I'm in complete agreement about the compassion angle. There are too many of us sitting in the comfort of our homes, delusional in our safety and connection to our communities. We are emboldened by the fictional anonymity of the internet, firing lasers and flaming rather than interact and discuss. We believe that these sociopathic actions have no consequence. The home based attitude bleeds into our real life, out in the world.

We should be ashamed that we poke fun at a woman's congenital moutsache, or at someone's lack of education, or whatever perceived imperfection we deem to have a morally inferior quality. Without consequence, dignity is an affliction of the weak.

"If popular music has no compassion it is because society has none"


Truer words have never been spoken. Cheers!!!

I tend to agree about mainstream music at least playing a part in the dumbing down of society, though there are certainly bigger problems. Saintfan, I get what you're saying about music being a reflection of society, and that is partly true, but to Neugey's point, this crap is being force fed to young, impressionable teenagers like never before. You didn't see women walking around half naked, until the madonna's, the britney spears', the beyonce's and all those types made it popular. At least very seldom you did. Now it is just accepted as "freedom of expression". And whereas you might have heard a few people saying words that weren't in the dictionary, you now hear it constantly because of some of the stupid things that are playing on the radio.

Music is just a small part of it, however, and I think this blog covers a lot of that. People have gotten stupid for a number of reasons, but there is a reason for that. The culture HAS indeed been changing drastically over the past couple of decades, and culture is largely driven by what the media and entertainment worlds decide is acceptable.

But people have free will, and should be able to formulate their own thoughts without simply following the latest trends. Unfortunately, with each new generation, the ability to critically think becomes more and more watered down, and parents aren't smart enough themselves to pass on any kind of wisdom to their children. And so whatever is popular becomes the gospel to many people. Nobody wants to take a hard look, if any look at all, at the real problems we're facing. As for the media, I think we all agree that it's all about political agenda. There isn't enough real news being reported anymore. People are being lied to, and they don't seem to have a clue.

I dig where you're coming from, but I don't think I can agree on your correlation to today's music. Sure, it sucks, but to people like my Mom who grew up with 50's and 60's stuff, Led Zeppelin, and Kiss, and Van Halen, and Ozzy, and on and on...that was crap.

Today's stuff, by and large the popular 40, IS crap, no doubt, but that's what sells. Music is a reflection of society, not the other way around. If popular music has no compassion it is because society has none. For heaven's sake, most of the 80's pop (I graduated in 1987) is horrible. I confirmed this by watching 30 minutes of "totally 80's" on VH1 a couple nights ago. It...Is...Turrible...

There are lots of artists making great music today, and 'my girl' Zooey Deschanel (She & Him) is an example, but the industry makes the lot of its money off the teeny boppers. That hasn't changed and I doubt it ever will. The mindset that fostered bands like the Stones, Zeppelin, and so many other "classic rock" bands isn't there, but that's because society is dumbed down, not because today's music made people stupid.

As for the media angle I'm with you 100%. It's disgusting.

I'm not necessarily 'siding' with the guy, I'm just surprised the MLB tried to pursue the charges knowing there was such a flagrant violation of the chain-of-custody protocols.

I can also appreciate the fact the guy kept it on the down-low and didn't go the denial route or the "my true fans will believe me" route. Who wants to see another media circus as with Sosa, Mcguire, Bonds, Clemens, Conseco ... not me.

I'm sorry I just can't see myself siding with Braun regardless of how "classy" he approached and dealt with the process. He can deny all he wants... so did Raffy, Bonds, Clemens, etc. They swore up and down they never touched the stuff yet were all found to be liars. Could it have been the "herpes medication" he was taking... only he knows that. But he tested positive for a banned substance and the fact of the matter is that he did get off on a technicality and deserved some sort of punishment.

What's funny is that I have no problems with steriods. I work in a clinic and when people are hurt or feeling sick, it helps you feel better. Hell I don't even care if they use it as a performance enhancing drug... the best years of baseball in the last 20 years was the steroid era. Chicks dig the long balls... and so do grown ass men. I just feel if you did do it and go caught, just man up to it and move along. Don't be like those other guys.

MLB dropped the ball on this one, big time. Chain-of-custody is serious business. Keeping urine samples in a collector's basement over the weekend violates chain-of-custody. You would think an MLB CDT (Comprehensive Drug Testing) collector with 6yrs experience would know that and follow the correct protocol.

It's done correctly in thousands of clinics around the country every day, including Sundays, and in the military. Pro sports are not the exception.

Chalk one up for the 'Hebrew Hammer', regardless of whether his sample tested positive or negative, the failure to follow protocol invalidates the test. And 'yes', he did handle the whole situation quite professionally.

I can't believe MLB even tried going ahead with a suspension knowing the samples were kept, unsecured, in a basement for that long ... that is 'bush' league. Kudos to Ryan Braun for standing up for himself.

The only NFL team and fans that I hate are the Falcons team and fans.

No - sorry, NO pity for the Vi-Queens. EVER. Loath & depsise them (not as uch as the Fal-Clowns, but...)

But no sympathy for the Falcons after all the cry babying last night and today....

If Minneapolis loses the Vikings it will be a shame. It's an old organization identified with the city. But Minnesota should be ashamed that for the past 10 years their legislators have ignored or delayed the stadium issue.