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de them. And now theyre paying for them. Che from chen's blog
The last time the Cincinnati Bengals were seen in a football game that mattered, they were busy coming unglued and fumbling away a playoff game over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Huarache Negras Mujer .Cincinnati players and coaches have grown weary of answering questions about the embarrassing meltdown and can finally put the playoff disaster behind them when they open the campaign by visiting the New York Jets on Sunday.The Bengals are 0-7 in the postseason under coach Marvin Lewis and that drought appeared over when they led the Pittsburgh Steelers and possessed the football in the final minutes. But running back Jeremy Hill fumbled and defenders Vontaze Burfict and Adam Jones drew personal-foul penalties to help the Steelers kick a field goal and escape with the win.That defeat soured a season in which Cincinnati (12-4) matched the franchise mark for victories. It also furthered its reputation as a team that unravels under pressure.Were definitely anxious to get out there and start the new chapter, defensive end Carlos Dunlap said. For all of us, its a new chapter because obviously that last chapter we had, yall know what happened. Now we want to go out there and start something new, a new story.The Jets are trying to end a slide of five consecutive seasons of missing the playoffs. New York went 10-6 in Todd Bowles first season as coach and the expectation is that the squad is ready to take the next step.Running back Matt Forte, a longtime standout with the Chicago Bears, was added to spruce up the ground attack and a defense that ranked fourth in the NFL in total defense (318.6) figures to be stout.But the key to continued success is veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Jets engaged in a lengthy offseason contract standoff with the 33-year-old before agreeing to terms with the player who passed for a career-high 3,905 yards and a franchise-record 31 touchdowns last season.New York owner Woody Johnson strongly feels Fitzpatricks character and leadership are necessary ingredients.Im not trying to challenge anybody. He knows whats at stake, Johnson said. Hes a Harvard guy, so he knows how important this year is for him. Every year is important for us. Were happy to have him back. Hes fired up. Hes going to be good at leading the team. Hes a good leader of his guys. I think they respect him.Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is beloved by his teammates and also motivated to pick up where he left off before a broken right thumb halted his standout 2015 season.Dalton passed for 3,250 yards and 25 touchdowns and was receiving mention as a possible league MVP before suffering the injury in mid-December.Ive got a lot of confidence in my ability, in what this offense can do, and the guys around me, Dalton said. So there definitely is a carryover. I mean, it was the best season that Ive had, so for me its trying to improve on that.Dalton and the Bengals shredded the Jets 49-9 in their last meeting in 2013. Dalton passed for 325 yards and five touchdowns in that affair.New Yorks defense is a much different unit now than the one that was bombarded that day.Cornerback Darrelle Revis is in the second season of his second stint with the team and had five interceptions and four fumble recoveries last season. Defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson had a career-high 12 sacks last season and linebacker David Harris (108) topped 100 tackles for the seventh straight season. Harris is questionable with a shoulder injury.The Bengals will be missing Burfict -- hes serving a three-game suspension for repeated violations of safety rules -- but are always hard to contain up front with Dunlap (franchise-record 13.5 sacks) and Geno Atkins (40 sacks over the past five seasons).Cincinnati will be without tight end Tyler Eifert (ankle), who scored 13 touchdowns last season.The contest falls on the 15th anniversary of 9/11, which will only add to the intensity right before kickoff.Ill honor 9/11 when I first get there, but once Sunday gets here, all thats out of my mind, Jones said. I have a lot of respect and due diligence for everybody that went through it, but come Sunday at 1 oclock I wont be thinking about 9/11. Nike Air Huarache Ultra Hombre . - Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not a fan of his teams use of the wildcat formation, saying "it makes you look like a high school offence. Nike Kwazi España . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland. http://www.zapatoshuarachenike.es/nike-juvenate-baratas.html . Goals from Jerome Boateng, Franck Ribery and Thomas Mueller extended Bayerns unbeaten run to a record 37 matches. "This record is incredible," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. Sometimes in baseball, we need to look down, not up. We need to look south, not north. We need to turn our gaze away from the usual suspects -- the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, the ... aw, you know who we mean.So today, lets stare at the basement.We know theres hope for the teams that just finished in first place. But is there hope for the teams that just finished in last place?Weve spent the past week asking that question to people all over baseball, especially in the wake of this sports new labor deal. We exempted the Atlanta Braves, a team moving into a new ballpark. We also exempted the Minnesota Twins, a franchise that just installed what is essentially a whole new group at the top of its baseball operations department.But that still left four fascinating last-place teams with lots of questions about where theyre going, how theyll get there and how the new labor agreement could affect them (or not). Those teams would be the Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays and Cincinnati Reds. Youve heard of them, right?So lets buckle them all into our hot seat and hook them up to our cool new gizmo -- the Hope Meter. Do they have hope on the field? Do they have hope off the field? Its time to answer those questions, in order of impact on the franchise, for all four teams.Oakland AthleticsHope Meter off the field: 3 (out of 10)Were guessing you havent read the fine print in the labor deal. So you should know theres something amazing in it: The As had a giant target spray-painted all over their crumbling stadium.For years now, theyve been surviving by cashing enormous revenue-sharing checks, even though they play in the sixth-largest TV market in America. But not for long.Its incredibly rare for any labor agreement to single out one team. But it happened in this agreement. The As will lose 25 percent of their revenue-sharing money next year, 50 percent in 2018, 75 percent in 2019 and all of it after that.Why? Because everyone in baseball clearly thought it was time to send them a message: Build. That. Stadium. Already. Or else!Too many folks in the game obviously saw the As as a team that felt no pressure to get out of its current rut. So only two things can happen now: (1) They make a deal to build a ballpark somewhere in Oakland, with Jack London Square or the Coliseum area as the likely sites; or (2) they sell the team -- and someone else tackles this mess.But no matter which of those two winds up happening, this is a franchise with very little hope of generating a whole lot of revenue in the short term. And thats not good.Hope Meter on the field: 3Lets just say losing has never been Billy Beanes favorite thing. So the As have never taken a ride down Tanking Trail. Theyve always tried to figure out some way to compete. And theres a book and a major motion picture with more details, if youre interested.But executive vice president Beane and general manager David Forst now find themselves in a place unlike any theyve ever been. Since losing the 2014 wild-card game, the As are 51 games under .500. Theyre coming off back-to-back last-place finishes for the first time since 1997-98. And Keith Law rates their system as being so thin that they could be three to four years from restocking.Theyve had very little luck in trying to sell high this winter on players such as Sonny Gray, Ryan Madson or Sean Doolittle. They blew through their international signing pool, so theyre all but out of business on that front for the next two years. And now comes the really bad news: Suddenly, theyre on the verge of having no money, as those revenue-sharing payouts disappear.So where does that leave them? Treading water, thats where. Until they get their ballpark nightmare resolved, they appear more interested in spending what dollars they have on scouting and player development than on the big league roster. And this whole season is beginning to look like a giant Who Trades for Sonny Gray Sweepstakes.San Diego PadresHope Meter on the field: 2We always hesitate to use that magic word, tanking, to describe any franchise. But folks on other teams -- not to mention nearly every agent on the planet -- seem to share none of that hesitation when they talk about the current version of the Padres.Theyre the poster child for tanking, said an exec. They get millions of dollars in revenue sharing. They spend none of it on players.Well, thats not exactly true. Theyre going to spend $28 million next year to pay players who used to play for them. But thats $2 million more than their projected payroll for players who will play for them in 2017, according to baseball-reference.com. We count 15 players in baseball who average more dollars than that per year in their current contracts -- by themselves.Theres also this: There might be 12 people in America who could name the Padres starting rotation if the season started today. Thats because the five names in it would most likely be Luis Perdomo, Christian Friedrich, Jarred Cosart, Cesar Vargas and the newly signed Jhoulys Chacin. OK, so its likely theyll sign at least one more bargain-bin free-agent starter to bump another name or two out of there. But its still safe to guess you wont be getting this rotation mixed up with that of, say, the New York Mets.So does this constitute tanking? We offered Padres general manager A.J. Preller the opportunity to dispute that label. He took us up on it.He described his position players as young, prospect-laden and guys with the ability to be impact big leaguers. So his team has made a conscious decision, he said, to give these guys an opportunity to play in the big leagues rather than fill our roster with stopgap players. He also promised that as these players develop into a group that is close to winning, ownership is committed to spending money to add players from outside the organization who can put you over the top.Also in their defense, the Padres spent more than $70 million this year on amateur players and a bunch of much-hyped international free agents. And Keith Law rates their system as one of best in baseball. So if you get back to us in three years, theyll have a whole different score on the Hope Meter.But in the meantime, unless they drop plans to charge admission for every game in 2017, this is a team thats almost embarrassing, said one long-time exec. Just two years after an ill-conceived spending spree to win, theyve made a U-turn in the exact opposite direction -- to launch a full-bore pursuit of the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft.Hope Meter off the field: 6Lets round up all the good news first. The Padres play in one of Americas most beautiful ballparks in one of Americas most idyllic cities. They also have one of baseballs best TV deals. And neither of those developments stop them from getting hefty revenue-sharing checks. Its quite a combination -- especially for a team thats all lined up to have a minuscule payroll.But this is also a team that recently fired its president and CEO, Mike Dee. And its a team that had its GM suspended for 30 days for failing to disclose required medical information before making a trade in July that sent pitcher Drew Pomeranz to Boston.And now the Padres find themselves trying to fend off tanking accusations, even though the new labor deal included no meaasures that would make either tanking or a $26 million payroll illegal. Air Huarache Hombre. hat the agreement does do is mildly discourage tanking around the edges, said one official familiar with it. So how will it do that? By making it more difficult for the worst teams to collect massive bonus pools to manipulate the draft, for one thing. There used to be a gap of nearly $5 million between the slots for the No. 1 pick and the No. 5 pick, for instance. Next year, that difference will be less than $2 million.So on one hand, there is less monetary incentive to be really bad, as opposed to just bad. But on the other, said one exec, you still get the pick. And if you look at the history of the draft, the difference between [the talent of] the No. 1 pick versus the fifth pick is significant. And the only way to get that No. 1 pick is to lose. A lot.Over the past year, weve heard all sorts of ideas for how to discourage tanking, from draft lotteries to soft payroll minimums to rules that would have stripped revenue sharing from teams that failed to generate revenue on their own. This agreement includes none of that. So the Padres are well within their rights to field a low-budget big league team in 2017 that cant possibly win. But that doesnt mean theyre immune to the furor over that strategy in the rest of the industry.Tampa Bay RaysHope Meter off the field: 4The Rays franchise continues to be run by a group of really smart people. So that always beats the alternative. But look at the rest of their division. Look at what theyre up against. Its not just David versus Goliath. Its David versus Four Goliaths.How, asked one sympathetic baseball man, can you continue to ask a bunch of exceptionally creative and bright people to keep searching through their cushions on the couch to see if they can find a few more nickels?Nothing in the new labor deal will keep the Rays from remaining one of the biggest revenue-sharing recipients in baseball. Yet their owner, Stu Sternberg, was still the only owner in the sport to vote against that deal. Which tells you he feels the rest of this agreement didnt do enough to give his team the ability to compete with the behemoths.So for everything the Rays do right, almost 100 percent of their long-term hope is tied to one question. Are they ever going to get a new ballpark? Stop us if youve heard that one before.Outwardly, the Rays continue to project optimism that theyre moving in that direction -- and that they can pair that park, in the next few years, with a new TV deal that will change the face of their franchise.But not everyone in baseball shares that optimism. So is this a team bound for better times in Tampa -- or for a new park in beautiful downtown Montreal? Well have that answer one of these years. But for now, the Hope Meter cant assume anything.Hope Meter on the field: 7Lets give this team credit. It could do exactly what the Padres are doing. But the Rays arent trying to unload Evan Longoria. Theyre highly unlikely to trade Chris Archer. And they just signed Wilson Ramos to a two-year deal.So at least theyre trying to compete. Theyre still likely to trade away Alex Cobb or Drew Smyly in the next couple of weeks, or even both. But theyll have plenty of quality starting pitching remaining, an infield with the potential to generate offense at all four positions and the best defensive outfielder in baseball (Kevin Kiermaier) piling up Web Gems in center field. Theyve also been linked in recent days with free-agent masher Jose Bautista, who lives just across the causeway in Tampa.But their problem now is their problem every year. How much depth can any team amass with a $70 million payroll (or less)? Um, not as much as those four teams theyre competing with. Thats just reality.And how long can they keep this group together? You know that answer. Youve seen that movie. Unless they sell off a couple of more veterans, either at the trade deadline or next winter, theyd be looking at a $100 million payroll in 2018. And that aint happening.When Keith Law looks at their system, he sees more depth than stars. So as long as the Rays are playing baseball inside Tropicana Field, in front of the fewest paying customers in North America, theyre stuck inside the same box that has held them captive for years. And that means theyd better keep digging for those nickels.Cincinnati RedsHope Meter on the field: 4It wasnt so long ago that the Reds were practically a perennial contender. Remember? From 2010 to 2013, they made the postseason three times in four years, and only five teams in baseball won more games than they did. You could look it up.But it has all unraveled fast, with back-to-back seasons of 98 and 94 losses respectively. And now they find themselves in the ultimate no-win quagmire. Theyre nowhere near ready to contend. But theyve had a tougher time hitting the reset button than most teams.So four players -- Joey Votto, Homer Bailey, Brandon Phillips and Devin Mesoraco -- are gobbling up $62 million of what is likely to be about a $90 million payroll. And they cant move any of them.Votto wont waive his no-trade clause. Bailey is owed $68 million over the next three years and is coming off Tommy John surgery. Phillips has generated no interest. And Mesoraco has been able to catch only 18 games in two years because of shoulder and hip issues.Meanwhile, when the Reds did decide to sell, if it could go wrong, it did. Aroldis Chapmans looming domestic-abuse suspension destroyed his trade value. Deals that would have shipped out Phillips and Zack Cozart both fell through. And they spent two years fielding disappointing offers for Jay Bruce. So only the trade that sent Johnny Cueto to the Royals brought back the kind of return a team like this could rebuild around.They probably should have gotten out front of this, by trading away all their valuable assets when they had that chance, one rival exec said. Instead, theyre doing it halfway. And when you do that . . . it can take six to nine years to get back [and contend].The Reds did go into last season with six of Baseball Americas top 100 prospects, and supplemented that with an excellent draft. But if there are any experts out there who see them contending before 2019, we havent found them.Hope Meter off the field: 6You know, it could be worse. At least the Reds play in a town that loves baseball. They have an excellent TV deal, considering they play in the smallest TV market in baseball. They have a caring fan base. And a ballpark. And an owner who wants to win. And the revenue-sharing checks wont be stopping anytime soon.So this is a franchise that doesnt have to fight any of the battles the Rays and As are facing to survive. It has just made a series of decisions it probably would love to have back. Ten years, $225 million for Votto? Six years, $105 million for Bailey? Six years, $72.5 million for Phillips? The Reds could use a mulligan on all of those, in retrospect.The big difference between big and small markets is the ability to make mistakes, one baseball official said. Cincinnati is one of those markets that couldnt afford to make those mistakes. But they made them. And now theyre paying for them. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '


Having trouble sticking to your New Year's resolutions? Maybe you're trying too hard! Read on to discover the secret to setting goals that succeed.
Ring all the bells, ring all the bells – 2017 is dead, long live 2018! Or so it goes. At this time of year, after the joy and jubilation of the season's festivities have simmered down, we all get a little bit reflective. A little bit eager to banish the excesses and inadequacies of the past with hastily made and easily forgotten New Year's resolutions. We want this fresh year to be bright and shiny like never before! We stare at our unblemished desk diaries as if looking into the pure white bliss of our souls; willing for us to make lasting, transformative change. Each of us becomes The Little Engine That Could ("I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…") making demands of our fragile selves that we really have no business making.
And then it happens. The crash and burn, the slip and slide, the inevitable fall from grace. Whether it comes one week, one month or, as in my case, one day from January 1st (what? The school run can be stressful!), all but the most bloody-minded will waver in their resolve at some point during the month. It's inevitable, we are only human after all. It's a universally acknowledged fact that gyms are busiest in January, full to bursting with optimistic Get-Fit-Quick'ers keen to show off their Christmas Fitbits (or at least so I'm told, I'm too scared to go back to mine). By February things have settled down again leaving only the true enthusiasts to jostle over the functioning treadmills.
So what then? Do we allow ourselves this little blip and carry on regardless? Or do we throw the whole thing out as futile and give up altogether? The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. I must be certifiable then because despite resolving not to resolve anymore last year, I decided that in 2018 I would be more ambitious. I would make myself over and not fail. The jeans are fitting a little too snugly and my 4 year old is having way too much fun playing with my "squishy belly". Time for transformation! So I put my cynicism aside and with the sort of hope and renewed optimism that only the dawn of a new year can inspire, I sat down to complete a carefully sourced, internet downloaded 2018 Personal Planning Tool. There are plenty of these types of guides knocking around the web at this time of year, but this was developed by a Master Certified Coach, designed to help me "look through 2017 and define a strong plan for 2018". It had to be good, right?
I tried, I really did try. I dutifully completed the look back section with questions such as "what surprised me?" and "what disappointed me?". But my inner misanthrope, which had hitherto laid dormant, awoke by the time I had reached page five. Five! Honestly, how is writing reams about where I fell short or when I was happiest last year (can I even remember?), going to help me get fit for summer this year? By the time I got to the section on current goals I was spent. It turns out that for me, as organised and controlled as I am at work, when it comes to my hopes and dreams, I am much more "go with the flow". And that's ok. New Year's resolutions should not be another reason to write yourself off as a failure. They are supposed to inspire you, to encourage you and to challenge you, but that's it. It is not a measure of success. You can break your resolutions and still be #winning.
Some need the framework of a guide, others don't. There is no right or wrong way to improve your life, so long as you take it one day at a time. For those who prefer the structure of a tool, you might find those types of templates helpful to focus your thinking. I found it too wishy-washy. I am an action planning, goal-oriented type of dreamer. I want a personal planning tool that step by step breaks down my goals into bite-sized manageable chunks that I can steward along the way. I couldn't find it, so naturally I decided to design one. A decade and a half as a project manager in Oil and Gas has taught me a thing or two about project planning, and new year's resolutions are the ultimate life project plan!
First you need to identify the goal. Sounds simple enough. This is where the self reflection comes in. When the midnight hour approached on 31st December 2017, were you pensive? If so, what about? Did you have regrets or were you simply thankful for the victories? The thoughts that were preoccupying your mind are likely the areas you want to focus on for this year. Career, family, friends, physical and mental health are the typical focus areas people seek to improve. Choose something in your life that you either want to do or stop doing, rather than something to be (too nebulous). Try to pick only one, as this increases your chance of success.
Once selected, you need to translate that goal into something that resembles a tangible objective. Saying "I am going to eat healthily" is all well and good, but what does it mean? Have you failed if you eat a single packet of prawn cocktail crisps (a personal favourite)? Far better to resolve that "I am going to lose 1 stone by 31st December 2018". Now you have something to work towards!
Now that you have identified your objective, you need to break it down into bite-sized nuggets. The prospect of losing 1 stone in 12 months may seem daunting, but when broken down into just over 1lb per month, it suddenly seems manageable. Slice and dice however suits your goal best. It can be broken down chronologically, or into other categories that make sense for you. The important thing is to break this overall goal into smaller targets that are easier to visualise.
For each of your mini targets, how do you plan to get there? Failing to plan is planning to fail, or something like that. List the resources that you will need to make it happen : time, people, money – they all matter. For each, think what you need to do to activate those resources and to make them work effectively for you. If my plan is to lose 5lbs in the first quarter of the year and then 1lb a month after that, then I will need to revolutionise my diet and exercise habits to kick-start that weight loss. I will need to brave the gym, take new classes, and factor the additional cost into my monthly budget. I may need to rope in a friend to join me, so that we can cheer each other on when things get tough. The point is don't just dream it, plan it.
They say that a watched pot never boils, but I beg to differ. If you have made a commitment to your resolution, then you have to steward your progression towards it along the way. How else will you keep yourself honest? That is why it helps to have a SMART resolution, so that you can find a quantifiable way to monitor your performance throughout the year. I can easily track that I am on target to lose 5lb by April, although wanting to is a different story! It would be much harder to assess whether I was still "eating healthily" if I had wolfed down a discarded hamburger from the kids' Happy Meal that one time… Oh stop judging me, I said "if"!
Step five: Just do it!
Now that all the planning is concluded, it is time for action. If you said you were going to work out more regularly, don't wait till Monday to start. Nothing will change unless you actively change it. So get up and get moving, your time is now!
If this works for you, great. I have translated these steps into a stylish Aurora Wellness 2018 goal planner which you can download for free, I hope that you find it useful. If you don't, then just try to focus on doing the things that will bring you joy. And remember that you are already freaking fabulous, so just continue to shine! As for me, I'm going to keep it simple this time – no massive dietary overhaul. I'm going to change one thing, just one thing. I'm going to get back to the gym. Do more, lose more. Simple, but that's good enough- as am I and as are you. So enjoy this new year, whether you are making resolutions or not. Whatever you do, just do you.
At Aurora Wellness we are all about self-improvement & discovery. To discover ways in which you can maximise your full potential and learn useful life-enhancing skills, apply to join us at the for our next WonderWoman Workshop on Friday 23rd March to Monday 26th March 2018.


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Befuddled by the backlash
By Rob Schofield
- in Weekly Briefing
Lacking a coherent response to Moral Mondays, the right resorts to channeling Mitt Romney
If the stakes weren't so high, watching the reaction of the state's conservative political establishment to the Moral Mondays phenomenon would be downright entertaining. Indeed, if you cup your hand to your ear you can almost hear Governor Pat McCrory, House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger casting about wildly for ways to defuse the protests.
First, the right tried to dismiss the movement as the work of "outside agitators." Then, it was supposedly the work of elitist college professors.
Next came the intimidation tactics, as the Pope Civitas Institute – a group founded and funded by the state Budget Director – began compiling and publishing an online list of arrested protesters along with personal information about each individual.
In recent days, it's been a hodgepodge of ineffective responses. The Guv himself called the protests a "peripheral issue." At about the same time, however, his Commerce Secretary appeared to pay the protests a backhanded compliment by telling reporters that the turmoil surrounding the 2013 legislative session was making it hard to sell North Carolina to out-of-state businesses.
"I'm fielding calls every day, 'what the heck's going on (over) there?,'" Decker said. She added, "The current environment makes it very challenging to market North Carolina."
Channeling Mitt
If there were a contest for "most preposterous and pathetic" response to the protests thus far, however, the winner has to be the latest spate of Pope-Civitas attacks in which the group has resorted to claiming that protesters and protest organizers are simply motivated by personal greed.
In the proud tradition of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney (who forever ruined his political career and offended a huge proportion of Americans with his infamous speech to a group of well-heeled supporters in which he said that "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what…47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it") the Pope-Civitas people are actually claiming that the protests are part of a scheme to steal public funds.
This is from fundraising solicitation emailed out by the group's Executive Director on Monday of this week:
'Moral Monday' protests have nothing to do with Morality.
They have everything to do with money.
In the past few years, the organizing groups of the Monday protests have received more than $100 million in direct state grants.
They are all affiliated under the umbrella group: "Historic Thousands on Jones Street" or "HKonJ" headed by William Barber, president of the NC NAACP. Let me be perfectly clear:
This is a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars
Our money is going to groups sponsoring the Monday protests
Taking your money and giving it to another is usually called "theft" – in this case it is also stupid!" (Emphasis in the original)."
The solicitation comes on the heels of a "study" in which the group alleges that it's because some groups affiliated with the Historic Thousands on Jones Street Coalition – one of the organizers of Moral Monday protests — receive public funds to administer services that they are protesting the goings on in the General Assembly.
"When you follow the money, you see that this isn't about morality at all. It isn't about the high-minded virtues of justice, or equality. It's about politics: liberal organizers have depended for years on the largess of an insolvent and bloated state bureaucracy. And as state legislators move to address rampant waste and debt in state government – something the people of North Carolina elected them to do – liberal groups fear that they are about to lose their spot at the public trough."
Yet another broadside personally attacked NAACP president William Barber, claiming that his motivations in leading the protest are a byproduct of the connections between the church he pastors and some nonprofit service providers that administer public funds.
Funny or just plain sad?
As with the Romney speech, it's hard to know whether to laugh or cry at the utter disconnection from reality that these libelous attacks bespeak.
On the one hand, they are just so downright (and comically) crude and ham-fisted that you almost have to cringe in embarrassment for the Pope-Civitas people. Seriously, the notion that giant organizations with proud histories like the NAACP, AARP and the YWCA are protesting the myriad regressive actions of the 2013 General Assembly because some branch happens to administer a few thousand dollars in public funds is just so patently absurd that it's hard to believe that a supposedly serious group – a group nervy enough to describe itself as "North Carolina's Conservative Voice" – would stoop to allege it.
Similarly, to imply that Rev. William Barber – a courageous man who works night and day at enormous personal sacrifice, physical pain and even personal risk; a man who directs a tiny paid staff and who has, for years, tirelessly traveled the length and breadth if the state in an old minivan to help countless underdog causes – is doing what he is doing in order to advance his own personal financial agenda, is just so utterly wrong and, for lack of a better word, malicious that it must render any fair-minded observer virtually speechless.
So, setting aside the possibility that the attacks are just the desperate dishonesty of a political attack group that would do and say just about anything (something that admittedly remains a distinct possibility), how can one explain such rubbish?
Here's the other most likely explanation: simple ideology-induced obliviousness.
By all indications, the Pope-Civitas people are so enmeshed in the world of market fundamentalist economics – a place in which the personal acquisition and accumulation of wealth and property is endlessly celebrated and assumed as the driving human instinct and predictor of human behavior in all circumstances – that they simply can't grasp the notion that Moral Monday protesters would be seeking to vindicate something higher – something like…wait for it, morality.
So poisoned are they by the toxic dog-eat-dog doctrines of Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand et al., that they are literally incapable of responding intelligently to a passionate, morality-based movement that's about fighting for intentional public solutions to serve the common good.
Put simply, the Pope-Civitasers appear to have become blinded by their own propaganda. Like old Soviet-era Stalinists and modern religious theocrats they find it impossible to acknowledge the simple truth that's painted in living color right before their eyes – namely, that millions of North Carolinians are not buying the snake oil they and their allies are selling and do not want to see the clock of state turned back a half-century or more.
Let's hope that their dishonest and delusional words continue to meet with the widespread and dismissive derision they so richly deserve.
Rob Schofield, Director of NC Policy Watch, has three decades of experience as a lawyer, lobbyist, writer and commentator. At Policy Watch, Rob writes and edits daily online commentaries and handles numerous public speaking and electronic media appearances. He also delivers a radio commentary that's broadcast weekdays on WRAL-FM and WCHL and hosts News and Views, a weekly radio news magazine that airs on multiple stations across North Carolina.
rob@ncpolicywatch.com
Follow @Rob_Schofield
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