How to tell if you've hit rock bottom

For a scandal-plagued celebrity, the ultimate diss is to get dropped as a spokesperson by a company whose own sleaze is legendary. Tiger Woods, you've been dissed!

Global consulting firm Accenture PLC has ended its relationship with Tiger Woods, marking the first major sponsor to cut ties altogether with the golfer since his alleged infidelities surfaced and he announced an indefinite leave from the sport to work on his marriage.

In its first statement since the Woods' scandal erupted, Accenture said Sunday the golfer is "no longer the right representative" after the "circumstances of the last two weeks."

For those of you who have absolutely no idea who Accenture is, a history lesson is in order. The parent company from which Accenture was spawned was none other than Arthur Anderson. Still scratching your head? Arthur Anderson was the accounting firm that was up to its greedy eyeballs in the Enron scandal. Anderson was so badly compromised by the Enron scandal that it lost its entire client base and had to close up shop.

"Ah", you say, "but Accenture was a completely separate company by the time Enron broke." That is true. What is also true is that the acorn didn't fall far from the parent tree. Accenture is scandal-plagued in its own right.

My own experience with Accenture, (then Arthur Anderson Consulting) back in the 80's was enlightening. They took processes that had been able to complete within the 8 hour swing shift window and, by applying their magic, got those same processes to run in a mere 18 to 20 hours! It was epic in its expense and the scope of its failure.

But they're too good for Tiger Woods.

Wiener of the Week

When I named the WotW two weeks ago, I left a "Bonus Wiener" tease link to what is a classic example of intentionally misleading journalism. That link deserves more attention, especially in light of yet another intentionally deceptive story.

First, the older story. The premise of that story was that global warming was forcing women in some islands of the Philippines to work in hard-labor occupations or even as prostitutes. Global warming.

By the third paragraph "have driven" has softened to "could" and "possibly". And in paragraph eight the truth finally outs: the catastrophe forcing women to work hard-labor jobs or as prostitutes is overfishing. Overfishing. Not warming. In other words, the first half of the article was nothing but a lie, an intentional deception to pimp for the cause of AGW.

This story caught my eye personally, because, as one who suffers from asthma, I am keenly aware of how air quality affects my breathing.

Cutting global warming pollution would not only make the planet healthier, it would make people healthier too, newly released studies say.

Slashing carbon dioxide emissions could save millions of lives, mostly by reducing preventable deaths from heart and lung diseases, the studies show.

So we are led to believe that reducing carbon emissions will help prevent heart and lung diseases. Starting at paragraph three, the theme starts to implode.

The "life saving benefit" of reducing carbon is predicted by a computer model. Uh-huh. A computer model like the one that draws a hockey stick whether it is fed temperature data or the prices from the menu at Wendys?

Paragraph four contains the denouement.

Cutting carbon dioxide emissions would also reduce other types of air pollution, especially tiny particles that lodge in the lungs and cause direct health damage, doctors said. Other benefits could come from encouraging more exercise and less meat consumption, to improve heart health, researchers said.

So, the entire benefit of reducing carbon to improve health is not the carbon. No, it's the reduction of REAL pollutants. And, of course, exercise and meat reduction are also required in order to realize the reduced carbon health benefits. In other words, avoiding pollution, getting regular exercise, and reducing consumption of red meats - things already recognized by the medical profession as promoting good health - NOT a reduction of carbon, as posited in the first paragraphs, are the things that will result in improved health.

These stories are intentionally deceptive. They combine a grain of truth with a healthy dose of propaganda to link AGW to real issues that are related to AGW not at all.

To the authors of these flaming propaganda pieces, congratulations: you're the Wieners of the Week.

Media Priorities

Dateline dedicated its Friday installment to the Tiger Woods saga. Shocker there.

A major theme of the story dealt with why the media was so obsessed with reporting on the story. It was almost like the reporter felt compelled to justify the over-the-top, wall-to-wall, Tiger-24x7. It was almost like the reporter was embarrassed and felt dirty about the whole idea that Big Media (the BM for short) would stoop to such tabloid-like behavior.

Of course, he didn't feel bad enough about it not to do his OWN report.

Contrast the coverage of the Tiger Woods scandal with the BM's coverage of the most important scandal of the 21st century: Climategate. *queue sound of crickets chirping*

I would like to see a reporter from one of the Big 3 networks old media dinosaurs go to the same lengths of justification that the Dateline reporter went through in explaining WHY everyone was beating on the Tiger Woods story to explain why the BM is NOT reporting on Climategate.

I'm waiting.

I'm still waiting.

I'll probably be waiting til the day I die.

Bastards.

Better than WHAT?!?!?!

Has the DoublePlusGoodHopeChange jumped the shark? Apparently it has, so much so that even King George the Dim's dismal reign is seen as preferable to 44% of a recent poll's respondents.

Perhaps the greatest measure of Obama's declining support is that just 50% of voters now say they prefer having him as President to George W. Bush, with 44% saying they'd rather have his predecessor. Given the horrendous approval ratings Bush showed during his final term that's somewhat of a surprise and an indication that voters are increasingly placing the blame on Obama for the country's difficulties instead of giving him space because of the tough situation he inherited.

Gee, what a surprise [/sarcasm].

It may well be the biggest insult that one can make to a President. "You suck so bad I'd rather have a dim-witted Neocon with the common sense of a lamp post than you."

Consider the question as posited by the pollsters. Which practitioner of Fascist economics would you prefer, the Neocon, or the Neo-Commie? It's like asking you about your preference for your own execution: death by fire ants, or death by drowning.

I noticed that the poll results didn't add up to 100%, so perhaps the missing 6% of respondents answered (as I would have) with a resounding, "You want me to pick one of those two bozos? Go sell crazy somewhere else!"

Blame it on racism

Just what you wanted to see - another post about Czaban and FSR's ass-headed decision to let him go. I only bring it up again because of something a commenter posted in response to the flood of comments posted in response to Czabe's original post (the complete text can now be seen here).

I wish I could link to the whole chain of comments, but it only exists as a snapshot in my personal coComment account, inaccessible to others. You'll just have to take my word for it that I'm not making this up. Anyway, this is what a commenter using the handle 'Billy Ray' wrote.

Czabe sucks! Y'all are a bunch of racists for hating on Steven A Smith!

Racists. Not "I disagree with your assessment of the situation and welcome Mr. Smith as a replacement for Mr. Czaban, whose show I did not enjoy." No, Mr. Stereotype goes straight to the race card. Nice.

Let me clear things up for 'Billy Ray'.

1. Every post written prior to yours was written by a Czaban FAN. As you can expect, those of us who are fanboys of Mr. Czaban are unhappy with FSR's decision. It goes without saying that, as fans of Czabe's show format, his style, and the topics he discusses, we'd be a little less than enthused for his replacement.
   


2. Screamin' A. Smith is a disciple of the ESPN faux "debate" school of sports radio and an adherent to the motto, "He who yells loudest wins the argument". As such, those of us who find this radio format annoying are going to voice our displeasure.


3. If it was JP 'The Brick' (another adherent to the "he who yells loudest" school of thought) who had been named as Czaban's replacement instead of Mr. Smith, I guarantee there's not one of the 77 commenters who preceded you who would have responded any differently than they did.


4. Prior to your post, not a single person commenting on the thread mentioned that Mr. Smith is black.


5. Ergo, given points 1-4, you're an idiot and a tool.
   

There, wasn't that easy. Logic 1, Dipstick 0.

Overplaying the race card is SOOOOO done! C'mon! Use your brain. Think for yourself. See the world how it really is.

Race relations in this country will never heal until tools like 'Billy Ray' STFU.

Proof that there is no intelligent life in network programming

Steven Czaban announced today that his radio show will be canceled effective December 23rd.

File this one under “Horrible and Ironic Ways (For Your Radio Show) To Die.”

My contract with Fox Sports Radio has not been renewed. The last day of the “Steve Czaban Show” is scheduled for December 23rd.

Steven A. Smith will be my permanent replacement.

Now, you can chew on that one for a bit.

Wait. Let me get this straight. Someone in programming at FSR thought it would be a good idea to replace Steve Czaban, the guy who increased the number of FSR morning terrestrial affiliates from 106 to 186, with Screamin' A. Smith?!?!?!? SCREAMIN' A. SMITH?!?!?!?!? WTF?!?!?!??!

Screamin' A. Smith is HORRIBLE. Even ESPN couldn't take this guy any more!

My commute just got a lot longer. Vaya con Dios, Mr. Czaban. In spite of what the empty suits who made this ass-headed decision think, you're still the greatest!

Update

The link to Czabe's announcement has been severed. FSR must have noticed the commotion and "asked" him to take it down. God forbid Czabe's fans should discomfit the empty suits at FSR!

Update II

Czabe has a new "Th-th-th-th-that's all folks" post on his website.