Manny and Ortiz

Curious when we'll learn the other 95 names on MLB's 2003 steroid list. Someone over there needs to the rest of the names instead of the 1 or 2 every now and then. This is making Mr. Obama's handling of the Cambridge Police story look smooth. The Beer Summit? What a lame staged photo op.

Pelosi v. CIA

or perhaps Pelosi v. USA. This is just the latest example why the Democrats can't be trusted on National Security. The enemy chops people's heads off and uses people as weapons. Meanwhile the Democrats are motivated to classify waterboarding, sleep deprivation, temperature variations, etc., as torture and prosecute those who worked to keep the country safe. Is Speaker Pelosi's memory so bad that she doesn't remember 9/11? Was that on her notes she was reading from today?

$17 Billion is REAL money?

Not when compared to $3.4 TRILLION, or $3400 Billion. If we were to take a $100 slice of government spending, it would amount to 50 CENTS. We're saving a can of Sam's Club Soda at a Walmart vending machine for every $100 of spending.

To make matters worse, half of these cuts come from the Defense Department even though it only accounts for 20% of the spending. Two things boggle my mind.

1. Why is defense spending ONLY 20% of the federal budget?
2. Why is defense taking the brunt of the cutting during a time when we are fighting 2 wars?

Am I living in a Bizarro world?

Over/Under on Brett Favre

# of Starts for Minnesota this year: 0. It's not 0.5 in Vegas, it's 0.0, and you'd have gotten better Money Line Odds on the Lakers to win Game 2 vs. Houston tonight.

The trouble is that he likely didn't have the surgery that was supposedly necessary after last season's flameout with the Jets. While his record in the Metrodome was horrible in the 90's, he won regularly there once Mike Tice took the reigns. Could he win with the purple jerseys instead of against them? They do have a great running game, so maybe.

Turncoat Specter

From Sen. Snowe's Op-Ed in the NYT today:

It is for this reason that we should heed the words of President Ronald Reagan, who urged, “We should emphasize the things that unite us and make these the only ‘litmus test’ of what constitutes a Republican: our belief in restraining government spending, pro-growth policies, tax reduction, sound national defense, and maximum individual liberty.” He continued, “As to the other issues that draw on the deep springs of morality and emotion, let us decide that we can disagree among ourselves as Republicans and tolerate the disagreement.”

Who wrote this for her? Did she READ it before submitting it? She was one of the 3 GOP defectors to vote FOR the $787 BILLION dollar Porkulus bill WITHOUT reading it!

Did conservatives win the battle but lose the war with this development? I hope not.

NFL Thanksgiving Schedule

I was reading through the stories chronicling all of the Cowboys' national TV games and had to do a double take when I read that their Thanksgiving opponent is going to be the Oakland Raiders. The franchise that has lost 72 games in the last 6 seasons, never fewer than 11? Their recent national TV appearances have been centralized on the 2nd half of ESPN's opening night doubleheader. It works well since recent Raider teams fall behind so quickly that the outcome is known before the local 11:00 news starts on the east coast. But this game will be on CBS late afternoon... here's an idea. Send the Raiders to Detroit (on the NFL Network, that game shouldn't be shown over the public airwaves) and Green Bay to Dallas. We'd be able to enjoy some good football on Thanksgiving that way!

Recall Jerry Brown

The citizens of Taxifornia should recall their AG. He is already on record as unwilling to use certain tools (e.g. death penalty). Now he is joining the fight to overturn the citizens decision on Gay Marriage. Hopefully there are enough smart non-liberals left in Taxifornia to do it.

(Link to LA Times article from Post Title)

Change?

Sen. Clinton as Secretary of State (or Sen. Kerry or Gov Richardson)? Madeline Albright on the transition team? I thought things were going to be different under Obama. These people are all AARP members of the DC Establishment. At least that's what Team Obama promised when they were canvassing the neighborhood. A week after the election and change is changing!

Closing Gitmo?

I saw a link that the Obama team is developing a plan to close the military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. So where are these non-Geneva Conventions prisoners going to go? Prosecuted in the civilian courts? That worked well for us in the 90s after the first WTC bombing. The courts are not the battlefield we should seek for this enemy.

Election Night

They don't show FOX News Channel in Canada - so I was stuck alternating between CNN, CBS, ABC, and NBC. I could only take each of those in small snippets. Luckily I also had to make time for dinner which meant no sound. I checked something out on NBC's online data to pass the time. There were only 4 cities that have professional sports teams of the NFL, MLB, NBA, or NHL teams that voted for McCain: Phoenix (home state excuse), Cincinnati, Jacksonville (Military Presence), and Oklahoma City (1st full season as a real home city). Too many times when I hovered over the county of the city with a pro sports team I saw drastic spreads - 70 to 30 or greater in favor Obama. That scares me as a conservative thinker - it takes a ton of non-urban counties to overcome that handicap. Additionally, with Chris Shays losing, there are ZERO Republican reps from the 6 New England States in the House. There are more Socialist Party Members representing New England States (Bernie Sanders - VT) than Republicans. Ouch. Only 3 from New York - out of 28! Conservatives are toast until they can figure out a way to be competitive in urban areas. Hopefully the pending tax increase that will start below the promised $250K income threshold will provide an opening.

Election Day

Tomorrow I'll be heading from the eye of the hurricane (Chicago) to where Sen. Obama wants to take us (Canada), not good from the omen perspective. If McCain isn't able to be saved by Joe the Plumber, he'll have plenty of things to reflect on. Why did we learn more about Joe the Plumber's tax problems than unrepentent domestic terrorist William Ayers? Why not emphasize the scale of Obama's tax increases? - 20% additional spending on top of our current record levels? Remind everyone that President Clinton needed all of 26 days in office to cancel the middle-class tax cut and replace it with a middle-class tax hike.

Can McCain win 270 electoral votes? I think he'll need to win Pennsylvania to do it, maybe Congressman Murtha will be the final spark that McCain needed. This area (referring to his congressional district) was REALLY REDNECK 10 or 15 years ago! In a media atmosphere so focused on race, how is Murtha not being run from Congress before the election? Oh, that's right. He has a D in his title.

My BCS Rankings

What a catch and surge by Texas Tech's Michael Crabtree to score the go-ahead TD with :01 left. The Big 12 and SEC are the strongest conferences this season and hopefully tomorrow's BCS standings will reflect that.

1. Alabama - they still have LSU next weekend and Florida in the SEC title game.
2. Texas Tech - they'll earn this spot if they stay perfect after facing Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
3. Penn State - sorry, but the non-conference homestand of Coastal Carolina, Oregon State, and Temple will leave them at #3 if 3 unbeatens are still standing December 13th.
4. Florida - the only blemish is a 1-point loss on a missed XP.
5. Texas - finally fell victim to the Big 12 South schedule after defeating Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
6. Oklahoma - if only the Texas game was 30 minutes long.
7. USC - if only the Oregon State game started at halftime.

Bailout Bill

Barney Frank (D-MA) wanted to have a conversation with 12 GOP Representatives who didn't vote for the bailout... why not beat down the doors of 12 of the 90+ Democrats who didn't vote for the thing? The GOP might have been 2-1 against, but the Dems were only 3-2 for. I guess it didn't have enough earmarks in there for passage.... the only good thing that McCain accomplished at the debate. He needed to score some points early on the economy but didn't do that in my opinion. Some Red states are turning Blue on the Real Clear Politics page, and I fear they won't be turning back to Red. McCain may have peaked at his post-convention bounce.

I'm not sure I could support this bill. $700 Billion is 25% of our initial 2008 budget, and we've already added $425 Billion (Stimulus, Housing Rescue) to the original $3 Trillion budget. New oversight? Price-to-Income ratio was out of whack 4 years ago. The markets have been a roller coaster to watch recently; I'm glad I'm not a day trader.

Olympic Observations

I'm tired of watching the LIVE bug on the NBC feed on the west coast.. it flashes the time 10:35 ET... I look at my watch... it reads 10:35 PT. If the corporate yahoos at NBC Universal think we're stupid enough to think we think the telecasts are live, I'd be happy to let them know that I ONLY watch network sports on DVR now since there is almost as much advertising time as sports time. Tune the DVR to the desired channel when the coverage starts, hit pause, and 89 minutes later, start watching. Miss no live ation; skip all the commercials. How long until the ad revenue falls off? Pull the friggin' LIVE bug so that Joe Six Pack on the West Coast can be clued in that his time isn't as important as Jane Six Pack on the East Coast, maybe give the West coast feed ONLY 2/3 of the commercials.

Swimming - I wish Rowdy Gaines would give us more info on the start of the short races - that was something that he FOCUSED on in preparation for his event ar the 1984 games in LA. I've noticed that the medal winners get off the blocks well and establish an early lead - and I can't do a flip turn OR float. When I watched the 100-Fly tonight, I had to pause the DVR and watch frame-by-frame to see if Phelps earned his 7th Gold. If the race was 100 yards (pre- 1896), he would have been 2nd. If it was 99.5 meters, he still would have been 2nd. But 100m, first. I thought both both Spitz and Phelps were great during the extended interview w/ Costas.

Manny Being Manny... in LA

I'm still digesting this one; didn't think that the Red Sox would actually pull the trigger on this one. Jason Bay could prove to be a good fit in the Sox' lineup, though I am not sure who rolls into Manny's #4 spot in the order. Ramirez did quit in 2006 in August when the Sox were a few games back and DH David Ortiz was diagnosed with a heart condition. Concern about that may have been what drove the Sox to trade Ramirez before he had a chance to really screw things up for them in August. Trading SS Nomar Garciaparra sparked them to the World Series Title in 2004, that may have given them the confidence to trade Ramirez here and not have it blow up in their face.

Mark Texeria to the Angels - that should help them in the postseason, they have only won 4 of 16 playoff games since their World Series Championship in 2002.

Ken Griffey Jr. - sadly, the only year the Reds had a winning season during his tenure was 2000. The bad news: despite winning 85 games in Griffey's first season, it represented an 11-win decline from 1999.

Pudge Rodriguez - why did the Tigers trade him to the Yankees? For Kyle Farnsworth? That's addition by subtraction and addition by addition for the Yankees.

Rich Harden and Joe Blanton - Billy Beane surely is trying to line his talent for the future opening of a new stadium with Cisco wi-fi enabled. With wi-fi, will the fans even care about the outcome of the game?

Housing "Rescue" Bill

This bill is horrendous. Another example of donors, lobbyists, etc. getting preferential treatment over the regular folks. If the Govt wants to spend $1 toward this, why not fund a law enforcement agency to prosecute the lenders, realtors, purchasers, and appraisers for FRAUD? They might actually be able to reduce the deficit by a few pennies that way.

Hank Steinbrenner

It didn’t take too long for George’s heir to exhibit some of George’s tendencies. Hank’s ready to move P Joba Chamberlain into the rotation right now – things could get interesting in the final season at Yankee Stadium. The Bronx bombers just might sign Barry Bonds to DH for them in the second half of the season. I had to chuckle when I heard one of the top dogs in Yankees Management say on CNBC during a story on the new Yankee Stadium that a family of four could entertain themselves with season tickets at the new arena for about $10K per year. How many families of 4 have $10K wads of cash lying around to spend on baseball? According to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Americans can’t afford their health insurance. Here’s one potential reason why: They’re spending $10K per year on Yankee Baseball. $10K would cover several years’ worth of vacations for me (and many others).

Clemens (AGAIN!!!!!!)

Roger Clemens’ Trials & Tribulations

The Rokcet’s retirement is a humungous soap opera. He had a 10-year+ platonic relationship w/ an attractive teenage/young adult musician? She received FedEx envelopes filled with cash from him. He was more capable in the gym at 40 than 25? He confused Mike Piazza’s broken bat for a ball AND a World Series game for a whiffle ball game? It looks like he should have not unretired and pitched for the Astros. Then his news might be buried in the middle of the newspaper, or not reported at all. This is making P Greg Maddux look better each and every day.

Sen. Clinton on O’Reilly Factor (1st half)

She should have made that appearance during her February 11-state losing streak (Both she and Obama have avoided the Fox News Channel like Superman avoids Kryptonite. Which makes no sense sine FNC draws more viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined. Why the Democrats haven’t figured that out in the 5+ years Matt Drudge has been posting the ratings on his website, I have no idea. Maybe they only read the Drudge Retort!). Some plusses for Bill:
· Got her to indicate that Payroll Taxes (i.e. FICA, Social Security) would likely increase to maintain the current benefits.
· Beat her up about energy – her “NO” votes on increasing fossil fuel production are a significant factor in our rapidly rising energy costs. We haven’t developed alternative sources yet -
· Questions that had depth – about Rev. Wright – he didn’t let her get by with “Let the voters decide or her standard “Look it up on my website”
· Universal Health Care – she is still clinging to “Barack’s plan won’t cover everyone” – he focused on the exorbitant cost and the fact that 2 of the BLUEST states, CA & NY, couldn’t figure out how to finance UHC.
· Rebutting her claim that America needs a “fighter” in the White House. We don’t need a fighter – we need a LEADER. It’s difficult to gauge that now because candidates are expected to have detailed plans on so many different things (that the government shouldn’t be involved in) that the candidate’s words become those of the “handlers”. Bill expressed his opinion (correct assessment to me) that she was losing in this portion of the race (and ultimately this would be a deciding portion).

Some counter-punches & topics that I would like to have seen:
· She talked about how great the economy was during the 90’s (that Bill O. did well while the Clintons were in charge) – he could have pointed out that they’ve done pretty well while Bush has been in charge; it also would have been good to point out that things weren’t as rosy as she paints them. The Tyco, Worldcom, and Enron accounting debacles all occurred then (forcing passage of SOX in 2002). And the NASDAQ is still not back to its 2000 high. That tech bubble was a pretty big one. If she is going to point to the housing bubble as a housing crisis, then I’m going to point back to the tech bubble.
· She mentioned that American families aren’t well off. Well, what percentage of them have amenities like Cable or Satellite TV service, High Speed Internet Service, HD Game Consoles, boats, RVs, ATVs, Jet skis, etc. now vs. 2001?
· What will Mr. Clinton’s role be? After all, he’s raking in TENS of MILLIONS of DOLLARS, mostly from companies based in OPEC nations. They raised a TON of money for his 1996 re-election in China – now she’s complaining that too many American jobs are going there? What the heck did she expect?

NBA Musings

NBA Trade Rules

How can it be acceptable for the Mavericks to sign Keith Van Horn out of retirement solely so that they can trade him to New Jersey as part of the Jason Kidd trade? How long does he have to go to New Jersey for? Can he wait until after the first day of spring to report? Can he wait until the new arena opens in Brooklyn? Once he reports, how long does he have to stay? Who pays his contract, the Mavericks or the Nets? I suppose this is better than the Nets and Mavericks having an “understanding” that the Nets would release Jerry Stackhouse after 30 days so that Stackhouse could choose to go back to the Mavs in time for the playoffs. Maybe the Nets should have negotiated for a couple of Mavericks home games in the NYC area.

Suns vs. Spurs

The Spurs were a little better (and luckier) than the Suns in the tight late-game situations. From Duncan’s 3 to force the 2nd OT in Game 1 to Parker getting into the lane to hit layups, runners, and jumpers throughout the series, the Spurs cruised to a 4-1 victory. That being said, they were the beneficiaries of two or three loose ball calls late in Game 5 that gave them extra possessions. And I do think the Hack-a-Shaq rule needs to be updated. I think Shaq (or Ben Wallace) needs to be moving for a foul to be called. If Jacque Vaughn hugs Shaq but Shaq isn’t moving, is it really a foul? I think that the foulee should have some control over the situation – maybe D’Antoni should have had O’Neal inbound the ball as a counter-tactic. Shaq could have stayed OB after inbounding the ball – then would a hack-a-Shaq hug been a T?

No More Over the Back?

I haven’t watched any NBA since last season’s playoffs – one observation that I don’t like is the tendency to award the ball out of bounds to a team victimized by an over-the-back violation. I’d rather see the foul called on a sloppy play like that.

NBA Coaches

Isiah Thomas - I wonder what his next job will be. Since Knicks owner James Dolan loves Thomas so much, maybe he could reassign Isiah to MSG TV. Then we can see if Thomas can run non- basketball organizations into the ground.

Larry Brown – He still has a chance to coach all of the NBA Franchises in his lifetime. Cross Charlotte off the list.

Pat Riley – What’s the over-under on his return to the bench? The Heat have 2 All-Star players in G Dwayne Wade and F Shawn Marion. If they can add a third (who is a PF or C), then I fully expect Riley’s new coach to express the desire to spend more time with his family.

Mike D’Antoni – Chicago would be a good fit for him. The Bulls have offensive talent and he can build a winner a lot quicker in the East. He’ll have to prioritize finding a defender to guard F LeBron James if he wants to taste the finals.

Avery Johnson – he had to leave Dallas. The Mavericks’ leadership should listen to any and ALL offers for everyone but F Dirk Nowitski. Three straight post-season flaemouts starting with the 2006 Finals and they have an old roster. They might not like what they are offered talent-wise for F Jerry Stackhouse and G’s Jason Terry and Jason Kidd, but they should be willing to move all 3 of them. Letting Steve Nash leave for Phoenix is turning out to be a big mistake.

George Karl – the Nuggets are fun to watch at times but until F Carmelo Anthony figures out how to play team offense consistently and play defense more than once or twice a game, they won’t have postseason success. IF F Kenyon Martin’s contract is up soon, he might be good to let go – I don’t see him being a good influence for Anthony.