Last week I enjoyed a meal at one of the finest establishments whose soup I have ever had the privilege of slurping: Chez Croissant, also known as Pho Bac So. It’s on First Street near the County Building and it is a delight. In fact, I guess you could say that this blog is brought to you by the numbers 2, 56 and 94.
But no one comes to our site for food reviews anymore, so let’s turn our eyes to the news.
Speaking of turning our eyes, Bob Kieve had an interesting perspective recently on a photo many of you may have seen of the recent confirmation hearings for Condoleeza Rice. The picture he describes may indeed be worth a thousand words, but the picture he paints in only 224 words speaks volumes, particularly about Barbara Boxer.
In the Merc, Rodney Foo discusses the nine people who have already taken out papers to run for Terry Gregory’s vacated District 7 seat (Breaking news: An early favorite, Ryan Hubris, has decided not to run). If we get many more signing up, I say we suit them up and have a candidates vs. councilmembers hockey game. The HP Pavilion just got confirmation that it’ll have plenty of open dates coming up soon.
Mark Purdy thinks the lockout that has resulted in the cancellation of the entire NHL season “is the most brainless work stoppage in the history of athletics.” Personally, I can’t figure out which side I think is the more brainless. Anyone out there have an opinion?
In other sports news, Alicia Upano discusses the Mayor’s baseball dreams and what that might mean to Del Monte.
Finally, in the best sport of all, city hall scandal-watching, we saw one of those possibly game-changing plays this week—a lawsuit. Aaron Davis writes that Wandzia Grycz has filed a wrongful termination suit against the city, alleging she was made a scapegoat for the city hall technology scandal. If she wins, she probably gets a good chunk of change. But if she loses, will she be required to run for the District 7 council seat?
It could be worse, Grycz could be forced to be the City Manager if she loses the lawsuit.
Does it really matter who is right and who is wrong in the hockey debacle?
Or more importantly… will we know who is telling the truth?
Owners for years have been portraying the financial situation in the NHL as dire. Players count dollars one way… owners another. Regardless of the actual amounts we are talking of MILLIONS of dollars. There has to be a middle ground.
TV ratings have been miniscule for several years. After the strike/lockout, they are only going to be worse… as will attendence. That will mean less millions to fight over… which will make both sides less flexible.
Many people in the U.S. don’t care about hockey. I feel sorry for the people who work at these venues. They are the real underpaid “players” in this drama. They are also the ones who are gonna hurt from this.
Jamison paints a dark picture. But I feel that the truth isn’t that dark. But TV revenues are going to be limited to Local TV revenues soon. Heck NBC has shown that you can pay next to nothing (Arena Football) and have a reasonsable Sat/Sun afternoon fare. ESPN will probably make more money showing reruns of TILT or Poker than the NHL at this rate.
I had season tickets to the Sharks for the first 8 years, (the first 6 in San Jose). I’ll miss some of the early days… the early playoff wins… the crowds intensity. I’ve learned to enjoy more of life now. Hockey, it was nice knowing you. I’m moving on.
Boxer v. Rice
Bob Kieve is great. But I’ll take a scowling Boxer over a smiling Rice anyday. The truth isn’t always positive and a smiling politician isn’t always telling the truth.
Here’s an important fact Bob missed: Boxer was right. Rice habitually lies, has no credibility in the world community and we are sending her to tell all nations of the world that we are peaceful, god-fearing people who wish them no harm—unless of course they don’t do exactly as George W. says they must do.
Imposing democracy on three cultures, at the end of a gun, who believe winning an election means they get to impose their moral values on the rest of society, just like in the United States, may not be good thing. Iran has a democracy just like it next door.
As a media person, it is imperative that Bob never buy into the two-word culture or the “perception” is reality game. We need the media to question not conform.
Scowling or not, Boxer dared to challenge the veracity of Bush Administration. She made it uncomfortable for Americans to believe their holy war was, as advertised, holy.
Because she does not pander to the xenophobic majority, she is seen as “on the fringe”. Using a McEnery metaphor, if being in the majority means I have to drink the Kool Aid, I prefer to be with the fringe.
Hockey
It is a cop-out to blame “both” sides in the Hockey dispute. It is laziness. In order to make an informed decision one might want to know what the dispute is over.
It always amazes me that the capitalist owners want a “salary cap”. Who limited their salary? Who is in charge of giving out salaries? It is only their own inability to control spending that necessitates a salary cap.
I guess the free market only works when you can depress the cost of labor—only then is a free market is a good thing.
Carly just got $47 million for screwing up the best company ever produced in the United States. Where was the salary cap?
In a dispute, it always matters who is right.
So let me get this straight….NHL players, refusing to play under a cap of 42 million, are now playing in the minor leagues, where there is a salary cap an eighth of that and they are making 500 a week. Then when the NHL opens the season to replacement players, all the minor leaguers will go to the NH, while the NHlers will be left behind in the minors. So the minor league players will be flying to play games and staying in 5 star hotels, while the NHL players will be riding buses and eating Mac and Cheese on their salaries. This is a bizarro world after all….
Reagan, Clinton beat Lincoln, Washington,
Sorry if this is off-topic but. . .
Reagan and Clinton are viewed as America’s greatest Presidents according to Gallup Poll.
Is there any greater indictment of our educational system than this survey? It explains clearly just how ignorant the American People have become and how they could vote for a person like W.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/content/?ci=14974
The Founding Fathers were right. Our republic is too important to be left in the hands of the ignorant masses. Now the question begs, who should be allowed to determine the leaders of this republic?
Yes, that was clearly off-topic…
Sorry, I was so offended by the results. . .I thought I would share. . .
Share away. It’s clearly an offensive result.
I’m grateful to Kevin Bayley for calling attention to my piece about the Boxer/Rice picture. And I’m flattered by Richard Robinson’s reference to me; I’ve been enjoying your comments, Richard.
But, Richard, you urge me not to buy into the “perception is reality” game. You’re right. One shouldn’t. But I fear that that’s what folks are doing when they repeatedly use the word “lying.” That’s been done so much that it has become the perception. I don’t think it’s the reality.
The area in which the administration is consistently accused of lying is the issue of the WMD. Yes, members of the administration did err in saying that the WMD existed in Iraq. But erring isn’t lying.
And WMD DID exist. Somehow, they were whisked out of sight when the time came for finding them. But we know that they did exist. Heavens, they were USED … on their own people.
And if Bush and company were lying about the WMD, then so were a whole lot of other people. And I don’t believe that they were.
Bob Kieve
Bob,
I don’t know what else to call the Bush Administration rhetoric, except lies.
We can debate some issues, opinion is not fact, and not all misleading statements rise to the level of a “lie”. Misstatements are not intentional lies and everybody has been wrong at least once in their life.
Sorry, I hit the wrong button. . .
Bob,
The Bush Administration and Condolezza Rice intentionally lie to the American People. Barbara Boxer pointed that out with little effort. Journalists must be able to decipher the difference between an opinion, fact and intentional lies.
It is not just WMDs. (We did not go to war over WMDs—the UK went to war over WMDs, our coalition partners went to war over WMDs, it was simply a reason that justified their participation.) Bush made it clear before the war he didn’t care—the WMD case was simply a justification for taking out that “evil” guy.
But the Budget is not WMD. When you don’t include the costs of the war in Iraq or transitioning Social Security and then say you are reducing the deficit. That is a lie, acknowledged even by conservatives.
When you say Social Security is going bankrupt and it is not, that is a lie. When you say you are for smaller government and have increased the size of government more than any other administration in history—that is a lie.
When you systematically deny black americans access to the ballot box and claim you are for voter participation. That is a lie.
When you say you have 50,000 Iraqi security forces trained and the number is closer to 5,000. That is a lie.
When you say, before the war, you have an exit strategy from Iraq and you do not. That is a lie.
As you know, I could go on—from the Patriot Act to Environment to Education etc. This administration has habitually lied and nobody seems to care. After all, it’s just politics as usual.
Facts are stubborn things. This Administration has steadfastly lied and they continue to get away with it. Who will stop them?
When they do get caught, they say Bill Clinton lied. Yes, he did. But the consequences were not as great and he was impeached.
This country is not a Constitutional Republic. All the checks and balances have been removed. The President, Congress and the Courts are of one mind. The decisions they make will affect us for decades. The least we can ask is that the fourth estate do their job in pointing it out.
If you can come-up with a better word than lie, I’m all for it.
Sorry, Richard. We just don’t seem to connect. With the exception of the Iraqi security forces example (and that one’s debatable), I don’t understand how any of the others qualify as a lie. But, boy, you certainly are capable of adding to the perception with your repeated assertion. On the other hand, your second paragraph in your first response hits it on the head. Misstatements do not rise to the level of lies.
Bob
Bob,
My first response was too long.
Suffice to say, regardless of the lies—which are many—the policies of this Administration have divided our nation and they divide the world.
It pains me, as an American, to see this administration represent the face of my country.
The illegal war, the deception, the deficits, the debt, medicare, social security, the economy, the falling dollar, the lack of remorse for things gone bad and, most painfully, the lives of Americans dying in foreign lands because this President has no conscience serves to discredit us as a nation.
As a free people, we are held to a higher standard. We should be held to a higher standard.
Silence is not patriotism. Protest is not unAmerican. People opposed to the present U.S. policies are not traitors and critisism of the war is not an attack on our soldiers. More importantly, all of our problems cannot be blamed on 9/11. Government by fear cannot coexist with a free society for very long.
We speak out because we are Americans and painfully aware that this Administration is taking this country down the wrong path.
As Dante said, “the hottest place in hell is reserved for those who, in times of crisis, remain neutral.”
The fourth estate is not doing it’s job. They are owned, controlled or scared of the Republican Right. You, Bob, are an independent person with high integrity.
I simply ask that you challenge the status quo and not accept the discredited information currently disseminated by this Administration.