Fulham faces West Ham; and Boa Morte, Who Has a New Shirt and Something to Prove

It's been just over a week since Fulham reached a deal with West Ham United transferring Luis Boa Morte, from his Craven Cottage home of five years, to Upton Park.

Saturday, West Ham host Fulham with Boa Morte and his team looking to get even for comments made by Fulham boss Coleman about his former skipper's play this season and predictions that West Ham is relegation fodder.

These two teams drew 0-0 at Craven Cottage just three weeks ago on December 23rd. In that match, West Ham left-back Paul Konchesky was shown a straight red card.

While newly appointed manager Alan Curbishley enjoyed a dream start to his managerial duties at ther East London club with a 1-0 win over Premiership leaders Manchester United on December 16th, things have gone south since then in league play. Over the busy holiday fixture period the Hammers lost to Portsmouth and Manchester City at home and also fell to Reading by a whopping score of 6-0 on New Years day.

Last weekend the Hammers did put things together in the 3rd round of the FA Cup with a 3-0 win over strugglers League One strugglers Brighton. And Boa Morte, playing in the new shirt for the first time, figured mightily in that crucial win with an assist for the first, and a set-up for the second goal.

Fulham on the other hand comes into Saturday's match on a bit of a roll. While it is not a winning roll, it is not a losing roll either. Fulham has gone six matches in all competitions unbeaten with the last five being draws. Their last loss came at Liverpool on Saturday, December 9th.

Since the defeat at Liverpool, the Cottagers defeated Middlesbrough and drew with West Ham, Charlton, Chelsea, Watford and most recently Leicester City in the 3rd round of the FA Cup.

One might look at the recent run of form by Fulham as the Cottagers missing opportunities to pick up six Premiership points against strugglers West Ham, Charlton and Watford, but a draw is always better than a loss.

Clint Dempsey, though signed wont be eligible to play for another week, while paerwork is processed. The other new acquisition, Montella, is expected to see action.

Prediction: West Ham 2-1 Fulham Reason, too much hot blood for Fulham to handle.

Blatantly cadged from Chicago Tom's match preview on FulhamUSA

Jimmy Carter: A retrospective.


Some years ago I watched Jimmy Carter on an interview on Charlie Rose. I was moved to gush on a forum I wrote on, then, that he probably was the finest human being ever to be President. With the publishing of his new book and reading some critique and news around it, I am tempted to repudiate that view.
But I wont.. though I now believe the man is unfit to ever hold public office; unfit then, unfit now!

If I had to write a one-line view of Jimmy Carter, it is:

Jimmy Carter: Always ready and willing to give away that which is not his.

Lamar Hunt: The Measure of a Man

This isnt going to be a lengthy thribute to Mr Hunt. There are, at the same time, many and not nearly enough personal testimonials available by Google.

All I can add is that all those players and reporters from Football, Soccer and Tennis realms are exactly right.

How do I know? Because I spoke to him for about thirty seconds, and that's all it took to find out about Lamar Hunt. When I spoke, he paid attention, shook my hand and focussed on me and what I had to say.

And imagine how many times that happened to him every day

'Breaking News:' Circumcision and STD's!

Forbes: Circumcision Reduces HIV Rates, U.S. Studies Confirm

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. researchers in Africa said Wednesday that they found that circumcision is such a good defense against HIV infection that they shut down two studies early, and instead offered all participants a chance to be circumcised.

Altogether, now...

Duh!

Muslim speaks out! Here's what we need more of..

From a Muslim outlook, imams have missed the point on flight behavior

The first thing one must understand about this whole hullabaloo with the Muslim imams taken off a Phoenix-bound plane in Minneapolis is that it most definitely was not about the right to prayer or freedom of worship.
.... it is certainly not about victimization.

But let us look at the response of the imams since the incident.

They rushed toward the media never looking back. They have taken their story of victimization to every soft media they could find. They then stoked the same tired Muslim flames of victimization through their own political pulpits in mosques around the Valley.

Organizations like CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) and the Muslim American Society also immediately jumped on board, even before the imams' flight reached Phoenix the next day, and began whipping up the drums of victimization.
...
As a devout Muslim, I have watched this painfully protracted saga unravel, fearing what comes next. The media, especially print media, have bent over backward to hear minorities' fears.
Yet public opinion has not seemed to budge in favor of the imams. The lesson here lies in why. It has to do with credibility.

Yes... exactly, the good doctor sees what we all see. It's all about acting out, then crying victim!

Because these imams and their handlers just don't get it, it's time we Muslims found leadership and organizations that do.

Our predicament is unique, fragile and precarious. We Muslims are a relatively new minority in a nation that gives us freedoms that no other Muslim nation would allow.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, a radical subset of our faith community is seeking to destroy the basis for this liberty.

Either we predominantly direct our passions against these radicals or Americans will not count us as allies in this consuming struggle.

God bless and protect you, doc!

Keep trying to get that message out.

An easy path to a BCS playoff?

As things are turning out, it looks like the BCS National Championship game will pit the two concensus top teams.. as long as USC doesnt stumble under the hooves of a Trojan Horse.

But there will still be whining and moaning, particularly from SEC teams fans.

Can we all agree that any of the top 5 teams might deserve the crown?

Can we all agree that any SEC team (for example purposes) that cant make the top five rankings DOESNT deserve a shot?

Good.. most of you get it. For the rest of you, maybe it's the SEC that should adjust.

Now, can we agree that the BCS ranking processes legitimize in-season games and preclude both scheduling of outright patsies and looking too far forward to bigger games? By that statement I refer to computer rankings which have some pretty sophisticated algorithms to rank based on strength of schedule down three or four levels.

So..IF we must have a playoff, then I suggest we do it as a modification of the current system.

Top 5 BCS qualify for the national championship.

#1 automatically in the NC game. This is NOT a free pass! It's a reward for being top of national rankings.

Then:
2 plays 5
3 plays 4
ALL at neutral sites at least 100 miles from home stadium; winners play a semi-final in New Years Bowl Games (alloted as current system does)

NC game a week later, as it is now.

If BCS takes the end-of-season #1 as automatic qualifier, that means you cant just schedule patsies and go to the playoffs. And means the season will be played to win each and every game.

Some are, strangely, moaning that too much is made of computer rankings but they will also complain that the 'big schools' get too many votes.
I humbly remind them of the two 'humans' voting WVU as #1 for several weeks running.
We all knew, at least I did, that was idiocy. And it has proven to be idiocy. But I dont think the computers ranked them #1, did they!

I have gotten over the 'Hate Notre Dame' syndrome specifically because of introduction of computer rankings. It wasnt that I just hated them... I hated them because, watching their games, I felt they were highly overrated.

The reason I came up with that playoff scenario is that it would require the least reorganization of the bowl system and guarantee a clearly able top 5 contender a real shot at the national championship.

I dont see how anyone could mind doing away with conference championship games but I dont think my system would necessitate that; it's up to the schools, as it should be.

The gospel of Tony Hendra

How to become a serious HuffPost contributor:

Attend Cambridge to understand world and how it really works

Become intellectual by consorting with Cleese and other Monty Python originals

Somehow, while writing on the New York scene'; become 'saved'*

Write a book about it: Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul

Have your daughter claim you sexually molested her as a child, and of course deny it. Of course that might be because, as you admitted, you ignored your family 'in order to screw as many hippie chicks as possible'.

*Or ... maybe you WEREN'T actually 'saved'....

A Christian might harbor dark thoughts about an 'enemy' .. might even wish him dead... surely, though, he wouldnt repeatedly invoke God in a prayer wishing him dead.

Any more than he would ask God to help him get in his neighbor's wife's pants. But, somehow, that wouldnt surprise me, either.

Ohio State - Michigan: No Rematch, Please!


It has turned out as I said.. or feared; Michigan a 3 point loser in Columbus, which may result in them ending up ranked as #2 at the end of the season.

Mike Hart of Michigan said after the game that he wanted a rematch and that it would turn out differently on 'neutral turf'.

It very well might... the problem with that idea, though, is that the National Championship game is being played in the home of the Fiesta Bowl. And if you think that is 'neutral ground' you havent been paying attention the last few years.
It might as well be Paul Brown Stadium. Guarantee Buckeye fans already have scooped up most of the hotel accomodations; and to locals who are interested, the Buckeyes are probably their second team.

There's lots of opinion in the press, including the Detroit papers, against a rematch, and I think they are right. It would cheapen the unique BCS process which I'm beginning to like more and more {obviously dont know if I'd feel the same if the Buck's lost, but I think I would}.

And if OSU plays someone else and beats them soundly, and Michigan trounces whoever they play in the Rose Bowl, that will do more to establish who is really king on the hill than if they played each other.

Unless you want to see the Buckeyes REALLY paste the Wolverines.. which I dont. One of the unique characteristics of college football fandom, which makes it fun is the illusion that 'your team' might have won the big National Championship game, "IF ONLY....".
Well, I'd like to bash the illusions out of the minds of some of them... and, for that, there's be nothing better than if OSU pounded Notre Dame into dust and Michigan pushed USC into the Pacific.

The "Godfather Dems" of our times..

Reading back-posts on Gateway Pundit on how we keep getting fooled it occurred to me that Jimmy Carter is a very dangerous man.

The mullahs have fooled Jimmy Carter and other democrats before and they are fooling them again now says Zucker. Hasn't Carter done enough in creating militant Islam? When is the left ever going to learn? Why do we have to pay for their ignorance and cluelessness?

Read it all... it also explains how Carter gummed the works with North Korea.

And it struck me...

If Al Gore invented the Internet, didnt Jimmy Carter 'invent' international terror by weapons of mass destruction and Islamic Terrorism?

Of course, Gore didnt REALLY invent websurfing and such, I doubt he even thought of it; he was pushing a national supercomputer consortium in which net connectivity was vital.. and Carter didnt intend for things to turn out as they have when he gave up tokens, as a gesture of good will, with both Iran and North Korea.

Nonetheless...

The 2007 US Congress.. what we can look for? More of the same!

Forget Pelosi's blathering on "Culture of Corruption" ... for House Majority Leader she's nominating John Murtha who has never passed up a piece of pork, and brags about it, or stopped looking for the big under-the-table payoff... so much so that he's under the constant eye of the fed's.
Looks like another issue where Progressives and Conservatives can be on the same page.
Ed Morrisey has more
Who, among the literally one or two readers here, thinks it's bad enough that Murtha will chair the Appropriations Committee?

But, - in some ways, even worse - Republicans in the House are installing the same old regime in Leadership positions... forgetting in record time WHY they were voted out of the Majority.
Not that Boehner, etc; are as corrupt as Murtha but conservative voters meant to send a message... they made it loud and clear... and the survivors seem to have learned nothing.

So the 'accomodations' between the Bush Administration who are NOT really looking to reduce government spending, and the 'old guard' who still think their constituents are just 'not well informed of Realpolitik will do nothing to satisfy the desires of the American People.

Dark -but fitting - Thoughts on Armistice Day.


I don't want to soil the memories, all too little celebrated these days, of the heros of WW I, which heros should be honored without rancor to anyone..

But this is also a good time to reflect on the far-reaching effects of selfish national interests on the world we live in.

My point is that France should forever be banished from any influence in international politics.

It was the terms of the Armistice, which were largely dictated by France, that led to WW II; France was mostly interested in making sure that Germany was destroyed economically and humbled to the point of a third world nation.

Unfortunately the allies went along with this. And that selfish, over-punitive effort gave rise to Hitler's Nazi's.

Later... it was France's bumbling, 19th century, short-sighted defense program that allowed Germany to practically walk into France and hand power to the Vichy government, which didnt resist sending Jews to the east in cattle cars.

Then there is France in Algeria..
Then there is France in Indo-China: when they got humilated at Dienbienphu, militarily and strategically, they came to the US with their hat in hand and asked us to take over for them in Viet Nam.
After which, they got chummy with their former enemy Ho Chi Minh.. and their intelligentsia did everything possible to see us defeated.
- why was that?
Because France HATES to see anyone succeed where they have failed, and that says it all!

And recently, of course..their underhanded ass-buddy relationship with Saddam and the Oil for Blood deals Chirac and his cronies made with him, under the auspices of the equally corrupt UN.

And now when France is failing in 'uniting Europe' in their mold. And has not a clue of how to fix their ridiculous situation in which they are not only fostering Youth/Muslim riots by their parochial and biased social/employment programs, but ALSO building resentment and breeding neo-nazi 'strike-back' feelings. I find they (as a country... I will never disparage the courage of individual French, which has been proven time and again) are showing their true grit... NONE!

No... I'm sorry, but once again the thoughts on Armistice Day, leave me wondering just how many times the English speaking countries will have to, AGAIN, shed their soldiers' blood to bail these idiots out.

Yes, unfortunately, French IS still the language of world diplomacy:

Je me rends. Queest-ce que je peux te donner?

Google translation for: I surrender! What can I give you?

Election 2006: A Conservative Loss/Win by Pettyfog the optimist

Here's what I see happening:

Dems gain control of the House, GOP hangs onto Senate by a pinky-nail.

Good thing: Dewine gets his just desserts, out of our lives forever.. and hopefully stays the hell away from 'K Street'.

Good Thing: Michael Steele, one of Esquire Magazine's 'GOP Lawnjockeys" gets elected in Maryland because Black Voters FINALLY get fed up with Dem Carpetbaggers.

Good thing: John Kasich comes out of hibernation in Ohio to lead a REAL Conservative GOP makeover instead of 'old line' RINO republicans like Taft.

Good thing: I THINK the Dems are gonna have to put their money where their mouth is... they will do exactly as they {and Republicans} have in the past, once they sober up.... and ignore those whose votes got them over the top. And even when they DONT act like they have some brains, I REALLY get to have some fun!
KosKidz will be furious and ranting at them for just about everything... but hey... I can live with that! More fun for me.

Even the bad things can be good... I REALLY WANT Rangel to bring Bush up for impeachment. Because, dear hearts, they aint gonna be able to prove he lied about ANYTHING, as long as his idiot staffers tell the TRUTH, even if the point seems damaging.

Because, by then... all the original points Bush made will be provable.

They already have been... but YOU GUYS havent read about it.. wonder why?!!

Hell, even the Libby case is gonna be dropped AFTER the election. I'm gonna have FUN with that, too... just as I am with the Texas case against Delay, hopefully Dumbass Tom Delay 'stays the course' and insists on going to trial against Ronnie Earle.

Heh.. like I say, I'm just a cockeyed optimist who likes to have fun.

NFL: When is the "Terrell Owens bye-week"?!!!!

I don't think any more need be said.

Update: Thank you, Tony Romo and 'football gods'!

Battle of Ohio; not much joy for real Bengals fans

Winning is one thing, proving superiority and getting bragging rights at the bar or water cooler for a few weeks is good. But, for us old time Bengals fans, beating the Browns just isnt what it used to be.

Not to mention the injuries some key players got in the game, the result is much like winning a fight with your brother or one of your buddies.

It's just not anywhere as good as beating 'Modell's Team' anymore. Because REAL Bengals fans consider themselves and the Bengals as Paul Brown's legacy to Ohio.
Browns fans for decades deluded themselves with their mighty legacy.. but it was only a matter of time until Art Modell did to them what he had done to Paul Brown in the early sixties. Some of them actually derided Brown as spiteful and trying to make a replica of the Browns.
For me it was HIGHLY satisfying when Modell scuttled off to Baltimore. While I commiserated with Browns fans who really understood the meaning of it, The emblems the name, the impact and identification is nothing without the WHOLE of the Browns Legacy and they were tainted as long as Modell had anything to do with the team.

Now that the Browns logo and mystique no longer has anything to do with Modell, the reason to despise Brown fans isnt there anymore; especially since they are suffering through what we did all those empty years that Mike Brown didnt understand what his Dad learned in the few years after he gave up the coaching role.
Which was you cant micromanage your team. See... you tout the accomplishments of the great man, but also see where he was lacking, and Mike didnt get it, until four years ago.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Browns dont have that problem with Lerner, but I think as a GM Randy is still learning. It'll come but they are going to have to get over the concept of bringing in 'local boys' as key team leaders.
I think Charlie Frye will be a good QB..but the Browns are going to have to learn to bring in people who dont know a damn thing about Cleveland and make them adopt the city, not the other way around.

Cincinnati, amazingly, has done that very well. All you have to do is look at the numbers of Bengals greats who'd never been there until they arrived at training camp, and live in and/or love the team and city long after they retire.
- - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - -
Which gets around to what it is to be a Bengals fan.... our pride of legacy is STILL centered around Paul Brown and the sense of community around the team. Which we old timers see as born in Cleveland.

Columbus @ Austin [R]

Ended up pretty much a Buckeye fan's dream..

Actually that subject title is an attempt at humor... but I think it points something out... that Columbus sure doesnt need the NFL, and .. probably.. despite some pride in past Cowboys' performances.. Austin -and more than half of Texas- doesnt either.

And.. though it is STILL early (these things take decades), the Buckeyes have illustrated that their new age has dawned. And the reason is Jim Tressel.

Despite Ol Woody's best attempts the Buckeyes never really made their rep past "Big Ten Powerhouse" category... yeah they won the odd 'Big Game' but in showcase national games' they were as likely to disappoint as to shine.

The Tressel Era is changing that. As a head coach, he seems to have a knack for getting in staff that knows how to build a team out of the best available resources, then get them prepared for the BIG GAME... something that Earle Bruce and John Cooper, looking back and thinking "What would Woody do?" could not.

Exammple: Tressel letting Troy Smith cut loose and continue to press on passing, while in the lead.
Woody, and Bruce/Cooper following him, would have gone to 'ball possession.. the old 'three yards and coud of dust'.

Here's something Ironic for you... I never liked Woody all that much.

Now those of you who KNOW Woody's mentality and his rep as a military historian might find that odd.. as I'm a balls-to-the-wall conservative.

Well, it aint so odd...
Tressel inspires and encourages each player to his best, Woody damn well ORDERED it. And took it personally when his player didnt live up to his standards. Yeah, Woody would have thundered "You let down the team, son!" but he REALLY meant, "You let ME down!"
Tressel's guys understand him to mean exactly that they're playing for the team.
Note Smith's aftergame comments; note the team singing in front of the band and fans' section after the game.

The ideal occurs when each person sees the benefit in going that extra bit to ensure success in his endeavors, but only those which benefit the group he's working with.

Now, ironically, it's my view that Woody would have known how to handle Maurice Clarett... while Tressel probably came back to Columbus from Tempe in '02 knowing that Clarett was going to be BIG trouble.

The difference; sometimes you have to cut them loose.

Something most who've followed Terrel Owen's career understand... unfortunately unlike Owens, we dont seem to be able to get the schmuck out of Columbus.

But he's reflecting less and less on Tressel and more and more on the likes of racist thug-apologists such as Jim Brown.

And such is the mentality, patience, and skill, of Jim Tressel.

Proportional Response and more drivel from the informed left

Listen to any Conservative talk show that lets Liberals on the air and lately you'll hear Israel blamed for not using 'Proportional Response' to Hezbollah's actual and remote control incursions into Israel.

I occasionally let myself get fooled into listening to Sean Hannity {no link because there's nothing of substance available on his site for free}, and there it is again:

"It's all Israel's fault!" "Israel is killing Innocent Civilians!" "Hezbollah isnt killing many with those rockets, Israel shouldnt be more precise."

Of course Hannity then launches into one of his core mantras... while ignoring a chance to actually make a point with the schmuck of the hour.

He might have asked why, every time Israel gives a concession, Hamas or the Islamo Fascist party in question uses that to gain ground for more attacks on 'Innocent Civilians' on the other side. He might have asked why the UN 'peacekeepers were unarmed in the first place.. since the area they were watching was once occupied by Israel and Christian Militias.

He might have asked why the left criticized Israel for the wall.. wasnt THAT a reasonable response? No, instead it was criticized by many of the same... for keeping Palestinians from their jobs on the Israeli side.
And the PA would get all huffy when Israel responded to some markey suicide bomber by blowing a PLO officer's car or HQ site into smithereens.

He might have asked why Hez set up rockets right at the UN sites... and why nothing was done about it.

Just more examples of the Liberal self-destructive mind... the Left is so bereft of ideas and lacking in understanding of a 'foreign culture' they will avoid criticizing it and focus on that they think they do understand. Thus, it's always OUR fault or Israel's fault.

Parse that out... and you see the true view: Elitist Bigotry of the type that studies primitive cultures like amoebae in a petri dish... detached and fascinated, while staying uninvolved in anything that might upset the show.

Since they dont actually recognize the existence of 'evil', they instead see it as an aberration that can be dealt with once we 'gain understanding' of it.

Sad

World Cup Football: USA Soccer job made to order for Klinsmann!!!

Even Deutsche-Welle thinks so:

There are plenty of reasons for Germany's Jürgen Klinsmann to head for the rumored coaching job waiting for him in the United States, and the coincidence that he lives there isn't the biggest one of them.

Congratulations to Jürgen Klinsmann, the man who literally brought a smile back to Germany, for taking a break to talk with his family before deciding on his next job.

He's earned the time with his wife and two children, and hopefully they'll be able to convince him to hand in his Lufthansa frequent flier card and stay at home in California after a grueling World Cup and two-year tug-of-war over everything from his coaching methods to the choice of the team's hotel.
....
Near anonymity for the whole family is a major drawing point for the soft-spoken coach. While Klinsmann would be under the critical eyes of Germany's 82 million remote control coaches, the US Soccer Federation would be hard pressed to find half that number of Americans who can name the current coach -- and he's been there for eight years.

It's hard for us to imagine the difference in profile Klinsmann and his family would carry into the public.
Everyone in 'football crazed' Europe knows Klinsmann by sight, and the sports reporters would be hanging on him and his family trying to dig out any bit of news positive or negative....while even coming across Tommy LaSorda in his high profile days with the Dodgers wouldnt necessarily raise much of a fuss.

So even if Klinsmann raised US soccer's profile ten-fold, the public and paparazzi nuisance would still be nothing compared to what he gets now in Germany.

So it's a win-win for both Klinsmann and US Soccer. He gets to stay and work around home, traveling the least of most any national team coach, and he gets to keep his private life relatively private while making over 1.5 million for his efforts... which work-hours are GENERALLY less intrusive than if he coached a club team.

We can hope.. and let's keep our fingers crossed that he does the right thing for the sport he loves.

Big Dig Boondoggle turns tragic..

Most of us midwesterners only know about the Boston Big Dig from the political related articles on it for the last ten years. There were huge cost overruns and charges of crony-ism and rumors of kickbacks.

Well, most of us old-timers know that where there's smoke there's fire.. and the 'Big Dog-gle' has bit everyone associated with it. And some who were just using it.

“The fact that this actually failed is extremely troubling,” said U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, adding that federal guidelines require that such suspension systems be able to carry eight times the load being supported.
“ The collapse of the ceiling, which killed 38-year-old Milena Del Valle of Jamaica Plain, was caused when a 3-ton ceiling slab gave way and caused three adjacent slabs to buckle and crash to the roadway with it, officials said.

Obviously, there was a failure in either quality control, design or construction,” he added. “We cannot allow people to go back in these tunnels until we know they’re safe.”
Big Dig boss Matt Amorello said engineering consultants, along with state and federal inspectors, are reviewing the project’s entire infrastructure. He also said Massachusetts Turnpike officials are examining their own records to determine whether concrete ceiling panels and the steel tiebacks holding them in place were stress-tested before being installed.

Boston Herald.. more

It's all well and good to review the 'tieback' system, and whether they were adequately tested...but we can pretty well guess what the findings will be.

The tunnels will be either partially or completly shut down for another 18 months while 'corrections' are made.

But there's a bigger issue or question:
Who the hell designed this thing!!!! I'm not a structural engineer but to install what is essentially a suspended CONCRETE SLAB ceiling seems to me the height of stupidity.
Didnt these guys ever study Roman viaduct design... and wouldnt they understand the significance of the architectural ARCH?!!! Note, in fact, the root of the term 'architecture'!

Tiebacks as I understand them serve as a back-up to structural self-support, and would keep a primary structural failure limited in effect.
Depending on the location and purpose of this 'tieback' system, the early take seems to make them NOT tiebacks but 'anchor bolts', which is a whole different thing.

I'm betting that the BIG review of the project will point not only to substandard materials and construction methods but basic design flaws, as well.

Which, of course, is to be expected when those doing big public projects are too cozy with an entrenched political machine. Which is nothing new and it's certainly not the first time it's happened. But it will certainly end up being the most expensive corrupted public works project, ever.

On Olbermann, Seinfeld and Liberal humor..



Clark Baker has an excellent incisive piece on a recent minor brouhaha between the obtuse ex-sport analyst turned Lib Cynic-shill.

ex-Liberal in Hollywood: On Humor & Fascism

The incident is reported and drilled into and the telling point, regarding Olbermann and his fellow travelers, is this quote from George Orwell:

Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, ‘he that is not with me is against me’. The idea that you can somehow remain aloof from and superior to the struggle, while living on food which British sailors have to risk their lives to bring you, is a bourgeois illusion bred of money and security…

What I object to is the intellectual cowardice of people who are objectively and to some extent emotionally pro-Fascist, but who don’t care to say so and take refuge behind the formula ‘I am just as anti-fascist as anyone, but—’. The result of this is that so-called peace propaganda is just as dishonest and intellectually disgusting as war propaganda.

To which Baker adds:

Although Olbermann thinks he confronted hate, he actually attacked Americans who have good reason to question his patriotism. I wasn’t privy to the email exchange, but those who subordinate their country and servicemen for envy or greed (ratings) probably lacks spiritual values as well.

The other point leading to the topic of this post really made sense to me.

Seinfeld was watched and enjoyed by millions but you will all remember the dichotomy exposed on the LAST Episode.
Evidently most of his viewers were shocked at it... because they saw something that differed with their impression of the back-story of the entire series.

I was shocked, too.. but only in that all the self-absorbed numbnuts ditziness had come home to roost on the main characters. Which obviously you wouldnt expect from a n obstensible Liberal creative type.

But then Larry David, even in his most current effort is the world's best caricature of what most think a Lib is really all about.

US World Cup Team: Time to move on

I'm sure that most of us soccer fans were disappointed to see the US fail to make it out of their group in Germany; though most of us werent surprised at it. The US team drew into one of, if not the, most difficult groups in the opening round.

But the real disappointment comes at the rather unspectacular end to so many bright though not brilliant careers on the team.

Brian McBride wont be back, Claudio Reyna wont. Eddie Pope and anyone else selected for the 1998 team likewise. Surely after the 2002 performance we'd hoped to see the team improve on their steadying and gritty influence.

One we cannot say that about is Landon Donovan... though if his performance is any indicator of our future fortunes, we have cause for dismay.
Donovan easily took on the role of face of the US team from McBride since '02; yet it is now McBride, again, who personifies the team.

Bruce Arena has to share some of the blame for this, the US having only 4 shots on goal in three games being the result of his conservative tactics. But he had little to work with..only Eddie Johnson had any real goal-scoring success in the qualifying run-up.
Let's face it.. we dont have much to choose from and banking on Freddy Adu to pull us out of the swamp is a little much. But, right now he, along with Johnson, is all we have.

So, I'm thinking that the entire team needs to be scuttled and remade. Anyone who was on the 02 team needs to be told that they will have to actually work HARDER to make the team than a newcomer would.

If for no other reason than to send a message to Landon Donovan.