By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET  Know thyself.
Brutal self-honesty and continuous self-reflection are integral staples of a well-lived life in which we can be “True to ourselves.”
Last Friday I went by a trophy store in town and started asking myself some hard questions. It’s been a long time since I’ve received a trophy for anything. Or a plaque for that matter. And I really like receiving both and felt like it was about time to get something again that I could put on my shelf or wall and be affirmed by –and hope others notice and are impressed.
So I started thinking to myself, “Who says you can’t buy yourself a trophy or plaque?” I mean, maybe it’s an oversight that I (we) haven’t received any kind of award in a long time…and by giving ourselves a trophy all we are really doing is correcting the oversight.
More or less.
Anyway, I felt comfortable with my logic and got to wondering what on Earth would I get myself a personal trophy for. And I wanted to be brutally honest about what I should and shouldn’t give myself for a personally purchased award. Because without self honesty, all the awards are just meaningless decorations.
(I started by mulling an NBA MVP—but will back date it 12 or 15 years to be more believable. But I think I’m going to go with something that really could happen. “Best Intentioned Consultant on the Second Floor Bank Building off Ann St.” It’s not only believable ….it’s a really long title which always seems more impressive than short titles. Guess next I need to start working on an acceptance speech. ; )
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 9:15 AM ET The coaching carousel keeps on moving in the NFL – the latest hire was made by the Tampa Bay Bucs. They ending up signing Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano over Mike Sherman. The Bucs organization has made quite a few rounds while searching for a new coach, but Schiano outlasted the other candidates (including the ones that took other positions). [ESPN]
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET A friend, Don Marcum, asked about the possibility of a National Primary, and wondered if I had any thoughts on the matter.
As luck would have it, I have quite a few ready-made thoughts from a column I wrote 15 years ago when people cared about what I had to say about such things.
It was my first few months as KY’s newly elected secretary of state and a group of us were being interviewed on C-SPAN about the presidential primary system. Without much thought I proposed consideration of a National Primary….which went over like a lead balloon (aimed to land on my detractors!). Some of those who spoke up were professional election administrators and analysts who were well versed in the virtues of our current system not the least bit interested in considering new alternatives. And they made some good points.
But on the way home the more I thought about it the more I felt there was something to this idea…..And, I’ll admit, I was a little irked and challenged by the swift and impassioned rebuke I received and wanted to make a sensible case for a National Primary and prove it wasn’t “a crazy idea” as one commentator suggested.
I have dug up the article and post it below:
Read the rest of…
John Y. Brown, III: A National Primary?
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
Raspberry Pi, the $25 PC, is back in the news. This time as it is show to outperform (double) the performance of an iPhone 4S. [Geek]
Microsoft is calling for Washington state to legalize gay marriage. Microsoft argues that it is hard for them to hire their preferred candidates because they are based in a state that discriminates against them. [The Atlantic]
Some people out there are tech savvy enough to jailbreak their phones. However, this practice could soon become illegal. Again. [Gizmodo]
Actor Wil Wheaton has called out Chris Dodd regarding the claimed job losses due to piracy. [techdirt]
Europe is considering a sweeping new law that would force Internet companies to obtain explicit consent from consumers about the use of their personal data, delete that data forever at the consumer’s request and face fines for failing to comply. [NY Times]
By Grant Smith, RP Staff, on Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
Did Newt Gingrich insult President Reagan in the 80’s? [The National Review]
Fact-checking the 2012 State of the Union Address. [The Washington Post]
Egyptians gather on the 1st anniversary of the revolt. [The New York Times]
By Jason Atkinson, on Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET We at The Recovering Politician are proud to present the latest film feature of the multi-talented Renaissance Man, contributing RP Jason Atkinson.
Without further ado, we present Underwater Love:
Underwater Love from Flying A Films on Vimeo.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (update)
1)Physiological Needs-Health, food, sleep
2) Safety Needs–shelter, removal from danger
3) Social Needs–love, affection, belonging to group
4) Esteem Needs–self esteem and esteem from others
5) Self Actualizatioin–achieving individual potential
6) Latest Apple product–iPhone 4S, iPad 2
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
The best day of football all season, Championship Sunday, is in the books and we were treated to two outstanding games. The Giants edged out the 49ers in overtime and the Patriots narrowly avoided going to overtime with the Ravens when Billy Cundiff missed a relatively easy 32 yard field goal to tie the game. Here are some judgments to help you break down what happened this past weekend. [CBS Sports]
Here is Peter King’s weekly analysis in his MMQB column. See what he thought about Sunday’s games and his impressions of the matchups going forward. (Pro-tip: there are some links on the first page to other quality analysis) [Sports Illustrated]
John Clayton plays Q&A on the Super Bowl XLVI matchup. [ESPN]
Joe Paterno passed away this weekend. The legendary coach lost his battle with cancer. No matter what you may think about his actions and what transpired at Penn State during the Jerry Sandusky years it is always rough to see someone die in disgrace. [Yahoo! Sports]
As is common around this time of year players are getting added to the Pro Bowl roster to replace injured players and others that might be playing in the Super Bowl. One of the big names that was added was rookie QBs Cam Newton. [National Football Post]
After a disappointing first round exit from the playoffs Pittsburgh Steelers Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians announced his retirement. Or did he? There are some reports that the OC that helped the Steelers to two Super Bowls was let go so that the team could go in a different direction on offense. [ESPN]
By Patrick Derocher, on Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
Fulfilling something of a dream of mine, I had the opportunity to spend the week leading up to this year’s New Hampshire presidential primary on the ground in New Hampshire and as such, The RP asked me to do a write-up of what the election looked like from the Granite State (though that may have also had something to do with the fact that I missed several blog entries whilst traipsing about New Hampshire).
In the interest of full disclosure, and to more fully explain where I’m coming from here, I spent my time working for former Utah governor Jon Huntsman’s campaign, in a position that is best described as full time volunteer, and so this piece will include some observations specific to that campaign. Given my position (I wasn’t even considered staff), the extent to which I can comment on Jon 2012 is rather limited, as is the extent to which I feel it is my place to comment on specifics. That said, there are a few questions I have been asked on multiple occasions that I will start off by talking about.
– Why did Huntsman never really catch on with voters? The simple fact of the matter is that most voters did not view Governor Huntsman as a conservative. This is, of course, more than a bit absurd (you can start and finish with his implementation of a flat tax, but there’s so much more). Perhaps it was the often fawning media coverage, or his moderate temperament and willingness to work across party lines, but the basic problem remains the same: The “moderate” label was affixed, and there was no changing many voters’ minds. As for why Huntsman appeared to have limited support among independents, that is more pertinent to the body of this piece and will be discussed shortly.
Read the rest of…
Patrick Derocher: The Ephemera of Politics — On Polling and Primaries
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
Here’s a first world problem that is finally solved. You know what I’m talking about. [picture]
Just an old man. [picture]
The real Titanic wasn’t real life enough. [picture]
When the worst happens. [pidjin]
Was he trolling or was he trolled? I don’t even care, that is amazing. [picture]
Seems plausible – Why Congress created SOPA and PIPA. [pie chart!]
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