CPT Pointers - Some Favorite Pointers

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Before we take things too seriously check out these Pointers.

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CPT Pointers - Digging for the Truth

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Politicians make finding the truth a full time occupation it seems. Now I am an equal opportunity critic so any old politician is included whether democrat, republican, independent, christian, catholic or prostitute.

Thus the need for CPT Pointers - our effort to send you in the general direction of truth. Today we have a couple of subjects raised by Obama supporters and members of MSNBC, the Left wing of the White House.

Preacher Man Al Sharpton - My Man

First we have the wanna be spokesperson for the 99% of Americans who aren't filthy rich, the Obama decription for middle class America, and that mouthpiece for you and me is none other than the Reverend Al Sharpton.

Have you heard him on TV promos talking about "us", the 99% of middle class America? Of course he also says Republicans are the 1% of Americans. Come on Preacher Man, does Divine Providence really let you get away with white lies like that?

You say Republicans represent the 1% yet the truth is 30% of the nation's registered voters are Republicans, while another 28% are Independents, leaving 42% Democrat. Now if nearly 60% of the voters are not Democrat how can you represent 99% of the middle class. Fact is I know a number of Democrats who cringe when I ask them about you being their mouthpiece for the election.

In addition, I have never seen a Republican with blueberry pie all over their face like you say on television. Please keep the racial profiling to yourself and the Obama campaign.

Lawrence O'Donnell and the Academic Elite

Yet another MSNBC announcer who was quick to trash Romney for his Bain Capital connections before having to admit that Bain Capital is a partner in NBC ownership, his boss.

Now Lawrence has a tv promo talking about how a college education is the most important thing for the future of America. That's nice. He tells us how at the end of World War II only 6% of the American work force had college degrees, but thanks to the GI bill that number rose to 20% of the population.

Today 26% of the workers have a college degree. So the way I read that is after billions of dollars in government tuition and billions more in endowment grants to schools in the last 66 years 20% more of our workforce now has degrees.

Seems he's promoting other things close to him 

Of course I am all for education but it may not be the sole reason America does not lead the world any longer. I mean everyone admits that America rose to a superpower between 1946 and 1960 and then became the only superpower by 1990.

That would mean about 80% of the American workforce that built America into a superpower did not have college degrees. Sometimes those who think of themselves as "intellectuals" should thank the 75% who aren't, those who do the work, create the innovations and pay the taxes so the elitists can do their thing.

If all it took was more money, and we spend more money by far on education and health care than any other nation, then why do we not have the best education and health care in the world?
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R-E-S-P-E-C-T - Find out what it means to me...

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A Forgotten American Value

There was a time when respect meant something in America.  Fact is it really wasn't all that long ago.  I have a pretty good memory you see, and good memories have a way of sticking around.

When I think back it seems the beginning of the end of respect in American culture and life started as a backlash to the forced retirement of Richard Nixon from the White House during the post-Watergate era.

When Nixon ran for reelection in 1972 McGovern was never ever a serious threat and Nixon won every single state except Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, in one of the greatest landslides in electoral history.

The Watergate made no sense as there was no chance Nixon could lose.  In the previous four years he ended the Viet Nam war, lowered the threat of nuclear annihilation by his Soviet inroads, he was the first world leader to open the doors to China, and life was pretty darn good.

Yet there were people on his staff, the California mafia in particular, who were so paranoid they thought Howard Hughes was working with Larry O'Brien (head of the Democrat National Committee DNC and former knight in John Kennedy's Camelot), the mob, the news media and China to bring down the president.

So they ordered the Watergate break in to find evidence in the DNC headquarters.  For the first time the Cubans breaking in got caught after long careers with the CIA.  The trail then conveniently led to the West Wing of the White House and the top staff members of the president.

Thanks to the terribly botched break in, capture and pointing fingers, everything moved fast, perhaps too fast, for a thorough government investigation.  Before long there was 18 minutes missing from a White House tape and tens of thousands of dollars in cash being passed between a series of dark and shadowy secret agencies, organizations and groups.

In terms of people being out to get them no matter what happened in the election, there were some pretty good reasons for paranoia.  Attempts by the White House palace guards to gain political influence over the intelligence agencies was intense and only J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI had the power to resist the White House staff.

And then there was the Kennedy assassination.  Just 12 years earlier JFK was killed.  Bobby Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were killed about five years later.  Nixon had been defeated by JFK and Nixon people always felt the truth about the Kennedy assassination never came out.

Were the Kennedy's killed because they upset the military industrial complex by wanting to end involvement in the rapidly escalating Viet Nam war?  Or was it the mob and CIA who were upset because of the Bay of Pigs fiasco?  Maybe it went back to Jimmy Hoffa, mortal enemy of the Kennedys from the days he was President of the powerful Teamsters Union and was driven from office into jail by a relentless Bobby Kennedy?

As far as the Nixon cronies were concerned someone was out there powerful enough to kill presidents and anyone else involved if these mysterious forces felt threatened.  I think the Nixon political people were determined to find them first.

Anyway, you get the drift, there were a lot of reasons to be paranoid.  The mafia, Jimmy Hoffa, Castro, Communists, Cuban Freedom Fighters, Howard Hughes, the military, FBI, CIA, Soviets, KGB, Kennedy family and so on.

Someone clearly set them up as a warning or in retaliation for something and people that break the law deserve to get broken.

So Nixon wins by a landslide in 1972 and the Watergate investigation is underway.  His aides forgot to tell him some things that took place?  He covers up for their bungled break in though he most likely didn't know it took place.

Check out this time line.

The Watergate break in is June 17, 1972.

Nixon wins reelection on November 7, 1972.

Watergate trial begins in January, 1973.

Nixon fires top aides in April, 1973.

Butterfield tells Senate of Nixon's tapes on July 16, 1973.

Nixon resigns from Office August 9, 1974.

Just before he wins one of the most resounding landslide victories in American political history a break in took place that would bring down a presidency.

The aftermath brought Ford to the presidency, the pardon of Nixon by Ford, and finally Ford's defeat by Carter.  Historically speaking, it was one of the most remarkable periods ever as the strength of the Constitution, the fairness of the judiciary, the ability for the nation to function for two years without a president who was buried in the legal battle for survival, and the media.

Oh yes the media.  They hated the White House palace guard more than anyone.  Not only did Nixon almost beat the beloved leader of the liberal cause, Kennedy and his Camelot in 1960, but here he was back in the White House elected 8 years after JFK.

In the eyes of the media Nixon was back to dismantle the Kennedy legacy, and the rise of the liberal media legacy, and Watergate gave the liberals and media the perfect reason to go after Nixon and his people.  Little did they know they were pawns like everyone else involved.

The aftermath was a terrible polarization between liberals and conservatives, democrats and republicans, academia and the military, and on and on.  Unlike previous times, this time it was a fight for survival of their cause.

By the late 1970's there were many seeds of hatred, intolerance, judgment, bias and fear planted throughout the land fueled by a conviction that the other guy was out to destroy me so my only hope was to destroy him first.

Reagan brought a brief respite from the bitterness, perhaps because he had been both a democrat and a republican, but it didn't last long after.

Ever since it has been clear that the core of our malaise was our failure to respect the right of others to disagree.  Yes, loss of R-E-S-P-E-C-T.  The powerful feminist anthem by soul singer Aretha Franklin in 1967.  Aretha wailed it:

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Take care ... TCB

"TCB" is an abbreviation that was commonly used in the 1960s and 1970s, meaning Taking Care (of) Business.

We all need to remind each other to respect our right to disagree, and respect the opinions of others as you would want them to respect your opinions.

In the past people could disagree without hating.  My best friends worked against me in political campaigns yet we still shared a beer every week and laughed about our campaigns. All of the competitions of life should make us understand the need to respect and listen to each other but we don't.

Maybe the feminists will allow us to borrow Aretha's anthem for another cause, the need for renewing respect in our lives, politics and religions.

Just for fun I checked the definition of respect from my current dictionary and from my collection of old dictionaries, this one from 1906.  Words are my playground and the more I study them the more I understand their secrets.

Over 100 years ago respect had a lot more significance than it has today.  The following are the current and 1906 dictionary definitions of respect.  Use this as a good refresher of what we need to work to achieve.

Internet Free Dictionary - 2012

re·spect (r -sp kt )

tr.v. re·spect·ed, re·spect·ing, re·spects

1. To feel or show deferential regard for; esteem.
2. To avoid violation of or interference with: respect the speed limit.
3. To relate or refer to; concern.

n.
1. A feeling of appreciative, often deferential regard; esteem. See Synonyms at regard.
2. The state of being regarded with honor or esteem.
3. Willingness to show consideration or appreciation.
4. respects Polite expressions of consideration or deference: pay one's respects.
5. A particular aspect, feature, or detail: In many respects this is an important decision.
6. Usage Problem Relation; reference. See Usage Note at regard.

The New American Encyclopedic Dictionary - 1906

respect (rĕ-spĕct )
v.t. [Fr. respecter, from Lat. respectus, pa. par. of respicio=to look back on, to look at: re=back, again, and specio=to look, to look at; Sp. respectar, respetar; Ital. rispettare.]

1. To look back upon.
2. To look toward; to face or look in direction of.
             "Palladius adviseth, the front of his house should so respect the south, that in the first angle it receive the rising rays of the winter sun." - Browne.
3. To take special notice of; to regard attentively; to regard as worthy of motice.
            "What should it be that he respects in her?"
                        Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv.4.
4. To heed. to consider, to regard.
            "Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?"
                                Shakespeare: Measure for Measure, iv.1.
5. To view or regard with some degree of reverence; to esteem; to look up to with reverence or respect.
6. To have reference or regard to; to relate to.

[Respecting, 3.]

                To respect a person or persons, to respect the person: To show undue favor or bias toward; to suffer the opinion or judgment to be influenced or biased by a regard to the outward circumstances of a person, to the prejudice of right and equity.

rĕ-spĕct , s. [Fr., from Lat. respectum, accus. of respectus=a looking at, regard, from respectus, pa. par. of respicio=to look back upon, to respect (q. v.).]

1. The act of looking at with attention; the act of noticing; a looking toward; attention, regard, care.
                "I will have respect unto the statutes continually." - Psalm cxix. 117
2. Relation, regard, reference [¶].
3. The act of holding in high esteem or regard; regard; reverence; the deportment or course of action toward another which proceeds from a feeling of esteem, regard, or reverence toward such person.
4. (Pl.): An expression of esteem and regard; as, Give him my respects.
5. Respected character or position; respectability, repute.
                "Many of the best respect in Rome."
                                Shakespeare: Julius Caesar, i. 2.
6. Goodwill, favor.  (Genesis iv. 4.)
7. Partial regard; undue bias to the prejudice or right and equity.
                "It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment."
                                Proverbs xxiv. 23.
8. Consideration; motive in reference to something.
                "Whatsoever secret respects were likely to move them."
                                Hooker: Eccles. Polity.
9. Point or particular; point of view; matter, feature.
                "She will be ruled in all respects by me."
                                Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, iii. 4.
10. Modest and becoming behavior; decency.
                "Talk with respect, and swear but now and then."
                                Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, ii. 2.
11. Deliberation, reflection.
                "The icy precepts of respect."
                                Shakespeare: Timon of Athens, iv. 3.
12.Caution, care.
                "He it well did ward with wise respect."
                                Spenser: F. Q., V. xii. 21.

[¶] 1. In respect: Comparatively speaking; relativity.
                "He was a man; this, in respect, a child."
                                 Shakespeare: Henry VI., Pt. III., v. 5.
2. In respect of, or to:
            (1) In comparison with; relatively to.
                "In respect of a fine workman I am but a cobbler."
                              Shakespeare: Julius Caesar. i. 1.
            (2) On account of; by reason of; in consideration of; as regards.

Do you see how much we are losing from the true meaning of respect?
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Obamaville March 14 - Primaries and March Madness - America's Entertainment

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International Negotiations American Style

For those of you who think we like to mix politics and entertainment, you got it right.  Last night was the pre-opening round of the NCAA tournament when those teams "on the bubble", yet another odd form of media slang, had to play to get into the tournament.

There were two NCAA games and four NIT games and March Madness doesn't even start until tomorrow.  Make no mistake, however, this is really big stuff, much more important than political primaries.

Why even UK Prime Minister David Cameron flew in and he and President Obama took a break from critical world affairs to run down to Dayton, Ohio for the night to see one of the NCAA play-in games.

Play-in games were an underhanded trick by the NCAA to allow more teams into the tournament without adding a huge number of teams, so four teams play each other for the right to play in the NCAA.  In truth it was a way to take advantage of the massive money made from tournament games.

Of course as the last teams to qualify they get the worst seeding so what does that mean to the winner of these games, they play the top seeded teams in the tourney in their next game. So Western Kentucky, after staging the greatest four minute comeback in NCAA tournament history, now has to face the top team in the nation, the mighty Kentucky Wildcats who are the concensus favorite to win the national championship.  The game is in Louisville.

By the way, as our two heads of state watched on Western Kentucky staged the greatest five minute comeback in NCAA history as they came from 16 points down to win 59-58 over Mississippi Valley State.

The next game in Dayton saw even more history made as BYU staged the greatest comeback in the NCAA history by coming from 25 points behind.  Previously, the largest deficit overcome was 22 points in 2001 when Duke fought back to beat Maryland 95-84 in the national semifinals.

Back to our leaders, we all know Obama loves basketball.  In fact it has been good for basketball and good for Obama politically.  But the Brits, well they have a little problem with strange games in the colonies such as basketball and leaders going out for a good time. Check out this fun report of the game by the London Daily Mail.

The London Daily Mail

Don't risk looking like a basket case, Dave

By Melissa Kite

PUBLISHED: 06:17 EST, 14 March 2012 | UPDATED: 09:52 EST, 14 March 2012

British Prime Ministers are good at many things, but high-fiving whilst eating hotdogs has never been one of them.

David Cameron did his best to look like he was enjoying all the slam-dunking action at the basketball, but this really isn’t our thing, is it? I mean, the only thing we Brits have ever put in a basket for cultural or leisure purposes is a piece of chicken.

Barak Obama invited Mr Cameron to watch Western Kentucky University take on Mississippi Valley State in the opening game of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men's Basketball tournament, known as March Madness, apparently.

At half-time, the pair were interviewed by Clark Kellogg of CBS Sports and Mr Cameron, an Old Etonian more used to cricket, rugby and The Eton Wall game, tried to pretend he was lovin’ it.

The Prime Minister said: “I'm enjoying it. It's fast, it's pretty fast and furious. It's hard to follow sometimes exactly who's done what wrong.”

Which is a bit like British politics, I suppose. One minute you’re a popular leader in an open-necked shirt hugging hoodies, the next minute you’ve got a fractious coalition to lead and just when you should be worrying about your Budget statement and an impending re-shuffle, you have to get on a plane to the United States and eat hot dogs in front of the cameras at a basketball match.

Asked if the President was helping him make sense of it all, Mr Cameron said: “He's giving me some tips. He's going to help me fill out my bracket.”

I don’t know what that means, but I’m guessing it’s not about the pair of them doing a spot of DIY shelf assembly.

It’s always the same when British Prime Ministers meet US Presidents. Remember the banter when Tony Blair hobnobbed with George W Bush at Camp David? There was some gobbledegook talked then about how they used the same toothpaste.

In the effort to be folksy and populist, to mingle British and American culture together to achieve a sort of transatlantic mateyness, something always gets lost in translation.

It makes you long for the days when world leaders simply held talks behind closed doors then gave a short press conference in the Rose Garden. At least we could understand what they were on about.

What about the political primaries?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  Santorum was the surprise winner of both Mississippi and Alabama although I don't understand why the media was surprised since the two states are 80% evangelical and Santorum is the pride of the social moral majority issues.

A bigger surprise was how that liberal from Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, managed to split the vote with Preacher Santorum and Professor Gingrich.  Since Mitt also won primaries in Hawaii and Guam he actually finished third in the two southern states (just barely) yet still walked away with more delegates to the GOP convention.

So I guess the lesson this week is losing can still be winning in politics in America.

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America's Newest Heroine - Lori Anne Madison

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Lori becomes 1st 6 year old to qualify for National Spelling Bee

America loves and needs a new heroine and our newest comes in a diminutive package packed with knowledge, smarts and wit, 6 year old Lori Anne Madison from Virginia.

This week she took the long and lonely journey to the pinnacle of national competition when she became the youngest person to ever qualify for the highly regarded National Spelling Bee.

Imagine that, a competition for all elementary and secondary students in the USA, meaning kids from 8 to 18, and she is one of the 277 brightest kids in America.

I have a thing for academic pursuit ever since I started correcting my teachers in grade school so seeing one achieve such a lofty honor as qualifying for the National Spelling Bee boggles the mind when you consider at her age I was probably still playing cowboys and Indians.

If you get a chance check out her interviews as her feat was quickly picked up by the national and world press as if they could not believe America had any smart 6 year olds.  Her maturity and charm belie her years.

Did I fail to mentioned that this young genius is home schooled?

Here is what the world news had to say about Lori .

Six-year-old girl in National Spelling Bee

(Reuters) - A 6-year-old girl will become the youngest contestant ever in the Scripps National Spelling Bee after winning a regional competition in Virginia.

Lori Anne Madison, of Woodbridge, Virginia, won the Prince William County spelling contest last week, beating out 21 top elementary and middle school competitors. Her winning word: "vaquero," a word of Spanish origin meaning cowboy.

"My parents quiz me. I read lists and I have a really good memory," Madison, who is home-schooled, told Fox's WTTG-TV.

Madison was believed to be the youngest competitor ever, the Cincinnati-based National Spelling Bee said on Tuesday. Based on incomplete records, the previous youngest contestant was 8, it said.

The spelling contest has been held since 1925. This year's event will be held May 29 to June 1 in Washington with 277 spellers from the United States, U.S. territories and other countries.

Madison will be sponsored by the News & Messenger newspaper of Manassas, Virginia.

(Reporting By Ian Simpson; Editing by Daniel Trotta)

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March Madness Begins as Top 25 fall like Dominos

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It was the Mad Hatters Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland where all is not what it seems this last week of the college basketball season before the beginning of March Madness this Thursday.

As the top 25 college teams finished their regular season and headed into the conference tournaments, the last warm up before March madness, there were high hopes for a successful post season launch.

Of course the field was filled with the usual characters that have dominated college basketball for the past 500 years as you can see from the standings, with most top ten teams old hands in March Madness.  Here was the top 25:

Top 25

1.Kentucky

2.Syracuse
3.Kansas
4.North Carolina
5.Missouri
6.Duke
7.Ohio St.
8.Michigan St.
9.Marquette
10.Michigan
11.Murray St.
12.Baylor
13.Georgetown
14.Wisconsin
15.Indiana
16.Wichita St.
17.Florida St.
18.San Diego St.
19.Creighton
20.UNLV
21.Temple
22.Florida
23.Notre Dame
24.Gonzaga
25.Iowa St.

Before the long week was over and the NCAA field was set on Sunday night absolute carnage raged as 21 of the top 25 teams lost.  That may very well be a new record in NCAA history with 84% of the top 25 teams losing the last week of the season.

The biggest upset of all went to Vanderbilt from Nashville as they upset #1 Kentucky in the SEC finals.  But 9 of the top 10 lost, only Missouri survived.  The four who did not lose in the top 25, in red, still lost 19 games between them during the season.

In terms of which are the smartest teams, The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, at the University of Central Florida, calculated the six-year graduation results for athletes who entered school during the 2003 and 2004 school years. The analysis does not count players who left college early to play professional basketball.

Only the following teams have graduated 100 percent of their basketball team members, Belmont, Brigham Young, Notre Dame and Villanova.  Vanderbilt awarded degrees to 93 percent of its players.  This was as of last year so maybe we will get to see how smart the teams are this year.

Ironically, Vanderbilt, the upset winner over Kentucky, is known more for the mind than the muscle as they won just their first SEC conference tourney title in 61 years.  Yes, Truman was president the last time they won.

The first round opponent for Vandy is the other egg head team of the tourney, Harvard, who has not played in the tournament since 1946, a 66 year absence.  It was in keeping with the other first-time achievements this season for the Crimson, who cracked the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time, and clinched their first outright Ivy League title since 1946.

This could be the most balanced and/or upset prone field in years as Kentucky, who appeared to be a notch above the rest all season, seemed to run out of gas in the SEC tourney.

Stay tuned to more from Wonderland.

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Countdown to St. Patrick's Day

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The magnificent Cliffs of Moher

Being my maternal grandfather was 100% Irish it is required that I post a countdown to St. Patrick's Day.  Attention: 8 more days until the number of Irish in America reaches over 300 million.

Cheers and check out the song by Irish artist Jim McCann.

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