Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Thud!!!


The Orioles have now lost 13 games in a row. They’d have to win three out of four of their final games not to finish with 100 losses. What was supposed to be a season of hope and renewal has turned into a dreadful embarrassment.

Only twice have the Orioles lost more than 13 in a row. Their worst effort was the 21 game streak that began the 1988 season, April 4 to April 28th. When they were nothing more than the cast off St. Louis Browns in 1954, their first year in Baltimore, they lost 14 in a row from August 11 to August 25, 1954. Their other marks of futility were two 12 game losing streaks, one in August, 2004 and the other in September, 2002.

Sure, one can point to injuries, the lack of experience, and a couple key players being traded for prospects before the trading deadlines, but thirteen games in a row starting September 17th defies excuses. With sixty wins on that date, achieving three more wins to avoid 100 losses seemed a certainty. 100 losses weren’t even in the conversation, but as things started to look especially futile early last week, the notion suddenly seemed real.

For all the good things that happened this year, none of them matter and will never see the light of day when the book of stats show a 100 or more loss season and a 13 or greater game losing streak.

Team President, Andy McPhail has some very tough decisions to make quickly so the team is ready going into winter meetings when teams are shopping their talent and free agents are on the market.

Clearly, the Orioles need a lot of work to be a legitimate contender in the AL East. They must learn how to play team baseball, work on fundamentals, the situational aspects of the game, and show that sense of urgency Jim Palmer noted as missing.

If they don’t, they will be in the same conversation at the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Detroit Lion for years to come.

NFL 2009: Week 4 -- Crank it Up!!!



Ravens Enter New England as NFL's Top Rated Team


What are the whining Baltimore Ravens’ fans supposed to do? For the second week in a row, they are #1 in the ESPN power rankings and getting much respect from almost every network talking head and ex-player turned commentator. Keyshawn Johnson and Cris Carter not withstanding, the Ravens are the toast of the NFL this year so far. Even Chris Berman, one who frequently slights the Ravens, is on board but for what opinions Berman has that do not involve his own vanity anything he says lacks conviction and like many network big shots, he’s quick to become a front runner when the hot teams emerge.

The Ravens game against New England in Foxboro is the key matchup of the weekend with two teams most would seem certain to be part of the playoff picture in January. A game like this could affect playoff seedings and home field advantage later on. New England is currently one game behind the upstart New York Jets. The Ravens are a game ahead of the surprising Cincinnati Bengals. It would sure help either team build its case for AFC supremacy by winning this contest on Sunday. Currently, the Patriots are installed as a slight favorite -2 or less. The Ravens key is on defense. They need to rattle Tom Brady and take advantage of a banged up passing attack. If they do that, they should win convincingly.

The other big matchup features the New York Jets travelling to New Orleans to face the Saints in a battle of undefeated teams. Victories by either team could help put the winning team in a nice position atop its division. The matchup features New Orleans explosive multi-faceted attack on offense against an energized Jets’ defense showing Coach Rex Ryan’s influence. Rookie QB, Mark Sanchez, is charged with executing a simple but effective scheme on offense. This game is almost impossible for us to call despite Vegas giving the Saints a touchdown advantage, but we’re going to say the Jets have a little more of that mysterious X factor to win.

The Washington Redskins cannot lose to Tampa Bay, a winless team that could be weaker than the Detroit Lions. A Washington win, they’re at 2-2 with a dozen games to salvage a decent season. If they lose, they are losers to losers, and figures like Coach Jim Zorn and Jason Campbell will get no mercy from their fans or the media. The Redskins have to throw all they have at Tampa and hope the huge FedEx Field crowd delivers pandemonium to keep the Buccaneers off guard.

San Diego visiting Pittsburgh is a crucial test for the Steelers for a loss would put them at 1-3 possibly three games behind the Ravens. San Diego can seek some comfort realizing Denver ahead of them has yet to play truly tough competition. Still, should Denver win and they lose, they’re two games back.

Finally, Monday night provides one of the best scripts for a game so far this year. Division rivals the Green Bay Packers face the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis staring down their former heroic quarterback, Brett Favre. Minnesota is undefeated with a one game lead over Green Bay. Minnesota wins, they’re clearly in the driver’s seat. They lose; they’re dead even but Green Bay gets the edge with a divisional win.

Let’s look at the specific games and who’s going to prevail.

Baltimore at New England (-2 ½)
Baltimore wins. See above.

Tampa Bay at Washington (-7)
Unless the Skins are shell shocked from last week, home cooking will give them the win.

Detroit at Chicago (-10)
Welcome back to reality. “Dah Bears” beat “Dah Lions.”

Cincinnati (-5 ½) at Cleveland
What would have looked like a toss up a few weeks ago clearly puts Cincinnati in as a clear favorite. Derek Anderson starts at QB as Man-Genius tosses local favorite, Brady Quinn, in the dog house. The Cleveland organization is a mess. Deposed GM, Phil Savage, must feel vindicated.

Oakland at Houston (-9 ½)
Houston should be ready to show how good they can be against the hapless Raiders with the friendly Houston home crowd.

Seattle at Indianapolis (-9)
Seattle is torn and frayed. They’ll get their butts thumped in Indy.

Tennessee (-3) at Jacksonville
Here’s a game where the Titans can finally turn things around as they should be a better team than division rival, Jacksonville. They cannot afford to lose this one.

New York Giants (-9) at Kansas City
Off in the Land of Oz, the Chiefs will feel like a house landed on them once the Giants defense comes on the field. This could be ugly.

Buffalo (-2) at Miami
Buffalo is struggling and T.O. is ticking like a time bomb. Sure, Miami is pretty beat up, but they should finally get things moving in the right direction, for now, with Sunday’s game against the Bills.

New York Jets at New Orleans (-7)
This is a tough one to call, but somehow the intangibles seem to favor the Jets. We’d call them this year’s Cinderella, but the thought of Rex Ryan in a Cinderella outfit is just too scary to ponder!

Dallas (-3) at Denver
Though Dallas won on Monday over Carolina, they did not look strong doing so. It’s up to Mike Nolan’s defense to stop an erratic Cowboys offense. The Broncos should win this mild upset.

St. Louis at San Francisco (-9 ½)
San Francisco should get well in a hurry at home against St. Louis. Who’s this Crabtree fellow?

San Diego at Pittsburgh (-6 ½)
Pittsburgh should finally prevail but this will be a hard fought victory.

Green Bay at Minnesota (-3.5)
The Vikings have too many elements on offense and a solid defense to let Green Bay beat them in their own house. Packers fans will not be happy.

NCAA '09 Football: Week 5







Entering the college football season’s fifth week, we’re still looking for the real killer matchups. This week starts to look better with some classics worth noting. We have seven games in our sights that should prove lively entertainment.

Michigan (#22) -2 at Michigan State
Michigan (#22) plays in-state rival Michigan State in Lansing installed as only a two point favorite. Michigan can’t be caught napping as this game will go a long way to prove that Michigan is truly a winning program after the painful transition it endured last year.

Virginia at North Carolina -13 ½
North Carolina was dropped from the national rankings after a miserable performance in the rain at Georgia Tech last week. The Tarheels had almost nothing going for them in what could have been a real plus in their quest for being a big time program again. They need to win convincingly for the home crowd versus Virginia, no room for squeakers this time.

LSU (#4) -3 at Georgia (#18)
LSU smells blood in the water with Tim Tebow possibly rattled at Florida and is a legitimate contender for the BCS crown. To get there, they must take care of business against teams like Georgia who are very capable of pulling the upset.

Air Force at Navy -3
Far from gathering the excitement of the annual Army-Navy matchup in December, football fans around the country must look admiringly at both teams in this matchup because regardless of matchup, both teams are winners. Navy should capitalize on playing at home and have looked especially skillful in recent games. Hat’s off to both sidelines. When they graduate, they’ll be playing for higher stakes than grads from any other university.

Florida State -5 at Boston College
2009 was supposed to be something of a comeback season for Bobby Bowden’s boys at Florida State but they’ve looked pretty lame so far. Many would hope Bowden could find one last shot at glory as what Joe Paterno is enjoying with the Penn State program. We’re going with the Seminoles but this could be an upset for Boston College being able to prevail at home.

USC (#7) -5 at California (#24)
The USC locker room is a somber chamber after the freakish injury Stafon Johnson suffered while weight training. His muscular build and optimum conditioning perhaps saved his life as the barbell slipped landing right on his throat. USC should pull their game together and win this weekend, but California is proving a tough team to beat so far in 2009.

Oklahoma (#8) at Miami (#17)
The ACC was written off as a second class conference for 2009 with no real threat for the BCS Championship against what appear to be stronger SEC and Big 12 schools. However, as the season has progressed, Frank Beamer’s boys at Virginia Tech look like a team that can compete with anyone anywhere. The up and coming team starting to resemble teams from their glorious past is the University of Miami. Saturday night’s contest is Miami’s last real test at what could be just a one loss season. Oklahoma is a legit contender for top honors in January, but they will find their trip to sunny south Florida is no vacation Saturday. This is a red hot game for them to help position them for their biggest game of the season in two weeks against Texas. Still, they’ve already lost to a team that is arguably not as strong as Miami opening up with a loss to Brigham Young on their home turf. Since that loss, Oklahoma’s defense has been unyielding but they face a most unpredictable and talented young quarterback from Miami, 6’4” Jacory Harris. Another issue for Oklahoma is how ready their QB, Sam Bradford is.





Tuesday, September 29, 2009

More Obama Indoctrination in Elementary Schools


Sand Hill-Venable Elementary School, Asheville, NC

Following up on our post earlier today.

Here's the lyrics to the pro-Obama indoctrination piece children at Sand Hill Venable Elementary school were herded together to perform. Note not only the extent to which Barack Obama is portrayed in glowing heroic, almost savior like terms, but also the way his campaign themes and slogans are interwoven into the passage.



Change has come, change has come.
Hope!
Uniting blacks and whites.
Hope!
Being both, Obama cannot take sides.
Hope!
“Don’t worry,” said hope. “I will be your bridge.”
In time, hope will be the bridge for all of us.
Hope will last enough for you to make a difference.
Change has come, change has come.
Go now, fly free.
Study, watch, learn, keep your eyes open.
Education is the key.
Education is the secret.
Education is the way.
Education is the path.
Will I make America better?
Can I make America better?
Can we make America better?
Yes.
Yes we can!
Yes.
Yes we can!

To which we respond, can we permit our taxpayer supported public schools be used as tools of left wing social engineering using our children as political pawns in their ideological game?

NO WE CAN'T!!!!

NFL 2009: Week 3 -- The Week in Review




Some conclusions can be drawn after the NFL’s third week. First, no 3-0 team can be assured of anything. Thirteen games remain and one crucial injury can turn things sour in an instant and ruin post season hopes. Conversely, 0-3 teams are in trouble. Likewise, some other teams are showing some symptoms of danger from what they’ve shown so far. Three 0-3 teams were division leaders last year: Miami, Tennessee, and Carolina.

First, look at Tennessee. If there’s a team capable of rebounding, they have a lot of talent to do so. They had a splendid run in 2008 only to be ruined by the Ravens in the playoffs, but stand at 0-3. Another AFC division champ, Miami is 0-3, but their hopes of any recovery are far worse especially given QB Brad Pennington is lost for the season. The power schedule is especially hard on Miami with the two teams it picks up in the rotation as if the Ravens have it easy as a second place team picking up New England and Indianapolis.

Carolina stands at 0-3 after going to Dallas last night. They looked miserable so far with QB Jake Delholme not fooling anybody. Dallas hardly played brilliantly but were given enough by an unmotivated looking Panther squad that never caught fire.

Other 0-3 teams are just miserable teams, and guess what? Detroit is not one of them. One could argue there are a few teams worse off than Detroit. Cleveland showed zero chemistry in their third loss against the Ravens. Coach “Man-Genius” is not getting the team to gel and could be fostering resentment including petty discipline actions against players including fining the daylights out of a player, $1701.00 who did not pay for a $3.00 bottle of water on his hotel tab. His long wavering on naming a quarterback made no sense. It showed a lack of commitment to his players. Both Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn knew one would get the nod and the other wouldn’t. Delaying it didn’t help. Quinn looked horrible against the Ravens defense, but bringing in Anderson did not look like a strategic move. It looked punitive, a knee jerk reaction from an angry coach. Anderson looked better for a couple plays but he was as tentative and ineffective as Quinn over the long haul. Clearly the message to Browns’ players is that the coach will not stand behind them. They are little more than disposable chess pieces. We noted Rex’s brother, Rob Ryan, is now defensive coordinator for the Browns. Mangini does not need him breathing down his yellow little back does he?

St. Louis is now clearly the worst team in the NFL. QB Mark Bulger is out with a shoulder injury. Former Raven, Kyle Boller is in. We wish Boller well. He was a classy young man in Baltimore despite his struggles as quarterback. Life won’t be easy. Tampa Bay is an 0-3 team that looks like a rebuilding project where the new lumber hasn’t shown up yet.

Of the 1-2 teams, the Washington Redskins appear in disarray. Daniel Snyder’s big bucks brought in Albert Haynesworth to solidify their defense, but Haynesworth was carted off the field injured. QB Jason Campbell simply cannot command a game. Questions abound whether Jim Zorn is capable of being an NFL head coach. The NFC East is one of the toughest divisions in football. The Skins not only need new talent, they need a new approach. If Joe Gibbs couldn’t get that team to gel, who could?

Who would expect the Pittsburgh Steelers to be 1-2 having lost to Chicago and Cincinnati back-to-back? Clearly, missing Troy Polamalu weakens their defense and its chemistry, but there’s more to it than that. Arizona went to the Super Bowl last year and stand at 1-2. Did viewers see how rattled Kurt Warner looked as the game progressed?

Turning to the positive, let’s look at the 3-0 teams and examine what’s going on. That the Ravens and Colts are 3-0 surely surprises few though the Ravens win over San Diego was a power win against a potential division winner. Though the New York Giants faded down the stretch last year, their standing shows they still are a very stable franchise. Beyond that, the remaining 3-0 teams each have an interesting story to tell.

The New York Jets benefit from the attitude of new head coach, Rex Ryan who brought Bart Scott from the Ravens to be his star disciple on defense. How quickly the Jets are mastering the “organized chaos” approach to drive opposing offenses mad. Meanwhile, Ryan utilizes a similar approach with his rookie Quarterback, Mark Sanchez that proved successful for the Ravens with Joe Flacco a year ago. Yes, the Jets look much like the Baltimore Ravens and New York fans are taking note.

Finishing the preseason, the Denver Broncos looked like a team in shambles. Brandon Marshall was showing up his teammates and acting openly defiant in training camp leading to his suspension. Their status at quarterback was a huge mystery with Jay Cutler leaving for Chicago. Long time coach, Mike Shannahan, had been dismissed in favor of John McDaniels, a head coach so youthful looking he could be mistaken for a confused rookie. While fans considered the team’s season ahead, they could only see doom and chaos, three weeks later, Denver is 3-0 beating Cincinnati, Cleveland and Oakland. Okay, these are not the most compelling teams unless Cincinnati, their most difficult opponent is now a competitive organization. In recent years, much of Denver’s failure has pointed directly at their defense, but this year in three games, they’ve given up one touchdown, a total of only 16 points total for all three games. By the way, former Ravens’ defensive coordinator, Mike Nolan assumed that roll for Denver. Surprised?

Indianapolis follows Peyton Manning’s lead having quite a battle to win their first game against Jacksonville, showing more power against Miami in week two, but then looking like their toughest against Arizona, Sunday Night. Tony Dungy handed off the Colts to Jim Caldwell, but truly Payton Manning’s example is what leads the Indy franchise to excellence.

The Minnesota Vikings are 3-0 with Brett Favre receiving the snaps. While their first two victories were routine against Cleveland and Detroit, Sunday’s game against San Francisco demonstrated why Favre could be the missing piece to put the Vikings perhaps deep into January play. Not only did he command a final seconds game winning play, but where most QB’s would step out of the way, who was downfield throwing a critical block to help his offense succeed? For those who charge Favre as a privileged character, on game day, few players become more absorbed in the total game like #4. Things will get real interesting Monday night when Green Bay visits Minnesota with Favre staring down his former teammates.

Did anyone see New Orleans as a possible 3-0 team? They’ve conquered Detroit, Philadelphia, and Buffalo scoring over 40 points in their first two games and while only scoring 27 against Buffalo, their defense stepped up to hold Buffalo to a touchdown. Drew Brees appeared masterful in his first three starts with a multifaceted offensive attack. Look at week two. Sure, Philadelphia’s offense was compromised without Donovan McNabb, but their defense was considered among the sports’ top, scoring 48 points against the Eagles in Philadelphia is no fluke.

Finally, the Baltimore Ravens stand at 3-0 beating Kansas City, San Diego, and Cleveland. While some paranoid Baltimore fans rumble the defense isn’t up to form, one of the classic moments of the season had to be Ray Lewis’s game ending hit to punctuate the team’s win against San Diego for their second win. The team seemed a little bit too relaxed in their first game against Kansas City, but they revealed a powerful offense regardless. Their third game against Cleveland showed just how dominating the Ravens can be with their new offensive game giving Joe Flacco the chance to enlist a stronger than expected receiving corps lead by Derrick Mason and finding new life from tight end, Todd Heap. Add to that the double headed monster running the ball with Willis McGahee and Ray Rice chalking up yards and booming into the end zone.

For the 2-1 teams, the glass is half full. The 1-2 teams find the glass half empty. Of the 2-1 teams, the most interesting are Cincinnati and Atlanta. The Bengals are but one play away from being 3-0. They’ve looked strong on both sides of the ball, standing up well against Denver in their only loss, absolutely dominating Green Bay, then perhaps playing better than the three point margin would indicate against Pittsburgh. Atlanta has continued to build on last year’s success but coming up short against New England in Foxboro. They’ll compete with New Orleans for the NFC South and should otherwise be one of the best prospects to win a wild card berth.

The one 1-2 team that stands out is Pittsburgh. They won the one game they’ve played that many would have thought could have been their most likely loss against Tennessee, but then they were embarrassed at home by the Chicago Bears without their leader, Brian Uhrlacher on defense. Add to that, losing to Cincinnati, a divisional rival, must make last year’s Super Bowl win look more and more like a memory. Troy Polamalu’s central role on defense clearly hurts the team’s effort.

The Washington Redskins stand at 1-2 as well, but would they have been expected to do better were one of those losses not against Detroit? What was so conspicuous in yesterday’s game was that Detroit clearly looked like the better team through out yesterday’s game. St. Louis truly appears to be the weakest team in the NFL, but the Redskins only managed a 9-7 win in that contest.

Key matchups we’ll be noting for week 4 include: Baltimore at New England, Dallas at Denver, San Diego at Pittsburgh (the NBC Sunday night game), and Green Bay at Minnesota for Monday Night.

Arizona, Atlanta, Carolina, and Philadelphia are the first teams getting a Sunday off. This should prove most advantageous for Philadelphia giving their QB McNabb another week to recover from his rib injuries before facing live action. Atlanta hardly looks like a team ready for a rest. One would think they’d want to keep going and build on their success. Arizona could use the bye week to get refocused and revitalize after such a devastating defeat as they suffered against the Colts before a nationwide audience. For the Carolina Panthers, they might do well to get as far away from football as possible until its time to begin preparation for week five. They’ve suffered a miserable loss in week one, “shoulda-woulda-coulda” in week two, and then just a pure display of weakness losing to Dallas last night. Jake Delholme has a target on his back. The stat sheet shows interceptions even though two of his tosses were not as much a matter of QB error. Panther fans must wonder if his rebuilt arm still has the power to executive the passing game Delholme attempts to execute.

By the way, Cleveland Brown’s Eric Man-Genius, is holding out announcing who will be the quarterback for Cleveland’s game hosting Cincinnati. Being petty and indecisive is no way for Mangini to be a leader among men. In his big ego, he probably assures himself that Bill Belichick, the prized pupil of Bill Parcells, started off miserably and was widely detested when he first coached the Cleveland Browns. The one-time Belichick prodigy destroyed that relationship when accepting the head post for the Jets opening up the “spy gate” controversy. The Browns look to Buffalo, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Oakland, and Detroit to try to scrap together a win or two.

Finally, what’s going on in Oakland? Head coach Tom Cable appears headed toward felony assault charges for punching assistant coach, Randy Hanson, leaving Hanson with a broken jaw. Clearly, the team’s attempts to keep the episode as “an internal matter” have not succeeded. One can only speculate what turmoil this episode might create for the Raiders and what discipline on top of legal trouble might be forthcoming from Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Marxist Style Indoctrination of Early Childhood Students Spreads to Asheville, NC


Asheville, North Carolina??? Egads, where does the insanity end? At Sand Hill Elementary school, elementary school children once again appear in a North Korean style salute to the Supreme Leader style presentation in which their chant works in Obama campaign slogans establishing him as a heroic figure for promoting hope and education.

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfhHHCXxVe4
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Surely promoting critical thinking is a very low priority in this school!!! Using school children as pawns being brainwashed to support a specific political ideology and deifying the President of the United States through such mind-numbing techniques is as inexcusable as it is dangerous. Of what educational benefit is it to compel children to chant political slogans at the expense of helping them understand issues that these slogans promote from an explicitly left-wing point of view?

If the goal is helping kids understand the importance of education, having them recite slogans followed with “Hope” and “Yes we can.” is no way to do it.

This is the second example of blatant politicizing the learning environment for very young elementary school children attempting to indoctrinate them into the Obama agenda before they reach the instructional level where they’re ready to learn such concepts objectively (if there are still public schools that teach the political process devoid of liberal talking points). No one should be surprised if YouTube isn’t flooded with more examples of such insanity in the days ahead.

As disturbing as these events themselves is the deafness to criticism the holier than thou school officials demonstrate in response to criticism. They’re more concerned about punishing those who would post what they are doing on the Internet as if what happens in PUBLIC schools is a private matter than fulfilling their responsibility to the community’s they serve.

That children could be forced to act as stone faced innocent zombies giving voice to left-wing political messages is disturbing enough, but what does this say about the intellectual climate within public schools that make teachers and administrators think that staging such activities could ever be acceptable.

Once again, it shows the elitist, “we know what’s good for you and the rest of the world” attitude that permeates all institutions from education at all levels from small local elementary schools to the nation’s top universities where left-wing dogma prevails. Parents and the taxpayers in the community are seen as an intrusive enemy threatening their mission to do what they consider is necessary to achieve their agenda.

In so doing, schools have become laboratories of socialist indoctrination where teachers and students understand both implicitly and explicitly that no mention of God or spiritual values dare be expressed where students are even reprimanded and punished for expressing their faith in the classroom and school activities.

While forcing school prayer on students would be dead wrong, such a concept is essentially the same kind of abuse as making kids parrot idiotic pro-Obama talking points. The same forces who stridently support left-wing brainwashing are likewise the first to silence expression of traditional values especially when they involve any notion of a Creator.

It’s time for patriotic Americans to be angered into action against the garbage the radical left is spoon feeding our children.

Baltimore's Shameful News: Local TV Critic Slams Fox News Support of ACORN Sting


For Baltimoreans looking for the latest poop on what's hot on television, the Baltimore Sun's TV critic's column is not the place to go. As this column shows, he'd rather slam Fox news programming he finds abhorent to his political agenda. His marque almost suggests his alternate agenda.
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The Rightminded response:
Baltimoreans must find it sad to note that David Zurawik, a left-wing activist wanna-be masquerading as a television columnist for the Baltimore Sun, would weigh in strongly against the brilliant sting operation investigative filmmakers, Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe, conducted against several ACORN offices starting with their office in Baltimore.

In his column, Zurawik blasts Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly for airing sympathetic segments for the young filmmakers and the website, Breitbart.com on the potential legal issues they face as ACORN announced its intention to seek “justice” based on Maryland surveillance law. In Zuarawik’s column, not only has he acted as prosecutor and jury finding these heroic citizens guilty of entrapment and slamming their brilliant work, in his twisted logic somehow ACORN comes across as the victim not that they are flailing away in desperation trying anything that might reduce the trouble they’re in.

If what O’Keefe and Giles did was so awful and the revelations they presented about how ACORN offices go about their day-to-day business, then why would even those left wing politicians most inclined to support ACORN cutoff support for their programs virtually across the board from the Federal government?

Only in Zurawik’s severely compromised left-wing imagination could he see O’Keefe’s and Gile’s defense as something from planet Bizarro. He further added that responsible news organizations have abandoned undercover stings including “60 Minutes” abandoning such methods and that legal action had been taken against ABC investigative reporter, John Stossel. Somehow, his attempts to portray such investigative techniques as abhorrent and being abandoned on some higher grounds, even Zurawik couldn’t conceal the true agenda for mainstream news reluctance to go underground, fear of lawsuits.

Baltimoreans from all walks of life should be incensed that a so called television critic posing as editorial columnist would defend ACORN so stridently. Few cities suffer from the blight of urban decay and all the issues which feed it like Baltimore. The need for effective community-based assistance is desperately needed to help Baltimore’s plight, but few organizations have taken advantage of their charge to serve the community in so many corrupt contexts as ACORN Baltimore which among other things broke into and seized foreclosed houses occupying them opening taunting the legal process. One has to wonder how much taxpayer and charitable dollars this office has squandered on illegitimate pursuits.

In Zurawik’s world, ACORN is the exploited not the exploiter.

It’s a sad reflection on the Baltimore Sun, a failing big city newspaper that is losing circulation and readership, has become so out of touch with the community it claims to represent. A generation ago, this paper was one of the most respected newspapers in the country not only serving the local community well but being one of the most trusted voices on national and international issues. However, the philanthropic local owners, the Abell family, sold the paper to the Los Angeles Times and quickly the whole image of the paper transformed from sophisticated and informed to ultra-Liberal and trendy. Some hoped that when the Chicago Tribune’s parent company purchased the Los Angeles Times, they might restore some quality to the Sun, but such was not the case as “the Trib” has been facing severe financial issues of its own and is currently in Chapter 11 status.

Despite the rise of the Internet, bloggers, and other alternate media sources, an intelligent local newspaper can still serve a vital role in metropolitan areas such as Baltimore. Surely, some of the Sun’s challenges are based on their product becoming obsolete on some levels, but their pandering to far left ideologies and miserable journalistic quality has driven many readers away.

Baltimore needs a good source for local news. Between most of the city’s television news operations and the Sun, the metropolitan area is not well-served and those who misrepresent their roles like Zurawik provide perfect fodder for the paper’s critics as we are noting here.

One would think that the journalistic community would rally behind O’Keefe and Giles and see attacks on them as an attack on their profession.
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Rightminded Fellow applauds radio station, WBAL-AM, "Maryland's News Talk Sports Station" for its excellent reporting on the ACORN scandal from the investigation's inception. Their over-the-air news reporting and excellent website help fill the gap left by an inferior Baltimore Sun product.

Monday, September 28, 2009

MLB 2009: SURPRISE!!! There Actually Are a Couple Races Left!!!



Isn’t it funny how when it looks like all is settled for postseason, up pops another race?

September’s been a rather dull month for bold pennant races unlike last year where it seemed like everything was coming down to the final Sunday. Right now, the Yankees have clinched everything in sight in the American League. The Red Sox are the Wild Card and the Los Angeles Angels own the West. In the National League, the divisions appear decided, Philadelphia – east; St Louis – central; and the Los Angeles Dodgers (finally) – west.

AMERICAN LEAGUE:
The red hot race is in the American League Central for the division title. Detroit leads Minnesota by four games but guess who’s coming to Motown for the next four nights? Yep! The Minnesota Twins. The Twins are surging while the Tigers seem to be barely hanging on. The Twins start Nick Blackburn (11-11) 4.18 ERA against Rick Porcello (14-9) 4.14 ERA in tonight’s contest. In the following contests: Brian Duensing, Carl Pavano and Scott Baker will start for the Twins while Justin Verlander, Eddie Bonine, and Nate Robinson will counter for the Tigers. Detroit has one of the best home records in all of baseball in 2009.

After this decisive series, Detroit hosts the Chicago White Sox, a team that mailed it in weeks ago while the Twins return to the Dome, the last regular season baseball games ever to be played there as Target Field opens next April to face the Kansas City Royals. While that would seem an easy assignment, the Royals will give Zack Greinke one last start attempting to solidify his shot for the Cy Young award.

Choosing favorites in the Detroit/Minnesota match-up is a daunting task. Right now, Minnesota is clearly the hotter team but can that momentum be halted by Detroit’s fine home play despite their erratic play recently? While two games isn’t much, the Twins must win 3 out 4 to end the series tied with the Tigers. A sweep would be sweeter!

NATIONAL LEAGUE:
It looked like Colorado had nailed down the last playoff berth as the San Francisco Giants faded, but no one was paying attention to the Atlanta Braves. While Colorado has gone 6-4 in their last ten games, Atlanta posted an 8-2 mark. Additionally, the Braves have the Florida Marlins and then the hapless Washington Nationals at home to finish their season. Meanwhile, Colorado hosts Milwaukee before travelling to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers to close the year.

Colorado maintains a 2 ½ game lead but a two game advantage in the loss column. This could get interesting!!!

It's Baaackkkk!!!! The Right Wing Conspiracy


Bill Clinton's appearance on "Meet the Press" and the various false attributions Democrats and their media sympathizers employ to try to tarnish their opponents.
When scandal was breaking around the administration of William Clinton, stridently defending her husband on morning news programming, Hilary Clinton suggested his difficulties were due to a huge “right wing conspiracy.”

Fast forward to yesterday morning, setting “Meet the Press” on NBC, host David Gregory asked, “Is it still there?”

To which the ever “slick one” replied: Oh, you bet. Sure it is. It's not as strong as it was, because America's changed demographically, but it's as virulent as it was."

Adding, "I mean, they're saying things about him [Obama] -- you know, it's like when they accused me of murder and all that stuff they did."

Take these remarks and add to them the suggestions made about the makeup of town hall participants critical of the government seizure of health care, runaway Federal spending and deficits, and more intrusive government accusing citizens expressing their concerns that run contrary to the Democratic party’s agenda that such individuals are “un-American,” created visions of swastikas for Nancy Pelosi, are expressions of deep seated racism as accused by many most notably Jimmy Carter, these media and political leftists can never identify what the true conspiracy is nor connect the dots to give their assertions any validity. Quite simply, they refuse to meet the issues head-on. Their accusations are false as are many assertions what their efforts in resting control of health care away from the private sector actually entail.

The public is becoming increasingly aware of their attempts to demonize their opposition through making broad blanket statements – “right wing extremists,” “racists,” or tools of the insurance companies, the Republican party, or any other group they see fit to use as a rallying point for their contempt. While they might assert criticisms directed at their schemes are false, they can never demonstrate how they are false. They’d rather just brand their opponents as liars.

When we reflect on how the entire effort to push through the radical seizure of health care, that initially they intended to have bills passed before their August recess, and have attempted to take something so sweeping and involved and rush it through as if it were an emergency appropriation for a recent disaster, it shows their understanding that the devil’s in the details and the less the public has time to question to proposal the better for them.

The cat’s out of the bag now as poll results show that those opposed to socialized medicine continues to grow while support continues to fall off. Surely the Senate proposal makes certain realities including the awesome high expensive to all citizens much clearer than ever before. Whether one considers the Max Baucus Senate Bill or House Bill HR 3200, the prospects are unacceptable.

Identifying these bills as unacceptable is not a matter of being “right wing” nor are they concerns being addressed ones generated by any kind of right wing conspiracy. Such opposition is simply clearly articulated common sense. When facts and reason do not support the radical agenda, demogoguery is always a convenient tactic.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Dallas Cowboys Stadium: Pushing the Limits


Al Michaels called them "cage dancers." At various places around the new palace of excise better known as Cowboys Stadium until some corporate entity coughs up millions for naming rights, their are elevated platforms with what almost look like animal cages containing scantily clad big haired, heavily painted up female dancers bumping and grinding just above the crowd to titillate a man's fancy.
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While we hate political correctness and scorn those who would ban cheerleaders out of some kind of femnist political agenda, what's going on in Texas seems to push the envelope just a little too far.
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Our test is that nothing should happen at a sporting event that a father might have trouble explaining to his young children. Does this pass that test?
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How much decadence is too much? We're interested in what others are thinking.
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THEY DID IT!!!! Detroit Lions Finally Win


The Detroit Lions defeat Washington Redskins, 19-14 ending one of professional sport's most dreaded streaks of futility. We can't wait to see Redskins' owner, Daniel Snyder's reaction.
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The Baltimore Ravens not withstanding, these are bad days for Mid-Atlantic sports. The Orioles - pfft!!! must win 3 games to avoid 100 losses. The Nationals already lost 100. The Maryland Terps couldn't have looked more pathetic against Rutgers.
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GO RAVENS!!!

Obama and Education Reform


Woodlawn HS, Baltimore County
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Obama on Education Reform: Would Get Rid Of Summer Vacation

As a stooge of the teachers’ unions, Barack Obama just doesn’t get it. The problem with education isn’t that students need MORE schooling; they need better schooling. Subjecting students to MORE of a failing curriculum accomplishes nothing. Surely, in Obama-Nation, every additional moment students can be torn away from the corrupting influence of their parents and subjected to the Liberal brainwashing of public education, the better. Sing it kids, “Mmm, mmm, mm, Barack Hussein Obama!”

Growth and maturation requires far more than time spent in school for kids. Time to dream, time to fool around, time to just be kids are all necessary ingredients to becoming a well-rounded adult. Besides that, there are many alternative activities which help kids grow in other ways whether its summer camp, swimming teams, volunteer work (supposedly an Obama cause), helping out around the house, or for older kids, taking a job. What is more one dimensional and sterile than what public schools have become today?

The answer to school reform is busting the virtual monopoly state schools have and provide parents with good options for their kids. Schools need to have rigorous, challenging curriculum using time proven methods that get results. All too often, modern public schools allow students to become lab rats in social engineering experiments where some scholar at some elitist university attempts to reinvent the wheel with methods that just don’t work. Case in point, “language immersion” instruction to teach reading, this method assumes kids just naturally want to read and by giving kids lots of different opportunities to read, they will do so. The time proven method that works for most kids is the Phonics approach. However, schools need to be pupil-focused and observant of each kid’s learning style and not just assuming kids who don’t respond well to the program have some kind of ADD issue and need medication. For kids who don’t learn using phonics, tutor them with something else!

Schools need more play time, more special subjects, more time to reach kids on various levels to give them something where they can excel and feel a sense of purpose in school. Again, this is a matter of BETTER not MORE. Art, music, and physical education contribute to the child’s development every bit as much as math, English, and science. Of course, whatever happened to social studies? American History no longer shows our country for all the good it has done. Sometimes even the timeline is abandoned. History is now the tale of victimology and the horrible crimes American society has inflicted on the world. You can bet industrialism focuses on the abuses not the contributions. Think about this. Would you trust your public school to teach your kids about the legal process and The Constitution? Would you trust a liberal school system to be able to explain the importance of the second amendment?

No Child Left Behind enacted under President Bush’s administration at least provided the framework from which schools can improve. Finally, failure had consequences. Unfortunately, state and local boards of education became intent on demonstrating why it can’t work rather than accepting the challenge of making it work. In paranoiac reaction to testing requirements, students were loaded with much more time devoted to reading and math instruction at the expense of the activities that just might make a kid want to go to school, but MORE of a failing program is not BETTER, it’s just MORE.

Education secretary, Anne Duncan argues, "Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today." Well, there are a lot of things about public education that are based on archaic principles too many to address here.

They clearly don’t understand families. How would families enjoy vacation time in year round schools? Surely, family bonding and some of the places and experiences kids enjoy are important parts of growing up too.

One thing is for certain, public education is failing miserably, but as long as kids “get by” parents aren’t likely to be outraged unless some explosive incident draws them into their local schools where they’d typically get the public relations nonsense teachers and administrators recite with zombie like precision.

More opportunities to send kids to private school, alternative programs, charter schools, and even to support home schooling where parents are up to the challenge need to be explored. Conventional public education needs reform from the bottom up not from Washington down. Communities need to chart the path of their schools and have more decision-making in what their kids learn and when.

No one understands better than the radical movement how schools can be used as tools of indoctrination to transform society. While schools in theory remain in local control, state boards of education have taken away so much local autonomy. The one constant nationwide to which school systems must respond are the teachers’ unions, mostly NEA affiliates except for in urban systems where the AFT prevails. Collectively, they are two of the most consistent financial supporters of the Democratic Party and fight meaningful reform on every level. If it’s good for gaining members and pulling more money into union bank accounts, it’s reform. If it is empowering parents and communities, is reactionary yokel thinking. Communities vary from coast-to-coast, but the one constant exerting heavy-handed influence to the same radical ends is the teacher’s union.

Few appreciate the union label in education more than Barack Obama.

Three is the Magic Number



The Orioles have eight games remaining including this afternoon’s game. They must win three of their last eight games to avoid losing 100 games. One hundred games, how could that be thinkable? Isn’t this team supposed to represent a team that has finally changed direction? Wasn’t the influx of young talent supposed to show a bold step forward to a brighter future? Last night they lost their 94th game. That’s worse than last year and 2007 where they lost only 93 total.

Early in the year, the talk was the Orioles would start off poorly but start to gel as the year went along. They had a patch work of a starting rotation that would be augmented as the young runs in Norfolk and Bowie were ready. Position players would show growth and before the year was half complete, stellar prospect Matt Wieters would be called up to begin what many believe will be an all-star career.

Those things did happen. Only Jeremy Guthrie remains from the opening day starting rotation. Among position players who could have shown more growth than Adam Jones who represented the team in the All-Star game. Matt Wieters arrived in May and by August was proving himself to be a powerful major league batter. As a bonus, while Jones and Nick Markakis solidified their outfield positions, Nolan Riemold came along as a legitimate rookie of the year candidate until suffering a season ending injury. Not only did he hit for power, but showed tremendous potential in left field.

The youth express unloaded into the starting rotation. Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman surely look like they could be part of the starting rotation for years to come. Brad Bergesen showed good instincts and guts before suffering a season ending injury. However, the jury is out on David Hernandez, and Jason Berken would have been banished to the minors long ago were it not for injuries in higher places. There are still at least four great prospects close to knocking on the door in the high minors.

Trading the team’s one established RBI threat, Aubrey Huff, to Detroit and closer George Sherrill to the Los Angeles Dodgers did not help the team from a competitive standpoint as a true successor for either player wasn’t immediately in the wings.

Add it all up, could this team look several losses worse than the last three years? Hardly, one would expect at least a modest gain, but it didn’t happen leaving fans and surely GM Andy McPhail wondering why.

What might not have been likely on August 1st almost seems for certain now. It’s hard to imagine Manager Dave Trembley returning for 2010. Over the past three seasons, he’s proven to be a stabilizing influence and an absolute class act. He runs a good clubhouse, but surely two things appear to be huge liabilities: in game strategy and preparation.

In early August, ol’ #22, Jim Palmer nailed it, the Orioles lack a sense of urgency. He also called out the players for a lack of preparation noting that Derek Jeter provides the perfect example of how a player gets ready to play each day. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Sunday afternoon game after a night game, Jeter goes through the same pregame practice routine just the same, but where are the Orioles? Sleeping in or playing video games in the clubhouse?

Some mistakes can be chalked up as youthful inexperience, but other miscues show much more fundamental issues. How often have players completely run the team out of innings through lackadaisical and sloppy effort on the base paths? On defense, all too often, fielders are throwing to the wrong base or missing the cutoff man. At times, no one has even been stationed as cutoff man. Fielders are missing covering bases and the right backup moves are ignored. These problems are not a matter of skill. These are simple fundamentals of communication and preparation. It is management’s responsibility to make sure every player knows what to do and is drilled thoroughly on how to execute in the situational parts of the game. They can’t simply go through their spring training preparation and forget it when the roster has been so full of changes through the year.

Three wins in eight games, one more game in Cleveland, four games in the gray dismal warehouse in Tampa Bay, then Friday, they return for three games against Toronto and all talk in Baltimore will be about the Ravens taking on New England. Three wins versus five loses would be a doable scheme. One would think the current nine game losing streak should not extend much longer. If they play up to their percentage so far this year, they’ll get there.

Suddenly, 100 losses seem almost inevitable. They’ve only needed three wins since their 60th loss on September 16th eleven days ago.

By happy hour next Sunday, it will all be over, and perhaps as soon as the following Monday, Andy McPhail will gather the press, make the obligatory comments of thanks and assuring all what a great man he’s enjoyed working with, but Dave Trembley will join the ranks of Sam Perlozzo, Lee Mazzilli, Mike Hargrove, and Ray Miller none of whom found the winning formula since the losing streak began in 1998.

One has to believe the Orioles are becoming a better team. They also play in same division as the New York Yankees, winners of over 100 games this year and the Boston Red Sox who could finish with the second best record in the majors. It’s the most expensive division in the game.

The Orioles will probably be looking for help on the corners for first and third base. A good DH might be a consideration, and a bulldog closer could help as the starters begin to go deeper with leads into the later innings.

2009 was supposed to be a hopeful year and beneath the surface it has been, but the miserable ways the team has found new ways to lose and the prospect of 100 losses makes this just one more degree of separation from when the Orioles were the model organization for so long.

Gather ‘round the hot stove. There will be much to discuss this winter.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Another Jihad Against Fox News: Those Silly Liberals


This story comes from Columbia, Maryland that if there were ever a progressive community by design, it would be Columbia; nevertheless, there are plenty 80's style conservatives living there too. So a local Liberal wingnut is offended FNC is the station of choice on some televisions at her health club. Cry me a river, however, if she works out when Geraldo or Glenn Beck are on, who could blame her? If that's not the case, we forward her case to Bill O'Reilly. We think we found a pinhead.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Sprint Cup 2009, Race 28: Reviewing the Field


Dover Starting Lineup: For Some Chasers It Will Require an Unqualified Success

The weather forecast for Dover almost looks like divine inspiration as rain sets in on Saturday and continues into Sunday morning, but if the forecast holds true, the rain will ease up around 10 am down to 30% at noon, but at 1 pm when the flag drops, 10% chance of rain, sunshine, and 72o, a lovely late September afternoon on the Delmarva peninsula.

Chasers Jimmie Johnson, Juan Montoya, Ryan Newman and Greg Biffle line up 1-4 for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race in Dover, with Kasey Kahne, 6th and Jeff Gordon 7th as the only other Chase contestants in the top ten. Surely hoping for better but within striking distance are Brian Vickers, 12th; standings leader, Mark Martin 14th, and Kurt Busch in 16th. The further down the order though, the task will be more difficult and they hopes on winning will be overcoming a bad starting position, an “unqualified success.” For Carl Edwards starting in 30th, the task of moving into contention becomes even more daunting.

Smart driving, staying out of trouble, and opportunistic pit stops will help determine success at a track where total failure is always an option getting caught up in traffic at the wrong place in the track where the smallest error can wipe out several cars all at once. Though not as monolithic as “big ones” at Daytona or Talladega, five or six car pile ups are frequent taking contenders out of the race. At times, the racing looks like Bristol on a one mile field.

Seeing Jimmie Johnson atop the starting order and second in the standings might be creating the sense of inevitability an unprecedented 4th consecutive championship could be at hand. Should Johnson accomplish that, he would become only the fourth driver with more than three championships joining teammate Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty, but to have won them consecutively would represent a feat that none of the greats have ever accomplished. When in any sport has a player or team won four championships in a row? Some of the great Yankee dynasties? UCLA’s basketball reign under John Wooten? Maybe the Boston Celtics? The Yankees won five straight from 1949-1953. UCLA achieved top honors for six consecutive years, 1967-1973. The Celtics, of course, won eight trophies in a row from 1959-1966. It takes these extreme examples to humble what Johnson could be on the verge of accomplishing.

Who can beat Johnson? Surely many are hoping Mark Martin and he’s out in front right now. Tony Stewart is a two time champ but has not been lighting up the field in the second half of the season as many would expect from a driver with a reputation for late season intensity. Jeff Gordon can never be counted out but while being consistent, he has only one win and has seldom dominated this year. Beyond that, any other team is a long shot.

Of note among drivers not in the chase, David Reutimann starts 5th and rookie phenom, Joey Logano starts 10th. Both drivers are figures who could be in the chase in the near future. David Gilliland returns to the #71 ride in 18th starting position. Remember last week with Bobby Labonte, the team struggled to find funds to allow the ex-champ to compete for the whole race. Yes, there will be a full slate of “start and park” entries with only Scott Wimmer in the #4 Morgan-McClure ride going home. Who knows what the correct resolution is for the “start and park” phenomenon is but from a competitive standpoint, it’s just not acceptable.



A Little Rant


I love the prospect of folks protesting Barack Obama but what's going on in Pittsburgh in response to the G-20 summit is a different matter. It wouldn't matter who was President of the United States, there's a crowd that is a attracted to these events like a pile of poop draws flies, and their collective intellect and value to the planet surely put them somewhere between such flies and dung beetles.
Who are these dopes and where to they come from?
They try to find boogie men in the free enterprise system, big corporations, and just about anything that is a pillar of civilization. Between the ones who identify themselves as anarchists or extreme leftists, these are not folks who are true victims of society. They are not folks who've toiled in manufacturing for years to lose their jobs thanks to a shrinking domestic industrial base. They are not folks pushed out of jobs because government regulations regulated their jobs out of existence. Many of them look like nutcase groupies for types of pop music few sensible people would listen to. They look like direct descendents from the glue-sniffers of the 1960's -- stupid spoiled rotten white kids who have no clue just how damned lucky they are for all they have but somewhere they got their wires crossed and feast on the hands that feed them who allow them to be brooding, self-absorbed punks who really have nothing to say.
There is no excuse for busting up cities, smashing windows of "corporate" entities like KFC, Subway, and others that were mentioned as places hit during the Pittsburgh riot. We see they're full of anger, but if it's because no one takes them seriously and avoids them like the plague one good look in the mirror would tell them why.
While we deplore communists, radical environmentalists, and other extremists causes, at least with some of them, one can identify a true philosophy and logic, albeit it distorted and wrong, for the conclusions they draw. What's so obvious about the morons who roam the earth for opportunities like G-20 summits for their big coming out events is how superficial their instincts are. Their attitude is everything sucks, nilhists of the first degree.
The problem is should any of them get bloodied by police response or shot dead for resisting arrest and continuing their mayhem, who gets portrayed as the bad guys in the world press?
Behavior has consequences and these lowlifes need to pay for their criminal behavior. They can demonstrate all they like in an orderly way, but when their purpose is to do nothing more than stir up chaos destroying property and preventing citizens from going about their day-to-day business, they must pay the price. A good woody shampoo is fine with me. The civilized world needs to take the board of education to their seats of knowledge.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

More Glenn Beck Nonsense: Obama Better than McCain


"John McCain would have been worse for the country than Barack Obama," Glenn Beck told Katy Couric in a recent interview. Going on that he would have voted for Hilary Clinton over McCain, Beck then added, "McCain is this weird progressive like Theodore Roosevelt was."

Beck has this weird obsession with what he perceives as a longstanding progressive movement that he articulates as having many of the same philosophical roots as fascism and Hitler’s Nazi politics, after all, Nazi’s were “National Socialists.” While we can critique many modern figures who call themselves “progressives” it’s not as if there is a clearly articulated “progressive” doctrine. There’s no specific text composed by a great philosopher or highly influential political figure. Beck assembles a series of political events, the writings of lesser known social philosophers, and attempts to weave them all together into this massive monolithic conspiracy to rule the world.

There’s much not to like about John McCain. He surely did not have the makings of a significant President, but let’s be clear: John McCain would not make it a high priority of nationalizing health care. John McCain clearly stands against massive government spending calling running up deficits as “generational theft.” John McCain would never appoint radical jurists like Sonja Sotomayor. John McCain would never appoint figures like Van Jones, Carol Browner, Cass Sunstein, John Holdren, Mark Lloyd, Harold Koh, Rosa Brooks, or Samantha Power. John McCain would not exploit class warfare. Additionally, John McCain would act decisively on national security issues and surely the nonsense of finding politically correct nonsense to rename “the war on terror” would never happen in a McCain administration. While there wasn’t much to like about McCain as a presidential candidate, looking at the Obama record, his agenda, and the people he’s brought into the White House, how could America do worse?

We must lament that American politics is such that the greatest country in the world would have such dismal choices for our President. It’s time for our country to take its politics more seriously.

John McCain had lots of baggage not the least of which was a naïve, inexperienced, unprepared Vice Presidential nominee in Sarah Palin, whom Beck seems to like.

We have to conclude one of two things: either Beck is totally off his rocker or he skillfully says controversial things to attract attention to his moronic program full of his rants and raves, constant repetition, and disregard for reality.

For a person who sarcastically mocked environmentalists for having banned DDT arguing no human was ever killed by DDT despite all kinds of animal species being nearly wiped out, we certainly cannot expect an outbreak of reason.

Let’s be clear. Glenn Beck is not in the same boat as Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, or Rush Limbaugh. Responsible conservatives and defenders of constitutional democracy must counter irresponsible voices who attempt to hijack the rational agenda.

How Dare They!!! Obama Nation Brainwashing School Children


Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama


Students at a New Jersey elementary school, B. Bernice Young Elementary School, are shown on a YouTube video singing this song.

As Larry the Cable Guy used to say, “What the hell is this, Russia?”

In a free society we do not force our school children to sing songs of exaltation of our national leader. Further in looking at the lyrics to this song, Barack Obama is being portrayed as a mythic heroic figure around whom great values are associated with explicitly political themes associated with left-wing politics are expressed. We've heard some of the lines as leftist organizing slogans in the past.

Every person in the decision making process that allowed this to happen needs to be disciplined and as public employees working in a public capacity, the public should know who they are and what the consequences will be.

This is absolutely unacceptable.

Imagine if a group of Texas elementary school kids sang,

“George Bush, George Bush,
Look at him kick terrorists tush”

The media uproar would be deafening.

Okay, for young black students there should be some concession to the historic accomplishment of having an African American president represents but would children at an early age realize that Barack Obama is a bogus African American in so far as he has no lineage to the historic struggle the children of slavery endured. Unlike Condoleezza Rice who was a child during the legendary struggle and brutal response to the Birmingham Alabama protests in the 1960’s, Obama’s roots go to a Kenyan father marrying a Kansas white woman with no connection to the historic conflict that still continues today.

Obama is nothing more than a media created artifact, a bogus facsimile, a fraud. Obama is a radical politician steeped in left wing ideology whose entire political and intellectual universe has been molded by outrageous American haters and fervent ideologues with a blind hatred of free enterprise and the profit motive.

Put that in a song and sing it.

For more information on this inexcusable episode, please read the following:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/24/elementary-school-students-reportedly-taught-songs-praising-president-obama/
Surely the mainstream media will never cover the danger this represents.

Sprint Cup 2009, Race 28: Monster Madness


The 2009 Chase for the Championship invades Dover Delaware, the infamous “Monster Mile” for its second race. Dover is a whirling blender that can scramble a team’s fortunes in just a matter of seconds as the high banked excitement becomes an instant graveyard for machinery fighting over the same spot on the track. Simple physics – BOOM, WHAP, DOINK, POW!!!

Chase leader Mark Martin has been one driver who has tamed the monster with four career wins, 21 top fives, and an average finish of 12.7. Jimmie Johnson in second place is one of those smart drivers who can lie low and avoid trouble better than most. Still, Johnson owns four wins and an average finish of 10.4, an absolute awesome accomplishment for a track so generous with its DNF’s. It gets more interesting in 3rd place. Dover has been hell for Denny Hamlin who has but one top 5 and a dreadful 25.6 average. Likewise, Juan Montoya will find Dover a chance to prove he is truly championship caliber in Cup racing. This will be his sixth race at Dover where he has not done well so far.

Roush teams have a solid history in Delaware. This would be a good place for Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle to assert themselves if they are going to be players in this year’s chase. Jeff Gordon is another driver who’d especially love to perform well as his career long sponsor, DuPont is a Delaware based company that will have lots of corporate spectators at the event.

After last week’s blown engine and miserable finish, Kasey Kahne must do well at Dover. His fortunes at Dover have been dismal win no wins or top fives, only two top 10’s and an average finish at 24.1. It’s tame the monster time or else for the #9 car.

Outside the chase, surely Kyle Busch is looking for every chance to show up the field having more wins than most of the chasers. They’re also smarting having been fined and docked 25 driver and owner points after failing inspection at New Hampshire. Other teams could well be racing for survival.

Meanwhile, in this year’s most annoying distraction, the Jeremy Mayfield affair that most fans and drivers would love to have put well behind them, NASCAR has asked a judge to order a full mental and physical exam of the disgraced driver who finds more witnesses calling him out for his drug abuse. NASCAR is interested in signs of drug addiction and the possibility of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

NFL 2009: Week 3 -- Things Are Starting to Get Serious


The third week of the season is when a game’s importance can pick up significantly. Teams that started off at 2-0 have no grounds to breathe easily. All that can be taken away and they can be thrown to the center of the pack with just one loss; however, for teams that are 0-2, another loss could mean “wait until next year.” For some of the 0-2 teams, expectations were low, so this week’s games are rather ho-hum. Cleveland, Kansas City, Detroit, and St. Louis would all be teams in that classification. For Miami, Tennessee, and Carolina, all playoff contenders last year, this week could have the rest of the season resting on its outcome. Conceivably, a team will need at least ten wins to be a wildcard. These teams would have to go 10-3 for the rest of the year with tough division matchups to get there. They also face weighted schedules.

The Baltimore Ravens are #1 in ESPN’s power rankings. Down the road in Landover, the Redskins are feeling uneasy not even being given a touchdown’s edge over the Detroit Lions. No team wants to be the one to break the Lions’ record of futility. Talent, man for man, Washington is a better team, but they are also a team prone to mistakes and lackluster play. Dallas plays its second game in Jerry-Land versus Carolina. A loss would throw Dallas into very tough territory while Carolina absolutely must win.

A greater sense of urgency sets in for the last week before the bye weeks begin and attention gets diverted to baseball’s postseason.

Cleveland at Baltimore (-13 ½)
As long as Baltimore doesn’t take Cleveland too lightly, they’ll spank the Browns convincingly.

Washington (-6 ½) at Detroit
No one wants to be in the Redskins shoes this weekend. They should win, but it won’t be as easy as it seems.

New York Giants (-6 ½) at Tampa Bay
Here’s a good chance for the Giants to prove they are among the NFC’s elite with a convincing win that’s well in their reach this weekend. Given Tampa Bay’s dismal defense, Eli and the boys will enjoy a feeding frenzy against the Bucs.

Green Bay (-6 ½) at St. Louis
Green Bay must buckle down and take this game as if it were a playoff. It’s not easy playing in a dome. They cannot take the hapless Rams lightly even if many think the Rams are the weakest team in the league.

Kansas City at Philadelphia (-9 ½)
Philadelphia turns to backup quarterbacks again this week but should be strong enough to hold off Kansas City. Michael Vick will surely be in the game at some point.

Atlanta at New England (-4)
New England needs to show some improvement this week as they have been out of rhythm especially on offense so far this year. Playing at home should help give them the edge against a very good Atlanta team.

San Francisco at Minnesota (-7)
The 49er’s are a team on the up and up, but they won’t be strong enough to beat Minnesota at home. The dome will be rockin’.

Jacksonville at Houston (-4)
Houston’s the better team and playing at home. Jacksonville starts looking like a team on a downward spiral as they head to 0-3.

New Orleans (-6) at Buffalo
Two questions about this game. Will New Orleans be accused of running up the score? What kind of post game tirade will Terrell Owens launch after the game? This could be ugly.

Pittsburgh (-4) at Cincinnati
Pittsburgh’s going to be playing with a chip on its shoulder after losing a game many thought they should have won last week. Pity Cincinnati.

Chicago (-2) at Seattle
Which Jay Cutler shows up? This game is a tough call, but Seattle hasn’t shown much so far this year. Give it to “da Bears.”

Tennessee at the New York Jets (-2.5)
The Titans are in a tough situation. The team that used to be the Oilers playing a team that used to be called the Titans are in hot water at 0-2 after a highly successful year in 2008. One would think Tennessee will win this. Still, the Jets are the hot up-and-comer this year. Tennessee must win this game on defense and rattle the rookie QB. We have to give New York a slight edge.

Denver (-1) at Oakland
Denver has looked better than expectations so far this year. For whatever Oakland has going for it, they always seem to kill themselves with mistakes. Denver should take this game simply by avoiding mistakes and letting Oakland beat themselves.

Miami at San Diego (-6)
Pity the Dolphins at 0-2, they must beat San Diego who’s playing at home for the second week in a row and is mad as hell after being beaten by the Ravens after playing a pretty darned good game. The Dolphins just don’t have the power to pull this off.

Indianapolis (-2 ½) at Arizona
Manning versus Warner is the billing. Arizona is so one dimensional based on their killer passing game. That won’t cut it against the Colts. Arizona must step up on defense or this game could get out of control quickly with Payton Manning playing in prime time.

Carolina at Dallas (-9)
Carolina’s going to lose this game and stand at 0-3. How much more patience will the Charlotte fans have for coach John Fox and embattled and ineffective quarterback, Jake Delholme. The talk is out there, Jake the Mistake. Backup QB A.J. Feehley is but a tired 9 year journeyman. No matter what weaknesses Dallas has shown so far, Carolina’s toast and will go to 0-3.

NCAA '09 Football: Week 4




Thankfully, Week 4 has a few more games that are better than cupcake competition. We’re showing our ACC colors with this week’s picks. This week’s action will be a big test for Miami, a team looking like Hurricane teams from the glory years so far as they face the preseason favorite to rule the conference, Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. North Carolina is nationally ranked but Georgia Tech gets a slight nod, probably for home field advantage from Las Vegas. We’ll see what happens when Iowa visits Penn State in State College, PA. Does revenge sound like a possibility?

Here are the games we’re tracking.

North Carolina (#22) at Georgia Tech -2 ½
Go Tar Heels. This will be one more step up the ladder for a growing team.

Indiana at Michigan (#23) -21
For the much maligned Wolverines, has anyone noticed they’re at 3-0 so far? They’ll beat Indiana but the Hoosiers might bust the spread.

Miami (#9) -2 ½ at Virginia Tech (#11)
Playing at home and having a more experienced team should be enough for the Beamer Boys to bring Miami back down to earth for now.

Rutgers -2 ½ at Maryland
Which Terps team shows up on Saturday? If the Terps play up to their ability, they should win by at least a touchdown. If they get off track, it could get ugly. We’re going to be good Marylanders and pick our state school.

TCU (#15) at Clemson -2 ½
Clemson is one of those teams hovering just below the top 25 and should be strong enough to hold off TCU. It appears the odds makers are on to this too.

Arizona State at Georgia (#21) -12
Far western teams often have trouble adjusting to eastern time zone games, but given this game has a late starting time should help mitigate that factor for Arizona State. This is the kind of game Georgia has to be careful or an upset is likely. They must pull things together, cut down on mistakes, and control the ball. They are the better team but will be tested to prove it.

Iowa at Penn State (#5) -10
Joe Paterno is far too classy to pound his first and talk of revenge. He doesn’t have to. Welcome to the Penn State home field. Tens of thousands of fans will take care of the revenge factor as the entire Penn State community will be united behind one thing, stuffing Iowa for ruining their storybook season last year. Many thought last year was Paterno’s one last shot to play for the national championship, but everything’s lined up for that to be possible again. By the time the clock runs out Saturuday night, the Nittany Lions crowd will have tears in their eyes and lumps in their throats knowing they’ve watched one more episode in college football history, one of its greatest coaches ever lead another generation of players to a clutch victory.











Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Ooop!!!!


There is a prominent figure on the left who makes Glenn Beck look well-behaved.
Michael Moore is a contemptuous liar who not only follows the maxim of never let the facts get in the way of telling a good story but that he does so to misrepresent the subject of scorn in his movies and to promote his socialist agenda pushes him into particularly bad company.
Coming up next is a movie where the radical filmmaker takes shots directly at the free enterprise system even finding a clergyman to call capitalism a sin. Hmm, why would he seek a member of the clergy to support his thesis. Isn't Moore an athiest?
Anybody who sympathizes with his upcoming movie is either a sick traitor or someone in need of serious counseling.