Gridiron Politics...Have we gone too far?

The following from Yahoo Sports

On Veterans Day weekend, Decker penalized for saluting troops
by Chris Chase

Legal in the NFL: Scoring a touchdown and then running 100 yards down the sideline to give the ball to your girlfriend who's a cheerleader for the opposing team.

Not legal in the NFL: Scoring a touchdown and saluting the troops on Veterans Day weekend.

Denver Broncos wide receiver Eric Decker(notes) was assessed with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Sunday after dropping to his knee and saluting in the end zone after a 56-yard touchdown reception from Tim Tebow(notes). The flag was thrown because Decker went to a knee, a celebration which has been illegal in the NFL since 2009.

Later, Decker posted a tweet about the penalty:

Ripping on the NFL is the reflexive move here. The league wouldn't let a player salute the troops! It's positively un-American! The troops fight for our freedoms while the NFL stifles that of their players!

To go that way would ignore the long history the league has of supporting our nation's armed forces. November has been a "Salute to Service" month in the NFL, a celebration which will include events for military personnel at all 32 NFL stadiums. The league has had a relationship with the USO since 1965, supports the Wounded Warrior Project and is partners with the Pat Tillman Foundation. Penalizing Decker doesn't mean the NFL doesn't care about veterans.

What it does care about is protecting its image, no matter the cost. The league is fine with honoring, remembering and supporting causes, so long as it's done the NFL's way. Wear league-approved pink shoes and towels to support breast cancer awareness month, don't pull out a ribbon from your sock to honor your aunt with the disease after scoring a touchdown. A team helmet sticker to honor a deceased player is all right, but not writing his number on your cleats.
The NFL is worried about the snowball effect of these acts. Decker's military salute will turn into a player honoring his alma mater in the end zone which will turn into a defender writing his daughter's name on his cleats because she has a piano recital that day. Pretty soon celebrations are all personal in nature, and shoes and jerseys are cluttered up like a sixth-grade girl's notebook.
Penalize Decker because he broke the rule by going to a knee, not because he saluted. When it comes time to assess fines for this week, let him slide. Decker's timing and technique may have been off (who salutes from one knee?) but his intentions were in the right place.

ps: The commentary may have explained it all but I do not agree with it...sometimes we have to take into consideration who it is we are on bended knee for...I believe that this was a Winston Churchill never-never moment. It would have made good sense if the referee kept the flag in his pocket.  Of course I may be a bit biased; I'm a veteran.  ~  Norman E. Hooben

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Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. - Winston Churchill

Soldiers Are Murderers Who Are Unworthy Of Our Support, Professor Michael Avery, Suffolk Law School ..."The very people that protect your right to speak your mind no matter how warped it is."

Some things need to be put into perspective and to compare support for our troops to that of Americans who are losing their homes and other unwarranted areas described by Professor Avery places Avery in the un-American school of thought.  How one becomes a professor who has to ask such questions as, "Why do we continue to have this oversized flag in our lobby?"  Maybe the flag is not oversized enough for the professor to see the definition... It's called patriotism professor!  Having to explain it to you further amplifies your un-American stance regarding your disrespect for the American military...the very people that protect your right to speak your mind no matter how warped it is. ~ Norman E. Hooben

The following from Boston Barstool Sports (I would not have selected the title but the Post Script (PS) is one of the best I've seen lately. Norm) 

Does This Look Like The Face Of A Suffolk Law Professor Who Hates Our Troops And Thinks Soldiers Are Murderers Who Are Un Worthy Of Our Support

MichaelGraham.com – On Wednesday a member of the Suffolk Law School staff sent out an email soliciting “much needed supplies to put in care packages to be sent to deployed troops.” You know, stuff like beef jerky, instant coffee, trail mix, etc? Scout troops do stuff like this all the time. In fact, the email specifically mentioned that one Suffolk Law student deployed to Afghanistan would be a recipient. Pretty basic, patriotic stuff, right? Well, read this response from one of the Suffolk Law professors who received it, a (ahem) “gentleman” named Michael Avery:
Michael Avery’s Letter
“I think it is shameful that it is perceived as legitimate to solicit in an academic institution for support for men and women who have gone overseas to kill other human beings. I understand that there is a residual sympathy for service members, perhaps engendered by support for troops in World War II, or perhaps from when there was a draft and people with few resources to resist were involuntarily sent to battle.
That sympathy is not particularly rational in today’s world, however. The United States may well be the most war prone country in the history of civilization. We have been at war two years out of three since the Cold War ended. We have 700 overseas military bases. What other country has any? In the last ten years we have squandered hundreds of billions of dollars in unnecessary foreign invasions. Those are dollars that could have been used for people who are losing their homes due to the economic collapse, for education, to repair our infrastructure, or for any of a thousand better purposes than making war. And of course those hundreds of billions of dollars have gone for death and destruction.
Perhaps some of my colleagues will consider this to be an inappropriate political statement. But of course the solicitation email was a political statement, although cast as support for student activities. The politics of that solicitation are that war is legitimate, perhaps inevitable, and that patriotic Americans should get behind our troops.
We need to be more mindful of what message we are sending as a school. Since Sept. 11 we have had perhaps the largest flag in New England hanging in our atrium. This is not a politically neutral act. Excessive patriotic zeal is a hallmark of national security states. It permits, indeed encourages, excesses in the name of national security, as we saw during the Bush administration, and which continue during the Obama administration.
Why do we continue to have this oversized flag in our lobby? Why are we sending support to the military instead of Americans who are losing their homes, malnourished, unable to get necessary medical care, and suffering from other consequences of poverty? As a university community, we should debate these questions, not remain on automatic pilot in support of the war agenda. [all emphasis added]“

Happy Veterans Day everybody! All things considered this is probably the most infuriating letter we’ve ever posted on the Stool. Honestly how delusional do you have to be to write something like this? To protest sending care packages to soldiers who are risking their lives defending our country? It has nothing to do with whether you’re pro war, anti war or what. Obviously everybody is entitled to their opinion. But you seriously must have a brain malfunction if you can’t separate protesting policy decisions and supporting our soldiers. Our troops do what our elected leaders feel is in the best interest of the country. You want to protest Washington go ahead. But the second you start protesting anything that enhances our troops quality of living than you deserve to be excommunicated in my mind. You just have no grasp on reality or how many families are being effected. You have grasp on how big the sacrifice is. You put more importance on your ego and opinions than the lives of America heroes. If you can’t appreciate that from you cozy little office at Suffolk than you lose your right to live here nevermind spread your nazi propaganda to students. Let’s just hope Suffolk does the right thing and fires him because in no way does this lunatic deserve a job teaching kids.

PS – Yes as always in situations like these the great irony is that the very freedoms that our troops risk their lives protecting is what allow assholes like this to express their moronic views. Just such a shame.

See also: 96.9 FM Boston Talks

Congress? Are there any honest politicians in either house? (a must see video !)

The following from CBS News
Congress: Trading stock on inside information? (see video below)

(CBS News) Washington, D.C. is a town that runs on inside information - but should our elected officials be able to use that information to pad their own pockets? As Steve Kroft reports, members of Congress and their aides have regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many have made well-timed stock market trades in the very industries they regulate. For now, the practice is perfectly legal, but some say it's time for the law to change.

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The following is a script of "Insiders" which aired on Nov. 13, 2011. Steve Kroft is correspondent, Ira Rosen and Gabrielle Schonder, producers.

The next national election is now less than a year away and congressmen and senators are expending much of their time and their energy raising the millions of dollars in campaign funds they'll need just to hold onto a job that pays $174,000 a year.

Few of them are doing it for the salary and all of them will say they are doing it to serve the public. But there are other benefits: Power, prestige, and the opportunity to become a Washington insider with access to information and connections that no one else has, in an environment of privilege where rules that govern the rest of the country, don't always apply to them.

Questioning Pelosi: Steve Kroft heads to D.C.
When Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, and other lawmakers wouldn't answer Steve Kroft's questions, he headed to Washington to get some answers about their stock trades.

Most former congressmen and senators manage to leave Washington - if they ever leave Washington - with more money in their pockets than they had when they arrived, and as you are about to see, the biggest challenge is often avoiding temptation. Story continues at CBS News

Video from CBS News

Video: Is this the largest wave ever ridden?

Is this the largest wave ever ridden?
By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com

Garrett McNamara rode what members of his group implied was the largest wave ever successfully negotiated during a tow-surfing session Tuesday off the coast of Nazare, a small fishing town 70 miles north of Lisbon, Portugal. The wave face measured "around 90 feet," according to a news release announcing the feat. ...Read full story here.

CBS Caught Red-handed: CBS News planned all along to snub Michele Bachmann...just another reason never to trust CBS News!

red-handed ~ 1819, earlier red-hand (early 15c.), originally in Scottish legal writing, from red (1) + hand, presumably from the image of a murderer caught in the act, with blood on the hands. ~ Dictionary.com

CBS news has been manipulating the news for as long as I can remember.  Surely most people can remember the brainwashing we took over the 'most trusted man in America' Walter Cronkite...in reality, the most trusted man in the cabal to destroy America! (see video link) ~ Norman E. Hooben

The following from World Net Daily
Leaked CBS memo backs Bachmann 'snub' charge
Campaign says network debate manipulated to shut her up

WASHINGTON – Michele Bachmann's plenty steamed about her treatment in tonight's CBS News/National Journal debate between GOP presidential candidates.
Several times throughout the course of the 90-minute presentation, Rep. Bachmann, R-Minn., attempted to follow-up questions and answers by other candidates – just as the moderators of the debate suggested they would be allowed to do at their discretion. 
But despite often vociferous attempts to weigh in, the moderators chose other candidates.

Now the Bachmann campaign is going public with evidence CBS News planned all along to snub her.
Keith Nahigian, Bachmann’s campaign manager posted on her Facebook page an email exchange between CBS News political director John Dickerson and correspondent Caroline Horn in which Dickerson suggested before the debate "she's not going to get many questions."
Nahigian commented that the memo represents "concrete evidence of what every conservative knows – the liberal mainstream media elites are manipulating the Republican debates by purposely suppressing our conservative message and limiting Michele’s questions."