Posted on 12/24/2006 8:25:19 AM PST by Chi-townChief
This year, the next-to-the-last week was a week of second chances. Defensive tackle Terry ''Tank'' Johnson got one, allowing him to remain a Chicago Bear. Miss USA Tara Conner was granted one, allowing her to hold on to her tarnished tiara. And by simply embracing the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, President Bush had another opportunity to chart a new course for his ill-advised and poorly planned Iraqi occupation.
The president blew his chance; Tank and Tara did not. The two twentysomethings were contrite, choosing their words carefully. The president was not and did not. In accepting their second chances, both Johnson and Conner promised to straighten up and try right. The president promised more of the same.
''It's going to be actions,'' a contrite Johnson said in a news conference Tuesday after the worst 72 hours of his life. ''It's nothing I can say.'' A week after his 25th birthday, a suburban Gurnee SWAT team, backed up by a platoon of police and armored vehicles, showed up with a battering ram at the defensive lineman's home to confiscate six unregistered guns and a couple of ounces of marijuana. Johnson was at Halas Hall at the time, but 26-year-old Willie B. Posey, Tank's former college teammate, permanent houseguest and bad influence, was there to meet and greet them. Both Johnson and Posey were arrested. Lake County authorities charged Johnson with six misdemeanor counts of unlawful possession of a weapon. Posey was charged with felony possession of marijuana. Ignoring warnings from Bears management to stay home and keep his nose clean, Johnson and Posey, his self-proclaimed bodyguard, went out for a night on the town. Posey ended up shot to death in a downtown Chicago nightclub. Johnson ended up with his pro-football career at stake.
He was in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing. Had Johnson been a player on the Indianapolis Colts instead of the Chicago Bears, for example, and bought a residence in the open-carry state of Kentucky, the gun charges may have been moot. Or had he been drafted by the Denver Broncos, a little marijuana in his suburban home would have ended up with Posey being fined -- something akin to getting a parking ticket.
But that was not the case. Johnson lives in a Chicago suburb and plays for the Chicago Bears, who pay him big bucks to tackle and sack and offer him nothing more than a pat on the back for acting as a good role model.
''I swear I won't let you down,'' a fired-up Tara tearfully told her boss, Donald Trump, with the whole world watching.
Unlike Tank's job description, Tara's calls for role-modeling. Eight months into her gig, the day after her 21st birthday, Trump, who bought the Miss USA franchise a decade ago, summoned her to his boardroom, where she was grilled and counseled on her bad behavior. Reports were that she'd been hanging out in Manhattan nightclubs, partying and doing some underage drinking through all hours of the night. In a live news conference last Tuesday that ran on the nation's three major cable news networks, Trump forgave her, proclaiming that ''she was telling me that she got caught up in the whirlwinds of New York.''
That it all came off like an ''Apprentice'' pre-run and was about as self-promoting as the aluminum-foil Time magazine cover reflecting you and me as Person of the Year didn't matter. Conner was glad to have her second chance.
''We're not winning. We're not losing,'' Bush announced last Wednesday during his year-end news conference, backing away from his assertion a couple of months earlier that we were ''absolutely winning'' the war in Iraq.
The president is set on taking his chances in Iraq, betting that we can win the war by sending in more troops, even though his military commanders advise against it. Even though only 12 percent of the American people think it's a good idea. Even though he knows many more young Americans will die next year -- caught between warring sectarian forces.
''We're going to stay in Iraq to get the job done,'' said Bush, who sounded to me like a man set on saving face now and his legacy later.
After last week's three unrelated events, I've found myself more closely examining the nature of second chances. Why do some of us take them while others of us don't? Why do some of us seem to get so many and others get so few? And why, in our nation, in these modern times, are white girls still expected to be good and black boys still presumed to be bad -- while the presidents of universities, corporations and this nation, good or bad, seemingly can do as they please?
So this is what I've come to think: Not all second chances are created equal.
mailto:monroeanderson@gmail.com
Why does everything in the media turn into a Bush bash-fest? Seriously. This is getting old.
"And why, in our nation, in these modern times, are white girls still expected to be good and black boys still presumed to be bad? ..."
What the hell? Where does this come from?
You'd think they'd give it a rest on Christmas Eve!
They shoot horses, don't they. Extrapolate!
Nah, they're like the nazis, commies, and islamists attacking on the holiday.
She probably does NOT need any rehab...she is just a normal partying young woman. Was there an "undercover" Quid Pro Quo for the 2nd chance, though? Inquiring minds want to know.
Good. Jail is not supposed to be a health spa.
Any dumb a@@ can make statements like this. Shows their ignorance. Instead of the typical rant "poorly planned" how about you give us an answer. How about solutions. If any of these jackass are so intelligent, why did they not have definite answers years ago. President Bush was always willing to listen. Trouble is they had no answers that would work. There method was to reach the 1/3 of the brain dead Americans and they knew these lame fools would believe they had answers.
Whoops, they did have an answer, cut and run. (Someone asked me about my 1/3 brain dead Americans, and I replied check out Rosie, Joy, and Barbara for samples)
Forget giving us answers- how about he just give us EXAMPLES instead of making up lies- the war was NOT poorly planned, nor unssuccesful- We accomplished every thing we set out to do- haven't lost a single friggin conflict yet, and we're rebuilding Iraq and stabalizing a desperately hostile country in the process- Anderson is a freaking whining loser who can't stand the fact that Pres. Bush has liberated a depressed/oppressed nation from the hands of a dictator!!! People like anderson really make me sick and he should be ashamed of his constant whining and antio-Americanism!!! But alas- yellow bellied spineless pukes have no shame. http://sacredscoop.com
MONROE ANDERSON - Moron.
I e-mailed Anderson the following:
"It amazes me how you liberal clowns can't even give it a rest on Christmas eve with yet another half-baked attack on the president. No one can overestimate your piggishness."
to which he replied:
"Is name calling the only intellectual tool you possess?"
?Tell him you learned the name calling from him and his kind- appologize, and tell him you didn';t mean to sink to his level lol
I replied, "Generally no but, in your case, if the shoe fits you know what to do."
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