Friday, October 4, 2013

Some Ideas on Baseball and Their Playoffs

Some Ideas on Baseball and Their Playoffs

1)  Let's have a DH in all of baseball or none of baseball.

It seems silly to think that since 1973, the AL and NL have been playing under two separate sets of rules.  

The time has come, since Commissioner Bud Selig is leaving, for the NL to adopt the DH, or for the AL to abandon it.

At this point, the best move is probably for the NL to adopt it.  

Fans look down at Forbes Field from the Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh, 1960 World Series.  Games took around Two Hours back then.  Now they take closer to Four Hours.

2)  Let's have another team in each league

It's nice that Bud Selig thought it would be a good idea to move the Houston Astros to the American League, but in the past forty years, the Milwaukee Brewers have shifted from the American League to the National League, and the Astros from the National League to the American League, so the net difference is "zero".  

The entire reason that Milwaukee moved in the first place was to keep the number of teams in each league even, so that interleague play would not be constant.  

They should simply add one expansion team to each league, making sixteen teams, and then split the teams into four divisions of four teams in each league.  Leading to the next point.

3)  Let's have more playoff teams and more playoffs

Assuming we do what we said above, we could have four division winners.  After that, it would be appropriate to have four wildcard teams in each league play as well.  

Next, the first round and every round of the playoffs should really be seven games.  Just like hockey and basketball.  

A lot of cities go years without seeing playoff baseball.  By having 1/2 the teams in the playoffs each year, the fans won't have to wait as long to get into the playoffs.  

Babe Ruth and George Herbert Walker Bush, later President of the United States (1989-1993), then a Yale First Baseman

4)  Shorten the Games

Pitchers today can't finish nine inning games anymore, leading to 12 and 13 man staffs and super specialist relievers.

A simple solution is to do what high schools do--limit the game to seven innings.  

Radical, but think about it--most baseball games today are lasting well over three hours, and with all the bullpen changes, sometimes longer.

A seven inning game means more complete games, and if the bullpen is needed, only one or two guys will be needed.

It means getting back to a ten man pitching staff and a 15 man hitting roster.  

5) Shorten the Regular Season and Lengthen the Playoffs

Obviously the season is now way, way too long.  Athletes are getting hurt, they are trying all manner of illegal substances to last the season, and it's all out of control.

The obvious answer is to cut down the regular season, and by a lot.

Baseball should shoot for a 130 game regular season, to start in mid April and end in mid-September.  The math is easy:
12 games against your 3 division foes = 36
6 games against your 12 non-division but in league foes = 72
3 games against each of 8 teams in two divisions in the other league = 24 (meaning you cycle through the other league every two years and do home and away every two years)

That makes for a very well-balanced 130 game schedule.  It's about the number of games they play in Japan.  If you add to this 8 teams in the playoffs, then you would have potentially 7-7-7-7 or as many as 28 playoff games in the post season, including the World Series.

But the entire total would only be 158 games total.  

And the ratings for the post-season would be much higher than for the regular season.  

6) Total Revenue Sharing and a Hard Salary Cap

Baseball will never be fully healthy until the owners agree to full and total revenue sharing between all of the clubs of any and tv revenues, and have all tv contracts negotiated by the league office. The MLB Network has to have control of all of this, and there should be no local advantage to being the team from LA, NY or Chicago.  All the money should go into a central pot, and the TV revenue shared equally.  

Likewise the players have to agree to a Hard Salary Cap fixed at a percentage of what the owners earn each year in the CBA.  

People like Scott Boras are making way too much money, and now people like the agents in the Caribbean representing 12 year olds, as well as Japanese baseball teams, have become free riders demanding negotiating rights, from owners who have no sense of what they are doing.

This has led to the bankruptcy of the Dodgers, to name but one team, as well as of the Mets, to name another.  

It all needs to be fixed.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Baseball needs to create a product that moves more quickly, gets done more quickly, has a shorter regular season, has more postseason, is fairer to all fans, has more opportunities for all teams to get into the postseason, does not overpay athletes or owners, and is a better product overall.

One other important notion would be for the American champion to play internationally against the winners of the Mexican and Japanese Leagues.  A shorter season would allow this, and more players would be interested in the World Baseball Classic then.

Carlos Beltran Belongs in the HOF

Carlos Beltran Belongs in the Hall of Fame

The question arises as Carlos Beltran, a switch-hitting CF who has converted to RF late in his career, has hit yet another post-season HR in the playoffs.  

Beltran has always been a five tool player, hit, hit for average, hit for power, speed, defense, and good arm.  


The above citation is to JAWS, which is the Jaffe WAR Score System, developed to provide a bright line test of what a Hall of Famer is.  

The concept is simple--take a players best seven seasons of Wins Above Replacement--WAR, and then compare those to the Jaffe WAR Score of the other Hall of Famers, at that position.

Once you do that, you can establish leaders, an average JAWS score for HOFers for that position, and then you can see clearly if a player deserves in or out.  

If you see where Beltran ranks on the JAWS list of Centerfielders, it's remarkable.  The list goes:

1) Willie Mays
2) Ty Cobb
3) Tris Speaker
4)  Mickey Mantle
5) Ken Griffey Jr.
6) Joe DiMaggio
7) Duke Snider
8) Carlos Beltran

Beltran is still playing, and is still productive, so his JAWS score, his career accomplishments, his postseason accomplishments, and so forth, will just keep increasing.  

Recognize what we are saying here--that Carlos Beltran is one of the eight best Centerfielders of all time.  Richie Ashburn and Andre Dawson rank behind Beltran, and both were enshrined. Billy Hamilton, a 19th century legend who is in the HOF, has a lower JAWS score than Beltran. 

Beltran didn't just hit--he was a remarkable fielder, he could steal, he could advance the extra base, he was a switch-hitter, he could throw, and he still does many of those things.  And he still can hit very, very well.  

He belongs in the Hall of Fame, when the time comes.   

The MLB Baseball Playoffs 2013

THE MLB BASEBALL PLAYOFFS 2013

Well, it's that time again--well, baseball, having played too many games, now will play too many playoff games.  

Brad Lidge & Chooch Ruiz Celebrate the Phillies Winning the 2008 World Series

1) I made my picks on FB.  

2)  I picked Rays over Rangers.  Got that one right.

3)  I picked Rays over Indians.  Got that one right.  

4)  I picked Pirates over Reds.  Got that one right.

So far, three for three (1.000 batting average).  

5)  NLDS - Cards over Pirates, Dodgers over Braves.  

6)  ALDS - Bosox over Rays, Tigers over As.

7)  NLCS - Dodgers over Cards.

8)  ALCS - Bosox over Tigers.

9) World Series - Dodgers over Bosox.  

The Sheer Joy of Winning - 2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies

If you are wondering, the Brooklyn Dodgers faced off against the Boston Red Sox in 1916. The Red Sox won.  Some guy named George Herman Ruth had an ERA+ of 158 over league that year.  23-12, over 320 IP, 230 H allowed, 170 K (in an age when no one struck out) and zero HR allowed.  For good measure, the Babe hit 3 HR and had an OPS+ of 121 over league as a hitter.  So Babe Ruth, as a pitcher, hit more home runs than he allowed in 1916.

The Shoe is on the other Foot this year. Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball, and he can pitch, field and hit.  Any comparisons to Sandy Koufax, bring them on.  There is no one on the Red Sox remotely as good as Kershaw.

Thems' my picks.  

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Arthur John Kyriazis Google Blog - If Flying on the Ground is Wrong....: The Sayings of Kung Fu, the First Season

Arthur John Kyriazis Google Blog - If Flying on the Ground is Wrong....: The Sayings of Kung Fu, the First Season: This blog has has more than 3,250 hits on wordpress since it was originally published @ 4 1/2 years ago.  By far the most popular post e...

The Sayings of Kung Fu, the First Season

This blog has has more than 3,250 hits on wordpress since it was originally published @ 4 1/2 years ago.  By far the most popular post ever on any of our blogs, so here's an encore presentation.  


功夫 - Gong Fu or Kung Fu



The Sayings of Kung Fu, the First Season

December 1, 2008

The Late David Carradine
The Late David Carradine in Kung Fu as Kwai Chan Cain
From the Crane, we learn grace and self-control.
The Snake teaches us suppleness and rhythmic endurance.
The Praying Mantis teaches us speed and patience.
And from the Tiger, we learn tenacity and power.
And from the Dragon, we learn to ride the wind.
All creatures, the low and the high, are one with nature.
If we have the wisdom to learn, all may teach us their virtues.
Is it good to seek the past? If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present; but if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future. The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past.
When you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave.
You must walk the rice paper without leaving any marks. This will signify that you can walk without making any sounds.
The outer strength, the strength of the body, withers with age. The inner strength, the Chi, remains and grows stronger with age.
The right of vengeance belongs to no man.
A Shaolin priest can walk through walls.
A man cannot live his whole life in fear. To hide such feelings is to increase them 1000 times.
If you tell a man he is less than a man often enough, he will come to believe it.
All life is sacred. I would not take pleasure in the death of any man.
Fear is the enemy. He who conquers himself is the greatest warrior.
To hate is like drinking salt water; it only makes the thirst worse.
I have seen the silkworm; it spins a thread that it may be seen. Hate is the thread and the tomb you weave; it will not save you from your suffering.
The mind and the body and the spirit are one. When the body expresses the desires of the mind and the spirit, the body is in tune with nature, the act is pure and there is no shame. Love is harmony.
Each journey begins and also ends. Life is such a journey, yet it is full of journeys within which begin and end.
Seek always peace. To endanger one, endangers all. In such times, the soul must be the warrior. The soul sees always. What the soul sees cannot be denied.
Discipline your body that you may find greater strength. Be one with all that is without one’s self.
Where the tiger and the man are one, there is no fear, there is no danger.
David Carradine as Kwai Chang Cain
the Late David Carradine in Kung Fu
Part II
I have three treasures which I hold and keep: the first is mercy, for from mercy comes courage; the second is frugality, from which comes generosity to others; the third is humility, for from it comes leadership.
How shall I hold these treasures, Master? In memory?
Not in memory, but in your deeds.
Peace lies not in the world but in the man who walks the peaceful path.
To reach perfection a man must develop equally compassion and wisdom.
Shall I treat every man the same? Yet the flower beneath the water knows not the sun. Other men, not knowing me, will find me hard to understand.
As far as possible, be on good terms with all. Accept the ways of others; respect first your own.
Look beneath the surface of the pool to see its depths.
Rock crushes scissors. Paper covers rock. Scissors cuts the paper. Each in turn conquers the other; there is no stronger or weaker. This is the harmony of nature.
David Carradine, Quentin Tarantino
David Carradine, Quentin Tarantino. In 2005 the late David Carradine received best supporting actor nod for his kung fu work in "Kill Bill Part 2".
The late David Carradine as Bill (really Kwai Chan Cain) in Kill Bill 2.  Tour de Force performance.
The late David Carradine as Bill (really Kwai Chan Cain) in Kill Bill 2. Tour de Force performance.
Part III
Ten million living things have as many different worlds. Do not see yourself as the center of the universe, wise and good and beautiful. Seek, rather, wisdom and goodness and beauty, that you may honor them everywhere.
A man may tell himself many things, but is a man’s universe made only of himself?
If a man hurts me and I punish him, perhaps he will not hurt another.
And if you do nothing?
He will believe he may do as he wishes.
Perhaps. Or perhaps he will learn that some men receive injury but return kindness.
If you sow rice, you will grow rice. If you sow fear, you will grow fear.
Kwai Chan Cain as Bill finds his bride in Kill Bill Vol 2
Kwai Chan Cain as Bill finds his bride in Kill Bill Vol 2
THE SAYINGS OF KUNG FU THE FIRST SEASON STARRING DAVID CARRADINE CLASSIC TV SERIES AVAILABLE ON DVD
Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo with her deadly Hanzo samurai sword in "Kill Bill Vol. 2" featuring the late David Carradine
Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo with her deadly Hanzo samurai sword in "Kill Bill Vol. 2" featuring the late David Carradine
–art kyriazis philly/south jersey
home of the world champion philadelphia phillies

3 Responses to “The Sayings of Kung Fu, the First Season”

  1. pedrofeliz3b Says:

    Reblogged this on THE SOPHIST: TWO SIDES TO EVERY QUESTION and commented:
    reposted with new photos from 2008
     
     
     
     
     
     
    1 Votes

  2. Hello friends, its fantastic piece of writing on the topic of tutoringand completely defined, keep it up all the time.
     
     
     
     
     
     
    1 Votes
    • pedrofeliz3b Says:

      actually, those were the sayings of Kung Fu, from the first season of the show back in the early 1970s, but thanks anyway.
       
       
       
       
       
       
      Rate This

Sunday, August 25, 2013

The Al-Jazeera Network Comes to America and Makes Stephen Walt, Noted Anti-Israel Scholar, its Very First Guest

The Al-Jazeera America Network

Al-Jazeera America Network.  Anti-Israeli Scholar Stephen Walt.  A Marriage made in Hell?  

Well, I'm going to try to be fair about this.  


Al-Jazeera America Has as it's First Guest Noted Anti-Israel Scholar Prof. Stephen Walt.  They are making Fox News look Fair and Balanced. 


I Have a Point of View on This

First, let me say, I have a point of view on this.  And that is, that we are not merely in a land air and sea war with Al-Qaeda and the people who brought about 9/11, but also with the Muslim Brotherhood, the radical Shi'ite Islamists who brought about the Iranian Revolution and took our American diplomats hostage back in 1979 and insulted America so badly that Jimmy Carter was hounded from office, with Hamas and other radical organizations funded by the Iranians, with a nuclear Iran, with the forces which destabilized Lebanon and killed our Marines back in the 1980s, and with those who are our enemies now in Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, and anywhere in the Middle East, who do not UNQUESTIONINGLY SUPPORT US POLICY.  

Al-Jazeera is arabic for "the island" or "the peninsula," referring to the Arabian Peninsula, where the holy cities of Islam, Mecca and Media are located.  The Title of the Network is clearly a RELIGIOUS reference to Islam and/or a POLITICAL reference to pan-Arabism.  Or Both.  Yes, they know Semiotics, Derrida and Symbolism in the Middle East. 

Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose

If this were World War II, would the FCC allow Tokyo Rose or Axis Sally to have a Radio Network in the United States?  or a TV Network, if there were TV in 1942?  I should think not.

Al Jazeera Arabic Has a Track Record of Anti-Semitism and Hate Speech

The most troubling thing is that it has to be admitted from the outset that Al Jazeera in Arabic carries a lot of what we would call hate speech,” he concedes. Perhaps he is thinking of a 2000 appearance by the mufti who said “there can be no peace with the Jews because they suck and use the blood of Arabs on the holidays of Passover and Purim.” Or maybe he is referring to the on-air comments of Samir Ubeid, “an Iraqi researcher,” who charged last October that Nobel Prizes encourage Muslims to commit heresy. Noting that the awards have gone to 167 Jews and only four Arabs (all of whom, including Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, he dubbed “traitors”), Ubeid darkly warned that “the prize stems from the core of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.


The network whose broadcasts have been called “vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable” and “perfectly willing to lie to the world” by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The network that Middle East Forum Director Daniel Pipes has described as “Islamist, anti-Semitic and pro-terrorist.” The network whose Baghdad bureau was bombed by the United States early in the Iraq war. Many Americans would just as soon see a permanent glitch knock the new network off the air altogether.

id.

Make sure you read that again.  The Baghdad bureau of Al-Jazeera was targeted for bombing by the United States during the Iraqi War.  They were considered the Enemy, and an Enemy Combatant.

How have we arrived, eleven years later, to having the enemy in our midst, broadcasting to our children, on cable TV?


The Thesis - The FCC Should Do Its Job

The express thesis of this article is that:

1)  The FCC should ban Al-Jazeera Media Network and Al-Jazeera America from the American Airwaves;
2)  All cable companies in the US should not carry these networks on their standard programming packages;
3)    The FCC should regulate their content for speech content;
4)    The FCC and Homeland Security, the FBI and CIA should closely monitor the ties between AJMN, AJA and known terrorists and known enemies of the United States. 


Who Are These Guys?

Al-Jazeera Media Network ("AJMN") is allegedly a private network owned in Qatar, and Al-Jazeera America ("AJA") is allegedly an american cable network launced by AJMN out of Qatar with American offices.

It should be further noted that the seed money for AJMN was  @$350 million dollars from the Sheikh of Qatar back in the 1990s; the original company was public; but after it was succesful, it went private, so it files no public 10Ks or 10Qs with any securities regulatory agency of any kind.  We really can't find out about their ownership.  They own subsidiary broadcasting companies in the Balkans, in Turkey, in Europe, and now, in America.  

If you flipped the Radio Free Europe operation inside out, you'd have AJMN--it's essentially a widespread operation meant to convey not just arab language programming, but a point of view--a pan-Arabist and pan-Islamic point of view--worldwide.  Just as Radio Free Europe was meant to convey the American view of pan-worldwide democracy and pan-worldwide freedom and capitalism.  

We're going to lose this battle, because our programming is not ideological, and it's not religious.  It does not focus on the values of our forms of worship, our freedom to worship, our freedoms in general, or on the defects of Arabic customs and rule--their lack of freedoms for women, for christians, for jews, for anyone who is different or who is not an islamic male.  

These are fundamentally clashing views of civilization, to paraphrase the late Prof. Samuel S. Huntinton.  

Does AJMN or AJA have Ties to Terrorists?

Having said that, I find it hard to believe that none of the 900 employees or any of the on air talent at AJA and at AJMN, their holding company, has absolutely no ties at all to any known terrorists or known enemies of the united states, and the notion that they are an impartial news organization as opposed to a fifth column working against the national interests of the United States has to be seriously questioned.

Certainly it is the duty of the FCC and Homeland Security, the FBI and CIA to investigate this matter.

After all, they are monitoring every email and every phone call in the entire US looking for this very thing.

How about monitoring the one broadcast network in the world we KNOW has a point of view potentially antagonistic to the US of A? and which routinely puts known terrorists, hatemongers, anti-semites and crazy terrorists on their affliated networks routinely?  How about monitoring them instead of invading the privacy of people who have done nothing wrong?

How Al Gore Created Al-Jazeera America and Made a Small Fortune For Himself and His Two Partners in the Process

As a parenthetical note, AJMN created AJA by purchasing a controlling interest in the Current TV Network, in which Al Gore had a controlling share.  That network was failing, losing money, failing badly.  No one was watching them, they were losing money, and their roster of talent consisted of newscasters who had been fired by CNN, MSNBC or FOX that no one else wanted or needed.  If you were on Current, well, you had reached the end of the line.  Or worse.   

The main shareholders in Current were Al Gore, Joel Hyatt and Ronald Burkle.  Current TV was notorious for two things: 1) they had two journalists captured in North Korea in 2009-2010, who were eventually released and pardoned due to intervention by Bill Clinton (the network did nearly nothing for them) and 2) hiring Keith Olbermann when no one else would.  

The North Korea incident was a debacle.  Al Gore let two of his journalists rot in a North Korean jail for months because he did not want to offend the North Koreans.  A real journalism company would have come in, sending lawyers guns and money to get those guys out, come hell or high water.    Gore just sat back and let former President Bill Clinton do all the heavy lifting, and it was done diplomatically, so Gore's consulting and VC practices would not be affected.

Allegedly, Gore, Hyatt and Burkle were paid a cool $500 Million ($500,000,000) by AJMN for their rights to Current TV, a cable network that had virtually no viewers and was bleeding cash from every orifice conceivable.  Obviously, AJMN overpaid because no one else was willing to sell to an Arab-based media company, except of course, Al Gore.

Al Gore, Shame on You

Al Gore, shame on you.  You placed money ahead of your country.  It's a good thing the Supreme Court made George W. Bush President instead of you, because in light of this transaction, the fact that you divorced your loyal wife Tipper, and other disgraceful acts, we see that you are not the person of character that we thought you were.  And you walked away with at least a hundred million dollars.  More bling for those young girls you're seeing over in the West Coast.

It's not like Al hangs out in Tennessee anymore.  If he'd of carried Tennessee in the 2000 election, of course, he would not have needed Florida.  But his own state and his own people rejected him.  This is the same guy who finished third behind Mike Dukakis and Jesse Jackson in the Super Tuesday Southern States Primary back in 1988.  Third in the South.  In a Democratic primary.  

Current TV - No One Staying for AJA

If you look at who's staying and who's going from the current TV roster, Cenk Uygur, who is Turkish, was about the only noted commentator who really expressed an interest in hanging around with AJA.    He's been fairly impartial, but on the other hand, we don't know where his views might go if he's on Arab-owned network that is Muslim-owned and operated. 

The Aquisition from Gore   

On January 2, 2013, Al Jazeera Media Network announced that it had purchased Current Media, LLC and would be closing down the Current TV channel while launching a new American news channel titled Al Jazeera Americausing its distribution network.[38][39] Prior to the sale, it was believed that Al Gore and Joel Hyatt each owned approximately twenty percent of Current Media, business magnate Ronald Burkle owned about twenty-five percent, andComcast and DirecTV each owned more than five percent. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.[40] According to Forbes and The New York Times, the purchase was about $500 million USD.[7][41][42] The purchase by Al Jazeera occurred after an attempt by TheBlaze to purchase the media company was rejected in 2012.[43][44]
Immediately after the announcement, Time Warner Cable, which broadcasts Current TV to nine million American homes, announced that it would be dropping the channel,[7] but stated that it would consider airing Al Jazeera America.[45] It was previously reported in April 2012 that Time Warner had been considering dropping the channel due to ratings.[40] Al Jazeera America is still expected to replace Current TV on ComcastDish NetworkVerizon,DirecTV and AT&T.[42]
Defending his decision, Current TV chairman Al Gore wrote: "I am incredibly proud of what Current has been able to accomplish. But broadcast media is a business, and being an independent content producer in a time of increasing consolidation is a challenge."[41] In a news release, Al Jazeera Director General Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani said, "By acquiring Current TV, Al Jazeera will significantly expand our existing distribution footprint in the U.S., as well as increase our newsgathering and reporting efforts in America [...] We look forward to working together with our new cable and satellite partners to serve our new audiences across the U.S."[39] The Al Jazeera network also expects to increase its U.S. based staff to a total of more than 300 employees and retain most of Current's staff.[39]
In addition to ending the Current TV channel, Al Jazeera announced it was scrapping the channel's programming lineup, as well as its brand.[7] On January 2, Cenk Uygur, host of the weekday Young Turks with Cenk Uygur, stated that the Current TV show would continue for at least three months and he is open to staying with the new network.[46] That same day, Jennifer Granholm, host of The War Room with Jennifer Granholm, announced that she would leave the channel as a result of the acquisition,[47] as did Gavin Newsom, host of The Gavin Newsom Show, who was reported to have planned on leaving the network earlier.[48] On Sunday, January 6, Eliot Spitzer announced that he had left the network and his weekday show Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer.[49] It was announced in an article in Politico that Bill Press doesn't expect to continue his show with Al Jazeera once the change officially takes place. Press also doesn't expect Stephanie Miller to continue her show on Al Jazeera, but Cenk Uygur wanted to continue with Al Jazeera if given the chance. Later in a Los Angeles Times interview Uygur remarked about the loss of the television show that he feels "relieved" that he can move on and focus on his web show and site and that he "was exhausted from doing the two shows at once," also that "The future is overwhelmingly online" and he is excited to turn his energies there. It was also mentioned that after the acquisition of Current, he had brief talks with Al Jazeera America about whether there would be a place for him and the show, but both sides agreed that Uygur, known for political rants, would not fit well with the company’s plans to build a news source with a more neutral tone.[50] Press said he would look for TV coverage to replace Current but expected having trouble finding a replacement.[51] On August, 1st, Press announced that his show's simulcast would move to Free Speech TV on September 3rd, 2013.[52] In a 22 January article in Politico, Al Jazeera spokesman Stan Collender said the network's launch would be pushed back to within six months, and would create "multiple hundreds of new jobs" and new bureaus around the country. They announced the hiring of 105 total jobs for the new network, with 98 in New York and seven in Washington D.C.[53] On July 3, 2013 Ali Velshi announced on his Twitter account that the network would replace Current on August 20, 2013.[8]
The final item to air on Current TV, before the debut of Al Jazeera America, was a short VC2 documentary titled "Jumper". "Jumper" was the first program to air after Current TV's launch on August 1, 2005, thus "bookending" the network.[54]

Is this an opinion or is there evidence?

One of the main root elements of American Foreign Policy, and indeed, one of the bedrocks of the United Nations, since 1948, has been the independence and existence of Israel as a sovereign people and a sovereign state.

And yet, as their very first interview, AJA chose to interview none other than STEPHEN WALT, one of the most ardent anti-Israeli authors and speakers.


Profs Walt and Mearshimer, the Authors of "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy" 2006, an Anti-Israeli Book.  Prof. Walt's views have grown increasingly anti-semitic and anti-Israeli, and he was Al-Jazeera America's first interview guest.

Even though Prof. Walt is a professor at Harvard, he is notorious for having written a book in 2006 entitled "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy" which was highly critical of Israel and the pro-Israel lobby in the United States.  

Walt has been described as an "ultra-Nixonian realist" by no less than the New Republic, meaning that he would willingly sacrifice Israel, the Israeli people, and the Israeli State, just to placate the Arab States and assure America's flow of oil.  

Prof. Walt does not believe in human rights, in the right of the Israeli people to exist, and does not believe in their divine right to be in the Holy Land as the Chosen People of God.  Quite the opposite, he wishes to expel and destroy our only ally in the region and replace them with our enemies.  

Prof. Walt is a superb example of what too much thinking and not enough experience will lead a man with too much academic time on his hands--to absurd and ridiculous conclusions.

For after all,  good men can allow evil to triumph, if they simply do nothing at all.  

Osama Bin Laden, before his death, endorsed Prof. Walt's book in one of his tapes to his followers, saying it was required reading for all on how the Zionists had influenced American Policy against the righteous Arab Peoples.  Prof. Walt compounded this by actually seeming to endorse the endorsement of bin Laden, America's #1 enemy:

Endorsement by Osama Bin Laden[edit source | editbeta]

Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda and self-proclaimed mastermind of the September 11 attacks,[87][88] recommended the book in one of his audiotapes, saying that "after you read the suggested book[s], you will know the truth, and you will be greatly shocked by the scale of concealment that has been exercised on you."[89]
In response to queries from friends as to how he felt having bin Laden endorse his book, Stephen Walt responded that he did not feel the same gratification he felt when others recommended the book "given what bin Laden has done in the past and given what he stands for."[90] Walt then conjectured that Bin Laden's endorsed the book "because he understands -- along with plenty of other people -- that the combination of unconditional U.S. support for Israel and Israel's brutal treatment of the Palestinians is a source of great resentment in the Arab and Islamic world. This is hardly an original insight on his part either."[90] Walt added, "Ironically, bin Laden's 'endorsement' of our book could even be a self-defeating gesture. If enough people were to read our book and U.S. policy were to evolve in the manner we recommend, bin Laden's call to arms would fall on deaf ears and he'd become even more irrelevant than he is today"[90]
David Rothkopf, Walt's colleague at Foreign Policy, attacked Walt's response to the bin Laden endorsement saying:
"Walt's response gets really good when he then goes so far as to suggest that Osama's embrace of his book only proves his point that the Israel lobby ... is used as a justification by terrorists. Blind to the irony all his book did was weave precisely the kind of fabric of partial truths and old biases that are used to dress up the hatreds of demagogues everywhere, Walt actually has the chutzpah to try use the news that the most evil man in the world is reading his work as a soap box from which to once again sell his argument (and books)."[91]
SOURCES:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Foreign_Policy

http://www.newrepublic.com/blog/jonathan-chait/79829/nixon-disallowed-jewish-advisors-discussing-israel-policy






Al Jazeera America’s First Interview: Anti-Israel Author Stephen Walt


JNS.org - The newly launched television news network Al-Jazeera America , which has stated that it aims to present more objective coverage than its Middle Eastern counterpart, featured noted anti-Israel author Stephen Walt as its first guest.
Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard University, gained notoriety for co-authoring the controversial book “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” which uses long-held anti-Semitic conspiracy theories of Jewish manipulation to allege that pro-Israel Americans manipulate U.S. policy to serve Israel’s selfish interests.
In his interview on Al-Jazeera America posted on YouTube by the Washington Free Beacon, Walt was critical of Egypt’s past and current rulers—Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian military—calling them all “stupid.” He concluded his interview by noting that the U.S. provides military aid to Egypt mainly to protect Israel.
Al-Jazeera America is a new venture by the Qatar-based television network Al-Jazeera. In January, Al-Jazeera announced it had purchased former Vice President Al Gore’s strugglingCurrent TV to serve as a distribution network for its foray into the American media.
But some have been openly critical of the new network’s ties to the government of Qatar.
“To Americans, Al-Jazeera purports to be the equivalent of CNN or Fox or MSNBC—an independent purveyor of news. Yes, Americans know that most media leans left and a little bit of it leans right, but the networks themselves are generally free of government manipulation. Al-Jazeera, however, is a wholly owned arm of the Government of Qatar,” Shoshana Bryen, a Middle East analyst for the Jewish Policy Center, wrote for the Gatestone Institute.
While Qatar is officially a U.S. ally, its ruling royal family has forged close ties with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Last month, nearly two-dozen Al-Jazeera staffers quit over what they called pro-Muslim Brotherhood bias in its coverage of events in Egypt.
Some Famous TV Shows in American TV If They Had Been on AJA
1)  I Love Lucy - Lucy and Ethel are stoned to death for disobeying their husbands in the very first episode.   Fred and Ricky get four wives each and teach them to be subservient, good, Muslim wives.  
2)  Leave it to Beaver - The Beave is stoned to death for disobeying his father.  This upsets his older brother, but the older brother then goes on jihad to fight the Devil Satan Israel, and dies a glorious death in the third Arab-Israeli War.  The parents celebrate at the mosque their son's ascent to heaven and his attainment of 73 virgins.
3) All in the Family - A white man in Queens is shocked to find that an Arab man has moved next door to him and exhibits racism and hatred against him.  The Arab man straps a bomb to his chest and blows up the white man's house in Queens in episode #3 blowing up the entire block, because there are many Jewish neighbors.  A service is held at the mosque, praising the Arab for his service to Allah and his ascent to heaven.  
4)  MASH - Set during the crusades, the brave exploits of an all-male team of Islamic Medical Experts who use the knowledge of Aristotle to treat not only their own, but the crusaders soldiers as well, nursing them back to health, so that they can be executed properly and stoned to death as heretics unless they convert to Islam.
5)  The Simpsons - A typical Iranian family in which the father works at a secret Iranian Nuclear Power Plant by day, and works in a jihadist terror group by night.  His son is an adventurous spirit, who dreams of travelling to America and one day destroying large buildings in New York City in suicide runs after taking over commercial jet airliners.  The daughter is a proper muslim daughter who brags to her schoolmates about her clitorectomy.  The four wives on the show are funny about how they can never cook enough for their husband and how they can't sit far enough in the back of the mosque.  


Al Jazeera America’s First Guest: Conspiracy Theorist Stephen Walt


BY: 
Al Jazeera America dashed the hopes of journalism-hungry Americans in only the first hours of its existence Tuesday, airing an interview with disgraced conspiracy theorist Stephen Walt on the crisis in Egypt.
The head of AJA, Ehab Al Shihabi, had promised just two days earlier that “Al Jazeera America will air fact-based, unbiased and in-depth news.” Another AJA executive added, “We’re here because we think our journalistic mission has something to offer America,” predicting that “American viewers want a PBS-like news channel 24 hours a day.”
“President Mubarak was ill-informed and stupid,” Walt retorted on the air. “Then the Muslim Brotherhood was quite stupid,” he continued. “And now I fear the Egyptian military is being stupid.”
Walt rose to prominence as co-author of a conspiracy book about Jewish manipulation of American foreign policy and has been referred to by prominent liberal journalist Jeffrey Goldberg as someone who “makes his living scapegoating Jews.”
AJA has boasted of the additional airtime it will provide guests such as Mr. Walt — AJA will not be “cluttering the news with commercials,” said one executive — so that they may explore current events in a nuanced, balanced fashion.
Walt concluded his interview by noting that the only reason the United States provides aid money to Egypt is to placate the Jewish state.


UN Official Praises Al Jazeera America

Says news channel is the one ‘Americans deserve’ right now; does not comment as to whether or not it’s the one they need

Melissa Fleming / AP
Melissa Fleming / AP
BY: 
The United Nations’ refugee arm’s top spokeswoman warmly welcomed Al Jazeera America to the U.S. media scene.
Melissa Fleming, the chief communications and spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), could not contain her excitement over the arrival of Al Jazeera America, which launched on Tuesday.
“Welcome! @AlJazeera America: the news channel Americans deserve,” Flemingexclaimed via Twitter on Thursday evening.
Al Jazeera America, which bills itself as a neutral news station, is funded and operated by the Qatari government, which has used the Arabic version of Al Jazeera to back the Muslim Brotherhood and other violent Islamist groups.
Al Jazeera America’s first guest was conspiracy theorist Stephen Walt, the notorious coauthor of The Israel Lobby, which accused U.S. Jews and others of perniciously manipulating American foreign policy.
Al Jazeera’s Arabic station has come under recent fire for airing what critics say is the staged death of a Muslim Brotherhood protestor in Egypt.
Fleming’s comment caused ire among some pro-Israel officials, who said that the endorsement of Al Jazeera is a sign of the U.N.’s institutional bias.
The U.N. and many of its bodies are routinely criticized for having an anti-Israel bias.
“The UNHRC is an organization dominated by despots and tyrants, which gets blasted every few months by U.S. officials for its obsessive anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity,” said one senior pro-Israel official.
“Melissa Fleming is a woman who has shilled not only for the UNHRC, but also for the [International Atomic Energy Agency] during those years when it looked the other way while Iran raced to acquire nuclear weapons,” the source said. “It’s no surprise she would drool over Al Jazeera America, a network that launched by interviewing disgraced conspiracy theorist Stephen Walt on how Jews were corrupting America’s stance toward Egypt.”