Breaking News: U.S. Navy Ship Fires on Poland

There are moments I miss Navy life and wish I were still out on the ships. Today is not one of those days at least not on the destroyer USS RAMAGE.

A Norfolk-based destroyer ended a visit to a Polish port Wednesday with a literal "bang," when a crew member accidentally fired three rounds from a machine gun into the city of Gdynia.

The Ramage, a guided missile destroyer, had recently wrapped up an international training exercise called Joint Warrior and was at anchor at the city on the Baltic Sea in northern Poland.

A Navy official at the Pentagon with knowledge of the incident said that at 10:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday, three rounds were "accidentally discharged" from one of the Ramage's M240 machine guns.

Ouch! Life is going to be kind of ugly on the Ramage. The blame might belong to just one sailor, but we like to share. It is going to be uncomfortable for everyone. I would not have wanted to be in the room as the Captain was calling up his chain of command to report the event.

Is Gingrich the Last Republican Supporting Scozzafava?

There are three candidates running in the special election to fill the vacant NY-23 congressional seat. There is a liberal Democrat named Bill Owens, a very liberal Republican named Dede Scozzafava, and a fairly conservative Republican running under the banner of the Conservative party named Doug Hoffman.

The Republican establishment in DC quickly and without any real consideration endorsed Scozzafava because she was the nominee put forth by the local party bosses. However, based on her liberal voting record and positions, the Conservative Party could not support her candidacy and nominated a different Republican, businessman Doug Hoffman. Well, word of Scozzafava's liberalism and the fact that there was a conservative alternative started to spread. This lead to various prominent conservatives, Fred Thompson among others, endorsing Hoffman. Then a week or so ago Sarah Palin came out and endorsed Hoffman. Since Palin's endorsement, donations to Hoffman's campaign increased greatly and many others have jumped on board. Today, two more Republicans came out and endorsed Hoffman's candidacy, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and former New York Governor George Pataki. The Pataki endorsement is the one that really jumps out as he is from the moderate to slightly liberal wing of the Republican party and some of his old staffers are even on Scozzafava's campaign committee. Pataki's endorsement sends a message to fence sitting Republicans in that district that Scozzafava can not win so they should get on board with Hoffman or risk the seat going to Owens.

Newt Gingrich was one of the establishment Republicans who supported Scozzafava from the beginning and he kept doubling down on his bet insisting people need to back the party nominee no matter how much disagreement she may have with the party platform and principles. I believe Gingrich greatly misread the tea leaves on this one. This is not a case of a nominee failing to follow the party line 100%. No, she is neither a fiscal or a social conservative. Also, this is not a case where because of the political makeup of an area a conservative could not win. No, this is not like Maine where a Susan Collins or Olympia Snowe are the best we can hope for. This district has not elected a Democrat since President Grant's first term! Gingrich was playing the "we're a big tent party" game with an eye on being able to claim in 2012 that he can appeal to more than just the hard core conservatives. He bet on the wrong horse and may not be able to recover from his miscalculation. He was following the McCain game plan of trying to win cross over votes by showing he was not beholden to the base. That just doesn't work. National elections are won by candidates who stick to their principles. McCain's loss was partially attributable to a lack of enthusiasm for him personally based on his many instances of supporting Democrat initiatives. For example, in the last election Republicans who believe global warming (or climate change or whatever) is bunk had a choice between a Democrat who believed that crap or a Republican who believed that crap. I actually heard some Republicans say if the choice is between a Democrat or a Republican who will both do something really stupid (Cap and Trade for example) might as well just not vote and let the Democrat get credit/blame for the crappy policy. I never saw Gingrich as electable anyways, but this little race in upstate New York demonstrated his lack of judgment in a way that takes him out of the 2012 race.

Liberal Media Bias? What Liberal Media Bias?

In the wake of the Obama administrations attacks on FOX news for failing to be as liberal as the other networks, it is funny to see real examples of media bias. Here are a couple. And bear in mind, the false story sinks in to the memory while the correction if one is even printed is buried in small print on page 6.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia during a speech mentioned that he would have dissented in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that the notion of separate but equal was unconstitutional. However, what he actually said was he would have dissented on Plessy v. Ferguson which originated the idea of separate but equal This "mistake" advanced the dishonest but often repeated assertion that conservatives are racist.

Today, Politico.com ran an article with this headline: "Iowa Republicans wince at Sarah Palin's $100K speaking fee." Wow, that greedy so-n-so I can't believe she . . . . . . Oh, hey wait a second. If you read the whole article and get through all the nonsense about their fund raising efforts you find this paragraph:

There is no indication that the former governor has requested a fee or that her decision whether to attend is being influenced by whether she’ll be paid.

That nugget is listed on the second page more than 20 paragraphs into the article. Now, stop and consider that most people just read the headline and maybe a couple paragraphs. Does anyone think crap like that isn't intentional? The media negative characterization of Gov. Palin has led to a misimpression of her among those who get the news from the mainstream media and believe the stuff they're shoveling.

World Series Game One - Also Known as the Cliff Lee Show

The Phillies just finished beating the Yankees in game one of the World Series 6 to 1. Cliff Lee dominated from start to finish. He didn't walk a single batter and only gave up one unearned run in the ninth inning. Lee also made a couple of defensive plays where he seemed much more relaxed than one would expect from a pitcher pitching in his first World Series appearance.

Chase Utley powered the Philadelphia offense with a couple of solo homers.

Sabathia took the loss, but he pitched well except for the two pitches Utley got a hold of for home runs.

Name That Party - Birmingham Edition

Headline reads: "Larry Langford found guilty on all 60 counts" and the article explains that Birmingham mayor Larry Langford was found guilty of taking about $236,000 in cash and gifts from Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount and lobbyist Al LaPierre which accounted for the 60 bribery related charges. However, the crooked mayor's political party couldn't be fit into the story. We've all seen enough examples to know that means the crook in question is a Democrat. If he were a Republican that fact would likely be part of the headline or at least mentioned prominently in the first or second paragraph. I understand there are space limitations. However, they found room in the story to say they aren't sure if he is 61 or 63 years old. They also found room in the story for the crooked politician to say that all the trial did was interrupt his bible study classes for a couple weeks. Okay, whatever. I have a feeling he will have lots of free time for bible study in his future.

UPDATE: In the interest of fairness I should point out the New York Times reported his political party in their story on the conviction. Now, that is a Believe It Or Not item to send into Ripley's. It took them seven paragraphs to mention it, but let's give credit where credit is due.

Upcoming Elections

Next Tuesday, 3 November is election day. Unfortunately, we don't get a chance to vote out of office the various folks in D.C. who are spending like crazy and doing their darnedest to destroy our health care system in the name of reform. Nationally the only races getting any attention are the usual off year governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia and a special election to fill a congressional seat in upstate New York. In Ohio the race getting the advertising dollars is Issue 3 which deals with legalizing gambling. While we do not have major offices being contested, it is still important to study the candidates and issues being voted on.
Here are some links:
Links to text for the three statewide issues and arguments for and against.
Butler County local issues
Butler County candidates for various offices
You're not from Butler County? Look up your own county board of elections here.

Recommendations:
Statewide Issues:
Issue One: PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT - TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE TO ISSUE BONDS TO PROVIDE COMPENSATION TO VETERANS OF THE PERSIAN GULF, AFGHANISTAN, AND IRAQ CONFLICTS

I recommend voting no on this proposal. The federal government decides how much compensation is necessary to attract sufficient number of people to enlist in the military. It is not necessary for the State of Ohio to supplement that compensation. The best thing Ohio can do for veterans is to create a positive business environment so they can find jobs upon return to Ohio and spending 200 million dollars doesn't make that happen.

Issue Two: PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT - TO CREATE THE OHIO LIVESTOCK CARE STANDARDS BOARD TO ESTABLISH AND IMPLEMENT STANDARDS OF CARE FOR LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY

I recommend voting no on this issue. Sounds like an unnecessary expansion of state government. Also, the measure appears to favor the massive factory farms over the smaller family farms.

Issue Three: PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT - TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION TO ALLOW FOR ONE CASINO EACH IN CINCINNATI, CLEVELAND, COLUMBUS, AND TOLEDO AND DISTRIBUTE
TO ALL OHIO COUNTIES A TAX ON THE CASINOS

I strongly recommend voting no on this issue. There are probably a dozen reasons to vote against this amendment to our State Constitution. The first thing that turned me off this issue was the advertising in favor of its passage. I was particularly irritated by the ad featuring the guy from the Ohio FOP. Additionally, we can not ignore the damage that gambling can do to a community. Yes, people are responsible for their own actions, but as we all are well aware, the entire community bears the cost of cleaning up after others when their irresponsibility leads to tragic results. I'm not getting moralistic about gambling. I've visited casinos in the past. However, when you have to travel to Vegas or the Bahamas to gamble it is a special event or a vacation, not a nightly trip to blow your paycheck trying win back last weeks losses. One of the arguments in favor of Issue Three is why let Ohio gambling dollars go to Indiana, West Virginia or elsewhere. That is a ridiculous argument. People visit other states for hundreds of entertainment purposes. Some travel from Kentucky or Indiana to Ohio for sporting events. Canton Ohio is home of the NFL Hall of Fame. Should Pennsylvania build their own football Hall of Fame so their residents wouldn't keep taking dollars out of state? Lastly, each time gambling is put on the ballot (which seems to be every year) the language is written to favor individual gambling entities rather being open to competition. I have a feeling this time it passes. If it does, it won't be because of my vote.

Local Issues:
There are a lot of issues in Butler County. However, the only one that I can vote on based on my residence is a question about whether WalMart can sell alcohol during certain hours. Who cares?

Local Races:
WEST CHESTER TWP.- TRUSTEE - (2 to be elected)

Keith Denning
Chris Xeil Lyons
Joseph B. Mansour
Christy Miller
Sean M. Rogers
Roger Sexton
Randy Stanifer
Catherine Stoker *
Lee Wong *

* Incumbents

Our township has three trustees of which two seats are up for elections. I endorse Chris Lyons and Lee Wong for Trustee. Chris Lyons is a bright, enthusiastic, conservative who has committed to reining in spending. If there is an event going on in West Chester Chris and her family will be a part of it. She has been endorsed by our congressman, Rep. Boehner. Lee Wong is just finishing his first term as a trustee and based on my observation deserves another term. Lee was an Army Warrent Officer and is an active member of our VFW Post. Stoker, another incumbent, has been a trustee far too long. George Lang the third incumbent is not up for reelection. I endorse his opponent whenever his seat does come up for election. My guess is the large slate of candidates will spread out the challenger's votes and ensure the incumbents win due to greater name recognition.

We also have five candidates running to fill three Board of Education seats. Never heard of any of them. No endorsement.

Remember, if you don't vote then you forfeit the right to complain later. I intend to complain so you know I'll be voting.

Political Correctness NFL Style

Larry Johnson of the Kansas City Chiefs has been suspended by the team and barred from the team facilities. What major offense did Johnson commit? Kill he drive drunk? Did he beat his wife/girlfriend? Did he fail to pay taxes? Did he fumble three times in a game? No, nothing minor like that. Worse than that, Johnson, in the heat of the moment after another loss in a long losing season, got on twitter and criticized his coach and then responding to an insult he used a gay slur (fag). Who cares? Reality is Johnson is no longer a great running back like he was a few years back. If Johnson was still a punishing running back pounding out 100+ yards a game and 1,500 a year the gay slur would be ignored. Actually, if he was still great the team would have a few more wins and he wouldn't be angry enough after a game to lash out like he did.

I don't know if Johnson has much left. I do know that if interviewed when calm he is a very bright and engaging player. If the Chiefs cut him loose, I'd have no problem with the Browns picking him up. Sometimes a player with a chip on their shoulder does great with a second chance. There are quite a few Hall of Fame players who were cut by a team or two (Unitas, Dawson, Largent, etc). Last years NFL Defensive Player of the Year,James Harrison Jr. was undrafted and cut several times in his career before he developed into a topnotch player. Right now the Bengals are riding the performance of Cedric Benson who the Bears gave up on.

Missing the Worst of a Speech to Concentrate on the Outlandish

Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, gave a speech and one paragraph is getting a lot of attention. In my view we are criticizing the wrong paragraph. It is an example of missing the worst of a speech while concentrating on an outlandish comment. Here is a link to the text of the speech. Here is the section people around the internet are laughing at:

My answer is pretty simple. There is a new president and a new NEA. The president first. This is the first president that actually writes his own books since Teddy Roosevelt and arguably the first to write them really well since Lincoln. If you accept the premise, and I do, that the United States is the most powerful country in the world, then Barack Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar. That has to be good for American artists.

People are criticizing that statement for several reasons. Obviously, there is the growing speculation that Obama actually had a ghost writer. Then there is the fact that there were several presidents between Theodore Roosevelt and now who wrote several books. Eisenhower wrote Crusade in Europe after World War II. Nixon was a prolific writer with around ten books to his credit.

However, Landesman's speech included stupidity far beyond the historical ignorance he showed in complimenting the guy who gave him his current position.

My colleagues in Washington cringe when I use words like “pathetic” and “invisible” and “embarrassing” to describe the NEA budget, so let’s just say that the funds we have to work with are “not that large.” England is the European country that is the worst public supporter of the arts. Their budget? $900 million. That would translate with our population to an NEA budget of $4.6 billion. That’s not going to happen here in my great grand-kids lifetimes. But there are some significant things we can do with even modest amounts of new funding.

So the standard of wasteful spending we should be aiming for is the European model? NO, NO, a hundred times NO! Not one dime should be stolen from tax payers and spent on the arts. If people want to fund the arts they can reach into their own pocket and fund the arts. Politicians reach into other people’s pockets and then act like they are personally being generous. Can any of the politicians in DC actually read the Constitution and explain to me where it authorizes funding of the arts? He cites Europe’s spending on the arts as a comparison to make it seem we are spending too little. Ridiculous. European history of funding the arts is a remnant of the days of monarchs. Our nation was formed as a representative democracy not a monarchy. Beyond that, government funding of arts (or newspapers, auto manufacturers, etc) leads naturally to censorship and other forms of controls. Additionally, what Landesman fails to acknowledge is the citizens of this country individually fund the arts voluntarily with a whole lot more money than the NEA. People going to a Rolling Stones concert or to a local club with a band or who pay admission to a museum are all funding the arts. Difference is that is money going to artists that actually earn their pay rather than being given it by some government grant board. If they can't make it without a government grant then they should go into another line of work.

What if Bush had done that?

Early on in the Obama Administration I ran a series of posts titled "What if Bush had . . . . . . ?" Most of those posts focused on gaffes and mistakes made by our inexperienced and unprepared to lead president and how the media was not covering those mistake with anywhere near the fervor they would have if President Bush committed a similar offense. In the comments section of my post regarding President Obama being criticized by NOW for not having female golfing buddies, an old friend pointed out a column addressing that subject. From Josh Gerstein of Politico.com we get What if George W. Bush had done that? Obviously, the story is more related to the failings of our mainstream media to be objective reporters.

A four-hour stop in New Orleans, on his way to a $3 million fundraiser.

Snubbing the Dalai Lama.

Signing off on a secret deal with drug makers.

Freezing out a TV network.

Doing more fundraisers than the last president. More golf, too.

President Barack Obama has done all of those things — and more.

What’s remarkable is what hasn’t happened. These episodes haven’t become metaphors for Obama’s personal and political character — or consuming controversies that sidetracked the rest of his agenda.

It’s a sign that the media’s echo chamber can be a funny thing, prone to the vagaries of news judgment, and an illustration that, in politics, context is everything.

President Bush was not perfect (no one is), however his abysmally low popularity ratings by the end of his second term was as much or more a product of media complicity with the Democrats as it was a result of his policies.

(h/t Julie)

In Defense of President Obama

I'm not normally in accord with President Obama on most matters particularly policy decisions. However, here is an instance where I have to vigorously defend the man.

We asked Terry O'Neill, the new president of the National Organization for Women, what she thought of those Democratic women and others quietly complaining about a "boy's club" atmosphere at the White House, as exemplified by the president playing basketball earlier this month with 11 members of Congress and four Cabinet Secretaries -- all men.

As the New York Times and cable news chatter looked at whether the Obama White House is too fratty yesterday, President Obama brought along a woman golf partner for the first time in his 24 golf outings as president, domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes.

Is this much ado about nothing? (Ed. Ya think?)

O'Neill says no.

"Relationships get built in those more informal settings," O'Neill told ABC News, "and the relationships have a huge impact on the influence an individual has. We know what happens when we segregated whether it by race or whether it by gender -- you end up with 1st class citizens and you end up with 2nd class citizens."

Who gives a tinker's damn who he golfs with (besides the nags from NOW)? I care about the policies he pushes when he is not golfing. Also, even if he adds the occasional woman to his foursome he will not likely be adding any diversity of opinion to the outing. Beyond that, I don't remember this woman's advocacy organization having any public complaint a decade ago when a president was caught lying under oath during testimony in a sexual harassment lawsuit deposition (you know, that perjury stuff).

Far from complaining about the amount golf he plays, as some on the left did with Bush's golfing or other athletic recreation, I have no problem with Obama golfing or taking vacations. After ten months of this administration, I'd rather he'd golf than govern. In all seriousness, a president is never on vacation and has no real time off. Where ever a president is located the troubles and responsibilities follow.

Breaking News: Indians Hire Acta as Next Manager

Not sure how I feel about this news, but the Indians have announced that Manny Acta has been hired as the 40th manager of the Cleveland Indians. It is easy to look at Acta's tenure with the Washington Nationals and come to a negative conclusion about his chances with Cleveland. However, there are several examples of managers failing at their first opportunity and succeeding later. Also, he did not have the best collection of talent in Washington. Then again, the squad he is inheriting just finished a 97 loss season so he isn't necessarily getting a much better bunch of players. I do think the Indians are better than the Nationals though as a wise man once said at the end of the day you are your record.

An ongoing problem for the Indians is a modified version of the question "Which came first the chicken or the egg?" That question is "Which comes first on field improvement or greater attendance?" The team seems to be misguidedly acting with a we'll spend money to improve the product when attendance improves mentality. It just doesn't work like that. Using Wall Street jargon, attendance is a lagging indicator. Fans follow excitement. Teams see spikes in attendance after good seasons or after off season moves that generate excitement. Manny Acta may be a knowledgeable baseball lifer, but his hiring is not going to get one more person to run down to the ticket office.

Breaking Silliness: President Declares H1N1 (Swine Flu) to be a National Emergency

This morning, President Obama declared the H1N1 (or Swine Flu) outbreak a national emergency. A week ago when I couldn't field a full baseball team due to the flu it was an emergency. Seasons over and now he declares an emergency? That's a day late and two players short.

The White House today said Obama signed a proclamation that would allow medical officials to bypass certain federal requirements. Officials described the move as similar to a declaration ahead of a hurricane making landfall.

Other than calling this silly, I'm not going to weigh in too much on this until I know what actions this proclamation allows. Obviously, coming from the administration that operates with a "never let a good crisis go to waste" mentality one needs to be concerned about how they may exploit this "national emergency" for political gain. This especially bears watching considering the fact that the politicians are currently debating the idea of completely overhauling our health care system.

Go wash your hands!

Soupy Sales - Rest in Peace

Soupy Sales passed away yesterday at 83 years of age. Here is a clip from his show in the 1960's with rocker Alice Cooper as a guest. Can you guess what Cooper is wearing by the end of the show?

Is the NY-23 Race a National Dividing Line Between Conservatives and Republicans?

Earlier this year, President Obama appointed Rep. John McHugh (R-NY-23) to serve as Secretary of the Army setting up a special election. Normally, these special elections to fill a congressional seat don't send any national signals. This race is different for a few reasons.
1. While New York is rightfully considered a very liberal state there are pockets of conservatives once you get away from the major cities and New York's 23rd district is one such area.
2. People don't normally watch congressional races outside of their geographical area, but with few other races a minor race gets much more attention.
3. Another factor is growing dissatisfaction among conservative Republicans with the decisions made at the national level over whom to back. Often the NRC, NRSC, and NRCC seem to back the candidate least likely to support the party platform out of a mistaken belief that conservatism can't win in some states. The decision of the NRSC and President Bush to support liberals such as Sen. Chafee and Specter among others led many conservative to vow never to donate to the Republicans on the national level out of a sense that the money will be misspent.
4. The biggest reason this race is getting national attention from conservatives the local GOP nominated a very liberal candidate, Dede Scozzafava, for this seat. This isn't the case of a candidate who is fiscally conservative but socially liberal (in other words pro-abortion) or vice versa. This candidate is very liberal all the way around.

Fortunately there is a conservative option in this race. A conservative Republican who shares our values, Doug Hoffman is running in this race. Unfortunately, there was no primary election held so Mr. Hoffman is forced to run as a third party candidate under the Conservative Party label.

That is how this race became a showdown for Republicans between those who think it is important to stand for certain beliefs and values and the long time Washington Republicans who think all that matters is the party label someone carries after their name.

Not surprisingly, the list of Republicans breaking ranks to support Hoffman are ones with strongly held conservative beliefs. Fred Thompson recorded an audio blog post titled: "Vote for Principles not Parties" explaining his position on this race. Other notable Republicans who are backing Hoffman include Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Steve Forbes, Dick Armey, and Some supporting the liberal candidate, Scozzafava, include several labor unions, Newt Gingrich, Pete King, and most disappointingly my own congressman Rep. John Boehner (OH-8). As Fred Thompson said principles are more important than parties. In future primaries we need to remember the principles of those who weighed in on this race (and the cowardice of those who took no position).

As a side note, I did contact Rep. Boehner's office and they somehow insist that Scozzafava is the conservative choice.

Farrakhan Has a Whole Lot of Crazy Going on in His Head

Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan has battled cancer multiple times and thanks to modern medical science and drugs developed by pharmaceutical companies he has survived. Is he appreciative of the efforts of his doctors or the wonders of modern medicine? Nope. Instead this lunatic is ranting about how prostate cancer is a conspiracy against black men.

Although Farrakhan didn't say who was behind the conspiracy, he did call out pharmaceutical companies for profiteering off of African-Americans' sicknesses.

"After you take a pill to fix this, you have to take a pill to fix that," he said. "Who ... is getting rich off of us getting sick?"

Farrakhan also said someone was trying to use the eating habits of African-Americans against them, primarily in the area of fast food. "They manipulate our taste buds and send us to death by our appetites," he said.

Now, stop and consider that a moron like that actually has followers and lots of them. Kind of scary, huh?

Football Blame Game

No, this is not another post about the NFL and Rush Limbaugh. Instead this is about The Ohio State University losing a football game they should have won easily today. It is said that a quarterback receives too much credit for wins and takes too much blame for losses. However, in this case OSU QB Terrelle Pryor actually deserves the lion's share of the blame for the loss. Football is a team game, but of the teams five turnovers four were committed by Pryor (two fumbles and two interceptions). Inexcusable - nothing is more important than protecting the ball. Pryor was the hottest recruit coming out of high school and is a phenomenal athlete. However, he is not developing as a passing quarterback. He does not look comfortable taking a 5 step drop and finding an open receiver. His fumbles and interceptions lost this game.

I don't want to leave the impression that Pryor deserves all the blame. The offensive line did little or nothing to keep Purdue away from Pryor.

Also, Coach Tressel should have stuck with the running game. Early in the game Brandon Saine was running very well and then they seemed to abandon the running game. Bad call.

Conversely, credit the win to the entire Purdue team. They showed up ready to play and were fired up from the first snap to the last one. Bottom line: The Boilermakers clearly wanted to win this game more than the Buckeyes.

Random Notes & Links

Here are a few random notes, links and musings.

Can we stop calling Arnold Schwarzenegger a Republican already? Schwarzenegger Signs Bill Creating Harvey Milk Day. What? The California governor also recently signed legislation prohibiting cell phone usage while driving. While these laws are all the rage no one is asking if they are necessary which should be the first consideration when weighing new laws. The concern with cell phones is it could impact ability to safely operate a vehicle. All states already have laws dealing with reckless driving. If using a cell phone causes a driver to be reckless then enforce that law. Don't get me wrong, I don't think people should distract themselves with a cell phone while driving. However, there are hundreds of other things they should not do while driving - apply make up, read the newspaper, so on and so forth.

Speaking of ridiculous legislation, a new version of a hate crime law called The Hate Crimes Prevention Act is on the way. Never mind the fact that it would do nothing to prevent any crime let alone a supposed hate crime. Here is a link to a column titled "Hate Hysteria" by Jacob Sellum of Reason Magazine which addresses the silliness of hate crime laws and points out that the federal version would likely be unconstitutional as a form of double jeopardy. Beyond the constitutional question, is the stupidity of calling some crime hate crimes. Does that mean other murders are not hateful?

A lot has been made of our president with zero accomplishments being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Here is the funniest take on it (beside the drive to award him the Heisman Trophy). If Obama got a Nobel why didn't Neville Chamberlain? He at least delivered peace in our time. Oh, wait a second. That didn't work out too well. Did it? The fools on the Nobel committee fail to understand that peace is provided not by speeches but rather by action.

Looks like Rep. Schmidt (R-OH2) will face a challenger in the Republican primary. This time her opponent will be a conservative.

LEBANON - C. Michael Kilburn, a Warren County commissioner for 27 years known for his outspoken, brash manner, said Thursday he will challenge U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Miami Township, in the Republican primary. Kilburn, 55, who lives in Salem Township, plans to make an official announcement Saturday during the Warren County Republican Party Century Club breakfast at the Cincinnati Marriott Northeast in Deerfield Township.

A hard-line conservative, Kilburn caught the attention of national media this year when he said he would let Warren County go broke before accepting President Barack Obama's "filthy" economic stimulus money.

It is difficult to un-seat a sitting congressman in a primary. However, Kilburn has beaten tough odds before. Break out the popcorn, this should be a fun race.

Not sure what I'll do when I grow up, but landscaping is now definitely off the list. Spent most of the day yesterday digging holes to plant two new trees in our yard. Once you get past the topsoil it is all clay.

I really don't care if Rush Limbaugh owns a minority interest in an NFL team. I don't listen to his show unless I'm driving around during that time frame. I intentionally avoid his show on Fridays during football season because I hate the Steelers and he is a big and vocal fan of that team. Having said all that, it is ludicrous how how people reacted to Limbaugh's inclusion in Dave Checkett's NFL bid. Limbaugh is blackballed and called a racist because he disagrees with socialistic economic policy and occasionally calls out race baiting clowns like Sharpton and Jackson for scorn for their despicable behavior. I'd have no problem if the NFL had a consistent policy of no owners with issues that could be controversial. However, consider the minority owners of the Dolphins and the NFL and Rush's critics seem very hypocritical.

And now a word from an NFL owner:

“And the game done chose me to bring pain to niggas and pussy holes, they one in the same.” - I’m Real, co-written by Jennifer Lopez, minority owner of the Miami Dolphins.

Amidst the uproar over Rush Limbaugh having to step aside from his participation in the bid to purchase the NFL’s St. Louis Rams over racially insensitive statements he never actually made, is the fact that current ACTUAL owners of an NFL team have said much worse than the false and the left says nothing.

Lastly, if you know a ball player 13 years old or younger who wants to play baseball tomorrow send him my way. I have a double header tomorrow and only seven players due to the flu. Usually I'm hoping for good weather and dry fields. Tonight I'm praying for rain and lots of it.

I Wonder if Newspapers Have Considered Using Proofreaders???

When making comments dismissive of blogs, newspapers usually point to their layers of fact checkers. The problem with that line of attack is the frequency of errors they make in their reporting. Most of their errors stem either from their inherent biases causing slanting of a story or from their ignorance leading to their accepting as fact statements that are far from proven. However, this post is about the volume of mistakes that could be avoided simply by hiring (and using) proofreaders. I could probably cite hundreds of examples. A couple weeks ago the Cincinnati Enquirer had a story about the finding of the body of a murdered census worker in Kentucky. In the article they said his body was found around 50 years from his truck. I assume, they intended to say 50 yards from his truck unless his truck was found during the Eisenhower administration. Here is an example from today's Cleveland Plain Dealer:

What if Ben Roethlisberger played for the Browns:Cleveland Browns morning news roundup

October 14, 2009, 8:15AM

The CantonRep.com plays the what if game when it comes to Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. What if Roethlisberger played for the Steelers?

What do they mean "What if he played for the Steelers?" He does play for the Steelers. Obviously, the writer intended to ask "What if Roethlisberger played for the Browns? This one is almost excusable since the writer had to check several times to make sure he spelled the player's difficult name correctly.

Separately, to answer the Roethlisberger question, if drafted by the Browns he would have been poorly coached and left to wallow behind a substandard offensive line and likely injured and out of football by now.

Why Do People Visit this Blog?

It would be nice to assume that most folks who visit this site are stopping by to read my opinion on sports, politics or world events. Turns out a good deal of my traffic is accidental. Like many bloggers, I use a stat counter that provides information about my visitors. Occasionally, I scan it just to see where my viewers are coming from and the answers are usually predictable. Visitors mainly come from sites where I've left comments. Some of the visitor records include a line showing what they were searching for. Well, I was looking through the log today and noticed this search several times:

"http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=keane%20kayne%20west&aq=f&oq=&aqi="

So, people got here because they were looking for my last name and Kayne West, huh? I immediately understood how that search lead them to my blog. My blog has my last name in the title and a month or so ago, I did a blog post mocking West's moronic and racist behavior at an awards ceremony. However, I didn't understand why they would be doing that search string together in the first place. A little backwards Googling got me the answer - turns out West is going to collaborate (that's weird, somebody on TV just said collaborate just as I was typing the word) on an album with a band named Keane. Small world.

Separately, it is interesting to note where visitors are from. Looking at just a few pages of recent activity, my visitors came from 32 states and 19 foreign countries. Those numbers include visitors from India, Kazakhstan, Iran and two from China. None of the foreigners left a comment about who should be the Indian's next manager.

Commercial Endorsement

I openly and proudly admit to being cheap, though I prefer the term frugal. Because I understand basic math I normally go with inexpensive (okay, okay cheap) frozen pizza's rather than getting carry out or worse yet delivery where you have to include a tip. We usually get Tombstone or the Kroger's generic brand of frozen pizza. Well, the wife picked up DiGiorno's pizza last week and I have to admit it was much, much better than normal frozen pizza and well worth the slightly higher price.



For those folks concerned about full disclosure, I am not being compensated for this endorsement. However, if the fine folks at Kraft Foods want to send us coupons for free pizza . . . . .

Zero Accomplishments Rewarded with Nobel Prize

It was announced overnight that the ever increasingly meaningless Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to our brand new president who has zero accomplishments other than winning the election.

OSLO (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for giving the world "hope for a better future" and striving for nuclear disarmament, in a surprise award that drew criticism as well as praise.

The decision to bestow one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months into his first term, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, provoked gasps of surprise from journalists at the announcement in Oslo.

The interesting thing about this article is the fact that the ridiculous announcement "provoked gasps of surprise" from Obama's normally fawning press. This award may actually be so over the top inappropriate that it wakes up the media to take a better look at how they have covered this president up until now. I could be wrong, but this might be a tipping point in media coverage. Will they finally notice the clothes have no emperor?

Mind you the Nobel Peace prize has already been tarnished by those it has been awarded to in recent past. They have recognized terrorists (Arafat), anti-Semites (Carter), and cult leaders (Al Gore). However inappropriate past awards may have been, at least the committee waited until those clowns actually did something.

Even Obama should be embarrassed by how senseless an award this is considering his minuscule accomplishments. Even if he would have wanted to get a Nobel Peace Prize I would imagine he would want to do something first so he could feel it was deserved.

Presidential Stature Diminished

Taking a risk of appearing ineffectual, President Obama went to Copenhagen with his wife Michelle and Oprah Winfrey to argue for Chicago's selection to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. The effort did not pay off as Chicago was eliminated in the first round of cuts this morning. Will Obama get partial credit for at least trying? Or will people conclude that his strong arm efforts backfired and hurt Chicago's chances? Some in Illinois who were hoping for a major boost to the local economy will be left wondering if they lost out because the impression of heavy handed tactics lead the Olympic Committee to believe they'd look weak if they gave in to Obama's demands.

Separately, realizing that the Olympic Committee's past is almost as corrupt as Chicago maybe the real answer is just that the other cities offered bigger bribes.

Regardless of how the decision was made, this moment won't likely be a highlight of the tour of Obama's presidential library.

'Atsatax!!! (translated as That's A Tax!!!)

Too good not to steal.
(H/T GOC)