Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The UTB/TSC Dolphins

So this blog will deviate a little bit from the usual politics+society and talk about another aspect: sports. specifically scorpion sports.

Let me begin by saying,

1-15.

No, I'm not talking about the Miami Dolphin's streak in the 2007 NFL Season. I'm talking about our own record halfway through the 2008 NAIA Baseball Season.
If we were the Miami Dolphins, at least we'd have a 1972 season to look back and remember fondly.
But we don't. We're barely to be heading into our third year in the RRAC of the NAIA. This is not bush-league baseball anymore. We need to do our best.

I still invite everyone to show up to the games and support the Scorpions. It's free admission, it's within walking distance from the dorms/condos, and it gives the impression that we care about ALL our athletics. The stands are usually empty, and who knows, that might be a tad demoralizing for our own players. We have to put up at least a more adequate showing.

Now, why is our team doing so bad?
That's a question that's best left up to the team to answer, especially once the notorious Athletic Fee kicks in.

But I have to say, peloteros, the student body will hold you accountable. Just because you have a free ride through college does not give you a license to mess around and get slaughtered by every college (and the occasional alumni team that hasn't played in decades) you face. It's a fair bargain.

Some people have argued about the racial makeup of the team being a factor.
If it was, our multicultural volleyball team wouldn't be ranked 8th in the nation (NAIA), and our multicultural soccer teams wouldn't be leading in the Red River Athletic Conference (7-0 for the men, 5-2 for the women). Ditto for the golf teams.

It's about wanting to play. The volleyball girls want to play. The soccer players want to play. The golfers want to golf.
The problem: The baseball players don't want to play.

We're at a halfway point. So I'll be optimistic for a final season record that doesn't begin in a single digit.
We may not have a 1972 memory to fall back on, but I sincerely believe we can create a 2008 or 2009 season to remember [fondly]. We just have to get our shit together.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

The Candidates

http://www.2008votersguide.org/

Is a great site if you're interested in finding out just who exactly are the people behind the faces you see plastered in 20,000,000 signs across the county. I've always admired the Center for Civic Engagement for their work in the community. I think their efforts could be aided just a little bit more by students. But let's turn our focus towards the Presidential candidates.

For now, I'll give only minute analysis. Once the races are final, I will go more in depth.
And for the record, while I may be a Democrat, my family and I have always voted on issues, never on party.

From the Democrats:

Sen. Hillary Clinton: A woman who's had her turn already. She's a good candidate, but she cannot win. Despite having the same stance as her opponent, she's lost it. She's turning to attacking Sen. Obama on non-issues because really, she's got nothing on him anymore. I have nothing against her, personally. If she gets the nomination, I will campaign for her. She may not be the best out of the two Democrats, but she's not a republican.

Sen. Barack Obama - Barack is relatively young, but as Sen. John Kerry pointed out in his visit to campus yesterday, a number of great figures, including MLK and Thomas Jefferson were young when they made it big. Until recently, I was not a fan of Obama. I was a diehard Bill Richardson fan, then made a jump to McCain (who seemed lucid and who was not HIlary Clinton), and from there, made a final jump to Obama. Despite some of the things that have been said about him, I think he is the proper candidate for the job.

From the Republicans:

Sen. John McCain - In 2000, "Maverick" McCain acted on his conscience and was very bipartisan, opposed the Republicans in a lot of things, HELPED PEOPLE was essentially, "the man". He would have utterly crushed Al Gore. But Karl Rove kickstarted a rumor that cost him the nomination and doomed our country for 8 years. Instead of abandoning the party, McCain became the Bush administration's lapdog. Since then, while he has flashes of being his own man, he has betrayed his own principles.

Gov. Mike Huckabee - Governor Mike Huckabee wants to put God in the constitution and erase the line of Church and State. Nothing else needs to be said.

Congressman Ron Paul - Ron Paul is an ideal libertarian, but at the same time, a lot of his believes are way off the map. Restoring the gold standard, criminalizing 12,000,000 immigrants-no amnesty at all-, abolishing the Secretary of Education, pulling out of the United Nations, getting rid of the CIA, privatizing public parks (so if someone waned to put a brothel in Dean Porter park, they could do it). It's all nonsese. Plenty of people out there are supporting Ron Paul as a type of "hero" of the constitution, but he's not. He has some fresh ideas, granted, but the sheer...stupidity of others, like abolishing the SoE, makes the good ideas blink out of existence. He's had a lot of popular support through the internet and grassroots efforts, but few seem to be really materializing.

There's a joke that goes,

Ron Paul was praying one night, and the Lord finally answers. "Yes, my son?"
Ron Paul asks, "Lord, will there ever be a woman president?"
The Lord replies, "not on your lifetime".
Paul then asks, "Lord, will ther ever be peace on the middle east?"
The Lord replies, "Not on your grandchildren's lifetime."
Then finally, Paul asks, "Lord, will I ever become president?"
The Lord replies, "Not on my lifetime."

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

A Call To Arms

scor·pi·on - Any of various arachnids of the order Scorpionida, of warm dry regions, having a segmented body and an erectile tail tipped with a venomous sting.

van·guard - The foremost position in an army or fleet advancing into battle.


Two metaphors describing myself and what this little niche of the internet will become.
I am a Scorpion, a student at the University of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Soutmost College, and I feel that the above description of a scorpion accurately describes us students (multifacetic and fans of warm regions) and our potential (the venom in the sting, a warning against bigger, badder predators who might try to tread on us.)

But a vanguard?
What army? What fleet? What battle?

I feel that the time has come to organize and mobilize and form our own army of motivated and aware students, and to charge forward into the battle for our education, for our money, and for our future as students and inhabitants of this great state in this great coutnry.

The federal government takes advantage of our napping and passes legislation to build a wall in our backyard. Our administration levies fees against us and only three or four students bother to turn up for the hearings. Our student government association (or the circus it's become) represents, with few exceptions, a motley crew of senators who are there just to add an extra line or two to their resume.
And they get away with it.
Why?
There's no one to fight them.
Enough is enough.
It's time to wake up and rub the fog out of our eyes.
It's now or never.

This will be the bugle alerting you to today's issues and how they relate to us as Scorpions. At the same time, this piece of the internet will provide you with up-to-date information about upcoming events (political or otherwise).