Protestation Elation

If you are like me, the most convincing argument is a humorous protest sign. Like all of us, the only reason I don’t hate homosexuality and homosexuals is the anti-gay groups have unfunny protest signs. Oh sure, love between consenting adults is something to be cherished, but who wouldn’t be drawn to hatred by a well composed sign. Just look at some of the signs put out by these hate groups.

Apparently, God also hates long words. These aren’t funny at all. Well, the last one seems to say that anal sex equals a pirate – that is a little funny, I guess. The guy holding that sign has a purse, er um – fanny pack, so he is just trying to balance the scales a bit. Anyway, these clashing colors won’t convince me.

On the other end of the argument, you have this guy:

Now there is a convincing argument. Puppets and a cool cap do it for me every time. Without a doubt, I am now 100% for homosexuality, and I didn’t waste too much time learning details about the discussion.

Some people can’t afford cardboard, so they use their skin.

This argument always convinces me. For example, some people dislike PETA because they destroy valuable life saving research, or engage in other horribly destructive behavior. Not me. Not after I saw this:

Naked women? No time to worry about human suffering, I have made up my mind. Total time elapsed: 12.4 seconds.

Many people ask me about my stance on the war in Iraq. They want to know if I am concerned that hundreds of thousands of people, including children, have been brutally killed by our overpriced military. Am I concerned that Americans are suffering because of the trillions of dollars in tax dollar gifts awarded to military companies with no oversight? Let’s look at some signs and find out what I believe.

Um, the Romans? Oh wait, I know this: Jesus would bomb fags? This is getting complicated.

I couldn’t find too many pro-war signs. Most likely it is because they have more war than they even expected. Then again, Christians have all the power in the United States, and nobody protests more than they do. Here is the best pro-war sign I could find:

War brings peace? Counter arguments, please. (opens up to the pic. The sign contains a word that some people consider a naughty word)

1-protest1.jpg I got that wrong on the SATs. I chose: bombing is to peace as a taco is to my colon. I like her shades, so I am leaning against this war.

Amen!

Enough! Now I see that this war is wrong! Now that I have seen the cute doggie, unprovoked deathly attacks are unacceptable.

Grand Dodd

While tv and newspapers have been running repeats of the game show “who is the most marketable corporate presidential candidate?”, Congress is working on amending the FISA act to grant retroactive immunity to all telecommunications companies for helping the Bush administration conduct illegal electronic surveillance, without cause or warrant, of many millions of Americans. The immunity would include other potential illegal acts of which we are currently unaware, because relevant information is being kept secret. The bill would legalize government surveillance without cause and forbid court oversight.

The new bill granting immunity is supported by the Bush administration and Republicans, as well as most Democrats. The only representatives that I have seen speak out against this bill are Ted Kennedy; Russ Feingold; and Chris Dodd. Chris Dodd’s threat of a filibuster is the only reason we still have a chance to stop this unamerican act. Polls have shown that the public, regardless of political affiliation, are against the amendments in this bill.

To help stop this unconstitutional bill, and to preserve one of America’s most sacred rights, you can visit Dodd’s website for information on calling your representative. Also, Credo has a good website for sending an email.

The main purpose of the original FISA act in 1978 was to make it clear that wiretapping (electronic surveillance) without court approval is illegal and criminally punishable. Of course, it was already clear that wiretapping without a warrant was unconstitutional, but President Nixon felt differently so it had to be spelled out. Republicans and Democrats both overwhelmingly supported that original FISA act.

We have since found out that most of the major telecommunications companies have violated this law and the Constitution, by providing the Bush administration with access to domestic phone calls and internet communication of millions of Americans, without cause. The Founding Fathers built a strong foundation based on the people overseeing the government, and being protected from government oversight. The current government has turned that around completely. Now the government can see everything innocent Americans do, but they block the public from overseeing their actions.

EFF puts it directly, Stop the Spying.

Contact your Senator

For Those That Miss Calvin and Hobbes

For those that miss Bill Watterson’s brilliant comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, here is a new comic just for you. (click the ‘here’ to see the comic)

Crack is Still Whack

An internet graffiti artist left the above picture on a RIAA webpage.   He is being called a Hacker, but technically this isn’t hacking.   Apparently this was done with something called cross-site scripting.  My first thought was that the creator was taking the advice from this scene from Curb Your Enthusiasm (with curses intact).

Steroid Era in Baseball and Rice

The voting for the 2008 baseball Hall of Fame will soon be here, heating up the intense debates on baseball websites. Since Bill James popularized scientific method in baseball, discussions have been intense between those who want to enhance understanding of the sport and those that are insulted to have their beliefs challenged. Like Intelligent Design fanatics, they get upset if study results reveal a different outcome than their prior beliefs, and lashing out is not uncommon. Also like ID folks, they will attempt to sound scientific, while not actually following scientific method. This results in some absurd arguments. This Hall season has one particular candidate supported by the ID folk, Jim Rice.

Rice was a very strong hitter who played for the Boston Red Sox from 1974-1989. If we assume the criteria for the Hall of Fame is based on:

a) objective analysis

b) the Hall remaining approximately the same % of total MLB total players

c) induction is based on quality of play, or contribution to team pursuit of wins

Then Rice is not qualified for the Hall of Fame.

Jim Rice’s only real qualification is that he had a high slugging percentage relative to his competition(86th all time). Some other potential qualifications:

1) fielding. Rice was a poor fielding LF/DH, so it is difficult to give him anything but the lowest score.

2) Avoiding outs. This is more valuable to scoring runs than slugging percentage. However, Rice rarely walked and he hit into a tremendous number of double plays, so despite his high batting average, he was average in this category. At least until…

3) Context. Rice hit in one of the best batting parks in the country, Fenway Park. On the road his slugging was 87 points lower (.459 – .546). The era was a relatively strong offensive era, inflating data compared to the 1960’s, but deflating them compared to the 1990’s.  Rice’s career adjusted OPS is barely within the top 200 all time.  OPS+ underestimates OBP. so Rice’s offensive winning % is barely within the top 300 all time.

4) Speed. Rice was very slow, so again this is a big negative.

5) Attitude. Fans, writers, and other players considered him a prick, gruff and prone to rage. I personally did not witness any of this behavior and place little credence in reputation and rumor, but certainly there is no reason to give him credit in this department.

6) He won an MVP award. Big whoop, Maris won 2 and isn’t in. No really, this is important if we are trying to predict the likelihood of Rice being elected, because the same group of people (BBWAA) vote on the Hall as the MVP. The BBWAA have not done a good job in electing MVPs, and I see no reason to believe that winning one award makes a better candidate.

As a comparison, let’s take Frank Howard, who was a distinctly better hitter than Rice. In 1968 AL, the worst hitting major league since before the Yankees won anything, Howard hit 44 home runs (8 more than anyone else) and led the league in slugging %. He ended 8th in the MVP voting, right behind Dick McAuliffe. A catcher who hit .263 with 25 HRs was 2nd in the voting (Bill Freehan). So Howard went out the next year and hit 48 HRs, increased his batting average 22 points to .296, and his walks from 54 to 102. He ended 4th in the MVP.

Howard again improved , drawing 132 walks and hitting 44 HRs, but he dropped to 5th in the voting. The MVP voting was and is irrelevant to how many runs he put up on the scoreboard.

7) absurd arguments. Among those I read are for Rice going into the Hall are: he was a feared hitter; and he played up to 23 games in the senior league. I am not kidding, people made these arguments. Also, they won’t vote for any recent player, because he played in the ‘Steroid Era’.

I have heard people talk about the ‘steroid era’ for awhile now, and I am trying to figure out the exact dates of this era. Tom House claimed that he and many other pitchers took steroids in the 1970’s to enhance their baseball careers. Anabolic steroids date back to the 1930’s. So apparently, the start of the baseball ‘steroid era’ is between the 1930’s and 1970’s.
Every recent candidate played during the ‘steroid era’. Candidates from the ‘steroid era’ include(d): big feared muscle guys who hit the ball hard (Jim Rice); people with uncommon durability (Ripken); big strikeout pitchers (Blyleven); and big power middle infielders (Trammell).

Jim Rice, like Mark McGwire, was a big strong power hitter (although not as good) who never tested positive for steroids. Only Rice is know for his rage, however. I don’t know if either took steroids, and I have yet to see any data supporting the theory that steroids cause home runs. It is very selective to apply the steroid stigma to McGwire, while ignoring those with similar opportunity.

I do want to mention that a childhood favorite of mine, and contemporary, had a slightly higher OBP than Rice.  This player played most of his career in pitcher’s ballparks, so the value of his OBP was much higher than Rice’s.  That player was Steve Henderson.