rjl2621's Thoughts

I know, Tim Russert worked for NBC and this is a FOX-affiliated station ... but the fact of the matter is Tim Russert was a class act both in his work and in his life beyond work.

Whether you agreed with his opinions all the time is irrelevant. Tim showed that the key to successful journalism with respect to one of the most sensitive topics (Politics) was a firm but respectful challenge. He has had some of the nation's biggest and most powerful politicians squirming in their seats and backpedaling on their words -- all because he did one thing in his interviews: held the interviewees accountable.

I didn't watch Meet the Press religiously on Sunday mornings, but I did tune in from time to time to see who Tim had on and what they were talking about. For many people the show is probably boring simply because so many do not understand politics. For me though, I found it fascinating watching as Tim methodically worked through series after series of tough questions that probably everyone wanted to ask but never did. Sure, there were times I disagreed with the points Tim tried to make but more often than not I admired his ambition to get the answers to questions you would never hear from normal press conferences or interviews.

Much more than his work on Meet the Press or other efforts as a journalist, I admired his devotion to family. I have not yet read it, but his book Big Russ and Me: Father and Son: Lessons of Life is a perfect example of the importance family was to Tim. He loved his family unconditionally, the way we all should but often times fail to do. Even on air he made it known how important his family was as he talked about his father or about his wife Maureen or son, Luke. My heart goes out to them and I pray for strength for all of them to get past this tragedy in their lives.

To Maureen, Luke, "Big Russ" and the entire Russert family -- Your loss is America's loss. We as a nation have been touched over the years by having Tim as a guest in our living rooms. I hope there is some comfort in the legacy that Tim leaves behind and the lessons he has taught us. I pray that those lessons are realized and that in death Tim can continue to have a profound effect on our great country. He would want it that way, I'm sure.

Rest in peace, Mr. Russert. I think Matt Lauer said it best this morning by closing with a quote you always told him: Pal, Go get'em.
Watch the end of this morning's Today Show (Matt Lauer)

This story is absolutely sick. We all know there is violence in our cities and have had enough incidents to believe it is in our schools too -- but when a teacher is the one who is beaten and hospitalized, there is a problem.

What gets me the most about this story is the woman interviewed (spokewoman or whatever) who sat there on camera stating that the Cleveland schools are perfectly safe and they have no reason to believe otherwise. Hello? You had a suspended student enter a building several months back and begin shooting people and now you have kids in "rival gangs" beating up a teacher who was only trying to do his job -- which as school administrators, they are to protect the kids while they are at school.

Now I know why these days school administration usually tells teachers not to get involved and instead to contact security or the police. Unfortunately, in the time it takes for security or police to get there -- the situation could have already gotten 100 times worse.

I think it is unacceptable for the district to say there is no violence problem and that the schools are safe. Obviously they are not. But, it is also parents' responsibility to discipline their own children when they know they are doing something wrong. Until parents stop letting their kids do whatever they want, the situation is just going to get worse.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/10/tilghman.woods/ind
ex.html

In light of the comment by the broadcaster Kelly Tilghman that the young players should "lynch" Tiger Woods, Al Sharpton is again sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. Even though Tiger Woods took the comment in stride, has accepted Kelly's apology and has moved on to more important things -- here comes Al Sharpton to throw fuel on a non-existent flame.

When will this guy (and Jesse Jackson) quit?? Look, if they want to get involved with true racial issues, fine. But don't stir the pot just to stir the pot -- hell, Tiger is not even 75% african-american so why are these guys even interested?

I am sick and tired of these two idiots perpetuating the very thing they claim to be against - racism. Sure, there still exist racists in the world but many issues don't have a race tied to them and yet these two always bring race into issues where race isn't even the point.

"But Sharpton says it is the word -- not the person or their history -- that matters." Yeah, right. Here's a question -- why doesn't he or Jesse Jackson ever get all uptight when something is said or done against a non-african-american person? Hmm.

By the way, anyone who thinks I am being unfair or prejudice is sadly mistaken. I am just fed up with the "race card" that always seems to be played whenever it is convenient, regardless of whether or not the person being defended did anything wrong in the first place.

It's like the guys at the San Francisco zoo who were no doubt there to cause trouble, yet when the tiger (quite obviously with some reason to jump/climb out of the enclosure) attacks them and kills one of them -- people are actually defending them as perfectly innocent. Sad that we will never really know the true story as legal counsel for the two survivors is using the media machine to shove blame back on the zoo. Nice to know that Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have something in common with the sleezy laywers out there who are only out for their own agendas and not justice.

Link to article on Foxnews.com

Okay, my first question in this whole incident is a bit cynical -- but what were those "victims" doing when the tiger decided to get out of the enclosure? It would seem to me that there must have been a pretty darn good reason for the tiger to go through the effort of even attempting to get out.

Also, what were they doing in the zoo at the time it was closing anyway? For there to have been no one around that they had to go to that cafe to find someone to help leads me to believe they were not the most innocent of zoo visitors that day.

I do have questions for the zoo officials as well though, the most significant being where was their trained team that is mobilized in the event they need to tranquilize an animal that has escaped or turned on one of the keepers? Every zoo has a team of individuals trained for just those occassions. Where were they?

The animals in the zoo are all wild, no matter if they were born and raised in captivity or if they were brought in from the wild. The real question should be what might have caused that tiger to react the way it did. Under normal circumstances, they are quite content with staying in their enclosures and not even attempting to escape.

The zoo is no doubt culpable here, but my suspicion is that the "victims" are as well. I would like to see the real answers come out, not these blatent attempts by the victims' lawyer to shift blame on the zoo officials.

Aside from the thoughts and opinions on the Browns, I wanted to make a quick post also to pay tribute to Kevin Everett, his family and his Buffalo Bills teammates.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Kevin and his family during this difficult time. I share in the hopes of many that Kevin will at least partially recover from this and won't be paralyzed from this injury. I pray for all of those involved to have the strength to get through this, but most of all Kevin in order to have a speedy recovery.

Rizz reported this evening that there may be some optimistic signs coming from the hospital and that is certainly good news to hear. Let's hope that turns out true.

Let me start off by saying that I am happy for Charlie for being traded to a good, solid team that he can play with. Good for him!

Now, to all of you out there calling for Brady Quinn to be named the starter -- ARE YOU CRAZY?? Do you want our second 1st round QB draft pick to turn out like the first?

So now it is only a matter of time before you all get your wish and Brady will be tossed in for his NFL debut where he will perform miracles for a game or two before he will have taken so much beating from the opposing defensive lines that he will end up like all other QB's for Cleveland in recent memory. Great.

I guess Cleveland should start scounting the college teams now for the next round 1 QB that we can draft and effectively ruin the career of.

Look, I have always been a Browns fan and I always will be. But when is the front office going to learn from the mistakes that have been made in the short history of our expansion team? Next they will be firing Romeo Crennel when the Browns' problems have nothing to do with Romeo and EVERYTHING to do with our ineffective (and frankly non-existent) offensive line.

The Browns front office needs to wake up and begin managing this team like many of the other teams out there who make progress from year to year rather than going backward. There is no excuse for how horrible the Browns played on Sunday against the Steelers. In my opinion the blame falls squarely on the players -- especially those on the offensive line -- that didn't do their jobs.

Only in professional sports can you collect million-dollar salaries and stick around when you aren't doing your job. (Or maybe it's just with the Cleveland Browns) This isn't a QB thing or a head coach thing -- it is quite frankly a performance issue with our offensive line.

You can't expect everything from these guys though because there are a lot of rookies and relative inexperience on the line. Only there does coaching come into play. But what about the offensive lines coach? What is he doing? He should be cracking into these guys for the horrid performance they put on against the Steelers. If he won't do it, Romeo should. If Romeo won't, then the Browns front office should take action on all involved.

There is no excuse for this team coming out on opening day after all the off-season moves and adds, and looking like a high school football team against Pittsburgh. (No offense to high school teams -- there are probably a number of high school teams that might make the Browns look bad too.)

What I don't forgive is the Cleveland fans who apparently have short memories. Calling for Brady Quinn may as well be calling in the firing squad for the Cleveland Browns. But of course, the Browns front office can't stand up to the fans and rather give in and are going to end up sticking Brady Quinn out there to eventually fail instead of giving him time to grow and learn.

Good job Cleveland. Good job.

Some of you may not recognize that name as the name of an aerobatic stunt team that has performed at our very own Cleveland Air Show in past years. Two of the founding members of the team (Jimmy Franklin and Bobby Younkin) were lost on July 10, 2005 while performing during the Saskatchewan International Air Show. One member (Jim LeRoy) was not involved in the mid-air collision and was able to land safely.

Yesterday, at Dayton's Vectren Air Show, Jim LeRoy was lost after his high-powered Pitts Special biplane did not quite make the pull out of the termination of a manuever during which two planes climb into loops and on the downward portion of the loop both planes dive down toward each other and cross before climbing back up into the sky. He was pulled from the aircraft and died en route to the local hospital.

Amateur video of the accident is available at the following Web site (viewer discretion advised): http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/28/airshow.roundup.ap/in
dex.html#cnnSTCVideo

My heart goes out to all of the families of these fine aviators. Jimmy, Bobby and Jim were some of the best aerobatic airshow pilots in the business. I've had the pleasure of seeing their performances at both Cleveland and Dayton airshows and it is a very sad day for airshow enthusiasts and their pilots.

Another airshow tragedy took place at the annual Oshkosh AirVenture in Wisconsin when two P-51 Mustangs clipped wings on landing and one of the planes flipped, killing the pilot and injuring the pilot of the other P-51 involved.

It is important to note that neither of these events should suggest that aviation or air shows are unsafe. Air show stunt pilots are in a very high risk / high reward job that they love more than most can comprehend. Those like the XTeam may push the envelope more than is truly necessary, but they enjoy entertaining crowds of spectators everywhere they go. For these guys to die doing what they loved, there is no better satisfaction knowing that they were enjoying their job right up until the very end.

Rest in peace to all of you fine aviators that have been lost. Thank you for everything you have done to entertain your fans.

Resources:
XTeam Airshows - http://www.xteamairshows.com/
Bulldog Airshows - http://www.bulldogairshows.com/
Jimmy / Bobby Memorial - http://www.franklinairshow.com/Memorial.htm
http://www.whiotv.com/news/13774845/detail.html

Some of you may know the current situation with Vonage, the leading provider of VoIP phone service, and the telecomunications conglomerate, Verizon. Others of you may not know Vonage other than by their "People do stupid things" advertisements.

In summary, Verizon is suing Vonage for copyright infringement over Vonage's implementation of the VoIP technology. They claim they had the patents for the technology that Vonage uses. For those of you who don't know, VoIP means "Voice over Internet Protocol" and in general terms means that you can have a voice conversation using a broadband internet connection (such as cable or DSL) with others on normal phone providers and phone lines.

Sprint/Nextel also has a lawsuit pending against Vonage for similar allegations, but their lawsuit was filed after Verizon thus making them wait in line, so-to-speak.

My problem with the Verizon lawsuit is that is alleges that Verizon owned a patent to technology which has been in existance and in use by corporate phone systems for many years - even before broadband started becoming popular in the general public. Additionally, Verizon didn't own any of the phone system companies using VoIP technology -- yet to my knowledge, they haven't filed any lawsuits against those companies. Why? Because they aren't competition. But wait, Verizon may not stop at Vonage!

Taking the logic of Verizon and to make a point, I believe Sprint/Nextel should simply file a lawsuit against Verizon for infringing on the "Push to Talk" cellular feature that Nextel pioneered. While I don't know for sure that Nextel had that technology patented, I do know that Verizon Wireless has blatently ripped that off and has recently begun marketing it as something new. Sorry Verizon, you stole someone else's idea. Nice try.

As a Vonage customer, I feel the need to stand behind a service which has been nothing but reliable for me. I also do not like the idea of being forced to switch to a more expensive option from Verizon or TimeWarner simply due to Verizon's GREED. This lawsuit appears to have been nothing more than a cheap, below the belt shot to Vonage for stealing a lot of market share from Verizon. But since Verizon has the deeper pockets and a virtual monopoly, go figure the courts side with them. Gotta love our justice system.

Now Vonage is fighting back with a new marketing campaign, which, is very similar to the current campaign in Ohio for cable choices for consumers. I do admire what both are doing -- but I don't know how successful it will really be. Only time will tell, but I do know one thing -- I enjoy my right to choose and to get the best price and quality, not just "whatever conglomerate is in the area".

I was pleased to see the Browns select Thomas with the #3 overall pick in the 2007 Draft. I was even more pleased to see Miami pass on Quinn at #9 and the list of teams after Miami's pick that didn't need a QB.

The Browns front office finally made some decisions which make sense. I am actually proud to be a Browns fan after yesterday's success in the draft. Say what you want about what the Browns gave up, if you think about it we simply got our #1 draft pick of 2008 a year early and gave up our 2nd round pick this year to do it. If you compare what we gave up to get Quinn to what NY Jets and Denver gave up to move up in Round 1, the Browns got a STEAL. Not saying those teams didn't get good players, because they did --- but they also gave up quite a bit more in the 2007 draft to do so.

Now, add that to what the Browns gave up to move back into the 2nd round for CB Eric Wright, and the Browns made some pretty good deals to get three of the top players on their list that they were looking for.

The key is to keep all of these new players plus our current players HEALTHY. So let's hope our strength and conditioning staff has improved over last season and past seasons.

As for Frye, I think the draft of Quinn will help him work harder to become a better and smarter QB. I still think Frye can get the job done, and the additions of Joe Thomas and Eric Steinbach will certainly help that. The problem the Browns have had for years now has been their Offensive Line -- now that the front office is actually addressing those issues, I think QB's will be a bit more successful in Cleveland. I'm not ready to ship Frye off though as I don't think Quinn is the silver bullet solution either -- but he is a higher quality QB (draft-wise) than Frye was -- so he should, in theory, be better.

Last point I would like to make is with Romeo Crennel. He's a good and smart coach. I don't agree with the people calling for his head any more than those calling for Charlie Frye's head. Romeo has made some good progress with the team, regardless of what the record was last year. One thing Romeo needs to do though is show more emotion and take after coaches like Cower in Pittsburgh. Cower always got into the faces of players who caused problems or screwed up -- Crennel needs to quit being so forgiving and start getting on these guys.

They are making millions to be successful on the field and win games -- if they aren't getting the job done, bench them. Make them understand that if they won't get the job done, we'll find someone else who can and fire them (in the form of a trade or cut). The only way to get through to these players anymore is through their pocketbooks. If you start affecting their fancy cars and mansions, maybe they will get the hint and word harder to be the best players they can be -- and actually EARN their money rather than simply expecting it.

http://www.myfoxcleveland.com/myfox/pages/News/Det
ail?contentId=2916893&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode
=TSTY&pageId=3.1.1

Don't get me wrong, I like Best Buy and if I had the money, would probably buy one of a large percentage of items in the store. But I would never use or recommend the "Geek Squad" for any computer repairs. This story just adds yet another reason.

They are overpriced, and most of the technicians do not know what they are doing. This is by design so that they can eventually charge you more for larger repairs due to the technician screwing up in the first place. Don't get me wrong, there are some technicians they have who know their stuff -- but those are typically the 2nd level agents that get involved when the original ones can't figure out the problem.

How do I know this? Myself and friends of mine who do have the knowledge (and experience) have at different times applied for jobs working for them -- and been rejected for having too much knowledge. How does one have too much knowledge when it comes to fixing customers' computer problems?

Oh, you mean I can fix a problem in under an hour when you want to charge the customers for 2-3 hours of work? Oh... I get it now. Yeah, no wonder I tell everyone I know to avoid "Geek Squad" like the plague.

And don't think Circuit City's new "Firedog" service is any better. In fact, their prices are even more than Best Buy / Geek Squad. Such a surprise that Circuit City has closed a number of stores because of competition from Best Buy and other technology retailers.

Now please don't take my comments the wrong way, I am certainly not saying that they have a large number of technicians who would do what this one is accused of doing, but I do know they have a substantial number of technicians who don't know what they are doing with computers. (Sorry to anyone out there who happens to be a Best Buy / Geek Squad tech -- it's nothing personal, you may be one of the minority who actually know what they are doing!)

*Sidenote* - I would, however, recommend those out there without computer repair skills to consider the repair/replacement plans. Not the highest level, but at least the basic level. They can explain the details, but it can be quite handy to just drop your computer off to them and let them fix anything that goes wrong -- rather than having to call the PC manufacturer (Gateway, Dell, HP, etc) yourself. Be advised though -- they will not hesitate to wipe the PC and all your data to put the system back the way it was when you bought it.