$250 Senior Stimulus

I'm not sure that I follow this one. Social Security receipients won't receive a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) increase in 2010. Mr. Obama commented that their buying power would be diminished without a COLA increase in 2010 when announcing the plan to issue $250 stimulus checks to SS receipients. The ONLY reason there won't be a COLA in 2010 is because prices WENT DOWN last year. If SS income is constant and prices of goods purchase decrease, then buying power actually INCREASED! How many SS couples will head to their local Best Buy and purchase a new 32" HDTV, courtesy of the SSA?

ALCS Game 5

Once Nick Swisher worked the count full, I thought for sure Rivera would take at least an 8-7 lead to the bottom of the 9th inning. But Fuentes only needed to throw one 3-ball pitch and it was enough of a strike for Swisher to loft a fly ball to shallow left.

Where's Al Gore?

We've had some early frost and snow here out west. And the Patriots played the Titans on a snow-covered field today.. October 18th - 4 weeks into autumn, not winter! Global Warming? I think it has more to do with Mr. Gore's business interests.

Phillies help NYC Football Fans

Since the Phillies could host a World Series game on the evening of Nov. 1st, the NFL rescheduled the Giants @ Eagles from 4:15 to 1:00 and moved the Vikings @ Packers into the 4:15 doubleheader slot. Currently the Jets and Giants are scheduled to play during the 1:00 window... don't remember the last time that happened there (or the SF Bay Area, or DC-Bal, other 2-team markets). It's the first weekend of the flex game for NBC so if the league doesn't move the Jets to 4:05, NBC could move Jets-Dolphins to prime time. Denver-Baltimore and San Francisco-Indy could also be of interest to the flex schedulers.

Colts-Dolphins

I don't know what's the most astounding aspect about this game.

1. The Dolphins ran 82 offensive plays from scrimmage in a regulation game without using a no-huddle (including their 2-minute drill).
2. The Dolphins were 15 for 21 on 3rd down & made the 1 4th down they attempted.
3. The Colts scored on 5 offensive possessions - starting from their 19, 20, 20, 26, and 27. Total Time of Possession for the game, including their 3 non-scoring possessions - 14:53.
4. In the 2nd half, the Colts had the ball for 5:19 but outscored the Dolphins 14-10 by virtue of a missed Miami 49-yard FG and having a 4-point lead in the closing seconds.
5. The Colts had that 4 point lead because Manning only needed 41 seconds (and 1 of his 2 Timeouts) to move the Colts 44 yards for a Viniateri FG at the close of the 1st half.

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?