Tebow Heading to the Jets and the NFL Punishes the New Orlean Saints

With the acquisition of Peyton Manning, the Broncos have decided to jettison Tim Tebow to the New York Jets for a fourth round pick. Did I hear that right? A fourth round pick? It seems a bit harsh. Tebow isn't amazing, but he's young, he draws crowds, and he wins. With how quickly this trade occurred, it makes me wonder if Tebow asked for this trade. Personally, I was surprised to see a fan favorite traded away, but I was even more surprised to see Manning go to the Broncos. Although, I'm glad to see him playing anywhere.

In other NFL news, the New Orlean Saints have been punished for their bounty program, and it is a strong punishment. Sean Payton has been suspended for the 2012 season without pay, and Gregg Williams has been suspended indefinitely. The team will also pay a $500,000 fine, and surrender their 2nd round draft picks for 2012 and 2013. The status of players is yet to be determined. According to reports, the emails discussing the bounty system is likely what led to such a reaction from the NFL. While some fans basically said that the Saints should give back their Super Bowl trophy, that sort of punishment wasn't realistic. Even though I am no fan of the Saints, this decision still surprises me. I didn't think that Payton would be suspended for an entire season. Football is a rough game with hard hits and fast action. Careers are already short enough. As a fan, I'm glad that the punishment was as harst as it was.

Ricky Rubio out for season

In the Lakers game last night, Ricky Rubio was injured late in the game, and it appears that the injury is an ACL tear. Rubio's season is over, and that doesn't bode well for the Timberwolves. The Spaniard has been an important member of the team this season. While he doesn't score a ton of points, he's an assist machine and a great defensive player. The good thing for the Timberwolves is that someone usually steps up to fill the gaps, but this might be a fatal blow. For the first time in years, the T-Wolves are in playoff contention, and it's unclear if they'll make it now.

Sadly, this has been the best season for Timberwolves' fans in years, and it's just not going to be the same now. Rubio should make a full recovery and be back next year.

Bill Hicks On Rush Limbaugh: I think he got it right

With all of this talk about Rush Limbaugh, I thought I'd break out this old quote from Bill Hicks.

"Speaking of Satan, I was watching Rush Limbaugh the other day. Doesn't Rush Limbaugh remind you of one of those gay guys that like to lie in a tub while other guys pee on him?"

Yeah, Bill, he really does.

To learn more about Bill or to his some of this standup, visit this article: Bill Hicks At 50

It's Time For a Third Political Party

If the past decade has taught American citizens anything, it's that neither major political cares about actually solving problems. They care about re-election, and, honestly, I can't blame them. Being in congress isn't a bad job even when their approval rating is hanging around 10%. They know that they just repeat the things that people want to hear. Lower taxes and give more benefits. Increase spending but decrease revenue. Even fixing the tax system is out of the question because it's raising taxes, but so is cutting or even fixing Medicare along with spending in general.

Often, the debate concerns social issues, but this is just a distraction from real problems and isn't constructive, just divisive. Then, true problem areas such as Defense and Medicare/Medicaid are completely ignored. If we're serious about doing anything about our debt, these are the areas that have to be addressed. If the two major political parties won't do this, then we need someone else. That only leaves a third party to take the reins.

Voting for a third party has other benefits. It also shows politicians that it's not an either/or game anymore which might actually start to change the political discussions. Candidates can lose their positions of power, and we might actually find politicians with the courage to discuss issues that need to be discussed and take the action needed to right this country.
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More to come in future posts...

Always Second: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (A Personal Blog Post)

For a long time, I thought of myself as always being second. That statement doesn't make much sense, but it meant that no one ever put me first. I felt like my parents never did, and I always felt like I was second best when it came to women. Then, it dawned on me that I just thought of myself as second, and it became a self-fulfilling prophesy. I was second because I made myself second. I made excuses about why I couldn't do things, and it's time for that to stop. But, for that to happen, I have to acknowledge some things.

Being fat is holding me back because I let it. I used to weigh 345lbs. It's a ridiculous weight, and, now, I'm down to 325. I have to keep going, and I have to lose more weight. I feel better, and my confidence is substantially improved. It may not be a hang up for others, but it certainly is for me.

Secondly, I have to take risks. Women are going to reject me, but nothingis going to happen if I don't take that chance. While I can look back and opine about sour grapes, it's just not true. I have to rectify that. My thinking is so faulty that I think most people don't like me, but I'm not an asshole. I don't try to hurt people's feelings. It's time to accept that I'm not a bad person. I can certainly be better, but that takes work. Now, it's time for me to get to work.

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What happened to personal responsibility?

Is anything anyone's fault anymore? Is anyone responsible, or does everyone just pass the buck to someone else? Everyone wants something for nothing these days. But, who is supposed to pay for it? Someone else is the answer. People don't want to pay taxes, but they seem happy to benefit from public programs when they need it. Everyone else is fucking over the system and doesn't deserve those benefits. We're drowning in debt, but we don't vote out politicians who spend and spend and/or refuse to raise taxes. The rich can pay for needed programs, but that responsibility shouldn't shared with the middle class at all. At some point, this just isn't fair. The middle class may not have a lot of extra income, but it's also not fair for a subset of the population to pay a huge portion of the tax revenue. When 50% of people don't pay income tax, it suggests a major problem with our tax system. And, when our corporate tax rate is pushing 40%, but companies pay, on average, 24%, there is a problem.

So, why don't we fix it? What's stopping us from being personally responsible? I'm not entirely sure, but our politicians don't help. The media doesn't help, and the idea that things shouldn't be criticized doesn't help. Imagine if nothing was criticized. Medicine probably wouldn't work. Actually, nothing would. As each side points to the other as the problem, it distracts us as a whole, and we keep voting for the other party. This does nothing. If we want personal responsibility, we have to start with ourselves, and, then, elect personally responsible politicians. Well, there are two more options, but I'll get into those later.

Kindle Select Experiment

So, I've had a few stories posted on Kindle for purchase for over two years. In that time, I hadn't sold much, and I was wondering if there were a way to offer my stories for free or have a sale or something to boost sales and exposure. Then, a new program came along called Kindle Direct Publishing Select. With this program, stories or novels can offered free of charge for five days every 90 day period. Likewise, if someone borrows your story, you can get a piece of the pot they offer monthly. Since I was struggling with sales, I decided that this would be a great idea, so I moved them into the program. The only issue was that I had to not offer them anywhere else for sale or reading which wasn't really an issue. Then, this last weekend, I had my first free promotion which went pretty well.

I had a lot of downloads of my stories which was a pleasant surprise. It also appears that I had some sales from the experience. It's early, so it's difficult to tell if this will result in sustained sales. Personally, I doubt it, but, honestly, my stories are short, need more editing, and look kind of crappy (coverwise). Still, I'm definitely satisfied with the program.

While my experience is probably not common, I would advise a thing or two. First, my downloads dropped off significantly on the second day of my promotion, so, if I do this again, I won't offer my stories for free two days in a row. Secondly, from what I've seen, sales improve after offering stories for free. If your sales are struggling, try putting that story into KDP Select and see how it goes. At this point, people aren't really reporting a downside. If your work is selling well, I've seen others who aren't using this program, and I can't blame them. Why jeopardize that? I can't think of a good reason. Good luck to any authors out there and think about this option if you want exposure.