Wednesday, April 30, 2014

So Long Sterling


April 29th, 2014 is a day that will live forever in the lore of the National Basketball Association. It was the day that a newly minted commissioner Adam Silver stood at the podium, before a room filled with reporters, and the sounds of cameras clicking away. Obviously nervous, as it showed in his quaking voice, Silver lowered the boom heard around the world. Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers a franchise known more for failed draft picks and being at the bottom of the standings, was banned for life. No going to the office, no attending games, nothing. The only way Donald Sterling could watch a NBA game was to turn on the TV, or watch it online.  And not that it mattered to multi-millionaire Sterling, he was fined $2.5 million dollars, the max an owner or a player could be fined.

The sad part of this tale is that it’s been well documented that Sterling embraces outdated racist views. Sterling was sued twice over apartments he owned. He steadfast refused to rent to blacks (“They are Lazy and smell bad.” Sterling quipped, according to the testimony of a former employee of his rental company) and Latinos (“They don’t work; they sit around all day and drink.”) Sterling also refused to rent to people receiving government assistance. Sterling, according to the two lawsuits would recruit employees to give these renters surprise inspections, refuse to make repairs, and destroy checks made for rent payment in order to evict them. Sterling also settled in a lawsuit from Elgin Baylor, a legendary NBA player who worked in the front office.

I’ve seen plenty of viewpoints saying that V, the woman who secretly recorded Sterling in the phone conversation, and leaked it to TMZ, is bitter, a gold-digger, and a hussy. They say she did it for money. Well, let’s look at the failed logic of that line of thinking. Why would she cost Sterling millions and millions of dollars? She knew that there was going to be serious fallout, maybe not this bad, but she something was going to come of this. It wouldn’t make sense for her to record him and release the tape to the media.

However, the NBA has long been aware of Sterling, and has done zip, nothing to deal with him. It took Sterling’s mistress, it took a player revolt, and it took sponsors jumping the goddamn ship for the league to do a goddamn thing. The league didn’t care when Sterling, going on the cheap, demanded that his coaching staff learn how to tape ankles so he could relieve much of the training staff of their duties. The league did nothing when the stories of Sterling being discriminative in his rental policies came to light via lawsuits. The league let a legend like Baylor twist in the wind in order to not let the world know that one of its owners was a racist.

This is an actual Sterling quote: “I Support them and give them food, give them clothes and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them?” This was in response to how he could own an NBA team and have such racist views. They only comments that were more out of step with the times was when that tax evading scumbag Cliven Bundy said that blacks were better off as slaves.

There is no clearer villain in this than Donald Sterling. The NBA owners are just minor players who sat silent. Sterling is the one that is a racist. Sterling is the one who walked all over the poor and needy. Sterling has become the most vile owner since the late Marge Schott of the Cincinnati Reds. Schott used a very racist way to describe Dave Parker and Eric Davis (a word I won’t print here) and Schott also infamously said “Hitler wasn’t a bad guy, he just went too far.”

Congrats Sterling, you are now in the same class as a woman who praised Adolf Hitler. The NBA in the end did what it needed to do. It ran Donald Sterling and his vile, racist views out of the league. Donald Sterling’s name will always be connected to racism. The league in the end, saved itself, avoided alienating its fan base, an avoided a full out player revolt. I applaud the decision, and I applaud the strong stance Adam Silver took.  Now if only the NFL could convince Daniel Snyder to change the name of the Redskins, and if Major League Baseball could finally remove Cap Anson and Kennesaw Mountain Landis, two other vile racist, out of the hall of fame.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Gun owners, you've been had.


There is a wrestler in the WWE named “Bad News” Barrett. His gimmick involves taking the microphone and saying something like “I know you’ve all come here to see me lose, but I’ve got some Bad News for you.” Well, that’s pretty much summing up today’s blog. Gun owners, I’ve got some bad news for you….you’ve all been had.

The gun companies have played you. The NRA has played you. And the Republican Party has really played you. They played on your passion, and they played on your fears. They’ve used you for their own agenda. Gun owners, you got had.

This came to me one night, when I thought to myself, you never used to see gun stores advertise on TV. And now you do. The NRA, along with the GOP and their public relations outlet, Fox News, have stirred up such fear that President Obama is going to take away your guns, that you’ve given your hard earned money willing to stop it.

Well, President Obama doesn’t have to power to just outlaw guns. He never could just “take away your right to have a gun.”  Because exactly three-hundred and thirty-eight years ago, a little document was written called the US Constitution. The second Amendment assures the right to have a gun, but it is still debatable if it assures the right of every non-militia member to own a gun. That being said, I’m going to open the wizards curtain, and tell all of me gun owning, Second Amendment protecting friends how they’ve gotten played.

Let’s first take a quick look at the NRA. It was started in 1871 by two former civil war veterans who felt that the average farmer couldn’t shoot as well as a well-trained militia man or guerilla. The NRA’s goal was “Firearms safety, Marksmanship Training, and Shooting for recreation.” Thanks to the NRA’s first president, a rather famous man named Ambrose Burnside, the NRA even worked with the military to get second hand guns, as well as training in use of the weapon.  The goal of the NRA had nothing to do with defending your home, but to defend your home land. They wanted citizens to be trained to assist in repelling acts of rebellion, like the one committed by Daniel Shay. Despite what some ill-informed tea party members have said, the second amendment has nothing to do with staging a full on insurrection.  Then came the 1920, when the NRA became very active in authoring gun control laws. I’ll give you a second to re-read that statement. The NRA once was at the fore front of writing gun control laws. There was concern for these laws, especially in New York, which nearly saw its mayor assassinated.

The NRA even helped President Roosevelt draft the gun control laws that were a part of the “New Deal.”  Then NRA president Karl Frederick praised the law, citing that gun ownership should only occur with a valid license. When President Kennedy was assassinated, the NRA called for a ban on mail order gun sales.  However, a split would soon occur within the NRA. Gun owners felted singled out, rural cities and states felt they were being punished, and race was an issue. One of the biggest groups calling for an extension of gun owners’ right was…the Black Panther Party. Once again, take a second and re-read that.

So this all de-evolved into the mess that we have today, with the NRA now fighting pretty much all gun control laws. Which brings us to my opening statement; on how all of you second amendment supporting gun owners have been had. You’ve been told to get your guns before President Obama takes them away, which once again, he doesn’t have the power to. You know, there are those people in the Senate and Congress that would have to draft such a bill, and we know it would never survive to reach President Obama’s desk, not to mention it would be a constitutional nightmare if he were to sign such a bill.

The gun companies right now are making massive profits, as are the companies that make the ammo. They have the cash to spread around, buy the representation they know will bow to their wishes, and like a puppet on a string, these newly purchased elected officials spread the propaganda that they’ve been told to spread. They’ve preyed on your fears, and they’ve laughed all the way to the bank. The NRA has used you. Gun rights groups have used you, and your elected officials have used you.

 So, before reading this, how many of you knew that the NRA was more concerned on making sure people were properly trained with guns, and that criminal elements could not legally purchase a gun? How many of you knew that many of the current laws in place, such as waiting periods, were actually authored by the NRA?

Sounds a lot different than what exist right now, doesn’t it? Listen; let’s be clear, I’m not calling for the end of the Second Amendment. I’m just calling for a little common sense, and for the NRA to go back to its original purpose: the proper training of people to use guns, and to act as an expert to the congress when it comes to drafting gun laws. But I know that’s not going to happen.

So maybe some of you can re-think if the NRA is really here to help you, or to further their own agenda, which has changed since Harlon Carter helped corrupt the group (by the way, google the named Harlon Carter). Though Carter was dismissed in 1978 from the group, he was one of the first to call for a repeal of every gun law.

But I digress. I hope this has been educational, especially the part regarding the NRA. And I hope your eyes have been opened to how the gun industry on a whole has used your fears to take money from your pockets. You’ve been played, my friends. Maybe it’s time that the level headed, defend the home, teach about proper use of guns, sensible gun control law members of the NRA to stage a coupe , and get rid of the extremist that have no issues with guns being used to settle debates.

Time is running out for you to act. That is all.