One more reason to love Hines Ward

Hines Ward is the toughest Wide Receiver to ever play the game. He's a linebacker that can catch anything you throw at him. But I guess the NFL wants WRs like TO and Moss who talk smack and only play hard one out of five plays. How else do you explain the new Hines Ward rule? Blockers are not allowed to hit the same way a DB can attack a WR or RB? That's crazy. The media celebrates big hits by defenders - ESPN used to have a segment called Jacked Up whose sole purpose was to embarrass the offensive players who got destroyed each week by opposing defenses. But when someone like Ward delivers a "clean" block on a defender, they change the rule to make it illegal. What a joke.

I'm glad Ward is going to keep playing the way he does. It is a double standard. I give Tomlin and Steelers organization credit for standing up for him. The NFL should be rewarding players like Ward who know their role and put the team above their personal stats, not vilifying them as dirty players. I'd take one Hines Ward over three TO's any day.

Annual Bone-us

You gotta a love a job...

where both of your tasks leads ask you to play football at lunch. The field was covered in mud/water and it was awesome.

Seriously - someone thought this was a good idea?

More proof that the current administration possesses the foresight and clear thinking to lead this country out of the economic and political mess we find ourselves in. Even Senator Charles Schumer, one of the most liberal voices in the Senate, called this "outrageous and appalling". . . "knowing full well that New Yorkers would still have the memory of 9/11 sketched in their minds.". Of course he put the blame on the FAA for approving the White House request, not on the administration for even suggesting it.

You can read the article from the Chicago Tribune.

The White House did apologize for the incident, but shouldn't someone have thought this might not be a good idea? Why not let the media know they were going to do this ahead of time? The President wasn't going to be on the plane, so there could not have been a security risk.

As a photographer, there is a code we follow - "no photo is worth the risk if it poses a threat to the subject, the environment, or to someone else." No matter how dramatic a photo of Air Force One with an F-16 escort over the Statue of Liberty would be, it can not be worth even the momentary fear it would cause the people of New York.

I guess none of this should be surprising from an administration that continually downplays the threat of terrorism. We negotiate with Iran, we unofficially ban the phrase "War on Terror", and want to surrender Iraq and Afghanistan to the forces that oppose democracy and freedom.

Man am I behind with my reading

I just checked my Google reader and I have 248 unread posts - yikes! So what's the first thing I do - stop and write another post.

Good News

After 4 months of being more self employed than full-time employed, I was offered a full-time position today and I start May 4th! That noise you hear is a giant sigh of relief.

12 Step Plan for Creating More Jobs

From American Solutions - 12 ways we can stimulate the economy without having to save the people who caused this mess.

1. Payroll Tax Stimulus. With a temporary new tax credit to offset 50% of the payroll tax, every small business would have more money, and all Americans would take home more of what they earn.

2. Real Middle-Income Tax Relief. Reduce the marginal tax rate of 25% down to 15%, in effect establishing a flat-rate tax of 15% for close to 9 out of 10 American workers.

3. Reduce the Business Tax Rate. Match Ireland’s rate of 12.5% to keep more jobs in America.

4. Homeowner’s Assistance. Provide tax credit incentives to responsible home buyers so they can keep their homes.

5. Control Spending So We Can Move to a Balanced Budget. This begins with eliminating Congressional earmarks and wasteful pork-barrel spending.

6. No State Aid Without Protection From Fraud. Require state governments to adopt anti-fraud and anti-theft policies before giving them more money.

7. More American Energy Now. Explore for more American oil and gas and invest in affordable energy for the future, including clean coal, ethanol, nuclear power and renewable fuels.

8. Abolish Taxes on Capital Gains. Match China, Singapore and many other competitors. More investment in America means more jobs in America.

9. Protect the Rights of American Workers. We must protect a worker’s right to decide by secret ballot whether to join a union, and the worker’s right to freely negotiate. Forced unionism will kill jobs in America at a time when we can’t afford to lose them.

10. Replace Sarbanes-Oxley. This failed law is crippling entrepreneurial startups. Replace it with affordable rules that help create jobs, not destroy them.

11. Abolish the Death Tax. Americans should work for their families, not for Washington.

12. Invest in Energy and Transportation Infrastructure. This includes a new, expanded electric power grid and a 21st century air traffic control system that will reduce delays in air travel and save passengers, employees and airlines billions of dollars per year.