What? No Way. . .

Apparently, Roger Goodell doesn't like the idea of Rush Limbaugh owning an NFL franchise either:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/13/goodell-limbaug/

The story links to a NY Times article, but regardless, this should come as no surprise.  Nor was it surprising when Rush got canned from ESPN.  Here's a brief factoid for you - a lot of NFL players are African American.  Now, is Rush a racist?  To be honest, I don't know.  I do know that he has said a fair number of things that lead me to believe he is.  And he is comfortable with racist humor.  But you never really know about these things one way or another. 

But, and I think this is important, Rush is perceived by players in the NFL (and other sports) as racist.  That's why ESPN canned him - it depends on the cooperation and participation of African American athletes.  Having Rush was too big of a risk.  So too is having Rush as an owner.  I could very well see a rookie refusing to go to the Rams because of Rush's ownership.  Forget about free agent signings.  No, having Rush as an owner would have been a disaster.

On a slightly different note, here is what I think the Pads should do in preparation for next year:

1) Trade Kouzmanoff - His defense is okay (what balls he gets to, he catches), but his batting average is low - .250ish - his OBP is only around 300, and he leads the league in double plays.  He does have some power, which should improve outside of Petco.  Meanwhile, Headley is about the same defensively, has a little bit less power (he hits doubles, not home runs), and hits for a higher average and OBP.    Plus, Headley hits better when he plays third and doesn't have to worry about playing the outfield (where he's not good).

2) Trade Heath Bell - Okay, I like Bell, and I think he's a top closer.  At the same time, he's older (around 30), and makes a decent amount of money.  I think Gregerson could be an effective closer, at a tenth the price.  Plus, Bell's value is probably as high as its going to get right now.  Considering that the Cardinals, Rockies, and Red Sox all had their closers blow saves in the playoffs, I think we could get a lot for him.

3) Keep Gonzo - Adrian is the face of the franchise, a local boy, and a hell of a player.  Yes, his value is high, but keeping him for at least another year (Adrian's contract runs through 2011) is a good call.  At the same time, if someone offers the moon. . .

With these manuevers, the Pads have an infield of Gonzo, Eckstein, Cabrera, and Headley, an outfield of Veneble, Gywnn, Blanks, with Hundley behind the plate.  That's a pretty good lineup, and its cheap.

Shit is Getting Scary. . .

Whenever I read shit like this (and I suggest you read it), I become very, very worried about this country. If one reads the accounts of the political discourse prior to the Civil War, its filled with Senators fighting each other, and prior to the War itself, people were literally killing each other in Kansas. And to be honest, I see the country going this way again.

For a variety of reasons, political discourse in this country stopped being about which policy is the best to follow, but rather about which reality to live in. For more than a few right-wingers, reality is that Obama was born in Kenya, that he's a Socialist, that he wants to kill old people and children, that global warming does not exist, and Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9-11 and had weapons of mass destruction. None of these things are true, but are taken as gospel by too many people.

Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are, of course, somewhat responsible. Glenn Beck, in particular, has done a lot to stoke the fires of hatred against Obama. And Limbaugh calling Obama a Nazi is not helping either. But let's face it, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are opportunists - if they didn't chase the lunatic fringe, someone else would. That's capitalism. As a moral matter, if anyone gets hurt, because of the hatred these douche nozzles spew, I hope they burn in hell.

Before someone says something about Move-On, and the Hitler ad, allow me to point out that the ad was submitted to Move-On, and they ultimately scrubbed the ad from their site. Oh, and Bush did invade a country for the purpose of spreading his ideology across the world (and was torturing people, and spied on Americans. . .but that's another post). There is a big, big difference between Rush Limbaugh and some random guy. Don't get me wrong, the left has its loonies (goddamn hippies), but our nutjobs don't have institutional support.

So, how do we walk back from this precipice? From this Democrat's perspective, walking back can't mean giving up the store. No, Democrats need to fight harder for what they believe in. And Republicans shouldn't stop fighting for what they believe in either. But we have to start reading from the same page.