The Aggieland Blogger

We've moved..

2007-09-24T16:14:00.000-05:00

But the legend lives on. Check us out at TXoverseer.blogspot.com. Thanks for all your support!

sanctuary stupidity

2007-05-10T15:40:00.001-05:00

So it's been a while since I've bothered posting anything, but something which has happened over the past few days has gotten very firmly under my skin. It has to do with the planned terrorist attack (yes, Council on American-Islamic Relations, I said TERRORIST) on Fort Dix, N.J. by Muslim (yes, CAIR, I said MUSLIM) nutjobs.

As it turns out, at least three and, I believe, four of the six guys now under arrest and likely to spend serious time in federal pound you in the ass prison were illegal immigrants. What's worse is the fact that the police departments in several surrounding cities, including the ones in which they lived, knew they were illegals (ones with records, mind you) and did not inform the federal goverment so deportation proceedings could be started.

Why? Becuase these are "sanctuary cities," where no action will be taken against illegal aliens by the city or any of its agencies.

Brilliant!

Sanctuary cities, shock of shocks, largely exist on the west coast and the northeast and appeared in the wake of 9/11. City councils there have decided that they will not cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security in any way, shape or form, preferring to let illegals go unmolested if they're stopped for something like a traffic violation. Many of them cite the words on the Statue of Liberty for making this noble statement (yeah, whatever; more like "We hate George W. Bush so we're doing this, so there") against the feds.

Apparently, they haven't been paying much attention to current events. Sneaking across the border with the tired, the poor and the huddled masses are people intent on killing American citizens in the name of Allah! But, that's ok; just as long as they didn't vote for Bush.

So, these sanctuary cities have gone out of their way to promote the fact that they're illegal friendly. Guess what? Terrorists are taking advantage of this and are moving there! Why not? If nobody's going to confront them for being here against the law, why take the risk in someplace like, say, Houston? (Note: go ahead. HPD's so pathetic you could probably blow something up in front of them and get off with a misdemeanor.)

Say what you will about the Islamic (yes, CAIR, ISLAMIC) extremeists: they're not stupid. They leave the stupidity to us and take full advantage of it.

I wonder if there are sanctuary cities for Americans in Gaza Strip?

AlGore to save democracy, one TV at a time

2007-03-12T14:00:00.000-05:00

Oh, I feel so much better now. AlGore, the guy who created this great medium on which I now pontificate, is going to save democracy with his new TV network (which, I am sad to report, is not called BSTV):

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore brought his interactive Current TV channel to Britain on Monday, arguing that democracy will help save television in the Internet age and that television could help save democracy.

Current TV now reaches 40 million homes in the United States and, from Monday, adds another 10 million on the Sky and Virgin Media platforms in Britain and Ireland. Gore sees the channel's mission as helping to reclaim television from the hands of a few powerful media moguls.

Gore said Current TV was designed "to democratize the medium of television and open it up to voices, so people can join the global conversation."

Mainstream television, he says, is a one-way conduit, and "a conversation that shuts out individuals begins to get a bit stale."

Gore and his co-founder Joel Hyatt bill Current TV as "television for the Internet generation" of tech-savvy 18-to-34 year olds who demand interactivity - and, it seems, have short attention spans.

Current TV's programming is short and snappy, consisting of three-to- eight-minute current affairs "pods" that range from documentaries about the slums of Nairobi to Bono's day-in-the-life portrait of his U2 bandmate The Edge.

Some content comes from tie-ins with media heavy-hitters including Google and Lonely Planet. But it is the one-third that is viewer- generated - albeit edited and packaged by Current TV professionals - that Gore says sets the channel apart.

Boldly, he likens it to the invention of the printing press.

"Before the printing press, if you wanted to be a writer you had to be a monk," Gore said. "Modern democracy really came about in the wake of that communications revolution.

"Until now, if you wanted to be in television you had to work for some studio and after 20 years you could play a bit part in making a show about people eating bugs - and some good stuff, too.

"But it's not an individual creative vision that wins out."

Some argue that truly user-generated TV is an elusive goal. Adrian Monck, head of the journalism program at London's City University, points out that making documentary television remains "difficult, costly work" largely carried out by professionals.

"In the 1890s and 1900s people had great publishing ideas for using readers' letters to make newspapers," he said. "They were brilliant ideas but, with a very few exceptions, they went out of business because the quality control wasn't there."

In the wake of the Internet's video-sharing revolution - spearheaded by YouTube and similar sites - broadcasters around the world have rushed to incorporate viewer-created content into their programming.

Some argue that this is a case of the right message in the wrong medium - that the chaotic, unregulated Internet is the true heart of broadcasting democracy.

"It's fundamentally different," argued Gore. "Instead of going through a million different videos, some of which are the family dog - and a family you don't even know, and the dog's not very interesting - we will do that for you and find the highest quality, best produced, most fascinating, most compelling material that still reflects that raw creativity and fresh perspective of individuals."

Current TV, which has been on air in the U.S. since August 2005, makes more than a few nods to the look and feel of the Net, however, including a "shuffle" programming format and on-screen progress bar that lets the viewer know how much time an item has left to run.

Gore said the station would not reflect his own liberal and environmentalist views, but would feature programming "unimpeded by any filter other than quality" (ed-will he be the controlling legal authority?)- although, unlike the Internet, it will have to comply with broadcasting standards rules.

"This is not going to be a political or ideological channel in any way, shape or form," he said. "We like to think of it as much more revolutionary than that."

Yo, Al: Aint this here Internet thingy pretty democratic? I mean, we get bandwith to call you a moron...

CNN loves them terrorists

2007-03-12T13:52:00.000-05:00

In the media business, it is not an overstatement to say that papers or TV stations or networks hire people they believe are ideologically similar. Of course, the confluence of all these fellow travelers creates an echo chamber of egos, having neither the desire or ability to listen to anyone thinking on a different wavelength than they do. Frequently, this attitude translates into their coverage of the news of the day.
There is no truer case study of this than CNN, which is not only anti-Bush and anti-war, but pro-whoever is against the president. This is the network that played al-Qaida video of an American Marine getting shot down in an Iraqi street over and over and over again but won't show one iota of positive coverage emanating from Iraq. This is the same network whose on Wolf Blitzer wouldn't give a straight, honest answer when VP Dick asked him if he wanted the U.S. to win the war.
Think this is just Wolfie? Think again, as Joel Mowbray shows in today's Wall Street Journal:

Fighting to create a secular democracy in Iraq, parliamentarian Mithal al-Alusi had come to rely on at least one TV network to help further freedom: U.S. taxpayer-financed Al-Hurra.

Now, however, he's concerned. The broadcaster he had seen as a stalwart ally has done an about-face. "Until now, we were so happy with Al-Hurra. It was taking stands against corruption, for human rights, and for peace. But not anymore."

Stories that he believes cry out for further investigation, such as recent arrests of those accused of supporting the terrorists in Iraq, are instead getting mere news-ticker mentions at the bottom of the screen. And Arab voices for freedom, which used to have a home on Al-Hurra, are noticeably absent. "They're driving out the liberals," he complains.

Mr. Alusi is not the only one concerned about the recent changes at Al-Hurra. Ken Tomlinson, the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors -- the congressionally-created panel charged with overseeing Al-Hurra, among other government-funded broadcasters -- is currently demanding answers about the network's decision last December to broadcast most of a speech by Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah.

Sitting up straight and raising his index finger, he states emphatically, "It's the single worst decision I've witnessed in all my years in international broadcasting."

The airing of the Nasrallah speech is a sign of the network's new direction since it was taken over by a longtime CNN producer, Larry Register, last November. Launched in February 2004, Al-Hurra broadcasts three separate feeds: to Europe, Arab nations and one for Iraq. The network is supposed to be a key component of our public diplomacy to the Arab world. Its mission statement calls for it to showcase the American political process, and just as important, report on things that get little attention on other Arabic networks, such as human-rights abuses and government corruption.

Within weeks of becoming news director, Mr. Register put his own stamp on the network. Producers and on-air talent quickly understood that change was underway. Investigations into Arab government wrongdoing or oppression were no longer in vogue, and the ban on turning the airwaves over to terrorists was lifted....

Yes, CNN is there for you 24/7...especially if you'd like to blow up an American or two.

An open letter to Peter King of Sports Illustrated

2007-01-08T13:12:00.000-06:00

Mr. King:

On occasion, I find myself reading your column, Monday Morning Quarterback, on SI.com. In past years, I have found myself enjoying it. This year, however, I have converted to the camp which things you're an inordinately fat, self-aggrandizing gasbag. Essentially, it comes down to this: nobody's ever cared about what you think about off of the football field, even if you do add it to your column every stinking week. But your pimping of Al Gore has simply gone too far.
Need a reminder of it? You wrote this on or about July 25, 2006:

"This should interest all of us.

In my town, Montclair, N.J., we had a once-in-a-generation wind, hail and rain storm last week, uprooting 120-year-old oaks all over our neighborhood. One of those monsters crushed the car of the pitcher on the summer softball team I coach. A neighbor told me it was the worst weather event he's seen in 52 years in the town.

Wherever you are, have you noticed the weird weather patterns in the last few months? Unending, intense rain. High winds. It was in the midst of a 12th day of measurable rain in a 14-day period that I saw An Inconvenient Truth, the Al Gore movie about global warming.

This is the most apolitical piece of advice I could ever give you, because I realize Al Gore is not popular with all of you. And I really don't care very much about Gore weaving details of his personal life into the global-warming lecture. But you should see this movie and judge the facts for yourself. What's happening out here is no isolated occurrence. It's going to keep happening and it's going to get worse. Facts are facts. And we all need to do something about this phenomenon of the Earth heating up and the polar ice caps melting. This is not exactly the venue to warn the world about global warming, but all you football junkies readying for your fantasy drafts should do one real-world thing in the next couple of weeks: take two hours to see this movie. I'm not saying you'll be glad you did, because it's going to slap you around mentally a bit. But it's something you need to see. You don't want to wake up in 15 years with the Earth permanently damaged and huge portions of the Earth's surface under water, forever."

Yawn, ho-hum. Actually, just stupid fear-mongering on a subject matter you know nothing about. If that wasn't bad enough, however, you're back with more in today's edition:

"10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:

a. Winter. Hey, winter! Anyone on the Eastern Seaboard seen winter? Saturday, at 4 p.m.: 67 degrees in Montclair, N.J.: 62 in San Diego. Not being political here or anything, but come on. You've got to admit Al Gore is onto something."

No, we don't. Ever heard of El Nino, fatboy? Apparently not, or you wouldn't say something so lame and devoid of factual backing.

Your liberal agenda has become fairly commonplace in your work. Here's something from your story, earlier this season, on Adalius Thomas of the Baltimore Ravens:

"[Thomas] is politically alert, and not afraid to express his views, which makes him a rarity in the NFL. 'What's the Iraq war all about?' he said, his voice rising. 'If it's about oil, just say that. Don't give us this Weapons of Mass Destruction crap when all you find is three firecrackers.'

'You get a little fired up about that,' he was told.

'We all have brains,' he said. 'We should use them.'"

Like we care what he thinks about world affairs, or that's all he had to say in the hours you talked to him? Highly unlikely on both counts.

In your post-Katrina rant, Mr. King, you claim that "I'm not in any way a political animal."
If that's the case, then shut up with your endorsements of Al Gore and write a damned football column already. We'll let you know when--or if--we give a rat's ass about your politics.

REALLY? YA THINK?

2007-01-05T12:57:00.000-06:00

Most Americans are convinced that media coverage of the conflict in Iraq is inaccurate and portrays the situation as being worse than it actually is, a new survey shows.

According to the Gallup News Service, a December survey of a representative sample of 569 adult Americans revealed that fully 56 percent believe that major news media coverage of the situation in Iraq is generally inaccurate while only 4 out of 10 Americans agree that it is accurate.

Moreover, the survey showed that by a 61 percent to 36 percent margin, those who feel that the Iraq coverage is inaccurate say it is because the media make the situation there appear worse than it actually is.

Responses from survey participants showed that two-thirds of Republicans believe that the news media's coverage of Iraq is both inaccurate and makes the situation there appear worse. Only one-quarter say that news media coverage is accurate.

New Congress, corrupt as the old Congress

2007-01-05T12:55:00.000-06:00

On the same day that the 110th Democratic-led Congress convenes with a plan to immediately pass lobbyist and ethics reforms, the Congressional Black Caucus Thursday gave a standing ovation to Rep. William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat who faces an FBI probe into bribery allegations.

"The haters... and negative nabobs...the people who spoke against him couldn't prevail against the people who spoke for him," Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, master of ceremonies for the CBC's celebratory event, said Thursday morning.

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, led the charge to remove Jefferson from the House Ways and Means Committee last spring and has said she will not consider reinstating him to the powerful post until he is cleared of all allegations.

The FBI is currently conducting an investigation that alleges Jefferson accepted $100,000 from a telecommunications businessman -- $90,000 of which was later recovered in the congressman's freezer.

(Note to Dr. Rev. Lt. Gen. Michael Eric Dyson: the people will speak when that corrupt son of a bitch goes to federal prison. The evidence is very cool.)

EH, SHADDUP

2007-01-05T11:41:00.000-06:00

Just when you think that the American people can't get any dumber or devoid of reality, someone pops up to prove us wrong. From the Minnesota Star-Tribune (thanks to Power Line):

Crime against humanity

Shame on America, shame on the world, for allowing such flawed justice to be carried out in a manner of obvious retribution.

If Saddam Hussein was put to death for the war crimes he had committed, then what are the consequences for the unparalleled tyranny caused by Tony Blair and George W. Bush, creating utter chaos in Iraq through a despicable invasion and consequently the tragic loss of thousands of lives?

We must bow our head in shame for callously letting our hands be tainted with blood through yet another heinous crime against humanity.

VINCENT PETERS, NEW BRIGHTON

My take: Shame on Vincent Peters of New Brighton for saying Blair and Bush are responsible for "unparalleled tyrrany". Does he have no idea who he's talking about here? Saddam Hussein is responsible for the deaths of at least one million, and probably close to two million, people. These people lay in graves in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran...and the United States.
Oh, and by the way, Vinny: That was the Iraqi government who hung Saddam, not anyone else. We asked for a delay and were turned down.
By the way, what would you have us do with this maniac: give him milk and cookies and tell him every little things gonna be all right?

Palestinians find an effective way to disagree

2007-01-05T11:38:00.000-06:00

We need peace...we need love...BANG
YOU need a doctor

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a Muslim cleric after he delivered a sermon in the Gaza Strip on Friday calling for an end to fierce factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah, hospital officials and local residents said.

The cleric’s shooting in central Gaza came hours after Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said he and President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah had agreed to keep rival gunmen off Gaza’s streets after clashes in which eight were killed.

Tension remained high across the coastal strip as thousands of Palestinians loyal to Fatah took part in funeral marches for a commander killed in a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades fired by Hamas gunmen on Thursday.

Brushing aside Haniyeh’s plea for calm, Fatah issued a harshly worded statement in Gaza: “Blood for blood and aggression for aggression... and all the sons of the movement should retaliate to each aggression openly.”

The Muslim cleric, who was in a car when the gunmen opened fire, was affiliated with neither Hamas nor Fatah. No group claimed responsibility for the shooting, which occurred after services at a mosque in the Maghazi refugee camp.

It may be impolitic to say, but it is not inaccurate to say, that if these people can't stop killing one another, how on earth can they be expected to run their own government and not kill anyone else in the process?

A Texas disgrace

2006-11-18T12:27:00.000-06:00

(cartoon from the Houston Chronicle)

Love Tom DeLay or hate him, it was pretty universally held that the man is not an idiot. That can't be said for his (temporary) replacement, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.

This woman is an insult to idiots everywhere--and she's costing the people of Houston and the 22nd Congressional District a lot of money proving to the nation that she's a moron.

Sekula-Gibbs, who is not a well-liked local politician to begin with, somehow won the support of the Houston-area GOP to run in DeLay's place (as a write-in candidate) to complete DeLay's term and to hopefully be his replacement once he quit this year's race. She flopped--it's tough to win any kind of write-in race, especially with a name like hers, but she still lost.

Well, sort of. She did win the special election to complete the 7 weeks left in the current term. The woman's been in Washington less than a week and has made herself an American jackass.
First, she gets up to D.C. and makes a speech about how she'll work hard for tax cuts and all the other issues on her agenda--EVEN THOUGH NOTHING'S GOING TO HAPPEN UNTIL THE NEW CONGRESS CONVENES.

Then, she somehow angers DeLay's staff enough that they quit en masse, costing the 22nd District the services of some very, very capable people. In essence, they said she was an vile, egotistical wench. She, in turn, demanded that they be investigated by the feds. She should get a ton of help from her office--which is now being run by two former Houston city council employees she brought with her and an intern she borrowed from another office.

Oh, and since she was a former Houston City Council member with time left on her term, there has to be a special election to fill her seat--which should cost the city a cool $1 million.

I hope her 7 weeks in D.C. a good for her ego, because they sure as hell aren't going to be good for anyone else. And, once she gets back home, I hope nobody ever votes for this bimbo ever again.

Religion of Peace delcares war on the disabled

2006-11-17T16:29:00.000-06:00

Gotta love Canada, eh?

A case potentially pitting rights of the disabled against religious beliefs will be heard by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal after a blind man from the North Shore who uses a guide dog to get around launched a complaint against North Shore Taxi.

Bruce Gilmour filed the complaint after a cab driver from North Shore Taxi refused to let his guide dog into the cab in January of this year. Gilmour, who says it’s not the first time he’s been refused service by a taxicab, is complaining that North Shore taxi discriminated against him on the basis of physical disability.

But the taxi driver, Behzad Saidy, is arguing his Muslim religious beliefs will not allow him to take dogs in his taxi, because Muslims can’t associate with dogs.

According to documents filed with the Human Rights Tribunal, North Shore Taxi said about half of their drivers are “unable to take animals in their taxis due to medical or religious reasons.”

The taxi company asked the human rights tribunal to toss the case against it out. But tribunal member Lindsay Lyster ruled recently it is important that the case be heard, saying the case presents “important and difficult issues” for the tribunal to resolve including both the rights of blind people to equal services and the rights of employees to have their religious beliefs accommodated.

Well, that didn't take long, did it?

2006-11-17T16:20:00.000-06:00

Rush Limbaugh can kiss my butt, because I came up with this premise long before he did. And I'd like to thank Nancy Pelosi for bringing it to fruition.

As soon as the mid-term elections were over, I told anyone who would listen (and blogged it somewhere else) that we were in for two years of nothing because the Dems would screw themselves. The newly elected moderates wouldn't get along with the leftist leadership and none of them have any ounce of moral fibre to begin with.

Nutcase Nancy made my point better than I ever could by turning around, after campaigning about cleaning up corruption on Capitol Hill and fixing the Iraq situation--not cutting and running, then turning around and nominating the idiotic John Murtha to be House Majority Leader.

Murtha's not just the king of the cut-and-run lefties; he's also about as corrupt as anybody in Washington! He was an unindicted co-conspirator in the ABSCAM scandal 20 years ago and called Pelosi's own ethics reform bill "crap" last week!

Of course, he didn't win; the more subtly corrupt Steny Hoyer is the new Majority Leader. But, in the process, Pelosi already pissed off the moderates with her backing of Murtha, who went around telling newbies that what they said in public about the vote really didn't matter--who cares about giving your word? In other words, everything's for sale, just as it ever was.
Pelosi kept quiet publicly, but several congressmen who crossed her have already been told they're screwed.

Ok, so the party against corruption has proved itself to be corrupt and has already alienated the people it needs to push any substantive legislation through Congress (when GWB will kill it). All this in one week.

I can't wait to see what's next!

FIRE FRANCHIONE RETURNS

2006-11-13T21:25:00.000-06:00

Ok, this should have gone up weeks ago. At the very least, two weeks ago, but I have been both busy and shellshocked.

But ENOUGH ALREADY! Fire this guy!

It was bad enough that Franchione was stupid enough to call a play-action pass on 3rd and goal on the 2 against OU when you have the BEST SHORT YARDAGE BACK IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL in the backfield. Then, in a game where you know yardage is at a premium, you kick instead of going for it.

That was bad. Saturday was worse.

How in the name of God do you run a play out of the SHOTGUN on a 3rd down at the 2 yard line? What are you trying to prove?

Oh, wait: he's trying to prove how much smarter he is than everyone in the stands, everyone in the media and everyone else coaching football at any level.

And, like the idiotic call against OU, it failed. And A&M lost. The Aggies have three losses on their record, but the players have only lost one. Franchione has lost the last two all by himself.

Who calls a toss sweep with a true freshman when you're trying to run out the clock? Our hero. Who drops the defense scheme that has stymied Nebraska the entire second half on the last drive? Big Fran.
Who refuses to use Jorvorskie Lane to beat up Nebraska's front line and kill clock? That would be Dennis Franchione.
You know, the same guy who thinks it's cool to throw the ball when you're on the two yard line.

A quality Mizzou Meltdown

2006-10-15T14:38:00.000-05:00

This was posted by a douchebag named Gabe DeArmond, who runs Missouri's Rivals.com Web site. All week he said A&M sucked and Mizzou was invincible. Watch as he goes from maintaining that arrogant stance to near suicide by the final gun:

Pre-Game

I've tried, but I just can't be scared about this game. Can't do it. I've tried, but Missouri is the better team.

Indiana beats Iowa. WOW.

Key to the game is the first quarter. If the Tigers are up two scores, game over. If the game is tight at the end of one, we've got a game all day.

This is the first time I have watched a Missouri game with Missouri fans and not worked since the 1997 Holiday Bowl. Hopefully this one turns out a little bit better.

Let me say this right out: A win would be fantastic, no doubt about it. But a loss doesn't kill the season by any means. All a loss means is you're not going to win the national title and honestly, I don't think they'll win that anyway.

All right, the telecast is on and it's prediction time. I won't change from what I said all week: 31-14 Tigers as Daniel throws for 355.

Let's stop the comparisons of the tight end duos. There is no comparison.

Missouri wins the toss and takes the ball. Got to do it. Score on the opening drive again.

First Quarter

Touchback on the opening kickoff. Tigers start at the 20. Throw it and throw it and throw it some more.

First play is a sweep to Temple. He makes a man miss and gets five. If he can do that all day long, A&M is in big trouble.

Wide open Ek for ten. There wasn't a defender within five yards. Too easy.

Franklin is ALL ALONE in the open field. Touchdown for now. RUN THE PAT RIGHT NOW BECAUSE FRANKLIN FUMBLED THAT BALL. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. That's a fumble. No doubt about it. That is out FAR before he crosses the goal line. No doubt. OUCH.

The good thing is Missouri had three plays and A&M didn't come close to stopping one of them. It hurts, yes, but I'm encouraged by what I saw from the offense.

If they don't reverse this call, they should get rid of instant replay all together.

That's a really poor play by Franklin. Cut away from the guy or cover up the ball.

First down is Lane for nothing. Harrington makes the stop. Stop the run, you win the game.

A&M will run the option here. They do and McGee gets four. He could have had a whole lot more. McGee is not all that fast.

Third and six. You can make the fumble not matter nearly as much if you get a three and out.

Greay play by Terrell. Knocks the pass away. Flag on the play. Hopefully against A&M and it is not. Defensive hold and a first down. This is a TERRIBLE start. This is not the way Missouri has played this season.

Terrible call. Terrible.

Goodson loses about three. Nice play by Scott who redeems himself for the "penalty."

I thought I just saw Ziggy Hood in the game. Yep.

Five yards to Goodson. Third and seven. Solid. Now make the stop without a penalty.

A&M gets it on a REALLY generous spot. First down. Missouri might find out what it's like to be behind for the first time.

Sulak gets Lane for the loss of a yard. They're not running the ball at all, but you have to be concerned about the play-action right now.

Goodson gets about nine on second down. I'm telling you, he's the guy that scares me. He's the best back on this team and by the time he's done, he might be the best in the Big 12.

You're going to get one of two things here: Either a carry by Lane or an option. It's Lane for the first down. Bacon made a great play, but there's nothing you can do facing a guy that big by yourself.

Lane gets a yard. You hold them to a yard on first down all day, you're going to win. But eventually, McGee is going to go up top on first down and catch them off guard.

Trick play for a BIG gain. Told you they'd come with a trick that soon. Credit A&M, that's a hell of a call. A&M had two receivers WIDE OPEN. Nothing Overstreet could do.

Lane gets nothing. Chavis makes the stop. Second and goal at the four.

False start. That's a killer for the Aggies. Second and goal from the nine.

McGee has three yards, but it's going to come back on a hold. Should be second and goal outside the 15. That's big. A&M is going the wrong way.

Empty backfield. Think they'll throw? They do. Complete for about eight. Nice defense. Give them the underneath. Third and goal from the nine.

BIG PLAY. False start by the guy trying to block Brian Smith. Third and goal from the 14. They call it on Missouri. WHAT? Check the officials. Is the last name of one Franchione?

That hurts bad. A lot tougher to get a stop. Goodson catches it in the flat and goes down. Great stand by the defense. Great stand.

A&M is just 4-8 on field goals. Got to make this one obviously. He does.

3-0. Tigers trail for the first time all year, but it could have been so much worse.

Goldsmith right up the middle on the return near the 30. Nice field position.

If the Tigers score a touchdown and look good doing it here, I am not a bit worried. Not at all. The offense looked very good, they just made a stupid play.

Give A&M some credit. That's a great drive. The way you beat the Tigers is to keep the offense on the sidelines and waste a lot of clock.

Temple with a great cut. He gets 15. Missouri has run four plays and the Aggies haven't come anywhere close to even slowing one down.

Weird play there but it gets a first down. Saunders laterals to Coffman for 13. GREAT decision by Saunders to forego the deep pass because no one was open.

Already in A&M territory. They're going to score 30 if they don't turn it over a ton.

Goldsmith gets about six. Seriously, A&M cannot even slow them down.

Daniel is hit. Ruled as a fumble, but Luellen covers it. It might have been a forward pass, but they won't review it.

Third and 13. Big play here. Daniel changes the play. The crowd is REALLY into it. OH MY GOODNESS. I can't even describe that play. Daniel almost got sacked, got away, found Coffman, who dropped it and Perry picked it right out of the air for about 30 yards. YOU THINK THIS ISN'T MISSOURI'S YEAR?

Daniel to Coffman to the five. DOMINATION on offense. Domination.

Touchdown Temple. Not even touched.

7-3 Tigers. Missouri is going to have 500 yards of offense. This will not be close.

A&M's return man hesitates and only gets to the 15. Big series here.

Lane breaks about six tackles and picks up 12. That was impressive.

McGee had a HUGE hole on the option and gets just three. HE IS SLOW.

Told you they'd try the play action some time. They do it here and it's a HUGE gain. Ricks and Overstreet get burned. Down to the Tiger 3. We're in a ballgame.

Lane to about the one. Nice tackling by the Tigers. Still, second and goal at the one, he'll get it two more times.

Lane to about the half-yard line. The Tigers are playing this running game real well.

Touchdown Lane.

10-7 Aggies. Might have a ballgame here. The big plays are really killing Mizzou.

Goldsmith from the seven. Good hole out to the 30. Earl may not be a game-breaker, but he's doing a real nice job back there.

Go at them. Missouri will win a shootout with this team.

Temple breaks a tackle and gets nine. He looks VERY good.

End of the first: 10-7 Aggies. No reason to worry.

Second Quarter

Second and one, hit them deep. To Coffman for a first down. That's his third catch. Rucker doesn't have one.

Daniel rolls right on first down and finds Ek for about 15. He hasn't had an incompletion. A&M cannot stop Missouri.

Temple gets just a yard here. Did a good job just to get that. Give the Aggies one, they made one play.

Touchdown Franklin. He didn't drop this one. Two catches for more than 100 yards and a score. Should be two.

Great hands by the Copter. What a catch. This kid's been big time.

14-10 Tigers. So, so easy.

Kick to the goal line. Franklin is ROCKED by Weatherspoon at the 20. The kickoff team has been very good so far.

Make a stop, get a score, the ballgame is over. One stop.

Goodson for five. Christopher, who battled a hip pointer last week, was slow getting up there.

Willy Mo up to make the tackle on the Goodson carry. Third and four. HUGE PLAY.

McGee should have had a first down, but Christopher and Harrington make the play. I cannot tell you how slow McGee is.

First punt of the game goes to Saunders and it's a bomb. Fair catch made at the 16. Just go score again.

Adrian Peterson out for the season. Missouri just became a seven point favorite against OU.

A touchdown here may very well end this game. I really believe that. Missouri is already well over 200 total yards.

OH WHAT A CATCH. Coffman makes the grab. Even the ones he drops get completed. This kid is unreal.

Daniel takes off and takes a HUGE hit. You HAVE GOT TO SLIDE. You cannot take those hits every game. Gain of six and that's fine, but he has to get down.

A&M ball. Temple never got the handoff. The only thing that loses this game is turnovers. The ONLY thing. Defense got to make the stop. It wasn't Temple, it was Woods. WHY? Why do you put a guy in that has played that little? I'm sorry, but his confidence has to be gone. If he's fourth on the depth chart, why is he in?????

McGee for four. Man, that's a killer. That could REALLY hurt.

Goodson for a couple. This running game isn't doing a thing.

GREAT PLAY BY HARDY RICKS. He hammers McGee a yard short. GREAT PLAY. McGee waited too long to pitch it.

Fourth and one, A&M has to go. They will not. That is shocking. You have 275-pound running back and you're not going on fourth and two.

A&M gets the delay. HUGE STAND by the Missouri defense.

Punt is fair caught at the 12. Missouri still has not been stopped. You need points here.

Remember, it should be 21-3. You are in good shape. You have dominated this game.

Daniel throws the ball away. First incomplete pass of the day by either quarterback.

Daniel gets ten on the keeper for the first down. Good, solid run.

Where is Temple? Hope he's not hurt.

Tony is in the game and HE FUMBLES. That is three. WHAT IS GOING ON? This is unreal. This cannot happen. How are they still leading this game?

I would challenge that. They should challenge. Pinkel does. I think it will end up inconclusive and I do not think they will overturn it. It may not have been a fumble, but I do not think they have enough evidence to overturn the call on the field. OUCH.

That last angle showed me Temple was down, but I do not think they will change it. Pinkel challenges it and he should, but I really do not think they are going to change this call.

It stands. I don't know if it's the right call, but it's the only call they could make.

The defense has spent WAY too much time on the field. Way too much. It could really hurt against these running backs in the second half.

Good play there, Goodson loses one. A&M has had NO room to run.

Goodson gets one more. The A&M fans are all over the play calling. Make a stop here and you are doing fine.

Missed tackle gives the Aggies a first down. The Tigers have had a ton of chances to make a big play, but so far, A&M has made many, many more. Pig Brown missed the tackle. He should have had that stopped.

Lane gets four. Missouri needs to keep A&M out of the end zone here. If you survive this drive with the lead, you've got to feel really, really good.

Christopher hangs on for dear life and makes the tackle on Lane. He's got 11 carries for 25 yards, but they're just going to keep pounding him.

Touchdown Aggies on the pass. Man, this is getting scary.

A&M now leads 17-14. This game should be a blowout and Mizzou is behind.

Kickoff out of bounds. That was bizarre. Tigers take over at the 35. That was a sick looking kick.

Missouri is averaging 11 yards a play and is behind. Good Lord. Two ways to look at it: First off, Missouri is blowing a huge chance. Second, A&M has not come close to stopping them yet.

Daniel had Ek long and under threw it a little bit. Still, Ek has to catch that ball I think. Good play call. Cannot argue about that. The problem is that now you're in second and ten.

Daniel under threw it, but Ek should have caught it.

Franklin gets ten. The Copter shows some major emotion. TOUGH throw by Chase. Tough throw.

First down. Get a score. Go in ahead and you've got to feel very good. Daniel gets a couple.

Daniel's helmet is messed up and Coleman is in. I'd call a timeout. This is a run. Nope. He throws and under throws. Incomplete. WHY DO YOU CALL THAT PLAY WITH BRANDON COLEMAN? If he was good enough, he'd be the starter.

Third and eight. Bad luck there.

Perry gets seven. Fourth and one, you have got to go. I don't know if they will. But you have to.

They go. BIG PLAY HERE.

Empty backfield on fourth and one. WHY? Daniel gets two. The line's been fantastic in this game.

Nice play by the Aggie D-back. Jared Perry was open, but A&M recovered and knocked it away. Good play. Apparently there was a facemask penalty. AWFUL job by ABC.

Middle screen to Perry. It's worked a lot this year, but it didn't there. And A&M is going to pick up another penalty. 15 yards on a late it. 30 free yards. Wow. Thanks for that.

Incomplete pass. Daniel did a nice job to get rid of it.

Temple loses seven. OUCH. Now you've got to at least get enough to make it an easier field goal.

Daniel is HAMMERED as he throws. Incomplete. This will be a 38-yard field goal. No gimme. This is a BIG kick.

Perfect kick. Wolfert has been HUGE for this team.

Tied at 17. Given what has happened, you have to be happy about that.

If I was Franchione, I'd run the ball and end the half. That's what they do. Lane gets ten. 17 seconds left. No problem at all. They don't have time to score.

Lane gets eight and gets out of bounds. Still, they're at the 38 and they have nine seconds left.

Incomplete pass, McGee's first of the first half.

Complete for a first down, but the half is over.

End of the first half: Tied at 17. Could be a lot worse, but could be a lot a better.

Third Quarter

Revised prediction: 34-24 Tigers. Missouri is not going to continue to turn it over like this. They also are not going to panic.

Need a stop on the first series. Don't play from behind the whole half. Massey gets Franks at the 17. The kickoff coverage has been fantastic.

TOP 20-9 in favor of A&M. All that says is the Aggies have had to work a lot harder for their 17 points than Missouri has had to work.

Bacon slices through to get Goodson. One yard. This run defense has been awesome.

Snap over McGee's head and he falls on it. In the end zone. Use your head son. Safety Missouri. That's the game changer, folks. That's a game changer. What a HUGE play.

19-17 Tigers. Unreal. Missouri got one back.

Goldsmith takes the free kick and gets to the 45. GOT TO SCORE. GOT TO.

Daniel scrambles for a couple. Hold on to the ball and punch it in. You get up by nine and you're rolling.

Complete to Franklin for about six. Incomplete pass. Daniel threw it behind Rucker, who still does not have a catch. That's a missed opportunity. Give it to A&M, but that's just a bad throw.

Crossett punts for the first time all day. Pin them deep. He puts it in the end zone. Not a good possession there.

McGee hits the slant for a first down. They haven't thrown the ball much yet. Do they go that route to try to set up the run in the fourth quarter?

Overstreet blitzes and he hits Lane for no gain. I can't tell you how good the run defense has been.

McGee's pass is knocked in the air, right back to the QB and he gets a first down. That's just luck. Payback for the one Coffman tipped to Perry in the first half.

McGee for about four to Bennett. Missouri is not getting anywhere near McGee on the rush.

Goldsmith takes the free kick and gets to the 45. GOT TO SCORE. GOT TO.

Daniel scrambles for a couple. Hold on to the ball and punch it in. You get up by nine and you're rolling.

Complete to Franklin for about six. Incomplete pass. Daniel threw it behind Rucker, who still does not have a catch. That's a missed opportunity. Give it to A&M, but that's just a bad throw.

Crossett punts for the first time all day. Pin them deep. He puts it in the end zone. Not a good possession there.

McGee hits the slant for a first down. They haven't thrown the ball much yet. Do they go that route to try to set up the run in the fourth quarter?

Overstreet blitzes and he hits Lane for no gain. I can't tell you how good the run defense has been.

McGee's pass is knocked in the air, right back to the QB and he gets a first down. That's just luck. Payback for the one Coffman tipped to Perry in the first half.

McGee for about four to Bennett. Missouri is not getting anywhere near McGee on the rush.

Missouri blitzes and doesn't even get close. Franks for the first down. Both offensive lines have been very, very good.

Goodson gets nothing on the screen, but he could have lost five. According to the announcer, Derrick Harrington made the stop. READ YOUR ROSTERS FELLAS.

Pass complete for five. Third and five. HUGE DOWN. HUGE DOWN.

Give A&M's offensive scheme some credit. Missouri is blitzing like crazy, but they just can't get there. McGee is getting rid of the ball too soon.

Lane gets a couple. Tommy Chavis makes the play.

Bennett for about 12. Missouri's blitz is not working. You got to back off it and start covering. A&M is max protecting and its working.

Goodson for 12. The problem is when they throw the ball that well, you're susceptible to the run. Three missed tackles on this play. The defense is getting beat down. Missouri's offense has to stay on the field on the next drive. Not for a minute or two, but for four or five.

Lane to the three. Second and goal.

Goodson just too fast for Deke. Touchdown on the option. Folks, Missouri is going to have a BATTLE if they're gonna win this. If they do, they deserve some major major credit.

A&M goes for two. That makes no sense. I don't even get it. It works, but it doesn't matter.

25-19 Aggies. Well, folks, here we go.

Kickoff taken at the nine and Goldsmith gets only to the 16. A&M has some serious momentum. Time to make a statement. RUN THE FOOTBALL.

Temple gets a couple. Daniel should have kept. Missouri has got to take some time off the clock. I don't care how they do it, but they've got to take some time off the clock. This defense is too tired to come right back out.

On second and nine, they hand to Temple. Nothing. Odd. I know I said you should run it, but on second and nine?

If you don't get a first down here, that's REALLY bad news.

Incomplete. Missouri's offense deserves the blame for this one if they don't pull it out. They have been very poor outside of the first two or three drives.

BIG punt by Crossett. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. A 81-yard punt. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WOW.

Adam Crossett has just given this team a major, huge, monstrous boost. Now who takes advantage of it? Who makes the play? You don't win seven straight games without somebody coming up big in crunch time. So who's it gonna be?

A&M ball on the four. Don't let them out. And Lane gets eight. The run game is starting to work.

Goodson into the secondary. He's got ten. This is really not good. Plenty of time left, but you've got to get something done.

Lane for five more. They're getting really tired. Got to get a turnover.

Big play by Smith and Sulak. No gain for Lane. Third and four. Got to get this done. Got to. Cannot give up the first down here.

Complete to Bennett for a first. Missouri just can't get off the field.

Goodson for 18. Missouri's defense is just beat. Without a turnover, I don' know that Missouri can win.

Incomplete. Why is A&M throwing the ball?

Goodson gets five, but he should have lost five. Overstreet just whiffed. Not good enough.

At the 36, A&M now has two plays to get five yards. The way they've been going, they probably only need one.

False start. THAT IS HUGE. Third and ten. Now they've got to throw. YOU HAVE GOT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE.

Big play by Harrington. Pass complete, but they only get three. Fourth and seven. I'd go for it if I was Franchione.

End of the third: Missouri hanging on, down 25-19.

Fourth Quarter

If Franchione is playing to win, he goes for this. They are. Shotgun. I bet McGee punts. He does. End zone. Big break.

All right, as bad as it's been, the offense can win this game. Go do it.

Daniel to Jason Ray for six.

Missouri has totally abandoned the running game. If they're going to win ths game, Daniel will do it.

Announcers say Franklin is hurt. That ain't good.

Daniel to Coffman for 12. First down. Move the chains.

Perry for 16. Keep it moving. Slow it down and give the defense a break.

Daniel for nine on the option. Second and one. Good drive.

Daniel to Ek for a first down. Something about this kid. When he needs a drive, he's found it so far. He's on the verge of doing it again.

Ek for nine. Tough catch. This offense really does involve everyone. Ek has been absent for two weeks and now he's rolling.

First down on the Daniel keeper. Tigers at the 18.

Daniel to Saunders for 12. First down at the nine. First and goal. Punch it in.

Saunders to the five. Second and goal. Keep doing it. Missouri has turned to the short passing game in lieu of the running game.

Temple had the corner and he cut up field. Down at the four.

You're not necessarily in four down territory. Off Coffman's hands. Incomplete.

I'd kick. I would kick. Make it a three point game. Missouri is going. There's a lot of time left in this game. Nope, they're kicking.

Delay of game. That may have been intentional to give Wolfert a better angle. This is the first time all year we've seen Wolfert in a situation where he HAS to make a kick. Can he do it?

Missouri fakes it. WORST PLAY CALL I HAVE EVER SEEN. IF YOU'RE GOING TO FAKE IT YOU DON'T TAKE THE DELAY. FROM THE FOUR, THAT'S A TOUCHDOWN. WHAT ARE THEY DOING? THAT IS COMPLETELY AWFUL. THAT IS ALL ON PINKEL.

You're better off having Daniel line up and throw the ball. You just gave up making this a three point game. That's the most baffling thing I have seen this staff do in a LONG time.

Lane for a first down. Missouri's defense is just beat. Missouri may not get the ball back in a one-score game again. Pinkel may have just beaten his team.

Lane for 13 more. They just can't tackle him anymore. A&M is making no secret about it, all they're going to run the ball on every single snap because they don't think you can stop it. And neither do I.

Goodson loses two. But still, Missouri is missing the first tackle on every single play.

McGee throws it away. Third and 12. Got to make one more play. Lorenzo Williams on the pressure. First time I've heard his name all day long.

Pass complete, but three yards short of the first down. Missouri holds. And they give it up. A holding penalty is accepted. I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH THIS. You do not take a penalty on fourth down. This makes NO sense.

They were right and I was wrong. Williams gets the sack. I think they'll decline this one. Pinkel made the right call. That's why he makes a million bucks and I make considerably under a million bucks.

Saunders costs them ten yards on the return. He lets it bounce and costs them ten yards. He's been very good, but he hurt them there.

All right, the defense answered the bell. Time for the offense to do the same. Martin Rucker, show up. No catches. Not good enough.

This game should be over. And Missouri is down just six. If they can pull this out, I'm on board all the way.

Complete to Coffman for nothing.

Temple gets seven or so. Good run. Third and three. Time to make a play.

Just an awful play there. Daniel loses a yard or two. I'd go. Fourth and four, I'd go. YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.

I mean, I get it. If you go and don't get it, the game is over. But I still would go. Crossett shanks it. Out at the 20. Defense has got to make one more stop and the offense has to show up. One time.

At this point, I just hope the offense gets the ball back and still has a chance to win the game. Whether they do it or not, I hope they get the chance.

Lane for two or three. But he should have lost one. They just cannot tackle him. And you can't blame them as long as he's been on the field.

Dropped pass. That's a gift. That was a first down. Can't fault the play call because that was on the receiver.

Third and eight. This is it. Got to get this done.

Darnell Terrell with the play of the game. Bennett catches it but Terrell makes the tackle. Missouri's offense gets one more chance.

Great job by Saunders. The return was only four about eight yards, but that was fantastic.

73 yards from a win. This is it. Offense hasn't done a thing to help out the defense. It's time.

Daniel hurdles a tackler for 11 and a first down.

Near pick. WOW. That was close. WOW.

Option for nothing. Why do they continue to run on second and ten? Run it, but not there.

Two plays. You're in four down territory for sure now.

Daniel to Ek for eight of it. Fourth and three. Great call. You have to get a majority of it. They did. You can't get three yards, you don't deserve to win.

THEY RUN THE OPTION? WHAT IN GOD'S NAME ARE THEY DOING. THIS LOSS IS ON THE COACHING. HEY, I'VE BEEN NICE TO DAVE CHRISTENSEN, BUT THAT PLAY CALL AND THE FAKE FIELD GOAL FLAT OUT LOST THE GAME. PERIOD. MISSOURI WAS OUTCOACHED. YOU HAVEN'T RUN IT ALL HALF AND THEN YOU DO THAT? THAT'S EMBARRASSING. YOU JUST BEAT YOUR TEAM.

Lane for four. And they're not calling a timeout. Come on. I don't get it.

Two yards for Lane. Now Missouri calls a timeout. Finally.

Lane got it. That's the ballgame. Weak. I don't have a problem with losing this game, but I have a MAJOR problem with losing it the way you did. I'll save you the suspense: Coaching Grade: F.

Lane for nine. I'm done.

Final Score: A&M 25, Missouri 19.

Bravo, well played

2006-10-15T14:31:00.000-05:00

It would be remiss, after all the criticism I heaped on Franchione last year, to not give credit where it's due. In this case, mad props to Gary Darnell for making the needed adjustments to stop Missouri after their first three possessions. Last year, the Aggies couldn't play anyone in man-to-man--well, they couldn't play anyone in any fashion. This year is a totally different story. They were able to go man-to-man when they needed to and it worked. The fact that Darnell and Van Malone made ANY adjustments is a new concept for Franchione's regime. I'm very impressed.

If I were a Mizzou fan, I would want Gary Pinkel's head on a stick. The fake field goal and running the option on 4th and 2 were among the dumbest calls of the year. But hey, we'll take charity anytime.

Back by popular demand...

2006-10-12T15:28:00.000-05:00

The Texas A&M football weekly update.

The Aggies come into this game 5-1, which is where a lot of people predicted they would be. Not a whole lot of people figured they'd struggle with Army or have to pull one out of their hats to beat a Kansas team that may or may not be respectable (loss to Toledo, put up 600 yards against Nebraska).
Nobody expected Missouri to be unbeaten and nationally ranked.

The Tigers are led by Chase Daniel, a Texas boy that both A&M and t.u. ignored until it was too late in the process to do any good. And he's running the Texas Tech style offense better than the Techtards own QB, Graham Harrell.

Gulp.

In order to win this game, A&M has to do what they did in the second half against the Classless Clowns: hold on to the ball. In other words, Jorvorskie Lane has to be John Riggins (again) and Mike Goodson needs to be ready to dash and slash--and not fumble, thank you.

Looking for Courtney Lewis? Unless something has changed in practice this week, you won't. He's "injured," which is polite terminology for "he won't play with a boo-boo and he's pissed off the coaches and teammates."

I really think that A&M can hang with Missouri and may even be able to beat them. Of course, Mizzou is due for a letdown. Then again, so was Iowa State when they came into Kyle last year and rolled the Aggies like a cheap cigarette.

Either the Aggies win a close one or they get their doors blown off because they still can't play pass defense. For Franchione's sake, he'd better get a win; otherwise, the number of "statement games" on the schedule begins to dwindle...

What is this world coming to?

2006-10-12T15:25:00.000-05:00

This is from the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette:

A youth league baseball coach convicted of getting one of his players to injure a teammate was sentenced to one to six years in prison today.

Mark Downs Jr.

Fayette County Judge Ralph Warman said the actions by Mark Downs Jr., of Dunbar, in June 2005 were "outrageous" and "extremely reprehensible" because he was coaching a league of children 7 to 9 years old.

Testimony indicated Mr. Downs promised $25 to one of his best players if he hurled a ball at Harry Bowers Jr., 11, an autistic and mildly retarded teammate, presumably to keep him from playing in a game.

A jury convicted Mr. Downs last month of corruption of minors and conspiracy to commit simple assault.

Judge Warman sentenced him to six months to three years on each count.

Mr. Downs didn't say anything during this afternoon's sentencing hearing. But as he was led away, he replied "Yes" when asked if he thought the sentence was too harsh.

Judge Warman could have sentenced him to up to 12 years.

Mr. Downs' bond was revoked and he was taken to jail to await transfer to a state prison.

Mr. Downs' family, including his wife, a 6-week-old baby and three other children were in the courtroom for part of the hearing. But the three older children were hurried out before the actual sentencing.

Jennifer Bowers, mother of the injured player, said the sentencing ends a chapter in the story. "Hopefully we can close the book on this," she said, but added her son still doesn't understand what happened.

I say: This is one of the sickest things I've heard in a long time. Would it be bad form to hope that some guy in prison decides to take his frustrations out on this guy in a nasty, nasty fashion?

This guy needs Effexor

2006-04-18T11:20:00.000-05:00

Or Paxil. Or something. Maybe jail time. Talk about needing to chill out!

A Purdue University graduate student was arrested and charged with threatening to kill President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Vikram Buddhi allegedly posted the detailed and threatening messages on an online message board.
Buddhi has been studying industrial engineering at the university, having moved temporarily from India to his new home in West Lafayette 10 years ago on a student visa. He was originally hired as a teaching assistant in the math department but was removed from that position and is now a teaching assistant in the industrial engineering department.
Since this is a very busy time for college students, being immersed in studying for their upcoming finals, Buddhi’s attorney John Martin said he hopes his client will be released from jail Wednesday following his detention hearing so he can return to studying.
Buddhi told investigators he posted the message, along with other derogatory messages aimed at the president, but Martin said Buddhi’s actions should be covered by the First Amendment since Buddhi would have never actually carried out his threats.
In the various messages posted, Buddhi urged the Web site’s readers to bomb the United States and for them to rape American and British women and mutilate them, according to court documents. Other messages called for the killing of all Republicans.
“What was allegedly said certainly is derogatory and may be inflammatory,” Martin said. “But there’s no real serious threat more than it was chat on the Web.”
Buddhi allegedly posted his messages on a Yahoo finance board dedicated to Sirius Satellite radio, a site that receives 2 million to 3 million hits a day, Martin said. A concerned citizen contacted the Secret Service office in Dallas to report that a subject was posting threatening messages about Bush, according to the criminal complaint filed in Hammond’s federal court and unsealed Monday.
Buddhi was arrested Friday and told investigators he is not suffering from any mental illnesses nor is he taking any illegal or prescription drugs.

OH MY GOD (or Fran's latest, greatest screwup)

2005-12-14T21:59:00.000-06:00

Once Carl Torbush was fired as A&M's defensive coordinator, the faithful were assured that there would be a nationwide search for a new D-guy.
Well, the search is over, and it didn't go very far. Even though people from across the country did apply the winner is Gary Darnell.
For those of you familiar with the name--and you're an Aggie fan--you're either throwing up or looking for a sharp instrument to slit your wrists with. If you're not, here's who Darnell is:

He's the former defensive coordinator at Texas, who was in charge of three of their five worst defenses EVER;
A former Notre Dame d-coordinator who had his playcalling responsibilities removed because of his incompetence;
The former head coach at Western Michigan, where he was fired after the 2003 season after posting a career mark of 3-29.

Oh, and he didn't coach ANYWHERE last year, which tells you a lot about what his colleagues think of him.
So he's the new d-coordinator, over Gary Gibbs of the Cowboys, John Hoke of the Texans and God knows who else. Why?

He's Franchione's buddy. Period.

As someone who knows said earlier today, "this is the most politically tone deaf hiring I've ever seen."
Either Franchione has no idea how angry the people who pay his salary are or he knows and simply doesn't care. It appears that he really thinks he just knows more than the rest of us and can just work in his little bubble, completely cut off from reality.
The fact of the matter is that this is just another move that will alienate the A&M faithful and will likely lead to his ouster. But it should have happened already. Franchione should be FIRED.

NFL Thoughts

2005-12-09T12:35:00.000-06:00

As we get late into the season, here are some random NFL musings:

The Colts will go undefeated. They're not that good, everyone else is just that average.
Lovie Smith is the coach of the year. Joe Gibbs is the coach of the millenia.
People around the country would pay big money to have Archie Manning father their sons.
Complaints about Tom Coughlin being a tough coach vanish quickly when his teams win.
The Miami Dolphins would be really good if they had a quarterback who didn't reside in the magical land of suckdom.
Peter King has become annoying.
So has anyone on ESPN.
Michael, it was your pipe. Admit it.
If the Cowboys don't make the playoffs, will Bill Parcells shoot someone, or himself?
It's a shame, what's happened to Brett Favre. A damned shame.
It's not a shame, what's happened to Joey Harrington.
Comeback Player of the Year: Mark Brunnell.
Aren't you glad you demanded that trade, Laverneous Coles?
Shut up, T.O.
I didn't know it was humanly possible, but I feel bad for Andy Reid.
The quarterbacking this year flat sucks.
The Seattle Seahawks are really good.
It's amazing how good the Vikings have been with Brad Johnson, an intelligent quarterback.
It's amazing how bad the Raiders have been with Kerry Collins, a stupid quarterback.
Marty Schottenheimer's going to lose in the AFC championship game again.
Michael Vick still isn't that good a quarterback. Vince Young never will be.

Howard Dean pays the price

2005-12-09T12:18:00.000-06:00

Howard "NEEEAH!" Dean must be getting ready to screetch again.
Just a few days after he was crucified (justly) for saying the war in Iraq is lost, he's getting it from all sides.
First, it came out that the Republican National Committee had created a commercial with Howie and other libs talking about how the war was lost, we can't win, we should come home wahwahwah with a white flag in front of their faces. That, certainly must have outraged him.
But that's partisan--and, frankly, has nothing on this:

"North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy is accusing Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean of overstepping his bounds, saying the former presidential candidate should not give up on the war in Iraq.
On Monday, Dean likened the war in Iraq to Vietnam and said, "The idea that the United States is going to win the war in Iraq is just plain wrong."
"My words to Howard Dean are simple - shut up," Pomeroy told WDAY Radio in North Dakota on Thursday.
Pomeroy later told the Associated Press that he is tired "of the overblown rhetoric on both sides."
"We have young men and women with their lives on the line," he added. "The debate has fallen far short of what they deserve."
Pomeroy said Dean wasn't representing Democrats like him when he discussed the war.
"He is not hired to make major policy announcements on behalf of all the Democrats," Pomeroy said. "As our party chairman I believe he needs to focus on the nuts and bolts of winning elections."
Dean backtracked on his statements somewhat Thursday, saying his assertion that the United States cannot win the war was reported "a little out of context," and that Democrats believe a new U.S. strategy is needed to succeed there."

Howie, your strategy is to cut and run like a coward, so you can gloat and use the two thousand dead servicemembers and a lost cause for political gain. You don't care about the many, MANY thousands of Iraqis who would die or be enslaved in a terrorist paradise; you want brownie points.
Dean can't stand the fact that (believe it or not) the violence is decreasing, the Iraqi people are starting to embrace the democratic process and real tangible changes are becoming visible. If we don't get out now, this thing may work!
NEEEEAH!

That's Howard Dean's stand. Is he in good hands? Sure doesn't look like it..

Yes, this man is NUTS

2005-12-09T11:05:00.000-06:00

A little more background on that guy who jumped the White House fence last week:

"An Arkansas man who was arrested after he jumped the fence onto the White House grounds this week reportedly was after Chelsea Clinton -- not anyone from President George W. Bush's family.
According to a court-ordered report from the D.C. Department of Mental Health, Shawn Cox, 29, thought Clinton still lived at the White House. He thought he was destined to marry her."

Wow. This guy wants to marry Chelsea Clinton? Yeah, he's off the deep end.

Astros right on Clemens

2005-12-09T10:48:00.000-06:00

There has been some strenuous debate in and around Houston over the past couple of days about the Astros' decision not to offer salary arbitration to Roger Clemens. From my vantage point, it's pretty simple: the Astros made the right move.
Whether it was unintentional (and I have no idea how it possibly could be) or not, Clemens was trying to hold the Astros hostage. This stuff about playing for the love of his hometown and to be close to his family is a bunch of bunk; he's become a mercenary trying to get as much money as he can on his own terms.
Now, that's not to say he is certain to pitch anywhere else. In fact, I don't think Clemens will pitch anywhere else but Houston ever again. There are two reasons for that--Clemens' interest in his public perception and his price tag.
Over the past two years, Clemens has become a Houston institution unlike any other. He's even surpassed Nolan Ryan. Hakeem Olajuwon, Warren Moon, Earl Campbell? Not in the same universe. Neither are Bagwell and Biggio, two guys who deserve the utmost respect from this city. On the other hand, if Clemens left (especially to the Yankees or Rangers), people would burn down his home in Memorial.
There's also the little problem with Clemens wanting $20 million to pitch again.
If Roger Clemens is 33 and I'm the 'Stros, I hit that number with a smile on my face. The problem is, he's not. He's 43 and a power pitcher with leg problems. He's one pitch away from being finished for good. $20 million is an awful lot to risk on a man whose ability to pitch to his normal level is anything but certain.
The Astros aren't the Yankees (who probably won't pay him $20 million either). They have a budget they have to stick to. They asked Clemens for a decision so they could figure out what to do, and he said he'd decide on his own terms. Essentially, Clemens said "Screw you."
So the Astros did what they had to do and took the money that would have been flushed away in arbitration and saved it for something else, saying "Screw you back."
It was the right thing to do. The Astros with a younger starter (though not as good) and a power hitter or two added to the lineup are better than a team with Clemens on it. It's sad, but a fact of life.

The Baltimore Bums, or Angelos sucks

2005-12-09T10:22:00.000-06:00

That's what they should rename the Baltimore Orioles. They are a disgrace, and the disgrace starts at the highest levels.
If it wasn't clear before, it is now; Peter Angelos is a moron and is easily the worst owner in all of professional sports.
It's not to difficult to tell what's wrong with the Orioles; they don't have enough starting pitching, they don't have enough hitting and they don't have any bullpen to speak of. So what does the ownership and new GM Mike Flanagan do?
NOTHING.
Oh, they signed a catcher, Ramon Hernandez, to a 4 year, $28 million deal. Hernandez is an average hitter at best--AND THEY ALREADY HAVE A CATCHER IN JAVY LOPEZ.
Now, Lopez will move to first base, where he will likely be subpar both offensively and defensively.
There were two gaping holes in the starting rotation when the winter began. They are still there now with no interested parties even talking to the Orioles. The bullpen was smoking ruin before the winter started, and then B.J. Ryan left to take an aburd deal with Toronto. So what do the Orioles do? Trade for LaTroy Hawkins, a flop wherever he's been.
And now, Miguel Tejada, the team's highest paid and best player, wants out.
And who can blame him? The Orioles suck. They not only suck, they have problems that everyone in the world can see, except themselves. When they finally do attempt to make a move, it's done at an insultingly slow pace, allowing players to go elsewhere.
The biggest problem the Orioles have at this point is that nobody will take them seriously. The reason for this is simple: Peter Angelos. Angelos has taken what was once a proud, honorable franchise and made it baseball's laughing stock. He does what other insane, egomanical dictators have done in the past--surrounding himself with fawning idiots who refuse to tell him the truth. Angelos seems to think the Orioles are ready to contend--or he simply does not care. In either case, people all around the game know that Angelos is a damned fool who can be counted on to make the wrong decision any time he actually DOES make a decision. As a result, nobody will touch the money Baltimore has to spend. They might as well be trying to trade in Rubles.
Miguel Tejada has every right to be furious and to demand a trade. He was promised action when he was signed two years ago, and he's seen it. The problem is, the action has all been in full reverse.
The Orioles are not a contender. They are not close to being a contender. They are a travesty that everyone in baseball can see--except the Orioles' own front office.
The answer, as Ken Rosenthal pointed out in his column on Foxsports.com, comes when Angelos sells the team or dies.
Orioles fans are wishing for one above the other. You can guess which one.

Last night's Law and Order SVU..

2005-11-30T11:15:00.000-06:00

Could have been bought and paid for by the Daily KOS/Moveon.org/DNC types (if the DNC had the money). It started with a sex offender from Louisiana, displaced by Hurricane Katrina (in a wonderful scare tactic, the show mentions that THOUSANDS of sex offenders have-poof!-vanished) who has stolen three little girls. Two escape, and the guy gets busted. Then he dies.
From Anthrax poisoning.

Who's to blame for this? GEORGE W. BUSH.

Of course, here come the feds, who clean out the SVU squad of all its information and everything else in a fraudulent fashion, kidnap the girls and tell the SVU guys to shut up. The good and loyal SVU detective Olivia Benson, outraged by this injustice, leaks all her info to a reporter who's been essentially stalking her from the outset of the show.
What happens? The reporter is arrested by the Feds, but the SVU good guys find the source of the anthrax--a former WEAPONS LAB EMPLOYEE--who STOLE hundreds of vials of bioweapons (including the anthrax, which a little girl took, thinking it was "fairy dust") and sold them to terrorists.
At the end, Benson tells her reporter buddy that the feds "will make (the bad guy) disappear. You have to make sure the truth doesn't disappear with him."

Oh, give it a freaking break! The feds are evil and the stalker reporter is the hero when he goes to jail because of no shield law (take a bow, Judith Miller).

Don't get me wrong--I love SVU. It's one of my favorite shows. But Dick Wolf needs to stick to regular, apolitical plot lines.

Oh really, John-boy?

2005-11-30T11:09:00.000-06:00

In one of the more egregious examples of limited memory, John "I was elected President before I wasn't" Kerry announced during a press conference this morning that "No one...NO ONE on the Democratic or Republican side... is calling for timetable for withdrawal of troops."

Is that a fact? If so, it contradicts the following, both from the Washington Post:

(A nameless Democratic Senator) used a speech today [10/26/05] at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., to become the second Democrat considering the 2008 race to call for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

(The same senator) yesterday called for the withdrawal of 20,000 troops from Iraq by year's end as the first step in a proposal that would significantly reduce U.S. military forces in the region over the next 15 months."The way forward in Iraq is not to pull out precipitously or merely promise to stay 'as long as it takes,' " Senator X said during an address at Georgetown University. "We must instead simultaneously pursue both a political settlement and the withdrawal of American combat forces."

The Senator?

JOHN KERRY.

One of those things that make you go hmm....

FIRE(D?) FRANCHIONE

2005-11-23T13:59:00.000-06:00

The pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. The defenders, apparently, have stepped aside as the ax has been sharpened.
Will it fall?
Has it fallen already?

Let's hope it has.

McGee to start Friday

2005-11-23T11:40:00.000-06:00

According to numerous sources, Reggie McNeal's ankle has not recovered sufficiently for him to start in his last game at Kyle Field. Stephen McGee will get the start for A&M.

This is beyond a crying shame. Reggie McNeal did everything he could with a less-than-stellar supporting cast (especially on the defensive side) and atrocious coaching for four years at A&M. Here's hoping he has a great NFL career.

Bad feelings, oh oh bad feelings...

2005-11-23T11:09:00.000-06:00

It's wonderful that Barbra Streisand is a good singer, because her ability to do math sucks. An elaboration after her letter to the editor of the LA Times:

Re "Times Plans New Op-Ed Lineup," Nov. 11
The greater Southern California community is one that not only proudly embraces its diversity, but demands it. Your decision to fire Robert Scheer is a great disservice to the spirit of our community.
It seems that your new leadership, especially Publisher Jeff Johnson, is entirely out of touch with your readers and their desire to be exposed to views that stretch them beyond their own paradigms. So although the number of contributors to your Op-Ed pages may have increased, in firing Scheer and hiring columnists such as Jonah Goldberg, the gamut of voices has undeniably been diluted. I suspect this may ultimately decrease the number of readers of those same pages.
My greatest fear is that the underlying reason for Scheer's termination is part of a larger trend toward the corporatization of our media, a trend that we, as American citizens, must fervently battle for the sake of our swiftly diminishing free press.
BARBRA STREISAND
Santa Monica

Ok, a few things here to help Babs out: Senora Schnozz, adding voices you don't agree with to an editorial page, (e.g. Jonah Goldberg), is not a "corporatization of our media" and evidence of "our swiftly diminishing free press." It's called VARIETY, which is not just a trade publication. Look into it.
Further, the firing of your fellow lunatic fringe dweller Robert Scheer does not necessarily mean the "gamut of voices" on the LA Times' editorial pages has been "diminished." It just means your little buddy got canned. After all, the Times increased the number of columnists it now uses--which, miraculously, she got right--so that the number of liberal columnists now appearing in the paper actually INCREASED.
I'm so sick and tired of these leftists screaming that the sky is falling any time things don't go exactly as they want them to. My God, what're they gonna do when something SERIOUS happens? Spontaneously combust?

Chris Matthews: did he or didn't he?

2005-11-23T10:40:00.000-06:00

Over the past couple of days, there's been some debate on what Hardball host/raging lunatic Chris Matthews said during a speech at the University of Toronto (eh). According to a Canadian reporter, Matthews said that the time between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq was "not a good time for America" and blamed the American people for not understanding their enemy.

"If we stop trying to figure out the other side, we've given up," he allegedly said. "The person on the other side is not evil. They just have a different perspective. The smartest people understand the enemy's point of view, because they understand what's driving them."

What???
Chris, we DO get our enemy. We see them for what they are as plainly as the sun. They are a bunch of raving idealogues who are out to destroy us and our way of life. If you ask them, they'll tell you as much--right before they kill you. It's people like Matthews, who try to attach some semblance of blame to the U.S. for 9/11 and really think that we can sit down and talk things out with these religious zealots that haven't "figured out the other side." They're too arrogant and assured the way they do things is right that they can't approach the matter from a different vantage point. How stupid.

But then, after receiving a quality skewering from Powerline (www.powerlineblog.com), Matthews wrote them a note protesting his innocence.
"I told the students that the way to deal with terrorists is the way Golda Meir did after the attack on the Israeli Olympic athletes: hunt them down and kill them one at a time and be rough about it," he wrote. "Every person in that room heard my say this. I don't know why the reporter chose to conflate my remarks about our need to get behind the forces in the Muslim world into my approach on how to deal with terrorists.
Feel free to check with the University of Toronto students who invited me to speak. "

Considering that the only people on earth who can screw things up worse than an American reporter with a grudge is any other reporter with a grudge, I can almost believe this. On the other hand, Matthews' implacable hatred for George W. Bush and his administration makes me think that he's perfectly capable of making al Qaida the good guys and Bush the bad. After all, you'll note that he makes no statement of dispute that the Iraq war was started because he wanted payback for the attempting assassination of 41, a desire to "do something big", to help Israel and help his oil cronies--all raving lefty loony assumptions.

So is Matthews telling the truth, or is the other guy? You'd like to think a man in Matthews' position wouldn't be so stupid, but his track record suggests otherwise...

More Bama B.S.

2005-11-22T14:32:00.000-06:00

One of our Crimson-faced fans who like to talk about toilet paper and detergent has struck again. Bama boy has returned to our little blog, saying the Aggies get what they deserve and that Fran's collapse was just proof that he made his reputation on the back of Alabama's historic program.
Whatever.
Franchione's 9-3 season at Alabama was very nice. IT WAS HIS WORK AT TCU THAT MADE HIM STAND OUT!
Dear Alabama fan: The college football world does not start and end in Tuscaloosa. And boy, did you guys suck when the chips were down.

War Eagle.

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-11-21T22:08:00.000-06:00

Today, Vincent "Radio" Young told Dallas reporters that he considered the 12th Man, the finest tradition in American sports, stupid and called the students who stand at Kyle Field "Drunks," among other things.
Radio should be put in a body cast for his jerkoff comments. But you know what? He's going to get away with it and more Friday because the Aggies aren't competitive. Why aren't they competitive? Well, you could ask the coach--if you got through his jackass of a PR hack.

A few years ago, nobody would have dared to insult the A&M student body the way Young did. Franchione probably isn't even upset, because he knows he can't do anything about it.
Maybe next year, if Radio comes back for his senior year, the Aggies can get some semblance of payback. But that would require a new direction--and a new coach.

CNN's latest disgrace

2005-11-21T22:05:00.000-06:00

For more than a decade, CNN has been nothing more than a mouthpiece for the American left. In spite of their fairly blatant partisan approach to things, they've never been quite as vile as they were today.
During a speech today given by Dick Cheney, CNN decided it would be cute to put a big black X over the Veep's face. Not once, but several times. It was done quickly, so it would appear to be subliminal.
Too bad for them Drudge caught it.
The White House is wondering if Atlanta is trying to send them a message. If they haven't gotten it yet, they're incredibly stupid. Regardless, CNN is really stupid for being so mindlessly juvenile. And they wonder why Fox is kicking the hell out of them.

TV stupidity

2005-11-14T13:33:00.000-06:00

It's very difficult to say who owns the title of dumbest person in television, but the current leader in the clubhouse has to be Carol Lin of CNN. Never one to be confused with a curious mind, Lin described some rioters this weekend during a newsbrief as "African-American."

THE RIOT WAS IN FRANCE.

FIRE RAY NAGIN

2005-11-13T16:37:00.000-06:00

Of course, the liberals and Farrakhan won't want to hear anything but "Bush destroyed New Orleans," but that's crap. If anyone deserves "credit" for this disaster, it's Ray Nagin.
First, he cusses out the feds for not providing busses, when he allows 150 school busses to be flooded out because he wouldn't release them. Then he talks about the horrors of the Superdome, which was bogus. In the meantime, he's moving his family to Dallas, where he buys a nice, new home.
He's already laid off 1/3 of the city's staff. Now, the City of New Orleans is going to charge the people who lost everything--their livelihood, their homes and their possessions--$300 a month to CAMP IN A PUBLIC PARK.
Yeah, there's the party of caring and compassion, hard at work.
What a scumbag.

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-11-13T16:12:00.000-06:00

Yesterday's 36-30 loss, as Smoove D pointed out, was not the nuking that was expected. However, it was worse. It was a game that should have been won, but was lost due to horrible coaching.
What the hell was Franchione thinking going for a field goal down 12 points with less than 8 to go in the game? What kind of scheme allows a team with the lead to have the middle of the field on a 3rd and 11 when you've only got one timeout left?

Yesterday's game came down to Bob Stoops versus Dennis Franchione and Stoops, as usual, ate his lunch. The players deserve better. The alumni deserve better. Fire Franchione.

We're getting noticed...

2005-11-13T16:02:00.000-06:00

Not only by the athletic department at A&M, but the liberal loony left as well. This nice little missive was left by a nameless drone earlier today:

"Who are you calling a hypocrite?

Bush, his stooges, and his supporters are the hypocrites. Bush promised in 2000 that he would return morals and ethics to the White House. Ha! Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, his buddy Tom DeLay, and the "faulty intelligence" have tarnished the White House more than any administration ever has.

It's unconscionable that there are still folks who defend Bush.

I hope he keeps the gloves off and more people will see how much damage this administration has done to our country. "

Ok, let's take this from the top.
After Bill Clinton, Bozo the Clown could return morals and ethics to the White House. Much has been made of Scooter Libby's indictment, but the Clinton Administration had far more people indicted than an assistant to the Vice President (Webb Hubbell, anyone?)
This bit with Valerie Plame is an utter farce. Plame and Joe Wilson outed bad Val long before anything was done by the White House. Andrea Mitchell of NBC has said it was "common knowledge" that Plame was a CIA plant. Also, Wilson's repeated crusading was totally debunked by a bipartisan Senate committee who said, in essence, that he was a fraud and full of crap.

Oooh, a lefty who hates Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. What else is new? Cheney's never been linked to any wrongdoing and Rove isn't going to get indicted. This is just hateful leftist spewing.
As for Tom DeLay: We'll see how that comes out. But to link him to the Bush Administration, when DeLay's been in D.C. for 20 years, is more than a big stretch.

What's unconscionable? That people don't buy into your bile-spewing obsessive hatred of the president? If conservatives were doing that to Clinton, you'd be calling them hate-mongers. That makes you a hypocrite, o anonymous one.

The faulty intelligence you point to was believed unanimously by the CIA, MI-5, the Clinton Administration, the Russians and anyone who was supposedly paying attention. A bipartisan Senate panel also absolved the administration of skewing the data before the war started. Nice try.

Hate, hate, hate. No facts. Just bile. Babies.

Emperor Chirac

2005-11-11T13:03:00.000-06:00

This quote, eyebrow inclusive, comes from Jim Geraghty's TKS at National Review Online (www.nationalreview.com). It was given, (eyebrow inclusive) by Black Jacques Chirac the other night during his non-surrender speech.
Tell me this doesn't sound like something you'd hear from Palpatine in Episode II:

"We must demonstrate (eyebrows bounce back up high again, looking inspired) the strength of the Republic…”

My comments again: He may have been deformed, but his will is unbroken...he will lead us to a new era of glory under the first FRENCH EMPIRE.
(Eyebrows bounce up and down)
I just have one question-what would the French use as their terror weapon? Their armpits?
And would the big round thing be called the Surrender Star?

Oh, shut up (Part II)

2005-11-11T12:50:00.000-06:00

And idiots like these are why I don't go to church that often.

"Ninety-five bishops from President Bush's church said Thursday they repent their "complicity" in the "unjust and immoral" invasion and occupation of Iraq.
"In the face of the United States administration's rush toward military action based on misleading information, too many of us were silent," said a statement of conscience signed by more than half of the 164 retired and active United Methodist bishops worldwide."

Dear bishops: NOBODY CARES. Your decisions are between yourself and God. Don't try to publicize or politicize an issue that does not require your input.

Oh, shut up

2005-11-11T12:48:00.000-06:00

There are some people in this nation who don't believe in God. When you've got people like Pat Robertson going around saying they're speaking for God, it's easy to understand why.

"Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they "voted God out of your city" by ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design.
All eight Dover, Pa., school board members up for re-election were defeated Tuesday after trying to introduce "intelligent design" — the belief that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power — as an alternative to the theory of evolution.
"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city," Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club."

Oh, for Pete's sake.

Death is a good thing sometimes

2005-11-11T12:45:00.000-06:00

And this is one of those times.

"One of Saddam Hussein's closest aides, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, has died, Iraq's former ruling Baath party says.
"The leader of the resistance... died on 11 November, at 0220 [Thursday 2320 GMT]," the statement said. There is no independent confirmation.
Mr Douri, 63, was the most senior figure in the former regime still at large. The US had offered a $10m reward for information leading to his capture.
In recent years he was accused of financing insurgent groups in Iraq."

About damned time

2005-11-11T12:37:00.000-06:00

This morning, President Bush gave a speech lambasting his critics on the war in Iraq. Among other things, he said it was wrong to "rewrite history" on how the war began.
For one thing, I'm tired of this "Bush lied, people died" crap. Let's revisit a few things here:

Before the war, there was near unanimity that Saddam Hussein had and still had WMD. It wasn't just the Bush Administration; the Clinton Administration, Tony Blair's government and others agreed.
John Kerry, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton all voted to authorize the use of force. Kerry said in the middle of last year's campaign that he would vote for such authorization again.
The United Nations agreed to a resolution which said Iraq remained in violation of previous demands that it dismantle its WMD programs.
BILL CLINTON ordered the bombing of Iraq in 1998 because of Iraq's WMD program.
A bipartisan panel, led by former Virginia Sen. Chuck Robb (a DEMOCRAT), said there was no attempt to use intelligence data to mislead by the administration in the buildup to the war.

This morning, that worthless scumbag Harry Reid said he wanted Bush to "come clean" about the war. It's not up to Bush to come clean, it's up to Reid and his leftist cronies. Come clean, bastards: admit that you don't give a good goddamn about the men and women fighting and dying in Iraq. Admit that you're just making a good huff and puff for political opportunity and a chance to make a man that you despise bleed. Admit that you'd be in lockstep behind the president if his name was Clinton.

Admit you're a bunch of hypocrites.

I hope President Bush takes the gloves off and takes it right to these creeps. What's he got to lose?

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-11-11T12:30:00.000-06:00

Contrary to what our heckler said, Aggies are not born losers. On the other hand, we will continue to lose as long as this coach stays in place.
26 hours until the Nuking in Norman. Ouch.

Can you feel the love tonight...?

2005-11-11T12:21:00.000-06:00

Apparently our little blog here has gotten the attention of not only good Ags across the nation and some other interested parties (including the athletic department), but some real juveniles. One of them decided to send a precious little missive to us at 3:35 this morning:

"Might as well keep him (Franchione)- you f&%&#rs are just born losers..."

The lovely soul who wrote this didn't have the decency to leave their name or email address, leaving us to speculate as to their background. Odds are they're a Techtard or a sip. If it's a Techerhead, it's obviously one with a short memory who doesn't remember that we used to hold the deed to the Lubbock School for the Mentally Deficient until very recently. If it's a sip, it's probably one that just got beat up by his boyfriend. Oh, well.

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-11-10T17:23:00.000-06:00

Hey, there's a new website out there called www.firedennisfranchione.com (and they like the Aggieland Blogger, too)! Can't imagine why there would be such a thing...

Oh, wait. Yes I can.

Why the French haven't called the army out

2005-11-09T12:21:00.000-06:00

There's no real apparent leader to the mass riots, so there's nobody to surrender to.

Back when the French were arrogant

2005-11-09T12:18:00.000-06:00

Check out these America-bashing commentaries from the French just a couple months ago after Katrina hit (courtesy of Glenn Greenwald's blog, glenngreenwald.blogspot.com):
Philippe Grangereau in France's Liberation"Bush is completely out of his depth in this disaster. Katrina has revealed America's weaknesses: its racial divisions, the poverty of those left behind by its society, and especially its president's lack of leadership."
Jean-Pierre Aussant in France's Le Figaro"This tragic incident reminds us that the United States has refused to ratify the Kyoto accords. Let's hope the US can from now on stop ignoring the rest of the world. If you want to run things, you must first lead by example. Arrogance is never a good adviser!"
Le Monde
Le Monde credits the hurricane with highlighting “the country’s social inequalities”. It says: “Despite the economic and military strength it is prepared to deploy overseas, the United States has shown itself incapable of dealing with a catastrophe of this scale at home.”
Le Monde
Why did federal authorities under Bush's command "seem to be so little prepared in the face of a hurricane, the strength of which was known 48 hours in advance?" Le Monde asked. "Why did the [Bush] administration fail its first great [national-]security test since the September 11, 2001, attacks?"
Le Monde"Is it well-advised to spend hundreds of millions" -- make that billions -- "of dollars to make war in Iraq when America is incapable of protecting its own citizens?" a Le Monde editorial asked.
Liberation
For the French, who feel greater historical, cultural, linguistic and emotional ties to New Orleans than perhaps any other American city, the daily front-page images have been gut-wrenching. "The rage of the forgotten" declared the headline of Saturday's editions of Liberation newspaper beside a photograph of a young woman on her knees, screaming in despair.
Liberation"Bush had already been slow to react when the World Trade Center collapsed. Four years later, he was no quicker to get the measure of Katrina - a cruel lack of leadership at a time when this second major shock for 21st century America is adding to the crisis of confidence for the world's leading power and to international disorder. As happened with 9/11, the country is displaying its vulnerability to the eyes of the world. "
Liberation"Katrina has shown that the emperor has no clothes. The world's superpower is powerless when confronted with nature's fury."
Le FiagroSaturday's lead editorial in Le Figaro questioned how the U.S. military could have been so quick to arrive in South Asia for the tsunami, yet "wasn't able to do the same within its own borders."
LiberationThe situation is still as desperate as ever for thousands of Americans after Hurricane Katrina's passage. Why was the United States so ill-prepared? Bush reacted slowly, the levees couldn't handle more than a Category 3 hurricane. In addition, despite evacuation orders, most in New Orleans had no mode of transportation and finally, the war in Iraq has sapped resources.
Emmanuel Todd, Le Figaro
American neo-conservatism is not alone to blame. What seems to me more striking is the way this America that incarnates the absolute opposite of the Soviet Union is on the point of producing the same catastrophe by the opposite route. Communism, in its madness, supposed that society was everything and that the individual was nothing, an ideological basis that caused its own ruin.Today, the United States assures us, with a blind faith as intense as Stalin's, that the individual is everything, that the market is enough and that the state is hateful. The intensity of the ideological fixation is altogether comparable to the Communist delirium. This individualist and inequalitarian posture disorganizes American capacity for action. The real mystery to me is situated there: how can a society renounce common sense and pragmatism to such an extent and enter into such a process of ideological self-destruction?

OH, HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

Franchione's buyout

2005-11-09T11:49:00.000-06:00

There's still a lot of conjecture about what it would take to get Dennis Franchione the hell out of College Station as a buyout may change what he's owed. From sources close to the program, however, the athletic department, believe it or not, is cash-strapped. Since the revolt against Franchione has come from below, maybe we need to raise funds to pay for the buyout, which I estimate will end up in the range of $2.5 million.
I'll put in $100 of money that I really can't afford, I want him gone that bad. Please, put the amount you'd be willing to donate (with your name if you'd prefer) in the comments section. Also, feel free to link this to your blog or send it out in an E-mail. Let's do what we can to improve things.

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-11-09T11:46:00.000-06:00

We are now less than 96 hours from the Nuking in Norman, which we can only pray will be slightly better than 77-0. Oklahoma is not good; they are far from good. Still, they will put 40 up on a team that has quit on a coach it despises.
Please, members of the Board of Regents and Mr. Byrne: Do what is necessary. Get rid of the man who thinks he's above the program and everyone wearing an Aggie Ring. Fire Franchione.

How do you define a liar?

2005-11-08T15:50:00.000-06:00

Well, it's sort of tough. But you do know one when you see one, or--even better--when they announce themselves to the world. That's what Mary Mapes has done.

In her first interview since being fired, former CBS News producer Mary Mapes maintains that her controversial "60 Minutes II" story on President Bush's National Guard service was "true" and that "no one has proved that the documents were not authentic."
Mapes was fired after an independent panel found her basic reporting was "faulty."
In her interview with ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross, to be broadcast Wednesday morning on "Good Morning America," Mapes says she is unrepentant about her role. "I don't think I committed bad journalism. I really don't," she says.
Mapes is author of a newly-published book about the controversy, called "Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power" (St. Martin's Press).
Mapes says she believes the panel's findings were used by CBS President Les Moonves as a pretext to remove Dan Rather as anchor of the "CBS Evening News."
"Les Moonves viewed the news department as being kind of an uppity group of folks who thought they worked in news rather than television news," she told Ross. "And he wanted them to work in television."
Mapes says Rather did not have "any obligation to resign" from his position, as CBS correspondent Mike Wallace recently suggested.
Mapes says she is continuing to investigate the source of the controversial documents whose authenticity was seriously questioned by the CBS panel. She tells Ross that she had no journalistic obligation to prove the authenticity of the documents before including them in the "60 Minutes II" report. "I don't think that's the standard," she said.
Mapes says one of her few regrets in handling the story was her phone call to a member of Sen. John Kerry's Presidential campaign staff prior to the broadcast. "I wish to God I hadn't done it, because I think it was so wildly misinterpreted." She says she made the call only as a way to gain favor with the source who provided her with the documents.
Mapes rejects suggestions she had political motives. "I did not have it in for George Bush," she said.
Mapes also criticizes other reporters for spending too much time on her story and other flawed journalism. "I think the media's had more fun beating itself up in the last five years than it has asking hard questions of the administration or government officials, and I think that's wrong," she said.
Mapes tells Ross she feels in no way responsible for what happened at CBS News in the wake of her "60 Minutes II" report.
"If you're talking about an investigation that basically gutted a news organization, and turned people one against another and made people afraid of each other, and really scooted the country's most experienced anchor out of his anchor chair, and now has the evening news casting about for some kind of format that will be zippy and new, I didn't do that. I had absolutely nothing to do with any of that," she said.
Yet, in a statement, CBS News maintained that Mapes' actions damaged it as an organization. "Her disregard for journalistic standards — and for her colleagues — comes through loud and clear in her interviews and in the book that attempts to rewrite the history of this complex and sad affair," the statement said. It also pinpointed Mapes' notion that a news organization has no obligation "to authenticate such important source material" as only one of the "troubling and erroneous statements in her account."

NOONE has proven they aren't authentic? Is she nuts or in complete denial? Those things were as fake as Pam Anderson's gazooms and the whole world knows it--well, except for Mapes and Dan Rather.

Suck it up, Froggies

2005-11-08T13:23:00.000-06:00

The French intifada is getting better by the second, as the world reports the utter ineptness of the French government and the racial divide between Islamofascist and Frog Snob. Now, as Monsieur and Mme. Frenchie see what the world is saying, they are--typically--offended.

French media have run hard-hitting reports on the riots, just as they have been very critical of social or racial problems abroad. But seeing equally tough reporting about their own country seems to have caught the French off guard.
Eric Raoult, mayor of the eastern Paris suburb of Raincy, did not like being at the receiving end of outside attention.
"Last night, Japanese television and Turkish television were in my city hall telling me what should be done. That hurts me," he said.
While reporting on the hard-hitting coverage in the United States media, one Paris radio station noted with relief a New York Times report saying the city centre was safe for tourists.
"Fire and blood in France -- at least that's what some foreign media claim is going on," Le Parisien wrote. "Paris is burning, civil war, war zone, race riots -- the headlines, especially on TV, often have no nuance."
The conservative Le Figaro was indignant about the way U.S. media reported from riot-hit areas such as Seine Saint Denis, the rundown area between the capital and its Charles de Gaulle airport to the north.
"American newspapers don't hesitate to compare Paris to Baghdad or Seine Saint Denis to the Gaza Strip and to call the crisis a 'Katrina of social disasters'," an editorial fumed in a reference to the recent hurricane.
Other commentators objected to the way foreign media stress the ethnic backgrounds of the rioters and the racial discrimination they complain about -- issues less prominent here because France officially does not recognise it has minority communities.
CNN, the U.S. satellite channel that Paris would like to launch a French-language channel to compete with, is watched especially carefully for anti-French nuances.
"CNN runs the headline 'French Violence' on its website like it had 'War in Iraq' during the American intervention," Le Monde noted disapprovingly.
The Nouvel Observateur weekly said CNN talked about possible civil war, curfews and deployment of troops -- without mentioning some French politicians were using the same terms. Fox News, a leading outlet of anti-French sentiment after Paris opposed the Iraq war, was also held up for criticism for broadcasting headlines like "Paris Burning" over a picture of the Eiffel Tower before a wall of flames.

Well, too damned bad. If you weren't having massive riots and could control your population, the world wouldn't be (rightfully) laughing at you.

Only in Cali

2005-11-08T13:17:00.000-06:00

Two women were arrested in Sacramento yesterday after they decided to disrobe in front of the state capitol. The women, members of the group (snicker) Breasts Not Bombs, were protesting the war.

"We have done these demonstrations from San Francisco to Mendocino to the gates of the White House and never been restrained in this way," said Breasts Not Bombs member Sherry Glaser of Albion, Calif., near Mendocino, addressing about 100 onlookers. Soon after, Glaser, 45, removed her top and was promptly arrested. Renee Love, 40, also of Albion, was arrested after she removed her top. Both were charged with indecent exposure, disorderly conduct and going beyond the scope of their permit to demonstrate on state property.

Judging from the view of these women from the back, the cops who arrested these (snicker) boobs should get hazardous duty pay.

Well done, Andy Reid

2005-11-08T13:03:00.000-06:00

I am not a Philadelphia Eagles fan (far from it), but credit must be given where it's due. In this case, it means giving kudos to the Eagles and their head man, Andy Reid, for telling Terrell Owens to get the hell out of town.
We all know Owens is a very good football player. He's also a complete and utter jackass, a cancer in the locker room and a pathological liar. Any team wanting to make a run at the Super Bowl--or, hell, complete the season!--needs to get rid of a punk like him.
It's simple math: when it's 51 vs. 1, the 1 must go. In spite of all the possible difficulties, the Eagles did the right thing and dumped T.O.'s sorry ass.
Now, hopefully, nobody will pick him up. That would be justice.

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-11-08T10:10:00.000-06:00

It has been 29 days since Texas A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne should have removed Dennis Franchione from his coaching duties. Judging from the reaction of the Aggie faithful, both in responding to this blog, other online sources, on the radio and in person, this is not an isolated demand.
Mr. Byrne, they say you hate t.u. as much as the rest of us. If that's the case, we need to get rid of a man who is running our program into the ground, not catching up with Austin's.

Quel Domage, Frenchie

2005-11-08T10:06:00.000-06:00

It appears that France, the paragon of moral virtue and civilization, has an outright disaster on their hands with these riots. The same people who mocked the U.S. for having such a horrible problem with race have a far bigger problem of their own.
It's an interesting situation. Who do you root for here, the young Islamofascist scum or the arrogant French who provoked them with their arrogant, condescending attitude?

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-11-07T14:19:00.000-06:00

It's 48 hours since the end of the game and the Techerheads are still scoring. As is evident by the rage on the chatboards, public opinion has turned even further against Texas A&M's alleged savior.
It's a real shame that Bill Byrne won't do what Andy Reid has done with Terrell Owens: suspend him until the end of the year then kick him to the curb.
The time has come. The time is now, Mr. Byrne and big money backers: fire Franchione. There is no alternative.

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-11-06T20:09:00.000-06:00

56-17. Back when the cupboard was supposedly bare and this alleged coach was telling people to get their licks in while they can, it was 59-28.
Mr. Byrne, this program is an disgrace. There is only one solution: fire Dennis Franchione now.

Viva la revolucion!

2005-11-04T11:34:00.000-06:00

After my siesta, that is.

There's been a big deal made about all the protesters waiting for the man when he gets down to Argentina for the big Summit of the Americas. Here's what's waiting for George:

"Santiago Zamora, a 30-year-old biology student from northern Argentina, sported a red Che Guevara (search) shirt.
"We are going to fight against all forms of imperialism," Zamora said, voicing complaints against free-market programs some here blame for enslaving poor Latin American countries."

You better fight against imperialism and the free-market, Santiago. Because if they win out, you're going to have to GET A FREAKING JOB!
Tools.

Time for Andy to go bye-bye

2005-11-04T11:24:00.000-06:00

I haven't liked Andy Rooney for some time, mostly because he's an old bitchy leftist who's out of touch with reality. A lot of other folks found that out this morning when he dropped this doozy on Don Imus' radio show:

'I have a problem with the term African American...The word negro is a perfectly good word. There is nothing wrong with that.'

I suppose you'd like to call them "boy" or something else, too, Andy?
Nice knowing you. Have fun at the retirement home.

Dear Frenchie...

2005-11-04T11:14:00.000-06:00

Don't take this the wrong way, since I'm very recognizant of the fact that, 220 years ago, you helped us become a free an independent nation...but I'm really enjoying the riots you all are having. Frankly, it serves you right.
For the past several years, ever since 9/11 basically, you, your government and your idiotic media have been spouting off about how America is on its last legs, will collapse under its own weight and really ought to take lessons in leadership and democracy from you.
It was funny then, and it's a whole lot funnier now.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the French press gloated, claiming it "proved" how the American form of government was simply inadequate and how their centralized socialist system was so much better. They didn't stop there, as they labeled the average American a bigot who didn't care about the fate of the blacks in New Orleans, much less want to help them.
Well, now we know the truth.
There are some serious racists around, but they aren't in the states; they're in France! They're the people who have been keeping the Muslims down (in their opinion) to the point they're taking to the streets to riot in frustration. Sure, some people from New Orleans are upset and some even believe the crap Louie Farrakhan was peddling about whitey blowing the dikes, but most know better. They certainly haven't been upset enough to riot--and the the reports of total anarchy in New Orleans ended up being totally overblown, with no small help from the European press!
It's tough to hide or ignore what's going on in Paris, however.
There's no doubt the federal government sucked when it came to responding to Katrina and the Michael "Brownie" Brown should be cooked like one. However, we also had the amazing idiocy of Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blickity-Blanco to make matters worse. In France, however, l'etat c'est Chirac. In other words, it's all on the feds. And now, with no natural disaster in the way, they haven't been able to control the situation or maintain order for over a week! That's quality leadership right there.
The French said we have been cruel and crass to Muslims. Hey, they aren't burning down our buildings. They sure have a liking for cooking yours, however.
There's no doubt the French are massive hypocrites, but this just takes the cake. The only thing missing to this latest blow to Frog arrogance is a surrender to the mob, which could come at any time.
You reap what you sow, Frenchie. Don't gloat about the speck in someone else's eye when you've got the Black Forest in yours.

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-11-04T11:12:00.000-06:00

It has now been 25 days since athletic director Bill Byrne should have relieved Texas A&M head football coach Dennis Franchione of his duties. After Tech hangs 80 on us tomorrow, the drumbeat should get a whole lot LOUDER.

Way to go, Big Frank!

2005-11-04T10:24:00.000-06:00

The winners of this year's Congressional Medal of Freedom were announced this morning, and there were a few prominent names on the list. My personal favorite was this one:

* Frank Robinson. The current manager of the Washington Nationals, Robinson won most valuable player awards in both the American and National leagues. He broke the color barrier for managers, becoming the first black manager in Major League Baseball in 1975.

A very deserving winner of the award and someone people of all races should look to for inspiration.

Great Aggie football coverage

2005-11-03T15:16:00.000-06:00

For the past two years, Coach Franchifone's lemming Mike McKenzie has been cutting off access for local media to the Aggie football team, preferring to deal solely with the national press. Well, he got his wish: Fran is lead story on ESPN.com's college football page, above the title "Flirting with Disaster."
There is no flirtation; he's in bed with it.

See for yourself: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/index

UPDATE: Never mind, now it's on the front page. And ESPN's picture makes a good point; Franchione and Fulmer should be canned.

Stupid analysis

2005-11-03T12:46:00.000-06:00

ESPN.com has their offseason power rankings up for MLB, and they're absurd. Here's their most ridiculous analysis, that of the New York Mets:

"The Amazin's could be the team to beat in the NL East. Their rotation is aging, but strong with Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine. Don't expect Carlos Beltran to have another year like '05. David Wright is a rising star. Look for Rafael Furcal to join Jose Reyes at the top of the order and in the middle of the infield."

Taking this apart one sentence at a time:

"The Amazin's could be the team to beat in the NL East."
Sure. So could the Marlins, Nats and Braves.
"Their rotation is aging, but strong with Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine."
Glavine is washed up, which leaves Pedro and not much.
"Don't expect Carlos Beltrain to have another year like '05."
Why not? There's no reason to think that he's gotten any clue on how to handle New York, because he sure didn't give a glimpse of that at any point this season. This is just an arrogant thought.
"David Wright is a rising star."
If he played anywhere else but New York, he'd be considered merely competant. He's not even in the same universe as Morgan Ensberg or Scott Rolen.
"Look for Rafael Furcal to join Jose Reyes at the top of the order and the middle of the infield."
And thus, ESPN reads Furcal's mind and decides he wants to go to Queens instead of stay in Atlanta or go to Chicago or L.A. Brilliant!

Oh, the irony

2005-11-03T12:23:00.000-06:00

One of the largest critics of America's aggressive response to Islamic terrorism is now having to face such terror in his own backyard. Suddenly, strength doesn't sound so bad when Muslims start tearing up your cities, does it, Frenchie?

"Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called a string of emergency meetings with Cabinet ministers throughout the day. He told the Senate the government “will not give in” to violence in the troubled suburbs. “Order and justice will be the final word in our country,” Villepin said. “The return to calm and the restoration of public order are the priority--our absolute priority.”

Remember, de Villepin used to be the foreign minister and has been one of America's chief antagonists in the post-9/11 era. Now that the madness has made its way to French soil, one wonders what Dominique thinks of the Bush doctrine now.
And if al-Qaida will send Jihadis to Paris to help with the fun and games.

Brown out at CNN

2005-11-03T10:25:00.000-06:00

So yesterday, as I was ill, CNN decided to make me feel better. They fired Aaron Brown.
For those of you who don't know, Brown was the most arrogant, self-absorbed, petulant leftist twit on television. He not only thought he knew more than everyone else, his smug looks emoted that fact to the dozens of people who still watch his network.

So, to his departure I say, "Hurray!"
Of course, Anderson Cooper and the rest of the merry band of morons are still there, but one step at a time..

Way out in left(ist) field...

2005-11-03T10:21:00.000-06:00

Is where you can find Travis County D.A. Ronnie Earle. The self-aggrandizing moron has done a lot of things wrong since he indicted Tom DeLay, but he actually surpassed himself yesterday when he fired off this doozy of a comment when his favorite liberal judge was forced to recuse himself from the case:

"(Earle) argued that removing judges under these circumstances could lead to a country split 'into Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.'"

Uh...yeah. That's it. That's EXACTLY what removing a partisan will do.
Somebody better go get those Shiites and Kurds in Austin and tell them not to slaughter the Sunnis because it's bad form.

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-11-03T10:17:00.000-06:00

It has now been 24 days since athletic director Bill Byrne should have relieved Texas A&M head football coach Dennis Franchione of his coaching duties.

Sorry I missed yesterday, I was sick.

Oh, Fran: when Kirk Bohls says the rumblings about you are increasing, it must be bad. The three blind mice see more than he does.

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-11-01T15:55:00.000-06:00

It has been 22 days since athletic director Bill Byrne should have relieved football coach Dennis Franchione of his duties.
Not next year after the team underperforms; NOW.

Why Paul DePodesta failed

2005-10-31T11:53:00.000-06:00

A little background: I don't like the Dodgers and never have, but I do know DePodesta and his background well enough to know why he got the ax in LA.
DePo and I went to high school together and I really think he's a good guy. However, I can also see why he failed as a general manager at the big league level.
It's not that he doesn't know anything about baseball--you don't get as far as he did without some clue--it's that he doesn't know enough about people. It's not his fault; he's never needed to. Personal interaction, at least that involving real people, is something he's never been faced with.
DePo went to Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va. It's a very snooty boarding school, filled with the often inept, drug-addled kids of the southern elite. DePo was an exception to that rule, without question, but he survived (and actually thrived) in a culture of arrogance and selfishness with emphasis on the individual. He then went to Harvard, where it probably wasn't any different. Once he got to the big time, he worked with the likes of Billy Beane, who emphasize the stat sheet more than personal intangibles.
DePo, when Frank McCourt came around, was more than ready to organize an organization on paper. It's the real-time work where he came up short.
Nobody in his right mind would have traded Paul LoDuca, the heart and soul of that team, when DePo did last year. He certainly wouldn't have signed arrogant, self-absorbed snots (like the ones we went to school with) like Jeff Kent and Derek Lowe and wouldn't have traded for the ultimate miscreant, Milton Bradley. That's making a very explosive brew in the clubhouse.
DePo didn't know such a thing existed. It hadn't on any other team he played on, where it was every man for himself.
Well, this was different, as this is where men make their livings and try to win championships. Statistically, his moves made sense. Anyone with any clue of how people actually operated thought they were insane.
Maybe, at his next stop, DePo will be better prepared. And, after all, he did help win a division title last year.

Happy Halloween, comrade

2005-10-31T11:13:00.000-06:00

In his latest piece of outstanding detective work, Venezualan Dictator/Lunatic Hugo "The Yugo" Chavez has figured out that Halloween is an American imperalist plot to destroy his country. So listen up, little Venezualan kids: if you dress up, you're helping the terrorists win.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez urged Venezuelan parents not to dress their children in costumes for Halloween, calling it a U.S. custom that has no place in the South American country's cultural traditions.
Speaking during his weekly radio and television show Sunday, Chavez called Halloween a "gringa," or North American, custom.
"Families go and begin to disguise their children as witches," Chavez said. "That is contrary to our ways."
Chavez said he was urging Venezuelans to reflect on the subject. In recent years it has become common to see Venezuelan parents holding parties for children dressed as ghouls, animals and witches.
In one odd incident a week ago, authorities found more than a dozen jack-o'-lanterns left in spots around Caracas bearing anti-government messages and what appeared to be bomb-like fuses. Police and firefighters removed the pumpkins with caution, though the jack-o'-lanterns reportedly bore messages saying they were not explosives.
Paper skeletons bearing anti-Chavez messages also have appeared in spots across Caracas recently, and government officials have blamed sectors of the opposition with aiming to create chaos.
Chavez did not refer to those incidents in his comments on Halloween. But he urged parents to think about whether it was appropriate to dress up their children as part of a foreign custom, calling it "the game of terror."
He said that is part of the U.S. culture -- "terrorism, putting fear into other nations, putting fear into their own people."
Chavez, a tough-talking nationalist, is a fierce critic of President Bush who blames Washington for "imperialist" actions in countries from Iraq to Haiti.
Chavez says that he is leading a socialist "revolution" to help the country's poor, and that it should include emphasizing Venezuelan cultural traditions over U.S. customs that have been adopted in various countries and reinforced by images of American life on television and in Hollywood movies.

Play ball in the name of Allah

2005-10-31T10:35:00.000-06:00

Muslim holy leaders have the ability to issue edicts, or fatwahs, on whatever they want to. Apparently, they've gotten a little ridiculous--that is, if you didn't consider their repeated calls for the destruction of America and Israel stupid to begin with. Here's the latest idiocy from a Saudi cleric (and this is for real):

In the name of Allah the merciful and benevolent:
1. International terminology that heretics use, such as "foul," "penalty", "corner," "goal", "out" and others, should be abandoned and not said. Whoever says them should be punished and ejected from the game.
2. Do not call "foul" and stop the game if someone falls and sprains a hand or foot or the ball touches his hand, and do not give a yellow or red card to whoever was responsible for the injury or tackle. Instead, it should be adjudicated according to Sharia rulings concerning broken bones and injuries.
3. Do not follow the heretics, the Jews, the Christians and especially evil America regarding the number of players. Do not play with 11 people. Add to this number or decrease it.
4. Play in your regular clothes or your pyjamas or something like that, but not coloured shorts and numbered T-shirts, because shorts and T-shirts are not Muslim clothing. Rather, they are heretical and western clothing, so beware of imitating their fashion.
5. If you have fulfilled these conditions and intend to play soccer, play to strengthen the body in order better to struggle in the way of God on high and to prepare the body for when it is called to jihad. Soccer is not for passing time or the thrill of so-called victory.
6. Do not play in two halves. Rather, play in one half or three halves in order to completely differentiate yourselves from the heretics, the corrupted and the disobedient.
7. If neither of you beats the other, or "wins", as it is called, and neither puts the leather between the posts, do not add extra time or penalties. Instead leave the field, because winning with extra time and penalty kicks is the pinnacle of imitating heretics and international rules.
8. Young crowds should not gather to watch when you play because if you are there for the sake of sports and strengthening your bodies as you claimed, why would people watch you? You should make them join your physical fitness and jihad preparation, or you should say: "Go proselytise and seek out morally reprehensible acts in the markets and the press and leave us to our physical fitness."
9. You should spit in the face of whoever puts the ball between the posts or uprights and then runs in order to get his friends to follow him and hug him like players in America or France do, and you should punish him, for what is the relationship between celebrating, hugging and kissing and the sports that you are practising?
10. You should use two posts instead of three pieces of wood or steel that you erect in order to put the ball between them, meaning that you should remove the crossbar in order not to imitate the heretics and in order to be entirely distinct from the soccer system's despotic international rules.
11. Do not do what is called "substitution," that is, taking the place of someone who has fallen, because this is a practice of the heretics in America and elsewhere.

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-10-31T10:26:00.000-06:00

It has now been 21 days since Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne should have relieved head coach Dennis Franchione of his coaching duties. If losing 42-14 at home to Iowa State and essentially having any hope of a bowl berth vanish isn't enough, what is?

Hey, where'd the recession go?

2005-10-28T10:11:00.000-05:00

For months--nay, YEARS--the press has been talking about the sluggish economy. Now that it can't tell that lie anymore, check out this AP story:

"Economic activity expanded at an energetic 3.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter, providing vivid evidence of the economy's stamina even as it coped with the destructive forces of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The latest snapshot of the country's economic performance, released by the Commerce Department on Friday, even marked an improvement from the solid 3.3 percent pace of growth registered in the second quarter.
Growth in the third quarter was broad-based, reflecting brisk spending by consumers, businesses and government.
"Holy Katrina! The economy weathered two major hurricanes and in spite of that showed accelerated growth," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. "I think what this shows is that fundamentally the economy was and is in really good shape."
The expansion in gross domestic product in the July-to-September quarter, the strongest since the beginning of the year, also exceeded many analysts' expectations. Before the report was released, they were forecasting the economy to clock in at a 3.6 percent annual rate.
GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is the best barometer of the nation's economic fitness.
Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, struck in late August; Rita hit in late September. Both hurricanes destroyed businesses and homes and choked the flow of trade. They also hobbled essential oil and gas facilities, catapulting energy prices higher and fanning inflation fears.
An inflation gauge tied to the GDP report showed overall inflation picking up in the third quarter. But excluding food and energy prices, "core" inflation - something the Federal Reserve pays close attention to - actually moderated. Core inflation rose at a rate of 1.3 percent in the third quarter, down from a 1.7 percent pace in the second quarter.
In another inflation barometer, employers' labor costs - wages and benefits - rose 0.8 percent in the third quarter, up slightly from a 0.7 percent increase in the second quarter, the Labor Department reported. The showing for the third quarter matched economists' forecasts.
Despite the sting of high energy bills, consumers continued to spend, doing their part to keep the economy rolling in the third quarter.
Consumers' boosted spending at a brisk 3.9 percent rate, the strongest pace since the end of last year. That spending reflected a big appetite for big-ticket "durable" goods, such as cars, which had been discounted and promoted to lure buyers. Some analysts believe consumer spending probably will moderate, but still remain healthy, in the months ahead.
Businesses increased spending on equipment and software at an 8.9 percent pace in the third quarter, on top of a 10.9 percent growth rate in the prior quarter.
Spending by the federal government, which analysts believe included some outlays due to the hurricanes, rose at a 7.7 percent rate in the third quarter, the fastest pace since the first quarter of 2004.
The report comes as President Bush, faced with sagging approval ratings, struggles to improve the public's confidence in his economic stewardship. Three-quarters of those surveyed rate the current economy as fair or poor - and most blame Bush, according to an AP-Ipsos poll.
Private analysts say the overall economy is actually doing better than the public's perception, which has been shaped by high energy bills, the hurricanes and the jobs situation.
The economy lost 35,000 jobs in September, the first decline in two years, mostly reflecting damage from Hurricane Katrina. The unemployment rate climbed to 5.1 percent, from a four-year low of 4.9 percent in August.
Even with the pain of job losses and other economic fallout, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues in September said Katrina doesn't pose a "persistent threat" to the country's economic health.
Economists are predicting the Fed will boost short-term rates by one-quarter percentage point at its next meeting, on Nov. 1, in an effort to prevent inflation from becoming a danger. That would mark the 12th increase of that size since June 2004."

That had to hurt. At no place could they put "sluggish" in.

2005-10-27T22:44:00.000-05:00

aggie ring

TWO WORDS

2005-10-18T15:13:00.000-05:00

WALK PUJOLS.

Astros update

2005-10-14T10:09:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is a little different than most posts on here (FIRE FRANCHIONE being the exception to this point), but hey, it's the postseason.
With the pitching performance by Roy Oswalt last night and the injury to Reggie Sanders--who has been St. Louis' best player in the postseason--the advantage in the NLCS has shifted strongly in Houston's favor.
Last year, with a much stronger offensive club, St. Louis came to Houston and got swept out the door. If there is a repeat performance of that this year, the Astros will be on their way to the World Series for the first time ever.
Of course, there are some concerns for the 'Stros: Can Andy Pettitte rebound and give a quality outing? Which Roger Clemens will show up tomorrow? Will Morgan Ensberg recover from his mini-slump? CAN ANYONE GET A HIT IN SCORING POSITION?
On the other hand, there are some very big variables in their favor. They're playing at home, with a crowd that will be tremendously loud. Matt Morris is no Roger Clemens. Jeff Suppan isn't much better, if any, that Brandon Backe. And, if Sanders is out and Larry Walker is in, the Cardinals' offense is a far cry from where it was a year ago at this time (remember, no Scott Rolen).

As the guys on ESPN.com's Page 2 are already putting it:
"And now the Series has turned (especially if Reggie Sanders is out of Game 3) in Houston's favor in a pretty big way. Roger in Game 3? Back to Andy Pettitte at home in Game 4? I'll say it right now: The good people of Houston can start setting up the aluminum-framed lawn chairs outside the ticket window at Minute Maid. They're about to go Classic. Fall Classic, that is. "
Then let's get ready to rock.

Ah, Iraqi democracy

2005-10-14T10:02:00.000-05:00

So what do you do when the vast majority of your people--including, it would appear a sizeable member of your own religious sect--want freedom?
Well, if you're a Sunni nutjob, YOU FIREBOMB THE FOLKS SUPPORTING THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS.

" Sunni insurgents determined to derail this weekend's constitutional referendum attacked the largest Sunni Arab political party Friday, bombing and burning offices and the home of one of its leaders after the group dropped its opposition to the draft charter...Before dawn, someone threw a grenade at the house of the main cleric of the Abu Hanifa Mosque, pro-Islamic Party Sheik Muayad al-Azami, but no one was hurt. The night before, his son was threatened by Sunni opponents during prayers, al-Azami said.
Militants detonated a bomb just outside the Islamic Party's office in central Baghdad, then set fire to the party's main office in Fallujah, police said. No injuries were reported in the capital or in Fallujah, a city west of Baghdad that was heavily damaged by a U.S. offensive against insurgents in 2004.
It was a rare instance of Sunni insurgents targeting a Sunni political party.
It "was expected because of [the party's] new stand toward the referendum," Iraqi army Maj. Salman Abdul Yahid said after the Baghdad blast. "Insurgents had threatened to attack the group and its leaders to get revenge," he told The Associated Press."

It would appear that the Sunni militants--and, I'm quite certain, al Qaida in Iraq--were anticipating a unified Sunni front in opposition to the constitution. Now, they won't get one. The answer: it's sure not trying to get into the political process...it's killing the people who don't agree with you.
It's pretty obvious that the lines in Iraq are becoming very strongly drawn between those who want freedom (the Islamic version of it, at least) and those who want a thugocracy. It's quite a shame that the American people don't see it too.

The Stupid One speaks again

2005-10-13T15:26:00.000-05:00

The Ruh-ev-rhund Farrakhan has once again reiterated the "truth" that military blew up the dikes in New Orleans and that shotty design and Hurricane Katrina had nothing to do with it.

"Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan fueled a rumor that explosives, not Hurricane Katrina, broke New Orleans' dikes and flooded poor African American neighborhoods.
"A member of the Army Corps of Engineers saw burn marks on the concrete," Farrakhan told reporters, describing an e-mail he had received.
"They found two types of explosives used by the military," he said, without naming the source, adding that an eight-meter (25-foot) crater had been blown in the dike.
Farrakhan said locals had reported sounds of explosions, among other things, leading him to believe the rumors should be investigated.
"Wickedness exists in high places," he said. "The duty of the government is to prove the rumor to be false or that these suspicions are true."
The Chicago-based Nation of Islam is an offshoot of Islam. Farrakhan has earned headlines with controversial statements about Jews and homosexuals.
He also attacked the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross.
"FEMA is insensitive, there are not enough blacks high up. The Red Cross, too. It's too white, it is! Racism poisoned the bloodstream of politics," he said.
"Don't think it's non existent in the Red Cross or FEMA," he said. "

Yeah, that's it. All E-mails you get are accurate and authentic, Calypso Louie. I wonder if Ray Nagin is smoking from the same crack pipe you are?

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-10-13T15:20:00.000-05:00

It has now been four days since Texas A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne should have relieved head football coach Dennis Franchione of his coaching duties.

Begone, loser.

2005-10-13T13:42:00.000-05:00

Gerhard Schroeder is out as prime minister of Deutschland, with Frau Merkel taking power. Of course, he couldn't leave without taking a few swipes at those superior to him.
From al-Reuters:

"Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who has led Germany since 1998, said for the first time on Wednesday he would not play a role in the next government, in an emotional farewell including broadsides at the United States and Britain.

"I will not be a part of the next government -- definitely not be part of it," a tearful looking Schroeder told a rapt audience of union members in his home city of Hanover.
He quickly composed himself, hitting his stride in a passionate defense of a strong German state and lashing out at "Anglo-Saxon" economic policies favoured in Britain and the United States, which he said had "no chance" in Europe.
In an apparent reference to Hurricane Katrina, Schroeder castigated Washington for liberal, hands-off policies that left it exposed in times of crisis. The Bush administration was widely criticised for its response to the devastating storm.
"I do not want to name any catastrophes where you can see what happens if organised state action is absent. I could name countries, but the position I still hold forbids it, but everyone knows I mean America," he said to loud applause."

Of course, Schroeder has no understanding of America, its political system and how our state system operates. His idea of an "organised state" is a neo-socialist super-state with a massive beauracracy. Of course, our beauracracy worked so damned well with Katrina that it's obvious that more government is JUST what we need.
Outside of his leftist nonsense, this is just more sour grapes from a man with an overriding American hatred. If he can get his shots in at the U.S.--and our leader in particular--he's going to.
Of course, outside of being the worst Chancellor since some Austrian artist, he's been totally pushed to the sidelines. His comments are now about as valid as a three-year-olds...or Jimmy Carter's.

I couldn't agree more

2005-10-13T10:29:00.000-05:00

Most of the time, Liam Gallagher is too drunk or wasted to make a coherent statement, much less one that would call for a standing ovation. This, however, is one of those times. His slamming of Coldplay lead loser Chris Martin is quite good. From The (London) Sun:

"LIAM GALLAGHER has called COLDPLAY frontman CHRIS MARTIN a "knobhead student" for expressing strong anti-war views at a fundraising show.The Oasis singer slammed Martin for his comments at the band's Teenage Cancer Trust show In London on Monday (March 24), where he encouraged the sell-out crowd at the Royal Albert Hall to "sing against war". Gallagher also labelled Martin's Oscar-winning actress girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow a "gawky bird".
The verbal assault came after Gallagher appeared as a special guest at Richard Ashcroft's Teenage Cancer Trust show at the same venue on Wednesday (March 26).He told The Sun : "When Coldplay did this gig they banged on about the war, that's wrong. Chris Martin shouldn't be using this cause to bang on about his own views on the war. If him and his gawky bird want to go banging on about the war they can do it at their own gigs."That lot are just a bunch of knobhead students - Chris Martin looks like a geography teacher. What's all that with writing messages about Free Trade on his hand when he's playing. If he wants to write things down I'll give him a pen and a pad of paper. Bunch of students."These gigs are about kids who have got cancer, they've got to fight a war every day of their lives. That's what we're all here doing this for."

Oh, and I agree that Gwenyth is flat frigging ugly. Shut up about things you don't understand, skinny starlet, and have a damned doughnut.

It's still funny

2005-10-12T10:36:00.000-05:00

I wish it was to Democrats, but anyway...

"Theodore Roosevelt Heller, 88, loving father of Charles (Joann) Heller; dear brother of the late Sonya (the late Jack) Steinberg. Ted was discharged from the U.S. Army during WWII due to service related injuries, and then forced his way back into the Illinois National Guard insisting no one tells him when to serve his country. Graveside services Tuesday 11 a.m. at Waldheim Jewish Cemetery (Ziditshover section), 1700 S. Harlem Ave., Chicago. In lieu of flowers, please send acerbic letters to Republicans."

Wasn't there something in Numbers about thou shalt not do stuff like that?

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-10-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

It has been three days since the athletic director at Texas A&M University should have relieved head football coach Dennis Franchione of his duties.

The dumbest column currently online

2005-10-12T09:54:00.000-05:00

Some guy named Peter Schrager, who writes for Foxsports.com, has come up with the cure to the Yankees ills. Frankly, I hope they never solve them, but if they take this guy's advice, The Boss is far dumber than I give him credit for.
His solution? Simple: TRADE ALEX RODRIGUEZ.
Yeah, Mr. .320, 48 homers, 130 RBI A-Rod.
Dig his balanced, unbiased logic on the matter:

"Ever have a girlfriend cheat on you? There's no pain greater. You put your trust in a woman, show off your love publicly, and then bang — she makes you look like a fool in front of all your friends, family, and colleagues. In the process, she breaks your heart. Now, imagine after proving herself over an extended period of time, taking that girlfriend back, only to have her cheat on you AGAIN. That's what this roller coaster ride of a year has felt like for Yankee fans trying to come to terms with A-Rod. He let us down last October, earned our trust and faith back over the course of this season, and then bang — broke our hearts again when it mattered most."

There's more. Check it out at http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/4984978.
Oh, Peter: NOBODY'S GOING TO TRADE FOR A $25 MILLION SALARY.

Oh, yes please.

2005-10-11T12:05:00.000-05:00

This would be great. It would be hilarious to see a primary turf-war between Hillary and AlGore. From U.S. News:

"Is Al Gore coming back? If allies we talked to have their way, the former veep will be the next president. "It's Gore Time," says a political strategist and fundraiser who is opening a bid to get Gore into the race. Gore friends see his recent political and business moves as proof he's preparing to run. Allies say that in speeches, Gore has found his voice to address domestic and world issues. And in raising money for his Current TV network, which targets the critical youth market, Big Al has built an issue base and donor network that's competitive with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's. Our source--a top aide in the previous Bush administration--is planning meetings with Gore's team to push an early entry while Clinton runs for re-election in New York. It doesn't end there: The Gorebots want him to pick Sen. Barack Obama, the youthful Illinois African-American, as his No. 2."

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-10-11T12:02:00.000-05:00

It has been two days since the athletic director at Texas A&M University should have relieved head football coach Dennis Franchione of his duties.

Hardly Smurfy...

2005-10-10T14:39:00.000-05:00

But really stupid.

"UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, in an anti-war fit, recently scared children in Belgium, sending many to bed crying and screaming, with the broadcast of an "animated TV special" that featured the bombing of Smurf Village, home to the popular, kid-friendly blue cartoon characters popular in the 1980s.
The film, billed as an "adult-only episode” not to be shown before 9 p.m., was created to draw attention to the use of children in various wars throughout the globe.
The program was approved by the family of "Peyo," the late creator of The Smurfs.
According to a report in the UK Daily Telegraph, the program is quite graphic.
It opens with the Smurfs dancing, hand-in-hand, around a campfire and singing the Smurf song. Bluebirds flutter past and rabbits gambol around their familiar village of mushroom-shaped houses until, without warning, bombs begin to rain from the sky ...
Tiny Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.
The final frame bears the message: "Don't let war affect the lives of children."
UNICEF Belgium, which created and distributed the program, intends to use the program as a fundraiser for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in Burundi.
Philippe Henon, a spokesman for UNICEF Belgium, told the UK Daily Telegraph that his agency had "set out to shock, after concluding that traditional images of suffering in Third World war zones had lost their power to move television viewers.”

So blowing up Smurfs helps the kids in Burundi? Am I the only one not making the connection here at all?

FIRE FRANCHIONE

2005-10-10T11:48:00.000-05:00

It has been one day since Texas A&M University should have relieved head football coach Dennis Franchione of his duties.

See? Told ya.

2005-10-07T10:34:00.000-05:00

The White House has denied that US President George W. Bush said God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, as a new BBC documentary is expected to reveal.
"That's absurd. He's never made such comments," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday.
The documentary series set to be broadcast later this month in Britain claims Bush made the claim when he met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and then-foreign minister Nabil Shaath in June 2003.

No tagbacks

2005-10-07T10:32:00.000-05:00

I'm sure that the (allegedly) good people in the new autonomous Palestinian areas are longing for the days where Israeli "enemy" troops ran the show now. It sure doesn't look like anyone has been since they left.

From the AP:
"Palestinian police went door-to-door early Friday in this West Bank town and arrested 30 suspected criminals in a crackdown aimed at restoring law and order in the chaotic territories, the local police chief said.
But in a sign of ongoing lawlessness, a previously unknown group said it had kidnapped three leaders of the Islamic group Hamas (search) in three West Bank towns. The al-Farouk bin al-Khatab Brigades (search) accused Hamas of putting itself above the law.
Palestinian security forces have been severely weakened by nearly five years of fighting with Israel, corruption and internal rivalries, leaving them virtually powerless to stop militants and armed gangs in the areas they control."

Yep, they're ready for statehood.

Oh, I forgot.

2005-10-06T15:38:00.000-05:00

The NHL came back last night.

yay.

I just learned something

2005-10-06T15:35:00.000-05:00

After my sports editor decided to play some of her music, I have come a conclusion:
I really don't like Tammy Wynette's music.
I really don't like it.

Carry on.

That's a use for the ol' boy

2005-10-06T15:27:00.000-05:00

Remember Vladimir I. Lenin? You know, that commie SOB who died a long time ago and his body's been chilling in Red Square ever since? Well, Putin wants to get rid of him. Finally, a good use for ol' Lenin's corpse:

"With controversy raging in Russia over what to do with Lenin's body, Fark.com has tendered an offer to the Russian Government to purchase Lenin.
When asked what he planned to do with Lenin, Fark Proprietor Drew Curtis noted that he had put the question to members of his wildly popular news and entertainment website. Some suggested a tour of the United States, including Disneyland "since it's a place that Soviet Premiers seem to want to visit," said Curtis. He also suggested that since Fark.com is located in Kentucky, perhaps a trip to Disneyland could begin with a driving tour of the United States. "We could stop in Moscow, Kansas, or Moscow, Arkansas, even Moscow, Idaho. Possibly even St. Petersburg Florida. I hear the Devil Rays are looking for a new manager, maybe he could submit a resume. Didn't Lenin say he invented baseball?"
Other suggestions for Lenin included cloning him, challenging Michael Jackson's elephant man to a fight, having him run for President in 2008, taking him to see the world's largest Cheeto in Algona, Iowa, using him as the second person in a car in an HOV lane, swapping him with Bob's Big Boy statue to see how long it takes before anyone notices, and having him put on a Yankees uniform and taking him to Fenway Park in a move that would surely offend everyone. Curtis also suggested reuniting him with Paul McCartney but was later disappointed to hear he was thinking of the wrong person.
When Curtis was asked how he might feel if Pravda offered to buy the remains of George Washington, he replied that he didn't think it was possible to buy them but that he would see what he could do about working a trade for actor Abe Vigoda. "Last I heard, Abe was still insisting he was alive but I think that's just an Internet rumor," said Curtis."

I'll pay $1.50 for Stalin's body, just to piss on it.

How not to win fans, chapter 283

2005-10-06T15:20:00.000-05:00

Amazingly enough, I stayed at this hotel the night before I got married. Oddly, we were not forced out.

From the AP:
"BROOKHAVEN, Miss.
At least one hotel chain has asked some Hurricane Katrina evacuees to check out so it can honor the reservations of incoming guests.
Hilton Hotels, the parent company of Hampton Inn and other brands, is trying to find other rooms for the evacuees but said they were warned when they checked in that their stays would be limited by room availability, said Hilton spokeswoman Kathy Shepard.
"We're doing our very best to accommodate these people," she said.
It's an uncomfortable situation for the hotel industry: risk bad publicity for kicking out hurricane evacuees, or anger big-spending repeat customers who travel for business.
Hurricane evacuees _ often several family members packed into a single hotel room _ can be a burden on hotel staff. They also use more water and electricity, and do not spend much on food and incidentals.
They "could be occupying a room that could otherwise be occupied by a higher-paying guest who's spending lots of money on telephone, food and beverage," said Bjorn Hanson, a hotel industry analyst with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in New York.
Many hotels also have contracts to provide rooms to businesses at a set rate. If the rooms are not available, the hotels risk violating the contract and annoying their best customers, Hanson said.
A Hampton Inn in Brookhaven, about two hours north of where Katrina struck, asked Barbara Perry of Folsom, La., to move out last week. She was living in the hotel with her parents and her three young children, and she was driving almost 90 miles a day to work.
"They told me if I didn't pick my clothes up, they were going to call the police," Perry said.
Her mother, who uses a wheelchair, and her father, who is blind, were also told to check out, but they were granted an extension after a Red Cross volunteer intervened, said Perry's mother, Betty Myers.
Had Perry found shelter in Louisiana, she would have been protected by a Sept. 1 executive order issued by Gov. Kathleen Blanco that bars hotels from displacing a refugee who guarantees payment.
In Mississippi, no such protection exists. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has asked hotel managers to let evacuees stay longer, but they are not required to do so. Gov. Haley Barbour "has decided to let the private sector handle those issues without government intervention," said his spokesman, Pete Smith.
Most hotel chains are still giving evacuees priority over guests with reservations, Hanson said. At a Comfort Inn across the street from the Hampton Inn in Brookhaven, assistant manager Amanda Smith said no one was being asked to leave.
"What would you do? They're homeless. You can't turn them away. It's morally wrong. I'd rather inconvenience our people with reservations," Smith said.
Holiday Inn and Choice Hotels International, which markets brands such as Clarion, Comfort Suites, Quality and Sleep Inns, are also encouraging their franchises to give priority to evacuees and emergency workers. "

At some point, enough's enough

2005-10-06T14:32:00.000-05:00

And that point, as far as Aggie football is concerned, has been reached.
After two horrific performances against Texas State(!!) and Baylor(!?!), A&M should be scared to death to go to Boulder and face a competent Colorado team. But apparently, everything's just fine, as far as Dennis Franchione is concerned.
Reports from practice, limited though they are, say that the players finally understand the gravity of this game and are fired up to play the Buffs.
To which I say, "So what?"
I have a real problem with Coach Fran. He came to A&M riding a bandwagon of hype and, it would appear, past results. Sadly, that has not transferred to a school with nearly infinite resources and an incredibly supportive alumni base. Instead of getting the guy who turned around TCU and Alabama, we've gotten...well, the guy Franchione replaced.
R.C. Slocum.
That may be insulting to R.C., who was a really nice guy. I don't know Fran personally, but my initial instinct is not to like him. Anyone who has a lousy media blocker like Mike McKenzie and treats not only the press but alumns with disdain is not worthy of respect.
Aggies have a reputation for maybe being a little slow to get the uptake on something, but once we get it, we don't forget it. Slocum was run out of town because he was predictible on both sides of the ball, didn't coach or recruit with urgency and thought he was above everyone else.
Wrong.
Franchione has the same attitude, but worse. He has minders, making the A&M athletic department into his own little police state. Instead of using the local press, the Internet and the Houston media as his tools, he has alienated all of them. This makes his job all the more difficult when a talented team is not performing up to its potential--as it is right now.
If A&M loses to Colorado this weekend, as I expect they shall, I will start the Fire Fran timeline on this blog.
Too bad Joe Gibbs already came back to perform his miracle. Kyle Field would have been a great place for him.

A quality blog

2005-10-06T14:31:00.000-05:00

If you're looking for something less political and probably more amusing, check out Mrs. Blogger's blog at 360.yahoo.com/reporter_arie.
The woman has great taste.

Well, isn't that special?

2005-10-06T13:08:00.000-05:00

This will just make your naughty parts tingle.

"California taxpayers will no longer help pay for impotency drugs for registered sex offenders under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The bill amends a law that requires the state's health insurance program for the poor to help cover the cost of drugs used for treating erectile dysfunction.
Federal support for subsidized Viagra was curtailed earlier this year when a New York state audit found nearly 200 sex offenders benefiting from the program.
Schwarzenegger then asked California agencies to stop prescribing the drugs to sex offenders and asked lawmakers to pass a bill that would outlaw the coverage."

The 8-Ball says, "Unlikely"

2005-10-06T12:18:00.000-05:00

President George W. Bush told Palestinian ministers that God had told him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq - and create a Palestinian State, a new BBC series reveals.

In Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, a major three-part series on BBC TWO (at 9.00pm on Monday 10, Monday 17 and Monday 24 October), Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister, and Nabil Shaath, his Foreign Minister, describe their first meeting with President Bush in June 2003.

Nabil Shaath says: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq …" And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, "Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East." And by God I'm gonna do it.'"

Abu Mazen was at the same meeting and recounts how President Bush told him: "I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state."

Ok, let me be the first to ask this: Does anyone seriously believe George W. Bush would say this to a PALESTINIAN? Please.

Ronnie Earle's lameness

2005-10-06T12:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I said Ronnie Earle was attempting to manipulate a grand jury (or two) for his own personal means. Appearently, that's not only true, but he's a poor sport when things don't go his way. From the AP this morning:

"A Texas prosecutor tried to convince a grand jury that Representative Tom DeLay gave tacit approval to a series of laundered campaign contributions, and when jurors declined to indict, he became angry, according to two people directly familiar with the proceeding.
The grand jury was one of three that considered whether there was probable cause to indict DeLay. Two other grand juries did indict the former House majority leader, who had to step aside temporarily under Republican rules.
Both indictments focused on an alleged scheme to provide corporate political donations to Texas legislative candidates in violation of state law.
The two people interviewed, who commented anonymously because of grand jury secrecy, said Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle became visibly angry when the grand jurors last week signed a document declining to indict, known as a ''no bill."
One person said the sole evidence Earle presented was a DeLay interview with the prosecutor, in which DeLay said he was generally aware of activities of his associates. He is charged in an alleged money- laundering scheme to funnel corporate donations to Texas legislative candidates in violation of state law.
The person said that Earle tried to convince the jurors that if DeLay ''didn't say 'Stop it,' he gave his tacit approval."
After the grand jurors declined to go forward, the mood ''was unpleasant," the other person said, describing Earle's reaction.
DeLay and political aides Jim Ellis and John Colyandro were indicted last week by another grand jury, accused of criminal conspiracy to violate Texas election laws.
After the second grand jury declined to indict, a third grand jury brought money laundering charges against DeLay on Monday.
Dick DeGuerin, attorney for DeLay, sought to have the original conspiracy charge dismissed Monday by arguing in a court filing that contended the indictment was based on a law that the Legislature changed in 2003. The original indictment alleges that the illegal acts date to 2002.
Earle said late Tuesday that he sought the second indictment of DeLay on Monday because he became aware of additional evidence. "

Care to share that evidence with the rest of the class, Ronnie?