Afghan women visit NBA teams

I found this in the CNN/SI  sports section this morning. It reminded me of my first trip to Nicaragua. I was there for about 3 months in the early 90’s  and I was drawn to the basketball courts in downtown Managua.  There were political protests  going on at the time as the Sandinistas had just recently relinquished power in the elections to UNO and Violeta Chamarro.  I tried to ignore the burning tires and occassional loud explosion sounds that I told myself were just M80’s. I started up a conversation with a coach and he asked me if I wanted to play for him. I never actually played in a game but I practiced with his team a few times.

  I had a very strong sense that sports could be a great way for Americans to make a difference for  people in developing countries.  I actually wrote Larry Bird after the trip and told him he should go to Nicaragua and all the good it would do for young players. I never heard from Larry, but this section from the SI article detailing the NBA’s global outreach is heartening. We so often see starving and miserable people on TV in these countries, but maybe it would be wise to include help efforts in contexts where people are expressing their natural dignity. Sports offers such a context.     

The Afghan women. Last month, a delegation of women basketball players from Afghanistan — all 17 and under — visited the Washington Wizards and the Knicks as part of an international sports program drawn up by the U.S. State Department. “It was amazing just to see the looks on their faces, to talk to some of these girls who lost their families and the things they have to deal with in their lives that we have no concept of,” said Wizards VP Tommy Sheppard. “We had a great time before the game, we watched warm-ups, put them up in a suite. You forget how fun it is to meet an NBA player until you watch somebody else [meet one] for the first time.”

The girls had been drawn from a variety of provinces. “It was overwhelming to hear the stories of what it took for them to practice, to get everybody under one roof for one night,” said Sheppard. “And then for them to go play a game was such an unbelievable undertaking.

“Basketball is not big there, but this was a really big thing to see their amazement at being able to take in an NBA game and watch players play a game these girls know how to play, and to see the skill level. They saw Gheorghe Muresan [who is 7-foot-7] and they saw Earl Boykins [5-5]. One of the girls said, ‘Every basketball player comes in different shapes and sizes.’

“I really try to share with a group like this that we all have one thing in common. We all love basketball. You’re from Afghanistan, I’m from New Mexico. We have nothing else in common, but when we talk about basketball we all have a lot in common. We all have dreams, we all love the game.

“There’s something about that look in the eyes,” said Sheppard. “These kids have all seen too much at such a young age.”

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/ian_thomsen/12/18/countdown/index.html#ixzz0aL92m9Ml

Ongoing misuse of psychological theory and technique by American military

You’ve probably heard of Dr. Martin Seligman, author of ‘Learned Optimism’. Well , the US military has decided to have drill seargeants administer his positive psychology on soldiers. Really? As readers of my blog hopefully realize by now, one size does not fit all when it comes to psyhological theory and technique. In fact, the wrong size can be useless at best, harmful and even deadly at worst. Psychologists in the military have some of the best understanding of PTSD in the world, and they were not consulted about this.

Dr. Seligman thinks it is great, of course, because he is such a positive guy.

link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bryant-welch/vets-with-ptsd-when-johnn_b_383109.html

Stay away from my hot wife

This article explains something that all guys know, talking to hot women makes you feel GRRRRREAT!  They now have some science to back it up.

I also think this explains why men will often obsess about someone they will never have rather than be realistic and hook up with what is available, especially when they are younger or just going through a hard time.  Just picturing that person may have similar effects to talking to them. That can get dangerous for certain impulsive types.   But it may keep some people out of depression when ‘done in moderation’.

For those of us with a hot wife, feeling great is the norm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6243292/Meeting-pretty-women-makes-men-feel-good.html

Satan’s dirty little play thing

Free to do what you want to do , but not what you ought to do

I heard the words above on this evangelical Christian radio station (1590).  I actually enjoy it, it is either funny to me – such as the lines above –  and sometimes it teaches me something.  Some of the bible commentary  is interesting, for example.  Often times it is very repetitive, but isn’t that true of most radio? I just change the station.

Oprah makes us sick

Some good reporting by Newsweek.  Story long overdue, too late for some.   Even if Oprah makes you feel all warm and gooey inside, following her advice will make you sick – for real.

Oprah needs to be asked some hard questions. But that never happens. She would never allow it in a million years.  

Shame driven sham … 

http://www.newsweek.com/id/200025

 

Thanks to www.themachoresponse.blogspot.com

Whittling down nihilism

This will take less than 15 minutes. It will ground you in reality, and show you the difference between being clever and witty and being intelligent and accomplished.

       http://www.pjtv.com/video/Afterburner_with_Bill_Whittle/__Bill_Maher%2C_Barack_Obama_and_the_Truth_About_American_Exceptionalism/2378/

Gates and Obama lack common sense

After my divorce, my kids met my gf’s little Yorkshire Terriers for the first time. One of them got nervous and snapped at my daughter. He did not bite her and there was no injury. My daughter told my ex-wife on the phone that evening. We we went to bed and at about 10 pm I awoke to banging on my door. I thought it was my ex-wife so I didn’t answer right away. She had a temper and I had reason to be nervous without going into our history. I was looking out the window for her car. I saw a police car instead. An  angry female cop said it was the police and that I had to open the door. I opened the door and she was pissed as she had been there awhile. She had been called to check on my kids to make sure they weren’t injured. She was very rude to me in my apartment.  It was humiliating to be treated that way in front of my kids.  I didn’t want to get in trouble, and frankly, it seemed like she was itching for me to react. I did not.  I didn’t get far trying to explain my delay in answering the door. She obviously didn’t care and thought she had me figured out already, it seemed. She was not there to listen, but to take charge and to make sure I was aware that she was in charge every second she was there.   Thankfully for me,  my ‘cooler head prevailed’, to quote Obama.  I knew I would lose in that situation, and I wasn’t going to put me or my kids through that.

Nothing particularly remarkable about it.

Probably thousands of people every week in America feel that the police are rude or even perhaps baiting them to react so they can arrest them. Most Americans , if they are sober, don’t take the bait. Most Americans are pretty smart that way.

Apparently, Professor Gates lacks this common sense. He has educated himself right out of having to need common sense. In addition, he has  a friend in the President of the United States, who also decided that it would be a good idea to call a Cambridge cop’s actions ’stupid’ right after admitting he didn’t have all the facts in the case. Obama looked real calm and cool when he said those words, but they were incendiary words. He wasn’t sitting in a bar chatting with his buddies, for God’s sake,  as words in such a context would be harmless, but giving a press conference as the President of the United States. Our President. Officer Crowley’s President.  

 No common sense awards will be forthcoming for Obama here, as far as I can tell.

And that worries me, Obama’s lack of common sense, much less than whether or not  Crowley was the bigger prick that day, and secretly hates black people.

Most Americans know how to survive cops when they act in ways that offend us, but we may not survive this President if he keeps speaking so impetuously.  He certainly isn’t inspiring any police officers to behave more professionally, though he may be starting a trend for the populace to become even mouthier with the police.

Indefinite sexual side-effects possible even after stopping anti-depressants

Sexual side effects of antidepressant medications
are far more common than initially reported, and their scope, quality,
and duration remain poorly captured in the literature.  Antidepressant
treatment emergent sexual dysfunctions may decrease clients’ quality of
life, complicate psychotherapy, and damage the treatment alliance.
Potential damage to the treatment alliance is greatest when clients have
not been adequately informed of risks related to sexual side effects.
It had previously been assumed that sexual side effects always resolve
shortly after medications are discontinued.  Emerging evidence, however,
suggests that in some individuals, sexual dysfunction side effects may
persist indefinitely.  The authors argue that all psychologists should
be well-informed about sexual side effects risks of antidepressant
medications, should routinely conduct a pre-medication baseline
assessment of sexual functioning, and take an active role in the
informed consent process.”

The new issue of the *Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy* (vol. 39,
#2) includes an article: “Sexual side effects of antidepressant
medications: An informed consent accountability gap.”

The authors are Audrey Babrick & Mark Harris.
 ”
The author note provides the following contact info: Audrey S. Bahrick,
University Counseling Service, University of Iowa , 3223 Westlawn S.,
Iowa City , IA , US , 52242-1100, <audrey-bahrick@uiowa.edu>.

It may become illegal to sound ‘mean’ to someone

 

 It’s true.  Here is the bill [HR 1966]:

a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

(b) As used in this section-

(1) the term ‘communication’ means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received;

(2) the term ‘electronic means’ means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.’.

 

Izzy Kalman thinks we should be worried.  http://us.mc379.mail.yahoo.com/mc/welcome?.gx=1&.tm=1247241899&.rand=955ifa8oknml9#_pg=showMessage&sMid=22&&filterBy=&midIndex=22&mid=1_4239_AKhbv9EAAKuSSlTzLAPuWiGjuPc&m=1_808_AKhbv9EAAP9OSlV7GQK68HoEe4U,1_1530_AKhbv9EAASMoSlVcqgIDAnWYzT8,1_2268_AKdbv9EAAJCRSlVYegD66QSC2ik,1_3009_AKpbv9EAACwqSlVFsQy9kwsEoIw,1_3733_AKNbv9EAAWRVSlTzOQg02B%2BX%2FoI,1_4239_AKhbv9EAAKuSSlTzLAPuWiGjuPc,1_5093_AKRbv9EAAOjJSlTtHwtcHm48Tvo,1_5679_AKhbv9EAABJRSlTm%2BQ1071yTZQk,&sort=date&order=down&startMid=0&pSize=25&hash=8a96d463d6322fc6d7b579d2b8fa7885&.jsrand=2901627

Not only is no one teaching Freedom of Speech anymore, that precious freedom is being slowly but surely killed. It is being murdered by the growing social movement that has successfully brainwashed virtually everyone into believing that the solution to human emotional misery is to create, by force of law, a society in which no one says anything anyone else finds offensive, in which there is no stigma, and in which there are no imbalances of power. There is not one social movement in the history of the world that has enjoyed such unanimous support as the anti-bully movement. Not one religious or political group has criticized it, despite its being contrary to the basic philosophies of most religions and political groups. Not one psychological organization has criticized it, despite the fact that it violates the principles of almost all major schools of psychology. Neither the American Civil Liberties Union nor any other rights-advocacy group has criticized it, despite the fact that anti-bully laws violate the most basic democratic right, Freedom of Speech. Even organizations that are dedicated to promoting Freedom of Speech have failed to criticize this anti-free-speech movement.

The number one tool of science is logical thinking. 2,400 years ago, Aristotle said, “One thing no government can do, no matter how good it is, is to make its citizens morally virtous.” Simple logic will lead anyone with a basic understanding of human nature to realize that a society in which everyone is always nice to each other is impossible. It has never existed-and will never exist-because it can’t exist.

   John Mellancamp, mcuh more famous than Izzy, thinks it would be great to make it illegal to say distressing things:

       http://perfunction.typepad.com/perfunction/2009/07/john-mellencamp-no-freedom-of-speech-for-meanies.html

“I don’t think people fought and gave their lives so that some guy can sit in his bedroom and be mean. I don’t think that’s what freedom of speech is,” he continued. “Freedom of speech is really about assembly — for us to collectively have an idea. We want to get our point of view out so we can assemble and I can appoint you to be the spokesman. That’s freedom of speech — to be able to collectively speak for a sector of people. But somehow it’s turned into ‘I can be an asshole whenever I feel like, say whatever I like, be disrespectful to people and not be courteous.’ It’s not good for our society. Not being courteous is not really freedom of speech.

Hey John – fuck you. 

Does that hurt your little pink feelings ?

   That ain’t America, only for you not me, however big an asshole you may think me to be.

Pornoburger

 

If I ever ate at Burger King, it might actually mean something if I said I’ll never eat there again. 

yuk….

 

From http://HotAir.com