Person Interested in Matriculating Properly.

According to reports, Georgia State University is the latest in a string of universities who have decided to no longer accept Visa as a method of payment. The reason? The cost of Visa’s fees ($750,000 annually) is more than the university is willing to pay.

Although the university will continue to accept Discover, Mastercard, and American Express, I’m worried that this change will make college even less accessible to people.

Thoughts?

NBA coaches get no respect.

With the exception of a few superstar coaches –Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, and Larry Brown– most NBA coaches are seen as highly paid and highly dispensable babysitters. While a good college coach is considered an essential long term building block for a winning program, most NBA coaches have a shorter shelf life than a reality television show.

Even if a coach manages to win enough to keep his job, he’s rarely credited for creating victories. Rather, the coach is typically seen as someone who was smart enough to get out of the way and let his players do their job. Despite winning 9 NBA championships, Jordan, Pippen, Bryant, and O’Neal are seen as the exclusive reasons for their respective dynasties. Even the success of the 2005-2006 Lakers is attributed more to Kobe’s maturity than Phil’s skills.

On the other hand, when NBA teams lose, coaches are the first to go. Why? Because they serve as the perfect scapegoat for team executives who are trying to buy an extra year or two before they are fired. How else could we be talking about firing Knicks coach Larry Brown and keeping team president Isaiah Thomas, who has played rotisserie league basketball with one of the league’s most storied franchises? Also, in an era where it is increasingly difficult to get rid of bad players without inheriting more expensive junk, coaches are often fired to placate frustrated fans. Isaiah Thomas’ firing of Don Chaney and the forced resignation of Lenny Wilkins (the all time winningest coach) are evidence of this phenomenon. (New Yorkers, notice a pattern here?)

Two of the four remaining coaches in this year’s NBA playoffs have reminded us of the importance of the job.

Avery Johnson has transformed the Dallas Mavericks from a high scoring but underachieving Mark Cuban project into the Western Conference front-runner. His focus on defense and rebounding, as well as his wise use of Dirk Nowitzki, has enabled the team to thrive against the conference’s elite teams. While many critics suggested that Johnson was too young and inexperienced to lead the Mavs, the “Little General” has broken team and league records for first-year wins, won the Coach of the Year Award, and positioned himself as one of the league’s rising talents.

At the beginning of the season, Stan Van Gundy “resigned” to spend more time with his family. Of course, most people speculated that he was pushed out by Pat Riley (When he decides to get another job, will he announce that he wants to spend less time with his family?). Either way, Riley has been able to galvanize the team by installing a greater level of defensive intensity and, more importantly, using Shaquille O’Neal more wisely. While few would argue that Van Gundy was a strong coach, it was clear that he lost the respect of the players following last year’s Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons. Riley’s ability to command instant respect from every player has enabled him to control Jason Williams and Antoine Walker, both of whom were considered “problem players” by their former teams. More importantly, he has the team peaking at the perfect time.
Much respect to Johnson, Riley, and the rest of the unsung generals across the league!

Federal authorities are actively investigating dozens of American television stations for broadcasting items produced by the Bush administration and major corporations, and passing them off as normal news. Some of the fake news segments talked up success in the war in Iraq, or promoted the companies’ products.

Investigators from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are seeking information about stations across the country after a report produced by a campaign group detailed the extraordinary extent of the use of such items.

The report, by the non-profit group Center for Media and Democracy, found that over a 10-month period at least 77 television stations were making use of the faux news broadcasts, known as Video News Releases (VNRs). Not one told viewers who had produced the items.

For the rest of the story, go to: http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/36878

“Good Life” – T.I.

“I used to use the beats to paint my pain / But nowadays, man I can’t complain”

Sometimes, in spite of your stress and pain, you have to just sit back and enjoy the good things in life.

On Fox News, analyst Jonathan Hoenig argued that global warming is an invention of environmentalists who are afraid of economic progress and industrial development. He states:

There’s no scientific proof that global warming even exists. To be honest, it’s a bogus consensus dreamed up by Greens because they hate industry. They hate advancement. They hate technology…Greens will lead us back to the stone ages.

And people like him will lead us to the graveyard. The reality is that hundreds, if not thousands, of trained and respected scientists have acknowledged the existence of global warming. Even more telling, no refereed science journal article in the last 25 years has challenged the idea. Not one!

It’s amazing how the Left is dismissed as crazy and paranoid when they point to obvious connections between the Bush Administration and various personal, corporate, and military interests, yet the same rules fail to apply when people on the Right dismiss legitimate evidence in favor of a weak conspiracy theory.

My worry is that this type of claim will serve as a red herring that would take us away from necessary conversations about environmental responsibilty from big business.