DOWNLOADS: (70)

PLAYS: (550)

Embed

via National Confidential

DOWNLOADS: (113)

PLAYS: (589)

Embed

In a pre-Super Bowl interview on Sunday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell refused to acknowledge that the game of football had any role in the brain injuries suffered by numerous players who are suing the league.

CBS host Bob Schieffer asked Goodell if he would let his son play football after President Barack Obama recently told The New Republic that he would have to "think long and hard" before letting his son play football.

"Absolutely," the NFL commissioner insisted. "I have twin daughters just like the president, and I'm concerned when they play any sport. The second-highest incidents of concussions is actually girls soccer. So what you have to do is to make sure the game is as safe as possible. In the NFL, we're changing the rules, we're making sure the equipment is the best possible equipment, we're investing in research to make sure we can address concussions, not just to make football safer at the NFL level, but all levels in other sports."

"Do you now acknowledge that there is a link between the game and these concussions?" Schieffer pressed, noting that widows of NFL players had urged him to ask the question.

"That's why we're investing in the research," Goodell replied without fully answering the question. "So that we can answer the question, what is the link? What causes some of the injuries that our players are still dealing with? And we take those issues very seriously."

"For years the league would not acknowledge, really, that there was a connection," Schieffer pointed out. "You now acknowledge that there is a connection?"

"Well, Bob, again, we're going to let the medical individuals make those points," Goodell dodged. "We're going to give them the money, advance that science. In the meantime, we have to do everything we can to advance the game and make sure it's safe."

In fact, studies have shown that contact sports like football are linked to concussions, and NFL players are at a higher risk for Alzheimer's, ALS, abnormal brain proteins and depression.

Last year, more than 2,000 former professional football players filed a lawsuit accusing the NFL concealing information about the link between concussions and long-term brain injuries. And the family of former linebacker Junior Seau is also suing the league, alleging that his suicide was linked to concussions sustained while playing the game.

But for his part, Goodell insisted on Sunday that his organization had no role in concealing the risks of concussions.

"In fact, we're all learning more about brain injuries, and the NFL has led the way," he declared. "We started a concussion committee back in the mid-90s with the players' association to study these issues and advance science. We're obviously now learning more and more, and we're investing more and more. And I think that's going to lead to answers, even outside of brain injury, even to brain disease."

DOWNLOADS: (211)

PLAYS: (869)

Embed

Thankfully, it does look like we got some union solidarity from the National Football League Players Association when it comes to Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and his union busting with the recent passage another god awful right to work for less law in the state that is going to be hosting the Super Bowl this year.

The bad news is how difficult the struggle will be to overturn this union busting with the strength of unions being diminished with every law like this that passes, along with the flood of money pouring into our elections from the Citizens United debacle and the unfettered corporate influence and the ability of the richest among us to buy our elections.

Add that to voter disenfranchisement, on a scale we haven't seen in decades, electronic voting machines we should not be trusting to vote on and and compliant media that cares more about the horse races and conflict than telling anyone the truth, and we've got a long, long way to go to clean up the mess we're in right now and being able to put a stop to what just happened in Indiana and with the union busting across the country, whether our votes will be counted, and whether those who are voting are informed, and not just propagandized by right-wing media and misinformation which has filled our airways.

Here's more from Democracy Now, with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales as always, keeping up the fight on the side of the working class on the actions that are being planned for Super Bowl Sunday.

Occupy the Super Bowl: Indiana’s New Anti-Union Law Sparks Protest at Sport’s Biggest Spectacle:

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (363)

PLAYS: (2072)

Embed

SNL panned Bill-O's interview with President Obama prior to this year's Super Bowl and had did a pretty good job of making fun of the fact that O'Reilly interrupted the president constantly and also had him being forced to play "Culture Quiz" and respond to viewer mail. If I had to guess the jokes about the segments were a bit funnier for anyone that has had the unfortunate circumstance of actually watching Bill O'Reilly's show on any type of a regular basis.

DOWNLOADS: (135)

PLAYS: (423)

Embed

February 09, 2010 CBS David Letterman