Friday Open Thread
Welcome to the Friday edition of your open thread. Our threads are always open, just don’t leave a mess.
If we lived in a sane country, David Vitter’s re-election chances would be close to zero. He’s still favored to win however, but more damaging information has come out about his “women’s issues” aide with a domestic violence arrest:
Democrats think they have David Vitter dead to rights. Travel records, they say, indicate that Vitter’s one-time aide Brent Furer twice used taxpayer money to travel to Louisiana to defend himself in court on drunk driving charges. Those same records suggest that Furer seldom traveled to Louisiana on congressional business.
A TPM survey of records from Vitter’s Senate office finds that Furer made just six official trips from DC to New Orleans while working for Vitter. Two of those trips coincide with court dates alone. Two others were to attend a Vittter staff retreat (one of which also overlapped with a court date). One, in August 2007, coincides with the emergence of Vitter’s prostitution scandal, and the sixth took place from April 29 through May 3, 2005.
Vitter seems to be going down the path of all politicians in trouble. Lying, covering-up and lying some more. Haven’t they learned yet that the slow drip, drip, drip of information is much, much worse?
The sports blog Dead Spin tells the tragic story of the death of a WWE wrestler, Lance Cade at the young age of 29. This story has great political importance not only because Connecticut GOP U.S. Senate nominee Linda McMahon is the CEO but it also highlights the poor working conditions of the WWE.
It wasn’t long ago that juiced-up Adonises dominated the top ranks of the WWE. (Some would say that the John Cena-Batista feuds in recent years are evidence that little has changed.) There certainly have been stories in the past about Vince McMahon suggesting that wrestlers go “on the gas” to help their look. And the steroids are only one end of a vicious cycle of self-medication: The grinding schedule necessitates painkillers and sleeping pills to aid in recovery, and those require uppers so you can be ready to go again the next day. Add to that the inevitable impulses of being young and wealthy, living a life on the road in a bawdy boys club, and the potential for myriad chemical abuses comes into stark focus. If it’s not exactly the East German Olympic team, it’s certainly a culture of excess, one full of destructive incentives. Some of the responsibility has to fall on the McMahons.
This is where Lance Cade’s death has particular import. Because Cade, like so many of the other wrestlers who have died over the past 15 years, was addicted at various times to painkillers and sleeping pills, and earlier this year he went to rehab for (reportedly) the second time. The WWE paid for his first trip to rehab, and while that in and of itself doesn’t make the organization culpable, it’s an implicit recognition that Cade’s health did in some way fall under the WWE’s purview.
…
Cade was fired three times by the WWE for not having his substance abuse problems under control — the first after suffering a pill-induced seizure on a company flight, and the second time after admitting he had a problem and going to rehab. Despite his confessions of drug use, though, Cade claimed he never actually failed a Wellness Policy test. And there was never any indication that his work suffered from his dependencies. As with Umaga (Eddie Fatu), who died this year, there is the feeling that the WWE finally cut ties with Cade because he had become a liability — because despite wrestling’s attempts to help him, Cade’s talents did not outweigh the potential for negative press should his addictions finally get the better of him. If this was indeed the calculus, there’s a miserable sort of logic at work, and in its prescience it’s doubly heartbreaking.
The post is too long and too detailed to really do it justice with excerpts so go read the whole thing. I had absolutely no idea how bad the world of “sports entertainment” was for these athletes. It’s monstrous.
Tags: Open Thread
Oh come now…. Linda McMahon cant be held responsible for all the people that work for her. If a few bad apple think they are supposed to abuse drugs to get an edge, just because they see other people doing it and being rewarded with pay raises, more exposer and stardom…. it is their personal responsibility.
Just like if some Lone Wolf kills Al Franken because St Sarah told him to re-load, and Sharon Angle told him to use his “second amendment solution”.. it doesn’t mean THEY can be held responsible. G’FAWH!
The wrestling organization was putting asses in the seats therefore money in their coffers. That’s responsibility. Same as MLB.
“Gee, he went from a 180lb spaghetti arm to modern day Hercules in less than twelve months.”
Blind eye turning.
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/bacon-maple-cupcakes-recipe In case anyone was thinking of bringing back Friday Bacon Blogging…. i made these…. if i could, i would stay in bed the rest of my life and eat only bacon cupcakes….. pure bliss.
What if Mike Castle, Scott Brown, Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman, and Charlie Crist all decide to caucus together instead of with the major parties? And cut a deal with whichever party offers to make Crist the majority leader? Don’t laugh, it happened in the NY Senate.
Something similar happened in the Tennessee House last year… with a 50-49 Republican edge, Republicans were all set to elect their anointed conservative to the Speakership (dude named Mumpower).
And they had extracted a pledge from all 50 Republicans to vote for a Republican speaker. Problem was, they didn’t say WHICH Republican. And the outgoing Dem speaker laid a clever trap.
So as the Speaker vote progressed, it slowly dawned on Republicans that all the Democrats were voting for liberal Republican Kent Williams. Williams was the last to vote, and he voted for himself. Pandemonium as he defeated the Republican establishment candidate 50-49. There is video of this vote if you can find it – it is priceless.
Later they literally kicked Kent Williams out of the GOP.
Scottish scientists develop a whiskey biofuel.
Well, not actual whiskey — but the byproducts of its making. Cool though!
I do see a Crist win as a potential shake-up. Could it cause some more moderate Republicans to bolt from the GOP? (Also look at Snowe & Collins) It hasn’t happened so far with Lieberman but if some of the more crazy Republicans get elected who knows.
I could see an alliance of Nelson, Lieberman, Brown, Castle, Crist, Snowe & Collins. They’d be automatic power brokers if this happened if they vote a bloc and swing to one party or another depending on the vote. I think the issue of losing their seniority would give them pause but if Dems retain a narrow majority they’d still not get to be chairs on their committees – unless they can swing a deal with one party.
Glenn Beck’s “I Have a Fever Dream” rally is just over a week away! Can you guess what kind of civil rights speakers he’s going to have?
First they came for our houses…
That giant sucking sound you hear is the upward torrent of money that is still flowing to the wealthy, as they liquidate the remaining assets of the middle class for pennies on the dollar:
Nothing seems capable of stopping the destruction of the middle class. Electing Democrats didn’t even slow it down. Republicans promise to speed it up.
The Pat Tillman story was released as a doc today.
http://tillmanstory.com/site/
hopefully that dishonorable jerk-wad McChrystal will pay for his crimes.
Hey, what about Betrayus! You think he wasnt involved? Or Gates?
Gates wasnt defense secretary at the time. Im CERTAIN Rummy was involved.
You will have to watch the doc to find out. Don’t forget to pass it along.
Prediction: Mcnubbins gets better numbers than Kolb, but the Eagles go deeper in the playoffs.
eagles will go 7-9
McNibbles will get the Skins to one game away form the playoffs, have a 3 point lead with a minute left and throw an interception that is run back for a TD…. he will then laugh it off and be surprised when he is told that football rules say if you have less points at the end of the game, you loose. He will then laugh it off again and eat some soup.
and i will still miss Brian Dawkins every single day
#20 Denver Broncos! The best eagle
hey, is anyone else amused that the first company to take advantage of the “corporations are more important that people” ruling is getting it’s ass handed to it in PR?
so who all is boycotting Target? Ive also cancelled my BestBuy account.
no Target in Sussex. but will still boycott.
Since you guys have Target and Best Buy covered, I’ll boycott MSNBC for not running the “Boycott Target” ad, and President Obama for opposing gay marriages.
msnbc is a news organization and has no business devoting it’s advertising time to supporting a political special interest…. that is for Fake News.