It’s The Constitution

I wasn’t going to write about the NFL, athletes, the President, etc… on the whole kneeling thing, the flag, what is un-American and so forth. I have been very angry. And for reasons that very few are putting into words or very few I have seen.  Yet, here I go.

Our flag is our flag. It is a symbol, but it is not who we are as a country. If you are more worried about how people treat the flag than how people treat the Constitution, why are you worried about the flag. The Flag shows the world a marker. It identifies us to others. It does not define us or it shouldn’t. Yes, we can by proud of it as a symbol; we can salute it; we can even cherish it. We cannot use this as an end all way to define who is American and who is not.

Belief and living our Constitution is what should define us as citizens of the United States. So, what does it mean to be a citizen of the United States or an “American”?

Well if you are part of the hate either on the left, right or wherever, you are not an American.

If you complain, rant and rave, yet do nothing to help find solutions you are not an American.

If you hear a good idea and do not pursue it, what are you?

If you ignore the plight of others, what are you?

Our beliefs and values include the idea that all men are created equal, and we put this in practice by striving for equal opportunity.

If you deride others for uncontrolled failures, what does that say about you.

If you blame others for your lack of accomplishments, what does that say about you.

And if you say, what about you, are you being hypocritical, what have you done. I agree. At times most of us are hypocritical. The main factor is how you look at the situation and how you proceed. Granted I could do more, yet I honestly try to offer ideas. I talk to people at work and other places. I am not afraid to tell people I am an independent and that the Democrats and Republicans have failed us. Am I right, who knows, but I at least try. I look for better governance and most times when I write; indirectly that is what I am asking you to do. We all have our faults, but we shouldn’t drag down a whole country, especially one that is blessed as ours. We have a duty as citizens of a representative republic to make sure we choose representatives who do the best for the whole. Sometimes that will benefit certain groups, other times it may not benefit us directly, yet if it benefits the whole country we will gain.

This is the 21^st century, we should be reaching new heights in human achievement, not devolving back centuries. We must accept our failures and rise above them. Our Constitution gave us the ability to move forward, to create a great country; where people choose the best course for the people, not be pushed around by dictators, oligarchs, extremism, special interests, hate, mob mentality, etc….It is time to get back on course and support what is important.

Standing for the Flag or National anthem is a great way to show support for our country, but by no means is it the only way or the most important way. It is by our actions that we show we are patriotic. It is by what we do for the country as a whole, not by the noise we make. If you do something because you want to right a wrong, by all means do it within the law of the land. 
 

Our Constitution is what we should cherish above all else when it comes to who we are as a country. I ask you to make a difference. I write under the name of this blog, but if you ever want to discuss with me my ideas or work with me to start another major party, please let me know. I have reached out to other organizations before and I will continue if I see something positive being done.

Overall, I hope that we can grow past this insanity. You cannot put the blame on one person, because we would not have gotten to this point if WE hadn’t let it happen. It will take a large majority of us to right the ship and put us back on the course of greatness. Don’t wait for someone else to do it. It is up to you and me.

The NBA’s winds of change are benefitting my Mavs…

Okay maybe not now, but potentially in the next few years. They are also benefitting other teams like the Timberwolves, The Kings, The Lakers, possibly the Pelicans, and the two teams benefitting now and in the future, are the Celtics and the Wizards.

For most teams Media day is tomorrow, Monday, and so many teams will talk about their opportunities. Everyone will be hot and heavy for the Thunder while Carmelo Anthony tries to deal with the media and a moving truck.  So why are some teams benefitting from all the movement. I had written a bit of a piece a few weeks ago, now though I am updating for two reasons, one media day is tomorrow and two Carmelo’s move.

The Golden State Warriors are still the team to beat and quite frankly it will take an act of God for them not to win. They are strong enough to survive a case of the injury bug off and on throughout the season so barring a complete deluge of insanity no one is beating them. Yet some teams are sacrificing their future to try and become a win now team.

Houston went all in on Chris Paul and now the Oklahoma Thunder have added to their camp by acquiring Melo. This is a must win now moment for them. There is no guarantee that Westbrook, Paul George, or Carmelo will stay and even that is if they win.  Not winning means OKC could be superstarless come next July 1^st.  That is a big gamble.  These two teams have the most to gain and the most to lose depending on how the season turns out.  The Clippers are either a cohesive surprise or becoming one of the teams that drop the most and they have no future in front of them. I also do not see them surprising anyone, but you never know. Patrick Beverly is not a bad player. Utah’s future turned dim.

The team with the most promise right now is the Celtics. They have a potential win now team, plus the assets and draft picks to be competitive for quite a while. The Wizards are close to a win now team, yet with some future. Right behind them are the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Who knows where the Cavaliers end up this year. And the future is not too bright with all the LA talk for LeBron. If he stays, maybe a year or two more. If not, they might make the playoffs with Love and Thompson and even then, keeping them is a big if. I know I am in the minority, yet I do not feel the Cavaliers will win the East. They may finish third and lose in the second round or maybe the Eastern Conference finals.

So why is this all good for my Mavericks and possibly a few other teams. First the one factor that must come into play is the Nerlons Noel situation. He will need to shine and come back. The Mavs must be competitive so he wants to come back. I hope they sneak into the playoffs so there is good excitement that encourages him to come back. The problem will be if he has a border line break out season. Will he expect the max again? Will it be enough to get it from another team? Or from the Mavs? The best-case scenario is he has a good year and realizes with the competition in free agency next year, he won’t get the max and still feels good about Dallas because of the team potential and accepts a very very good contract, but one that allows the Mavericks to keep building over the next year or so. If that falls into place, for three to seven years the Mavs could be one of the best teams in the NBA. The Cavaliers will be out of the picture, the Thunder will be out of the picture, the Warriors will have priced themselves out of the picture, the Rockets will be out of the picture, the Clippers will be out of the picture, the Grizzlies are out of the picture; so, the next question who is in the picture. The Celtics are there, the Wizards might be there, the Timberwolves could be there, and then you have the developing teams such as the Mavs, the Kings, the 76ers, the Lakers, (who may get Lebron, yet may not be great for long term development, gives them a year or two), the Pelicans if they ever figure out how to help Davis.

So, this leaves the Bulls, the Heat, the Hawks, the Hornets, Indy and a few other teams on a wait and see. Do they do well in the draft next year and can begin the process of being a developing team or do they fall to the wayside and suffer for a few years. Sometimes teams turn it around quickly, sometimes they get mired in their own missteps.

The three wild cards are the Spurs, the Trailblazers, and the Knicks. The Knicks may move into the developing team with some young free agents and another good draft pick next year. Trading Melo, probably is a positive by subtraction and I think most people are agreeing with me. It depends on how fast they can take advantage of the change. The Trailblazers need help to be a win now team, yet if they can find one or two young pieces they are very competitive for years. The future can be very bright in Portland if they find those pieces.

And the Spurs, well I think they may have made some missteps these past two off seasons. They have the organization to recover quickly and a definite superstar to build around. Can they find the right pieces in trades and free agency to bounce right back for a next year run for a championship or will these missteps slow them down for a few years. The Spurs are not challenging the Warriors this year. In fact, if Houston (I doubt and hope not, but should be realistic) and OKC reach their current promise the Spurs may end up fourth or fifth at the end of the regular season. I know Spurs fans are confidant. I know they have faith, yet I feel they need to look ahead and see who can help Leonard. The Spurs pulled a Mavs and went in too much on older free agents. And everyone knows how this turned out for the Mavs.

So, the Mavs have the chance to be competitive this year, gain confidence and cohesion, hopefully keep Noel, and add either in draft or young free agents next year and they will be poised to keep this MFFL(E) very happy for many years. Let the season begin. 

Hillary Clinton is killing the Democrats chances for 2018.

I know what you are saying. What??!!?!? Didn’t you promise you would be more positive again in your last post. And I am. Yes, folks it is time for the Democrats to give up the ghost. And I am going to give them some straight honest advice this evening.

And others of you are saying why give the Democrats good advice. I thought you didn’t vote Democrat or Republican. And I don’t. And I won’t. If God, the most perfect version of God you can think of decided to run for office I would beg God to run as an independent because if God ran as a Democrat or Republican I still do not think I could vote for God.  I am going to give good advice to the Democrats though.  

First, they must put Hillary Clinton on a shelf. They can walk by and smile or wave at her. Say hi, but put her on the shelf. It is time. I know there are many Democrats who will stop reading because I said this, yet it must be said. I know many think we should have a woman President and I do not disagree with having a woman President. It will never be Ms. Clinton. It amazes me how much tunnel vision the Establishment Democrats possess. They do not understand that many Americans really do not like her. And we aren’t talking the gossip at the Cocktail party dislike, we are talking actual dislike. Time to move on. And you are appropriately saying this is old news. It is, yet her new book is putting her back in the headlines so we must squash false hope.

Second, they need new leadership across the board. Clinton, Pelosi, Schumer etc… are dead weight. Think about this, the most exciting candidate other than Obama for the lasts twenty years is 70-year-old Bernie Sanders. He is the only other candidate to achieve any real energy level in his crowds. People got excited about him. Who else had that much excitement? And he is 70+.  As a casual observer I cannot see who is ready to step up. And the fact there is not a large amount of well-known potential leadership talent in the party right now is very telling.

Third, develop a new platform. The Democrats haven’t had a new idea since the 1960’s. I have harped on this before, but it is still needed. Clinton’s platform was a disastrous array of hodgepodge slogans.  And this is made more profound because the Democrats do not have a true base. They almost had one in the 50’s and 60’s. They have run away from this ever since.  The Republicans had a base and still have the remnants of one because Republicans are joiners. They want to be part of the club so they stick around. Democrats or what might be called Democrats not so much. The closest they had to joiners was the union members. They let Union strength die and along with it their best chance at having any consistent base. The Democrats have let down the Unions, the working class in general, the middle class, minorities, and other hodgepodge groups. They tried being the party to all the different groups instead of trying to solidify a platform that benefited all. If they had worked hard at protecting the Unions, jobs, wages, better education then they could have kept up a base. If by any chance you think they have a base, well my answer is look at wealth gap and quality of education. These should have been the cornerstone of everything they do, yet… where are we now. The Democrats need a new platform.

For example: The War on Poverty is a great idea, but their ideas to combat it are equivalent to popping balloons on a real battlefield to make the enemy think someone is actually shooting. Poverty is worse now, it is engrained generationally and if education is bad for the middle class it is absurdly lacking for the lower class. The Democrats need new leadership, new ideas, and a new battleplan. They just do.

And speaking of the Democrats, middle class, working class, America, please email the 2 Senators from your state and tell them to vote no to the new version of the Republican Repeal plan for ACA (Obamacare).  This is the Graham-Cassidy bill. Be adamant about telling them to vote no. Make sure they understand this bill will cause expenses to rise, taxes to rise at the local, state, and national level. Tell them more people will be sick. Tell them they are taking away your livelihood. And these are not just sayings. These are facts. Tell them this bill is completely anti-American dream. If they vote yes, they are voting against you. Tell them.

We need healthcare reform. Unfortunately, Obamacare became insurance coverage reform. It did not address the rising costs of healthcare. It did not address the excessive amount of drug use coming from prescriptions. It did not address preventative medicine. Doctors need to be able to treat you as a patient for years. You need a regular relationship with a family doctor so they have your history, so they can know you as a person, be candid with you when necessary. Tell you the truth, when something is needed or where there are alternatives.  Obamacare did not help you have a better relationship with your doctor. It only allowed you to have insurance to see a Doctor. Doctor’s need help also with healthcare reform so they can be your Doctor, not the Doc in a box.

So, either the Democrats can step up and create healthcare reform as part of their new platform based on my comments above; or the Republicans can, or an independent group can; either way I do not care as long as someone actually creates healthcare reform. For now, we need to TELL our Senators to vote against the Graham-Cassidy bill. I do not care how much you love or hate Trump tell your Senator to vote no. This bill is not for the American people. For the life of me I cannot tell who it benefits. Some say it is a tax break for the wealthy, it maybe I do not know. In no way shape or form, does it address healthcare. Contact both of your Senators and TELL them to vote no.

Here is the link to look up the information for your Senator:

https://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_correspond_senators.htm

Copy and paste the info above and you will find the contact info. Some you can email, some have websites you can make comments. It is probably too late to mail them anything, yet you certainly can try. Do not delay, the vote will happen very very soon. Your first hint I am right is they are trying to rush this through. When someone doesn’t want you to think about it, it usually isn’t in your best interest.  This ain’t.

I have contacted each of my Senators by going to the States tab on the website above and clicking on my State (Texas) and going to where it says contact. I did and entered my message. Please do so also. I suggest being polite or at least professional. Ranting and ravings usually get ignored.

Do not take this lightly. The part of the Republican base that wants Obamacare repealed will be contacting their Senator. They do this regularly so the Senators’ staffs know some of these people. You must make the effort and it only takes about five minutes. And pass it on. You do not have to agree with me about much, yet I implore you to make this effort because this bill does not benefit you or me.

And I will be coming back to my story soon. I was out of town for a while so I lost track of it. I plan on rereading through it to catch up and then move forward. I do know where I want it to end so just got to flesh it out.  Have a great evening and again call, email, comment, mail or however you want to contact your Senators, just let them know, to vote no.

A bit of true populist conservative Social Security and tax reform

Good afternoon one and all,

You can tell summer is coming to an end since the days are definitely shorter than they use to be, not because of the temperature around here.

I used to brag I would keep this blog positive and work to post positive comments. The last few years have been rough on the ole psyche, yet we must keep the faith. The last post was a bit critical, yet I still stick by it. The press can criticize Trump, just stick to what he is not doing or failing to do as President. Some of the other petty articles we should lose. Anyway, so as not to criticize I have decided to go back and try to add ideas to solve issues facing our country.

These are two short thoughts on topics I have suggested ideas before. Awhile back I wrote a lengthy description of a broad-based plan to help keep Social Security solvent. Today I want to suggest another way to help that can be added in conjunction with my previous proposal. And it includes a bit of tax reform.

First let’s drop the income tax rate a bit maybe 7-10% for working and middle-class earners since they are the people that can primarily benefit from Social Security anyway. We take a portion of the 7-10% and switch it over to social security. So, the income tax is reduced 7% of which 2% is added to the amount withheld for social security and to help small businesses out and all businesses out, there is no corresponding increase in how much the employer should contribute. For now, workers have 15% added to Social Security from which 7.5% from employee and 7.5% from employer. Now the income tax rate is reduced and some of this is added to Social Security making the employee contribution 9.5% for a total 17%. If needed, you can increase the wage amount that social security can be withheld a small amount also. The employee and the employer’s tax burden is not significantly impacted and Social Security receives the extra income for future generations.  And the income tax rate is dropped 5% and even though a small drop allows more money back in the people’s hands now and in the future.

And going back to one of my old ideas where corporate taxes should not be reduced till they do something to earn a tax break. Employers that increase payroll receive a tax credit for the amount they increase payroll. It is a wash for the employer basically, some cost may exist, however, the working and middle class receive extra income which along with the income tax reduction for them helps the economy. The increase in wages also increases the amount going to Social Security especially when you add the extra 2%.

I am against corporate and higher income bracket tax reductions till the wage and wealth gap is reduced. I cannot justify in my head tax reductions for these groups till we see a corresponding investment in our economy and our people.  It is time we put the horse before the cart for the one percent. Most of our large corporations rely on customer spending anyway so you could make the joke this is now trickle up theory.  Yes, really bad joke. Or you could say what goes up, must come down. Stronger economy means more corporate profits which makes it easier to continue the  upward wage trend coming back down to the working and middle-class. The bugger in a plan like this is inflation so hopefully the correct groups can use their tools to balance the growth vs. inflation pendulum.

We need to increase competition also. Customers will need to make sure they spend money where they are treated well so there is no attempt at price increases to double up on increasing income for corporations when they raise wages. People will have to rely on themselves to make this work since we do not need socialistic price controls creating more bureaucracy creating a need for more government. I am a smaller government conservative. This means we, the people, need to take on more responsibility. To help, we can spend money on better education. This is an investment that benefits society as a whole and helps the people make better decisions to support these ideas.

You can play around with it yourselves if you want to create a budget since Congress cannot. My numbers are off the top of my head. I feel they are in a realistic range and too bad I cannot hand them to the CBO for a bit of analysis.

And I do not know if this is truly original, yet I feel comfortable supporting it.

Fall is coming which means the State Fair of Texas is about to start. If you get the chance, come on by. I will admit the fried food craze for the fair is out of hand, yet overall it is still a great event too attend.  

Finally on this Sunday of Repentance readings I need to ask forgiveness from Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Congress, Putin, The media, The One percenters, the greedy, all the truly hard working people in Washington D.C, you the reader for my not keeping my goal of trying to be positive, and probably millions of others for some reason or another. Being critical is easy, accomplishing good is the goal.

Have a great week all.

The left-wing media is just as narcissistic as Donald Trump

We know that whether you support Donald Trump or don’t support Donald Trump you have very strong feelings about him. It is hard to find too many people that don’t have an opinion about him.

Some feel his narcissism is very dangerous for this country. Others feel this is the way he is and that his strong personality is why they like him. If you read this blog regularly you know I am far from a fan.  Yet, I am getting tired of certain left-wing media groups, organizations, or even individuals who have built up a cottage industry of sorts patting themselves on the back every time someone says something derogatory about Donald Trump.

You see the headlines such as so and so destroys Trump in one tweet. So and so has the perfect response to Donald Trump. And they are the most ridiculously inane statements. There is no real punch to the actual statement. They did not take down Donald Trump. They do not prove anything, nor do they offer any solutions or alternatives to what Donald Trump said, proposed for policy, or did. It is banal rhetoric. Still we get headlines that do nothing for anyone.

I do not want Donald Trump to be my President. I think he is the worst President in our history and this includes such luminaries as Coolidge, Hoover, Cleveland to name a few regularly bad Presidents. These same people living off this narcissistic criticism of him, though offer nothing in return. They lump all his supporters into Clinton’s infamous deplorables group not realizing most of the people that voted for him were/are angry at the Washington establishment. There are racists and alt right fanatics that support Trump, yet they alone do not make up the tens of millions of people who voted for him.

I am borrowing this analogy. What all these self-righteous left-wing media fanatics do not seem to realize is that Donald Trump is the actual realization of the 1980’s movie where the newscaster tells everyone to go to their window and yell out into the night that I am not going to take it anymore and the movie shows people all over the nation screaming out their window. Solved nothing, but in the movie, it gave everyone the impression they did something.  Fast forward to 2016 and people couldn’t take it anymore and voted for Trump instead of yelling out their window.  Unfortunately, Trump is incapable of rational governance by himself. And he surrounded himself with others incapable of rational governance. A few people have since tried to bring about some rational attempt, but we are nowhere close to where we need to be.

The many people who voted for Trump that were basically yelling out their window though are not deplorable people. They are hardworking individuals who felt cheated by what has happened in Washington D. C for the last few decades.  Republican leadership has been running policy that benefits what is now known as the one percenters. Many working and middle-class people who are basically moderately conservative saw their lively hood slowly taken away. Their children suffered with weaker and weaker education levels decade after decade so the children as adults are easily swayed by the anger created by other elements in our society.  The Democrats have not done any better by playing to the far left and adopting social pathways that scare away these same moderate conservatives or create policies that benefit the country as a whole.

Take for example all the bathroom bills for transgenders. It sounds so wonderful to say everyone should be treated equally and we need to make sure all these disadvantaged groups need to go to the bathroom like the way they feel.  Simplified example yes, but what many on the far left do not realize that it is more than a bathroom bill, it is pushing envelopes this group of people are not ready to have shoved down their throat. And that is the way they feel. Many people just aren’t comfortable with the thought of a grown man because he thinks he is a woman walking into a bathroom with their 12-year-old daughter. That is much more than they can accept, partly because this is happening fast; partly because education levels have been diminishing and ignorance makes change harder; partly because some are intolerant people; and partly because this scenario scares the crap out of them. This does not give the right for the left-wing media though to talk down, berate, bully, etc. because they think they know more than everyone else. Quite frankly, they don’t.

For all their criticisms, what have they given us to help us move forward. They no more have any ideas than Donald Trump. Trump at least spits out inconsequential rhetoric that appeals to his larger base. He made promises. He is not or can not keep them, but he made them. He spoke to their anger. The left-wing media fuels this exact same anger. Middle America, or what some call the fly over states care, they care deeply. Many have deep rooted value systems they see Washington has lost.  They see the left-wing media enhancing this loss of values by supporting issues that make no sense to them.

I am not talking about every media outlet. I am talking about a significant amount of verbiage coming from a segment of what might be called the establishment media, a certain one percenters of elitism that is based on their own self-importance. This is not all of the liberal media.

It is enough to anger people who truly believe in family values and hard work. The people who have believed in the American Dream their whole lives and have watched it slip away for their children are angry. These are not deplorable people. They are angry people. There are some deplorables who do support Trump, but they are fringe and dangerous elements of our country. The angry are middle America who went to the voting booth and voted I am not going to take it anymore.

The quasi-intellectualism from certain aspects (one percenters) of the liberal media is doing just as much harm to this country with their self-righteous denunciation of Trump supporters. They are fueling their anger, pushing them further into the arms of the dangerous fringes of our country; and making it more difficult to bring this country together if and when Trump may be impeached or at the very least charged with crimes he must answer.  Their narcissistic attitude of we know more than everyone else and we are going to flaunt it in your face is just as dangerous as Trump’s self-absorbed narcissism running this country into the ground and ignoring that he is President of something very special; our country and our constitution.

If we are to move forward, we need to focus on finding solutions to our problems and proposing these solutions to the whole country and get to work. The current leadership of Republicans and Democrats have not been able to do this for decades. They have created a monster of electoral survival that created the Trump monster people believed was going to drain the swamp of this same establishment. No amount of Trump bashing will turn this tide. The more we ignore the real work facing us, the faster our demise will approach us. Russia didn’t win because Trump won, Russia is winning because we are infighting. So, my named one percenters of left wing media need to look in the mirror and ask themselves why are they better than Trump. They haven’t done anything more than Donald.

I know Irma is hitting Florida, yet got distracted

First I want to recognize that what is happening in Florida, happened in Houston, the wildfires out west , and the earthquake in Mexico are much more important that trite political comments so I hope people understand I understand the gravity of the situation happening to many people, yet I have been working on my reference page for this blog while watching the cable news on Irma and also reading other news and one story just got to me.

There was a story on a member of the Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives saying the Republican leadership didn’t give Trump a better choice or better options so he had to make a deal with the Democrats.

My apologies to the victims of all these natural disasters that I am not keeping them first in my thoughts today and my sincere apologies to the Eurythmics for this, but it came into my head while reading the story:

                                Here comes the blame again

                                Falling on my head like a p p rain

                                Falling on my head like a new bowel movement

                                I want to walk in public discourse

                                I want to talk like people do

                                I want to talk governance

                                Is it raining with you

                                So baby talk to me

                                Like people do

                                Work with me

                                Like adults do

                                Talk to me

                                Like people do

                                Here comes the blame again

                                Raining in my head like a tragedy

                                Tearing us apart like they want to do

                                I want to hear rational

                                I want to hear reasonable

                                I want to dive into common sense

                                Is it raining with you

                                So baby talk to me

                                Like people do

Yes my apologies to the Eurythmics, but the finger pointing in Washington is doing as much damage to the country as the natural disasters, unfortunately it is just not as visible.

Can we get Representatives and Senators and Presidents and citizens to realize we should govern as well as we help each other in these natural disasters? America is great, we prove it in times like these, why can’t we take this same attitude and do the daily work of governance?

Hang tight Florida, everyone wants you to get through this.

Cowboys and more Dallas Sports

Well football season is upon us and the Cowboy mania is going full tilt. Everyone here is championship this, championship that….

And we still do not know if we are going to have Zeke for half the season or so… and even before all his drama started we had suspended defensive lineman left and right so I had figured that we were going to have to have 15-20 onside kick off plays in the playbook.

The defense is still under construction so I was thinking to win games the Cowboys need to win the toss, receive the kickoff, score, then do an onside kick, score, repeat a few times and then play out the game. Basically, try to get ahead 14-21 points before giving the other team the ball.  I know they can score. The Boys have a great offensive line. We got weapons without Zeke. He seals the deal, but we can compete while he is suspended. What no one knows is how the defense is going to perform. The defensive coordinator can work miracles, but he needs at least the one bucket of fish to get started.

This will be an interesting season. Dak will have some up and down games. It is his second year, most QBs struggle a bit. I think he will do well, just have to sit through a few moments every now and then as he settles into a real career. It wouldn’t be a concern if we knew the defense can handle it.

The Patriots are playing the Chiefs tonight and I could care less. Sunday can’t come fast enough and it will be a good read for the whole season. We will see.

And I am trying to avoid the Rangers. Every time I pay attention to them, they lose a few games. I quit paying attention and they win a few games. How can you be a fan in these circumstances? Anyway, I am still hoping they put together a good win streak these last couple of weeks and sneak in. Anything can happen once you make the playoffs. I am not putting any money on it, but some emotion….yeah!

I am a casual fan of the Stars so I have no idea what to expect. The people I know who are super fans seem to have a guarded optimism in their eyes when talking about them. I am fortunate enough to get to see some home games so hopefully I can get a better feel by the middle of November. Last year just didn’t work at all. Some blame injuries, some blame the goalies, all I know was about mid-November the Stars were in OT and the other team scored in less than a minute to end the game. And you knew it was bad when the whole crowd groaned before the opposing team crossed the blue line. The Stars were struggling and everyone knew it. Stars fans are very supportive and it took them a long time to give up on the season, but you could tell they were only hoping by this point in the season.

And then someone asked me, what is the Mavs plan. I can get excited he said if I knew the plan. So, I gave him this one. Dirk doesn’t start every game. In fact, there may be a few different starting line ups based on who the Mavs are playing. And in my plan, this is not a bad thing. The general starting lineup will probably be Nerlens, Dirk, Harrison, Wesley, and Dennis. Yet this is not set in stone and in my plan, don’t expect it to be. Other potential starting line ups can be Nerlens, Harrison, Finney-Smith, Wesley, and Dennis; or Nerlens, Harrison, Wesley, Curry, Dennis; or Dirk, Harrison Finney-Smith, Curry, Dennis.

And then bench options are still great, imagine Dirk and JJ coming off the bench. You could have a ten-point run in three minutes realistically against many opposing benches. Quite frankly not starting Dirk some, keeping him limited to about 20 minutes many games allows him to play more games, rest a few and he can manage his health through the season.  You could start Nerlens, Harrison, Wesley, Curry, and Dennis and play them a full 8 minutes to start the game. Completely switch out the team and have Dirk, Finney-Smith, Devin Harris, JJ and Yogi come on for 4-5 minutes. Your starters stay even with most other teams’ starters and your bench outscores teams 40-20 throughout the game very easily.  You cannot do this every game, but there will be many opportunities throughout the season. And for the last five minutes of the game you basically pick and choose the hot hands for the game. So, Dirk could be well rested for end of game or you have any of Curry, Barnes, Yogi, Smith, Jr, Wesley with Nerlens and Finney-Smith playing full speed to close out games.  I do not think they will win the West, yet they can win their fair share.

And speaking of the West, I am of the opinion there are going to be some disappointed fans after all the moves made over the summer. There is going to be some major changes in playoff order this year. Obviously, Utah is going to be hurt by the loss of Gordon. The Clippers will probably slip significantly and I do not think it will be Beverly’s fault. In fact, he may be who holds them together. Blake is just too much of a sore loser and hot head to be a team leader. DeAndre will still be a beast, but he cannot lead a team by himself. He will play well, everything will be different though.

The Spurs are going to struggle. They will win 50+ because of KL, yet after him there is a drop off now. Pop is still a great coach, but age on that team is going to show and with half the West younger and developing some teams will just outplay the Spurs.

Houston and OKC are the real wild cards and here is where the fans might be disappointed. Either team can have monster year or have a monstrous let down.  This will be interesting.

Minnesota is the real wild card. They have an interesting make up and it wouldn’t take much for them to take two or three steps forward from last year. Denver, New Orleans, and Sacramento will be interesting to see if something pans out. Mavericks probably fall into this category.

Outside of GS, the rest of the West is wide open. Spots 2-4 will probably be Spurs, Rockets, and Thunder, with no guarantees. The race for places 5-10 will be very fun to watch with the 9 and 10 teams just missing the playoffs and may go to place 12 being close.

As for the East, both Boston and/or Washington can beat the Cavs this year. And this isn’t because of IT’s hip injury. Boston and Washington are getting better with experience and Cleveland has had a run because of weaker competition. LeBron is older and he needed Kyrie. Yes, he made Kyrie better, but he needed him.  LeBron’s age is going to show this year and there is no one who can run the team for extended minutes without him. One nagging injury and Cleveland could drop fast until he gets better or gets help.

And back to the Cowboys. They have a good chance of making the playoffs, however, the NFC East is going to be tough. Not too many teams are going to want to head East so to speak this year. The Cowboys may win it or be the wild card, but they should make the playoffs. The real question is can they become as good as Atlanta last year. There is some if to that question.

Fall is fast approaching here in North Texas as we enjoyed cooler air (mid 80’s is cooler for us) so get excited, pigskins are flying everywhere over the skies of the USA.

Finally, prayers and anything else we can send to large portions of the country is needed. Houston is an ongoing disaster, yet The Caribbean and Florida, Georgia or South Carolina may not have it any better. This country needs to rethink much of who we are as a people and how we govern ourselves so we can better plan to manage natural disasters. There are also major fires out west. This is a very rough year and let us hope we can learn something. We must start treating these events like the military prepares for battle. Long term strategies must be developed. For now, let’s do our best to send what we can to help the people affected in these terrible calamities.  For certain areas of our country it will be years before the cities are rebuilt. For example, see New Orleans and Katrina. Hopefully we will learn better this time.

There is a story running around in my head and more will come. We have been away for a bit so just now getting back into the swing of things.  And is it just my work mates and myself or are many of you ready to quit ATT? Or the whole cable territorial monopolies in general? Too much control over us, the customers, who keep them in business. We need better options.