The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I can't tell you how many times I'll see Facebook posts made by conservative friends of mine that criticize President Obama for taking a vacation. Humorously enough, these are the same people whom weren't at all bothered when then President George W. Bush did so. I say "humorously," because according to a new report, it appears as if Dubya spent time away from this nation's capital at a much greater clip than our current president. According to CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller, here are how the numbers stack up: Number of trips Bush: 58 Obama 20 (on pace for approximately 29) Days on vacation Bush: 349 Obama 129 (on pace for approximately 188) In other words, if the current president stays at his current pace, he will wind up with exactly half the number of trips as Bush and roughly 54% of the vacation days. So, if a person happened to be critical of both presidents taking vacation days, then give them a pass. However, if a person, whom was...

Having lost four straight, seven out of ten, placing pitchers Anibal Sanchez and Joakim Soria on the 15-day disabled list, and also seeing former Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander suffer shoulder inflammation which could force him to miss at least one start, all the while being passed by the Kansas City Royals in the American League Central division, the Detroit Tigers have definitely seen better days. However, even when taking all of that into consideration, ESPN's David Schoenfield misses the mark with his recent article, "The implosion of the Detroit Tigers." Schoenfield starts his article with this: "Let's' get this out of the way: The Kansas City Royals are in first place, the Detroit Tigers are in second place. It's the middle of August and we have baseball fever in the AL Central." Let's get this out of the way. The Tigers are half a game behind the Royals and tied with the Seattle Mariners for the second wild card spot. They al...

Often times, I think of government as the parents of citizens. They're the ones looking out for us, trying to keep us safe, but at the end of the day, knowing full well they can only do so much, and at some point, they're going to have to let us make our own mistakes. In fact, they tend to be more sophisticated parents (well, so long as they're not members of the Tea Party). If a child does something the parent disapproves of and he or she says, "Stop that!" and the child responds with, "Why?" the parent will often times reply with, "Because I said so!" That's not the case for government officials. They'll pass laws, refer to studies and the like, to inform citizens of what they should and shouldn't do. Sure, some of these rules and laws may seem silly to most common-sense individuals. However, in hindsight, many of our parents' rules seem pretty silly as well, and most of us implemented similar rules with our kids. In other wor...

Why does it seem that whenever President Obama makes a speech to try and get public opinion on his side to place pressure on Congress to, you know, do their jobs, many on the right side of the political spectrum refer to it as nothing more than a "political stunt"? Obama: Pushing for immigration reform GOP: "This is just a political stunt!" Obama: Fighting for equal pay for women GOP: "This is nothing more than a political stunt!" Obama: Wanting to push stricter gun laws GOP: "Two words - political stunt!" With the 24-hours news media being what it is, yes, presidents and other politicians attempt to increase the favorability of themselves and their party by speaking our for certain causes. However, why must that be the only reason for a politician to advocate action for a particular cause? Why does it seem inevitable to many that a politician is only seeking to improve his or her favorability, as opposed to actually wanting to d...

As difficult a time as I have understanding male politicians pushing against women attaining equal rights, I have an even more difficult time understanding female politicians doing something similar. In the upcoming midterm elections, Republican Monica Wehby will be challenging Democrat Jeff Merkley for an Oregon Senate seat. On Sunday, KGW's Laural Porter asked Ms. Wehby the following question: "What about equal pay for equal -- for women? You said you'd vote against that, and it doesn't seem to go along with what you represent." In response, Wehby said this: "I would absolutely favor any legislation that supports equal pay for women, but this was a flawed piece of legislation. It did not take into account experience, hours worked, education. I would be more concerned that it would make it more difficult for businesses to hire women, because of the fear of lawsuits. They would tend to steer away. And I think that that's an unintended consequence ...

I've never been one to club. I enjoy going to bars with friends or family, joking around, listening to good music, people-watching, and pretending we're on the show Mystery Science Theater 3000  as we make up stories about these very people. However, while I have no problem talking to random people at bars and introducing myself by sticking out my right hand out, saying, "I'm Craig," and shaking the person's hand, I've never been too fond of being introduced to someone by them rubbing themselves up against me without even telling me their name. Maybe I'm strange like that, but as my mama always said, "When speaking to a lady for the first time, make sure you're respectful to her. Don't go rubbing your junk all over her in hopes that your territory is marked and she'll only talk to you the rest of the night. This is especially the case if you got that herpes thing that's been going around." Alright, so my mother never said that...

Here's the URL to my Facebook business page. I update it fairly regularly, but still haven't put forth a great deal of effort yet in researching matters and attempting to make the most out of it. In any case, it can be perused here: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCraigRozniecki?ref=hl Up next is my Twitter page. I'm still not 100% certain what I'm doing on there yet, but feel I'm gradually getting the hang of it and am up to 11.7 K followers. I update it daily with many of my own tweets, but also by retweeting some others'. It can be found here: https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki Lastly, here's my Tumblr page, which I've neglected quite a bit recently, but if you're at all curious, you can find it at the following link: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/rozzy81

For new readers (and regular ones, I suppose), here's some information pertaining to my books. All twelve of my books can be purchased in paperback form at the following site (and others): http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=&keyWords=craig+rozniecki&x=7&y=5&sitesearch=lulu.com&q= The ten books I've written and released in the past 3 years (yes, I've been on a roll) can be purchased for much cheaper in Kindle form at the following link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_22?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=craig%20rozniecki%20kindle&sprefix=craig+rozniecki+kindle%2Caps%2C228&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acraig%20rozniecki%20kindle As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me by either commenting on this blog or e-mailing me at CRozniecki@gmail.com. Unless I'm out of town, I'm typically very good at responding rather quickly.

I saw this coming right when the New York Jets signed veteran quarterback Michael Vick. After the Jets' 13-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night in their first preseason game, where Vick was the only quarterback to lead the team to a touchdown, sports commentators are already asking the question, "Who will start for the New York Jets at the start of the season? Will Vick win the job?" As I said before, right when the Jets signed Vick, I thought it had quarterback controversy written all over it. First off, Geno Smith struggled mightily last year as a rookie. He completed 55.8% of his passes, averaged 6.9 yards per attempt, threw just 12 touchdowns passes in comparison to 21 interceptions, was sacked 43 times, and had a quarterback rating of 66.5. He also ran 72 times for 366 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 3 fumbles. Next, the Jets offense has struggled in recent years - so much so, that the team has failed to make the playoffs the past couple of season. Not...

Once upon a time, a South Carolina mother called the Sheriff's Office because she discovered her 15-year-old son had been watching porn. The craziest thing about this is it's not some made-up story. It actually happened. This past Tuesday, Spartanburg County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to a residence following the before-mentioned mother calling 911. As it read in the police report, "She stated that when she entered the residence, her 15-year-old son was in his bedroom. [Her] daughter turned on the TV and porn was on." The 40-year-old mother then turned off the TV, took her 2-year-old daughter out of the room, and proceeded to call 911. When Lieutenant Kevin Bobo showed up at the mother's home, he didn't make an arrest or issue a citation. Afterward, he said, "I don't know of any South Carolina law that was broken." Lieutenant Bobo also said that his department had never received such a call before, elaborating, "Is it...

I'm happy to announce that, after voting to defund it 13 times, it seems as if the Republican Party's battle with ACORN (The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is now officially over. Why is this news? Oh, just for the simple fact that Congress defunded ACORN back in 2009, and the group disbanded in early 2010 because it had run out of money. That didn't stop the Republican Party from attempting to further defund the already defunded group another 13 times, however. They just wanted to make extra certain, I guess. In light of this extraordinary news, GOP members have decided to stop doing the following: - Going to Borders to purchase the Bible - Stopping by Circuit City for an Atari - Proposing to celebrities like: Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, and Heath Ledger - Donating money to the Unicorn and Dodo Bird Foundation - Wasting the taxpayers money on groups that no longer exist Nevermind about that last one. It was just wish...

Given the failed results so far, it's a wonder why states are continually pushing forth bills to require welfare applicants to pass drug tests in order to be eligible for such benefits. The state of Utah spent over $30,000 on these drug tests, and what did these tests reveal? Just 12 drug users. That was money well spent. In Florida, just 2% of welfare applicants tested positive for drugs in 2011, whereas approximately 8% of the state uses illegal drugs. This resulted in a net loss of money for the state. Virginia lawmakers rejected a proposed drug-testing program for welfare applicants because, while it would save an estimated $229,000, it would also cost $1.5 million. In other words, it wouldn't save any money at all. That brings us to Tennessee. The state started their drug-testing program in July. What have the results been to this point? Oh, let's see here - of 812 applicants, 1 has tested positive. In other words, 0.12% of applicants tested positive for drugs....

Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is at it again, in trying to defend his team's nickname. Over the past several weeks and months, the team has come under increasing pressure to change their nickname. While many Native American groups, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and also dictionaries find the term "Redskin" to be derogatory, Snyder has a different take on things. When asked by ESPN's John Barr on Tuesday, "What is a Redskin?" Snyder responded with this: "A Redskin is a football player. A Redskin is our fans. The Washington Redskins fan base represents honor, represents respect, represents pride. Hopefully winning. And, and, it, it's a positive. Taken out of context, you can take things out of context all over the place. But in this particular case, it is what it is. It's very obvious." Barr then asked Snyder, "For people who don't know you and don't understand where you're coming from on this issue, wha...

Just yesterday, Gallup released some rather significant findings with regard to the Medicaid expansion offered via the Affordable Care Act. According to the report, the 21 states which expanded Medicaid and established a state-based marketplace exchange or state-federal partnership have seen their uninsured rates drop to a much greater degree than the 29 states which didn't take advantage of those options afforded to them by the new healthcare law. Based on these latest numbers, the 21 states which expanded Medicaid and established a state-based marketplace exchange or state-federal partnership have seen their uninsured rates drop by an average of 3.97%. These very states hold the top 13 rankings when it comes to a decrease in the uninsured between 2013 and 2014. The 29 states which didn't expand Medicaid and the like have seen their uninsured rates drop an average of 1.95% - less than half that of the 21 other states. These 29 states hold 20 of the bottom 27 rankings when ...

I watched part of the ESPN show Pardon the Interruption yesterday, and when Michael Wilbon and guest co-host Bob Ryan discussed the greatest center fielders of all time, they mentioned Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., and Jim Edmonds. While it might be hard to argue that Mays, winner of 12 Gold Gloves, wasn't the greatest center fielder of all-time, and it might also be difficult to argue that Griffey (winner of 10 Gold Gloves) and Edmonds (winner of 8 Gold Gloves) weren't two of the top 5 (or so) center fielders of all-time, one name seems to consistently get looked over in this list, and that's Andruw Jones. Andruw Jones, former five-time All-Star for the Atlanta Braves, won ten consecutive Gold Gloves in center field from the years 1998 through 2007. This ranks him in a tie for second with Al Kaline, Ichiro Suzuki, and Ken Griffey Jr. for most Gold Gloves by an outfielder. He's also one of only five center fielders to record at least 400 putouts in a season six times....

On Friday, Iowa Representative Steve King (Republican) voted to end the program known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which "exempts many undocumented immigrants who arrived as children from deportation for a renewable two-year period and allows them to work in the United States," as reported by Paige Lavender of The Huffington Post . King, along with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, were then confronted by "DREAMers" Erika Andiola and Cesar Vargas in Iowa. Upon being confronted, Paul quickly left, before Andiola told King that she's a DREAMer, who was born in Mexico, but raised in the U.S., and graduated from Arizona State University. She then told the Iowa Representative, "I know you want to get rid of DACA, so I want to give you the opportunity 'cause you really want to get rid of it, just rip mine. Go ahead and do that," as she handed him her identification card. She added, "I just don't understand why you've bee...

The Daily Show 's "Moment of Zen" cracked me up last night. The show's nightly final segment featured Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert (Republican), who, when speaking about illegal immigration said this: "Come some night with me and sit out at the border, one, two, three in the morning - dogs, tarantulas, scorpions, rattlesnakes..." For some reason, when hearing Gohmert utter this line, I immediately thought of a strange personal ad: "If interested, I'd love for you to join me on a long romantic walk on the beach..." Instead of using that cliched line, however, Gohmert went a different route. In fact, when reading that line again, I envision Gohmert engaging in the following back-and-forth with a woman on a dating site: Pattie B. Kinky: "What was your name again, big boy?" Louie Gohmert: "Louie, Louie Goh... You can just call me Louie." Pattie: "So, Louie, what do you like to do for fun, if you know what I...

While Detroit Tigers starter and former Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander has been throwing a bit better of late, the facts are in - he just hasn't been the same pitcher these past two seasons. From 2006 through 2012, outside of a hiccup in 2008 (11-17 and 4.84 ERA), Verlander posted a 113-46 record (.711), a 3.15 ERA, with 1,284 strikeouts and 378 walks in 1,341.1 IP (8.62 K/9, 2.54 BB/9, and 3.40 K/BB). Over the past two seasons, however, Verlander is just 23-21 (.523), has an ERA of 3.95, with 327 strikeouts and 127 walks in 369.0 IP (7.98 K/9, 3.10 BB/9, and 2.57 K/BB). He's also allowed 374 hits in 369 innings over these past two seasons (9.12 p/9), while he only allowed 7.67 hits per 9 innings from 2006 through 2012 (excluding 2008). So, over the past two years, he's allowed about an average of 11 runners on base per 9 innings. Let's compare the states side-by-side now: Record 2006-2012 (excluding 2008): 113-46 (.711) 2013-2014: 23-21 (.523) Difference...

Here's the URL to my Facebook business page. I update it fairly regularly, but still haven't put forth a great deal of effort yet in researching matters and attempting to make the most out of it. In any case, it can be perused here: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCraigRozniecki?ref=hl Up next is my Twitter page. I'm still not 100% certain what I'm doing on there yet, but feel I'm gradually getting the hang of it and am up to 11.5 K followers. I update it daily with many of my own tweets, but also by retweeting some others'. It can be found here: https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki Lastly, here's my Tumblr page, which I've neglected quite a bit recently, but if you're at all curious, you can find it at the following link: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/rozzy81

For new readers (and regular ones, I suppose), here's some information pertaining to my books. All twelve of my books can be purchased in paperback form at the following site (and others): http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=&keyWords=craig+rozniecki&x=7&y=5&sitesearch=lulu.com&q= The ten books I've written and released in the past 3 years (yes, I've been on a roll) can be purchased for much cheaper in Kindle form at the following link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_22?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=craig%20rozniecki%20kindle&sprefix=craig+rozniecki+kindle%2Caps%2C228&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acraig%20rozniecki%20kindle As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me by either commenting on this blog or e-mailing me at CRozniecki@gmail.com. Unless I'm out of town, I'm typically very good at responding rather quickly.