Hannitized21's Blog

Please tell me the rumors I've heard about Marty Shottenheimer returning to the sidelines in Cleveland are true. Oh, do I long for the days of Kosar to Slaughter or Mack up the middle and Metcalf returning yet another punt against Pittsburgh for a touchdown. Phil Savage, please fire Romeo Crennel as soon as possible for Marty ball. I wanna hear it! I wanna hear it again on audio before a game that actually means something..... "There's a gleam!!...."

Say what you will about the state of the Browns right now, but there are reasons to believe in the future of this franchise. First of all, GM Phil Savage didn't push the panic button when it came to the 3rd pick. Savage took the top offensive lineman in the draft in Joe Thomas, gambling that noone would take a QB that wasn't needed. When it became realistic, Savage traded to get the future of the franchise, Brady Quinn.

Whether or not Romeo will be on the sidelines past 2007 is irrelevent. The pieces are in place, thanks to Phil Savage. Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow II are both being more and more implemented into the offensive scheme thanks to an offensive coordinator not named Maurice Carthon. The Browns also have defensive forces yet to be recognized. Savage's 1st round pick last year, Wimbley from Florida State, proved he was legit. Leigh Bodden has made a claim to be the next shut down corner. Chaun Thompson has made Butch Davis look more like a sheep instead of a donkey. All this combined gives Browns fans something to look forward to. A Super Bowl appearance? Not yet.

How the Far Left is Handling the U.S. Military

 

The Houston Chronicle is a committed left newspaper. Its editorial page — liberal down the line. Yesterday that paper said this about U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq:

"The Bush administration still refuses to allow coverage of returning flag- draped coffins. Certainly no family should have media coverage forced upon them, but many would consider it more respectful to see their soldier's final homecoming honored rather than hidden. And other Americans could see that image and stop for a moment in their own safe living rooms to offer their silent respect and gratitude to particular soldiers in particular coffins, real people, not just numbers in the latest tally of casualties."

So The Houston Chronicle believes that showing coffins on TV and in the papers will lead to more "respect" for our valiant troops. Now a cynic might say this is a ruse, that The Chronicle wants to show coffins to add more emotion to the Iraq debate. A cynic might say that and point to the fact that The Houston Chronicle has consistently opposed the Iraq War.

An honest reporter might then ask The Chronicle: What it has done to respect the U.S. armed forces? According to Naomi Angle, a public affairs coordinator at The Chronicle, not much. While The Chronicle contributes to charities like the March of Dimes and the Houston Public Library, among others, it has not given one penny to any veteran's organizations.

Now that might just be an oversight. "Talking Points" can't read minds. I have no idea if The Houston Chronicle wants more respect for the troops killed in action, or wants to use their deaths to hammer the war. I just don't know. But a healthy skepticism is in context here.

But there is no doubt about the intention of NBC News/Washington Post analyst William Arkin. As we've been reporting, and most left-wing media ignoring, Arkin believes U.S. forces are mercenaries and are lucky Americans don't spit upon them.

That point of view has brought immense pressure on Arkin, NBC News, and The Washington Post. In his latest writing for The Post, Arkin says this: "The torrents of other nail-biting, fanatical, threatening, represent the worst of polarized and hate-filled America. I'm not complaining about being criticized of being made the latest punching bag for those who subsist off high volume conquest. Nor am I apologizing for being critical of the military."

Now “The Factor” called The Washington Post and NBC News and asked how much they're paying Arkin, we're just curious. The Post and NBC would not give up that information. And both news agencies still will not publicly distance themselves from Arkin's comments.

It's funny, he objects to a quote, "hate-filled America," yet apparently doesn't understand that his anti-military screed is off-the-chart hateful and hurtful to our warriors and their families. But that is the far left for you. Ideology over everything else.

And that's "The Memo."

 

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The Perils of Being Barack Obama

Senator Barack Obama's poll numbers are falling. On January 17th, a Rasmussen survey had him tied with Hillary Clinton among Democrats in a presidential preference poll. Two weeks later Senator Clinton was 14 points up on Senator Obama. Now that tells me two things. First, that Senator Obama did not effectively seize the day after the first round of gushing media coverage. He didn't get his message out to the folks. He avoided us and many other programs that he could have used to define himself.

And, second, these word controversies are actually hurting Obama. You will remember another presidential hopeful, Senator Joseph Biden (D-Delaware) said this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You've got the first sort of mainstream African-American, who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, it's — that's a storybook, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Now the word, "clean" cleaned Biden's clock. And it should have. Even though the senator meant no harm, you can't use the word "clean" to describe a person and not expect questions to be raised. That would be like saying an Irish guy like me was "sober." You don't think every Irish person in the world would say, "what!"?

Now Senator Obama didn't hammer Biden, showing real class. But the situation unsettled a lot of people. Then President Bush sat down with FNC's Neil Cavuto.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST, "YOUR WORLD WITH NEIL CAVUTO": How do you think the troops would feel about a President Obama?

BUSH: Oh, I don't know. He hasn't gotten elected yet. He hasn't even got the party's nomination. He is an attractive guy. He is articulate. I have been impressed with him when I've seen him in person. But he's got a long way to go to be president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Yes, when I saw that, everybody in the newsroom saw it, nobody paid any attention. But the next day some African-Americans said using the word "articulate" was condescending to blacks. Again, the reaction on the part of many white people was, "What?" — We thought it was compliment.

The "articulate" debate demonstrates the divide that still exists between black and white America. And it is my belief that that kind of gulf does not help Barack Obama or any other black candidate. The No Spin truth is that some white people feel uneasy because they don't want to offend blacks and are confused by the divide, so they disengage.

For any politician to get elected to high office, there has to be a comfort level with the folks. So these controversies, even though not the fault of Senator Obama, have hurt him. They've also set back racial harmony a bit. I believe that's temporary — but it's there.

And that's "The Memo."

 

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Iraq, the Folks, and the Media

 

Last night, we criticized NBC News and The Washington Post for employing an analyst, named William Arkin, who is a hater of the U.S. military. If you missed it, my "Talking Points" are posted on billoreilly.com from last night. And the points references Arkin's vile description of American military people as mercenaries among other things.

Reaction, of course, has been enormous. There's anger that news organizations like NBC and The Washington Post would give a guy like Arkin any credibility at all.

Arkin has a long history of far-left activism, but NBC News failed to inform its audience of that, even though he appeared on NBC programs at least 80 times.

This kind of thing has gravely damaged NBC News. As we predicted, ABC's evening news is about to overtake NBC's broadcast. Last week, ABC did beat the NBC nightly news in a key demo and is closing in on total audience.

As for The Washington Post, spokesman Eric Grant says the paper will have no comment on the Arkin situation. —That means the newspaper does not feel it owes its readers any explanation at all. How arrogant.

Now the Iraq war has become an emotional hand grenade in America. The polls show most folks believe the war's not going well and they want out because they believe the Iraqis themselves aren't worth our sacrifice. — It's a performance issue for most.

But far left zealots like William Arkin will use the chaos in Iraq to say America is immoral. That tactic is despicable and should be condemned by all of us — no matter what our political beliefs.

The far left would you have believe the Bush administration lied to get us into war. For oil, for revenge, for whatever. In order to believe that scenario, you would have to believe that Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and most other world leaders were in on the lie as well.

Nearly every intelligence agency on this earth believed Saddam had an arsenal of deadly weapons. But poor WMD intelligence doesn't excuse the poor post Saddam planning by the Bush administration or the failure of the Iraqis to put aside ancient hatreds and work together for freedom. — That combination, poor planning with hatred on the part of the Iraqis might doom Iraq.

Even so, American military families do not deserve misguided fanatics calling those who serve "stupid", "paid killers", or even worse. The families do not deserve outlets like NBC News and The Washington Post giving sanctuary to haters of America. What the military does deserve is an acknowledgment that the USA and Britain tried to do something noble in Iraq. And a future strategy that does not rely on unrealistic expectations.

America is facing some very difficult days ahead and some difficult decisions. This is no time for irresponsible people.

And that's "The Memo."

 

 

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Attacking the Military

 

In a stunning display of hatred, NBC News military analyst William Arkin wrote two Internet columns chastising members of the United States Armed Forces for daring to criticize civilian dissenters of the Iraq war.

The columns appear on The Washington Post's Internet site and said in part:

"I've been mulling over an NBC Nightly News report from Iraq.in which a number of soldiers expressed frustration that with opposition to war in the United States.Through every Abu Ghraib and Haditha, through every rape and murder, the American public has indulged those in uniform, accepting that the incidents were the product of bad apples or even of some administration or command order. So we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them.and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war. [This] NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for mercenary — oops, sorry, — volunteer force."

It is hard to believe that any responsible person would attack the military in this very personal way. Arkin implies that Abu Ghraib and Haditha define how Americans have performed in Iraq and flat out calls our military people mercenaries. That is, folks who fight solely for money, have no patriotic intent at all.

Ironically, the American military has fought for centuries to allow Arkin the right to say these vile things. We invited Arkin on "The Factor." He, of course, declined. So FOX News producer Jesse Watters went to him:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS PRODUCER: Bill Arkin, how are you doing? FOX News. How's it going? Mr. Arkin, can we talk to you about some of the comments you made?

WILLIAM ARKIN, NBC NEWS MILITARY ANALYST, WASHINGTONPOST.COM COLUMNIST: Can you leave me alone for just a...

WATTERS: Actually, no, we'd like to talk to you for a second. How could you say what you said? I mean, don't you think it was really hurtful and harmful to the military families, to the soldiers serving in Iraq?

Let's address this. I mean you called these people "mercenaries." They're serving in harm's way in Iraq and you called them mercenaries, sir. Let's address this. You also said they were "pawns" and "naive." How could you say that?

ARKIN: Can you give me a business card?

WATTERS: I'll go get you the business card.

ARKIN: I don't believe you're with FOX News. Go get me one and then I'll talk to you.

WATTERS: Well, I'm — are you calling me a liar? Mr. Arkin, you said the soldiers.

ARKIN: (INAUDIBLE).

WATTERS: All right, thank you very much. You said that the soldiers should be grateful...

ARKIN: I told you I wanted a card.

WATTERS: You said that they should be grateful that people aren't spitting on them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Mr. Courage, huh? William Arkin has been a military hater for some time. He wrote a book called "Code Names," where he exposed more than 3,000 coded titles, some of which were still classified.

So there's no question, Arkin is an agenda driven guy. The question is why would The Washington Post and NBC News hire a person like this?

As you know, "Talking Points" believes NBC News has taken a sharp turn the left. It is a business decision made by three men: NBC Universal executives Robert Wright, Jeff Zucker, and Steve Capus, with their approval elements at NBC News, spew out far left propaganda on a daily basis and direct vicious, personal attacks at people with whom they disagree.

Wright, Zucker and Capus believe this is a responsible way to run a news division but students of journalism know this kind of garbage is unprecedented at the network level.

We asked NBC News for a statement regarding William Arkin and here it is. "The comments in question were made by Mr. Arkin in his Washington Post column. He does not speak on behalf of NBC News."

We'll deal with The Washington Post tomorrow. But notice how NBC didn't criticize Arkin's comments. Hard to believe.

Now there's no sense in confronting the NBC News people about this situation. They're in too deep. They will not change course because that would expose them. But NBC's parent company, General Electric, makes billions of dollars off government contracts including military work. Its CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, is aware of the Arkin problem and the tone of NBC News in general. It is Immelt who is responsible for this debacle, because he has the power to change it.

Fair minded Americans can dissent from the Iraq War. We all know that. The war has not been waged effectively because of poor post-Saddam planning and the failure of the Iraqi people to put aside religious hatreds and fight for democracy.

But clear thinking people also understand that deposing a murderous dictator and trying to bring freedom to millions of oppressed people is a noble endeavor. —Just ask the marsh Arabs or the Kurds.

The United States military has performed heroically in Iraq and Afghanistan in brutal environments. For any American, any American to accuse them of being paid agents of oppression is disgraceful and far over the line of rational thought.

NBC News and General Electric and The Washington Post will be forever tainted by this situation. Like William Arkin, they can run, but they can't hide. Enough is enough. All Americans, all Americans should condemn this.

And that's "The Memo."

I know most of you are already sick and tired of the snow and the freezing weather, as I used to be. However, I moved to Florida and as you may know, it's warmer with no snow. Since I've been gone from Ohio, I've grown to miss the cold weather and the change of seasons. The warmer climate isn't what it's all cracked up to be. Enjoy it, folks.

So Joey Porter is in the name calling business now. After last Thursday's win over the Browns, Porter used a slur equivilent of a homosexual male, when talking about Kellen Winslow II. It's no secret the two trash talkers didn't like each other on the field, but when Winslow tried to shake Porter's hand before last week's game, Porter refused. Porter went onto to call the Browns and Winslow "soft," and that the Steelers domination over the Browns (winning 13 of the last 14 meetings) makes this a non-rivalry. I think Porter needs to remove the plank out of his eye while pointing out the speck of dust in Cleveland's. The Browns are soft? Maybe they are. But they're not the team returning from a Super Bowl win. They're not a team that lost to the Oakland Raiders. And they're not a team to win a Super Bowl and miss the playoffs next year. So yes, Joey Porter can kick a team while they're down. But in reality, where's his team going?

Even though the Browns have the second to the worst starting quarterback in the NFL, the team does have bright spots that will be interesting to see in play next season. The first is the outstanding play of Phil Savage's first round draft pick, Wimbley. It's nice to know this first round pick wasn't a waste a la Gerrard Warren (who drafted ahead of Tomlinson) and Courtney Brown. The defensive backfield with Leigh Bodden, Sean Jones and Davin Holley remind me of the Foge Fazio days with Daylon McCutcheon and company. Second is the play making ability that Braylon Edwards has shown. Notice, Edwards and Winslow are not used to losing coming from Michigan and Miami, and they are letting it be known that it's unacceptable. Refreshing. Third, Josh Cribbs. I'm talking about the Josh Cribbs who returns kickoffs, not punts. It should be interesting to see what kind of moves Phil Savage makes in the offseason. A quarterback change is absolutely necessary. Just ask the Bengals how much of a difference a legit quarterback makes.

Yesterday's win was nice and all, but let's not forget that the Browns are 4-8. Let's not forget that the Browns haven't won back to back games since their playoff year under Butch Davis. And let's not forget that the Steelers have dominated this rivalry for years now. I for one, am sick of this. I hate Pittsburgh with every inch of my body and it's humiliating to lose to them year in and year out. It's also disgusting to see the rise in number of Steeler fans in Ohio. I find it very refreshing to see the fire in players like Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow II when it comes to this rivalry. However, trash talkin' alone doesn't win ballgames as we saw when Pittsburgh came to town. It's time for Browns fans and the team themselves to step up and show some pride. Let's go into Pittsburgh and smack them in the mouth!

That was a great come from behind win for those Brownies! The only thing I'm going to get excited about though is the possibility of the change at the quarterback position. I'm not saying Derek Anderson is the quarterback of the future in Cleveland but I am saying he's significantly better than Charlie Frye. He's got size over Frye, he throws darts and he doesn't dance around all the time leaving his personel on the field to wonder where he is. Let's just say it'd be nice to buy a number 10 Browns jersey with the last name Quinn on the back of it next year. The bottom line is this, this is still a team in shambles and I actually don't blame Braylon Edwards for his outburst last week. Romeo Crennel and Charlie Frye have been given passes week in and week out for their subpar performances. Let's not forget that we ran out the only coach and quarterback (Butch Davis and Tim Couch) that took this team to the playoffs since their return out of town. I'm not defending Butch Davis, but let's just say I'm not sold on Crennel either. With the talent the Browns have on both sides of the ball and special teams, the only excuse you can make for this team being 4-8 instead of 6-6 or 7-5 is the miserable performance by an undersized and illequipped quarterback and a coach with no fire inside.