Ted Thompson: Idiot.

As the Green Bay Packers' second Favre-less season has recently ended, I feel like it is a good time to reflect on Packers General Manager Ted Thompson's decision to let Favre go.  After a disappointing 2008 season (the first under new quarterback Aaron Rodgers) where the Packers finished 6-10, 2009 was fairly successful.  The team finished 11-5 and came one overtime sack away from advancing in the playoffs.  Looks like the team's doing just fine without Favre, right? Possibly, but just fine is not good enough when excellent would have been possible.

Favre's 2009 season with the Minnesota Vikings has been one of the best of his career.  At age 40, Favre led the Vikings to 12 wins (two of which were over Rodgers and company) and a first round bye in the playoffs.  Oh, and Favre himself finished as the second highest rated passer in the league, a finalist for the MVP award, and second string in the Pro Bowl (right above third string Rodgers).  So let's look at how the Packers 2009 season could have gone had Favre been quarterback:

With Tavaris Jackson still playing quarterback for the Vikings, its safe to say that the Packers would have picked up two wins against Minnesota instead of two loses.  So even if they won no more games with Favre, it still would have been a 13-3 finish instead of a 11-5 finish.  Depending on tiebreakers, that would have resulted in either a 1 or 2 seed in the playoffs, providing for at least 1 playoff game at frigid Lambeau Field.  And with Favre in the playoffs, anything can happen.  He sure could have hit a wide open Donald Driver on the first play of overtime against the Cardinals that would have won the game for the Packers (didn't Rodgers badly overthrow him or something?)

So, apparently Ted Thompson feels that a three-time MVP who is still putting up the best stats of his career isn't good enough to play for his Packers.  I'm sure glad Thompson knows more about football than everyone else.  It's good to know that my favorite team's in the hands of someone who is so brilliant that he knows that the best thing to do with good players is to trade them away (Ryan Longwell? Darren Sharper? Mike McKenzie?).  I sure hope that at least Thompson prefers "pretty good" over excellence, because the fans sure don't.  Ted Thompson: you are an idiot.

Political Cartoon #6

1. Who drew the cartoon? Eric Allie

2. Where was it published? townhall.com, 1/12/10

3. What issue does it deal with? The cartoon deals with Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid's racial comment about President Obama, in which he said that Americans would vote for Obama because he was "light-skinned with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one"

4. What is the cartoon's message? The cartoon pokes fun at Reid's off-color comment, showing how Reid's comment could lead us to believe that he thinks that the darker a candidate's skin, the less chance he has of electoral victory.

5. Do you agree with the cartoon's message? I found the cartoon very funny, but I do think it gets at the bigger issue behind Reid's comment--the one that most Democrats are eager to overlook.  Reid's comment was very offensive, moreso, I think, than that of former Sen. Majority Leader Trent Lott.  Lott was grilled by Democrats for saying that the country might have been better off if Strom Thurmond (a one-time segragationist and presidential candidate) had been elected, and he was eventually forced to resign his seat in Congress because of the comment in 2002.  Lott's comment itself had nothing racist about it.  He could have been referring to any part of Thurmond's policy, but Democrats inferred racism and forced Lott out of office.  And now, after Reid's much more racist comment, we see a double-standard: Democrats are quick to forgive Reid.  If Trent Lott was forced to resign because of his "racist" comment, Reid should definitely do the same.

Source: http://townhall.com/cartoons/cartoonist/EricAllie/2010/01/1

Obama Prediction for 2010

Overall, I do not think that the Obama administration is taking this country in the right direction.  The biggest issue where he has gone wrong for me is dealing with the economic downturn.  We are spending far too much money that will only put us into more debt, not bring us out of this recession.  Government spending did not work in the Great Depression, where unemployment was still at 15% in 1940 (eight years after the launch of the New Deal), and it won't work now.  I hope Obama sees that his spending is not working and stops before it hurts any more generations to come.

I do, however, applaud the President's handling of the situation in Afghanistan.  Bringing more troops into the country was the right thing to do, and I hope Obama can continue to do what is necessary to win that war despite enormous pressure from the left to bring the troops home.  The troops want to stay and win the war--and we are perfectly capable of doing so.

Political Cartoon #5

1. Who drew the cartoon? Nate Beeler

2. Where was it published? townhall.com, 1/7/10

3. What issue does it deal with? Gilbert Arenas bringing a gun into the Wizards' locker room

4. What is the cartoon's message? The cartoon's message is that Gilbert Arenas has set a bad example for all of his young fans.  Many of these young fans already lean towards violent lifestyles, and Arenas' bringing a gun into the locker room just causes these young fans to think that that lifestyle is ok since their sports hero does the same.

5. Do you agree with this message? I completely agree with the cartoon's message.  Professional athletes, especially stars like Gilbert Arenas, have a greater responsibility than just to play well.  They are role models to countless young fans, and should therefore be held to higher standards than the rest of society.  Suspension is not a strict enough punishment for Arenas.

Source: http://townhall.com/cartoons/cartoonist/NateBeeler/2010/01/1

Holidays

Christmas is my favorite holiday.  This is primarily because it comes with an entire season of its own.  It influences all parts of our society, from decorations in stores to the music we listen to.  I think that it is important to have a month every year to set aside as a celebration--even if you don't believe the religious aspect of the holiday.

Since my relatives live far away, it is usually just my immediate family for Christmas.  Christmas Eve generally includes eating our family's traditional Christmas Eve dinner: the amazingly awful and disgusting oyster stew (I hardly ever actually eat it).  We then watch A Christmas Story (fantastic movie) until midnight mass rolls around.  After that, I go to bed and wait for Santa to come so I can run down the stairs in the morning and see all the cool presents he left.  It's a fun season.

Political Cartoon #4

1. Who drew the cartoon? Gary Varvel

2. Where was it published? townhall.com, 12/29/2009

3. What issue does it deal with? The cartoon deal's with Congress' tendency to make empty promises of reform.

4. What is the cartoon's message? The cartoon's message is that even Congressmen know that they have failed to keep their promises.

5. Do you agree/ disagree with message?  I agree with the message.  All too often, we see congressmen make lofty campaign promises and then see no results once they actually do get in office.  It really is as if many of them make promises for the sole purpose of winning elections.

Source: http://townhall.com/cartoons/2009/12/28/