Castonguay. But now he prescribes a radical overhaul: "We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice."

Canadian Health Care We So Envy Lies in Ruins, It's Architect Admits..
David Gratzer - Investor's Business Daily
6/25/06

As this presidential campaign continues, the candidates' comments about health care will continue to include stories of their own experiences and anecdotes of people across the country: the uninsured woman in Ohio, the diabetic in Detroit, the overworked doctor in Orlando, to name a few.

But no one will mention Claude Castonguay — perhaps not surprising because this statesman isn't an American and hasn't held office in over three decades.

Castonguay's evolving view of Canadian health care, however, should weigh heavily on how the candidates think about the issue in this country.

Back in the 1960s, Castonguay chaired a Canadian government committee studying health reform and recommended that his home province of Quebec — then the largest and most affluent in the country — adopt government-administered health care, covering all citizens through tax levies.

The government followed his advice, leading to his modern-day moniker: "the father of Quebec medicare." Even this title seems modest; Castonguay's work triggered a domino effect across the country, until eventually his ideas were implemented from coast to coast.
Four decades later, as the chairman of a government committee reviewing Quebec health care this year, Castonguay concluded that the system is in "crisis."

"We thought we could resolve the system's problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it," says Castonguay. But now he prescribes a radical overhaul: "We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice."

Read More: http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDarticles.aspx?id=299282509335931

Related Articles:
Quebec Reports Recommends $25.00 fee per Doctor's Visit: http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=f48829c8-0ede-464a-a46b-bb9b8680f45d&k=89574

Orange County Register: The Orange Grove: A Nation in Need of Health Care Reform: http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/british-patients-nhs-1937151-private-surgery

Fanz23's Take - Finally A Pulse in the WNBA

Fanz23 - Finally! A Pulse in the WNBA

If you think I'm going to hem and haw and be repulsed that there was fight during last nights Sparks/Shocks Game. WRONG! I think there ought to be more, until someone body slams another player like PJ Brown (Miami) did John Starks (Knicks). The WNBA needed that fight like the heavyweight division in boxing needs a dominate champion. But what I don't need is Lisa Lesilie telling me, she is a role model and mommy.

Role model? for who?

Mommy? congratulations to the birth of your child.

One out of two is not bad. Look Lisa, I have problems with your quote:

"I don't even know why (Mahorn) was pushing me down. I'm a role model and mommy. I wasn't swinging or hitting anybody. I was just going to help my teammate up."

Alright Lisa, we went through the role model and mommy thing and we're straight, what I'm having problems with, is you not knowing why you went backwards when you ran into Rick Mahorn's hand.

So help me out, better yet, let me help you..The reason why you ran into Mahorn's hand is because you were coming to the aid, like you should have, of rookie sensation Candace Parker, who at the time was surrounded by Shock players after she reacted to being shoved to the ground by a Shock player.

Are you with me?

Of course you are because at the end of your quote: "I was just going to help my teammate."

So in your effort to rightfully have your teammate's back, it was Mahorn's job, along with the referees and the coaches to bring order back to the most fundamentally sound boring game. And based on videos and highlights shown over and over again, Lisa, if Mahorn really wanted to push you..I'm sure your husband would have been on the court so fast and went man to man with the 6'11 - 300 pound Mahorn.

So here's a suggestion for the WNBA, enjoy the moment of being shown on ESPN and ESPN News. Because theres a pulse in the WNBA.

So tighten up the uni's, fix those faces and hairstyles and lets have more dunks.

Until then, I'm good with scuffles. Heck, I expect at least two more tonight!

Jason Whitlock's Take: http://msn.foxsports.com/wnba/story/8371636?MSNHPHMA

Detroit Free Press: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080723/SPORTS04/80723058/1048

WSJ - Their Fair Share

Their Fair Share
July 21, 2008

Washington is teeing up "the rich" for a big tax hike next year, as a way to make them "pay their fair share." Well, the latest IRS data have arrived on who paid what share of income taxes in 2006, and it's going to be hard for the rich to pay any more than they already do. The data show that the 2003 Bush tax cuts caused what may be the biggest increase in tax payments by the rich in American history.

The nearby chart shows that the top 1% of taxpayers, those who earn above $388,806, paid 40% of all income taxes in 2006, the highest share in at least 40 years. The top 10% in income, those earning more than $108,904, paid 71%. Barack Obama says he's going to cut taxes for those at the bottom, but that's also going to be a challenge because Americans with an income below the median paid a record low 2.9% of all income taxes, while the top 50% paid 97.1%. Perhaps he thinks half the country should pay all the taxes to support the other half.

Aha, we are told: The rich paid more taxes because they made a greater share of the money. That is true. The top 1% earned 22% of all reported income. But they also paid a share of taxes not far from double their share of income. In other words, the tax code is already steeply progressive.

We also know from income mobility data that a very large percentage in the top 1% are "new rich," not inheritors of fortunes. There is rapid turnover in the ranks of the highest income earners, so much so that people who started in the top 1% of income in the 1980s and 1990s suffered the largest declines in earnings of any income group over the subsequent decade, according to Treasury Department studies of actual tax returns. It's hard to stay king of the hill in America for long.

The most amazing part of this story is the leap in the number of Americans who declared adjusted gross income of more than $1 million from 2003 to 2006. The ranks of U.S. millionaires nearly doubled to 354,000 from 181,000 in a mere three years after the tax cuts.
This is precisely what supply-siders predicted would happen with lower tax rates on capital gains, dividends and income. The economy and earnings would grow faster, which they did; investors would declare more capital gains and companies would pay out more dividends, which they did; the rich would invest less in tax shelters at lower tax rates, so their tax payments would rise, which did happen.

The idea that this has been a giveaway to the rich is a figment of the left's imagination. Taxes paid by millionaire households more than doubled to $274 billion in 2006 from $136 billion in 2003. No President has ever plied more money from the rich than George W. Bush did with his 2003 tax cuts. These tax payments from the rich explain the very rapid reduction in the budget deficit to 1.9% of GDP in 2006 from 3.5% in 2003.

This year, thanks to the credit mess and slower growth, taxes paid by the rich may fall and the deficit will rise. (The nonstimulating tax rebates will also hurt the deficit.) Mr. Obama proposes to close this deficit by raising tax rates on the rich to their highest levels since the late 1970s.

The very groups like the Congressional Budget Office and Tax Policy Center that wrongly predicted that the 2003 investment tax cuts would cost about $1 trillion in lost revenue are now saying that repealing those tax cuts would gain similar amounts. We'll wager it'd gain a lot less.

If Mr. Obama does succeed in raising tax rates on the rich, we'd also wager that the rich share of tax payments would fall. The last time tax rates were as high as the Senator wants them -- the Carter years -- the rich paid only 19% of all income taxes, half of the 40% share they pay today. Why? Because they either worked less, earned less, or they found ways to shelter income from taxes so it was never reported to the IRS as income.

The way to soak the rich is with low tax rates, and last week's IRS data provide more powerful validation of that proposition.

Southern Strategy and the GOP

I was referred to this comment on blogger Lashawn Barber's board in regard to the GOP and the Southern Strategy.

Enjoy:

http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2008/07/16/why-black-people-dont-care-that-gop-is-civil-rights-party/#comment-94853

Fanz23 - Dog and Pony Show at the NAACP

Well the NAACP dog and pony show is over and both presumptive candidates spoke in front of the NAACP.

One was given a pass and the other was just there.

Obama on Monday, spoke about personal responsibilty and at the same time, spoke about more gov't programs to fund personal ir-responsibilty.
McCain rolled in and figured out quickly why the President didn't bother for 6 years. McCain came in talking about some programs that black folk might want or should look at and that's about it. Maybe when he was pushing vouchers, he should have at the same time reward bad students and bad schools...

Fanz23 - (TV) Bring "Jericho" Back

Fanz23 - (TV) Bring "Jericho" Back

One of the things that gets my goad is when networks pull good shows in the spirit of ratings. I get it's a "what you done for me lately" business and it's sponsored driven. I get that. But what about the fans who set aside a hour or thirty minutes to enjoy a show they really like. Are we not consumers? Are we not viewers? or is the definition of viewers consist of folks with the ratings box? I'd like to know.

There are few unknowns in the world and one of them is: Just who in the heck are "Nielson" Families? Who are these people? and can we at least get an interview or two with them to see, why in the heck did they not like "Jericho."

Jericho is/was a good show that aired on CBS and was canceled, not once, but twice. The first cancelation, caused fans to send "nuts" to CBS and with heavy support, the show was brought back. Now the fans didn't change and neither did the writing. The show was just as good as the other seasons and while it's on my mind...I can't remember a show where two of the major characters are mysterious in regard to their background and what they experienced. Robert Hawkins and Jake Green are the trunks of the show and kept loyal viewers coming back. The townspeople were intriguing, hard working folk who after the bomb wanted life back to normal. And the new gov't, who attacked us, why? were never given the chance to be found out.

Why?

Because CBS canceled the show again!

Now I don't know how many of you took a look at the upcoming fall season, but CBS is going to showcase "Dogs" and this is after a kid version of "Survivor." None of the shows on all the networks jump out and say watch me! well maybe one, "The Unit" after that, all the good shows are on cable, which brings me to this, CBS and NBC are showing some of those shows to boost terrestial t.v. ratings. Cable TV is kicking regular TV booty, with good, well written, well thought of shows.

Jericho comes to mind when you think of well written and well thought of shows. It seems to me that the networks want to dumb down the TV audience and not make them think. And it's a shame, because a show like Jericho, did that, it made you think, it put you in the situation the townspeople were facing and although they weren't popular, even the town of Jericho's enemies you understood.

Networks like CBS need to either catch up with cable shows or just show cartoons.

and for ratings, I suggest Looney Tunes..

Whitlock: Time for NCAA to stop pimping Black Athletes

Whitlock: Jennings may just be a pioneer for "student-athletes"

In all likelihood, Brandon Jennings won't be the last big-time basketball recruit from the 2009 class to choose overseas money rather than the stereotypical, under-the-table college package.

Why risk being the next O.J. Mayo, the USC one-and-done-er who was done in by sloppy ESPN reporting, a former, opportunistic friend/ex-drug-dealer and antiquated NCAA rules?
For talented, teenage basketball players, a slow boat to China is a better option than being the victim of award-winning gotcha journalism.

We all (know) assume that big-time basketball and football recruits receive "illegal" benefits for pretending to be student-athletes at America's institutions of higher learning. We also (know) assume that journalists and news organizations can make names for themselves by exposing the fact that the kids and their parents/guardians are just as greedy as the constantly renegotiating coaches we put on pedestals.

Brandon Jennings, a former Arizona commit, is smart. Why play the silly game? Why pretend to be a college student for one semester when he can't even "pass" the SAT or ACT? Why let a jealous member of his posse do what Louis Johnson did to O.J. Mayo?

To read more: http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/8327672?MSNHPHMA

Obama, A Candidate of Change?

NY Times Article:
July 4, 2008

Senator Barack Obama stirred his legions of supporters, and raised our hopes, promising to change the old order of things. He spoke with passion about breaking out of the partisan mold of bickering and catering to special pleaders, promised to end President Bush’s abuses of power and subverting of the Constitution and disowned the big-money power brokers who have corrupted Washington politics.

To read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/opinion/04fri1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Fanz23 - Okay Obama Supporters...What Now?

Can you imagine my surprise to read and hear Obama changing his position on Iraq...The same Iraq that he said, he didn't support in 02, in 03, in 04, in 05, in 06, 07, 08 and when he's elected president he's gonna end the war, that George Bush started, aided by Hilary Clinton and John McCain. That Iraq and that war and now...

He's changing his position..Oh! lets not forget that he said he is going to retain some of President Bush's people and this includes General Petreus!

So if you're a Obama supporter, and one of your reasons is because he didn't support the war and his definition of "change" is well...the same as everyone elses, with exception that the boy can talk a pretty good talk!

So I guess pointing out that he has now flip flopped on not one issue such as the gun issue in Washington DC; but now the war! Say it ain't so?!

Okay Obama supporters...what now? because right now the only difference between Obama and other democrat candidates is....

his skin tone.