The Post with Bush picking bad battles
I'm not even sure what to amke of all this nonsense

Bush takes aim at CEO pay

NEW YORK (AP) -- President Bush took aim Wednesday at huge salaries and bonuses for corporate executives, going to Wall Street to say compensation packages should hinge on how good a job a CEO does for the shareholders.

Bush came to New York to highlight optimistic news about the economy and to bring his economic message out of the shadows of the Iraq war. Shortly before he spoke, the government reported the economy grew at a faster-than-expected 3.5 percent pace in the final quarter of last year.

The president also was acknowledging the anger of Americans at stories about the enormous salaries and other perks for CEOs.

"Government should not decide compensation for America's corporate executives," the White House said in a report ahead of Bush's speech. "But the salaries and bonuses of CEOs should be based on their success at improving their companies and building value for their shareholders."

The White House statement appeared aimed in part at legislation that Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has said he will push, requiring shareholder approval of executive compensation plans.
Pay for corporate chief draws ire

Huge salaries and other perks for CEO have drawn ire from investors and made splashy headlines. Home Depot chief executive Bob Nardelli was earning an average of $25.7 million a year -- excluding stock options -- before he was forced out in a furor over his hefty pay. He left with a severance package worth about $210 million.

In 2001, General Electric Co. paid chief executive Jack Welch $16.25 million. Welch was replaced that year with Jeffrey Immelt, who earned $3.4 million in total annual compensation in 2005.

The New York Stock Exchange faced an uproar over former CEO Richard Grasso's $187.5 million severance package. Former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, now governor, sued members of the NYSE board over the package given to Grasso when he quit as chairman in 2003.

Investors are getting access to clearer and more detailed information from public companies on their top executives' pay packages and perks under new federal rules that took effect in December.

The rules were designed to enhance corporate accountability and address an issue that has angered company shareholders and the public: lavish compensation for executives, unrelated to their performance, even as companies stumble, lay off employees or renege on billions of dollars in pension obligations for workers' retirement. The chasm between executives' salaries and the pay of rank-and-file employees continues to widen.

For a symbolic sign of the resilience of the economy, the president chose to speak at the venerable Federal Hall on Wall Street. In the original building on this site, American government took root -- George Washington took his oath of office there, and the Congress and Supreme Court made their home there. The current hall, which dates to 1842, is now a museum that helped provide emergency shelter when terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, just a few blocks away.

In his remarks, Bush called for changes in enforcement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was passed in response to a wave of corporate accounting scandals. The administration is heeding concerns from companies that the law, which tightens controls on financial reporting, has gone too far and is imposing unreasonable costs.
Democrats: Economy leaving behind the middle class

On the issue of how well the economy is doing, Democrats argue that Bush gives a misleadingly rosy picture of things.

"President Bush can deliver all the economic pep talks he wants, but the fact remains that his failed leadership has led to the worst job recovery on record, stagnating household incomes, a rise in poverty and record deficits," said Stacie Paxton, spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee.

The public's optimism about the economy has grown since the end of the year, reflected in rising approval of Bush's handling of that economy -- now at 43 percent in AP-Ipsos polling. Optimism about the economy was as high as it's been in the last year -- a reflection of lower gas prices, rising wages, strong jobs reports and steady interest rates.

Since Bush took office in 2001, the country has seen one in five manufacturing jobs disappear, a total of 2.96 million lost jobs. The U.S. trade deficit is expected to climb to a fifth consecutive record when final 2006 figures are totaled next month.

Let's be honest- there are a ton of worthless CEO's getting paid way too much money. However, that isn't necessarily the government's job to regulate that.

If you don't like the way a company is performing or rationing its money then sell your stock or don't buy into it in the first place. There is no law that says you need to have stock in something.

These guys get paid to raise their companies profit which they do by cutting jobs..the same things that happen because of the economic downturn we are currently enjoying. We'll get jobs back by cutting CEO salaries?

This just seems like another attempt (much like tax increases on health care) to boost a sagging popularity rating, by going after income minorities. It's smoke and mirrors people.
- posted by Brian @ 1/31/2007 01:50:00 PM

 
The Post with Bad Business Decisions
Recently I was looking over CNN Money.com's list of the top 101 worst business decisions of 2006. And I just wanted to point out the list with my own snarky comments.


101. Hasbro

To compete with the spectacularly successful Bratz doll phenomenon, Hasbro unveils plans to launch the Pussycat Dolls, aimed at girls as young as 8 years old and modeled after the risqué, burlesque-inspired pop group of the same name.

(Yes, the "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me" Pussycat Dolls.)
After protests by parent groups, Hasbro nixes the line.

For the parent who wants their daughter to be devoid of talent other than flaunting her body.

100. Spin Master

Toymaker Spin Master releases the I-Tattoo, a $15 kit for kids ages 6 and up that features a "realistic, vibrating tattoo pen" and instructs youngsters to "get ready to 'get inked.'"

I got nothing against tattoos but seriously 6 and up. Did that really seem like a good idea to somebody?

99. Tesco
- From a product listing by $75 billion British retailer Tesco, plugging the $100 Peekaboo Pole Dancing Kit - which includes an 8.5-foot chrome pole, a "sexy dance garter," and play money for stuffing into said garter - in the Toys & Games section of its website.

After complaints from parent groups, Tesco decides to keep selling the item as a "fitness accessory" but agrees to remove the listing from the toy section.

This should've came packaged with the Pussycat Dolls line.


98. Imagination 69

The organizers of Imagination 69, a failed Belgian sex fair, are sued after thousands of erotic videos and books are left at the event's site near Geraardsbergen.

The area is dubbed "Pornutopia" after aficionados start scouring the fields for free loot.

What's the big deal? I've recycled pornos.

97. Home Depot

In June, drug caches are found in merchandise in two Home Depot stores, including two 50-pound bricks of marijuana hidden in one vanity and 3 kilograms of cocaine stashed in another.

So how much of the drugs did these people do before the decided to hide them in merchandise like that?

96. UCLA

In December, UCLA administrators confess to 800,000 staffers and current, former, and prospective students that a hacker has been accessing campus databases containing Social Security numbers and other personal information.

The cost of notifying all the affected people runs to an estimated $10 million.

This sucks and all but UCLA has the worst phone plan ever.

95. NTT

After NTT, Japan's leading telephone company, introduces a system called Net Cash to protect customers from identity theft while shopping online, a hacker steals the ID numbers from more than 80,000 accounts.

The information is used to spend $28,000 of NTT customers' money.

Well looking at these numbers we can rule them out as UCLA's phone provider.

94. Greenville Drive

Cecil McLaurin Amick III, who plays the Reedy Rip'It frog mascot for the Greenville Drive minor-league baseball team, allegedly grabs the breast of a woman after an April game.

Amick is suspended from his job and later pleads guilty to disorderly conduct, paying a $600 fine.

Coming this year to a baseball field near you...Breast cancer screening give-a-way day.

93. Stefan Eriksson

After leading videogame-console startup Gizmondo to nearly $400 million in losses and a bankruptcy filing, edgy entrepreneur Stefan Eriksson wrecks his $1 million Ferrari Enzo in a crash in Malibu in February.

Eriksson tests above the blood-alcohol limit but tells police that he wasn't driving, and that the driver, "Dietrich," ran into the hills after the crash.

It's soon discovered that Eriksson's wrecked Enzo is actually owned by a British bank, and two more cars he claims to own, another Enzo and a Mercedes McLaren, have been reported stolen in England.

Eriksson pleads no contest to embezzlement and drunk driving charges and is sentenced to three years in jail.


Coming in 2008..Grand Theft Auto: Picadilly Circus

92. Michael Eisner

"The amount of brand extension that you have done is awesome.... I felt like I was looking in through a screened mirror."

-- Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, to guest Martha Stewart during a taping of his one-hour monthly CNBC talk show, "Conversations With Michael Eisner."

Eisner's latest brand extension has come up a wee bit short of awesome: Its debut episode in March received a rating of zero.

Somebody needs to find Jiminy Cricket, and start wishing for viewers.

91. Crackheadz Gone Wild: New York

Entrepreneurs David Singletary and Milton Greagory begin selling Crackheadz Gone Wild: New York DVDs for $10 in New York's Harlem neighborhood.

"It's basically a drug-awareness video," says Singletary, a former crack dealer.

The thriving business rakes in $2,500 a week at a single table across from the Apollo Theater.

$10.....I could buy some real crack for that...maybe.

90. Bristol-Myers Squibb

While attempting to stave off a legal challenge to its patent on the blood thinner Plavix, Bristol-Myers Squibb manages to sign off on fine print that gives Canadian generic drugmaker Apotex five days to flood the market with an off-brand version.

By the time Bristol can get an injunction to turn off that spigot, Apotex has filled pharmacy warehouses with its lower-priced meds, costing Bristol more than $525 million in profit and CEO Peter Dolan his job.

wonder what the exchange rate is on five days?

89. Hoboken, N.J.

The city of Hoboken, N.J., signs a deal to have Robotic Parking operate its Garden Street Garage, tripling the number of available spaces by shuffling cars in and out through automated lifts.

When Robotic hikes its monthly fees by 20 percent, however, Hoboken officials give the company the boot.

One small problem: Robotic's employees are the only ones who know how to operate the system, and the company disables its software, trapping dozens of customers' cars in the garage for days. After a court order restores its control of the garage, Hoboken pays $1.9 million to another firm to install a new system.

Memo to Hoboken--get info..then fire people

88. Mars

Mars recalls more than 1,000 M&Ms menorahs after receiving reports that five of the plastic candleholders - designed to resemble the popular candies and featuring a pair of M&Ms characters holding Stars of David - have started smoldering or burst into flames

PLaces M&M's melt...your mouth, and your mantle.

87. AussieBum

"Your country has never been prouder, and neither have you!"

- Sales pitch for the Patriot line of briefs from Australian underwear maker AussieBum, which features a flag motif from the nation of your choice and the company's revolutionary "Wonderjock ball/extension support technology" that, AussieBum founder Sean Ashby says, "separates and lifts, protruding everything out front instead of down toward the ground."

Support the country that supports you--see what I did there

86. Wal-Mart, Part 6

Bringing the ever-friendly spirit of its in-store greeters online, Walmart.com offers DVD shoppers helpful recommendations for films they might be interested in purchasing.

Customers looking at the Web site's product pages for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Planet of the Apes, for instance, are steered toward "similar items" such as Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream/Assassination of MLK and Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams says the company is "heartsick" over the incident but has "absolutely no evidence" that the connections were made intentionally.

I thought it was odd when I tried to buy "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" with Robert Downey Jr. that they recommened Crackheadz Gone Wild

85. U.S. Mint

After a run-up in metal prices, the U.S. Mint announces that its cost for producing a penny has risen to 1.73 cents, while that for a nickel has grown to 8.34 cents.

In addition to costing American taxpayers more than $100 million a year, the imbalance also forces the federal government to enact new regulations prohibiting the melting of coins to extract their intrinsic value.

In my day a penny would buy you one swedish fish.

84. French clothier Shai

"People are looking at us, but it takes time for people to come in and buy."

-- Alexandre Maisetti, founder of French clothing company Shai, on the results of a series of online commercials featuring porn stars clad in, and later removing, the company's $100 T-shirts.

Maisetti says the ads brought 2 million visitors to Shai's website within four months, but concedes that few went on to purchase apparel.

Probably would've helped if they had installed a quick checkout line.

83. Taco Bell

In December, Taco Bell removes green onions from its menu, blaming the savory vegetable for sickening 71 customers.

It later determines the onions were not in fact to blame, shifting responsibility to E. coli-tainted lettuce.

Taco Bell--one company on a mission to prove that vegetables are bad for you.

82. Online-video fans

Besieged by online-video fans who confuse its Utube.com Web site with YouTube, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment sues YouTube in August after getting 68 million hits on its Web site, which ends up crashing, making it unavailable to customers seeking to buy its tubes and pipes.

Imagine Google's surprise when they thought they were buying a pipe company.

81. McDonald's

With gas prices topping $3 per gallon in August, McDonald's giddily ignores the front-burner issue of fuel efficiency with its "Hummer of a Summer" promotion.

Among the prizes given to kids along with their Happy Meals is a toy version of the Hummer H1, the original 10-mpg road-tank that GM finally gave up selling two months earlier.

McDonald's trying to kill you and the environment at the same time.

80. News Corp.

After canceling plans to publish O.J. Simpson's hypothetical double-murder confession and broadcast a two-part prime-time interview with Simpson on its Fox network, News Corp. says it has collected all footage "in a secure, undisclosed location" to prevent its distribution.

Meanwhile, a black-market trade in advance copies of "If I Did It" pops up on eBay and other Web Sites.

Sad part is there probably would've been 10 million people able to write, "If I watched this special, here what I saw" books afterwards.

79. Mercedes-Benz

Auto dealer Mark Johnston buys a $1.7 million Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK-GTR roadster designed to travel almost 200 miles per hour.

The race car sputters out in 10 blocks.

After multiple repair attempts, Johnston sues DaimlerChrysler and its subsidiaries for allegedly delivering him a lemon.

Should've sprung for the 500,000 dollar warranty.

78. McCain Foods

A McCain Foods french fry factory in Scarborough, England, is evacuated on two consecutive days after explosives from World War I and II battlefields turn up in separate shipments of potatoes imported from Belgium and France.

So it's not just the starch in the potatoes that will hurt you.

77. Bank of America

After Bank of America announces plans to outsource 100 tech support jobs from the San Francisco Bay Area to India, the American workers are told that they must train their own replacements in order to receive their severance payments.

That's like making inmates ride bikes to power the prison

76. AirTran

AirTran - the airline formerly known as ValuJet, which lost a DC-9 and more than 100 passengers in a 1996 accident in the Florida Everglades - suffers a computer systems failure in June during the peak travel season, leaving it unable to process passengers' reservations for the better part of a day.

Unable to get boarding passes, AirTran passengers watch their planes take off without them. AirTran blames Accenture unit Navitaire, which provided the system, for the incident, not five months after singing Navitaire's praises in a press release announcing the renewal of its contract.

At least it wasn't the other kind of crash.

75. Time Warner's Wayne Pace

A woman whom New York police allege works as a madam says Time Warner chief financial officer Wayne Pace was her "sugar daddy," offering her clothes, cash, and other gifts and helping her buy a $500,000 Manhattan apartment.

Andreia Schwartz makes the claims in a jailhouse interview with the New York Post in which she also denies being a madam or accepting money from Pace in exchange for sex.

Pace has his lawyer acknowledge that he and Schwartz were friends but denies any sort of "inappropriate relationship."

Why is this surprising? Time Warner has always been about horizontal synergy

74. Pearson Educational Measurement

At the height of college admissions season, more than 4,000 students find that their SATs have been improperly scored.

The College Board blames the company it hired to tabulate the results, Pearson Educational Measurement, which is no stranger to such scandals; in 2002 it settled a large lawsuit over scoring errors that prevented hundreds of Minnesota high school seniors from graduating.

Though Pearson claims to have vastly improved its quality control, it fesses up to the latest errors, blaming "abnormally high moisture" in the answer sheets.

So this happened once and people are surprised it happened again--Reading comprehension--0

73. Wal-Mart, Part 5

In December, six weeks after hiring Interpublic Group's DraftFCB as its new advertising agency, Wal-Mart fires both Draft and Wal-Mart senior vice president Julie Roehm, who led the agency search.

Roehm reportedly attended an expensive dinner paid for by Draft at a hip Manhattan restaurant, in violation of a Wal-Mart policy that prohibits employees from accepting gifts from vendors.

The move is expected to delay Wal-Mart's efforts to shift from a mass advertising strategy to one that tailors pitches to specific demographic groups, seen as key to reversing its slumping sales.

Cutting off the nose to spite the smiley face.

72. Amazon.com

On the morning of April 3, Amazon.com sends an e-mail headed "UCLA Wins!" to virtually everyone to whom it has ever sold a sports-related item, attempting to hawk a cap celebrating the Bruins' stirring victory in college basketball's championship game.

Just one problem:

The game isn't scheduled to be played until later that night. When it is, UCLA is trounced by Florida, 73-57

That's how I feel sitting here with 6,000 Chicago Bears 2007 Super Bowl Champion shirts

71. Bausch & Lomb

In May, Bausch & Lomb issues a global recall of its ReNu with MoistureLoc contact-lens solution after tests show it could leave users susceptible to a potentially blinding infection.

That would certainly put a kink in the whole hindsight is 20/20 theory.

70. KRON 4

"There are skeptics who think it's a bunch of hooey, but I can tell you things seem to have improved since the change."

-- Pat Patton, programming director at San Francisco TV station KRON 4, on his decision to change the station's street address from 1001 Van Ness Ave. to 1001552 after consulting with an "astronumerologist."

Though Patton says morale has improved, the bottom line is another matter: In explaining the $16 million loss it posts in a later quarter, parent company Young Broadcasting says its results were "adversely affected by a slower than expected recovery in the San Francisco market."

Coming up later tonight on the Channel 3267 News at 6:11

69. Royal Mail

Great Britain's Royal Mail introduces a stamp that some believe shows Santa defecating into a chimney. The Church of England protests the series of stamps - not for their scatological drift, but for insufficient Christian imagery

Maybe Santa is lactose intolerant?

68. Hewlett-Packard

Concerned about boardroom leaks, Hewlett-Packard starts an investigation that spins out of control, with private eyes obtaining the personal phone records of board members under false pretenses and inspecting journalists' trash in an attempt to discover the source of the leaks.

The tactics ultimately lead to state and federal investigations, the grilling of top HP brass by a congressional committee, and the resignation of several top executives, including chairman Patricia Dunn, who pleads not guilty to California charges of felony fraud and identity theft.

The HP way is kind of shady

67. Sony

Sony runs a billboard campaign in the Netherlands depicting a Caucasian model rudely gripping the jaw of a woman of African descent to promote its PlayStation Portable in "ceramic white."

Sony initially defends the campaign, saying it was meant to "highlight the whiteness of the new model," but later apologizes.

To be fair-how many white game systems are out there versus black colored systems.

66. Jessica Simpson

Singer Jessica Simpson is sued for $100 million by Tarrant Apparel Group, which claims that she failed to promote her JS by Jessica Simpson and Princy collections.

Among Tarrant's complaints: In Marie Claire, Simpson cited True Religion, not Princy, as her favorite brand of jeans.

They were also pissed she cut her pants into really short shorts as well.

65. CIA

The CIA advertises on Comedy Central to recruit for its National Clandestine Service. A voice-over poses the question "Are you ready for a world of ambiguity and adventure?"

If it starts spouting quasi racial statements it'll probably get a half hour deal.

64. Powys County Council in Wales
- posted by Brian @ 1/31/2007 01:27:00 PM

 
The Post with the government looking out for you
I know amid all this talk of continuing troop involvment in Iraq, health care taxes, and gas prices being sky high sometimes you wonder if the government even cares about you anymore. I was looking around today and found this story and it gives you proof that at least some people in government still care.


Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut), chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, held hearings yesterday into “the Billing, Marketing, and Disclosure Practices of the Credit Card Industry and Their Impact on Consumers.”

In a statement, Dodd promised heightened oversight by the now Democrat-controlled Congress, and said that banks need to “cease and desist" any practices that harm consumers. "Irrespective of the current legality of such practices, you should take a long, hard look at how you treat your customers," Dodd said in promising extensive hearings.

Following the hearing, the Merchants Payment Coalition (MPC) released a statement lauding Dodd’s calls for “heightened scrutiny into the credit card industry” and especially hidden interchange fees.

“The credit card companies have long profited from placing hidden fees and practices on unsuspecting merchants and consumers,” MPC said in its statement. “The interchange fee is the biggest fee consumers have never heard of and accounts for more than the total of all other consumer fees such as late fees and over-the-limit fees.

Last year, Visa and MasterCard generated more than $30 billion in credit and debit card interchange fees – a fee set in secret by Visa and MasterCard and imposed on merchants and consumers by the credit card industry and completely hidden from consumers.”

So you may ask yourself why this is so good and worth getting excited over.? Interchange fees are the fees Visa and Mastercard charge stores to accept credit cards. Depending on the size of the retailer they pay between 1 and 3%. So yes Wal-Mart pays less of a fee than a local mom and pop store.

Credit card companies make more off these fees in a year than they do on late fees.

It get's worse. A retailer collects sales tax at no charge. It is simply the cost of doing business. However, and for example, in Minnesota last year, the interchange fees on SALES TAX ALONE totaled more than $30 million. That is a loss to the store. They do not keep that sales tax, but the banks keep that money charged for the stores legal obligation to collect sales tax.

So how does the store make up these Intercharge fees ? Why they raise prices for the products they sell directly affecting the consumer. In the past the fees collected used to go towards upkeep and maintenance on the credit card electronic systems, but with the advent of high speed internet those systems are no longer maintained by the credit card companies.

So ask yourself where does this money go then? Go ahead ask yourself. Ever see that house promotion Mastercard did a year or so ago, or Visa's rewards points program? The money to buy that stuff came from the fees charged to the store for the privilage of letting you pay with a credit card.

What Christopher Dodd is doing here is monumental. It's good for businesses, and good for consumers. Plus it will help the little guy out some by balancing the outrageous fees they pay.

And you thought government doesn't care about the little guys anymore!
- posted by Brian @ 1/30/2007 02:04:00 PM

 
The Post with the weekly feature
This weekend I saw Smokin' Aces and let me say it is about as cool a movie as I've ever seen. Buddy "Aces" Israel is a witness for the FBI against a major mob boss and the boss before he dies puts a 1 million dollar bounty on Aces head. This leads to 5 different groups of hitmen converging in Nevada to try and collect the bounty while two federal agents try to get him out safely. It is edited funny as it goes back and forth between all 6 different stories so it can get midly confusing if you don't pay attention. And man is there some star power in this thing.

Jeremy Piven is the main star and ever since he started gaining acclaim for playing Hollywood super agent Ari Gold on Entourage his career has skyrocketed. Wonder why? It's clips like this one where he dresses down fellow agent Josh Weinstein at a party.



Another actor coming off a really funny tv show that has been in demand again is Jason Bateman. Arrested Development was great becasue of the way they balanced humor. For instance, this scene where Michael Bluth sings a duet with his niece Maeby. It's actually a clip



Ben Affleck pops up in this too and despite some people's disdain or hatred of him I liek the guy. He was in this movie Reindeer Gaems that I really kind of like and think he does a good job carrying alongisde Gary Sinise and the always gorgeous Charlize Theron.



Ray Liotta I like pretty much too and he is in this movie. One of my guilty pleasure movies is Heartbreakers the story of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Signourey Weaver seducing and then stealing money from men. It has a lot to do with my crush on Miss Hewitt but she looks amazing in this film and Liotta gets to have a scene where his job is stare at her cleavage, make out with her, adn then grab her ass. Acting-tough work.



And while we're on the subject of women I love I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Alicia Keys being in Smokin' Aces. I always thought her music was really good and in this movie she plays a hooker at one point where they give us some but not enough glimpses of her in her fishnets and tight outfit. Oh well



Have a good one
- posted by Brian @ 1/29/2007 01:38:00 PM

 
The Post with me talking to moronic Eagles fans
In 1902 W.W. Jacobs wrote a short story entitled The Monkey's Paw. It's the story of a couple who are given a cursed monkey's paw that will grant you three wishes but the wish ends up not being exactly what you were looking for. I couldn't help but think of this story as I've been reading the local sports columns and listening to local sports talk radio.

The Philadelphia Eagles have one of the most devoted sets of fans in sports. They're loud, they're obnoxious, and the most hardcore of them live and die with the team. They also have shown a shocking lack of respect for the quarterback of their franchise.

Donovan McNabb has had a tenous time in Philly. In the weeks leading up to the 1999 NFL Draft WIP mornign show host Angelo Cataldi started a campaign for the Eagles to draft University of Texas running back Ricky Williams. Nevermind the fact the Eagles had a pretty capable running back in Duce Staley- Williams was the guy Cataldi wanted and like Pavlov's dogs his listeners agreed. One of those listeners was then Mayor of Philadelphia Ed Rendell. He made a comment that people should boo if McNabb was drafted. Cataldi chartered a bus for him and the idiotic, "Dirty 30" hardcore fans to the draft in New York. Sure enough when McNabb's name was announced-a cascade of boos rained down from those mouth-breeders. So the guy who was being brought in as a franchise quarterback was already behind the 8-ball.

Donovan however, handleed it the same way he has handled everything-with a smile. He became a legitimate NFL quarterback and with a group of less than average receivers he had the Eagles in the playoffs from 2000-2005, including 4 straight NFC title games and a Super Bowl. During the 2002 season he played a game on a broken ankle and had his best game ever. In 2003, ESPN hired Rush Limbaugh to be an analyst and he made some completely ridiculous comments that McNabb was overrated because the liberal media wanted a black quarterback to be successful. Then the TO era started.

Terrell Owens the wide receiver who is as socially inept as he is a skilled receiver was brought in to help the Eagles poor receiving corps. For a year he did. Then came the off-season of 2005. Owens wanted a new contract and the Eagles wouldn't talk. Owens called out McNabb for not sticking up for him, and the head of the local NAACP said McNabb was committing essentially black on black crime by not sticking up for Owens. After Owens was suspended and before McNabb got hurt, about half the team was calling for Owens to be reinstated basically drawing individual lines in the sand. A lot of fans made the same stands. These people were choosing a guy who ran the coaching staff of his previous team out of town, and called his former quarterback gay over a guy who took everything in stride and had led them to consistent success for half a decade.

Lost in that 2005 season though was the fact that when McNabb when down injured, the Eagles had to turn to les than average back-ups to pull the cart. Andy Reid decided that wasn't going to be the case again this year and he signed journeyman Jeff Garcia to come in and have one last ride. This past season McNabb started off the best he ever has in his career leading the Eagles to a 4-1 record before 3 straight last second losses. When he went down with the Eagles record 5-5 everyone left them for dead, then came Garcia. Jeff Garcia stepped in and went 6-2 as a starter including both playoff games. This has led to fans saying, we want Jeff Garcia to be quarterback. Even some players, most notably the aging Jon Runyan and Jeremiah Trotter, have said the Eagles are better with Garcia at quarterback. They have to be kidding me.

Here's the thing: Give Jeff Garcia all the credit in the world. He had bombed out in 2 straight seasons with less than average teams. His last good game was played during the 2002 season and at 37 this was his last chance to prove he could be a starting quarterback in the NFL. It was quite possibly his last chance at winning too, something he readily admitted when he signed with the Eagles. He played extremely well with the Eagles, throwing 10 touchdowns versus 2 interceptions and led them to 6 straight wins. That has led to people wanting Reid to annoint him the starter and send their $112,000,000 albatross packing.

The idiots are missing some things though. First off with McNabb at quarterback the Eagles passed the ball almost 70% of the time. It doesn't matter how good a quarterback you are, throwing the ball that many times is dangerous. In fact, credit McNabb for being able to win as often as he did with that kind of ratio. When Garica was quarterback the Eagles passed the ball 54% of the time, and they relied more on the running of Brian Westbrook. I guarantee you give McNabb that kind of ratio and he's extremely hard to beat. The defense played well when Garcia was quarterback becasue they had to. Everyone says the team stepped up-they had to. Superman wasn't lining up under center anymore to rescue them when they were floundering.

Also, Garcia went 15 of 30 during the Eagles loss versus the Saints. A performance that was termed, "gutty." If McNabb plays a game like that he would be ridiculed for weeks. We're opertating on two different performance scales-which I guess is what comes with McNabb's big contract.

Jeff Garcia will command a big contract based off his performance to close out the season. Tampa Bay, Detroit, and possibly Green Bay will be looking for qbs and Eagles fans want their team to get in on this bidding war. The Eagles money would be better spent on re-signing Donte Stallworth who is 26 years old and would give them 4 wide receivers, a running back, and many other line-man...all locked up in long contracts and all 27 or under. That's a nucleus to build around and the Eagels are built to compete year in and year out. This isn't a rebuilding year. If McNabb is healthy he should get the keys back.

Yet, whether Garica is here or not the fans will still want him to be the QB for their team. They think that the best way to win is to put it all on the shoulders of a journeyman who has had one good half season in the past 4 years. If that's what you fans really want-Be careful what you wish for
- posted by Brian @ 1/26/2007 01:02:00 PM

 
The Post with me sharing a raw deal
This is gonna be a mostly lazy day post but with good cause. I was reading this article on ESPN.com and I became increasingly angry as I read it. It's an extremely well-written article and I believe it accomplished its mission. Its the story of a promising high school football player and how he fell, or was pushed and then held down from grace. It's a long read but hang with it and I'll post some thoughts afterwards. If you'd rather read it at the site to have it broken up with some pictures you can click here Outrageous Injustice

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. -- There is a cardboard box in Genarlow Wilson's old bedroom.

It rests on the floor of his empty closet, near the deflated football and basketball. It's filled with things he needed in his old life. Mostly, it's overflowing with recruiting letters, from schools big and small. A "Good luck on the SAT" postcard from the coaches at Columbia. From another Ivy League college, Brown, a note from the football coach: "You have been recommended to me as one of the top scholar-athletes in your area."

There's a questionnaire from the Citadel. A brochure from Elon. An envelope from Sewanee. College after college, all wanting the undersized but overachieving Genarlow Wilson to consider their football programs. One open letter, dated three months before everything in this box became a reminder of a life derailed, invites him to take a campus visit. It begins:

Dear Genarlow,

Here you stand, on the threshold of four of the most influential, challenging, and rewarding years of your life.

Being Inmate No. 1187055
Genarlow Wilson is standing on a threshold all right, at the end of the last hall of Burruss Correctional Training Center, an hour and a half south of Atlanta. He's just a few feet from the mechanical door that closes with a goosebump-raising whurr and clang. Three and a half years after he received that letter, he's wearing a blue jacket with big, white block letters. They read: STATE PRISONER.

He's 20 now. Just two years into a 10-year sentence without possibility of parole, he peers through the thick glass and bars, trying to catch a glimpse of freedom. Outside, guard towers and rolls of coiled barbed wire remind him of who he is.

Once, he was the homecoming king at Douglas County High. Now he's Georgia inmate No. 1187055, convicted of aggravated child molestation.

When he was a senior in high school, he received oral sex from a 10th grader. He was 17. She was 15. Everyone, including the girl and the prosecution, agreed she initiated the act. But because of an archaic Georgia law, it was a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse, but a felony for the same kids to have oral sex.

Afterward, the state legislature changed the law to include an oral sex clause, but that doesn't help Wilson. In yet another baffling twist, the law was written to not apply to cases retroactively, though another legislative solution might be in the works. The case has drawn national condemnation, from the "Free Genarlow Wilson Now" editorial in The New York Times to a feature on Mark Cuban's HDNet.

"It's disgusting," Cuban wrote to ESPN in an e-mail. "I can not see any way, shape or form that the interests of the state of Georgia are served by throwing away Genarlow's youth and opportunity to become a vibrant contributor to the state. All his situation does is reinforce some unfortunate stereotypes that the state is backward and misgoverned. No one with a conscience can look at this case and conclude that justice has been served."

Wilson's mother, Juanessa Bennett, certainly doesn't understand. She has just bought a new house the next county over, hoping that a change of scenery might do her good. The past few years have been hard on her.

"You think, what in the world could I have done to God to make him punish me like this?" she says. "Am I that terrible a person?"

Her home feels empty without her son in it. He's not there to enjoy the five burgers for five bucks on Tuesday at the Sonic Drive-In, or chatting away on his telephone late at night. Now, she can only think about the past three years of their lives, and how everything is so different from before.

She points to a picture above her fireplace. There's a grinning 3-year-old boy in the frame, posing with big alphabet blocks.

"He was cute, huh?" she says, quietly.

She looks at the picture, but doesn't cry. There aren't many tears left. After it first happened, she says she cried so much she got an eye infection. Bumps broke out on her face, brought on by worry and grief.

"You need to stop stressing," the doctor told her.

She asked him how exactly she might do that.

"He didn't have an answer," Bennett says.

Now, she's numb. Now, she can only remember the boy he was and pray that when his ordeal is finally over, some of that boy will remain.

The image of a bright future dimming with each passing day is what infuriates so many people. Wilson should be held up as an example of a kid who was making it. His life should be protected by society, not destroyed. He was a good student, with a 3.2 grade point average. He was popular, the school's homecoming king, liked by students and teachers. He never got into any trouble with the law. He was a track and football star. His last two years, he was the defensive back assigned to cover Calvin Johnson, the former Sandy Creek High star who went on to Georgia Tech and is now projected as a top pick in the NFL draft. Wilson studied film, trying to figure out how to outsmart a better and taller athlete. He did well, coaches remember, limiting Johnson to four catches in two games.

Three years later, sitting in their office overlooking the field, finishing up another workday, Wilson's old coaches also remember a good but not great high school player who would have played college ball. They remember his last game, in the playoffs, way down in south Georgia. He got hit so hard on a kickoff return that he ended up spitting up blood on the sideline. The trainer shined a flashlight in his eye, figuring he had a concussion. Wilson grabbed his helmet, determined to go back in the game. He went to the hospital instead

He admits he wasn't perfect. Far from it. He drank. He smoked pot. He'd been sexually active since he was 13. And a month or so after that final playoff game, he and some buddies were plotting a New Year's Eve bash. His mama heard them whispering in his bedroom that afternoon. She knew kids whispering usually meant trouble, so she went in and looked those boys up and down.

"Don't do anything stupid," she warned.

Something Stupid
Genarlow Wilson and his friends checked into the Days Inn right off Interstate 20. At some point in the night, according to court documents and evidence presented at trial, some girls came over to party with them. Bourbon and marijuana were consumed. One of the young men turned on a video camera.

Later in the evening, a 17-year-old girl began to have sex with the young men, first in the bathroom, then on the bed. Genarlow is captured on tape appearing to have sex with the girl from behind. Her hand is clearly visible on the floor supporting herself. Witnesses said she was a willing participant.

The next morning, the girl awoke in a stupor, wearing nothing but her socks. She called her mother and said she had been raped. Police came to the room after sunrise and took the revelers in for questioning. Genarlow had already gone home -- he didn't want to miss curfew -- but the video camera remained.

On tape, the cops saw a 15-year-old girl, a 10th-grader, performing oral sex on a partygoer and, after finishing with him, turning and performing the act on Genarlow. She was the instigator, according to her mother's testimony. Problem was, the girl was a year under the age of consent. Local prosecutors called the act aggravated child molestation, following the letter and not the spirit of the law, which was designed to prosecute pedophiles.

A week later, on the first day of the second semester of his senior year, the police went to the school and arrested the boys. Wilson was charged with four felonies and taken from the building in handcuffs. Not long before, he'd been in the newspaper for being all-conference in football. Now, he was on the front page, branded a rapist and child molester.

"It was like I had everything one day," he says, "and the next day I didn't have anything."

For the next eight months, Douglas County District Attorney David McDade, who likes to wear an American flag on his lapel and play to his law-and-order-loving base, dangled plea bargains. The other boys didn't want to risk a jury, and one by one each took an offer and went to prison, including the other football player arrested, Narada Williams, who accepted five years with the possibility of parole.

In Douglas County, according to law professors following the case, admitting sins and begging forgiveness -- not insisting on your innocence -- is the road to mercy. Williams is already out of jail, in part because McDade wrote a letter to the parole board, praising Williams for being the first to plead guilty and "take his medicine." As for Wilson, McDade called him a "martyr" in the media.

Wilson refused to admit to being a child molester. If he pled to or was convicted of any charge that put him on the sex offender registry, he couldn't live at home with his younger sister. He wouldn't accept that, so he waited for his trial.

The Saturday before it began, his last weekend as a free man, Wilson tried out for a local semi-pro football team. He wanted to be that other person once more, the one who could outrun all of life's problems. For two glorious hours, he sprinted and jumped and dived. When it was over, the coaches were impressed. They traded cell phone numbers, just another opportunity that would soon pass him by.

Two days later, in February 2005, Genarlow Wilson walked into a courtroom. Two charges already had been dropped, and it was clear from the first witness that the rape charge wouldn't stick either. The aggravated child molestation, though, was on tape. Genarlow tried to defend himself against the assigned prosecutor, Eddie Barker.

"Sir," Wilson told him, "you don't even know me. I understand you're just doing your job, sure, but I mean, how would you feel if you were my age and you were put on the stand with these serious charges at this young age? I have a little sister. Why would I molest anyone, sir?"

"I'm not on trial here, Mr. Wilson," Barker said. "You're the one who did these acts, not me."

The day before the trial was expected to end, in the last night he'd ever spend at his home, Wilson went to a church down the street and asked the preacher to pray with him. He awoke early the next morning. He knotted his tie carefully and went to the courthouse. The trial finished that afternoon, and the jury came back with "not guilty" on the rape but "guilty" on the aggravated child molestation.

He looked at the forewoman. She was crying, seeming to understand they'd just undone a promising future. Indeed, when the jurors found out there was a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, several were incensed. The prosecution told them to write a letter, then moved on to the next case.

Genarlow Wilson put his head in his hands and wept.

Deputies yanked him from his seat. Not long after, Prisoner 1187055 found himself in the predawn darkness, riding in a bus, surrounded not by his teammates but by murderers, thieves and rapists. Some were headed to the penitentiary for the second or third time.

A scared kid looked out the window as the bus chewed up pavement. He didn't know what it was going to be like, only that he didn't want to go.

Doing Hard Time
Wilson moves to the rhythm of the prison now, up early with the shift change, tidying his cell, sitting down to rest before chow, wearing white pants with a blue stripe. It has been 23 months.

These walls and bars haven't taken his youth, though. Not yet. When he smiles, it's the same one from that old photo on his mom's mantel. Bennett wonders how her son has managed to keep that light in such a dark place and how much longer he can hold out.

With nothing but time, he has taken stock of his old life. He doesn't like the person he was back then, the cocky star athlete with the world as his yo-yo. When he thinks about the kid on that videotape, with a Pittsburgh Pirates hat cocked just so, he cringes.

"It's embarrassing to me," he says. "You see yourself. ... 'Man, I acted like that?' "

He has followed his appeals from behind bars. He watched as the state legislature changed the law that put him there, then declined to make it retroactive, for reasons that still boggle the mind. That was a dark day.

He watched as B.J. Bernstein, his new attorney, filed a petition for writ of certiorari, asking the Georgia Supreme Court to review the case. The petition was denied, then set aside, then denied again, then appealed, then denied again. Those were darker days.

The first time the Supreme Court voted on Genarlow's case, it was 4-3. The four judges who voted against the black teen were white. The three judges who voted for him were black.

"I don't understand the Supreme Court," Bennett says. "Do these people not have hearts? Can they not look and see this isn't right?"

In its written decision, the Supreme Court called Wilson a "promising young man," a paragraph that he has read a thousand times. All the e-mails Bernstein gets in support of him, he has those, too. He reads them over and over, reminding himself that he once had a future and, one day, might have it again. It's not easy.

Other people's lives have moved on.

He has corresponded with Williams, his co-defendant and old high school teammate. Williams is enrolled in college now.

Wilson sat in prison and watched Calvin Johnson, the guy he once covered, become the best college receiver in the country and a soon-to-be millionaire.

"That has made my ambitions higher," Wilson says. "That makes me want to succeed even more because I don't want to be left behind."

The Halls of Power
In Atlanta, Bernstein makes her rounds at the state capitol. It's the first day of the legislative session and men in power ties click their wingtips over marble floors, lobbyists back-slapping each other in their little groups.

"He's sitting in jail," she says. "He's in jail every day they're sitting around chatting."

When Bernstein met Wilson, who had a different attorney for the trial, she saw that light in his eyes and didn't want prison to extinguish it. Truth is, she's a rescuer. One of her cats she found on the interstate. She stopped her car in the rain on a six-lane highway to save it. In her heart, she wants to save the world, starting with Genarlow Wilson. That means working pro bono, even as every small check the firm earns goes straight into the operating account. That means figuring out this strange power-brokers' dance.

It's frustrating work. No one involved believes Wilson should be in jail for 10 years.

The prosecutors don't.

The Supreme Court doesn't.

The legislature doesn't.

The 15-year-old "victim" doesn't.

The forewoman of the jury doesn't.

Privately, even prison officials don't.

Yet no one will do anything to free him, passing responsibility around like a hot potato. The prosecutors say they were just doing their job. The Supreme Court says it couldn't free him because the state legislature decreed the new law didn't apply to old cases, even though this case was the entire reason the new law was passed. One possible explanation is that Bernstein, an admitted neophyte at backroom dealing, simply didn't know enough politics to insist on the provision. That haunts her.

The legislature still could pass a new law that would secure Wilson's freedom, so Bernstein is pushing hard for that. One such bipartisan bill was introduced this week, pushed by state Sens. Emanuel Jones, Dan Weber and Kasim Reed. This is Wilson's best shot.

"I understand the injustice in the justice system," Jones says, "and when I heard about Genarlow and started studying what had happened, I said, 'This is a wrong that must be righted.' Everyone agrees that justice is not being served."

Afterward, Bernstein can file a writ of habeas corpus, which could get him out of jail, but those are legal Hail Marys. She's a true believer, but if the legislature denies this latest attempt, she knows she might not be able to save Genarlow Wilson. Until it's over, nothing's off the table. Not even simple positive thinking. Sitting at a midtown-Atlanta Chinese restaurant on a lunch break from all the political wrangling, she picked up her fortune cookie, smiled thinly and said, "Gimme a good one: Genarlow will be free."

She's still working every angle, from the capital to cookies, riding up an elevator to the 53rd floor of an Atlanta high-rise to see David Balser, the attorney who got Marcus Dixon out of jail. The Dixon case was similar: As an 18-year-old, he had sex with a 15-year-old girl and was sentenced to 10 years before the conviction was overturned.

Sitting in a conference room overlooking Stone Mountain, Balser listens. The light shines off his gold cufflinks, the high-thread-count shirt hanging perfectly off his shoulders. He's got a little salt in his pepper and a Virgin Islands tan. They talk media strategy. They talk last-ditch plans, including a constitutional amendment returning pardon power to the governor. When they're done, Balser walks Bernstein to the elevator.

"I think less is more, B.J.," he says. "You've got to get him out and solve the world's problems after that. Just get him out."

"I'm trying," she says.

"I have faith in you," he says.

Letter of the Law
Every story needs a villain, and in this one, the villain's hat has been placed squarely on the head of Barker, the prosecutor and a former college baseball player. Barker doesn't write the laws in the books to the left of his desk. He simply punishes those who break them.

"We didn't want him to get the 10 years," he says. "We understand there's an element out there scratching their heads, saying, 'How does a kid get 10 years under these facts?' "

In Barker's eyes, Wilson should have taken the same plea agreement as the others. Maintaining innocence in the face of the crushing wheels of justice is the ultimate act of vanity, he believes.

"I understand what he's saying," Barker says. "I think he's making a bad decision in the long run. Being branded a sex offender is not good; but at the same time, if it made the difference between spending 10 years as opposed to two? Is it worth sitting in prison for eight more years, and you're still gonna be a sex offender when you get out?"

Barker is quick to point out that he offered Wilson a plea after he'd been found guilty -- the first time he has ever done that. Of course, the plea was the same five years he'd offered before the trial -- not taking into account the rape acquittal. Barker thinks five years is fair for receiving oral sex from a schoolmate. None of the other defendants insisted on a jury trial. Wilson did. He rolled the dice, and he lost. The others, he says, "took their medicine."

While Bernstein works on every possible legal solution, the Douglas County District Attorney's Office has the power to get Wilson out of prison. If the prosecution wanted, this could all end tomorrow. The D.A.'s office says Bernstein hasn't asked. Bernstein says she has. Not that any legal he said/she said matters. Only the prosecutors' opinion does, and according to at least one legal expert, prosecutorial ego is more of a factor in this case than race. The folks in Douglas County are playing god with Genarlow Wilson's life.

"We can set aside his sentence," Barker says. "Legally, it's still possible for us to set aside his sentence and give him a new sentence to a lesser charge. But it's up to us. He has no control over it."

The position of Barker and the district attorney, McDade, who refused to comment, is that Wilson is guilty under the law and there is no room for mercy, though the facts seem to say they simply chose not to give it to Wilson. At the same time this trial was under way, a local high school teacher, a white female, was found guilty of having a sexual relationship with a student -- a true case of child molestation. The teacher received 90 days. Wilson received 3,650 days.

Now, if Wilson wants a shot at getting out, he must throw himself at the prosecutors' feet and ask for mercy, which he might or might not receive. Joseph Heller would love this. If Wilson would only admit to being a child molester, he could stop receiving the punishment of one. Maybe.

"Well," Barker says, "the one person who can change things at this point is Genarlow. The ball's in his court."

Hanging On To Hope
Back at Burruss, Genarlow Wilson is standing against the wall, looking out through the glass of the control room, peering between the bars, watching his attorney and another visitor leave. He has had plenty of people who want to talk to him, including a group of concerned legislators who plan on visiting this week, which finally feels like a real step toward freedom. Problem is, they always go home after an hour or two. He stays behind.

The worst is when his mom comes. She visited on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, bringing him news of the outside world and a smile. She told him about the new house she bought, just over the Cobb County line, finally out of Douglas. She doesn't want him moving back there when he's released. Saying goodbye, though, kills him. He watches her go and is taken back to his cell, where he can just imagine her in her car, imagining him in this prison.

When she leaves, a part of me leaves," he says. "I just have to get myself back together because we've got a long way to go. I try not to think about doing the whole 10. I'm putting claims on going home this year."

Hope is all he has left. He believes in a system that has failed him. He believes in those powerful men in Atlanta. He believes in the kindness of others, and in the skills of Bernstein. He lets her work, spending most of his days in the prison library, reading all the books he can. Sometimes, he pretends he's a character, living in a fantasy world, not in a cellblock.

When the weather's nice, he can run laps around the yard, as if he's still on a football field, chasing down future first-round picks. The burn in his lungs feels like a time long past. It feels like freedom.

He looks through the windows just a moment more, sadness in his eyes, then turns around. Wilson stares down the hall of his prison, waiting on a day when he can go home.

"I've got a real good feeling about what's going on," he says. "I feel like 2007 is it. This is my year."

His mom has the house ready for him because any day now, her baby's coming back. She just knows it. Over past the dryer, that's his new bedroom. She picked it because it's close to the garage, so he could come and go as he pleases. She thought he deserved that.

Everything's set, in case it's tomorrow. She left the rapper posters rolled up, figuring a man would be coming home. She set out his football trophies and his high school diploma, to remind him what he used to be. She hooked up a television and a stereo. An alarm clock is on the nightstand, so he can get himself up for school. Even the bed is made.

The only thing missing is her son


Couple problems here I have:

Essentially the feeling I get from the story, and it's probably part of the tone of the piece, is that this kids only problem was he was a black kid. Some archaic law still on the books basically robs this guy of his life. Re-read the portion near the beginning, "having full feldged sex with her is a misdemeanor, having oral sex is a felony." This kid would've been out of jail already had he not gotten a BJ. Does that make any kind of sense to anybody?

Then the DA is pretty much saying he could lessen the charge, and that the punishment is too hard but he is using the old, "doing my job" excuse. Fact is he wanted the kid to take the plea deal-like the other boys did- and this kid wouldn't play ball. If he pled guilty he would've been forced to register as a sex offender and not live at home or have contact witih his OWN SISTER. Not to mention the DA's cavalier attitude "5 years is ok"

It kind of shocked me that the jury didn't realize how hefty the punishment was for this crime. I thought they would probably be aware of that either during the trial or before the verdict was rendered but apparently not.

The last thing that makes absolutely no sense is--noone believes he should be in jail down to the DA and lawmakers in Georgia. In fact, they went back and changed the law but then refused to make it retroactive to this particular case. Yes the case that caused them to review and amend the law. I'd love for someone to explain the rationale to me on that.

Now don't get me wrong-I'm not absolving the kid of wrongdoing. He shouldn't have been drinking or smoking pot. However, people need to realize that is a reality out there now. This kid didn't deserve to have 10 years of his life ripped away from him. Especially in a country when 34 year old teachers are having sex with 6th graders and getting out of prison after a couple months. You're honestly going to tell me that a 17 year old kid having sex with a 15 year old is more of a crime than a 34 year old having sex with the same 15 year old. Sometimes you have to wonder if the system is still working the way it was intended to
- posted by Brian @ 1/25/2007 01:47:00 PM