Doing the right thing; reaction to the DADT repeal

After 17 years and over 13,000 discharges later, the Senate passed the repeal of Dont Ask Dont Tell (DADT), the policy that barres gays from openly serving in the United States military. After everything I have two responses, 1) Bravo to the senate and 2) its about time.

The repeal of DADT is not only morally the right thing to do, it is more practical for the military. Since the policy was implemented in 1993, over 13,000 service men and women have been kicked out of the military. Often these people have highly technical skill sets that are not easily replaced and take time and money to replace. The policy has seen the number of our foreign language speakers go down 10 percent, people who are vital when fighting wars all across the globe.

However aside from being practical, the repeal is just flat out morally the right thing to do. Serving your country is the most honorable thing someone can do, and by forcing people to withhold and hide information about themselves that they have no control over is flat out wrong. Also public opinion is drastically in favor of the repeal. A December ABC poll shows that 77 percent of Americans say gays should be allowed to serve openly, an extremely high and telling number about where the country has come on their opinions of open service. This shift in opinion represents a growing empathy for people born differently in one way, but who love their country just the same as anyone else.

A round of applause should also go out to the 8 Republicans who voted across party lines to end DADT. Senators Collins, Snowe, Voinovich, Murkowski, Brown, Kirk, Ensign and Burr who chose to put principle over politics to end this policy, and they should be commended for that. Also, Scott Brown is continuing to prove that he may stick around for more than just the remainder of Ted Kennedy's term, Brown's moderate stance on many issues is refreshing from a Republican Party seemingly overtaken by ideologues.

So bravo to the Senate for having the courage to pass the repeal, but a heartfelt congratulations should go out to the thousands of service men and women who will now be able to serve openly for the country they love, they deserve it wholeheartedly.  

Sonics resurrected? addressing the Hornets to Seattle rumors

After being uprooted and relocated to Oklahoma City two and a half years ago, Seattle just may be getting their professional basketball team back, if you believe any of the talk coming from NBA and Seattle circles. While it is nothing more than pure speculation at this point, very credible sources have come forward giving validity to this story. According to former Sonic great Slick Watts there is a "50-50" chance the Hornets will relocate to Seattle. While it is fun to throw around what if and maybes, lets look at the facts of what has to happen for Seattle (or any city) to land an NBA team

1. Arena- This is critically important, and the sole reason why the Sonics left in the first place. KeyArena is old and hasnt been touched since the Sonics left town. If the Hornets to Seattle rumors have legs, there must be investors committed to building a new state of the art arena that has the capability to host the NBA and the NHL. In this economy this will be incredibly difficult, however there is a lot of corporate money floating in and around Seattle and the allure of bringing back pro basketball and possibly a new NHL franchise (topic for a another post) this may be able to get done. If not, the Sonics will never come back.

2. Fan Base/ Media Market- As in all professional sports, it is a business and the NBA is only going to go places where their product is well received. I see positives and negatives with Seattle in this category. First of all, Seattle clearly has the money and market size (13th largest media market) to justify to the league they deserve a franchise. However there have been mixed feelings about having a team back especially because of the way they were uprooted from the City, I question whether the fans will flock back to the team. Ultimately fans want winners, and Seattle has demonstrated its a great basketball town in the past so if the team is winning, I am sure the fans will come back.

3. Ownership Group- If you havent heard of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer by now, you will get to know him very well before this is all said and done. Ballmer initially ponied up $150 million towards a $300 million dollar renovation to the KeyArena to keep the Sonics in the first place. Last month, Ballmer sold $1.3 billiion worth of his Microsoft shares to "diversify his investments". Now regardless of his intentions the fact is, the man has $1.3 billion on hand. Ballmer is a local guy who is clearly interested in having a team back and would make a great owner, the problem is who would want to invest in the NBA with its current state and possible lock out? Ultumatley if the Sonics are ever to come back, Ballmer will have some sort of roll in it.

As you can tell there are many hurdles for the Sonics to return to Seattle, and the NBA isnt the most popular brand in the world right now. However if Seattle wants to become a major big time sports city the only way to do that is to add professional winter sports like the NBA and NHL to the market, and the idea of Seattle becoming a big-4 sports city is an exciting proposition.

Rapid reaction: extension of the Bush tax cuts

Despite campaigning on the promise of not extending the Bush tax cuts to the nation's wealthiest people, President Obama caved into political pressure and agreed to extend ALL of the Bush tax cuts for two more years in a compromise to extend unemployment benefits for 13 months.

My initial gut reaction: all this debate and talk we have been hearing for the past month now, get ready to hear it again; only this time on the presidential campaign trial in 2012.

I think the president did the right thing, no one wants their taxes raised in a recession and this was the Republicans biggest policy push, now that he has compromised I expect things to finally start getting done. I would not be surprised to see the repeal of Dont Ask Dont Tell and the implementation of the START Nuclear Treaty before the end of the year now that the president has compromised on taxes.

Now just because the president compromised today doesnt mean I think he cant make it a political win in two years, I think he is in the right. The Republicans won the 2010 midterms largely based on economic bread and butter issues and seeming to be the party of fiscal responsibility and cutting the deficit. So now how can the same party turn around and defend a policy that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated would add roughly 700 billion dollars to the deficit over the next decade if it became permanent? History is also not on the Republicans side, the tax cuts did not do much in the way of job creation during their decade of existence so why will they create jobs now?

At the end of the day Obama took a calculated risk and it is one I think will pay off politically. In two years I think he better defines the issue and labels the Republicans as looking out for the rich and not the countries bottom line and wins on the issue of taxes in the long run.

When 6-6 doesn't feel so bad

Yes I know, the NFC West is a bad division. I know the winner of this sub par league will back into a home playoff game and more than likely lose to a good New Orleans or Atlanta team, but somehow I am not discouraged.

The Seattle Seahawks (6-6) currently sit tied for first place with St. Louis (yes St. Louis) for first place in the West, with a final weekend showdown at Qwest Field likely to decide the division between the two surprise leaders. Personally, I feel confident the Seahawks will make it to the postseason, but even if they do not, this team is rebuilding the right way and their future looks bright.

I was skeptical of the hiring of Pete Carroll at first, but now I feel the move was the right one. Carroll has this team playing with a tenacity and fire I have not seen in a Seahawks team in awhile. True to his pedigree, Carroll has this team playing like an energetic college team, which feeds of the rabid home fans and plays inspired football. There is a flip side, and it shows in ugly defeats like the one to Kansas City and New York where the team looks undisciplined and unprepared; but this is to be expected with a rebuilding football team.

Another overlooked stat with the Seahawks is their current roster only contains 23 players from last season, by far the lowest in the league. Literally, these are not the same old Seahawks. This roster turnover has created an atmosphere Carroll had at USC, where everyone is in constant competition for their spot. This competition has opened the door for many players, most notably USC star Mike Williams to produce and have career years. I was initially skeptical, but I believe this type of turnover can work in the NFL, where players do not have guaranteed contracts and rely on their game checks to support themselves.

So while it is still uncertain whether these Seahawks will be playing in the playoffs come January, it is still exciting to see such a sudden and dramatic turnaround. This team is not great, their offense and defense do not rank in the top 20 in the league; but this team is gritty and is finding ways to eek out wins and thats all that matters. This team is winning while rebuilding, and while they can be thankful for the poor division for the help, pro football is finally exciting again in the Emerald City.