Leverage is one of my favorite television shows since they premiered 3 seasons ago. It’s rare that you like all of the members of a team but I like this entire group of characters. I like the banter and I’m not a banter kind of person, I like the cons they pull. They’re just a likeable cast so if you haven’t checked them out…you should. They are on Sunday Nights at 9:00pm EST on TNT.
This gist of the matter is this. General McChrystal, the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan had his feelings hurt when he asked for additional troops in Afghanistan and didn’t get them…then to add insult to injury because the president was not as familiar with who he was as McChrystal thought he should be he let his frustration or shall I say his a** overload his mouth. Apparently as indicated by the remarks made he had been stewing in these juices for sometime and either his staff felt somewhat the same or went along with the program because that’s what some people do and you know how the old expression goes…kill the general and the troops will fold. Now because the president is a smart man and somewhat very classy he of course he was not going to stoop to the level of the general. He spoke very highly of the general and allowed him the dignity of resigning (when we know he really got fired).
Even though he had voted for Obama, McChrystal and his new commander in chief failed from the outset to connect. The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn't go much better. "It was a 10-minute photo op," says an adviser to McChrystal. "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his fucking war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed."
I’m a Huge believer in the first amendment (our right to free speech) so my first thought was that you shouldn’t fire someone for speaking their mind and if the president fires the general it’s going to look like he’s doing just that…and being petty, kinda junior high school, but when I thought about it some more I’m sure the president was mad but not for the reasons we think and he didn’t lose his job for the reasons we think. I would have let him resign as well because he apparently was good at what he was doing but just like in the rest of the world no one is irreplaceable…I can attest to that (let me tell you how good I am at what I do and then I’ll tell you about the times I was let go, most of the time with severance pay) but he definitely had to go because you cannot have (especially in a position of power) the people working underneath you undermining you and your decisions. If there had been any other outcome I think the president would have been the one that people were saying wtf…We wish the general the best and this too shall pass.
In closing I want to remind people that President Obama became president at one of the lowest times in our countries history and since then all the things that have happened it’s a wonder he can keep up with all of it. So on occasion he will make decisions that we don’t agree with but that doesn’t make the decision a wrong one (such as the moratorium on drilling off the Louisiana coastline). The same people that were pissed off so much about the oil leak are the same people that are pissed about the moratorium. You can’t have it both ways! …and he may even make actual mistakes from time to time. There was the disaster in Haiti which although not part of the US we played a big part in their recovery. There have been all the areas that have had horrible tornadoes and flooding. He worked on the credit card policy change which was a big help to the American people, the medical reform bill which doesn’t seem like much to most people but ask someone who has a pre-existing condition and could not get health insurance before because of it and then there was the automaker bailouts. So a lot has happened in his 2 years in office and everything he’s done or tried to do is more than Bush did in eight years…because all his attention was focused on weapons of mass destruction which if I recall…didn’t exist :(!
I am a thinker....
I am a dreamer and an idealist. I am much more concerned with how things should be than how they actually are. I believe that what people do is much more important than what people say. I take careful notice of everyone's actions.
I tend to be quite rational. I try to think with a clear head, and I don't like it when my emotions get the better of me. I confront challenges head on. I actually enjoy solving problems - even when they seem impossible.
I did the above exercise on someone else's blog. It's kinda cool and pretty accurate which is why I posted it here. I'm also posting the link in case you'd like to find out what kind of er you are!
Just a quick note to let you know that I was so sad to see Alexie going home on the show tonight. She tried out for four seasons to get here and was the first one to go...not only that but I thought her performance was really good. I would rather have lost Cristina. Melinda would have been my first choice but her solo was nice. See ya next week!
Tonight was amazing! This show is amazing! because even if there is a dancer I don’t like so much I still admire them and wish them well! I’m hard pressed to pick a bottom 3 but I managed because it’s a contest and that’s how it works. I chose Billy, Ashley and Melinda. As for whom I want to go home that will depend on who America puts in the bottom 3.
My favorite of the evening was Jose and he got most of my votes, ok Jose is my all time favorite because not only is adorable with a likable personality but so far his dancing is impeccable and he's a hometown boy…but don’t forget I adore Kent so he got a lot of votes from me and Robert was really good so he got some votes. Alexie danced with Twitch (who is one of my favorite all-stars and the season he danced I rooted for him to win but he missed it by one) and became a favorite tonight because contrary to what the judges said I think she danced that hip hop routine fantabulously! So I voted a lot for her. I also gave 3 votes each to Ade`chike1 and Lauren. They both danced their routines very well technically but like the judges said Ade`chike` had no chemistry and Kathryn is hot (loved her from last season) and Lauren played to the audience too much instead of focusing on her partner. Ade is an amazing partner!
My Opinion: She got what she deserved! I’m not a major police fan for a number of reasons. They are not above lying when it suits their situation. They like abusing alleged criminals and unlike back in the day where they considered themselves servants of the people and they gave as much respect as they got, unlike today where a large majority of police think they are above the law and will tell you in a heartbeat what they ain’t to the people…oh and let’s not forget that small group that are just downright criminal.
Now since I’m old school so one thing that I do know is if you’re going to disrespect them you better make sure you’re in the right state to do it (because some states don’t play that) and don’t forget today they have tasers and they are more than happy to use them and second make sure you know just how far you can go. If you shove a policeman you’ve stepped over the line and you are fair game because you’ve given them probable cause to use force. Personally I thought the girl that got socked was met with excessive force but I’m also of the opinion that 1) They must have been giving the cop a really hard time in the first place because no one gets arrested for jaywalking (that’s a ticket offense) 2) The cousin should not have jumped in 3) The cop looked like he was just doing his job and my hats off to him for doing it too…while surrounded by a crowd that could have turned on him 4) Although there was just an ever so slight hesitation before the cop punched her it looked like it could have been instinctive and lastly I think he pulled the punch and it wasn’t a direct hit and as intensive as it looked.
Finally, I will say this Florida cops are a different breed altogether and if you had put your hands on one of them you might have gotten worse. Remember Florida police tasered a 6 year kid, they tasered a mentally ill, elderly, wheelchair bound woman 10 times (she died shortly thereafter) and last but not least their favorite command is get down on the ground and if you don’t or let’s say you move a little too slow they’ll put you down with force and they’ll have a few friends help them do it. If you make them chase you they will dive 5 on your head and do real bad things to you out of sight of any one filming the arrest. Don’t get me wrong some Florida cops are good cops and they do their jobs well but it’s like a can of mixed nuts…you never know which one you’ll get.
