Big Brother in the House!

There is no one who feels more than I do that it is ridiculous that people at AIG are getting bonuses. Even if they are employees who have no, or only nominal, salaries and instead effectively get income from only performance-based bonus compensation, they should not receive payouts from AIG. No one forced any one of them to sign up for a job that compensates using bonuses rather than salary, and when times were good they enjoyed the benefits of that non-fixed compensation. Sometimes an employee of a company suffer because of his own individual decisions, and sometimes he suffers because of the company's fortunes. Unfortunately, even honorable, value-adding AIG employees, while getting sympathy from me, don't serve as sufficient rebuttal for why no one at the company (in operations that lost investors' money) should receive bonuses. Easy enough to understand, right?

Having said that and wishing that the money allocated by AIG to bonuses will be pulled back to the government or otherwise better used, I totally disagree with the legislation to change rules (into taxing at a rate of 90% any bonuses exceeding $250,000).

It sets the wrong tone. It is arbitrary. That money, in my eyes, does not rightfully belong to those AIGers, but it's aweful to realize that the U.S. government could in a few days time put a hook out to take money back out of the pockets of Americans who have not been convicted of any criminal offenses. 'Talk about Big Brother-ing. It can be insidiously discouraging to entrepreneurialism.

The legislation might not even be necessary. New AIG CEO Liddy, who treads a difficult position in the middle of things and is yet to be determined as a good guy or bad guy in my book, has instructed AIGers to return the bonuses. If they proceed to do that, maybe it's a better outcome for all parties and with less administrative expense to the government. It is ironic and disappointing that vote on this bill is breaking generally along partisan lines and that the Democrats are taking a "nuclear option" by slamming these taxes down instead of giving a chance for negotiation to work out.

I support Andrew Cuomo's thought process.

Obviously, we can't insist on perfection; this is pragmatic problemsolving time. But I don't think this tactic of recouping money via supertax has been well thought through. It is a band-aid on past errors by Congress.

Plus, I'd rather that 100% of the money, rather than 90% of it, be reclaimed (less the costs incurred in administration with this mess).

Less Hot Air in the Buffalo Air (Offense)

The day before yesterday it was reported that National Football League player Terrell Owens was signed by the Buffalo Bills, which was an unexpected place for him to end up.

It was quite exciting to hear about but I also initially thought it not that special of a story. I mean, "middle-aged" veteran goes on to new employer. Buffalo Bills make the dubious move of hiring someone for his last job. End of story.

But then I had it a bit in the back of my mind. And I realized: How Terrell Owens can be a non-story--in the same vein, though not to quite the same degree, as in preventive computer and physical security postures--and thereby reposition himself into Hall of Fame consideration... would be a story. 'Cause selection for NFL Hall of Fame is just about as politics-free and solely merit-based as is determination of Academy Award winners or which school districts, and the departments within them, sustain funding cuts. (By the way, I don't think Sean Penn should have won. Robert Downey, Jr. or Frank Langella should have, but I did love Penn's acceptance speech.)

First, I'm all for it if Terrell Owens makes Trent Edwards and Marshawn Lynch each a better player, plus makes Buffalo more interesting to watch again as Owens is tandemed with Lee Evans. Also, neither the world nor the NFL works this way obviously but, I believe Buffalo is owed a Super Bowl championship. (SB XLIV: Arizona Cardinals vs Buffalo Bills--that'd be sweet. Bad as far as projected Nielsen ratings but super on projected passing action.)

Reggie Jackson was another player who has been seen as brash and was not universally liked. So, similarly, the key for T.O. is for his on-field performances, the kind that relate to team wins and high stats, to dominate over any media coverage of postgame passive-aggressiveness demonstrations and basketball play highlights.

I respect how T.O. has fought for himself to be a great football player, his excellent physical conditioning, and, not least, that he has never been part of a shooting, animal abuse, or DUI story. I saw and was moderately moved by moments where he publicly supported Tony Romo, seeming to want to be in that place where he wants what's best for his team. It seemed like in that aspect also T.O. had grown; I wasn't exactly expecting the Cowboys to cut him. But some things get dwelt on more, rightly or unfairly so, behind closed doors. There have been worse samples of Owens. I found him to be a repulsive jerk by the time he left San Francisco, and I would take Jeff Garcia's side in virtually any dispute between the two. In Jerry Rice's final season with the 49ers, he was outperformed by Owens, but, as I'm sure most people agree, Rice dominates Owens in terms of sginificance to the 49ers franchise--that is to say, the successes of the 49ers franchise. Right now, T.O. is languishing about in the middle of the respectability scale among 49ers alumni and family, which is bookended by Rice at the top and John York, as well as whoever decided to bring in Lawrence Phillips, on the basement end. Not many notches higher than Matt Millen.

T.O. doesn't have to do such a public reimaging as did Conrad Dobler (#9 in the NFL Network's Top 10 [Interesting] Characters of all time) or John McEnroe ("Choose any car?? You CANNOT BE SERIOUS.")--that that wouldn't be so true to himself is a problem with doing so anyway--rather, he just needs to tone down the public off-the-field airwave-filling in favor of middle-of-the-field air attacking. Highlights of him while wearing Buffalo Bills red will draw the sports analysts' and Hall of Fame ballot-holders' attentions back to the best days of his contributions wearing red, white, and gold. T.O.'s tenure in stereotyped-sleepy Buffalo might prove to be not a last resort agreement and even more than just a palatable contender place. Much as I am ambivalent about Drew Rosenhaus and would not ascribe to him control in placing T.O. in Buffalo, getting this change of scenery to "North America's team"'s city might prove to be a stroke of genius.

But a question is: Does T.O. want to be in the Hall of Fame? Is his foremost aim in other endeavors (wealth, Academy Award ;-)) instead?

You Can Have Your Ball and Eat It Too (if You're a Dog)

Heard people say before: "It's not that they have the dog trained. The dog has them trained."? It can be so true; sometimes dogs have the whole world in their mouths.



The above video is a lesser one serving as a placeholder. It is there until I figure out a way to get the video I have in mind up there subject to blogspot's 100MB-max limitation.