Sunday Morning, October 11, 2009

I Am the Resurrection and the Life - John 11:17-44 from Barry E. Fields on Vimeo.

Meddling Media?

Interesting article about the role of media recommended by Senator John McCain. Whether you agree or disagree with the slant of the story, the media definitely has a major influence on societal norms:

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/07/08/sarah-barracuda-palin-and-the-piranhas-of-the-press/

Have a great day!

Pandora for Palin?

Recently, Sarah Palin, Alaska's well-known governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate, announced that not only would she not seek re-election in 2010, but she would not in fact even finish her term, telling the world that her resignation would be effective at the end of the month. Maureen Dowd, the ever-opinionated columnist for the New York Times (hey, opinions are what she gets paid for), just wrote an editorial on the bizarreness of this whole scenario. By far, the most humorous line of the column, whether you agree with Dowd's assessment or not, occurs about midway through the article in reference to the governor's speech:

After...burbling about how “progressing our state” and serving Alaska “is the greatest honor that I could imagine,” and raving about how much she loves her job, she abruptly announced that she was making the ultimate sacrifice: dumping the state on her lieutenant.

Wow. I'll admit, I'm not quite sure what Governor Palin is trying to accomplish here. Maybe she's not trying to accomplish anything, and that's the whole point. Perhaps she's had enough. Personally, I didn't feel that the governor had the necessary qualifications to serve as vice president should John McCain have won the election, but in a year in which Republicans had EVERYTHING going wrong for them, maybe he felt he had to gamble, hoping that her star power and political talent would be enough to galvanize the base and attract independent voters. At any rate, Sarah Palin's year in the national spotlight serves as a warning to anyone seeking power or position: be prepared to get hit hard, have a purpose that is greater than yourself, and pray for endurance to make it to the finish line. Godspeed, Mrs. Palin.

Too Quick To Blame?

In America, the Bill of Rights provides citizens with several constitutional guarantees, one of which is the right of Habeas Corpus (innocent until proven guilty). However, in today's society, it's often reversed, as individuals accused of wrongdoing are typically considered guilty until proven innocent. Here's an interesting take on the Kentucky Men's Basketball Coach John Calipari situation at UK from ESPN commentator Jay Bilas:


So far, the biggest target in this saga has been Calipari. Because we have this ridiculous notion that the head coach is responsible for everything that goes on in his program, Calipari is taking the blame even though his name is not even mentioned in the Notice of Allegations. Remember, the Notice mentioned the name of a representative of Memphis’ athletic interests over a single phone call. If the NCAA had anything on Calipari, it would have unloaded it in the Notice. It does not.

And later…

Call me old-fashioned, but I require established facts and evidence before I call someone a cheater. I am not naive about the way things work in basketball, because I see it every day. But there is a difference between the problems with the culture in the game and making specific allegations of academic fraud against an individual. We all share the blame collectively for what is going on in the game, but we should require more evidence and hard facts before we indict any individual.
So far, the only “evidence” against Calipari is that he was the head coach, and the head coach is responsible for everything that happens on his watch, that he was the head coach at UMass when Marcus Camby accepted money from an agent and the head coach is responsible for everything that happens on his watch, and he’s at Memphis and he lets Worldwide Wes and the FedEx CEO hang around his program.

And later…

And to continue to discredit Calipari with references to wrongdoing he played no part in is simply wrong. If there is evidence that Calipari knew about or participated in the alleged academic fraud, then bring it forward. Just mentioning Camby and a vacated Final Four appearance does not tell us anything about the current situation.
Maybe Calipari and Memphis had a part in this alleged wrongdoing. But maybe, just maybe, they did not. As reasonable people, we should establish the facts first. Just because the NCAA alleges something doesn’t make it true.
Until then, a deep breath and some perspective wouldn’t hurt.


Anyway, thought he had some thoughtful points. As always, GO BIG BLUE!