Various Random Links and Thoughts

Been real busy lately and haven't had time for blogging. Here are a bunch of recent links and (hopefully) short commentary.

NBC tried using a late night talk show at 10 PM. On its face, the idea made sense. Talks shows are much cheaper to produce. So, NBC put Jay Leno in that time slot. Leno's ratings trailed the police dramas and other shows badly. Now, Leno wants to go back to his old time slot of 11:30 which is held by Conan O'Brien. O'Brien doesn't want to give up the spot which leads to a war of words between the two. The punch line to the whole mess is supplied by this clip of Leno from 5 years ago when he announced his intention to retire from the Tonight Show. He is now doing exactly what he said he wanted to avoid. (H/T A Large Regular)

Republican Scott Brown won the special election to fill an open senate seat from Massachusetts. Both sides should refrain from reading too much from this one election. Brown is not a far right winger as the clowns on MSNBC are claiming. His election does not completely shift power in the senate. It does not mean every Democrat will lose in November. It does mean there is no permanent ownership of a state or region by either party. It does mean Republicans can support, contribute to and campaign for moderate candidates with the right circumstances. In the northeast Brown is about as conservative a candidate as we could get. In Texas, North Dakota, North Carolina, etc. he would not get out of a GOP primary.

Hmmm, fresh off his success campaigning for Mass. Dem senate candidate Martha Coakley, we see "Obama Will Travel to Nevada for Reid Next Month." Hopefully, he continues to be as effective in upcoming races as he was in campaigning in Virginia, New Jersey and now Massachusetts.

I hope my nephew who is a huge Star Wars fan does not see an advertisement for this bed.



Here is something that should be required reading before anyone is allowed to post on the internet: Ten Words You Need To Stop Misspelling. Most of the ones covered are actually misuse of homophones. I have trouble taking someones political argument (or even sports argument) seriously if they don't know the difference between to, two, and too. Also, is there no one with internet access that knows how to spell "separately?" Okay, okay I'm done complaining about spelling.

As a reminder, being dared to do something does NOT mean you have to do it.

Officials in Germany say eight teenagers were hospitalized after a test of courage in which they drank chili sauce more than 200 times hotter than normal.

If they are interested, I make a no-bean chili that is relatively mild.

Are we taking the terrorism threat seriously? Recent evidence says not really. Latest message on the subject:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has lifted a U.S. ban on a planned visit by a leading European Muslim critic of the Iraq war, in a move rights groups hailed as a victory for civil liberties.

Clinton signed orders which ended the ban on Professor Tariq Ramadan of Oxford University, who was barred due to alleged terrorism ties which he denies, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Wednesday.

He added that the ban had also been lifted for Adam Habib of Johannesburg University, another prominent Muslim scholar.

Even if these characters are not directly involved in terror plots, does letting them in our country to spread their message do us any good? Nope. We need to remember that blowing up planes and buildings is just a small part of the overall game plan. Spreading the growth of Islam in order to overthrow all governments is the end game.

Baseball's musical chairs is going to end with some big names looking for seats. We are around three weeks from pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring training and there are quite a few players currently looking for work including a couple potential Hall of Famers. Jerry Crasnick of ESPN has a column today looking positionally at who is still available. The available pitching isn't great, but still you could make a team out of these guys and be very competitive. At this point, all the unemployed players will likely take a pay cut from last year as the owners have the leverage.