Thursday, March 19, 2009

Triumphant Return

I like this picture...and not just because I don't like Obama.

I bowld!!

Friday, August 31, 2007

NFL Predictions

OK, we are now one week away from the start of the NFL season. That means that it's time for some predictions. The important thing to remember is that, if I am proven right, it's because I am a genius, and if I am wrong, it's because predicting games is a crap shoot and unforeseen circumstances threw me off. So here we go.

AFC playoff teams:
Denver Broncos
Indianapolis Colts
New England Patriots
New York Jets
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Diego Chargers

NFC playoff teams:
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Dallas Cowboys
New Orleans Saints
Seattle Seahawks
Washington Redskins

Super Bowl: Patriots over Saints

So there it is, exactly how the season is going to shake out. It is pretty dangerous putting it in writing like this, but I am confident in my predictive powers and/or brave and stupid. But I think it's pretty obvious that the Pats are making one last Super Bowl push this season before they will need to rebuild that aging defense. The Saints looked pretty darn good against a terrible KC team in the one preseason game I saw them play in, and the defense seems to have improved (Chiefs prediction: 6-10, with fans calling for Herm Edwards' head, something that will never happen because he only got the job in the first place because he is pals with Carl Peterson). I think that Al Saunders will get the 'skins on track and they will be one of the surprise teams this year. And the Colts will have a slight letdown after their SB win, but not enough of one not to still win the AFC South. I encourage you to go out and put money on these picks. I won't, but I have no problem telling you to waste your money.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

The cost of Katrina keeps rising for everyone

In the wake of the Norman Hsu controversy, Hillary Clinton says she will do a better job of investigating donors in the future. Hsu has given more than $260,000 to Democrats from California and Massachusetts, all while having a warrant out for his arrest in California. I don't know who looks worst in this mess, but you can bet Hillary will pay the biggest price.

Mitt Romney is soliciting user-created campaign ads for an online contest, with the winner having his video bought and used on TV. The folks at Town Hall like the idea, and so do I.

John Edwards doesn't think you should drive an SUV, but has no plans to get rid of his. More here. There is a reason why the only Democratic presidential candidates anyone talks about anymore are Hillary and Obama. And that reason's name is John Edwards.

One of the Marines formerly under investigation for possible crimes at Haditha is planning to sue Congressman John Murtha for libel. Ouch.

While most of his Senate colleagues are calling for Larry Craig to resign, many bloggers are defending him, to some extent at least. It is clear from this blog roundup that the most egregious thing Craig did was try to use the "do you know who I am?" defense.

The state of Louisiana has received $127 billion in federal aid in the wake of hurricane Katrina. For some context, the GDP of Louisiana is $141 billion. Mississippi, meanwhile, has been awarded $23.5 billion. And guess which state is further along in its rebuilding efforts.

The New York Times says the phrase "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is in the US constitution. Well done.

The "consensus" you keep hearing about concerning scientists who believe that human activity is directly responsible for climate change is actually about 45%. Although that probably is a majority to the NY Times.

Here is some shocking news: racial preferences in law school admissions do not produce more minority lawyers. I doubt something silly like facts will get in the way of affirmative action supporters, though.

A Colorado school has banned the game of tag on its playground. I'm so glad I was allowed to have fun during my childhood.

UN weapons inspectors found weapons of mass destruction...at the UN. Oops.

The top 10 SportsCenter commercials.

A montage of people playing/singing/hand farting the Mario Bros. theme.

Friday, August 24, 2007

PopConservative: Eight months of a poor man's blogging

An initiative has been proposed for the 2008 ballot in Missouri that would make human cloning illegal. Because even though the ballot language for Amendment 2 in 2006 expressly banned cloning, the actual text of the amendment did the exact opposite. Thanks again, Robin Carnahan.

Michael Vick will not admit to participating in or betting on dogfights. That seems fairly predictable; he'll plead guilty to the less gruesome counts in return for the really ugly charges getting dropped.

The National Intelligence Estimate is conveying what many have been saying for months: the troop surge has been successful enough that a premature withdrawal would be disastrous.

George Will is probably right when he says that many on the right made too much of a NY Times opinion piece that said the surge was working. Of course part of the reason was that it was so out of character for the Times. Not out of character: rejecting an op-ed by Iraq war veterans who wanted to respond to a Sunday op-ed by another group of Iraq war veterans that supported an immediate withdrawal.

The Times isn't the only paper that particularly relishes the gatekeeping and agenda-setting aspects of journalism. But when the Seattle Post-Intelligencer raised a big middle finger to those who complained that they wanted to decide what is and is not news, and what is and is not fair, they ended up looking foolish. Taking your position in society more seriously than anyone else will usually do that.

Yahoo and MSN have agreed to censor themselves and blogs they control for the Chinese market. Some things happening in China are good, such as the recognition of property rights and a free-market economy. Some things, however, remind us why Communism is so terrible, such as regulating internet content to exclude criticism of the government and endorsements of liberal democracy.

And because we are constantly reminded of why Communism is bad, it should make us take a harder stance against Hugo Chavez, who to this point has gotten somewhat of a free pass in the American press.

The construction of the security fence between Israel and the Palestinian territories has reduced successful attacks by 90%. Bet you didn't see that on the Nightly News.

More Hamas cartoon propaganda, this time attacking Fatah, the rival Palestinian Authority party (mostly) supported by the US.

Tell your kids: women are low-risk adults, men are high-risk adults. But, as Glenn Reynolds reminds us, do not tell your kids whether certain ethnic groups commit more crime than others; restrict your socialization of discrimination to gender.

It is against the law in many European countries to use an internet connection that does not belong to you, even if it is unsecured. This is of interest to me because I am writing this on a "borrowed" wi-fi connection right now. Sorry, neighbors.

Hilariously self explanatory: Goth Day at Disneyland.

Maybe this will drive up the comments from "0" to "some": if Mellow Yellow is he poor man's Mountain Dew, then PopConservative is the poor man's what?

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Now I have something to call myself, since 'netroots' means 'douchebag'

Barack Obama said that his wife Michelle's comments about a president requiring a strong family were not aimed at Hillary Clinton. And Bill never cheated on her, either.

Hugh Hewitt was right: the large number of terrorists and killed and captured in Iraq was not the headline or lead following President Bush's speech at the VFW Conference in Kansas City. It was a pretty safe prediction, though.

The Kurds of northern Iraq have been threatened with "cleansing" by Iran. I don't know if a federalist partition along ethnic lines would benefit the Kurds or leave them more exposed to attacks from their Muslim neighbors.

The History Channel tells 9/11 conspiracy theorists (that means you, Rosie O'Donnell) that they are wrong, always have been wrong, and always will be wrong.

I guess Town Hall has been reading my stuff: they also are reminding you that a higher tax rate does not result in higher revenue.

Newsweek reports that Bill Clinton never actually authorized the CIA to kill Osama bin Laden. Whoops. While this looks bad, since Clinton lied about it and all, I agree with Captain Ed that it makes little sense to treat this as a partisan issue. In fact, I almost never understand the idea of making a partisan debate out of any national security issue.

Way back when, Jonah Goldberg says, Republicans were said to rule the web. Now, folks are saying, Dems are in charge. Like everything else in politics, enthusiasm is cyclical on the internet. Except on this blog, where I'm always enthusiastic.
And on that note: welcome to the web, Rightroots.

I used to be of the opinion that Chiefs fans were some of the smartest in the league. Support for career backup Damon Huard to win the starting QB position, however, has me rethinking that. Fortunately, it looks like second-year player Brodie Croyle will win the role. Which is fine, because I don't see the Chiefs being that good this year anyway. It's a power-running team with an offensive line that just keeps getting worse. Might as well get Croyle ready for next year, when they could possibly compete. Although with Herm Edwards in charge, what they would be competing for is likely a 10-6 regular season and a first-round playoff loss.

Call them the Al Gore, Jr., all stars: deadbeat relatives of famous people. And what do you know, Bill Clinton even pardoned one of them.

Travis Green's last wish was to be in a movie. The result is The Boy Who Everyone Loved and Who Never Died. Until he did, because he had cancer.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

PopConservative: the Obama-bashing edition

It's been more than two weeks since I wrote anything; anyone miss me? Not enough to get a comment about it. Let's get back to it.

A lot has happened in the presidential races since my last post. Fortunately, Town Hall summarizes what I missed for me.

Not only did Barack Obama make the same mistake for a second time when he said he would meet with any world leader the dictator's convenience, but his staff was allowed to view the very question that caused him to stumble before the debate. Had he just come up with the answer on the fly, it would not have been too bad; watching it live, I didn't think twice about his response until Hillary Clinton responded with a more measured answer. But he didn't come up with his answer on the fly; he had every chance to respond, and thought that a jab at the Bush administration was more important than good foreign policy.
Michelle Obama has also made headlines for an errant comment about a candidate's home life affecting his or her presidency, which seemed targeted at Hillary. So now Barack has to worry about his wife doing her best Elizabeth Edwards impression while also campaigning with a second-rate staff.
And the Obama blunders just keep coming. He has played the race card, all but threatening other Democrats into making sure he is on the ticket no matter what happens. While it is probably true that a black candidate would do well among black voters, I think a 30% rise in turnout is a bit of an overestimate.
Oprah's fundraising event for Obama is gong to ban cameras and all recording devices. Nothing suspicious there.
Finally, somebody who was glad to hear from Obama. Too bad it was Cuba's foreign minister.

Mitt Romney's record on abortion has been the biggest obstacle in his run for the White House. So it is even more confounding that he is still struggling to express his stance on abortion rights and Roe v. Wade. I used to think that Rudy Giuliani had allowed this to hurt him more than Romney; after Romney also tried to apply the Federalism approach to an issue based almost entirely on when life begins, I'm not so sure who has made a bigger mess of it.

I was just wondering why Bill Richardson is not a higher-profile candidate in the Democratic race. He has a lot going for him: proven management as a governor; foreign policy experience as a Clinton-era ambassador; instant liberal cred as a minority; and he may be the most moderate candidate in the race. Well, NRO wonders why he is doing as well as he is. After rolling off a list of his blunders, including calling Al Sharpton a governor (and despite what Sharpton may have told you, he has never been elected governor of anything), they discuss his success. He has good ads, and they may outweigh his lackluster debate performances, something we may be putting too much stock in.

The initiative to split California's Electoral College votes seems to have legs. The Peddlers doubt it will pass, but could be close.

What do you know: England's single-payer health care system has resulted in a mediocre cancer survival rate. Number one on the list? The for-profit American system.

Louisiana Democrats want you to believe that the Republican candidate for governor hates protestants. Too bad their argument falls apart as soon as you read his paper from which this accusation is drawn.

And what do the open-minded netroots-types want done with the Blue Dog Democrats? They want them out of office. Welcome to the Big Tent Party, folks.

Stephon Marbury doesn't think that Michael Vick should be severely punished for participating in the "sport" of dogfighting. Thanks, Starbury. Maybe you and Clinton Portis can start your own "Free Vick" campaign.

The New Republic's handling of the Scott Beauchamp fiasco keeps getting worse. He made stuff up; admit it and move on.
Of course, it's not so easy to move on when publications that have spent years screaming about Bush exaggerating evidence about Iraq's WMD capabilities are found to be exaggerating themselves.

What does the BBC spend UK tax dollars on? Changing President Bush's middle name to "Wanker" on Wikipedia.

Two-thirds of Americans oppose new gun control laws. See, people are smart.

Glenn Reynolds points out that the rich are getting richer: Harvard's endowment grew $5 billion in the past year. Should their investment profits be taxed the way people want oil companies to be?

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Obama's new foreign policy: meet 'em all, kill 'em all

Rudy Giuliani has accused the Democratic presidential candidates wanting to run a nanny state and raise taxes to an oppressive level. Mickey Kaus finds his nanny crack a little hypocritical. His attacks on John Edwards and Barack Obama for poor economic policy, though, is right on target. I wonder why liberals find it so hard to understand that a higher tax rate reduces incentives to earn money, and therefore reduces revenue.
Rudy also backed Hillary Clinton in her foreign relations feud with Obama. But, then again, who wouldn't?

Mickey has some advice for John McCain: turn against the press. He even writes a speech for him.

Obama wants to send troops to Pakistan. He also seemed at least lukewarm to the idea of military involvement in the Sudan during the last debate. So I guess Obama wants the US military to be everywhere except in Iraq. In fact, he's for more military operations than the Bush administration.

The Associated Press, where a story about declining casualties in Iraq requires extra effort to be sufficiently anti-surge. And Joe Lieberman tells his fellow Democrats to take terrorism seriously. For probably the 50th time.

NRO says that, in a primary where all of the Republicans have non-conservative skeletons in their closets, managerial excellence could become a paramount concern. Because while conservatives feel betrayed by Bush's liberal leanings, they also feel burned by his mismanagement in several key areas.

Democrats promised to be fiscally responsible if they took over Congress. Recently, Bush asked them to redirect more of the subsidies in the farm bill to family-owned farms. Congress did neither, pushing through a farm bill where large corporate farms receive 75% of the benefits.

Eastern European states are embracing a flat tax system and encouraging international businesses to make their homes there. I am curious to see how well it works.

I would probably react the same way if I were doing a story about vegansexuals.

Why should you buy a Super Nintendo? Because Paul Rudd says so.

Let's make a list of reasons to watch The Procedure. Andy Richter? Check. Will Ferrell? Check. Willem Dafoe dancing? Check. Bon Jovi? Check.

There is a decent chance you've seen Steve Carrell in Street of Pain, but if you haven't, here it is.