NFL Preview: Pittsburg Steelers

QB: A If Love Tron Roethlisberger can keep his mind focused on football instead of date rape accusations, the Steelers will be fine. JUST ASKING: If Lawrence Taylor can send hookers to opponents rooms before a game, could cross town rivals QB Donovan McNabb have sent a spy with Eagles wings to seduce and entrap Big Ben in a date rape scandal? This reporter says yes! C+ 

RB: C You can try and sell me Parker, Mendenhall and Moore all day, I aint buyin. Luckily, it doesn't seem to matter who plays for the Steelers, they still look good. 

WR: B call me skeptical on Santonio too. i had him on my fantasy team last year and he killed me. Hines Ward still awesome, Limas Sweed still Limas Sweed. 

TE: C Heath Miller is fine but I doubt any team is game planning for Heath Miller. Unless it's "Make Heath Miller Beat Us." That could work. 

OL: B+ Individually, these guys should be much worse. Something about the convergence of the three mighty rivers turns them into something more than their earthly parts. 

DL: B- Good enough to free up the LB's. 

LB: A+This may be the single best unit in football. Woodley, Farrior, Timmons and Harrison. Sweet Jesus. That sound you hear is Carson Palmer trying to rupture his ACL using Jump Soles and a banana peel.

DB: B- I still say Polamalu is overrated. I guess playing with DeShea Townsend and Ike Taylor can make you look better than you are.

P/K: B Reed and Sepulveda. 70 rock band's or special teamers? ALCOA PRESENTS, YOU MAKE THE CALL!

COACHING: A Looks like Omar Epps and coached like Chuck Noll.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 13-3, FIRST in the NORTH.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 10-6 SECOND in the NORTH. No way they get behind Cincinnati or Cleveland. probably not Baltimore either.

Mercy Flush Preview: Fanny Fister

Ever wonder what would happen if a guy sent his wife to do a fantasy draft via a cell phone, speaker phone in a house full of other s-faced fantasy geeks? Now we know.

QB: C+ Kurt Warner and Mark Sanchez. Yikes. If Warner doesn't stay healthy, this is a disaster. Considering that he's a 38 year old concussion machine, I'm betting on disaster.

RB: B-Adrian Peterson, Joe Addai, Sammy Morris, Darren Sproles, Ricky Williams. Can't argue about Adrian Peterson but all the other RB's may not even start. Fister better hope Ronny Brown blows another ACL.

WR: C Braylon Edwards, Kevin Walter, Brandon Marshall, Torry Holt, Josh Morgan. This is a PPR league so Walter should be ok but braylon and Brandon have serious issues. One sucks the other is insane.

TE: B Kellen Winslow, Donald Lee. Lee won't give you anything. The General plays for Tampa Bay. That means Byron Leftwich. Not good.

D/ST: C Miami. Nothing special, nothing too bad. Ted Ginn Jr. could help.

K: B John Kasay. Worst thing about this kicker is spelled J-A-K-E D-E-L-H-O-M-M-E

BOTTOM LINE: Lots of reaches, fan picks. No Championship for you, sir. Now good day.

NFL Preview: San Diego Chargers

QB: B+ I still think Phil Rivers mostly sucks but I suppose eventually I'll have to admit he's slightly above average. Playing the Broncos, Chiefs and Raiders twice a year can make anybody look good.

RB: A I think Tomlinson is going to go sick this year. One last other worldly year before the curse of thirty takes hold for good.

WR: C+ Vince Jackson, Chris Chambers, Craig Davis & Malcolm Floyd are all ok but not special.

TE: B What a surprise, I go look at the Chargers roster and Gates already has a big red cross next to his name. He can't be counted on anymore.

OL: A Outside of Marcus McNeil, none of these guys is a big name all pro but somebody has to be making Sproles, Tomlinson look good.

DL: B- They do the job of keeping the OL off the LB's. Looking back, doesn't Luis Castillo look like a genius for just admitting his roid use a few years before everybody and their brother started getting outed in the papers?

LB: B It's still preseason but Shawn Merriman still doesn't look right. The Chargers defense was awful without him last year. If he doesn't bounce back, they could be crap again.

DB: C+ Antonio Cromartie reminds me a lot of Phil Buchanan when he played for the Raiders. Lots of big plays, lots of TD's allowed. This isn't a compliment. Jammer and the Safties are just average. That might also be the worst name of a band ever.

P/K: B Who couldn't kick in San Diego?

COACHING: D It's just about time for the era of Norv to turn sour.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 13-3, FIRST in the WEST.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 11-5, FIRST in the WEST. The division really, really, sucks.

The Last Swim of the Cowardly Lion

Well, Ted Kennedy finally died at the age of 77. The last of the old school leftists is gone.

My own personal reaction to the news was a mixture of indifference and unhappy anticipation for the news blitz that would surely follow lionizing the now deceased Senator.

And oh how those sycophants came on today. To listen to them you would've thought Teddy was put in the Senate by God himself, to save the beloved institution from mortal hands. You might have even thought he was a good man.

Sadly, both things are false.

I did wonder about poor Mary Jo Kopechne. Would she finally be able to confront the man who let her drown in a river? The idea made for good theatre of the mind but if there is an afterlife, surely these two will not be bumping into each other anytime soon.

What of Mary Jo's family? Surely there must be some left. I hope they leave the TV off today and for a few days until Camelot mania ends.

All of this glowing coverage for Teddy, creating a myth out of whole cloth, is really a fitting end to the Kennedy ear, which was itself a myth. One of the greatest frauds ever foisted upon the American people.

What exactly have the Kennedy's done to deserve such praise?

Papa Joe was a Mob connected, elitist, Nazi sympathizer who made tons of money illegally and used his money to buy influence for his kids.

Brother John did get elected to the House, Senate and President. No small feat but what's the legacy? The bay of Pigs was a debacle, the Cuban Missile Crisis was a problem of his own making and questionable resolution. Tragically, he was gunned down before he had a chance to really develop a legacy. This doesn't even address his personal life which left much to be desired.

Brother Robert was mostly famous for being Johns right hand man in many questionable decisions. He was also a hypocrite, denouncing the Mob and Union thugs while secretly working with both even going so far as to use the Mob to try and kill Castro. He also carpetbagged a Senate seat in New York. He too was tragically killed before he could add to his legacy but we can't judge history on potential, only fact.

Then there is Edward. What to make of him. You could argue that he has been the most successful Kennedy just through longevity alone. Certainly he has had his finger in many a pie from creating HMO's, to fighting for amnesty for illegals, to writing No Child Left Behind. But all of those things were done within the Senate where he was just one of many and when those decisions worked out well, Ed was there to take the credit but when they failed, he was there to assign blame (not to himself).

So while others will focus on what they see as all that's right in government, projecting their own veil of ideals and ideology on a man who deserves neither.

I choose to remember Mary Jo Kopechne and her family. I will remember Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork, savagely attacked for being originalists when reading the constitution. Thomas for being a black originalist. I will remember all the other people on the opposite political spectrum from Kennedy he attacked as racist, bigot, homophobes for simply disagreeing with him. That's a legacy with real substance to it.

And of the Senate? The Dems need a new icon to rally around, a New Old Lion to replace the Old Old Lion.

How about Robert Byrd? I can think of nothing more fitting. After all, the liberals made a hero out of an intern drowning, drunken socialist, why shouldn't they try and turn the former KKK member into the new liberal standard bearer?

One lie is no bigger the last.

NFL Preview: Kansas City Chiefs

QB: B+ When I heard that Matt Cassell was being pushed for his job i assumed it was by Tyler Thigpen. Imagine my surprise when it was Brodie Croyle. I'm not sure who's daughter Thigpen fooled around with to get stuck in the doghouse but he might be the best QB on the team. One things for sure, it ain't Brodie Croyle.

RB: C+ If Larry Johnson is refreshed as he says he is, this unit could be pretty good with Smith and Charles at backup. The odds are though that Johnson is the spent rusher we all think he is.

WR: D+ here's where the train gets off track. Bowe is good but more of a 2. The ghost of Bobby Engram and Mark Bradley don't give you much.

TE: D- One reason the WR's are bad? No Tony Gonzalez.

OL: C Pretty decent run blockers, iffy pass blockers. That's one reason Thigpen was such a good QB, his ability to run around and make plays. Cassell is more statue-esque.

DL: C Rookie Jackson, Tank Tyler and injury prone Glenn Dorsey should be a good DL but they don't play to their talent. Dorsey needs to pick it up after top 5 draft position.

LB: C Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson are both A+ LB's but who is manning the other two spots? Zack Thomas and Mike Vrabel. Yikes. I thought they both retired.

DB: D Yikes. The best cover man in the group is the minuscule Brandon Flowers, all 5-9 of him. That's not good but I guess there has to be a reason why a team sucks.

P/K: C never heard of either one.

COACHING: Inc. First year for Todd Haley.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 10-6, SECOND in the WEST. Denver and Oakland could be really bad.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 2-14, FOURTH in the WEST. So could the Chiefs.

NFL Preview: Washington Redskins

QB: C- What's worse than having Jason Campbell as your starting QB? Having him lose his job to Todd Collins. Seems like there's nothing good in DC these days.

RB: B+ Clinton Portis should get an A but he is injury prone and likes to disappear sometimes. You could say the same thing about Ledell Betts. FANTASY TIP! Portis may be injury prone but you should take him above the Stephen Jacksons of the world.

WR: C Santana Moss and Randle El are both average receivers these days and a little on the small side. Moss can still make the big play but he goes long stretches being shut down. Having a bad QB doesn't help.

TE: A Chris Cooley's decline last year was mostly the result of crappy line play that made him have to block more and QB's that can't throw the ball.

OL: C Randy Thomas is a pretty good guard, Chris Samuels is good but brittle, brittle brittle. They need him big time or a slightly below average line goes to crap.

DL: A Daniels, Haynesworth and Carter should make for a stud D line. Lets hope Haynesworth can avoid the Skin free agent curse.

LB: B I'll the first to admit that I thought Orakpo would suck. When I hear "Needs to be motivated" that's a red flag but I saw him the other night and the guys an animal. The other guys suck though, I'm sure.

DB: B+ You gotta love Rogers and Smoot but what's the deal with DeAngelo Hall? I'm convinced no team that he's on will ever make the playoffs again.

P/K: D Suisham was brutal last year, missing 10 field goals. Janikowski thinks he needs to get his act together.

COACHING: D This team underachieves. Does anybody have Mike Shannahans number?

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 4-12, LAST in the EAST. If campbell doesn't deliver and they have their typical injury woes, they suck big time.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 8-8, THIRD in the EAST. Even if those things don't happen, there's no way the pass more than one team in the division.

2010 United States Senate - NV

SHARK ATTACK!

A new poll that came out this weekend shows Democratic Senate Majority Stooge Harry Reid has got himself into quite a situation.

It seems that three possible Republican challengers are currently polling ahead of Reid, two of them by double digits. (read the story here.)

It breaks down like such: Tarkanian 49% Reid 38%, Heller +10% over Reid and Lawton 45% Reid %40.

While all that is very good news, the real story is that first name.

Tarkanian.

In Nevada.

Could it be?

Yes! Yes it could!

That Trakanian is none other than the son of infamous towel chewing, scandal surviving, college basketball coack Jerry Tarkanian. The Shark returns!

This may please me even more than the prospect of that little weasel Reid going down like a poor mans Tom Daschle. Why, just the other day I was doing some deep thinking about the cosmos and life in general and I came to the conclusion that the wrold needed more tough guys, strong willed, boundry pushing, life in the fast lane sorts that make things happen. Guys that can beat Duke by 30 to win the championship. Guys like the Shark.

It seems karma was listening.

Lets just hope Lloyd Daniels doesn't need a job on the campaign.

They Have Laws?

In a stunning twist, Mexico has declared that possession of marijuana, cocaine & heroin is now "decriminalized" so long as the quantity is small and for personal use only. I assume cartel running and border distribution are still illegal.

Now, the cynic in me would point out that the complete lack of institutional control of their country has led to these things, along with everything else, being completely legal for many a year now but for the sake of argument I'll assume Mexico is actually a legitimate country that has the ability to enforce laws.

The real question is, why stop with making possession illegal?

Can you imagine what the cartels would do if their illicit endeavor were suddenly legal? Subject to taxation, regulation or government takeover?

It would spark one of two ways. The business could go legit, growing and producing drugs in plain sight but then they would still have to get them into other countries illegally, they can't sell everything to Amsterdam.

It could also explode in the governments face. Legalization solely in Mexico wouldn't help the cartels much, there isn't any market in Mexico so they would still need to export for profits, assuming all the same risks as before. The only thing legalization adds to the equation for the cartels is that the government would try and get their hands in the dope filled cookie jar. Unfortunately for the government, the cartels are the stronger entity and both sides know it. Any attempts to get money for the cartels would just lead to more conflict between the Army and the cartels.

So what should Mexico do? I would say do both to some extent. Legalize drugs, don't enforce the border, don't try and extract any money from the cartels.

This would achieve the main Mexican objective, removing the violence from the Mexican side of the border. No more clashes with the Army, no more snitches, kidnappings etc. All Mexico would have to do is convince the cartels to leave each other alone, which shouldn't be hard considering all the cartels have to gain by operating in a free-zone the size of Mexico.

Now this does cause problems for Mexico's neighbors. Traffic across the border and drug dealing would all increase in major cities and border crossings. The flood of new drugs would lead to lower costs and thus wider distribution. The increase in distribution over a wider area would lead to an increase in domestic crime from both drug addicts, who tend to have a high crime rate and drug dealers who would be fighting over the expanded dealing territory. See the genius? All the turf wars and social decline from pervasive drug use could happen abroad instead of in Mexico. Who knows? maybe the cartels might actually employ some Mexicans to work in the new production farms.

Would this blatant ducking of responsibility really shock anybody Mexico is already a bad neighboring country. If they implement my plan of exportation of crime and violence the can just be a bad neighbor instead of a bad neighbor that is on the borderline of being a failed state.

NFL Preview: Dallas Cowboys

QB: C+ Maybe now that J Simp is out of the picture Cowboy fans can finally realize that Romo is just a walking choke job. Maybe they can blame the ghost of Farah Fawcett instead.

RB: A Yes, yes. Barber, Jones & Choice are all good. Unfortunately they all seem to get hurt at some point and constantly dissapoint at the end of the season.

WR: C+ Am I excited for the Roy Williams era? Oh yes. Then again, I don't like the Boys too much.

TE: A Jason Witten should be fantasy gold this year. The WR's suck ass so you know Romo is going there.

OL: B The biggest shock here? The fact that Leonard Davis is still playing. I did not know that.

DL: B- Yeah, Spears is pretty good but why were they so hell bent on getting rid of Greg Ellis? Did Igor Olshansky really merit that much respect?

LB: B+ Ware and James are awesome but Keith Brooking is a husk.

DB: B- Mike Jenkins better turn out good because these guys got torched last year. One positive, they don't have Horsecoller Williams to worry about anymore.

P/K: B Folk, Briar, Blah.

COACHING: D- Wade Phillips seems like a really nice guy. Not so good with the chalkboard

STADIUM: A+ That new stadium is sick. I saw that massive plasma TV (60 yars long, 25 yards high!) and nearly had a spiritual moment. I hate the Cowboys but man do I respect Jerry Jones. The man knows class. You couldn't have a stadium that nice in Oakland. The JumboTron would be standard definition and everything would be covered in silver velet.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 11-5, FIRST in the EAST. It could happen. The East sucks and I suppose somebody has to win.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 6-10, LAST in the EAST. Then again, just because somebody has to win doesn't mean the Cowboys don't suck. They can't throw they ball.

NFL Preview: New York Giants

QB: C+ I know Eli manning won a Super Bowl but i still can't trust him. He always has that look on face like he might crap himself or just break down into a heap and start checking his biorhythms.

RB: A Brandon Jacobs is an injury prone man amongst children. Now that Derrick Ward has finally gotten the hell out of dodge, Ahmed Bradshaw is the lone handcuff. Jacobs should get 16+ TD's this year.

WR: C Good thing I decided to write this today so I could mention that Plax just got 2 years in the pokey FOR SHOOTING HIMSELF. That other shot you heard? That was Eli shooting himself after seeing nothing but Hicks, Hixon and Manningham left on the roster. Don't give me any of that Steve Smith nonsense.

TE: B This should really be an A given that they are still reaping the benefits of trading serial jackass Jeremy Shockey. It helps that Kevin Boss is actually pretty good. FANTASY TIP! Expect Boss to get a lot of balls his way. Did you read the part about the WR's? Yeah.

OL: B It's weird, it seems like these guys suck but Jacobs isn't blocking for himself all the time. They need to give Eli about 9 seconds every time he drops back though.

DL: A All that matters is Umenyiora is back to raise hell. I just heard Brian Westbrooks knee explode.

LB: C Lets see, Raider castoff Danny Clark, Ageless Antonio Pierce and Michael Boley. Did I mention Umenyiora is back?

DB: B These guys are good because the DL is constantly date raping the QB.

P/K: B Tynes & Feagles are fine.

COACHING: B+ Coughlin seems like a miserable prick but the team does seem to play well. I suspect relying on a bunch of no name WR's and the second best Manning will be too much for him to handle though.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 10-6, SECOND in the EAST. They aren't very good. Luckily, nobody in the EAST is either.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 6-10, LAST in the EAST.

A Massive Fraud

If you haven't heard or seen Howard Dean perpetuate the disgusting myth that Republicans want to hurt President Obama himself, not just his policies, Click Here to read about it. Then come back for a rant, I'll wait.

Ok, welcome back. Aside from the highly offensive belief that Republicans are somehow intent on killing Obama and his socialist plans, Howard Dean needs to be examined. I would say though that our Presidential assassins or would be assassins have been leftists by and large. Free market capitalists don't kill Presidents.

But what of Howard Dean? Has anyone ever gotten so much airtime and publicity for doing less? At least Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian made bootleg porn, I would argue Dean hasn't even done anything that significant. He was governor of a small, very insignificant state, Vermont. I have nothing against Vermont but if I had to pick a governorship that I thought would be easy, Vermont would be right up at the top. He captured the leftist mind in a presidential primary, then blew it. He then got the top spot at the DNC and has been reaping the benefits of Republican self destruction ever since, happily taking credit for it and spouting off inanities all the way.

So why has such a colossal nothing gotten so much respect in the Democratic Party? Easy, he is a genuine, left wing socialist kook. The internal party politic is always influenced by the most ideologically rabid members so Deans hyper-leftist positions fit right in with what they want, even if its far outside the mainstream of the country. Furthermore, like any good liberal, his failures are seen as badges of honor by other Democrats. Just think of all the memorable losers that liberals love; Jimmy Carter, Howard Dean, John Edwards, George McGovern, Tom Daschle, Gorbachev, Castro, Guevara, Ortega, etc.

So while listening to a guy like Howard Dean prattle on about nothing with that elitist air of his, resist the urge to destroy your TV. Just remember, in the world of the leftist, the biggest failure gets the glory. Take heart in the fact that the more he talks, the bigger fraud he becomes.

Nothing could be better for the country, and conservatives, than for him to continue to expose himself as the crackpop who couldn't even beat out a zero like John Kerry.

Mercy Flush Preview: Sand Monkey

A happy homecoming, a few beers and a racially insensitive name apparently inspires a man to spend four picks out of sixteen on defenses and kickers. Who knew.

QB: B- Aside from the two games a year against the Raiders, I think Phil Rivers sucks. Jay Cutler should be good but not as good as he was in Denver and Brady Quinn may not even start.

RB: C- Clinton Portis, Lendale White & Tim Hightower. Portis is a solid number one but Patron White is goal line at best and Hightower is such a stud the Cardinals drafted Beanie Wells.

WR: B+ Steve Smith and Anthony Gonzalez should be fine if they can keep healthy. Backups are Crabtree and Randle El, so lets pray for health and no bye weeks.

TE: B Chris Cooley & Todd Heap. Cooley was a major bust last year. If he can get it going he is boarderline top 5 TE.

K: A+ Neil Rackers, Janikowski.

Defense: C Philadelphias D is average and Oaklands is average at best.

NFL Preview: Philadelphia Eagles

QB: B+ The fair citizens of Philadelphia will look back and wish they appreciated the McNabb era more when he's gone. Maybe he isn't so great in the big games but last time I checked, the Eagles didn't have any big games before he got there. Maybe Vick can run a few plays and keep McNabb fresh and uninjured for the whole year.

RB: C+ I think Brian Westbrook is out of the discussion as a top tier NFL RB. He's more of a Charlie Garner playing it out with the Raiders than a true No. 1. I'm not sold on LeSean McCoy. All those Pitt teams were underachievers so I paint him with that same stinky brush.

WR: B DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Kevin Curtis and . . . . Hank Baskett. Why Baskett? Because he married "tv star" and "model" Kendra Wilkinson and I suspect she has the same kind of crazy in her that Anna Benson did. Look out kids! Mrs. Claus is coming to your town! Something tells me Kendra won't get booed like the real Santa is she pulls the same stunt Mrs. Benson did.

TE: C- What is a Brent Celek? He went to Cincinnatti so I suspect not much. Probably better than L.J. Smith though.

OL: A CORRECTION! All apologies to Dante Rosario, Stacy Andrews has the most feminine name in the league. Not that I'd ever say so to his face.

DL: C+ Very, very average. Trent Cole is a good pass rusher but is always hurt and Broderick Bunkley is only slightly above average.

LB: C I'll give them the benefit of the doubt since Philly usually has a good D but I've never heard of these guys. Not even from college.

DB: B- No Brian Dawkins, no . . . . uh, problems. Asante Samuel is pretty good. Other than that? meh.

P/K: A Gotta love David Akers.

COACHING: C For all of Andy Reids success, he doesn't manage a good game and seems hell bent on pissing of Donovan McNabb, who is 90% of the reason Reid still has a job. Maybe Reid mentored Josh McDaniels.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 12-4, FIRST in the EAST. The Cowboys suck, Giants are meh and Washington sucks.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 6-10, LAST in the EAST. I know you want a joke about Mike Vick or Andy Reid's sons but you're not gonna get it. Not until the lean days around the fourth preseason game.

It'd Be Funny If It Wasn't So Pathetic

Well the current administration certainly has created a mess.

Over the weekend it was released that the much celebrated/hated public option isn't a vital part of healthcare reform. While freedom minded people everywhere should cautiously applaud this, Obama has really stepped in it now.

Serious liberals want no part of reform without the socialized part and now they are just as furious as conservatives. This has already drawn some thin retractions from administration hacks. While I personally revel in this kind of political incompetence, I'm not ready to light the victory cigar just yet. Leftists in the House are not going to let this go. The Senate claims they can't pass it the plan with the public option. Something has to give and leftists hold all the cards. When push comes to shove, liberals will defy the polls and try and ram this through anyway despite the plummeting public support.

Now why is public support falling so fast? Aside from the fact that the plan is a fraud and all its supporters are lying about it.

For starters, the government seems hell bent on proving how incompetent it is. President Obama keeps pointing out how poorly run the post office is compared to UPS or FedEX. A good comparison if you're trying to show why we shouldn't be doing the healthcare this way, not so good for fans of socialized government.

In addition, it is being reported all over the radio today (I'm looking for a good link) that many dealers who have filed cash for clunkers claims aren't getting paid. Nice job administration, completely screwup the execution of a simple billion dollar used car lot, then stiff the dealers you made jump through this idiotic bureaucracy. And you wonder why you can't get support for your trillion dollar boondoggle? Please.

I encourage anybody who feels I'm spreading rumors to alert the White House goons through their snitch email Flag@whitehouse.Gov.

I'm sure even this hapless administration can manage a simple email address.

Mercy Flush Preview: Stimulus Package

Mercy Flush 2009 had its fantasy Draft this weekend so it's time to hash out the results. Many a beer was drank, the air was thick with the toxic fumes of premium cigar smoke and Marlboro reds. One guy thought it wise to attend a draft via cell phone teleconference. The conditions aligned perfectly for an irrational early run on QB's, K's & D's. On guy ran a perfectly effective draft without so much as a cheat sheet. One guy drafted Mike Vick. Heres the first team in the breakdown.

STIMULUS PACKAGE

QB: B Matt Schaub, Eli Manning, JaMarcus Russell. I like how this turned out, especially since there was an early run on QB's and I didn't pick one up until round 7. It could be scary though if Schaub gets hurt and Eli misses Plaxico more than I think.

RB: B+ LaDanian Tomlinson, Darren McFadden, Pierre Thomas, Cedric Benson. Due to the inexplicable early run on QB's, I was able to get four starting RB's in a 14 team league. After Tomlinson though they could all be average.

WR: B- Randy Moss, Roddy White, Percy Harvin, Derick Mason, Greg Camarillo. If White is a one year wonder I could be screwed.

TE: C+ Owen Daniels is tied to the injury prone Matt Schaub. Yikes.

D/ST: C Carolina Panthers.

K: B Ryan Longwell. Kickers don't matter in fantasy but if you can get one that kicks in a Dome you can avoid some pesky negative scores.

NFL Preview: New Orleans Saints

QB: A Cool Brees is awesome and shouldn't have any trouble again this year. The big shocker? CBS has Mark Brunnel and Joey Harrington as the backup QB's. Yikes.

RB: B- Pierre Thomas is going to get the bulk of the carries this year. While Reggie Bush has dropped about 30 pounds worth of ass this offseason, he's still injury prone and can't run between the tackles. FANTASY TIP! Draft Pierre higher in all leagues but bump up Bush in all PPR leagues.

WR: A Marcus Colston, Lance Moore and Devry Henderson are as good as it gets but injuries, injuries, injuries. A few more days in the weight room and a few less nights on Bourbon Street eh boys?

TE: C- If you think Jeremy Shockey is going to be anything more than Fantasy kryptonite, you're nuts. Billy Miller is adequate blocking and catching but nothing special.

OL: B- Jammal Brown and Jon Stinchcomb are good on the outside, interior is average. They need to play well though because Brees is just a wee QB.

DL: B Seems like there is talent but they don't produce like they should. Grant is hurt now, Ellis is always hurt, Clancy = underachiever, Smith = meh.

LB: B Fujita and Vilma are both good enough. I don't know anything about Scott Shanle.

DB: D Uh-oh, trouble. Randall Gay, meh. Darren Sharper, really old. Roman Harper and Tracy Porter, who?

P/K: C They just had to sign ageless John Carney because Garrett Hartley is a juicer. I don't know Glenn Pakulak, which is good and is last name is Pakulak, which is also good.

COACHING: B Sean Payton runs a good game but shouldn't this team be winning more?

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 13-3, FIRST in the SOUTH. SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 7-9, THIRD in the SOUTH. Reggie Bush starts dating Bruce Jenner.

The Two Way Street

All during this healthcare debate, we've heard all about rights. You have the right to this, no you don't, etc., etc.

This leads us to the conclusion that a refresher on rights is needed.

A right is a freedom granted to you at birth that cannot be taken away from you. These include life, liberty, property, equality. Most of things in our Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man. While these rights have been codified into laws in various western democracies, it is understood that these rights do not come from government and cannot be taken away by government.

These are in opposition to liberties and freedoms that are created and regulated by government in accordance with the founding documents of the civil society.

One thing that is not a right is healthcare. It is a service provided just like any other and like many other necessities of life, if a person decides that they need it, then they must be the sole force of its acquisition.

This again brings us to the nature of rights.

Another word you could use for rights is responsibilities. While it is agreed that no government has the right to take any of these away the role of the individual is often overlooked.

Part of the deal is that if nobody has the right to deprive you of these rights, you also have no right to voluntarily forfeit these rights. They are not simply a gift given to you that can be used casually when the individual feels the proper motivations. Human rights are yours and always stay yours. They are your only real obligation on this earth but if you decide to abandon your rights in the hope that others will cover you, then you have violated the civil society and natural law.

Many times, people who would voluntarily give up their rights either to another person or government are worse than the tyrant who would take them by force because tyrants are often easy to identify while your own neighbors may cease to be self sustaining which damages both them and you, them by diminishing the value of their self and you by taxing you with added responsibility which takes away from your own ability to exercise your personal rights.

This healthcare debate, along with any other big government program, are a violation of your rights by the fact that they deprive you of your liberty to make the decisions you would like and by separating you from the products of your labor further diminishing your liberty and access to private property.

Supporters of this socialized plan would make this exchange in order to provide a service to people that can't afford it or choose not to buy it. In doing so, they have turned an economic issue into a social one. While they may be driven by their own set of morality or standards, this decision is not an individual one. If this group of people were simply organizing to collect money for the uninsured the problem would be avoided as participation would be voluntary and communal in nature. The problem could even be avoided if the focus was on the City or State level instead of the Nation. That would fall in line with the 10th amendment regulating federalism as well as be a more communal decision as these localities are small and the governments much more responsive and accountable. However, healthcare supporters would authorize a national governmental power to enforce this policy over an entire nation for generations to come. No human being has the right to abandon their rights or the civil society, even if voluntarily or with the best intentions and they most certainly have no right to deprive those of us who disagree of our rights.

This is the wonderful part of this country, the realization that some things are just out of the scope of government control. While we all enjoy those rights and wax on and on about them endlessly, there is also an assumed responsibility that comes with birth that if nobody interferes with your rights you will be the sole responsible entity for them and your own existence.

NFL Preview: Carolina Panthers

RANT #1 Pick a State! I know you Carolinas are essentially a lesbian couple but c'mon, I hate regional monikers that either combine locations or are misrepresented. I'm looking at you New England should be Boston Patriots, New Jersey Jets/Giants and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, San Jose, Sacramento, Davis, Encino, Covina, Tiajuana.

QB: D+ Sorry Jake, the magic ends here. You got obliterated in the playoffs and it was all your fault. No bouncing back. Josh McCown should probably be starting.

RB: A Fantasy embolism DeAngelo Williams teams up with Jon Stewart to create the leagues most injury prone and disturbing tandem. FANTASY TIP! Somebody is going to overpay for both these guys. Let them, you'll be happy about it later. Williams in the 2nd sounds about right.

WR: B The Tobacco City Cobra and the Prophet are an awesome 1 - 2 but Smith is already hurt and Muhammad is getting old. At least nobody got punched yet. Scary lack of depth.

TE: C Jeff King and Donte Rosario are both average. I suppose Rosario has a bit more to offer than King. FUN FACT! Rosario may be the most feminine name in the league.

OL: B Jordan Gross, good, Jeff Otah, good, everyone else, meh.

RANT AMENDMENT! The exception to the regional name rant is the Golden State Warriors. Awesome name.

DL: C Until I see Julius Peppers play like somebody who isn't trying to get traded or a new contract, then I'll upgrade the unit.

LB: B Diggs and Beason are both above average and also should have a inner city cop show together. Thomas Davis is already hurt, so that isn't good.

DB: B+ I like Gamble and Marshall because they can both tackle. Takes pressure off the safties who aren't as good.

P/K: B John Kasay keeps rolling along. Do I know the punter? No. Is that good? Yes.

COACHING: B I like John Fox and he coaches a good game but if he gets burned by the Cajun Rash, he has nobody to blame but himself. You're on notice.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 7-9, 3rd in the SOUTH. I'm really down on Delhomme.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 4-12, 4th in the SOUTH. If Williams tanks and Smith isn't 100% this team sucks out loud. They might anyway.

A Rose By Any Other Name

Before today's look at "Death Panels: Fact or Fiction" we are truly blessed to have a glittering jewel of incompetence to examine that doesn't involve health care.

Michigan's own Debbie Stabenow proclaimed today that "climate change is real" because "she can feel it when she flies." She was apparently refereeing to air turbulence which she attributed to man made climate change along with an increase in hurricanes and tornadoes. (read the full article here.)

A few thoughts:
Of course climate change is real, it has been changing since the beginning of time.
Decade long global cooling trend.
Coldest July on record for Michigan.
Massive defection amongst scientists endorsing man made global warming.
You and your loser Governor have continued to endorse policies that have turned one of our great states into a laughingstock of poverty and depression.
Leave the rest of us the hell alone please.

Allright then, now Sarah Palin has been catching some heat lately for referring to the death panel provisions in the House Health Bill. Leftists all over the media and politics exploded denouncing both her and the idea of death panels. When leftists react so strongly, it's usually because you labelled something correctly and they don't like it, so further investigation is in order.

After some reflection I believe that death panel is the wrong term because it is too limiting. It would seem to suggest that all he panel does is decide life and death issues. I think that torture panel might be more accurate. I'll explain.

We know that there is absolutely going to be a panel of doctors that set policy according to proper treatment of patients. This is too solve Obama's complaints of doctors performing procedures that aren't needed. Think "take the painkiller" or "cutting off diabetics feet" or "removing tonsils for the money." So we know clearly, there will be a panel giving the thumbs up or down to patients treatments depending on the circumstances.

Also, we know that the intended result of this is not to provide better health care but to save money and time. This is critical given that the plan would add 50 million new patients with no new doctors. Efficiency and cost reduction are a must and rationing will occur. The only place that cost savings can be realized is by altering how you deal with people who use lots of insurance. You can't save money on people who only have a yearly physical and nothing else. This puts the elderly, disabled and people with chronic disease squarely in the firing line. As an example, Dr. Emmanuel (Rahms brother and Obama health czar) has advocated denying treatment to people with dementia due to he fact that they have a very low probability of being productive again.

Now we come to torture camps. Combining the overload of patients, target reduction of costs, health care philosophy of the administration and natural inefficiencies associated with government run programs, he decisions of the panel can only be detrimental to people in the target groups. Procedures such as hip or knee replacements, pacemakers, cancer treatments, dementia treatments, etc. are all subject to be delayed or cut. The elderly are especially vulnerable given that their age makes them far less likely to ever regain optimum productivity. Medicating the problem rather than solving them also frees up the medical providers to see all the extra patients that they are forced to treat. The elderly are not alone though. Many young people through birth defect, injury, etc. are similarly incapacitated. How far is the panel willing to go to treat a child with Down's Syndrome or Muscular Dystrophy? Young adults in a coma from brain trauma or afflicted with Lou Gehrig's disease or inoperable brain stem tumors? These medications/procedures used to treat these conditions are often extremely costly with low rates of success. Some only prolong life with minimal increase in livability. Some result in no improvement at all. One thing all treatments offer though is hope. Experimental drugs, treatments and surgeries are sometimes all a person has before coping with the looming specter of mortality. Will the medical panel allow these procedures to continue on into infinity? Given the expense and low success rate it seems unlikely. This is where the end of life counselling comes into play. Patients faced with the awful realization that their needed treatments will be delayed or cancelled will have to make the choice between three options; 1) Live with the pain and/or suffering 2) Take the government morphine and live out your days in a fog or 3) take the government provided exit to this world. Worse still, the bill in the House gives no clear indication what will be covered or who the bureaucrats will be. We all would have to wait until this thing takes effect to know for sure what is covered and what isn't. That coverage would also be subject to change given the cost needs of the government. The Canadians, Brits and French can all testify to their own rising out of pocket expenses.

So the new ObamaCare medical plan doesn't really have death panels. The panels would more frequently than not simply deny (ration) coverage to those people who are too taxing on the system. Rather than resulting in an spike of dead people, the result will be more people living out their lives in pain from easily treatable but costly conditions.

So Mrs. Palin while I admire you greatly I must quibble with the term death panel. Given the prolonging of suffering that will be the end result of this program I prefer torture panel in an attempt to give greater weight to the duration of suffering endured.

I suppose we could meet halfway and just call them slow-death panels but that isn't very catchy.

NFL Preview: Atlanta Falcons

QB: B Matt Ryan sure did make people forget about Ron Mexico's side business quickly enough. He just can't play that well again but he should still be above average. Backup Chris Redmen is pretty good do.

RB: A Michael Turner made San Diego look foolish and some fantasy owners look brilliant. Had a lot of carries last year but hardly any in the previous years so it should be a wash. FANTASY TIP! Turner can't catch anything so if you're in a PPR league, look elsewhere.

WR: B+ Michael Jenkins and Roddy White finally are playing to their potential. I guess it helps to have a QB that can throw. Harry Douglas is out for the year though so depth is lacking.

TE: B+ I'd give it an A but I really can't stand Tony Gonzalez. Thank God he left KC, now my beloved Raiders can get burned by someone else.

OL: C- These guys are sketchy. They must be good zone blockers but they need to keep Ryan conscious to be successful.

DL: B Jamal Anderson and John Abraham should be able to get pressure on the outside but the DT's are a little weak.

LB: C Whoa, who are these guys? Mike Peterson is probably the best but he's getting a little long in the tooth.

DB: C It could be worse, they could still have DeAngelo Hall.

P/K: B Good to see another Raider killer like Jason Elam somewhere besides Denver.

COACHING: A Last year could've been a nightmare after the whole Vick thing and the Bobby Petrino escapade but things turned out fine.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 12-4, FIRST in the SOUTH. Weak division.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 6-10, LAST in the SOUTH. Turner proves to be a one year wonder, Roddy White turns into OchoCinco and Matt Ryan starts up a cockfighting ring.

Of Moments, One Telling, One Wasted

Well, we have two more lessons from todays town hall meeings, one by Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and one by Steve LaTourette of Ohio. The first one by Mrs. Lee is just a shockingly blatant show of disrespect and the second is a wasted opportunity Republicans can ill afford to waste, especially in Ohio.

Example #1 - Sheila Jackson Lee Democrat, Texas 18th Congressional District

God knows that Sheila Jackson Lee is one of the most self centered publicity whores ever to be in American politics. Wherever their is a camera or cause Jackson is sure to be. I don't think I've ever actually seen her in Houston before. Last time I saw her was when she was trying to attach herself to Michael Jackson somehow. A typical elitist liberal, she has often said and done stupid things that ought to offend her constituents to no end yet she still continues getting elected. This act though is particularly shameful. Lucky enough to have a peaceful town hall meeting, she showed what she thinks of the common man (woman in this case) by answering her cell phone in the middle of a question by a voter. Answered a phone call!! What a diva! Texas, you people are on alert. If she gets reelected again, you deserve to lose your Republic status and should be forced to give Houston back to the Mexicans. Disgraceful.



Example #2 - Steve LaTourette, Republican Ohio, 14th Congressional District

Now, I don't pretend to know much about Steve but he seems like a pretty ok conservative, probably a little moderate since he reps in eastern Ohio. I think he represents Cuyhoga County and some surrounding areas. Now, a little background. In the video, you see a fairly civil town hall meeting, questions being asked, answered etc. After the actual Town Hall it looks like Latourette is answering some press questions or something and a liberal blogger keeps asking him if it was so civil at the town hall because they already know there is no way LaTourette will ever vote for Healthcare reform. LaTourette gives a standard answer, essentially no, then the blogger says he will never vote for any reform to which the Congressman informs him that it is a "bullshit question."

The problem here is not that he shot down a leftist blogger. The question, was in fact bullshit. Reform can encompass all forms of things and for this blogger to assert that LaTourette would never vote for any reform is ridiculous. Clearly the blogger can only visualize socialized healthcare as reform and LaTourette reacted naturally, if crudely by admonishing him. The real problem is that it is an opportunity wasted. The question was a perfect set up to launch into the list of conservative ideas to reform health care. Tax credits, tort reform, tax breaks for doctors going to underserved areas. portability between states, etc. While it is more satisfying to tell this guy off, Republicans can't afford to let golden teaching moments go by. Hopefully next time, Mr. LaTourette will respond with a concise action plan that will put the libs back on their heels a bit and show we have solutions not just no's. Here is the tape to judge for yourself.



FUN FACT! The deficit grew by 180.7 billion in July! Just imagine if Obama gets all these kooky plans put into law. Shame the Devil.

NFL Preview: Arizona Cardinals

QB: B+ Red Cross Lifetime Participant Award winner Kurt Warner returns for another season of concussion defying antics. If he plays all year they could return to the Super Bowl but a banana has a better chance of going 17 weeks with out a bruise. Matt Lienert sure is handsome with that clipboard.

RB: C- First round pick Beanie Wells was injury and fumble prone and sucked in college but I'm sure he'll be fine in the pros. Hightower proved last year that he can't hold the job. FANTASY ALERT: Hightower is a classic goal line vulture. It's about all he does really well.

WR: A+ Fitzgerald, Boldin, Breaston and Doucet are the best top four in the league, hands down. FANTASY TIP: In a 12 team league, Fitzgerald as a first rounder isn't crazy if you pick near the end and can pick up an RB at the top of round 2.

TE: C Anthony Becht makes me feel nothing inside. Doesn't matter anyway, why would you throw him the ball with all the other weapons. The caveat to this is if Leinert plays. He doesn't have the arm to go downfield so Becht could get some work then.

OL: C Meh. Glass Warner meet Mike Gandy, he'll be watching your blind side. Keep the paramedics on speed dial.

DL: C- Darnell Docket and Bertrand Berry are pretty good, I guess. The whole unit doesn't get much pressure on the QB.

LB: B- Karlos Dansby is the playmaker but even he doesn't put up great numbers. FUN FACT! Quickly reading the depth chart, I thought Chike Okeafor was actually named Chick Okeafor. Might not make a difference.

DB: B+ McFadden, Rolle, Wilson and Rodgers-Cromartie give up lots of big plays but they make big plays too. At least they have some size. Seems like every team has 2 guys shorter than me in the defensive backfield.

P/K: A Gotta love Neil Rackers. No idea who the punter is, so that's good.

COACHING: A Ken Whisenhunt. Can't complain with a trip to the big game under your belt. Losing the coordinators shouldn't hurt.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 13-3, FIRST in the WEST. This division sucks.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: A stiff Arizona breeze gives Warner a concussion forcing Leinert to stop plowing thru starlets and actually play. ALCOA PRESENTS, YOU MAKE THE CALL! Leinert has a special groupie he refers to as "The Clipboard". True or Flase? YOU MAKE THE CALL!

RANDOM FACT OF INTEREST Mad Men star John Hamm is an actual, lifelong Cardinals fan. All of you bandwagon jumpers, the line starts behind Mr. Draper.

Is There Any End To This Pit?

Listening to the Big O's speech/campaign stop/shameless publicity stunt in New Hampshire today, I was unsure what was the most shameless thing I heard.

Was it Obama claiming he was never for single payer health care, when the whole world has heard different?

Was it the local Democratic Party members who were allowed to ask questions and bask in the glory of their leader?

Was it the lady who nearly fainted when Obama winked at her?

Or was it the audacity of planting a question with a 13 year old girl, who wondered aloud why people were "being so mean" when all Obama wanted to do was help people?

No all of those things are becoming typical for our ever campaigning President.

The worst part of all that is how low the office of President seems now. How can the leader of the free world conduct affairs this way? Where is the dignity? Say what you will about W. but at least he always took the questions from a media that despised him. Obama is so insecure and cold that he feels the need to control absolutely a media that is completely invested in him. While lying is an almost expected quality in politicians these days, the blatant lack of respect Barak shows his own constituents is especially galling. At least try and lie subtly, anybody who can use YouTube knows what a liar he is.

And poor New Hampshire, what happened to our beloved Granite State? It's hard to believe now but there was a time when N.H. was our quirkiest, freest thinking state. Primary elections went there to die mostly because the people were particularly sensitive to being B.S'd and they were equally hard on liberals and conservatives. You wouldn't have even staged such a display as was held today.

Oh well, I guess they couldn't resist the leftward drag of New England forever.

NFL Preview: Seattle Seahawks

QB: B- I'm going to go ahead and pour myself a nice big tall glass of the Matt Hasselbeck Kool-Aid. I'm sure he can stay healthy for a whole year and produce now that he has all his weapons back. Ahhhh, that tastes good.

RB: C Julius Jones and T.J. Duckett. In the worse-than-crap NFC West this is probably good enough to get the job done but I wouldn't expect many big plays.

WR: A Branch, Burleson and Houshmandzadeh and well above average. The only issue is health. Branch hasn't played a game since 1986 and Burleson seems to be becoming more brittle by the year. If, IF, they stay healthy, big fantasy numbers abound.

TE: B John Carlson is a fine TE and should be productive again. Not a TOP 3 fantasy TE but Top 10 for sure.

OL: C+ Walter Jones is a blue chipper but everywhere else is average. This is the most important unit on the team given the frailty of the QB.

DL: C Meh. Patrick Kearney is the big-play sack man, I guess but the rest of the line is a bunch of no names.

LB: B This could be a big time nuit. Lofa Totupu is solid in the middle and Aaron Curry will be trying to justify such a high draft pick. Leroy Hill or D.D. Lewis should be good enough on the other side.

DB: B+ Trufant and Lucas are a little above average at the corners. Seattle is a weird team in that their S's may be better than the corners. Deon Grant and Brian Russell are both pretty good considering the level of safety play in this league.

P/K: C- Oh no. I thought we were done with Olindo Mare. He was a white knuckler in Miami, how can he handle Seattle?

COACHING: B Jim Mora is a good enough coach but you've got to question the idea of resting all your hopes on the back of Matt Hasselbeck. Don't give me any of that Seneca Wallace jive either.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 11-5, FIRST in the WEST This division sucks enough for his possibly average team to win.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 6-10, THIRD in the WEST. They could be worse than both San Fran and Arizona but probably not St. Louis. Even if the Beck hurts his back.

V for . . . . Ah Crap I'm Dead!

The world is spinning of its axis, hurtling us into a terrifying unknown.

Wars, pestilence, plague, drought, Syracuse University football, Avian Flu, Swine Flu, Boogie Woogie Blues, penicillin resistant clap and dengue fever have all risen to new heights of terror in the recent months.

Why just recently we all had to deal with the news that Paula Abdul is leaving American Idol. If you think for one hot second that you can live without Americas favorite mushmouth since the original Mushmouth, well friend let me hear you say that when the show starts. That dead air won't fill itself and who do you really want to hear more of? Overrated Simon, "Love You Dog" Randy or that other broad who people don't like but she loves herself anyway? Be afraid.

And now, to add to all that, the father of Red Evil is back on the prowl.

That's right dear readers, Vladimir Lenin, father of the Soviet Union, has once again taken to this mortal realm to demand tribute and satisfy the People's Bloodlust.

The new murderous rampage is GROUND ZERO: BELARUS. This time, the Undead Lenin, deviously, took the form of a monument dedicated to himself and promptly leap from his shadowy perch to crush and unsuspecting merry maker, killing him dead in his tracks. The Undead Lenin, well satisfied, left his monstrous edifice of death and has since eluded authorities.

We should have known. Subprime mortgages, health care reform, GM nationalized and the end of Romo/Simpson all foretold a terrible future where the Red Menace could return to exploit the confusion and uncertainty of the Western World. Somebody check on the corpses of Stalin, McGovern, Marx, Mao and Carter before its too late.

Total Souls Lost to Communism as of 8/10/2009: 1,347,231,967,202.

Set the Doomsday Clock to 11:51 P.M.

(read the full report of this terrible deed at KSWO-TV.com)

NFL Preview: St. Louis Rams

QB: C- Crystalline signal caller Marc Bulger returns yet again to embark on a quest to play a full season. Playing for the greatest show on turf, Bulger is fine. Playing for the worst team last year not named Detroit. Too bad Kyle Boller is the backup

RB: B+ Stephen Jackson should be healthy again and could be in for a big year. Assuming the offense can do anything throwing or blocking. Hmm. FANTASY TIP: Jackson might be a second round pick but just barley.

WR: D Torry Holt left and all that remains is Donnie Avery, Ronald Curry and Keenan Burton. Ouch. Gonna be a long season.

TE: B Former Dolphins TE Randy McMichael is above average and should do fine. As a fantasy note, he will probably get all the "panic" throws, of which there will be many.

OL: B It's not a great sign when No. @ pick Jason Smith is penciled in at RT but LT Alex Barron is pretty good. Rest of the line is one big ? FAKEST NAME IN THE NFL: Ritchie Ingonito.

DL: B If Leonard Little can manage to not kill anybody, he should team up with Chris Long, Adam Carriker and Clifton Ryan to make a pretty formidable line. Sleeper for fantasy.

LB: B Hmmm. Chris Draft, James Laurinitis and Will Witherspoon. Seems ok here too. Why do these guys suck so bad?

DB: D Here we go. 4 guys I've never heard of. That explains it. I was worried for a while.

P/K: B+ Josh Brown is pretty good, especially in the Dome. Can the O get him close enough though?

COACHING: Inc. Steve Spagnuolo, new coach, who knows. Not Josh McDaniels though, so off to a good start.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 7-9, Third in the WEST. They just suck

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 2-14, Last in the WEST.

Raging Mobs in CO!

These links are great covering the protests in CO today. I like the picture of the day laborers who were paid by the Dems to hold signs they couldn't read. Good work if you can get it.

http://www.lookingattheleft.com/2009/08/pelosi-astroturf-healthcare/

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/aug/07/polis-mobbed-morning-coffee-chat-health-care/

http://www.freecolorado.com/2009/08/meet-mob-longmont-protests-obamacare.html

Many thanks to Michelle Malkin, whose blog I was reading when I found these links.
http://michellemalkin.com/

Once More From the Peanut Gallery

You know, this whole man made global warming thing is starting to give all of pseudoscience a bad name. Second hand smoke is starting to get embarrassed.

Despite a whole slew of climate change activist scientists jumping ship, lack of hurricanes and a decade long cooling pattern turning this year into the year without a summer in many places, we still have to deal with all these Al Gore, doomsday weather alarmists and their so called "solutions" to the "crisis".

So, here we go. The next great idea, the amazing Cloud Ship! As seen on Drudge! All we need is Billy Mays to pitch it and we've got something.

(To read the full story go to the Telegraph or to Drudge.)

This massive waste of time and energy resembles a star trek battle cruiser with three smoke stacks coming out of the top. These abominations would of course be wind powered because that technology is so reliable. The ships would suck up the seawater and shoot it out of the smokestacks in fine droplets creating large white clouds that would theoretically reflect the sunlight back from the fire pit of damnation from whence it came. The boats will be satellite controlled and unmanned.

It would cost $9 billion and 25 years to test the boats. This is seen as a steal compared to other ideas such as shooting mirrors into the atmosphere to reflect the light at a cost of $395 trillion. A bargain indeed.

Even forgetting for the moment that global warming isn't man made, I have a couple of issues with this plan.

The first is the idea of sucking up ocean water to spray it into the air. It seems to me that to have any effect on sunlight there would have to be quite a few of these ships shooting up quite a bit of seawater. How exactly is the precious oceanic ecosystem going to respond to that kind of treatment? I doubt the precious plankton will find it very enjoyable and numerous other habitats could be disturbed greatly.

Secondly, how does shooting up tons of salt water impact the weather cycle? Assuming it does in fact create heavy cloud cover, it seems that all that extra moisture in the atmosphere could cause drastic change in the weather. Many places in society rely on a predictable pattern of rain and drought to properly manage their lives through agriculture, etc. Will all the extra clouds create more rain? Change the patterns or create hard, more dangerous storms? Maybe New Orleans won't be buried by a hurricane but rather by a massive increase in thunderstorms.

Third, i will once again point out the incredible arrogance of trying to dictate the climate. All of the discussion revolves around the premise that humans can accurately determine what the optimal climate is. The assumption seems to be that the current (recent history) climate is the perfect climate for the continuation of society. There is no possible way to know that. Trying to freeze the weather in time is just a self centered attempt to prevent people from having to adapt to the naturally changing climate as we've done since the beginning of time.

My final complaint is the time frame. 25 years to test and implement. This is a common tactic amongst climate alarmists. Because they know that most of their predictions will be proven false (some will be correct through sheer chance), they extend the time frame so that people will forget that they made them in the first place. Nobody wants to make a prediction for only 10 years out and then look foolish. Yes, I'm talking to you Ted Danson. We still have oceans. By creating an infinite timeline, they can never be said to be completely wrong and they can just keep dragging this myth out forever until the sun finally burns out of its own accord. When such a thing happens, the Al Gore of the future will no doubt look to the heavens and with his last frozen breath scream to the heavens:

"I feel validated!"

The rest of us will just feel relief.

NFL Preview: San Francisco 49ers

QB: D+ I'm not buying this whole "Alex Smith is an NFL QB" movement. He's still the same guy who sucked for years before a grenade went off in his shoulder. Why the team is high on him is a mystery to me. Shaun Hill is ok in a Kyle Orton kind of way but the team doesn't really seem behind him. He has a weak arm as well which can be trouble in SanFran.

RB: B Frank Gore is above average when he can stay healthy. Even when healthy though he is prone to disappearing for big chunks of the season. I would avoid him in fantasy at all costs. If you do take him, handcuff either Robinson or Coffee for insurance.

WR: C- Josh Morgan is pretty ok and Issac Bruce still has some juice left but the big news is their jackass diva rookie. apparently Michael Crabtree is so good that he is willing to sit out all year and reenter next years draft. Yeah right. Everyday this idiot runs his yap without signing makes Al Davis not look so crazy after all.

TE: D+ C'mon, don't buy into Vernon Davis again. Your just going to get hurt.

OL: C+ Hmm. Joe Staley and Marvel Smith at tackle. Everyone else, not so good.

DL: C Whew, not much here either. Justin Smith is the nominal pass rusher but in the 3-4 the DL just needs to free up backers to make plays. I'm not sure they're up to it but they do play in the West, so anything is possible.

LB: A- Finally! Manny Lawson, Patrick Willis, Ahmed Brooks and Takeo Spikes. I'm not sure it gets better than that. See why they play the 3-4? FANTASY TIP! If you play in an IDP league, Willis is a guy you need to target.

DB: B Not bad. Clements and Bly should be pretty good at corner while Goldson and Lewis might be a little sketchy but still, you could do worse. The problem here is the lack of pressure the DL gets on the QB.

P/K: B+ Joe Nedney.

COACHING: B Assuming Mike Singletary can keep his pants on, they should be fine. He gets into my good graces for giving Davis the smack down he needed last year.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: Boy, this team sucks but they could win the WEST.......I'll say 10-6 2nd in the WEST.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: This could get really bad. I mean Lions-esque bad. Crabtree looks like nothing but trouble, the OL is below average and both QB's are injury prone and a little sucky when healthy. Frank Gore is always good for at least 4 games missed due to injury as well. One of these years he's going to miss 12+.

Thoughts on Thought, Provocative or Not

I recently finished reading Liberty & Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by the Great One Mark Levin and couldn't help but think about his book in relation to other notables on politics and Conservatism.

First of all, I should say that his book was excellent. Conservatism can often times be hard to define, explain, etc. Liberalism is easy to talk about because all of the references are emotional ones, designed to elicit a response to direct the readers thoughts and opinions. Once the emotional foundation has been laid, the government policy is unveiled, never specific, just enough to satisfy the emotions of the audience. Conservatism has no such easy crutch because it's founded in a belief in human nature, the rule of law and free market capitalism. The beauty of conservatism is also its biggest anchor. The ideas aren't new. They are tried and true. Tested, verified and documented. When applied purely, conservatism doesn't fail in any area. This however does not lend itself to typical politicians and their shallow understanding and presentation of the issues.

For conservatism to thrive, those presenting it must have a deep understanding of its historical applications and foundations in addition to simply believing in it. Levin has done an excellent job producing a book that easily readable and understandable. It explains the conservative solution in stark contrast to Statist solutions. Many people I know have always felt conservative but simply couldn't explain it in the face of leftist attacks. Levin has solved that problem and anybody who reads the book will come away from it armed with knowledge for the next political confrontation.

This got me thinking about other books that were similarly inspiring. Edmund Burke, John Locke, Alexis de Tocqueville, Adam Smith, etc. all provide the solid foundation for conservative thought. Anyone truly interested in conservatism must read those authors to be fully qualified. The philosopher I come back to constantly though, above all of those, is John Stuart Mill.

While the other authors mentioned focus on economics, property, role of government etc. I was always drawn to Mill because he focused on the most important part of the civil society; the individual. Now his philosophy was never called conservative. He was a Utilitarian, picking up where Jeremy Bentham left off. Utilitarianism in some ways seems like Libertarianism but in reality it more closely resembles conservatism and its main focus is that whatever doesn't hurt others should be left to the individual and ignored by the government. It is an entire philosophical theory on minding your own business. He writes extensively about the need for free speech, including ignorant free speech, as absolutely vital to freedom. He was a free market economist, considering contracts private to those who enter into it and he was one of the most outspoken liberal philosophers on the subject of womens rights and the devastation of slavery.

There was one point that is particularly relevant today. Mill writes at some length about the future. Following his belief in not harming others, so to did he believe that no person or entity, private or public, should be able to dictate (harm) future generations. He applied this to tax policy, entitlements, land grants, etc. There is quite a bit of material but I think his point was that one generation cannot force subsequent generations to enter into detrimental contracts as they would have no say in the matter.

This is particularly relevant today given some of the health care proposals being tossed about so casually by politicians but in reality this line of thought attacks the social policies of this country since FDR radically changed the American landscape.

So as the summer drones on, I give to you some fine works that I feel are as important to Conservatism as Locke's, Burke's, Smith's or Levin's. Hopefully they can be as helpful to you as to me dealing with out current political climate and instability. Knowledge does much to sooth the frayed emotions of these fights and these books should help to that end.

J.S. Mill:
On Liberty
Utilitarianism
The Subjection of Women
Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy

Mark Levin:
Liberty & Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto

I'll add more as time allows.

NFL Preview: Chicago Bears

QB: A+ Have you ever heard of getting to sleep with a hooker, keeping the money and having her tip you? Well that's essentially what happened when Chicago abused Denver in the Jay Cutler trade. Exciting and demeaning, all at the same time. The Bears better hope Cutty stays healthy though. The IRS doesn't even know who backups Hanie & Basanez are.

RB: B+ Fantasy diamond Matt Forte returns backed up by Kevin Smith and the Other Adrian Peterson. FANTASY FOCUS! If you're in a PPR league, you could justify taking Forte before both Turner and the Real Adrien Peterson. Forte had 63 receptions last year, Turner had 6.

WR: C- Is it just me or does Devin Hester remind you of a glorified Leeland McElroy? Yeah, that's right. I went there. FUN FACT! The other three of the top four Bears receivers went to San Jose State, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. And no, the Oklahoma guy isn't Bradley. He's the other guy that wasn't as good.

TE: B Desmond Clark and Greg Olson are curiously decent. One blocks one catches. Olson seems a little brittle though. Maybe he should enlist in Corporal Winslow's reserve unit.

OL: C This unit is average across the board. Garza is probably a little above average. The real linchpin is Orlando Pace. If he plays all 16 then they're in good shape but he's so injury prone that he could literally crumble into a puddle of Mineral Ice and tears at any moment.

DL: B+ Really good line. They can bring pressure from both ends, Brown and Ogunleye as well as at one DL, Tommie Harris. LITTLE KNOWN FACT! League bylaws state that every Bears team has to have one mean looking white guy of Eastern European ancestry on the DL or the team forfeits its bye week. This year that man is Dusty Dvoracek. Good on ya Comrade.

LB: C+ I'm not impressed. Urlacher has always been overrated and he's starting to get old. he makes enough big plays to keep being respected by the clowns in the Media but not this cat, no sir. Lance Briggs is better and Pisa Tinoisamoa has a longer name, so there!

--- ASIDE! Holy Crap! Jorge Posada just hit one back into Old Yankee Stadium off Billy Traber. That one woke of the ghosts of legends who aren't even dead yet. ---

DB: C Hmmmmmm. Do I feel safe with IR Charles Tillman and Torch Vasher manning the corners? No I do not. Do I feel safe with Kenny Payne or Steltz(?) manning the safties? No, I do not.

P/K: B+ Robbie Gould sounds like a low level mobster or a high level futures trader. The grade goes up!

COACHING: B I would criticize Lovie for not having an inventive playbook but he coaches in a nasty cold city and has always had crappy QB's. This year will be a measuring stick. In a related note, the success of Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy has just about removed the stigma that the Art Shell Era saddled all black coaches with. Tell the Twin Reverends Jesse and Al to call off the vigil.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: 12-4, First in the North. This assumes Jay Cutler makes chicken salad out of his WR's and Forte duplicates last year.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: 7-9, Third in the North. This team is boring. They probably can't tank completely but they may not be great either if Cutty doesn't play great. If he gets hurt though, all bets are off.

THINGS THAT MUST HAPPEN Sebastian Janikowski must play at least three years in Chicago. A fat, bald, Polish guy with addiction issues? It's a must.

For Your Viewing Pleasure/Repulsion

Here are some more videos of libs responding to the shaming their colleagues are getting at their town hall meetings. Apparently the tactic is to smear regular Americans as Nazi's, Astroturf (a liberal invention), Brooks Brothers (upscale men's clothes) and being paid to organize by the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. This is just another example of how liberals only like "Speaking Truth To Power" when they aren't in power. When George Soros or Media Matters for America type groups pay rent a mobs to appear and slam conservatives, why that's just grassroots! Sure. Cindy Sheehan is probably the best example of a rent a mob. She was so in the pocket of paid handlers she should have had a trademark burned into her forehead. This calls to mind Nixon calling on the "silent majority" of Americans who stood with him for support. It turns out they did and he was reelected. Obama sees the situation a bit different. He is using the vocal super minority to attack the everyday American for speaking out for their rights. Attacking mainstream Americans usually doesn't turn out well. Especially for unpopular Senators. That's for you Ms. Boxer. Anyway, here they be.
(in the interest of full disclosure, in case some Obama net-spy sees this, I am against your policies and would never spend the cash to walk into a Brooks brothers. So there.)

Sen. Boxer advancing the vast right wing conspiracy theory. Apparently she hasn't seen the videos of war vets and house wives at the meetings. Not exactly Brooks brothers.


Nancy Pelosi comparing protesters to Nazi's. Always cute. I'd like to see one swastika before I buy into this one. Or maybe one name of a paid organizer from the insurance companies. Just one Stretch.


Tim Bishop getting his ass handed to him by a Veteran. I'm not sure hitching your wagon to the VA is good for any politician. Tangent thought: Doesn't New York have some of the dumbest politicians. Good Lord.


Part Two of Bishop, if you care.


And just for fun, Ron Paul on auditing the Fed! (audio only)

Quick Hits: 8/4/2009

Hey Barak, I know it seems like a good idea to have your legions of deadbeat, homely, basement dwelling, community agitator types act as a domestic spy agency to try and find dissenters to your ridiculous policies but I can save you even more time. Just walk into any place of business and watch all the people diligently working hard to provide for themselves and their families. All those people are against you. Feel free to send your legions back to their basements and community centers so they can figure out how not to be productive for yet another day.
(see here if you don't know what I'm talking about. )

On a related note, the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 and all other Sedition Acts are still expired and unconstitutional. In case you were curious.

How nice it is to see that 4/5 of the cash for clunkers cars being bought are foreign. Good job running GM government! Way to stimulate the economy of Japan! More electric merkins, video games and disturbing cinema for everybody!

Great, Soviet subs are patrolling our East Coast again. Thank god we don't care anymore.

The United States' relationship with North Korea mirrors a classic love story of old. North Korea is Bill Clinton, the United States is Monica Lewinsky and, in a magic performance, Bill Clinton himself is the famous cigar. Or blue dress. I've lost control of my metaphor.

Avocado eating sissy crosses local thug. Dead fish futures rise dramatically.

The Office of Gay Agency Logo Design unveils new tribute to Obamacare:



Sha-Zam!
That sound you hear is the last bloom falling off the rose: