oh what a night!

Short, but hopefully sweet, thoughts on the happenings of the night:

1) Not really about tonight, but about this night TEN years ago... it was the release day of the SEGA Dreamcast. I remember this night pretty vividly, actually. I believe it was also the night of the MTV Video Music Awards (as an impressionable 13 year old, of course video games and MTV were important spheres of influence in my world). Its kind of hard to believe that 10 years ago is so fresh in my mind, but I guess that is just a part of getting older...

2) Now, back to the present day. The Fightin' United came out with all three, crucial, golden points against Kansas City. Good to see them score in the run of play, since that hasn't happened in weeks. I can't really comment more on the game, seeing as how I could only follow it on the tweetstream from the DCUnited website. GOOD ON YA UNITED!

3) USMNT with a clutch victory over T&T on a 61st minute golazo from Ricardo Clark. It was a gritty match, with the back line putting in a pretty comical performance in the first half. Howard, as usual, was on point and there to play, although he definitely got bailed out by the crossbar and by T&T lack of cutting edge on a couple of occasions. The result is three critical points, so I am not going to complain one bit more.

4) Obama's speech. I don't really feel like trifling around with a comprehensive review of the speech (especially since it will be done much better on numerous sites around the interwebs), but I do have some quick hits that I would like to share:

+ Overall, I liked the speech. Good show from Obama.

- TERRIBLE from the fucking heckler from the Republican side of the aisle. What the hell was he thinking?!?! He is a federal-level official, not some grab-ass town councilman at a contentious school board meeting. Grow up and find some decorum. Actually, first look up decorum because I am sure you don't know what the word means.

+ Some form of public option, although I am not 100% confident that I fully understand how it would work. I look forward to more detail on this one.

- - Mandate... I am not really into the whole mandate concept, but it seems like it dovetails with the public option component somehow, so again, I look forward to more details.

+ Invoking Kennedy and reminding Republicans like Grassley that they need to grow the fuck up and stop fanning the flames of lies.

+ Rhetoric on the nature of government and what it can, should, and should not do. Very nice.

+ + Putting health care reform in historical perspective, and also comparing how we have gotten to this point with respect to major reforms.

+ + + (and I am paraphrasing here) "not the first president to try to fix this issue, but determined to be the last"... loved it.

Again, overall, I liked the speech a good deal, now its time to see how it travels down the various echo chambers and into the public opinion.

a fucking disgrace

And no, I am not talking about Greg Janicki's performance at the back for D.C. United last night against Marathon in CONCACAF Champions League play, although that could merit a good rant in of itself.

I do make reference to this soccer dude, though:

"It's a fucking disgrace!" (0:40)

Mr. Drogba's indignation at the terrible refereeing in that game mirrors nicely my growing frustration with the tone of the anti-health reform movement and the handling of the situation by the Obama Administation. The Republicans who are intent on keeping the status quo and conning the American people with flat out lies about the proposed changes are making me sick. The possible abandonment of a public option by the President is most discouraging.

Now I am not going to drone on about facts and figures about why reform with a public option is far, far superior to the "fucking disgrace" of a situation we have now - there are other, more informed sources that would do a much better job of that. I also am not interested in going on an impassioned explanation about how a stunning majority of my family falls into that great mass of uninsured Americans and how worry over their well-being comes over me almost every day. No, all I would like to do is probe into some logical fallacies with the Republican argument against reform.

Republican Tenet 1: We need to keep taxes on the super rich low in order to compete with other industrialized nations, to retain talent and to reward the entrepreneurial spirit alive and well.

Republican Tenet 2: We can't afford government-run health care because it would be ruinous to the economy and would be far too socialist of a measure.

Hmm... it would seem that these other industrialized nations HAVE some form of pubic option for health coverage - a socialist measure of course. So... we can't afford something that these "socialists" HAVE in order to keep pace with them? Oh, and relating back to taxes... in order to PAY for this safety net, they have higher taxes than we. Oh...

To summarize in case my questioning tone confused you, dear reader: we can't afford slightly higher taxes on the super wealthy NOR can we afford a public option so we can COMPETE with countries that have one to pay for the other. Maybe we would be more competitive if we had the same system as they? No, no. God forbid we try to emulate these other countries, who are certainly giving us a run for our money (if the Repubs are to be believed) with these socialist shackles. No, no, that would make FAR too much sense for those who would want you to believe that government-administered health care would lead to death panels and rationing (the latter of which we have already, fyir).

President Obama - please do your fucking job and direct the Democratic party in an effective manner. The people who voted for you want a public option. Don't waver. Elections matter. You have the majority, you have (above perhaps any other modern day politician) have the oratorical skill and ability to convince the American people (those among us who are reasonable, at least) of the necessity of change. Millions of lives and hard earned fortunes hang in the balance. End this fucking disgrace of misinformation by the right and abuse of the American people by the health insurance industry. There are times for bipartisanship and there are times for bold leadership in a new direction. Now is the time for the latter.

thoughts on chapel hill

Yes, yes, by "tomorrow" of course I meant two weeks. Really, I will be back on the wagon soon.

The Old Well

For the second straight year, my first week of August was spent in Chapel Hill for a conference. I must say that, just as last year, I come away impressed and intrigued. On my first night in town, I texted to a friend over some late night pizza, "I really, really like bizarro Charlottesville!" I think that fairly epitomizes my opinion of the place. In general I view UNC-CH as a sort of bizarro UVA: two old, southern schools with fine reputations, classy academic programs, and great surrounding cities. Below I offer a subject-based comparison that help frame my understanding of the place.

Bar Scene: Franklin Street is Chapel Hill's answer to both the Corner and Downtown Mall. I really liked how all of the bars were along one axis at the perimeter of campus. Having both sides of the street dedicated to student revelry and gastronomy offers a distinct advantage over the Corner in the sense that it creates a virtual hyphydrome when there are a lot of people out on the town. Or when a national championship is won (not that UVA would know anything about that in a sport that people care about). The tendency of bars to charge a cover most nights was very perplexing to those of us used to bar-hopping on the Corner. The practice effectively locks folks into staying at one or two places for the whole night, but that is not too bad considering that these $3 charges typically give you access to some pretty sweet drink specials. Overall, I would I have to say that I enjoyed myself immensely each and every night I went out and hope to go back and prowl Franklin Street once more.

Campus: I found the architecture of most of the buildings on the main part of campus to be rather attractive, despite the lack of an overall theme. I think being from Virginia has me spoiled: each of the major schools here seem to have a certain look or profile to their buildings; UVA has its red brick, W&M has its pale brick, VT has its trademark Hokie Stone, and JMU has bluestone from a local quarry. I think having buildings with different styles and looks adds to the appeal of a campus and helps to give each building its own identity. Unfortunately, the campus shared something with the aforementioned schools: a smattering of buildings that were clearly designed in the 60s and 70s - completely hideous affairs with thin windows and jarring facades. Bleh. Overall, a rousing thumbs up for the scenery. I found it comparable to the beauty of its bizarro younger sister in Charlottesville.

Student Body: Now I am going to admit straight out that I am basing this judgement solely upon the group of kids I met during this conference and those few others that I knew before that are students/alums. I must say that on the whole I like what I see. The people there seem to be similar to folks you would find at UVA, except without the d-baggery and big-headedness that comes with being labeled the "top public school in the nation." (To their credit, the Berkeley kids were pretty chill about their school's prestige.) They definitely know they are the shit in NC (as far as publics go) and don't let others forget... they avoid being rich about it, though, which I definitely appreciated. I meet some really cool folks, and it kind of makes me wonder what life would have been like had I gone to this school (assuming I got in of course, which is a pretty big assumption considering you have to be a fucking baller to get in out of state).

Overall, I must say that I found Chapel Hill to be a rather charming place. The town, the campus, the people... all fit together to make UNC-CH one of those places I have a "school crush" on. Good on ya, Carolina.

threestripes revival

Last post was over a month ago at this point, but it's not as if I have not been thinking about the blog. I believe that my lack of blogging has been due to the erratic nature of my schedule (touring across the state mixed in with variable, odd, and time-consuming tasks) and the fact that when I have had free time, I have not really felt a huge urge to bloviate on any interesting topics. I have been reading some books, following events in the soccer/political world, and researching law schools, so I think my source material is getting to the tipping point where I will absolutely have to write about something to sort everything out.

Check back for a new, exciting post tomorrow!

three stripes, now with tags

I have taken the liberty to tag almost all of the posts from the past year of blogging. Navigation, ho!

the 228 million dollar odd couple

Teammates!

What better week to come back to the world of blogging than this one, full of fantastic record summer signings for Los Blancos. The Galacti-dos era has gone off to a record-breaking start, first with news this Monday that Kaka was heading to Madrid and late breaking word last night that Cristiano Ronaldo would be following him there. In total, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez lightened his transfer purse by an astounding 228 million dollars in the course of four days, with no end in sight to the spending, as David Villa and others are expected to fill out the ranks in the coming days and weeks.

But I think the signing of these two players in particular cannot pass by without comment. In nabbing these two magnificent players, Madrid has set up quite an interesting situation. Both of these men have been regarded in recent times as the best in their craft: Kaka a master finisher (0:27) and distributor of the ball and Ronaldo a free kick wizard and stepover champion. Their on-the-field abilities aside, I am fascinated by the dynamic that the two of them bring to the squad.

One one hand, we have Kaka. I think Kaka goes to church more often than my old school, ultra-Catholic grandfather. After recovering from a very serious spinal cord injury at a young age, Kaka has devoted his life to Jesus (going so far as to wear an undershirt claiming as such during the Champions League final in 2007). Even his wife is as wholesome as WAGs get, not to mention pretty damn fine. Overall, I must say that Kaka seems like a genuinely wholesome dude, which is even more impressive considering the multitude of vices available to a world famous soccer player.

TCFW!

On the other, we have C. Ron. Much has been made of his ultra-metrosexual ways, his womanizing (maninzing?), his man tan, and general dandy-ness. It generally goes without saying that this dude is full of himself and then some. He has also been criticized for being rather petulant and whiny on the field and off, so I wouldn't be going out on a limb in labeling him soccer's #1 prima donna. Apparently he likes to cavort with other ill-regarded, pink-loving, gossip column fodder, proof coming from those fine people at TMZ. Basically, the man in both attitude and lifestyle is the exact opposite of Kaka.

Umm... words cannot describe.

So how will they get on? On the field, I can see magic happening. Off of the field... I can only hope Kaka will at least have some kind of influence on the wild child antics of Ronaldo. After all, one can only hook up with Paris Hilton so many times before becoming completely disabled by VDs.

not dead, just away for a while

I realize its been way, wayyyy too long since my last post, yet the drought will continue until around June 8. After that, when I am bound to have much more time on my hands, there will be a return to form for the ol' blog.