Monday, October 31, 2005

Now That's Interesting...

After watching Brett Favre get demolished by the Cincinnati Bangles yesterday and watching helplessly as (benched) Jake "The Snake" Plummer tore the Eagles apart, I was a bit uneasy, and was worried about my team, because after all I didn't want to lose to the last placed team, and the projected scores actually had them up on me by 2 points (59-57). But if there's one thing I need to have already learned from this league, is that those scores don't mean SQUAT! Shortbus hasn't even gotten half of the projected points with only 2 players left to play. And I on the other hand have picked up his slack. Even with Favre getting -1 points, and Philly getting -3, I still managed 78 points. Mostly on the back of Antonio Gates with his 145 receiving yards and 3 TD's.

It upsets me though because for the second week in a row, I missed out on an over 100 point game. If I had Jake in, I would have ended up with 107 points . But either way I'm happy. I'm up 78-24 right now

And now a glimpse of the rest of the league:
Talk about a week of upsets. Last week, I was the only top 5 team to be beat, this week, Gunfighters and I are the only ones not to have lost. Here's a quick look around.

Blue Balls put a smack down on Bentley, and actually went the complete reverse of my prediction. Right now he's up 78-49 and still has a running back left to play. Bentley however is done for the week. All's left to do is take a knee and go to the lockers.

RFTR is looking like a loss is around the corner. Down by 26 with just Pittsburgh's D, and Miller left to play. It can be overcome, but it's not likely. Gunfighters are finished for the week, and hold the lead 74-48. Hooray! Puts me 1 game behind and I believe I'll be ahead in points

Webcats beat bRight & Early like I said they would. bRight is done for the week, and webcats still have their tight end to play. This one's another take a knee and get to the locker room. Webcats are up right now 60-52

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot. Muse is getting a BEAT DOWN! After beating me by only 7 points last week, and leaving me with a 2nd loss and a broken heart, it's goot to see muse down to the Giants 85-34 with only Jamal Lewis left to play. Hey Muse...2nd Place, HERE I COME! I am concerned though since I play the Giants next week and their QB, Eli Manning facing the horrible 49ers, and Detroits defense facing the wretched Vikings.

Well, that' s the Monday morning look at the scores. Check tomorrow for final scores and Yahoo! provided Vegas Lines. Then as usual, Wednesday I will be up looking at the matchups and giving my personal predictions

Thursday, October 27, 2005

She What?

I support the Miers nomination.

Well, did...Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination to serve on the Supreme Court. I would have liked to have shut up people like the ACLU and ThinkProgress, who stand do disenfranchise the Judeo-Christian community in this country and raise the rest up above everyone else. She was worried about documents that were supposedly protected by executive privilege, and what the senate might do with those documents. Chances are they would do the same thing that happened with John Roberts and try to squeeze out answers from her, and when they didn't get the answer they wanted, they would pitch a fit. So the search begins again to find a new nominee.

I've found a full transcript of the letter.
"
Dear Mr. President:

I write to withdraw as a nominee to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. I have been greatly honored and humbled by the confidence that you have shown in me, and have appreciated immensely your support and the support of many others. However, I am concerned that the confirmation process presents a burden for the White House and our staff that is not in the best interest of the country.

As you know, members of the Senate have indicated their intention to seek documents about my service in the White House in order to judge whether to support me. I have been informed repeatedly that in lieu of records, I would be expected to testify about my service in the White House to demonstrate my experience and judicial philosophy. While I believe that my lengthy career provides sufficient evidence for consideration of my nomination, I am convinced the efforts to obtain Executive Branch materials and information will continue.

As I stated in my acceptance remarks in the Oval Office, the strength and independence of our three branches of government are critical to the continued success of this great Nation. Repeatedly in the course of the process of confirmation for nominees for other position, I have steadfastly maintained that the independence of the Executive Branch be preserved and its confidential documents and information not be released to further a confirmation process. I feel compelled to adhere to this position, especially related to my own nomination. Protection of the prerogatives of the Executive Branch and continued pursuit of my confirmation are in tension. I have decided that seeking my confirmation should yield.
I share your commitment to appointing judges with a conservative judicial philosophy, and I look forward to continuing to support your efforts to provide the American people judges who will interpret the law, not make it. I am most grateful for the opportunity to have served your Administration and this country.


Most Respectfully,
Harriet Ellan Miers
"

In other news, apparently the key to a World Series now is either 1) Having the word Sox in your team name, or 2) having not won a series in 60+ years. The past 2 World Series have been 4-0 sweeps by first the Red Sox, and now The White Sox did it over the Astros. Well, at least the Cardinals didn't get swept 2 years in a row.

And what is this? The New York Times is imploding? Oh I'm loving this. About time the liberal rag faced its demons.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

1000...X 4!

That's right, late last night GOP and College broke 4000 hits. Although it's been a longer wait than it took to get 1000, or even 2000, it's only been a little over a month since GOP and College had it's first birthday, and had close to 700 since then.

I need to be humbled though since my brother has hit over 120,000. I suggested that he add some form of ads to increase money, but would you really want to be busy closing pop-ups while you read about things like Vermont seceding, all kinds of evil political ads, as well as how G.W. is supposedly linked to a terror e-mail.

Week 8 Predictions

Whooping Of The Week:
Me vs the All-Stars, I don't even have to say anything. This is bound to be a whooping. Even though Tory Holt shows no points, I've still got a 16 point lead. Rednecks 70-30

Loss 5 In A Row:
Blue Balls won't be able to overcome Bentley, plain and simple. Bentley's had some tough losses, including an 83-93 loss to me, but this won't be one. Tampa's defense is way underrated so expect a decent margin. With an average score of almost 77 points per game, it's easy to say Bentley 75-55

First Loss Of The Season:
That's right folk, GOP and College and even RFTR admit that 7 was the magic number where the undefeated line stops. Even though RFTR has some good matches..."I think my undefeated streak will be over. Luckily, you lost this weekend, so even if I lose I'll remain in first place. Suh-weet." - RFTR Gunfighters win it 80-77 My advise to RFTR - Start looking to prepare against Bentley next week. 2nd place may be calling your name.

Battle Of The Losers:
bRight and the webcats face off in a matchup of the 8 and 9 teams. Looks like the cats have the better matchups, so I'm going with them, 50-45

Hopeful Loss:
I'm hoping that Muse will forget that the Colts are a bye this week since he still has Edgarrin James as one of his starting backs. If that's the case, it may be a short week at 2nd place for Muse. And just looking at Muse's stats, they don't have really stellar players, but somehow they score just enough points (Average MOV 8 pts). I'm gonna go with the Giants, 65-50.

And one thing I noticed. If RFTR were in the Bowl Championship Series, he'd prolly be about 4th, even though he's undefeated. Just looking at their schedule screams push-over. In 13 weeks 8 of the games are vs the last 4 placed teams. He only plays the 2 highest scoring teams once, and I had my chance and lost it by well, a bunch. The toughest team he plays twice is Muse, and won the last one by only 4 points. As of now here's the rest of his season



I on the other hand feel like Tennessee in the SEC. I beat the two highest scoring teams, and only lost to the #1 and 2 teams, and get to play the highest scoring teams AGAIN late in the season. Oh well, at least if Righty stays in the top spot he faces either Bentley or Gunfighters in the 2nd round of the playoffs, where as I would face Giants, then Muse to get to the championship game. Here is my schedule.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Camp Katrina


Be sure to stop by Camp Katrina to see what the National Guard has been doing in the Gulf Coast. The media hates to show how these people have been helping the victims of Katrina and Rita. Show them support and continue to pray for their cause.

Hot Wing Conspiracy Week 7

Well, I've slipped up as a coach. 3 bad calls on my part cost me a victory, and a 102 point game. I ended up putting in the wrong kicker, the wrong defense and I went against my gut feeling and kept Chris Chambers on the bench. If any one of those decisions had been reversed I wouldn't be kicking myself in the butt this week, and I'd still be in 2nd place. Tory Holt, my most consistent player was out this week but that wasn't announced until Saturday, the day after Chambers got 88 yards and a score for 10 points. Then when Bryant went with a non-existent week, that left me with 2 goose eggs and you can't win much with that. I ended up losing by exactly the spread that Yahoo! had done...7 points. Muse 77, Rednecks 70...Crap. Well, as my smack said, "3rd place is still on the podium." I'm only 8 points back from 2nd though.

Nail Biter Of The Week:
T(v)RWC Giants - 61
bRight & Early - 60

OK OK, I was wrong on the Payton Manning prediction, but they still whooped up on the Texans, just they did it with Edgarrin James instead. I will say thank goodness for Trent Dilfur having as bad of a game as Dante Culpepper is having a season, otherwise I would have looked like a buffoon...Well, not really, either way, Eli or Payton he would have lost if Dilfur wasn't in the red. 3 picks and 4 sacks. Ouch.

Slaughtering Of The Week:
Bentley Fonzworth - 74
Shortbus All-Stars - 25

Wow, talk about a whooping I knew this game was gonna be big. And wow, it wasn't too far off from my 75-20 prediction. Sorry All-Stars, can't say you ever had a prayer. When one person scores more than your whole team (L. Jordan, 26 pts), that sucks.

Continued Beating:
The Gunfighters - 70
The Blue Balls - 59

My brother continues to just get beat like a drum ever since he played me and I stole all his confidence. He's lost to me, a team with 3 empty slots, the last place team, and now to the 2nd highest scoring team. He hasn't lost by much, (3, 7, 8, and 11) but he still has lost 4 in a row and is still falling back. It's unfortunate that he plays THE highest scoring team this coming week. That sucks.

False Hopes:
RFTR - 61
webcats - 52

The cats held a 1 point lead going into last night's game, and I was hoping that it would hold out since the Jets receivers hadn't done very well, but apparently they did good enough to win. RFTR is looking like the Colts of our league. Who can stop him? Well, he plays The Gunfighters this week, so look for a possible brick wall to be set in front of him.

And now a check of the standings.


Fallers:
Rednecks to 3rd
Shortbus to 10th

Risers:
Muse to 2nd
bRight to 9th

As you can see not much shuffling today as there was only one upset. Shortbus only fell because he is now the lowest scoring team in the league.


Yahoo! Provided Vegas Lines (MY predictions will be up tomorrow morning)

Shortbus - 16 - Rednecks (Shortbus hasn''t updated a bye slot)
Bentley - 7 - Blue Balls
Gunfighters - 3 - RFTR
webcats - 4 - bRight & Early
T(v)RWC Giants - 12 - The Muse(Muse hasn't updated a bye slot)

Friday, October 21, 2005

Saddam's defense Lawyer was Assassinated...But Who Cares?


Apparently not the Associated Press. In their article titled, "Lawyer For Saddam Co-Defendant Found Dead," this is all that was mentioned about the lawyer who was shot twice in the head and then dumped in the streets.
"A defense lawyer in Saddam Hussein's mass murder trial has been found dead, his body dumped near a Baghdad mosque with two gunshots to the head, police and a top lawyers union official said Friday.
...
The lawyer, Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi, was abducted from his office Thursday evening, a day after he attended the first session of the trial, acting as the lawyer of one Saddam's seven co-defendants."
In between that they did find time to write 3 full paragraphs about the number of American soldiers who died yesterday, and in the last week. And apparently the death toll in over 2 1/2 years is 1,992. I guess bad news is better than good news. To put that in perspective, here's a list of all the battles (not wars) between 1900 and 2000. Most of which have over 2000 casualties.

I finally did find a decent article here about the situation, but it was at the bottom of the page.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Week 7 Predictions

Rednecks and Muse: Yahoo! says Muse by 7
This one I'm a bit iffy on. I KNOW that with Green Bay playing Minnesota and the Rams playing the Saints, Favre and Holt will tear up the points, but The Colts are playing the Texans so James is going to have another monster game. This one will be close, but I think that I'll still come out on top. Rednecks 65-63

Blue Balls and Gunfighters: Yahoo! says Gunfighters by 8
Looks like Gunfighters have a stacked week. Blue balls have some decent matchups, but not enough to over come the opposition. Blue Balls will continue their slide to the rear, and Gunfighters are liable to get 80+ points. Gunfighters 75-50

RFTR and webcats: Yahoo! says RFTR by 5
Well, I can assure you this will be a much higher scoring game than that. RFTR is very under-rated. The only way webcats can win is if injuries suddenly stricken most of his players. RFTR with the W, 64-42

T(v)RWC Giants and bRight & Early: Yahoo! has bRight & Early by 8
Indianapolis at Houston, and Giants still have Payton on the bench. Denver I think is going to pick Eli apart, while Payton is going to be sitting on the bench racking up a record breaking week AGAIN (Harrison and Manning became the highest TD pair in history last week at 86 connections). I'm actually going to go with the lowest scoring team in the league this week. Giants will lose again because they decided to play their favorite teams instead of the better players. bRight & Early with the win, 40-35

*UPDATE* Giants got the hint and put Payton Manning in. Just to tell you how good of a game he's going to have, Yahoo is predicting a 16 point game (2 scores and 200 yds). Mind you this is when they predicted Shaun Alexander to have 120 yards and 1 score (12 pts) in week 6, instead he got 4 scores and141 yards. Expect Manning to get over 300 yards and 3 or 4 scores. (24-30 points)
Also I'm now changing my prediction to Giants winning 70-40

Shortbus and The Fonz: Yahoo! has Bentley by 32
This is going to be the greatest slaughtering since Georgia Tech faced Cumberland and scored 222 points to their none in 1916. Although I don't predict another 100 point game, he will still kick the crap out of Shortbus. Fonzey wins, 75-20.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

HWC Week 6 Recap, Week 7 Preview

Wow, talk about hitting a slump. First he lost to a team that had 3 players on a bye week, now he lost to the formerly LAST PLACED team. I may have had a bad week, but my opponent had even worse. The 100 point mark WAS broken as I said it might. And the League leader almost lost his undefeated mark. Let's take a look.

Biggest WTF of the week:
T(v)RWC GIANTS BENCHED PAYTON MANNING???!!! Can I ask what the HECK ARE YOU THINKING? The #1 QB in the league and he BENCHES him for his younger ROOKIE brother? Wow, talk about a waste. The game ended in a 67-57 victory for RFTR, but playing without team partisanship (and any common sense) would have given Giants a 70-67 victory.

Biggest Loser:
Of course, it's going to be The Blue Balls. In a wretched 62-54 loss, The Blue Balls lost to the previously last placed team, and continue a massive break-down. If it hadn't been for Jackson getting 9 points, Blue Balls would have pulled it out.

Greatest Comeback:
The Muse riding on the back of Edgaren (sp?) James and his 25 point game pulled off a Monday night win vs. Shortbus 68-55. I saw that coming with Indy against one of the NFL's worst defenses.

Record Breaker:
As I suggested in my preview, one of the teams broke the century mark. Bentley got 100 points even, but a swap of Warrick Dunn for TJ Duckett would have given him an impressive 111 points in the 100-62 victory over the 2nd highest scoring team, The Gunfighters.

My Game:
There wasn't much to Brag about in my 48-22 victory over bRight&Early. Trent Dilfer was held for -12 points, and that pretty well trumped Priest Holmes 17 point game.

The standings took some hits. Gunfighters fell from 3rd to 5th, Giants fell to 6th, Shortbus and bRight & Early fell one each to 9th and 10th. Upward movers were Muse up 2 to 3rd, Bentley up 2 to 4th, and webcats up 2 to 8th. RFTR and myself stayed put at 1 & 2.

And now, for the YAHOO! Projected Scores. (Vegas Lines) MIND YOU THESE ARE NOT MY PREDICTIONS!!!!

My predictions will be up tomorrow morning when I've had time to research the matchups.


The Muse - 10 - Pulaski Rednecks
The Gunfighters - 8 - The Blue Balls
webcats - 2 - RFTR
T(v)RWC Giants - 10 - bRight & Early
Shortbus All-Stars - 27 - Bentley Fonzworth

Also, as promised, I am naming myself as new commisioner of the league.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Greenday Being...Well, Greenday

I went to the Greenday concert last night at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville and it was a VERY energy packed concert. Most of the people around us could sing along with Holiday and When September Ends, but when songs like Longview, and the hidden track, "All By Myself" came on they were sitting there confused. I thought that was amusing that the depth of their Greenday listening was so little.

I do have one beef against the concert. It doesn't take more than 10 seconds of a look at Billy Joel to tell he''s an obvious Liberal and a blatant Bush-Basher. Right before Holiday started playing he gave a big "f#$% George W. Bush and f$%^ the war!" But instead of being booed like some other artists, the MTV brained crowd erupted in a giant cheer. But I wasn't too surprised by it when the majority of the audience probably only heard of Iraq when one of their buddies described their job as, "I rack the dishes before they get washed."

Even though he took a shot at the president I was happy to hear him encourage the crowd to go out and vote. I'm sick of people talking about how they hate everything that's going on and when you ask them if they voted they tell you some BS excuse like "My vote wouldn't have mattered." Well, 36% of the nation felt that their vote wouldn't matter, in an election that was decided by only a few percentage points. If you're upset about something, don't sit around. DO SOMETHING! I know I plan on voting at every election that I can, and even though you can pretty well determine who I'll be voting for already, you never know.

Friday, October 14, 2005

Rehearsed Conversation?

The AP wrote a story about how President Bush's speech to 10 US soldiers in Iraq. And the way the headline reads, "Bush Thanks Soldiers In Rehearsed Talk" makes it seem like the whole thing was a giant publicity stunt. But even a half effort at reading the article makes you realize that it wasn't scripted. The amount of rehearsing in that talk was about the same as in the Presidential Debate. This person was assigned the first questions, then this guy gets the next and so on. The only question specific hand-offs were on issues of training with Iraqi soldiers, as well as the relations with people in Tikrit. But how is that such a bad thing? Obviously you're going to want a person to answer that question who at least knows something about it. I mean who do you want to ask why your toilet is flooding? Jim-Bob mechanic from Jiffy Lube, or the plumber?

Another section in there HAD to highlight the fact that in an AP poll, only 40% of people agree with how the war in Iraq is being handled, and slightly over 50% say that is was a mistake to have gone in the first place. But one thing, do you really expect people to believe that a good deed is being done when the only views they have are what the media want you to believe is going on with doom and gloom stories from the press?

And to think, something like this wasn't considered scripted?

So to counter-act that, I'm taking stats that have been at least semi-proven on snopes here, and here

Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...
.. the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active duty.
.. over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens.
.. nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning.
.. the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.
.. on Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts - exceeding the prewar average.
.. all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools.
.. by October 1, Coalition forces had rehab-ed over 1,500 schools - 500 more than scheduled.
.. teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries.
.. all 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open.
.. doctors salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam.
.. pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700 tons in May to a current total of 12,000 tons.
.. the Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccination doses to Iraq's children.
.. a Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 kilometers of Iraq's 27,000 kilometers of weed-choked canals which now irrigate tens of thousands of farms. This project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and women.
.. we have restored over three-quarters of prewar telephone services and over two-thirds of the potable water production.
.. there are 4,900 full-service telephone connections. We expect 50,000 by year-end.
.. the wheels of commerce are turning. From bicycles to satellite dishes to cars and trucks, businesses are coming to life in all major cities and towns.
.. 95 percent of all prewar bank customers have service and first-time customers are opening accounts daily. .. Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses.
.. the central bank is fully independent.
.. Iraq has one of the worlds most growth-oriented investment and banking laws.
.. Iraq has a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years.
.. satellite TV dishes are legal. .. foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for minders and other government spies.
.. there is no Ministry of Information.
.. there are more than 170 newspapers.
.. you can buy satellite dishes on what seems like every street corner.
.. foreign journalists (and everyone else) are free to come and go.
.. a nation that had not one single element - legislative, judicial or executive - of a representative government, now does.
.. in Baghdad alone residents have selected 88 advisory councils. Baghdad's first democratic transfer of power in 35 years happened when the city council elected its new chairman.
.. today in Iraq chambers of commerce, business, school and professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the country.
.. 25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body in Iraq's history, run the day-to-day business of government.
.. the Iraqi government regularly participates in international events. Since July the Iraqi government has been represented in over two dozen international meetings, including those of the UN General Assembly, the Arab League, the World Bank and IMF and, today, the Islamic Conference Summit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced that it is reopening over 30 Iraqi embassies around the world.
.. Shia religious festivals that were all but banned, aren't.
.. for the first time in 35 years, in Karbala thousands of Shiites celebrate the pilgrimage of the 12th Imam.
.. the Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large and small, as part of a strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq.
.. Uday and Queasy are dead - and no longer feeding innocent Iraqis to the zoo lions, raping the young daughters of local leaders to force cooperation, torturing Iraq's soccer players for losing games, or murdering critics.
.. children aren't imprisoned or murdered when their parents disagree with the government. .. political opponents aren't imprisoned, tortured, executed, maimed, or are forced to watch their families die for disagreeing with Saddam.
.. millions of longsuffering Iraqis no longer live in perpetual terror.
.. Saudis will hold municipal elections. .. Qatar is reforming education to give more choices to parents.
.. Jordan is accelerating market economic reforms.
.. the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for the first time to an Iranian and a Muslim woman who speaks out with courage for human rights, for democracy and for peace.
.. Saddam is gone.
.. Iraq is free.
.. President Bush has not faltered or failed.

And that's just one set of information.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

CHOOO-CHOOO!


Wow, talk about a baby train. An Arkansas couple had been married for 4 years when they decided to have a baby, and apparently kick out all forms of birth control. In 17 years since having their first child, the family now has 16 children...and want MORE . This woman has seriously turned Spring into "Morning Sickness Season"

The husband, Jim Bob Dugger (I can't help but laugh HYSTERICALLY at a name like that) was a State Representative who now is a real estate agent. They have just finished their 7,000 square foot house, and will be on various TV shows in the future.

They have 18 people in one house(2 parents and 16 kids)...I have a total of 19 people in my ENTIRE extended family. (4 grandparents, 6 uncles and aunts, 5 cousins, 2 parents, a brother and a sister) Talk about a crazy Christmas.

*side note*...I take it they're pro life?

HWC Week 5 Picks

It's Wednesday and as promised, Here are some updated Vegas lines, as well as my picks on this week's matchups.

Start off with the big guns.
Bentley Fonzworth - 7 - The Gunfighters

This will be an all out slobber-knocker as the 2 biggest scoring teams go at it. I think that even though Gunfighters are projected to win, I feel like Bentley will pull it out thanks to Alexander and Jurevicius. Look for Tampa's defense to rack up some big points as well. this could very well be a 100 point game for one of these teams. Bentley with the win, 87-76

bRight&Early - 9 - Pulaski Rednecks

Of course I'm going against Vegas on this one. They're showing Davis as a 10 point game, but I don't think he will even be close. He'll be lucky to get 3 points. Bruce is still out and Bulger against the Indy defense will be shut down. Rednecks on top, 65-40

webcats - 18 - The Blue Balls
If Blue Balls can't win this, I'm euserping as commish. Blue Balls win, 70-35

T(v)RWC - 7 -RFTR
Dallas shut down Westbrook and McNabb last week, so I don't think the Giants will be able to overcome the stopping power of the Cowboys. RTRF, 60-48

Shortbus All-Stars - 28 - The Muse
I think Muse is actually under-scored in the prediction. Griese and Dallas are going to have big games, so look for this to be the Blow Away of the week. Muse, 80-35

Letter To Zarqawi Uncovered

A letter to Abu Musab al Zarqawei was released Oct. 6th and in it one of the leaders of Al Qaeda describes their intentions as well as political and military strategies. In it they talk about how they are worried about the Pakistani army in Northern Pakistan, as well as how they are concerned about some of their bombings targeting fellow Muslims. They state that it is hurting their efforts to gain the support of Shiite Muslims. At the end of the letter, it's good to see that they want Zarqawi to send money since their usual lines of communication have been cut off and they are going BROKE.

My question though is this, Why wasn't this reported on earlier, and also, why does the Associated Press make the US sound like coawards, and try to paint the terrorists as the victims?
" In a letter to his top deputy in Iraq al-Qaida's No. 2 leader said the United States "ran and left their agents" in Vietnam and the jihadists must have a plan ready to fill the void if the Americans suddenly leave Iraq...
At times, the letter got personal. Al-Zawahri said he tasted the bitterness of America's brutality, noting that his "favorite wife's chest was crushed by a concrete ceiling" during an apparent U.S. attack. His daughter died of a cerebral hemorrhage"

A full copy of the letter can be found here

Monday, October 10, 2005

HWC Football League - Week 5 Recap


It's Tuesday morning, so here at the GOP and College HQ I'm giving you a recap of this week's events in The Hot Wing Conspiracy Football League.

Well, this week I have a 1 in the loss column. I banked on the Cowboys getting blown away by Philly, but quite the opposite came up. Westbrook was stuffed for the second week in a row, and the if the Philly defense hadn't picked up a fumble and run it to the endzone, they may have been in the negative for points. Even though Brett Favre threw for 215 yards and 3 TD's with no sacks, picks, or fumbles, I couldn't overcome RFTR. Here's some reasons why...
*My team*
- Chris Brown got 78 yards, but a touchdown in the game was called back on a holding call, dropping him below 80 yards, and no scores. (3 points instead of a possible 10)
- Mike Anderson got a whole 34 yards against the Redskinds, Back-up Bell racked up 127 yards and 2 scores (Anderson - 1 pt, Bell - 18 points)
* RFTR *
- Even though Curtis Martin only got 59 yards, that included 2 Touchdowns. (14 points)
- Indianapolis tore into San Fran only allowing 3 points, getting 5 sacks, a fumble, and 4 picks, with one being returned for a touchdown. (28 Points)
- Anquan Boldin racked up 158 yards and a score but if it hadn't been for a fumble, he could have had higher. (11 points)


*Slaughtering of the Weekend*
Shortbus All-stars - 23
The Gunfighters - 79

With 5 players getting no points, and the highest score a 7, All-Stars didn't have a prayer.

*BIGGEST CHOKE*
T(v)RWC Giants - 47
The Blue Balls - 40

I've shipped a bag of ice up to New York to give to my brother for losing this one. Giants went in with no Running backs, and no kicker, and they still won it by 7. Blue Balls ended up with 3 players getting no points in their games, and the highest scorers being Jeff Wilkins and the Chicago defense at 8 a piece.

*David And Goliath*
Bentley Fonzworth - 62
webcats - 62

Even though Bently has scored 363 points in 5 weeks (45 over now 1st place RFTR), he could only muster up a tie against the now 0-4-1 webcats. McNabb's performance against the Cowboys killed this game, getting -6 points.

*Nailbiter of the Week*
The beMuse - 57
bRight & Early - 54

With Brian Griese getting -4 points, it was up to the Dallas Defense to pull this one out for Muse.

This week shook up the standings a bit, and there is still a 3 team pack at 3-2-0. RFTR took over my crown, and The Gunfighters jumped to 3rd. I fell to 2nd, Bentley fell from 3rd to 6th with his tie, and Blue Balls stayed put in 7th after a disappointing loss to the Giants.

And of Course, in the ongoing tradition...here are your preliminary Yahoo! Vegas lines for week 6
*visitor - spread - home* victor in bold

bRight&Early - 9 - Pulaski Rednecks
webcats - 5 - The Blue Balls
T(v)RWC - 6 - RFTR
Shortbus All-Stars - 18 - The beMuse
Bentley Fonzworth - 7 - The Gunfighters

Keep checking back as I will update them most every morning.

I will post my predictions on the games Wednesday morning.

Friday, October 07, 2005

A Forced Rip-Off


I've sent an e-mail out to Governor Phil Bredesen about the outrageous gasoline prices that are haunting the gasoline pumps this fall. The price that gasoline is bought from refineries has plummeted to under $2 per gallon, but the pumps (up until just 2 days ago) were at $3.099 per gallon. That's a full $1.10 gallon above the average that it is originally purchased for. Now you can try to say that the gasoline taxes are too high, or that it costs too much to ship, but that's a bunch of CRAP! I did a little research myself and found a site with the state tax rates on gasoline. And here's how it breaks down for TN.

Gasoline at the pump: 3.099
Purchase price: $1.99 (assuming without taxes)
Federal tax: 18.4 cents
Tennessee gas tax: 20 cents
Special Petrol tax (TN): 1 cent
Environmental assurance (TN): 0.4 cents
Shipping (from gulf coast): 7 cents


That leaves 64.1 cents that are left over. Surely the cost of employment isn't that high. That's a 20% profit margin.

This is a copy of the e-mail that I sent to the Governor:
"I've been sitting here for the past couple of weeks watching gas prices rise at the pumps, and yet the price of a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange continues to plummet. Gasoline is being traded on the floor of the exchanges at right at $2 per gallon, but stations here in Pulaski are charging at rates of $3.099 per gallon. This is AFTER the stations had settled from the (lack of) effects from Hurricane Rita. There is no reason for the price to continue increasing if they are buying it at ever lower prices. This looks like nothing more than greedy station owners taking advantage of a gullible and uninformed public.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/051004/oil_prices.html?.v=14

Thanks For Your Time,
Robert Swick
"

The people we elected into office need to realize what's going on and step in.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

John Roberts Vote Released

The Roll Call Vote of now Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Roberts was released on the US Senate homepage for all to view. And America, if you want to know who the 22 most liberal Democrats are, here is a prime example. Hillary even dropped her "moderate" image and voted with them.

Obvious Nays/Liberals:
Teddy Kennedy
John Kerry
Barack Obama
Dick Durbin
Barbera Boxer
Harry Reid
Joe Biden

New link to follow : WILLisms

A Dinner Worth The Drive

As I posted earlier, Dine For America was last night, and although there wasn't even a restaurant within 30 miles that was donating, I still drove up to Franklin, and ate at Carrabba's Italian Grille for dinner. I had their Chicken Parmesan with a side of Fettuccini Alfredo, and a Caesar Salad (known to those of us who have worked at that particular branch as a "busser special") So even though it was a 45 minute drive each way, I did my part. To everyone who participated, a hefty thank you. And to those who didn't, unless you would have had to drive an hour each way, or your bank account was less than $25-30...There's no excuse to have not gone.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

It's October...

That means it's time to take the road to the World Series. Here's my picks for the series this year.


National League:
- 3 - 0
- 2 - 3
American League:
- 2 - 3
- 3 - 1

NLCS:
- 4 - 3
ALCS:
- 4 - 2

WORLD SERIES:
- 4 - 3

Of course I'm going to pick my team to win it all!

Hot Wing Conspiracy Week 4 Recap

I'm posting my thoughts of this weeks Fantasy games in The Hot Wing Conspiracy. This week The Pulaski Rednecks (my undefeated team) played my brother's team, The Blue Balls, in a gridiron spectacular that came down to the last second...almost. The game started off with me in high hopes as the point spread was a generous 6 point victory to me. The game started off fair with a few of my receivers finding endzone, but the big disappointment (or so I thought) was benching Denver QB Jake Plummer. He threw for a lousy 136 yards, but in that found the endzone twice and all without getting picked. Torry Holt and J. Galloway lifted the team, which made up for the fact that Westbrook, my star back got stuffed for a total of 48 combined passing and rushing yards. I began to get worried as the ball started to shift to the other court and I saw that Marvin Harrison, as well as a few others began to get rolling. Mike Vick came on and within the first 5 minutes, he'd found endzone, and I got scared, since all I had left was a very unreliable Brett Favre and that was the game last night.
Fortunately though, both backs had lousy shows, St. Louis managed to lose points, and Vick was pulled from the game in the 2nd Quarter. I checked my scores Sunday night and saw that I was ahead 50-47 with all of the players used, except Favre. I played the safe route and benched Favre to insure my 4-0 status, and went to bed content both nights.

Side note: Favre threw for 300+ yards, 4 TD's, lost one fumble, and was sacked only once, which amounted to +28 points, had he been in it would have been a blowout at 78-47.

Currently I hold the crown in the league, but next week's matchup will be the clash of the titans as I face off against RFTR where some one will walk away with a loss. Here's how Yahoo! predicts the match-ups for next week. The set-up is, Visitor - Points spread - Home *Victor in bold* PLACE YOUR BETS!!



*Updated Spreads 10-6 at 11:30 AM CDT*
RFTR (4-0) - 12 - Pulaski Rednecks (4-0)
T(v)RWC Giants (2-2)- 20 - The Blue Balls (2-2) (Before Bye Week adjustments, Could Swing to Giants by 6)
The beMuse (2-2) - 13 - bRight & Early (1-3)
Bently Fonzworth (2-2) - 6 - Webcats (0-4)
Shortbus Allstars (1-3) - 23 - The Gunfighters (2-2)

My Picks:
RFTR - 55
Pulaski Rednecks 63
Favre in N'awlens, Anderson in DC, and Westbrook in Dallas will carry the team to a win for me

T(v)RWC Giants - 58
The Blue Balls - 65
The possibility of T.O. being out, and Joe Horn Questionable will be the Giant's demise

The beMuse - 75
bRight & Early - 35
With Bruce still out, and no Tight End for bRight, Muse will dominate in a slaughtering

Bently Fonzworth - 78
Webcats - 55
Without a gem in Jackson, and Roethisburger in San Diego, this one could be closer than expected

Shortbus Allstars - 40
The Gunfighters - 75
With Hasselbeck OWNING the Rams, Gunfighters will dominate

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Dine For America



On October 5th thousands of restaurants around the country are going to give their profits to benefit the hurricane victims in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Please visit the site, find a restaurant near you, and order as much food as you can!

The money raised will go directly to the Red Cross, and not some two bit organization that will only put a part of the money to the cause. This is not a hoax, and it is very much worth the effort. I myself don't have any restaurants near me that will be participating, but I WILL find one to go to, regardless!