Thursday, October 6, 2011

Hank and ESPN




So ESPN has decided to part ways with Hank Jr.

Okay fine. Williams said it:

In the Monday morning interview, Williams said of Obama’s recent golf outing with House Speaker John Boehner: “It’d be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu.”

Asked to clarify, Williams said: “They’re the enemy,” adding that by “they” he meant Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Anchor Gretchen Carlson later said to him, “You used the name of one of the most hated people in all of the world to describe, I think, the president.”

Williams replied, “Well, that is true. But I’m telling you like it is.”

Nasty? Yes. Over statement? Yes. Hank’s right? Yes.

“After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It’s been a great run.” -- Hank Williams Jr.

But there is a second part. The Constitution protects us against the government restricting our speech. Not an employer saying what an employee can say. So unless Hank had a contract allowing him to say what he wants ESPN was within their rights.

The statement from ESPN this morning read: ""We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams, Jr. We appreciate his contributions over the past years. The success of Monday Night Football has always been about the games and that will continue."‬‬

Link

But ESPN is as wrong as Hank. At one time the show was about the game. That started to end with the forcing out of Howard Cosell and was brought to the terminal stage by the firing of Limbaugh and the subsequent prevention of Limbaugh buying part of a pro football team.

ESPN has made the game political. That is their right. Especially since they are a cable network and not reaching viewers over commonly owned frequencies as the over the air networks are. But once you make politics part of it, don’t be surprised if it spreads.

Just think of all those college athletes playing in a farm system for a billion dollar industry without a contract that protects them and being paid with a measly scholarship while the schools, the coaches and the NFL gets rich.

Time to unionize? You betchya!

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

Who should pay?


The folks who are getting the free stuff, don't like the folks who are paying for the free stuff,

Because the folks who are paying for the free stuff,
Can no longer afford to pay for both the free stuff and their own stuff,

And,
The folks who are paying for the free stuff,
Want the free stuff to stop.
and the folks who are getting the free stuff,
Want even more free stuff on top of the free stuff they are already getting!

Now... The people who are forcing the people who Pay for the free stuff,
Have told the people who are RECEIVING the free stuff,
That the people who are PAYING for the free stuff,
Are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.

So... the people who are GETTING the free stuff,
Have been convinced they need to hate the people who are paying for the free stuff,
By the people who are forcing some people to pay for their free stuff,
And giving them the free stuff in the first place.

We have let the free stuff giving go on for so long that there are
Now more people getting free stuff than paying for the free stuff

Now understand this. All great democracies have committed financial suicide somewhere between 200 and 250 years after being founded. The reason?
The voters figured out they could vote themselves money from the treasury by electing people who promised to give them money from the treasury in exchange for electing them.

The United States officially became a Republic in 1776, 231 years ago. The number of people now getting free stuff outnumbers the people paying for the free stuff. We have one chance to change that in 2012. Failure to change that spells the end of the United States as we know it.

This was all over the place. Here's one.


"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson