Showing posts with label Plaxico Burris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plaxico Burris. Show all posts
Alright, so, I've been MIA for a while. I am living. Washington still exists. Still no climate change bill.
As I sit here in my rapidly darkening office, I am awaiting news on an amendment (what we call a "rider") to drop, sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). This fence-sitter is threatening to attach a rider to an interior appropriations bill that would prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary sources. In English, the EPA would not be able to stop power plants, coal-fired or otherwise, from emitting as much carbon as they want.
This is obviously bad. Murkowski herself said today that she is "calling a timeout" on the EPA and its ability to regulate, citing many sources in saying that climate change is best handled by the legislature. About that, she is absolutely right.
However, a reporter asked her a question that tore apart the base of her claim. "There has been climate change legislation in Congress every year since 2005 and nothing has been done. At what point is it appropriate for the EPA to step in?
Five years ago.
If Congress is not going to step up and do something, then the EPA will have to. So, if I hadn't made it clear up to this point, we are very much against the rider.
Problem is, have you ever heard of a rider? On West Wing doesn't count. It is hard to drum up support against a rider. Much harder than for or against an actual bill. Add the fact that it is part of an appropriations bill and you get an obscure thing that is part of a whole that most people don't understand at all (a budget).
So here we sit. Waiting. Hoping she gets some sense.
It must be amazing that I didn't jump on here right away on Saturday and report on the Huskies big win, huh? Don't worry, the text messages were flying around all over the place. Pretty awesome day. And some extremely high praise from Pete Carroll himself. It is clear he looks at the win as an upset, but one by a team that is pretty good.
A few people have said they think Jake Locker will be the highest-rated quarterback heading into the next NFL draft. This is a guy that already has signed with a baseball organization. All of this after missing nearly all of 2008.
The Huskies are back.
Finally, I know there isn't much interesting stuff going on on the blog right this second, but I wanted to share another somewhat sad/instructional story again. And then I really am trying to wedge blogging time into the calendar. I actually liked it the best when I was able to share news.
Plaxico Burris was sentenced today. For those of you who don't know, he was the NFL wide receiver for the NY Giants that shot himself in the leg by accident in a Manhattan night club. Burris was hit with weapons charges and pleaded guilty.
Today, after walking up to his lawyer and beginning to listen to the judge talk, he stopped the proceeding, asked the judge for permission and then walked back to his family one last time.
He hugged his wife, kissed his son and hugged his parents. His father told, somberly, to be strong.
He was then sentenced to 20-24 months in prison.
Some people forget the real victims here. This man is a husband and a father. He didn't kill anyone and the arguments for athletes carrying protection in night clubs in neither here nor there. I am not arguing that he broke the law.
To the contrary, as he lawyer framed Burris as a "man who broke the law, not a criminal," I was stuck with the argument I have made about mandatory minimums for quite some time. The argument here isn't why some people get sentenced more than others. It is why are these people breaking the law in the first place.
Because the victims were in that court room and they weren't the family of someone he hurt. They were his family. His son, who will spend years without a father in his home. His wife, who will be a single mother with no salary at this point. Hopefully she either is employed or he saved money from his lucrative NFL contracts. You may say that you cannot feel bad for an NFL athlete that blows his money.
But I sure would feel bad for his son, who didn't do a damn thing.
These are the real victims.
Anyway, back to work. Gonna be a long night. Hope all is well with y'all out there.
[More]
As I sit here in my rapidly darkening office, I am awaiting news on an amendment (what we call a "rider") to drop, sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). This fence-sitter is threatening to attach a rider to an interior appropriations bill that would prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary sources. In English, the EPA would not be able to stop power plants, coal-fired or otherwise, from emitting as much carbon as they want.
This is obviously bad. Murkowski herself said today that she is "calling a timeout" on the EPA and its ability to regulate, citing many sources in saying that climate change is best handled by the legislature. About that, she is absolutely right.
However, a reporter asked her a question that tore apart the base of her claim. "There has been climate change legislation in Congress every year since 2005 and nothing has been done. At what point is it appropriate for the EPA to step in?
Five years ago.
If Congress is not going to step up and do something, then the EPA will have to. So, if I hadn't made it clear up to this point, we are very much against the rider.
Problem is, have you ever heard of a rider? On West Wing doesn't count. It is hard to drum up support against a rider. Much harder than for or against an actual bill. Add the fact that it is part of an appropriations bill and you get an obscure thing that is part of a whole that most people don't understand at all (a budget).
So here we sit. Waiting. Hoping she gets some sense.
It must be amazing that I didn't jump on here right away on Saturday and report on the Huskies big win, huh? Don't worry, the text messages were flying around all over the place. Pretty awesome day. And some extremely high praise from Pete Carroll himself. It is clear he looks at the win as an upset, but one by a team that is pretty good.
A few people have said they think Jake Locker will be the highest-rated quarterback heading into the next NFL draft. This is a guy that already has signed with a baseball organization. All of this after missing nearly all of 2008.
The Huskies are back.
Finally, I know there isn't much interesting stuff going on on the blog right this second, but I wanted to share another somewhat sad/instructional story again. And then I really am trying to wedge blogging time into the calendar. I actually liked it the best when I was able to share news.
Plaxico Burris was sentenced today. For those of you who don't know, he was the NFL wide receiver for the NY Giants that shot himself in the leg by accident in a Manhattan night club. Burris was hit with weapons charges and pleaded guilty.
Today, after walking up to his lawyer and beginning to listen to the judge talk, he stopped the proceeding, asked the judge for permission and then walked back to his family one last time.
He hugged his wife, kissed his son and hugged his parents. His father told, somberly, to be strong.
He was then sentenced to 20-24 months in prison.
Some people forget the real victims here. This man is a husband and a father. He didn't kill anyone and the arguments for athletes carrying protection in night clubs in neither here nor there. I am not arguing that he broke the law.
To the contrary, as he lawyer framed Burris as a "man who broke the law, not a criminal," I was stuck with the argument I have made about mandatory minimums for quite some time. The argument here isn't why some people get sentenced more than others. It is why are these people breaking the law in the first place.
Because the victims were in that court room and they weren't the family of someone he hurt. They were his family. His son, who will spend years without a father in his home. His wife, who will be a single mother with no salary at this point. Hopefully she either is employed or he saved money from his lucrative NFL contracts. You may say that you cannot feel bad for an NFL athlete that blows his money.
But I sure would feel bad for his son, who didn't do a damn thing.
These are the real victims.
Anyway, back to work. Gonna be a long night. Hope all is well with y'all out there.
So if you're like me - and if you are I suggest you see a doctor or do something to right yourself - you slipped into the small conference room in your office for a minute to watch the end of the Mariners game. You actually cut a meeting short in order to do it. And what you saw made you cringe as your Michigan-dominated office celebrated their hometown team breaking the hearts of M's fans.
Okay, maybe a little dramatic, but only a little.
C'mon Kenji, you gotta catch that ball.
M's are now seven games out of the wild card and fading fast, though not as badly as last year.
On to other things while I have a minute.
"There aren't many jobs for gun-toting, unstable women, unless you want to run for Governor of Alaska." - Letterman last night. And check this out. Wish I'd posted this morning Barney Frank's reaction to a woman calling Obama a Nazi:
John Stewart was in rare form. But in all seriousness, Frank did the right thing. These comparisons between Obama and Nazis are ridiculous. They have to be ignored. Nothing good comes from them. Not to mention, as Stewart mentions, Frank is a Jew. So...pretty much wrapped that one up.
Election in Afghanistan. Obama is good with it.
Cash for clunkers is getting junked. Really it's just ending, but hey, you know, trying to sound witty here.
Ted Kennedy wants a faster way to replace himself in the inevitable event that the unthinkable happens...and what do you know, Republicans don't like it.
Did someone join the mile high club publicly?
That is way more exciting than the long email exchange I had with my co-worker today about why my cream cheese got stolen from the fridge. Wish I could copy it here, but really? All I know is that it is someone else's fault - according to her - that I watched her eat my cream cheese.
A black AG indicting a bunch of Mexican drug dealers. Hmmm...think this will bridge the gap between our two cultures? No racism whatsoever. I am serious. But if I were Holder I'd move for a while. At least someone got it right when they blamed this problem on the U.S. having a drug problem.
This is not funny, at all. But I find it somewhat ironic that we have so much trouble convicting famous people, especially athletes, that actually kill people. Yet, despite the pride my co-worker talked about after watching Plaxico Burris make a big TD catch in the SuperBowl, the former receiver pulled a Cheddar Bob and shot himself, leading to gun charges that are going to land him in prison for two years. Like I said, not funny, but it definitely makes you scratch your head.
Usain Bolt needs to sign with the Seahawks Just have him run by people.
I do like that NASCAR is visiting Dems. Also that the President called NASCAR the "American sport", as is the weeklong tailgate that comes before it.
Which reminds me 14 DAYS TIL FOOTBALL!
Holla.
[More]
Okay, maybe a little dramatic, but only a little.
C'mon Kenji, you gotta catch that ball.
M's are now seven games out of the wild card and fading fast, though not as badly as last year.
On to other things while I have a minute.
"There aren't many jobs for gun-toting, unstable women, unless you want to run for Governor of Alaska." - Letterman last night. And check this out. Wish I'd posted this morning Barney Frank's reaction to a woman calling Obama a Nazi:
John Stewart was in rare form. But in all seriousness, Frank did the right thing. These comparisons between Obama and Nazis are ridiculous. They have to be ignored. Nothing good comes from them. Not to mention, as Stewart mentions, Frank is a Jew. So...pretty much wrapped that one up.
Election in Afghanistan. Obama is good with it.
Cash for clunkers is getting junked. Really it's just ending, but hey, you know, trying to sound witty here.
Ted Kennedy wants a faster way to replace himself in the inevitable event that the unthinkable happens...and what do you know, Republicans don't like it.
Did someone join the mile high club publicly?
That is way more exciting than the long email exchange I had with my co-worker today about why my cream cheese got stolen from the fridge. Wish I could copy it here, but really? All I know is that it is someone else's fault - according to her - that I watched her eat my cream cheese.
A black AG indicting a bunch of Mexican drug dealers. Hmmm...think this will bridge the gap between our two cultures? No racism whatsoever. I am serious. But if I were Holder I'd move for a while. At least someone got it right when they blamed this problem on the U.S. having a drug problem.
This is not funny, at all. But I find it somewhat ironic that we have so much trouble convicting famous people, especially athletes, that actually kill people. Yet, despite the pride my co-worker talked about after watching Plaxico Burris make a big TD catch in the SuperBowl, the former receiver pulled a Cheddar Bob and shot himself, leading to gun charges that are going to land him in prison for two years. Like I said, not funny, but it definitely makes you scratch your head.
Usain Bolt needs to sign with the Seahawks Just have him run by people.
I do like that NASCAR is visiting Dems. Also that the President called NASCAR the "American sport", as is the weeklong tailgate that comes before it.
Which reminds me 14 DAYS TIL FOOTBALL!
Holla.