Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Leno Is Going To Love This One

Jay Mohr has married Nikki Cox.


Yep...it was the Mohr-Cox wedding.

Ding, Dong the Dictator is Dead!

Arab and western media are reporting that Saddam Hussien has been executed. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Hanging was too good for that monster.

Althouse VS The Liberty Fund Symposium

The brouhaha over the Liberty Fund symposium about Frank S. Meyer and the issue of federalism continues. (here and here)

In her latest post, Althouse clarifies that her main objection was the fact that some Libertarians are willing to allow private businesses to discriminate on the basis of race.

But I had brought up the subject of discrimination by private business-owners,
which was roundly defended at the table in the name of restricting government to
the most minimal level of intrusion on the individual, in hardcore,
true-believer libertarian style. (Believe me, the readings expressed the most
morbid fear of government you can imagine.)

What is confusing to me however, that this arguement that she finds so objectionable when it concerns the right of free association (and possible discrimination) is exactly the same arguement that she (and most of those on the Left) find so persuasive when it is applied to the issue of abortion. Apparently she believes it is a far greater ethical, moral and legal offense to discriminate against someone based on their race than it is to kill an innocent life.

Althouse's position appears to me to be a perfect example of my two main thesis about the Left today.

1) The Left's strategy is to constantly place the Right on the defensive.

2) The Left is completely blind when it commits to noticing their blatant and persistent hypocrisy.

This only goes to show you those among the Kossack moonbats who attack Althouse as being a rightwinger have no idea of what they are talking about.

Will No One Rid Me Of This Turbulent Reporter?

Bob Woodward is at it again. The glory-seeking asshole is out there peddling stories designed to make Pres. Ford look bad, and suggest that there was a deal to exchange the presidency for a pardon with Pres. Nixon. He also uses Pres. Ford to try and make ourt President's policies in Iraq look bad.

Bob Woodward is a partisan hack and a cretin. I don't understand why any Republican continues to speak to him.

He doesn't even have the decency to wait until Pres. Ford has been buried.

Splurgy Splurge Splurge!

Well I have gone and done it. I have just bought a big screen HDTV. It's a 56 inch, 1080p, rear projection DLP. 1080p is supposed to be the top of the line in picture quality, and DLP seems to be the best of the big screen technologies.

I also bought a stand to place it on.

Lastly, I bought a up-converting DVD player, designed to take standard DVDs and upgrade the image to HD quality.

When I contacted my cable company today to ask about HD cable, I got some other interesting information. Seems like that if I switch my phone over to them, they will upgrade my current cable package, upgrade my current internet package, and provide exactly the same phone service as my phone company (with my current phone number) for only $10 more a month than what I am paying now, and the deal is guaranteed for 12 months.

Then when my TV gets here, and I upgrade to HD, with a package of HD channels and a HD DVR, I will still be paying less all in than I am currently paying for cable and phone today.

Don't hate me.

Gerald Ford 1913-2006 R.I.P.

Former President Ford has died today. He is the both the answer to a trivia question and a testament to the resilience of or nation, in that he was the first president to take office without ever winning a national election.

He was the target of unfair ridicule largely because of Chevy Chase's bumbling impersonation of him. He wasn't our greatest president, but he was an able president, and helped the United States move past Watergate.

Interestingly, many of today's current political figures that are referred to as President George H.W. Bush's men, were actually originally President Ford's men. Donald Rumsfield served Pres. Ford as his Sec. of Defense and Richard Cheney as his Chief of Staff. Bush himself served Ford as the Ambassador to China and the head of the C.I.A.

Perhaps President Ford's biggest mistake was the appointment of Justice John Stevens to the U.S. Supreme Court, and we are still paying for that mistake 31 years later.

Does Only the Right Have a Responsibility to Repudiate?

Ann Althouse has recently written on her blog about attending a conference sponsored by the Liberty Fund about the writings of Frank S. Meyer. One of the topics during the weekend was the issue of State's Rights. Meyer supported the idea of federalism and State's Rights, and so did apparently many of the Libertarian and Conservative attendees of the conference. Althouse wrote:

I am struck ... by how deeply and seriously libertarians and conservatives believe in their ideas. I'm used to the way lefties and liberals take themselves seriously and how deeply they believe. Me, I find true believers strange and -- if they have power -- frightening.

During later posts and a running dialog with Jonah Goldberg she explains that this primarily refers to the fact that the libertarians and conservatives failed to recognize their responsibility to repudiate the real world (evil) effects that the ideology of State's Rights has had. In effect she is arguing that since those who supported slavery and Jim Crow used the idea of State's Rights to support their position, every time someone rises to argue for the idea of State's Rights, they have a duty to repudiate slavery and Jim Crow.

Jonah Goldberg correctly rejects this. He correctly identifies this as unfair to those on the Right, but fails to really develop any arguements to support his position. In some comments submitted to Althouse's blog, I try to develop some of these missing arguements, and I'm going to extend them here.

1) First of all, the idea of State's Rights is literally fundamental to our Republic. Our whole system of government was predicated on the idea that the federal government was subordinate to the States. This is explicitly laid out in our Constitution. There was no arguement prior to the Civil War that the State's Rights position held primacy, and was seen as a moral good. It is only after the Civil War that the idea of Nationalism takes control, and is seen as morally superior. For the last 150, we have seen a struggle between these competing ideas, with the Right usually supporting State's Rights or federalism, and the Left supporting nationalism. (an interesting aside: before the Civil War our nation was almost always referred to in the plural, the United States are. After the Civil War it is almost exclusively the singular, the United States is.)

2) Our nation has been making compromises with the evil of slavery since before its founding. Our Constitution was forced to make accomodations for it, and some of the more important early pieces of legislation are compromises over the issue. I argue that the taint on the idea of State's rights produced by the supporters of slavery (and later segregation) is just another one of these accomodations our nation has been forced to make.

3) This "duty" to repudiate also seems to be exclusively the purview of the Right. It is clearly a strategy of the Left to force the Right to behave defensively as much as possible. Thus while the Right is forced to repudiate (and punishes) Sen. Lott for his remarks apparently supporting racism, the Left is allowed to continue to support Sen. Biden and Sen. Clinton after their blatently racist remarks. It is simply undeniable that no Republican could have survived making the kind of racist remarks that the two Democratic senators did. Republicans are forced to defend their handling of the Foley scandal, even though they forced Foley to resign. Yet few people in the national media brought up the case of Gerry Studds, who not only survived his much worse scandal and continued to serve as a Democrat in Congress, but was rewarded with a sub-committee chairmanship. When a Republican president attempted to obstruct justice while in office, he was forced to resign by Republicans. When a Democratic president attempted to obstruct justice while he was in office, the Democratic party defended him. When a Conservative nominee for the Supreme Court was accused of sexual harassment, he was pilloried by the Left (specifically feminists such as NOW). When a Republican Senator was accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault, he was hounded out of office by the Left. (specifically feminists such as NOW). When a Democratic president was proven to have committed sexual harassment and sexual assault, he was supported and defended by the Left. (specifically feminists such as NOW) The outright and blatent hypocrisy of the Left in these cases is astounding, but yet the Left still manages to consistently force the Right to behave defensively. Althouse's position on State's Rights is just another example of this.

4) Other ideas have resulted in real world effects that are considered evil. Althouse herself cites the case of communism:

Imagine a left-wing conference going 9 hours talking about Karl Marx's ideas and disqualifying discussion of the evils wrought in the name of communism.

Well as I and another commentor point out in her comments, this is usually precisely what happens. As pointed out, the most repeated phrase ever uttered in the history of economic theory is: "true marxism has never been tried!"

I myself attempted to develop an arguement concerning abortion; and eugenics. The Left embraces the premise that there is a fundamental Right to have an abortion. Many of the early pioneers of the movement to legalize abortion believed in eugenics, and in using abortion to further their aims. Margaret Sanger, who founded the organization that would become Planned Parenthood, explicitly advocated using abortion to improve humanity. Today, proponents of abortion make explicitly eugenic arguements to support abortion. The most frequent and widely approved arguement is that there would be millions more criminals today except for abortion. This arguement is set forth in the book Freakonomics. As Ramesh Ponnuru points out in his book Party of Death, in a paper that eventually led to Freakonomics, it is acknowledged that the arguement is based on race:

abortion disproportionally effects Black children

crimes are committed disproportionally by Blacks

therefore crime is reduced by reducing the Black population

Imagine someone on the Right trying to make this arguement. It is explicitly racist and eugenic. Many on the Left also point out that abortion reduces the number of handicapped children born as a justification for abortion. Again, this is an explicitly eugenic arguement. In the real world abortion disproportionally effects the poor and minorities, which is exactly what people like Sanger intended.

So we see the idea of a right to abortion not only resulting in real world eugenic effects, we also see the Left explicitly embracing these effects as a justification for abortion. No one on the Right embraced segregation as a justification for State's rights.

So, we are either left to assume that the Left sees eugenics as a positive good, or the Left ignoring the real world effects of an idea based on a "deep belief in an idea".

5) So my question for Althouse is:

Does the Left have to explicitly repudiate eugenics, and the real world eugenic effects of abortion, whenever they discuss, defend and support the idea of a right to abortion? If not, why not?

So That's The Problem!

I've been doing it wrong. Seems like there is a special workout for my family.

Merry Christmas!

NFL Network Sucks!

OK, can I get an Amen? I didn't even know that the Raiders were playing the Chiefs tonight, let alone have an opportunity to watch the game.

Mark my words, within ten years they're going to try and make all of the games pay per view.

Some Friendly Advice

If you missed tonight's episode of House, do not watch the rerun while eating dinner.

Trust me.

You have been warned.

Waiting For The Video........

The news is out that the current Miss USA, Tara Conner is about to lose her crown. It seems that among her sins, are getting the current Miss Universe, Zuleyka Rivera drunk on her birthday and kissing Miss Teen USA, Katie Blair in public.

Dammit, there had better be video some where..........................

Update 12/18/06 8:21 A.M.: The Donald is giving her a second chance! And he's taking a lot of shit for it at the press conference! I've never liked him more than right now after that performance.

BasketBrawl

I've just seen the footage of the fight between New York and Denver. I noticed something that no one else seems to be talking about. What a cowardly little bitch Carmelo Anthony is. He sucker punches a Knicks player, and then runs away as fast as he can. If you are going to hit someone, hit him and then sit there and take it when he fights back. Other wise, sit your wimp ass down and stay out of it. It's the same thing as drive bys. It used to be when you had a beef with another gang, you fought it out man to man. Now days, it's all done by spray and pray drive bys by cowards unwilling to stand up like a man.

The macho-ness of modern street culture is a lie. They're not men. They're scared little boys pretending to be men. And they know it, which is why they are so quick to take offense at perceived insults.

How Bad Is It?

Can I just say that the state of current immigration law, and illegal immigration, combined with orgainizations such as CAIR and MEChA make me long for the days of the Alien and Sedition Acts?

Enviroweenie Hypocrisy

There is an Island off the coast of Maryland and Virginia that is currently the source of a problem. It seems that 400 years ago, early European settlers used to stash some of their livestock on this island to avoid taxes. Some of the horses bred, and soon a wild herd developed. The horses on the Virginia part of the island are owned by a volunteer fire department. They regularly round up the excess horses and sell them. The Maryland part of the Island is owned by the National Park Service. So naturally, they allow the horses to roam unchecked.

Sixty years ago, a woman (naturally) wrote a book about these horses called Misty of Chincoteague. It's a book that generations of young girls have read and silently wished for a horse of their own. It's the type of book that probably 80% of the enviroweenies have read as a child.

The horses are now wrecking the environment on the Maryland side. The Park Service has tried forced contraception, but that had unintended consequences (which usually happens when man intervenes in nature and tries to force an outcome) and didn't work. So now the Park Service is contemplating having a round up on their side of the island, and moving some of the horses to a new park or to sanctuaries. Note, not sell the horses like the Virginia ones, just round them up and move them some where else.

Of course the enviroweenies are up in arms. Never mind that identical horses are rounded up every year from the same island. It would be too traumatic for the horses. It would be meddling in the park's environment. (never mind that the horses are foreign invaders, they're cute little horsies you unfeeling monster!)

Does anyone doubt that if this had been a small, 400 year old, community of humans that was adversely affecting the environment and endangered species that the enviroweenies would instead be protesting and demanding that the humans be rounded up and forcibly relocated?


(H/T: John Miller of The Corner)

A Working Cure for ADHD

Is Your Money Yours or Not?

Word has come out that a new rule(?) makes it illegal to melt pennies and nickels in order to sell their base metals.

I have several questions about this:

1) Don't I own my money? If so, I should be able to do anything I want to it, including melt it. If not, then I guess it's true, we really don't own our money, the government just lets us use it.

2) This is being described as a "rule", not a "law". Who made this rule? Why isn't it a law? And if some federal bureaucrat really does have the power to tell us what we may or may not do with our money, maybe it really is time to have a second revolution.

More on this later, I have to go to work.

Peter Boyle R.I.P.

Maybe God Was Punishing New Orleans...

Fresh off re-electing Ray "what school buses?", "Chocolate City" Nagin , the people of New Orleans have re-elected William "cold cash" Jefferson.

And it's not just New Orleans, but Louisiana as a whole. They supported Huey Long's corrupt regime for far too long, and they continue to re-elect the Landrieu dynasty.

Dennis Miller Talking Sense

Edit 7/16/07: The link appears to be broken.



H/T:Romeokat via Darleen

Swear on the Bible? Pt. 2

It seems that Dennis Prager is one of the people making a big deal about Rep. Ellison intending to use a Koran at his swearing in for Congress. (Which, I have just found out, is a private ceremony not a public one)

Because of this, CAIR, and now others including former N.Y. Mayor Ed Koch, are calling for Prager to be removed from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

Now, I have already expressed my opposition to Prager, and my view that Ellison should be allowed to use the Koran. But this is getting ridiculous.

First, I see no reason why any outsiders should have influence on who sits on a Holocaust Memorial Council, especially CAIR. Second, these people who are opposed to Prager's views should merely state their difference of opinion and move on. Why this attempt to punish the man for stating his opinion?

The Sports Reporters 12/10/06

Again this morning the Sports Reporters threw out a gratuitous attack on President Bush. Mike Lupica commented that David Stern admitted he made a mistake last week, "something he does about as often as President Bush."

Smarmy little punk.

I wonder if he has ever commented about an athlete: "He has a problem keeping it in his pants, just like President Clinton." or " He put in an awful performance, about as bad as President Clinton pretending to cry at a funeral." or maybe "He's nothing but a rules lawyer, as disgraceful as President Clinton asking what the meaning of the word is is."

I bet not.

Discovery Launch

I just watched the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery. Wow, night launches are spectacular.

I was too young to truly remember the lunar landings, although I was alive for them. I clearly remember the Skylab and Apollo-Soyez missions. One of the tragedies of space exploration IMO has been the destruction of the artifacts involved. How I wish some way of saving Skylab and some of the Soviet stations had been accomplished...perhaps by boosting them into a higher orbit. Even now there is already discussion of destroying the Hubble telescope instead of trying to save it for posterity.

I was a firm believer and supporter of the shuttle program in the beginning, although I now believe we probably should have stuck with solid fuel boosters. Its biggest failing was attempting to be a JOAT (Jack of all Trades), so it does a lot of things poorly, and nothing really well.

When you stop to consider the technology used in the shuttles it is stunning how antiquated they already are. Their primary technology is 20 years old. Would you like to be using a twenty year old computer? cellphone? TV? Walkman? Gameconsole?

The shuttles are to be replaced by a new system. Hopefully it will be more successful. However I firmly believe that there is already a functioning spaceplane (Aurora?) at Groom Lake, and if there isn't, there sure as hell should be. If Rutan can build a functional spaceplane, the Air Force damn well better have, or heads should roll.

Walken Speaks

Steve H over at Hog on Ice is in fine form today. He has recorded an encounter he had recently with Christopher Walken. It has left me speechless. Read it for yourself. Warning: Not for the faint of heart, or Muppet fans.

You're Farkin' Kidding Me!

I have to wait until Jan 22 for the next episode of Heroes?!?

Trojans to the Rose Bowl

Well, USC played like crap, especially the offensive line. UCLA's defense played great. UCLA earned this win.

You know what I hate most about this loss? USC is the PAC-10 champ, and going to the Rose Bowl, and I am disappointed.

One more reason to hate the BCS.

Let the Conquest Continue!

We're about an hour and a half away from game time...beat the Bruins! Seriously, unless a total disaster occurs, this game probably won't even be close. A lot will depend on how long the starters stay in.

Immigration by the Numbers

Roy Beck's celebrated demonstration of the population consequences of current U.S. immigration policies has entertained and shocked audiences across the country. This video is packed with the facts and analysis that make moral and practical sense of a complex and highly contentious issue.

Rememeber while you are watching this that he is only talking about LEGAL immigration. How much worse do you think illegal immigration is making things?

Swear on the Bible?

There is a controversey erupting over the plans of Rep. Keith Ellison (D) to take his oath of office using a Koran instead of a Bible. I don't get it. What's the beef? Hell, I'd have a problem with him swearing on the Bible. After all, the purpose is to promise in the name/presence of God not to violate the trust placed in you. What good would it be to swear in the name of someone else's God, or version of God?

Does Sen. Lieberman swear on the Christian Bible? Or does he use just the Old Testement? Or perhaps the Torah? How about Sen. Reid? Does he use the Bible or the Book of Mormon?

Why should anyone else care?

Monday Night Football 11/27/06

OK...is anyone else getting as fed up with Kornheiser as I am? That little turd keeps making snide remarks to/about Theisman (not one of my favorite people by the way...but he and his ankle paid their football dues) and it's pissing me off.

When Joe made the observation that Alexander was suited to run in this weather (snow) because he ran with his feet under him (a perfectly sensical descriptive football remark if you know anything about football) Kornheiser replied "where else would his feet be?"

When Joe talked about the difficulty in looking up into the snow for the receivers, Kornheiser made another crappy remark.

I don't know if they are trying to create an edgy, adversarily relationship but if they are, it's not working.

Dump Kornheiser..bring back Dennis Miller or find someone who's not a total jerk.

Two Year Anniversery

Today marks the beginning of the third year of my blog. It's really more of a private journal considering the amount of traffic I receive, but then I am doing this for me anyway.

I also go back to work today after a four week vacation. I was pretty burnt in October, hopefully the second trimester will go better.

What Kind of Reader Are You?

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Fad Reader
Book Snob
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Woo Hoo!

I am the champion !

Fight On!

Well that was an impressive victory over Notre Dame. When you consider what USC lost to graduation and the NFL, then what they have lost to injury this year (they are on their fifth string fullback, a converted linebacker, right now) against what Notre Dame carried over from last year, this should have been a tough game.

Instead, except for a five minute period after a blocked punt and two consecutive interceptions at the end of the first half, Notre Dame was never in this game. USC only has to get by UCLA next week for another invite to the championship game.

This would be USC's third straight appearance in the championship game, and many (including me) still think USC should have been in the championship game in Jan. 2004, (the year USC won the A.P. championship and LSU won the BCS championship) which would make this four straight appearances.

This will be Ohio State's second appearance in the BCS championship game and USC's third since the system was put into place. When you consider that most of USC's stars will be returning next year. with the notable exceptions of Steve Smith, (possibly) Dwayne Jarrett and a few senior linemen and linebackers; USC will definitely be one of the pre-season favorites again next year. Throw in freshman QB Mark Sanchez , freshmen RBs Moody and Gable, Soph. WR Turner and lots of young talent on the defense, and USC could keep this dynasty going for a while. True football fans know that Pete Carroll is one of the best recruiters around, as well as a dominate coach. USC needs to keep him very happy with his contract.

The Draft

A lot of people are hyperventilating about Rep. Rangel's threats to re-instate the draft.

First of all, it is never going to happen. The Democrats are stupid, but they aren't that stupid.

Rangel's reason is supposedly so that the upper class elites (read: whitey) will have to share the "burden". Most people in the armed forces do not consider their service a burden, they consider it an honor. It has also been proven by independent studies that the armed forces are more white, and more educated than the general population. The canard that the military is full of the poor, minority and uneducated is extremely outdated.

Second, the MSM (not surprisingly) and most bloggers (which surprises me) are all talking like 18 year old boys are going to have to start registering. They are already supposed to be registering. The "draft" or more accurately the Selective Service already exists. Registration was re-instated in 1980 by Pres. Carter. (surprise surprise...another Democrat) However, only males are required (or even allowed) to register. I can't wait to see Rep. Pelosi or Sen. Clinton start talking about drafting young women.

What would change is that they would start holding lotteries again, and bring back conscription. The military would absolutely hate this.

Now I would go Rep. Rangel one step further, and institute compulsory service. Drafties would have the option of serving in the military, the Peace Corp or a domestic version of the Peace Corp. I think youth should serve society in some way, and it would teach our youth something about discipline, self discipline and responsibility; lessons that most of them sorely need to learn.

SEC V USC

SEC fans are already bitching again about the BCS. They claim that they are being unfairly treated. They think that Florida and Arkansas deserve to be in the BCS games as much as, or more than USC, Notre Dame or Michigan. (The only three teams that stand a chance to play Ohio State in my opinion.)

Now I agree with them that the BCS sucks. But being unfair to the SEC is not one of the reasons. I wrote a couple of posts on as blog called The Irish Trojan explaining why.


1) The SEC teams can either stop bitching about the voters/rankings taking strength of schedule into consideration, otr they can stop scheduling “Helen Keller School for the Blind” type teams.
2) Year in, year out I will stack USC’s strength of schedule against anybody’s. They never schedule the Western Carolinas.
gahrie — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 4:00:45 am



Furthermore, I think having “elite” BCS teams consistently scheduling “speed bump” teams is bad for football.
1) First, I said consistently. There is nothing wrong with rewarding a Boise State, or a Rutgers with a home and home every once in a while. Teams like this have earned the exposure on the football field, and are at least potentially competitive. But look at some of this years SEC opponents. These are two of the opponents of the top two teams in each of the SEC’s two divisions:
Florida V Central Florida (3-8 in Conference USA) 42-0.
Florida V W. Carolina (2-9 in the 1AA Southern Conference) 62-0
Georgia V W. Kentucky (6-5 in the 1AA Gateway Conference) 48-12
Georgia V Alabama-Birmingham (3-8 in Conference USA) 34-0
Alabama V Louisiana-Monroe (2-8 in the Sun Belt Conference) 41-7
Alabama V FIU (0-10 in the Sun Belt Conference) 38-3
Arkansas V SE Missouri State (4-7 in the 1AA Ohio Valley Conference) 63-7
Arkansas V Louisiana-Monroe (2-8 in the Sun Belt Conference) 44-10
Not only are they scheduling speed bumps, they’re scheduling bad speed bumps. Only one of those opponents had a winning record at 6-5.
2) Second, I believe scheduling the Western Carolinas and FIUs of the world is incredibly bad for football.
A) It is bad for the “speed bumps” because they are basically hiring themselves out as tackling dummies. They get a big payday and some exposure, the BCS team gets a patsy to beat up on.
B) It is bad for the BCS teams because they aren’t matching themselves up against competitve teams, and thus suffer in the polls and rankings. Which leads to …
C) It’s bad for football because it almost forces the BCS teams to run up the scores on the “speed bumps” in an attempt to win favor from the voters so they’ll hopefully forget the fact that they were playing such an uncompetitive team.
This type of scheduling leads directly to the Miami-FIU incident. The Miami players get all cocky and aggressive because they know they are the clearly dominant team, and the FIU players get aggressive because they know they are being disrespected and dismissed by the Miami players. Then the score begins to get run up, somebody says or does something stupid, and a fight erupts.
gahrie — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 4:59:28 am



There are 12 SEC teams. They play a 12 game schedule.
1) 1 team (Vanderbilt) played 6 away games. No one played more.
2) 6 of them played 5 away games. All 5 of Georgia’s away games were SEC games.
3) 5 of them played 4 away games. For 4 of them, all 4 away games were SEC games. Florida played 3 SEC away games, and Florida State away.
4) That means the SEC as a whole played an average of less than 5 away games, and 5 of them played no non-SEC away games.
5) They played a total of 8 non-SEC away games, and Vanderbilt played 2 of those.
6) Between them they played 8 games against 1AA teams.
Tell me again how tough the SEC teams have it.
gahrie — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 7:48:07 am



SEC East Champ: Florida
4 away games, 3 SEC + FSU 4 Non-SEC games: Southern Miss. (Conference USA East Champ 7-4), Central Florida (3-8), W. Carolina (1AA 2-9), FSU (6-5)

Sec West Champ: Arkansas
4 away games, 4 SEC 4 Non-SEC games: USC (Pac-10 Champ 8-1), Utah State (1-10), SE Missouri State (1AA 4-7), Louisiana-Monroe (2-8)

Pac-10 Champ: USC
6 away games 5 Pac-10 + Arkansas 3 non PAC-10 games: Arkansas (SEC East Champ 10-1), Nebraska (Big 12 North Champ 8-3) and Notre Dame (10-1)
gahrie — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 8:15:53 am

(there are a couple of minor editing changes)

Update 11/25/06: I just saw Urban Meyer complaining that Florida is not being given the respect they deserve in the BCS again. He was complaining about the issue of style points. "If that's what's making the decisions - style points, which I imagine that's what it is - we've got a problem. It's called winning and losing and playing a difficult schedule." Bullshit. Screw the style points. Florida had a cupcake schedule.

They played four away games in a 12 game schedule - 3 SEC games and FSU because they have a home and home agreement with them. Of their four non-SEC games, only one opponent finished with a better than .500 record (So. Miss at 8-4). They played a 1AA team (and a bad one at that)

And as for their SEC schedule, well see my analysis above. The SEC has one of the weakest combined non-conference schedules I have ever seen, and certainly must have the fewest road games ever scheduled, especially when you take the in conference away games out of consideration. SEC football is the most overrated conference in all sports.

Basically, Florida's schedule was a joke, they don't deserve to be ranked as high as #4, and you have to be truly delusional to believe they deserve a shot in the championship game. Florida is not even as good as Arkansas, and is probably going to lose the SEC championship next week anyway.

Lou Holtz is sitting here on ESPN's College Football Final talking about how difficult the SEC is. Rece Davis and Mark May are agreeing with him. The very next thing they do is talk about how historically bad FSU's season was, a team Florida could barely beat!

If You Have to Lose.......

There was one kind of interesting thing in yesterday's two big games: USC V Cal and Michigan V Ohio State.

Both winners are probably going to play in the BCS Championship game at the Fiesta Bowl, and both losers are probably going to play in the Rose Bowl.

(assuming USC wins out)

That's one reason why the BCS sucks right there...the Rose Bowl gets the SECOND place teams of the Big-10 and the Pac-10, instead of the conference champs like it used to.

USC V Cal

The game is about to begin. This should be each team's toughest game so far this season. USC is playing for a chance at the BCS Championship, Cal is playing for the Pac-10 title, and a berth in the Rose Bowl.

Go Trojans!

Update 9:28 1st quarter: The first big play, and first big review goes USC's way, negating an 82 yd fumble return for a TD by Cal. USC kicks a field goal and leads, 3-0.

Update 14:12 1st Quarter: USC gets an interception, and then on the next play there is a blocking break down that results in a USC safety. 3-2

Update 3:28 2nd quarter: Cal is driving after the free kick...the QB is sacked and fumbles, USC ball.

Update 11/19/06: Well that was a good game, a fun game. I would have loved to have played in that game, lots of good hitting, lots of big plays (on offense and defense for both teams). For once (especially in the Pac-10) the refs (including replay) had a good game.

I like the whole thing with having Maguire on the camera cart. (by the way, did you catch the kink in one of his fingers? What's the matter? Couldn't they set broken fingers in the 1960's?)

And So It Begins......

There was good news today in Congress. First, "cut and run" Murtha was defeated in his quest for power as majority leader. This was good for the American soldier, the Iraqi people and the American taxpayer.

Second, "madame botox" Pelosi spent some of her political capital in support of Murtha and lost. That can only be good.

Third, the blue dog Democrats flexed their muscles and discovered that they are the true source of power within the Democrat caucus. Hopefully this will embolden them.

Fourth, Huffington, Kos and the rest of the nutsroots suffered a setback. We are already seeing the beginning of a struggle for the party between the nutsroots and the DLC. We can only hope the Clintons are successful in throwing Dean overboard at the DNC, then things will get really entertaining.

I may have been a touch too pessimistic earlier...the Democrats might be too incompetent and divided to be as dangerous as I first thought.

That's News To My Teachers.......

You paid attention during 97% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Create a Quiz

Predictions 2006 - Results Pt. 2

13) The Houston Texans will trade the first pick in the NFL draft. Reggie Bush will be drafted #1 by New England.
Nope and nope 5-8

14) The Los Angeles Dodgers will not finish over .500; The Anaheim Angels will win their division.
Nope and nope 5-10

15) The Yankees will win the world series.
Nope 5-11

16) The Clippers will finish with a better record than the Lakers, both will make the playoffs.
Yep and yep 7-11

17) Detroit Vs San Antonio in the NBA finals, San Antonio wins.
Completely wrong 7-13

18) Young returns for Texas, and White returns for USC next year, both teams compete for the national championship again.
Wrong on the returns...both teams were in the top 10 the first week of nov...USC still has a shot at the championship 7-15

19) Brady Quinn wins the Heisman next year.
still possible 7-15

20) There will be violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, it will involve drug cartels, U.S. Border Patrol and the Mexican Army
Not yet 7-16

21) Castro, Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales will form an anti-American pact.
Not officially yet..but I'm going to call this a draw 7-16

22) Canada will have a coalition government led by the Conservatives
Spot on 8-16

23) The U.S. government will reveal the existence of a space plane program and kill the space shuttle program
Not yet 8-17

Predictions 2006 -Results Pt. 1

1) Oscar for best movie - Walk the Line
Too soon to tell 0-0

2) Congress - Republicans will hold on to control of both houses, but will lose seats.
Wrong 0-1

3) U.S. Supreme Court - Alito will be confirmed, no attempt to filibuster. Another Justice will leave by the end of the year.
Correct 1-1

4) Rose Bowl - USC will beat Texas by at least 13 points.
Wrong 1-2

5) SuperBowl - Denver VS Seattle, Seattle wins
Close....It was Pittsburgh V Seattle and Pittsburgh won 1-3

6) Sen Clinton is re-elected with better than 60% of the vote
Yep...67% 2-3

7) When the election is finally held, Mayor Nagin loses in New Orleans
Sadly, wrong 2-4

8) The U.S. economy will continue to thrive, and the mainstream media will continue to ignore it.
This is clearly correct. 3-4

9) Both France and Germany will enter a recession.
Extremely low growth, but no recession 3-5
Update 11/15/06: France stagnant in the 3rd quarter, Germany up .6% and the Eurozone (countries using the Euro) up .5%. The U.S. had it's GDP rise by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, and it was described as a "slump".

10) The U.N. will continue to ignore the Oil for Food Scandal, Bolton will continue to make the UN institute incremental reforms.
Yep 4-5

11) Israel will bomb Iran. The UN will condemn them and Israel won't give a shit.
Not yet at least 4-6

12) There will be more rumors of a coup in North Korea, but they will be false.
Yep 5-6

Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veteran's day to all of our veterans out there. Thanks Dad, and thanks to all the rest of you. All ways remember that most of us understand the sacrifices you have made, and honor you for it.

The President's Press Conference

Oh my God , this is a disaster.

First the substance, dumping Rumsfield overboard. What is he thinking? The Islamic fanatics and the moonbat Democrats will both see this as a victory. He is weakening himself enormously the day after the election. He is a lame duck as of right now.

Second he is replacing him with a former head of the CIA! What is he thinking? The CIA has been stabbing him in the back for six years! The CIA has been incompetent for the last 30 years!

Next the style. He looks and sounds weak. Defeated. Mark my words, the Democrats are going to roll him, and the press has already begun savaging him. The next two years are going to be very ugly. The press is being openly disrespectful, rude and hostile to him.

I give him credit for standing there and taking the punches the press is throwing, and occasionally attempting to counter-punch. It shows personal courage. But he isn't doing himself, or anyone else (especially the Republican party) any favors.

From the Web...

From a blog called Not So Confidential:

One other comment - have you noticed that since the Dems won there are no complaints about voter fraud from them? Even though it was very close. Does anyone doubt that had it gone the other way there would be dozens of complaints and allegations and conspiracy theories about how the GOP stole the election? But the GOP loses and instead of complaining about cheating they are looking inward to see what they did wrong. It says so very much about the two parties - and the people in them.


Yeah, some of us have noticed. And I agree with you completely. The other thing I have noticed is the complete lack of graciousness in victory that much of the left has. They are being just as snide, rude and sarcastic as they were in defeat. There is an old football saying concerning players who behave poorly and with a lack of sportsmanship: "Act like you have been in the end zone before." Clearly much of the left didn't play football.

Update 11/8/06: I want to be sure to distinguish Harold Ford Jr. from my earlier remarks. His concession speech last night was a class act. He did everything that Kerry and Gore should have done. My estimation of him has gone up several notches.

The Legacy of 2006

Oh what have we done? America I know the Republicans had gone soft, and been captured by Washington D.C. The Republicans deserved to lose the House. I get it. But the Senate too?

You may have thought you were electing Conservative Democrats, and for the most part you were. But the problem is, the Democratic leadership couldn't be more liberal, some down right moonbatty.

These next two years are probably going to be ugly, and not just for the U.S.

I) Iraq

A) The Democrats have to pull us out of Iraq, their base will demand it. They will spout the usual nonsense, the same tired promises we gave Vietnam in the 70's. But the Islamic fanatic will know the truth. Let's be honest, once the troops are gone, they're not going back in, and no one in the region is going to allow us to station our troops in their country.

B) Shortly after we pull the troops out, Iraq will descend into a three way civil war.

1) The Democrats will immediately say "see, we told you so", being either unwilling, or too blind to see that our pullout is what caused the civil war.

2) Tens of thousands of Iraqis and Kurds will be killed in the fighting and reprisals.

3) Iran, Syria and Turkey will probably dismantle Iraq, (in the name of stopping the civil war) and divide the pieces between them, and no one will do anything about it.

a) Turkey has been struggling to preserve its young western democracy. This will fall. The only question is whether or not the military is still strong enough to install a military dictatorship, or if the Islamic fundamentalists will take over.

C) This will be the final straw. After Vietnam, Somalia and Iraq, no one will trust American assurances and promises anymore. (Would you?)

1) South Korea and Japan will go nuclear. Taiwan will try to do so also. North Korea with the bomb and American fecklessness are just too dangerous for them.

D) Afghanistan will descend back into tribalism and lawlessness, and either the Taliban or a military dictatorship fronting for the Taliban will take over.

E) Pakistan will either become a military dictatorship or be taken over by the fundamentalists.
Either way, the tensions between Pakistan and India will rise, and conflict could erupt. Which could be extremely dangerous, since both have nuclear weapons.

F) Worldwide terrorism will arise, and we will be attacked at home and abroad.

G) The morale of our armed forces will plummet. Soldiers who have been proud of what we have been doing will start to question their sacrifices. Recruitment will drop. We can only hope things don't go as bad as they did in the 70's after the betrayal of our military and the South Vietnamese.

II) Immigration

A) There will be an amnesty bill, and a guestworker program. Pres. Bush and the Democrats agree on this issue.

1) We will begin a process that will see at least 15 million illegal immigrants given legal residency, and a minimal path to citizenship.

2) There will be about 10 million more Mexicans living in Mexico that will be given residency and/or citizenship through legacies (parents, spouses, children).

3) By 2008 there will be at least 5 million more illegal residents waiting for the next amnesty.

4) By 2008, Mexico will be receiving $30 billion or more a year in remittances from the US. Most of this money will come from the underground economy, and so will be untaxed, and directly siphoned off from the American economy.

B) The fence just authorized by Congress will never be built.

C) There will be waves of immigrants from Haiti and Cuba also.

1) there will probably be a repeat of the Mariel boatlift in Cuba, as Cuba empties its prisons, and when the current Cuban regime topples, all bets are off.

III) Washington D.C.

A) The lawyers are going to get fat. There will be countless hearings and investigations.

1) There is at least a 30% chance the Democrats will try to impeach Pres. Bush. There is a 100% chance that articles of impeachment will be filed. Hell, some already are.

2) There is a bigger chance that the Democrats will try to impeach V.P. Cheney.

3) Def. Secretary Rumsfield and his high level subordinates will spend most of the next two years testifying in front of Congress.

4) The Democrats will hold hearings over using Haliburton, ignoring the fact that it was the Clinton administration that began awarding it government contracts.

5) There will be hearings in Congress dealing with the CIA, in which the moles who have been leaking classified documents the last six years will testify about how awful things have been during the Bush Administration. The State Department will send their share before Congress also.


Maybe I am being unduly pessimistic. I hope I am. But history, and human nature, tells me otherwise.

Election Results

Well, looks like the Dems have won control of the House. However when compared to historical 6th year norms, the Dems still haven't performed as well as expected.

It also needs to be stressed that most of the Dem gains are by Conservative Dems, not the moonbat Kossacks. In fact the main Kossack candidate, Lamont went down in flames. It will be interesting to see how well the new Conservative Dems work with their leadership.

So..we'll have to put up with the children running amuck for two years. But on the bright side, people like Pelosi, Conyers and Rangel will never be able to control themselves.....and the American people will throw them out in 2008.

Update (early AM 11/8/06):

Well it looks like the Democrats have taken the Senate also. Congratulations. The American people have made their choice. Unfortunately I don't think it was a wise one. We will see.

The question now is where does the Republican Party go? There is no Reagan on the horizon to lead them back to their base and into power. The worst thing that could happen would be to turn the party over to the McCain types.

The next two years will be interesting times, and you know what the Chinese say about interesting times.....

Helen Fire/News Coverage

I'm sitting here watching the LA News channels covering the Helen fire, and it is amazing how awful the coverage is. Apparently no one at any of the channels knows the area. The fire started at the 15 freeway, and almost exactly on the border of Rialto and Fontana. One side of the fire advanced down Sierra Ave into Fontana, and the other side advanced down Riverside Ave into Rialto. For instance at one point they are interviewing the Fontana USD superintendent about school evacuations, while showing footage of schools in the Rialto School District, and incorrectly saying that they had been evacuated.

If network TV is going to survive they need to get their act together.

Two Great Things That Go Well Together

The music of the Bee Gees and making fun of John Kerry together. As those two Guiness guys would say: "Brillant!"

H/T: The Riehl World

Election 2006

Just for the record, I am predicting that the Republicans will hold onto the House and Senate.


Update 11/4/06: This guy feels exactly like I do, and for almost exactly the same reasons.

Monday Night Football's Party Foul 10/30/06

Paris Hilton!?! Paris Fracking Hilton!?!

The whole network needs to get hit with one of those giant beer cans.

The Sports Reporters

This morning on the Sports Reporters we were "treated" to a diatribe on Pat Tillman's death, during which the reporter slanted every statement in a way to trash the administration, and the host (who admitted he was Canadian and didn't understand why our Constitution protected the things it did) questioning our protection of free speech and the 2nd Amendment to own guns. He based his opposition to gun ownership to the false interpretation that the 2nd Amendment only referred to organized militia.

Hey guys...the show is called sports reporters, shut up and talk about sports you idiots!

The Founding Fathers and Religion

There is currently a discussion taking place on the NRO's Corner concerning the Founding Father's religious beliefs and opinions. It was sparked by the publication of George Will's review in the NYT of a book called Moral Minority by someone named Brooke Allen. The debate is centered on the professed deism of most of the Founding Fathers. (I should note that I myself am a Deist, and at least partly due to the deism of the FF)

While I do not believe in religion (just a creator), intellectually I can appreciate the role that organized religion has played in civilization. In fact I believe that civilization is not possible without religion. I believe that most men (and women) are brutish by nature, and need an external force to moderate their behavior. Religion provides both a carrot and a stick, along with a justification, that encourages civil behavior.

When we look at societies that have attempted to suppress or eliminate religion (revolutionary France and various communist countries) we see a reversion to a State of Nature. (ie a lack of civilization)

Jefferson , Washington, Madison and the rest were intelligent enough to know that civilization and public order required the presence of a moral code and authority external to the State and society. They had to repose the origins of our rights in a creator in order to preserve them from destruction at the hands of a future despot.

As the Supreme Court has seen fit to transfer these rights from the realm of a creator to the realm of politics and judicial review, we have seen these rights threatened.

So yes, the Founding Fathers were skeptical of religion, but I firmly believe they understood it's utility and necessity.

Who Needs Diogenes?

I feel like a modern day Diogenes. I have actually found an honest Democrat. She seems to be a moderate, and from what I have read so far, fair. Her name is Kirsten Powers, and her blog is named Powers Point.

Of course it doesn't hurt that she is hot.

I Actually Know One of Them......

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 215 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Battlestar Galactica 10/20/06

Wow. I didn't believe that Tigh would do it. At least not without him drinking the poison also.

So long Pegasus...at least you took two Basestars with you...and you lasted almost a whole season longer than I expected you to...


Am I imagining things..or did they change which eye Tigh had poked out when he showed up on Galactica?

Shogun Wars

Heroes 10/17/06

Well..looks like the cheerleader's dad and the Black man in the bar are working together. Wonder which one (if either) is Sylar?


Update 10/17/06: I don't know why I didn't comment on this yesterday..but how about that cheerleader? I mean, damn...first you wake up with your chest sliced open on an autopsy table after an attempted rape, and then next you're crashing a speeding car into a wall to kill your attempted raper. If it wasn't an inappropriate metaphor..I would certainly say that little girl sure had balls.

The Hiro from the future was kind of cool also. This show has gone from, interesting to "if I miss it on Monday, I'm sure as hell watching the repeat on Sci Fi on Friday".

Mongo and Condalezza Mice

What the World Has Come To.......

There is a truck commercial on TV that is using IronMan by Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath!

There is absolutely no way you could have predicited 34 years ago when this song was released in the US that it would one day be used in a television commercial.

It wasn't too long ago that Ozzy and Black Sabbath were being blamed for everything wrong with teenagers. Now they've been co-opted by Wall Street.

Remember the outrage years ago when Michael Jackson allowed some of the Beatles tunes to be used in commercials? That is how I feel right now.

What's next..some travel company using Holiday in Cambodia by the Dead Kennedys?

What the Hell Happened to the Defense?

A kid scores 10 touchdowns in a high school football game, two over 50 yards, and his team loses in overtime?!? The article makes no mention of defensive players or coaches for obvious reasons, and it's not hard to guess why both teams were winless going into this game.

And I thought my team in high school was bad......

Dr. Who

Well that is cool!

Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 making an appearance! But poor K-9 gets it in the end.......Well...at least one version of him does.

This was my favorite Dr. Who episode since Tom Baker was the Dr.

Heroes Pt. 2

Well I'm watching the newest episode of Heroes again on Sci Fi while waiting for Dr. Who and BSG.

The show has potential, but it's not yet on my must watch list. My favorite storyline so far is Hiro and his comic book. The last scene with the cheerleader waking up all cut open on the autopsy table was sure chilling. How is she going to explain that one? The cop is a little interesting too.

I wonder if Sylor is the cheerleader's Dad, or the black guy the cop saw in the bar?

Fight On! Pt. 5

Well that was ugly. Washington played extremely well. Still, given Auburn's loss to Arkansas today should mean that USC moves up to #2. But if we don't get healthy, and start playing better soon, the season could end up going south.

Throw Me a Frickin' Bone Here......

OK I'm confused.

What the hell is it that Rep. Foley is supposed to have done wrong?

1) Have sex with a page?

That has been going on in DC for decades. Everyone knows it's going on. Besides, no actual sexual act has been alleged, merely sexual suggestive communication.

2) Homosexuality?

Ok, I can see why this would upset some Republicans, but I thought the MSM and the Democratic Party were in favor of homosexuality? Or maybe Republicans aren't allowed to be homosexual? (David Corn seems to think so)

3) Sex with a minor?

First of all, all the alleged "victims" are at least 16, which is the age of consent in DC. (note I disagree with this, but it is the law) Secondly, again the charges are still in the realm of speech, no sexual conduct has been alleged.

4) Sex with a subordinate?

First, the Democrats have told us for years that this is OK. I mean if the president can do it in the Oval office and it's OK..... Second again, no sex has been alleged. (unless of course the Dems want to argue that e-mail and IMs count as sex but blow jobs don't)

5) Sexually suggestive E-Mail and IMs?

You have got to be kidding! You can hear worse any second of the day by dialing the right (or wrong) number. Phone sex is a thriving industry. And you can read much worse on the internet any day of the week also.

6) Sexual Harassment

I have seen nothing to suggest that Rep. Foley persisted in his attentions with any page if he was asked to stop. Everything I've seen suggests the pages were at least as willing as Monica was.

So, I can see why Republicans can and should be upset with Foley, and want him to resign....but for the life of me I can't see why the Democrats and the MSM are so upset.

Shogun

There's a new online game/simulation concerning the warlord era of Japanese history. This is a real throwback to the early days of computer sims, with no fancy graphics or action scenes. It's called Shogun Wars.

NFL or Flag Football?

I didn't notice it when it happened, but all of a sudden it became illegal to sneeze on a quarterback in the NFL. I've seen some incredibly ticky tack roughing the passer calls the last two weeks. How long before the NFL simply puts them in a red jersey and makes it illegal to hit them?

Fight On! Pt. 4

Well that was unimpressive. SC looked flat on both sides of the ball. Still they did do enough to win. But there better be a whole hell of a lot of improvement over the course of the next couple of weeks.

It Must Be Election Time....

Literally every single time I have lingered for more than a second on MSNBC the last two days, they have been talking about Woodward's new book. This book is a slam against the White House, (I know..surprise surprise) based on leaks and back stabbing interviews.

The next Republican president should completely clean house at the State department and CIA, they have become bastions of Democratic hacks and internationalists who could care less about the US. Send them all home like Pres. Reagan did with the air traffic controllers.

We will be in marginal more danger (given the track record of the State Department and CIA) while the two organizations are reconstituted, but the danger will be worth it.

Minor Tragedy

I caught one of my students cheating last week (she was really sloppy) and confirmed it by using a fake answer key today.

She's a good kid, and pretty smart. She didn't need to cheat, and I'm not even that mad about it.

But what is really depressing is that she is refusing to admit it. (and I have her dead to rights...the evidence couldn't be more damning.) She has given tearful denials now to her parents and another teacher. In fact it is her denials that are probably going to see her kicked out of leadership at school. (the teacher she tearfully denied it to is her leadership advisor, but I've shown him the evidence, and there is no doubt in either of our minds)

So now I'm starting to feel like a shit for busting her. My friend the leadership advisor is upset, hurt and disillusioned by the false denials, the other leadership kids are going to be upset if she is kicked out of leadership (and I have about 20 of them in the class), her parents are upset, and the student in question is upset.

Yet another way that teaching sometimes sucks.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

This is my favorite version of the song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

100 Words

100 words is back, and I have just posted my entry for the fourth straight day. It's hard to find a voice in only 100 words, and have a plot. Then to top it off, somedays, like today, you find that someone else has already developed the theme you were shooting for. I was going to go with Space Invaders today, but it had already been done. Still, I think today's effort has been my best of the four. I should find my groove in a week or two.

Kill Me Now......

Man I hate food poisoning......

Update: Last time it was a pizza, which was bad enough. Today I got to re-visit this morning's sausage and egg McMuffin, and a Livewire Slurpee.

Heroes

Well the show didn't knock my socks off, but it was interesting enough to get me back for one more week. The show was dramatically over-hyped though.

We Missed You Les......

Apparently 100 Words or Les Nesman is back. Sorta. Now it's apparently just plain old 100 Words. My first effort is a little questionable, but I'll soon get back into harness.

By the way H/T to my brother.

My New Favorite Rap Video

H/T: The Irish Trojan

Update 9/26/06: I've just watched this thing again for like the 20th time, and laughed outloud each time. Weird Al is a God.


I wonder what videos made by Richard Cheese would look like?

Fight On! Pt. 3

What the hell? We lose another fullback? This is getting ridiculous! Oh well, at least we beat the University of Arizona in the PAC-10 opener, 20-3. Moody is looking like quite a find, and a suitable replacement for Reggie Bush.
Considering what we lost to the NFL this year, USC is progressing very nicely.

Thank You Sir, May I Have Another?

Andrew Sullivan is complaing about "torture" again on his blog. You can tell this guy has lead a very sheltered life, because the tortures he is so torn up about are pretty mild, and no worse than what occurs during hellweek for many sports teams and most fraternity pledge classes. (hell, from what I hear, worse things happen on an average weekend at English public schools) Who does Sullivan think we are dealing with here? These guys aren't boyscouts..they're terrorists for Christ's sake!

Fantasy Football 2006

Well, after two weeks results are mixed.

In my three tier 1 leagues (two ESPN cash leagues and a yahoo league, all with my co-workers) I am 5-1. In the league I have a loss in, none of the teams in my division are undefeated.

In my three tier 2 leagues, I am 1-5 (three yahoo leagues with friends and former high school classmates) . That means I am .500 overall, not too shabby at this point.

Two and a Half Men

The funniest TV I have seen in months was the 2 minute intro to the season premire of Two and a Half Men that just played.

California Governor's Race

Apparently, the Democratic Party has been subsumed by BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome). They are spending millions of dollars on commercials here in California on the governors race. Do the ads give us reasons to support and vote for Angelides? Nope. He doesn't even appear. Instead they are one minute attacks on Arnold simply because he supported the re-election of Pres. Bush.

So in a State with a larger economy than most nations, with huge problems with illegal immigration and the inability to adhere to a balanced budget; the biggest issue according to the Democrats, is that a registered Republican supported a registered Republican.

The bankruptcy of ideas on the left has never been more pronounced or apparent.

Fight On! Pt. 2

28-10. A fine workman-like victory. Nothing flashy, but fairly effective. Give the re-building currently going on at SC, you can't really expect more at this point.

Breakfast Club Redux

I remember watching The Breakfast Club twenty years ago, and being able to see a little bit of myself in all the kids (except Molly Ringwald). Today I was in charge of Saturday school, (a four hour detention hall) and it finally hit me..I have become Principal Vernon.


Man that sucks.

A Fine Pair of Boobys!

I guess the hot new topic in blogging today is boobys. Steve H. has been discussing the issue the past couple of days, and has apparently come to the conclusion, that if you can't beat them, join them. So he has posted a kind of mini-carnival of boobys today. Since I haven't had an original thought in years, and I am a complete traffic whore, I thought I would get in the game. So here I proudly present my favortite pair of boobys.


Update 9/15/06: Welcome to everybody coming over from the Irish Trojan! Relax, kick up you feet and stay awhile. Have a look around, you might find something you like.

Update 9/28/06: Welcome everyone coming over from Samantha Burns' site. C'mon on in and stay awhile.

I Shall Never Forget...

I remember the morning of 9-11-01 very well. My Mom had just called me over to look at the news (a live shot of the Twin Towers) about a plane hitting a building in New York. Almost immediately the second plane hit. I was consumed with a deep anger, because I knew what had happened. One plane may be an accident, two is a plot. My mind did not leap to Osama, but I did know it was Islamic terrorists.

I was watching live TV when the Challenger blew up also. I remember the grief and sadness I felt, and the anger for the anchorman who was apparently unaware of what had happened and kept droning on about the mission.

9-11 was different though. This wasn't an accident, this was planned.

I have always been labeled pro-Arab. I understand the anger about the imposition of Israel in their midst. I have always believed in a Palestinian state. I can even understand intellectually the anger and futility that the Islamic world feels when they compare their standard of living to ours.

But when it comes down to a question of us or them, (and I think this conflict does) then there is no question whose side I am on. In the last five years I have come to believe that we are in a clash of civilizations, the modern world versus the medieval one. And even if we were so inclined as to show mercy, our mercy would be scorned as weakness and rejected. We are going to have to develop the resolve and the will to eliminate Islam as a force in the world. Because they are never going to give up, reform or back down. Their culture and religion simply will not allow them to. We have spent the last two centuries fighting against Islamic expansion, in Moorish Spain, at the Battle of Tours, in the Balkans. Islam has made more gains in the last fifty years than in the 500 years before it. Europe has been thourghly infiltrated. Already one Islamic state has developed atomic weapons, and a second is on the cusp. MAD will not work on these people, because as far as we are concerned they are quite simply mad.

Genocide is an ugly word, for an ugly act. We can all hope that it never comes to that. The problem is, our enemies are literally praying that it does come to that.

Thoughts on 9-11

As I have said before I am a teacher. I teach Social Studies to 8th graders. One of my fellow Social Studies teachers and I had a conversation on Friday about what we were going to do on Monday to commemorate 9-11. Now I respect this woman. Five years ago she organized some students who raised money, and bought trees and plaques to commemorate the Twin Towers and United 93. (However nothing was done to commemorate, and no mention was made of, the attack on the Pentagon, and I don't think that was an accident. I wish I had noticed that at the time, I would have spoken up)

However, she had mixed emotions about doing anything on Monday, because she didn't want to support in any way, those who would "use the anniversary of 9-11 to justify going around the world and bombing people". She talked about doing a presentation on an organization in NYC comprised of victims of terrorism around the world who promote a peaceful response to terror.

The whole time she was doing this, I was thinking, "how nice that you have the luxury to indulge your ideology, and present it to your students."

Because I feel exactly the opposite. I want my students to understand the horror of what was done. I want them to realize that there are people on this planet who want them dead because of who they are, how they live, and what they think. In five years many of these kids will be in the service defending us.

My last thought Friday morning was: Doesn't this otherwise intelligent woman understand that these monsters would come here and cut her head off in a heartbeat, and not feel a thing about it? And sadly I realized that she doesn't. Not really. And neither does most of the left in America today.

Frankly that scares me more than the terrorists themselves.

It's Baaaack

Mountain Dew Livewire is back. (The Orange flavor) Oh well, guess I'm not going to be losing any weight for a while.....



Update 9/9/06: I've looked everywhere! I've looked at Stater Bros., 7-11, Arco, Wal Mart and everywhere else. The only size of Livewire available anywhere is the 20 oz size, which of course is the most uneconomical size. Damn it. Hurry up and ship the 2 liter bottles!

Day By Day

Have you read the latest Day By Day strip? I can't believe Chris would kill off Jan that way...it has to be a carjacking! I mean, she just found out she's pregnant!


I'm actually waiting impatiently for tomorrow's strip......


Update: Thank God, Jan is alive in Monday's strip, and the car was stolen.

Fight On!

USC wins its first game! We blow out Arkansas for the second year in a row, this time 50-14.

A Shot Across Her Bow.....

The Kossack/nutroots crowd have fired their first salvo at Hillary Clinton. MoveOn (which if I remember correctly was formed to defend Pres. Clinton) has failed to endorse Sen. Clinton for re-election to her Senate seat against a no name, no chancer. Look for Hillary to quickly run to the left.

Sometimes I Wish I Could Pray......

I just found out that a good friend at work is having serious health problems. She had a stroke, is having fainting spells, and symptoms of a neurological disorder. I'm stuck here. I'm very worried and concerned, and I don't know what to do. If I believed in a God that listened to prayer, I'd be at the church right now. But I don't. It is remarkable how helpless I feel. I have often been jealous of those who possess faith, and times like this just reinforces that.

By Their Words Ye Shall Know Them.....

From an article on Townhall:

Perhaps that's why this week in one of the boldest moves yet by a sitting liberal, Democrat Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez proclaimed, "The real purpose of SB 1437 is to outlaw traditional perspectives on marriage and family in the state school system."He continued, "The way you correct a wrong (perspective) is by outlawing.’Cause if you don't outlaw it, then people's biases tend to take over and dominate the perspective and the point of view."


Nunez's candor unwittingly exposes two tenets of the far left:

1) The use of public schools to inculcate and indoctrinate our children in their farleft ideology.

2) The need for Liberals and other leftists to silence their opponents rather than engage them.

I would be embarassed for them, if they weren't so dangerous.

(I have crossposted this on my other blog)

Business 101

I've talked about this before recently but the issue has come up again one of my regular reads so I've been thinking about it again. I have come to the conclusion that the history of Sony's Betamax, and Apple computers should be the first thing taught to Business School students as an example of what NOT to do. Both companies took clearly superior products, that should have dominated their markets, and completely mismanaged them.

There are currently two competing systems for the high definition DVD market, which will be taking off in the near future. (Analog TV will be departing soon, and people will start switching over to HD as their old systems wear out)

The first of these systems is called Blu-Ray. This is the system designed by Sony. By initial reports, this system seems to be the superior system. It has a larger capacity. But a drawback is that it seems to be more susceptible to damage.

The competing system is called HD DVD and was designed by Toshiba. This system seems to be more flexable. It has the support of Microsoft, which is a good leg up. It also hit the market 3 months earlier than Blu-Ray.


It will be interesting to see how this battle turns out.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho........

Work is going to be a bear this week. I have duty for 20 min before and after school this week; a one hour shift in the school detention room on Monday; a PTA meeting on Monday; a 3 hour buyback on Tuesday afternoon; a 1 hour shift of detention in my room on Wed.; and a four and a half hour shift of Saturday School on Saturday.

I'm tired already.

Sometimes Life Just Sucks.........

There was a fight in my classroom today, about five minutes before the end of school. I had to run up to the front of my classroom and break it up. The one kid wouldn't stop, so I had to grab him around the chest and throw him out my classroom door. While I was doing this........my pants fell around my ankles. Needless to say..the class broke up.



Oh well, at least it means I'm still losing weight.

Screw the Scientists!

Don't worry Pluto..I still love you.


The Solar System seems so much smaller today........

A Great Pair of Tits!

I was browsing the web, and I came across this great pair of tits!



Update 8/24/06: So far I'm still getting more hits for Betty Ngyuen than I am for tits.

Treasure Hunters

AAAARRRGHHH


The Genuises won...Damn it.


And was the live summation part of the show crappy or what?

Free Loaders Pt 4

Well here are the two free loaders. The gray one is almost definitely Mongo. I still haven't decided on the orange one. Nothing is jumping out at me yet.


Update 8/21/06: I'm all but decided about Mongo. But now I'm thinking about Taggart for the orange one.

Update 8/24/06: Oops. It's looking like the gray one is a girl. So now I'm thinking Condolezza Mice for her, and Mongo for the orange one.

It's the Economy Stupid?

Somebody on Studio B on Fox News just now said the American people are tired of the war on terror, and instead want our economy to get more attention and improve. Hello? Listen up McFly!

Our economy is currently purring along. It is the envy of every other economy in the world. We are out performing all of the world's major economies. Now that the Fed has stopped reflexively raising interest rates every quarter, it will get even better.

The only fly in the ointment is the price of gas. And that has good news embedded in it. Our economy just withstood a 30% rise in the price of gas without a stutter. And in real money terms, gas is still cheaper than it was during the last fuel crisis.

The real question is why the media elites keep maintaining this fiction of an ailing economy, and don't tell the real story.

Free Loaders Pt. 3

Well, it's looking more and more like the big gray one will be known as "Mongo". I still haven't decided on the little orange one...right now the two contenders are Gabby and Chumley.

Free Loaders Pt. 2

Well I fed the little runts some sliced ham, and some tuna tonight. They went nuts for it. Both of them are really imprinting on me. The little orange one actually purred twice tonight. I've got to come up with some names soon...

The Descent Continues...?

I filed paperwork today to run for an elective office within my union. I have filed to run for Middle School Director. It is a kind of administrative position. I would be a liason between the union and the middle school site reps and I would also sit on the union's Executive Board. There are four of us in the race, and I have no idea what chance I have of winning.

Free Loaders!

I got home from work this Monday, headed into my computer room, and began reading my mail. I had a link from my Mom to a site about the care of kittens. I sent it back to her to ask what the hell was up. I get a phone call an hour and a half later, and she tells me that there are two kittens in my living room. I go out there, and sure enough, there are two mewling kittens in a cat carrier. Flea ridden to boot.

Seems Mom had taken my niece and nephew to the pound to visit, and someone brought in six kittens too young, so they were going to be killed. Next thing I know, I've got two freeloaders, my Mom has two and so does my brother.

I have always had cats as pets, and I have become resigned to this.....but......

Fantasy Football

Well three of my teams have drafted now. I have Larry Johnson on 2 of them. He'd better live up to the hype. I have a live draft on saturday, and then several online drafts next week.

Christopher Hitchens

I have just finished reading one of Christoper Hitchens' books. It was an extremely frustrating experience for me. There are times I admire Mr. Hitchens. He can be insightful and artful in his prose. Unfortunately his incessant attacks on capitalism, republicanism and organized religion constantly get in the way. It is the same problem that many of us have with Ann Coulter, the diatribes occlude the message.


aarrrgh!

ESPN Monday Night Football

Tony Kornheiser in the booth? Call me crazy, but give me Dennis Miller any day!

The Corruption Continues

I have just registered a page on MySpace.


I feel so dirty.

Happy Birthday Modern World!

Over at Tammy Bruce's blog, they are celebrating the IBM PC's 25th birthday. Surprisingly, as I browse the internet, they seem to be the only ones doing so. This is a pretty historical occasion.
While there were PC's prior to this (among them Apple and Commodore) the IBM machine was to dominate the market. Today there are only two viable forms of operating system, the IBM type and the Apple type. Recently Apple was forced to include the PC OS in their newest computers, or risk going the way of betamax. Apple and betamax have interesting similarities...both are arguably better systems than the ones they were dominated by. However the fact that their rivals were open source, and thus adopted by a wider range of hardware producers and content producers, ultimately meant their marginalization.

As I've written before, even though I went off to college with a manual typewriter, I cannot imagine life without a PC and the internet anymore. I now possess a machine (the one I am typing on) that is more powerful than all of the computers NASA sent to the Moon combined. It boggles the mind if you think about it. It's almost scary to think about what is coming next.

I'm Getting Old..........

Everytime I get out of bed anymore I feel like the Nick Nolte character in the beginning of North Dallas Forty. I wish I had the drugs he had.......

Treasure Hunters

Air Force made it to the finals! Yeah! Damn the Genuises made it also...that sucks.

Good Luck Joe!

The Democratic primary for Sen. Lieberman's Senate seat is tomorrow. While a dark part of me is hoping the Kossak moonbats win, and drag the Democratic Party closer to oblivion, the responsible part of me hopes the adults vote. The Democrats have been throwing the responsible adults out of their party for twenty years. If a dedicated liberal with a solid liberal voting record like Lieberman is thrown out of the party, the game is over man.

Update 8/8/06: Well Joe has lost and Markos over at Kos is already showing how classy he is. Look, I don't like any of these guys..but where are Shrum, Begala, Carville, Brazille, Davis and the rest of the professional Democrats? How can they be just sitting back and allowing these petulant moonbats destroy their party? Watch Sen. Clinton closely for the next week or so. She is going to have to either capitulate to the nutsroots and moonbats like Kerry and Gore have already done, or she is the natural next target.

Origins?

Where do the Kossacks, the nutroots and their anger come from? I have been reading a lot about the Clinton days recently, written by those on the left. (I have already about it from those on the right) I have come to believe that the Kossacks are a concious and unconcious reaction to Pres. Clinton, his presidency, and the shame he brought to the Democratic Party combined with an inability to accept the results of the last two presidential elections.

1) Pres. Clinton was a democrat, but he rejected the label of liberal, and claimed a middle ground. In truth he governed mostly as a conservative. So the left feels cheated in that the only Democratic President in 20 years might as well have been a Republican.

2) Because Pres. Clinton was a Democrat, he was defended and protected by the left. Even though he was a sexual predator and a rapist, the feminists defended him. Even though he launched military attacks to distract the public from his personal sins, the left defended him. Even as he destroyed "welfare as we know it", they supported him. Most of the left has not yet confessed to the shame they must have felt, probably not even to themselves. But it must be affecting them.

3) Pres. Clinton was seen as an invention and a tool of the Democratic staus quo. In order to ensure there is no repeat, the staus quo has to be destroyed and the party radicalized. The first step was organizing the nutroots. The second step was getting Dean appointed as party chairman. The third step is destroying Sen. Lieberman as a threat to the rest of the elected officials. The DLC has been marginalized. Things have gotten so bad in the Democratic Party that Sen. Feinstein is now seen as a voice of reason.

4) The Kossak left refuses to accept that they don't represent the will of the American people. They insist that the last two elections were stolen. Even the liberal MSM now admits that Pres. Bush would win Florida in 2000 under any rational form of recount. And if Ohio's electoral votes were excluded for fraud in 2004, as the Congressional Black Caucus attempted to do, Pres. Bush would still win the election. I am genuinely worried about the reaction of the moonbats when they lose in 2006 and 2008.

The Democratic Party is now in control of adolescents. One day the adults will take back over. Hopefully before too much damage is done to the party, and the American political system.