Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Two Pots
An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots,
each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while
the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.
At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house,
the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily,
with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.
B ut the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection,
and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure,
it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.
"I am ashamed of myself,
because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."
The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path,
but not on the other pot's side?"
"That's because I have always known about your flaw,
so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path,
and every day while we walk back, you water them."
"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.
Without you being just the way you are,
there would not be this beauty to grace the house.
"Each of us has our own unique flaw.
B ut it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.
each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while
the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.
At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house,
the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily,
with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.
B ut the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection,
and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure,
it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.
"I am ashamed of myself,
because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."
The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path,
but not on the other pot's side?"
"That's because I have always known about your flaw,
so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path,
and every day while we walk back, you water them."
"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.
Without you being just the way you are,
there would not be this beauty to grace the house.
"Each of us has our own unique flaw.
B ut it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
GET THIS BIG CROCK OF BULL SHIT
Anthem Skipped Before Monday Night Game
Nov 27 02:42 AM US/Eastern
42 Comments
Roethlisberger Relieved to Get Win in Mud Bowl
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Sports in America start with the national anthem. The Dolphins- Steelers game was an exception.
Rushing to begin the nationally televised matchup following a 25- minute weather delay, the NFL chose to skip the anthem Monday night before Miami played Pittsburgh. The game started without any of the traditional pregame ceremonies, except the coin toss, and neither team was introduced on the public address system.
According to the Steelers, the NFL wanted the game to begin as soon as possible following the delay. Several more minutes would have been needed to set up a microphone and sound
equipment at midfield, where the anthem is traditionally performed at Steelers games.
There was no apparent fan reaction to the omission, which occurred as many fans were scrambling to get back to their seats for the kickoff. The fans were ordered to leave the lower seating bowl at Heinz Field when lightning and a heavy rain resulted in both teams being waved off the field during pregame warmups.
The teams warmed up for an additional nine minutes before the game began at 8:55 p.m. EST. Pittsburgh won 3-0 on Jeff Reed's 24-yard field goal with 17 seconds remaining.
National anthems are rarely televised during NFL games, with the Super Bowl being an exception, so there was no indication if any veterans groups were unhappy with the omission.
Nov 27 02:42 AM US/Eastern
42 Comments
Roethlisberger Relieved to Get Win in Mud Bowl
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Sports in America start with the national anthem. The Dolphins- Steelers game was an exception.
Rushing to begin the nationally televised matchup following a 25- minute weather delay, the NFL chose to skip the anthem Monday night before Miami played Pittsburgh. The game started without any of the traditional pregame ceremonies, except the coin toss, and neither team was introduced on the public address system.
According to the Steelers, the NFL wanted the game to begin as soon as possible following the delay. Several more minutes would have been needed to set up a microphone and sound
equipment at midfield, where the anthem is traditionally performed at Steelers games.
There was no apparent fan reaction to the omission, which occurred as many fans were scrambling to get back to their seats for the kickoff. The fans were ordered to leave the lower seating bowl at Heinz Field when lightning and a heavy rain resulted in both teams being waved off the field during pregame warmups.
The teams warmed up for an additional nine minutes before the game began at 8:55 p.m. EST. Pittsburgh won 3-0 on Jeff Reed's 24-yard field goal with 17 seconds remaining.
National anthems are rarely televised during NFL games, with the Super Bowl being an exception, so there was no indication if any veterans groups were unhappy with the omission.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Sad very sad
4. Hollywood Celebrities Duck ‘R’ Label
A recent incident involving Teri Hatcher has once again put the dirty little secret about one of Tinseltown’s oppressed minorities in the spotlight.
Apparently concerned that the “Desperate Housewives” star might possibly be labeled with the “scarlet R,” in a letter to the Washington Times Hatcher’s attorney included the following: “Please be advised that Ms. Hatcher is not a Republican.”
This is all strangely reminiscent of something I reported on back in 2004, when, in the political sense, Details magazine “outed” Mandy Moore.
The response from Moore’s publicist at the time said it all. It stated: “Mandy is not, nor has she ever been, a Republican.”
The truth of the matter is Hollywood folks like Sean Penn, Barbra Streisand, and Robert Redford can shout their ultra-liberal views to the rafters while right-of-center stars must whisper, or better yet, cork it altogether.
In Hollywood, being branded a Republican may not only be hazardous to your social calendar, it can put the kibosh on your career.
Even those who in the past may merely have been supportive of Republican candidates must sometimes dodge the “R” ball. Bruce Willis and Tom Selleck’s representatives have indicated that both prefer to be known as independents, while Kurt Russell and Drew Carey favor the libertarian label.
“The Price Is Right” host Carey said, “It automatically hurts me if I said that I supported the war in Iraq and I support the troops.”
Patricia Heaton, star of the new hit “Back to You,” remembers having dinner with Hollywood friends and being met with stony silence after she let it be known that she was voting for now-President Bush. “You'd think I'd cr***ed in the middle of the table," Heaton said.
Multiple Emmy nominee Ron Silver explained, “Since speaking in support of George Bush I’ve become increasingly disadmired by members of my profession.”
In a place where connections are indispensable to success, you live liberal or die. And you wait for John Wayne to ride back into Hollywood.
A recent incident involving Teri Hatcher has once again put the dirty little secret about one of Tinseltown’s oppressed minorities in the spotlight.
Apparently concerned that the “Desperate Housewives” star might possibly be labeled with the “scarlet R,” in a letter to the Washington Times Hatcher’s attorney included the following: “Please be advised that Ms. Hatcher is not a Republican.”
This is all strangely reminiscent of something I reported on back in 2004, when, in the political sense, Details magazine “outed” Mandy Moore.
The response from Moore’s publicist at the time said it all. It stated: “Mandy is not, nor has she ever been, a Republican.”
The truth of the matter is Hollywood folks like Sean Penn, Barbra Streisand, and Robert Redford can shout their ultra-liberal views to the rafters while right-of-center stars must whisper, or better yet, cork it altogether.
In Hollywood, being branded a Republican may not only be hazardous to your social calendar, it can put the kibosh on your career.
Even those who in the past may merely have been supportive of Republican candidates must sometimes dodge the “R” ball. Bruce Willis and Tom Selleck’s representatives have indicated that both prefer to be known as independents, while Kurt Russell and Drew Carey favor the libertarian label.
“The Price Is Right” host Carey said, “It automatically hurts me if I said that I supported the war in Iraq and I support the troops.”
Patricia Heaton, star of the new hit “Back to You,” remembers having dinner with Hollywood friends and being met with stony silence after she let it be known that she was voting for now-President Bush. “You'd think I'd cr***ed in the middle of the table," Heaton said.
Multiple Emmy nominee Ron Silver explained, “Since speaking in support of George Bush I’ve become increasingly disadmired by members of my profession.”
In a place where connections are indispensable to success, you live liberal or die. And you wait for John Wayne to ride back into Hollywood.
The Liberal Media made her do it
Why Fran Townsend Resigned
By Ronald Kessler
Fran Townsend, whose resignation as White House counterterrorism chief was announced today, has been the glue that has kept the intelligence community working cohesively.
According to the mythology in the media, the members of the intelligence community are not on speaking terms. The FBI and CIA, in particular, are said not to talk to each other. But at least once a day, Townsend participates in a secure video conference with all 16 members of the intelligence community, including the FBI and CIA.
Based at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va., the conference dissects the latest threats. Intelligence officials discuss which threats are most ominous and parcel out leads to each agency. Meanwhile, some 200 analysts from the CIA and FBI sit side-by-side 24 hours a day at the NCTC analyzing threats.
The 5-foot-tall former organized crime prosecutor became assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism in May 204. She meets with President Bush every morning. Despite having small children, she has often been seen working on Christmas Day. Townsend is known to utter expletives when she encounters foot dragging and will cut people off in mid-sentence if she thinks they are not giving her the straight scoop.
At the same time, says an FBI counterterrorism official, “She understands our business and is completely supportive of the intelligence community.”
The daughter of a Greek-American father who was a roofer and an Irish-American mother who was an office manager for a construction company, Townsend was raised in Wantagh, Long Island.
At age 11, Townsend wrote letters to her priest, bishop, cardinal, and finally the Vatican asking to be an altar boy. Turned down, she tried to sneak into Mass in a borrowed robe, before her priest caught her.
Townsend was the first in her family to finish high school. Because money was tight, she took an accelerated course load in college and worked as a waitress. She graduated cum laude from American University in 1982 and received a law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1984.
A frightening incident at her college dorm room, where she was physically threatened by a man who was let off with little more than a warning, led to her interest in becoming a prosecutor.
After law school, she prosecuted Gambino crime-family members for the U.S. attorney’s office in New York City under Rudolph Giuliani. She went on to take a high-level position at the Justice Department.
As someone who was involved in the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and at the Justice Department in the investigation of the East Africa embassy bombings, the USS Cole, and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Townsend says she has seen changes that have been remarkable.
“The most important thing has been an overall strengthening of the intelligence community,” Townsend has said. “It’s intelligence reform, it’s greater resources in human intelligence, it’s the transformation of the FBI, it’s the Patriot Act, and the technical tools like the NSA terrorism surveillance program and the financial program. The sum of these changes is greater than the parts.”
Now, the U.S. is on the offense.
“It’s so much more effective than waiting until something blows up and then coming in afterwards to try and piece together, from what you find, what happened historically,” she says. “Almost every single one of our major disruptions has resulted from some understanding or lead information, intelligence that we got from somebody inside the organization.
It’s really classic, going back, getting somebody who can basically explain to you what’s going on behind enemy lines. And in that regard, this war isn’t different from sort of traditional wars. It’s a different kind of fight but in that regard, that concept of getting into the enemy’s mind and understanding their objectives is the same.”
The sweeping changes in the intelligence community have paid off. Since 9/11, some 5,000 terrorists have been rolled up by the FBI and CIA. That is a major reason we have not been attacked in more than six years.
What has most frustrated Townsend is stories in the media disclosing operational secrets that are not abuses.
“It never fails, when we see an unauthorized disclosure, that we suffer from it,” Townsend says. “You know people often say the terrorists assume we’re tracking them. But it’s different when you have government sources coming out and either confirming it, or you have the details of it, and how we do it, published. We find that after these disclosures, the enemy shifts their tactics around based on what they learn we are doing.”
Calling the leaks “devastating,” Townsend says, “It’s not just a question of you’re putting individuals at risk. The real risk is to the lives of Americans who may suffer an attack because we couldn’t stop it, because the source was taken out. When a technical program is compromised, literally hundreds of millions of dollars are lost because a technique that’s been invested in over many years is no longer productive.”
The disclosures impair the morale of FBI and CIA personnel who are trying to protect the country from another attack.
“My responsibility is to help the president make good decisions to protect the American people,” Townsend says. “The leaks make my job that much harder, and they make me not only frustrated but angry, because leaking classified material when no abuse is involved puts us all at risk.”
Ronald Kessler is chief Washington
correspondent of Newsmax.com. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via e-mail. Go here now.
© 2007 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Editor's Note:
By Ronald Kessler
Fran Townsend, whose resignation as White House counterterrorism chief was announced today, has been the glue that has kept the intelligence community working cohesively.
According to the mythology in the media, the members of the intelligence community are not on speaking terms. The FBI and CIA, in particular, are said not to talk to each other. But at least once a day, Townsend participates in a secure video conference with all 16 members of the intelligence community, including the FBI and CIA.
Based at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va., the conference dissects the latest threats. Intelligence officials discuss which threats are most ominous and parcel out leads to each agency. Meanwhile, some 200 analysts from the CIA and FBI sit side-by-side 24 hours a day at the NCTC analyzing threats.
The 5-foot-tall former organized crime prosecutor became assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism in May 204. She meets with President Bush every morning. Despite having small children, she has often been seen working on Christmas Day. Townsend is known to utter expletives when she encounters foot dragging and will cut people off in mid-sentence if she thinks they are not giving her the straight scoop.
At the same time, says an FBI counterterrorism official, “She understands our business and is completely supportive of the intelligence community.”
The daughter of a Greek-American father who was a roofer and an Irish-American mother who was an office manager for a construction company, Townsend was raised in Wantagh, Long Island.
At age 11, Townsend wrote letters to her priest, bishop, cardinal, and finally the Vatican asking to be an altar boy. Turned down, she tried to sneak into Mass in a borrowed robe, before her priest caught her.
Townsend was the first in her family to finish high school. Because money was tight, she took an accelerated course load in college and worked as a waitress. She graduated cum laude from American University in 1982 and received a law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1984.
A frightening incident at her college dorm room, where she was physically threatened by a man who was let off with little more than a warning, led to her interest in becoming a prosecutor.
After law school, she prosecuted Gambino crime-family members for the U.S. attorney’s office in New York City under Rudolph Giuliani. She went on to take a high-level position at the Justice Department.
As someone who was involved in the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and at the Justice Department in the investigation of the East Africa embassy bombings, the USS Cole, and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Townsend says she has seen changes that have been remarkable.
“The most important thing has been an overall strengthening of the intelligence community,” Townsend has said. “It’s intelligence reform, it’s greater resources in human intelligence, it’s the transformation of the FBI, it’s the Patriot Act, and the technical tools like the NSA terrorism surveillance program and the financial program. The sum of these changes is greater than the parts.”
Now, the U.S. is on the offense.
“It’s so much more effective than waiting until something blows up and then coming in afterwards to try and piece together, from what you find, what happened historically,” she says. “Almost every single one of our major disruptions has resulted from some understanding or lead information, intelligence that we got from somebody inside the organization.
It’s really classic, going back, getting somebody who can basically explain to you what’s going on behind enemy lines. And in that regard, this war isn’t different from sort of traditional wars. It’s a different kind of fight but in that regard, that concept of getting into the enemy’s mind and understanding their objectives is the same.”
The sweeping changes in the intelligence community have paid off. Since 9/11, some 5,000 terrorists have been rolled up by the FBI and CIA. That is a major reason we have not been attacked in more than six years.
What has most frustrated Townsend is stories in the media disclosing operational secrets that are not abuses.
“It never fails, when we see an unauthorized disclosure, that we suffer from it,” Townsend says. “You know people often say the terrorists assume we’re tracking them. But it’s different when you have government sources coming out and either confirming it, or you have the details of it, and how we do it, published. We find that after these disclosures, the enemy shifts their tactics around based on what they learn we are doing.”
Calling the leaks “devastating,” Townsend says, “It’s not just a question of you’re putting individuals at risk. The real risk is to the lives of Americans who may suffer an attack because we couldn’t stop it, because the source was taken out. When a technical program is compromised, literally hundreds of millions of dollars are lost because a technique that’s been invested in over many years is no longer productive.”
The disclosures impair the morale of FBI and CIA personnel who are trying to protect the country from another attack.
“My responsibility is to help the president make good decisions to protect the American people,” Townsend says. “The leaks make my job that much harder, and they make me not only frustrated but angry, because leaking classified material when no abuse is involved puts us all at risk.”
Ronald Kessler is chief Washington
correspondent of Newsmax.com. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via e-mail. Go here now.
© 2007 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Editor's Note:
Monday, November 19, 2007
Congrads to the #48 Car
Way to go Jimmy Love you man. HMS is the team to be repeat next year 24,48,88,5. NWO
November 18, 2007 9:32 pm EDT
Skating awayBy Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! SportsChad Knaus has been know to bend the rules. (Getty)
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – As his driver Jimmie Johnson completed his 267th safe, smart lap here to claim his second consecutive Nextel Cup championship, Chad Knaus stood on pit road and gave Johnson's wife Chandra a hug and a kiss on top of her head.
Chandra was bawling tears of joy, and Knaus just smiled at it.
"Come on, Chandra, it's the second time around," he said. "You should be used to it."
It was business as usual here for Knaus, who accepted the congratulatory backslaps and hugs you'd expect of a crew chief on top of his game. As much as any "coach" figure in sports, Knaus is dominating his competition; running roughshod in a way that would make even Bill Belichick jealous.
Of course, his six-race suspension earlier this year for breaking NASCAR rules, on top of the four-race suspension last season, on top of six other disciplines, including two other suspensions, in the past six years, might make Belichick blush, too.
In the unique culture of NASCAR, a habitual cheat of a crew chief just won the title again and no one apparently cared.
As the rest of the American sports world – from baseball and football to track and cycling – seems to wrestle with asterisks and vacated titles, Knaus – banned from the track for an astounding one-sixth of the season – was free to celebrate the night away with an apparent clear conscience.
"It's going to be fun in South Beach tonight," he said, smiling.
You could say NASCAR has it all wrong, but who knows, maybe they have it all right. Maybe there is something to the idea of letting what's won, be won. And then move on.
Forget the hand-wringing about Barry Bonds, the preemptive asterisk talk about the New England Patriots or the endless doping denials and trials of Floyd Landis (among scores of other scandals).
Knaus served his latest lengthy suspension, and when it was over it was if he were a hockey player freed from the penalty box. He got to just skate away.
Heck, hardly a word about it was heard, especially this week.
ESPN's broadcast Sunday never mentioned the mid-summer scandal. Nor was there any talk that Knaus is part of a Hendrick Motorsports team that saw contender Jeff Gordon's crew chief Steve Letarte also get hit with the same six-week suspension, $100,000 fine and 100-point penalty on the driver.
There is simply no way a Super Bowl broadcast featuring the Patriots this year doesn't mention Belichick's spying scandal.
Of course, some fans certainly do discuss it. Johnson was again booed during driver introductions here at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Some fans complain that the top two cars are both from Hendrick, which seems to have trouble with the rule book.
Knaus was hit with a blistering six-week suspension this year when Johnson's car was discovered to have a fender adjusted outside of NASCAR specs prior to a race in Sonoma. Last year, his one-month sit down came when Johnson's rearview window was found installed in a way that would provide superior aerodynamics for the Dayton 500.
All of this came after six other disciplinary actions since 2002.
For this guy, getting caught is apparently just the cost of doing business.
"Every word in the rule book has a space between it, and that's where you look for an advantage," Knaus told Sports Illustrated this year. "The perception of me being a cheater is not true at all. I just try to find a loophole and explore that."
That kind of talk is why some fans roll their eyes at the recurring coincidence that Johnson keeps trotting out a monster car at just the right time of the season.
This year he took over the Chase with a virtually unheard of four consecutive victories coming into Sunday's finale. In 2006 he seized command with a run of one victory and four seconds in the heart of the Chase.
"I'm very proud of what we were able to do," Knaus said after Johnson finished seventh to clinch his second consecutive title.
NASCAR, of course, traces its roots back to the bootlegging days of the rural South. And back in 1949, in a stock car circuit that was a precursor to NASCAR, the winner of the first race had his victory stripped for having an illegal shock absorber.
More than any sport, the idea that if "you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'" has long been accepted. It's part of the appeal to some.
So Knaus felt free to return from suspension and just shrug his shoulders at authority.
"I don't feel any regret, remorse or anything like that," Knaus said at the time. "Am I sorry I missed the races? Am I sorry that I wasn't there? Absolutely. But regret or remorse, no. That's not even an option."
In all likelihood, there isn't another crew chief so angelic that he could cast a first stone publicly anyway, although finding one to cast aspersions off the record isn't difficult.
In NASCAR you tinker with your car. You push the envelope. You try to innovate. You bristle at authority. You do whatever it takes, apparently. Or at least you do at Hendrick, which considering it has the most money and all these famous drivers, shouldn't need to cheat.
But the ethics of other sports don't apply here. What other leagues claim to consider distasteful, what they get raked over the coals for in the media, what they get called in front of Congress for, in NASCAR, it's all just part of the deal.
NASCAR claims that it has made a point to crack down on violations with the cars. And there were a record number of crew chiefs sat down this year. And Knaus himself has been part of three of the most significant penalties in NASCAR history.
But still, Johnson won anyway, didn't he?
"Seeing a guy win 10 races, I thought that era was over," said Kurt Busch, shaking his head in awe of Johnson's incredible season. "They put together a stretch run that probably will never be matched."
You'd suspiciously wonder how, but apparently you'd be the only one.
Here, the second time around with these guys, everyone should just be used to it, and they are.
November 18, 2007 9:32 pm EDT
Skating awayBy Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! SportsChad Knaus has been know to bend the rules. (Getty)
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – As his driver Jimmie Johnson completed his 267th safe, smart lap here to claim his second consecutive Nextel Cup championship, Chad Knaus stood on pit road and gave Johnson's wife Chandra a hug and a kiss on top of her head.
Chandra was bawling tears of joy, and Knaus just smiled at it.
"Come on, Chandra, it's the second time around," he said. "You should be used to it."
It was business as usual here for Knaus, who accepted the congratulatory backslaps and hugs you'd expect of a crew chief on top of his game. As much as any "coach" figure in sports, Knaus is dominating his competition; running roughshod in a way that would make even Bill Belichick jealous.
Of course, his six-race suspension earlier this year for breaking NASCAR rules, on top of the four-race suspension last season, on top of six other disciplines, including two other suspensions, in the past six years, might make Belichick blush, too.
In the unique culture of NASCAR, a habitual cheat of a crew chief just won the title again and no one apparently cared.
As the rest of the American sports world – from baseball and football to track and cycling – seems to wrestle with asterisks and vacated titles, Knaus – banned from the track for an astounding one-sixth of the season – was free to celebrate the night away with an apparent clear conscience.
"It's going to be fun in South Beach tonight," he said, smiling.
You could say NASCAR has it all wrong, but who knows, maybe they have it all right. Maybe there is something to the idea of letting what's won, be won. And then move on.
Forget the hand-wringing about Barry Bonds, the preemptive asterisk talk about the New England Patriots or the endless doping denials and trials of Floyd Landis (among scores of other scandals).
Knaus served his latest lengthy suspension, and when it was over it was if he were a hockey player freed from the penalty box. He got to just skate away.
Heck, hardly a word about it was heard, especially this week.
ESPN's broadcast Sunday never mentioned the mid-summer scandal. Nor was there any talk that Knaus is part of a Hendrick Motorsports team that saw contender Jeff Gordon's crew chief Steve Letarte also get hit with the same six-week suspension, $100,000 fine and 100-point penalty on the driver.
There is simply no way a Super Bowl broadcast featuring the Patriots this year doesn't mention Belichick's spying scandal.
Of course, some fans certainly do discuss it. Johnson was again booed during driver introductions here at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Some fans complain that the top two cars are both from Hendrick, which seems to have trouble with the rule book.
Knaus was hit with a blistering six-week suspension this year when Johnson's car was discovered to have a fender adjusted outside of NASCAR specs prior to a race in Sonoma. Last year, his one-month sit down came when Johnson's rearview window was found installed in a way that would provide superior aerodynamics for the Dayton 500.
All of this came after six other disciplinary actions since 2002.
For this guy, getting caught is apparently just the cost of doing business.
"Every word in the rule book has a space between it, and that's where you look for an advantage," Knaus told Sports Illustrated this year. "The perception of me being a cheater is not true at all. I just try to find a loophole and explore that."
That kind of talk is why some fans roll their eyes at the recurring coincidence that Johnson keeps trotting out a monster car at just the right time of the season.
This year he took over the Chase with a virtually unheard of four consecutive victories coming into Sunday's finale. In 2006 he seized command with a run of one victory and four seconds in the heart of the Chase.
"I'm very proud of what we were able to do," Knaus said after Johnson finished seventh to clinch his second consecutive title.
NASCAR, of course, traces its roots back to the bootlegging days of the rural South. And back in 1949, in a stock car circuit that was a precursor to NASCAR, the winner of the first race had his victory stripped for having an illegal shock absorber.
More than any sport, the idea that if "you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'" has long been accepted. It's part of the appeal to some.
So Knaus felt free to return from suspension and just shrug his shoulders at authority.
"I don't feel any regret, remorse or anything like that," Knaus said at the time. "Am I sorry I missed the races? Am I sorry that I wasn't there? Absolutely. But regret or remorse, no. That's not even an option."
In all likelihood, there isn't another crew chief so angelic that he could cast a first stone publicly anyway, although finding one to cast aspersions off the record isn't difficult.
In NASCAR you tinker with your car. You push the envelope. You try to innovate. You bristle at authority. You do whatever it takes, apparently. Or at least you do at Hendrick, which considering it has the most money and all these famous drivers, shouldn't need to cheat.
But the ethics of other sports don't apply here. What other leagues claim to consider distasteful, what they get raked over the coals for in the media, what they get called in front of Congress for, in NASCAR, it's all just part of the deal.
NASCAR claims that it has made a point to crack down on violations with the cars. And there were a record number of crew chiefs sat down this year. And Knaus himself has been part of three of the most significant penalties in NASCAR history.
But still, Johnson won anyway, didn't he?
"Seeing a guy win 10 races, I thought that era was over," said Kurt Busch, shaking his head in awe of Johnson's incredible season. "They put together a stretch run that probably will never be matched."
You'd suspiciously wonder how, but apparently you'd be the only one.
Here, the second time around with these guys, everyone should just be used to it, and they are.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Screw You were from Texas
Eric Westbury’s "Burnt Tongues & Blue Truths"
If you’re a BuzzFlash reader, you may know that since last September, I’ve been writing daily political poems and drawing twice weekly editorial cartoons. What you don’t know is that I’m also a hopeless music geek.
When the favorable John Kerry exit polling suddenly went south last November, so did I. A few days later, I began looking through the many hundreds of CDs I’d acquired while writing a music column over the last five years for a weekly paper in Santa Monica. It was asking a lot but I wanted something to help me get my head on straight. It didn’t take long to find a certain 2003 indie release: Eric Westbury’s Burnt Tongues & Blue Truths.
Speaking of that color, let me digress for a moment and talk a little about The Blue State Jukebox.
Two very Liberal people I’ve been corresponding with since coming to BuzzFlash are Norma from Oklahoma and Traci from Arkansas. Last time I checked, those aren’t exactly left-wing strongholds. Which is to say that what I’m really looking to reflect in this column is The Blue State Of Mind, not just the specific Blue States. And while I will have an eye out for songs with social and political content, I will also be hunting down those albums that evoke cherished Blue State characteristics like irreverence and having an off-kilter way of thinking. If you’re a Blue living in a Red State, there’s no need to feel left out. But if you have any Toby Keith CDs in your collection, you may want to stop reading now.
As with my previous column, I will be looking more at artists under the radar than ones who’ve been over it for years. I love Bob Dylan but he needs another review like Baghdad needs another bomb. My goal is to find people who may never be acceptable on reactionary Clear Channel’s play lists but can get heard on cool radio shows like Watusi Rodeo on Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles or The Radio Thrift Shop on WFMU in New Jersey. (I don’t want to brag but both those fine broadcasts emanate from Blue States.)
Anyway, you can call this Westbury fellow a roots rocker or a folk rocker. He sounds like he lives in Austin but he actually calls British Columbia home. In the opening title track, he muses, "There’s not a lot I can do/To filter what’s fake from the things that are true." This sets the stage for 11 thoughtful songs where every "t" is not crossed, every "i" is not dotted and every blank is not filled in.
In the haunting "Walking Tracks" and "Usual Everything," Westbury looks at two men at different points on the same downward spiral. The former is near the end of his road and the latter is getting to that point where whatever youthful success he had is getting harder to remember, let alone duplicate. Like cigarette smoke, these songs will linger with you. The next time you see some fellow clinging to a park bench like a life preserver or notice a drunk at your local watering hole who’s glued to his barstool, you may just sigh at a life that never got off the ground. What comes through in Westbury’s songs is real compassion, not the cut-rate GOP kind, which usually arrives in the form of a photo op and an un-funded mandate.
There’s an innocent, gently cosmic side to Westbury that surfaces in the elegant "Next Showing Of The Big Picture." In a series of simple statements, he reveals how tricky it can be to understand anything: "How many birds are in a flock?/Does a rock become a stone or a stone become a rock?/Is it the hands or the time that makes the clock?" While he repeatedly insists he doesn’t know, it’s clear Westbury is suggesting that sometimes life’s big answers are found in just asking the small questions. He also implies that one lifetime may not be enough time to figure all this stuff out.
Three tracks later is the album closer and that’s the one I most wanted to hear again. He sings a cappella for ten seconds and it seems as though Westbury’s brooding is over. I imagine him sitting in his Dad’s old comfy chair and slowly getting to his feet as the defiant spirit of the song washes over him: "I don’t have a bat to swing or one of those cat ‘o’ nine tail things/No broken bottle, no brass knuckle ring/But someday, some way, somehow/ We’re gonna knock the big man down." Fittingly, this track is called "Knockin’ The Big Man Down." If you’ve ever felt hopeless since the Bush posse rode into town, you need to hear to this song to get the starch that was knocked out of you knocked back into you. Westbury sings it with an understated
inevitability. On an album filled with shadows and doubt, it’s a stunning finish brimming with light and moxie. Leave it to a complete Canadian to write an all-American, anti-authoritarian
anthem.
In the spirit of bi-partisanship, that’s a Blue State theme song, so I have one to offer a Red State one to the Republicans. It comes from longtime Lone Star state resident Ray Wylie Hubbard, who made a name for himself years ago with another anthem, "Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother." Although it only came out on Growl in 2003, The Austin Chronicle already called it one of the best songs ever written about Texas. It’s a corker with a pulsing rhythm that recalls Timbuk 3’s hit, "The Future’s So Bright (I’m Gonna Have To Wear Shades.)"
Can the mere title of a track possibly live up to this build-up? Uh, yeah. It’s called "Screw You, We’re From Texas." I’m surprised that Mark McKinnon, Dubya’s ace media director, didn’t use that song at some of his boss’s stump speeches. After all, back in the day, the music savvy McKinnon used to play in bands in Austin.
Speaking of Austin, one of my musical heroes is a guitar virtuoso and occasional solo artist who’s mostly known these days as the best producer in Texas --- or any other state of any color that you can think of. His name is Gurf Morlix and this won’t be the last time you hear him
mentioned in this space. Why am I bringing him up now? Well, Morlix produced Eric Westbury’s album, for one thing. For another, he also produced that Ray Wylie Hubbard album with "Screw You, We’re From Texas" on it. Lastly, when Morlix was a struggling musician in Austin, he was
in the bands Goats Of Arabia and Fork In The Road with … Mark McKinnon.
It’s a shame that McKinnon fell in with such a bad crowd. He got dragged into the gutter of GOP politics and has played a major role in helping Bush literally threaten the future of the world as we know it. That kind of carnage makes a little rock and roll self-destruction look positively healthy.
---> GET YOUR
If you’re a BuzzFlash reader, you may know that since last September, I’ve been writing daily political poems and drawing twice weekly editorial cartoons. What you don’t know is that I’m also a hopeless music geek.
When the favorable John Kerry exit polling suddenly went south last November, so did I. A few days later, I began looking through the many hundreds of CDs I’d acquired while writing a music column over the last five years for a weekly paper in Santa Monica. It was asking a lot but I wanted something to help me get my head on straight. It didn’t take long to find a certain 2003 indie release: Eric Westbury’s Burnt Tongues & Blue Truths.
Speaking of that color, let me digress for a moment and talk a little about The Blue State Jukebox.
Two very Liberal people I’ve been corresponding with since coming to BuzzFlash are Norma from Oklahoma and Traci from Arkansas. Last time I checked, those aren’t exactly left-wing strongholds. Which is to say that what I’m really looking to reflect in this column is The Blue State Of Mind, not just the specific Blue States. And while I will have an eye out for songs with social and political content, I will also be hunting down those albums that evoke cherished Blue State characteristics like irreverence and having an off-kilter way of thinking. If you’re a Blue living in a Red State, there’s no need to feel left out. But if you have any Toby Keith CDs in your collection, you may want to stop reading now.
As with my previous column, I will be looking more at artists under the radar than ones who’ve been over it for years. I love Bob Dylan but he needs another review like Baghdad needs another bomb. My goal is to find people who may never be acceptable on reactionary Clear Channel’s play lists but can get heard on cool radio shows like Watusi Rodeo on Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles or The Radio Thrift Shop on WFMU in New Jersey. (I don’t want to brag but both those fine broadcasts emanate from Blue States.)
Anyway, you can call this Westbury fellow a roots rocker or a folk rocker. He sounds like he lives in Austin but he actually calls British Columbia home. In the opening title track, he muses, "There’s not a lot I can do/To filter what’s fake from the things that are true." This sets the stage for 11 thoughtful songs where every "t" is not crossed, every "i" is not dotted and every blank is not filled in.
In the haunting "Walking Tracks" and "Usual Everything," Westbury looks at two men at different points on the same downward spiral. The former is near the end of his road and the latter is getting to that point where whatever youthful success he had is getting harder to remember, let alone duplicate. Like cigarette smoke, these songs will linger with you. The next time you see some fellow clinging to a park bench like a life preserver or notice a drunk at your local watering hole who’s glued to his barstool, you may just sigh at a life that never got off the ground. What comes through in Westbury’s songs is real compassion, not the cut-rate GOP kind, which usually arrives in the form of a photo op and an un-funded mandate.
There’s an innocent, gently cosmic side to Westbury that surfaces in the elegant "Next Showing Of The Big Picture." In a series of simple statements, he reveals how tricky it can be to understand anything: "How many birds are in a flock?/Does a rock become a stone or a stone become a rock?/Is it the hands or the time that makes the clock?" While he repeatedly insists he doesn’t know, it’s clear Westbury is suggesting that sometimes life’s big answers are found in just asking the small questions. He also implies that one lifetime may not be enough time to figure all this stuff out.
Three tracks later is the album closer and that’s the one I most wanted to hear again. He sings a cappella for ten seconds and it seems as though Westbury’s brooding is over. I imagine him sitting in his Dad’s old comfy chair and slowly getting to his feet as the defiant spirit of the song washes over him: "I don’t have a bat to swing or one of those cat ‘o’ nine tail things/No broken bottle, no brass knuckle ring/But someday, some way, somehow/ We’re gonna knock the big man down." Fittingly, this track is called "Knockin’ The Big Man Down." If you’ve ever felt hopeless since the Bush posse rode into town, you need to hear to this song to get the starch that was knocked out of you knocked back into you. Westbury sings it with an understated
inevitability. On an album filled with shadows and doubt, it’s a stunning finish brimming with light and moxie. Leave it to a complete Canadian to write an all-American, anti-authoritarian
anthem.
In the spirit of bi-partisanship, that’s a Blue State theme song, so I have one to offer a Red State one to the Republicans. It comes from longtime Lone Star state resident Ray Wylie Hubbard, who made a name for himself years ago with another anthem, "Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother." Although it only came out on Growl in 2003, The Austin Chronicle already called it one of the best songs ever written about Texas. It’s a corker with a pulsing rhythm that recalls Timbuk 3’s hit, "The Future’s So Bright (I’m Gonna Have To Wear Shades.)"
Can the mere title of a track possibly live up to this build-up? Uh, yeah. It’s called "Screw You, We’re From Texas." I’m surprised that Mark McKinnon, Dubya’s ace media director, didn’t use that song at some of his boss’s stump speeches. After all, back in the day, the music savvy McKinnon used to play in bands in Austin.
Speaking of Austin, one of my musical heroes is a guitar virtuoso and occasional solo artist who’s mostly known these days as the best producer in Texas --- or any other state of any color that you can think of. His name is Gurf Morlix and this won’t be the last time you hear him
mentioned in this space. Why am I bringing him up now? Well, Morlix produced Eric Westbury’s album, for one thing. For another, he also produced that Ray Wylie Hubbard album with "Screw You, We’re From Texas" on it. Lastly, when Morlix was a struggling musician in Austin, he was
in the bands Goats Of Arabia and Fork In The Road with … Mark McKinnon.
It’s a shame that McKinnon fell in with such a bad crowd. He got dragged into the gutter of GOP politics and has played a major role in helping Bush literally threaten the future of the world as we know it. That kind of carnage makes a little rock and roll self-destruction look positively healthy.
---> GET YOUR
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Hillary Revisted
What's Hillary Hiding?
Dear Fellow Republican,
In 2004, Hillary Clinton claimed that all of the records at the Clinton Library would be opened. She said on CNN's Larry King Live, "That's one of the things the library really stands for. It physically stands for openness with all the glass and the light. But he wants it to be a place where people come and really study. And everything's going to be available."
Nearly three years after the opening of the Clinton Presidential Library and the ensuing Freedom of Information Act Requests, less than half of one percent of the library's documents are open for review.
ABC News reported on November 6, 2007 that another Arkansas library containing documents related to Clinton won't be available until after the 2008 election.
On the campaign trail, Clinton consistently speaks to her level of experience; yet, she will not allow details of that experience to be reviewed by the public. The American people deserve to know what information is being guarded in these libraries.
After signing the petition, you'll be able to print out your very own Clinton library card. The goal is to have thousands of people sign this petition before December 31, 2007, in hopes that this will inspire Hillary to agree to share the library documents as her New Year's resolution.
Please help push this issue forward by signing the petition at www.clintonlibrarycard.com and be sure to forward the link to your friends.
Dear Fellow Republican,
In 2004, Hillary Clinton claimed that all of the records at the Clinton Library would be opened. She said on CNN's Larry King Live, "That's one of the things the library really stands for. It physically stands for openness with all the glass and the light. But he wants it to be a place where people come and really study. And everything's going to be available."
Nearly three years after the opening of the Clinton Presidential Library and the ensuing Freedom of Information Act Requests, less than half of one percent of the library's documents are open for review.
ABC News reported on November 6, 2007 that another Arkansas library containing documents related to Clinton won't be available until after the 2008 election.
On the campaign trail, Clinton consistently speaks to her level of experience; yet, she will not allow details of that experience to be reviewed by the public. The American people deserve to know what information is being guarded in these libraries.
After signing the petition, you'll be able to print out your very own Clinton library card. The goal is to have thousands of people sign this petition before December 31, 2007, in hopes that this will inspire Hillary to agree to share the library documents as her New Year's resolution.
Please help push this issue forward by signing the petition at www.clintonlibrarycard.com and be sure to forward the link to your friends.
More Truth about Hillary
Put the Brakes on the Federal Spending Locomotive
Dear MARK,
TELL CONGRESS TO SUSTAIN THE VETO OF H.R. 3043, THE LABOR/HHS APPROPRIATIONS BILL.
Little has been done to stop the massive increase in domestic spending Congress has passed in recent years. Now, as he promised, President Bush has vetoed the funding bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. This bill is almost $10 billion over the budget request sent to Congress. It is filled with billions of dollars in pork projects and programs that have no relation to the federal government. On Thursday, the House will move to override the president's veto and destroy any attempt at future spending reductions.
TAKE ACTION NOW! CLICK HERE TO TELL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS TO STOP WASTEFUL SPENDING AND URGE A "NO" VOTE ON THE MOTION TO OVERRIDE THE VETO OF H.R. 3043, THE LABOR/HHS APPROPRIATIONS BILL.
Hillary's Hippie Museum is Back
Liberals in Congress will say that this veto will hurt health and education programs, but just the opposite is the case. In a rare victory, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) succeeded in eliminating a $1 million earmark by Hillary Clinton for a museum in upstate New York which commemorates the Woodstock Festival of 1969 and transferred the funds to women and children's programs.
The museum, which earlier this year advertised a "Hippiefest" so that visitors could "return to the flower-powered days of the 1960s," is run by multi-millionaire Alan Gerry, a major contributor to Clinton's presidential campaign. Clinton was so embarrassed she refused to defend this project on the floor of the Senate.
But guess what? The House/Senate conference committee removed the language barring funds for this project. When faced with the choice between funds for women and children's programs and a contributor's pet project, the Liberals' choice is clear.
CONSERVATIVES WHO WANT TO REDUCE SPENDING SHOULD TAKE ACTION NOW! CLICK HERE TO LET YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS KNOW YOU WANT TO SUSTAIN THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF H.R. 3043 AND VOTE "NO" ON THE MOTION TO OVERRIDE.
Vanity Thy Name is Congress
It is no wonder that members of Congress have become addicted to earmarks, 2, 215 of them in this bill alone, when they get the projects named after them. There's $41 million for the Byrd Honors Program, named after Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WVA), a scholarship program with no financial need requirements.Example are endless...The Centers for Disease Control's mission is to "promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury and disability." One way they are carrying this out is spending $106 million on a communications center that the Wall Street Journal says includes a sloping "greenscape" with streams, a waterfall and Japanese gardens with fountains.
No complaints from Congress, perhaps because the building, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is named after the powerful appropriator from Iowa, Senator Thomas R. Harkin. Perhaps that's why he added $5.1 million in the bill for "audio visual integration" at the center. Then there's $1 million for the Thomas Daschle public policy center in South Dakota, lest the former Senate Majority Leader turned lobbyist's name fade from memory.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! CLICK HERE TO CONTACT YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS AND URGE A "NO" VOTE ON THE MOTION TO OVERRIDE THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF H.R. 3043, THE LABOR/HHS APPROPRIATIONS BILL.
Some of the earmarks are obvious political payoffs, such as the $3.7 million in non-competitive grants to programs operated by the AFL-CIO. Despite the new rules of "openness" passed by the Congress, no member of Congress has been openly identified as the sponsor of this earmark.
Sometimes it's the agencies themselves that are the culprit. The same Centers for Disease Control mentioned above spend $1.7 million of taxpayer money to fund an advisor for Hollywood doctor dramas - a service Hollywood studios pay private experts hundreds of thousands of dollars every year..This would be laughable if the work of this agency was not a serious matter. Then there's the seemingly endless list of projects that have nothing to do with the federal government. $400,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center (another Hillary earmark), $300,000 for the Des Moines Art Center (Harkin again), $250,000 for the Alaska Sea-life Center (Alaska Senator Stevens, known as the "King of Pork") and $500,000 for the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of course), to name a very few.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION NOW AND PUT THE BRAKES ON RUNAWAY SPENDING IN WASHINGTON. TELL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS TO SUSTAIN THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF H.R. 3043 AND VOTE "NO" ON THE MOTION TO OVERRIDE.
For all you do to advance conservative free-market principles, we at the American Conservative Union are most appreciative.
Sincerely,
J. William Lauderback Executive Vice PresidentAmerican Conservative Union
Dear MARK,
TELL CONGRESS TO SUSTAIN THE VETO OF H.R. 3043, THE LABOR/HHS APPROPRIATIONS BILL.
Little has been done to stop the massive increase in domestic spending Congress has passed in recent years. Now, as he promised, President Bush has vetoed the funding bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. This bill is almost $10 billion over the budget request sent to Congress. It is filled with billions of dollars in pork projects and programs that have no relation to the federal government. On Thursday, the House will move to override the president's veto and destroy any attempt at future spending reductions.
TAKE ACTION NOW! CLICK HERE TO TELL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS TO STOP WASTEFUL SPENDING AND URGE A "NO" VOTE ON THE MOTION TO OVERRIDE THE VETO OF H.R. 3043, THE LABOR/HHS APPROPRIATIONS BILL.
Hillary's Hippie Museum is Back
Liberals in Congress will say that this veto will hurt health and education programs, but just the opposite is the case. In a rare victory, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) succeeded in eliminating a $1 million earmark by Hillary Clinton for a museum in upstate New York which commemorates the Woodstock Festival of 1969 and transferred the funds to women and children's programs.
The museum, which earlier this year advertised a "Hippiefest" so that visitors could "return to the flower-powered days of the 1960s," is run by multi-millionaire Alan Gerry, a major contributor to Clinton's presidential campaign. Clinton was so embarrassed she refused to defend this project on the floor of the Senate.
But guess what? The House/Senate conference committee removed the language barring funds for this project. When faced with the choice between funds for women and children's programs and a contributor's pet project, the Liberals' choice is clear.
CONSERVATIVES WHO WANT TO REDUCE SPENDING SHOULD TAKE ACTION NOW! CLICK HERE TO LET YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS KNOW YOU WANT TO SUSTAIN THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF H.R. 3043 AND VOTE "NO" ON THE MOTION TO OVERRIDE.
Vanity Thy Name is Congress
It is no wonder that members of Congress have become addicted to earmarks, 2, 215 of them in this bill alone, when they get the projects named after them. There's $41 million for the Byrd Honors Program, named after Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WVA), a scholarship program with no financial need requirements.Example are endless...The Centers for Disease Control's mission is to "promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury and disability." One way they are carrying this out is spending $106 million on a communications center that the Wall Street Journal says includes a sloping "greenscape" with streams, a waterfall and Japanese gardens with fountains.
No complaints from Congress, perhaps because the building, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is named after the powerful appropriator from Iowa, Senator Thomas R. Harkin. Perhaps that's why he added $5.1 million in the bill for "audio visual integration" at the center. Then there's $1 million for the Thomas Daschle public policy center in South Dakota, lest the former Senate Majority Leader turned lobbyist's name fade from memory.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! CLICK HERE TO CONTACT YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS AND URGE A "NO" VOTE ON THE MOTION TO OVERRIDE THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF H.R. 3043, THE LABOR/HHS APPROPRIATIONS BILL.
Some of the earmarks are obvious political payoffs, such as the $3.7 million in non-competitive grants to programs operated by the AFL-CIO. Despite the new rules of "openness" passed by the Congress, no member of Congress has been openly identified as the sponsor of this earmark.
Sometimes it's the agencies themselves that are the culprit. The same Centers for Disease Control mentioned above spend $1.7 million of taxpayer money to fund an advisor for Hollywood doctor dramas - a service Hollywood studios pay private experts hundreds of thousands of dollars every year..This would be laughable if the work of this agency was not a serious matter. Then there's the seemingly endless list of projects that have nothing to do with the federal government. $400,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center (another Hillary earmark), $300,000 for the Des Moines Art Center (Harkin again), $250,000 for the Alaska Sea-life Center (Alaska Senator Stevens, known as the "King of Pork") and $500,000 for the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of course), to name a very few.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION NOW AND PUT THE BRAKES ON RUNAWAY SPENDING IN WASHINGTON. TELL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS TO SUSTAIN THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF H.R. 3043 AND VOTE "NO" ON THE MOTION TO OVERRIDE.
For all you do to advance conservative free-market principles, we at the American Conservative Union are most appreciative.
Sincerely,
J. William Lauderback Executive Vice PresidentAmerican Conservative Union
Monday, November 12, 2007
United States Flag Attacks Hillary
Falling Flags
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var addthis_pub = 'abcnews';
November 12, 2007 9:05 AMNitya-->
ABC News' Eloise Harper and Rick Klein Report: It's been a rough stretch for Hillary Clinton -- a tough debate performance, a lost voice, and the revelation that the Clinton campaign had been coaching questioners at events.Then, on Sunday, everything started falling down around her.
After a very Presidential-esque news conference - Clinton turned around to leave the reporters and their peppering questions. A staffer swooped open a curtain, and chaos ensued. Four large American flags came crashing in front of Senator Clinton as she headed for the door.
In a controlled panic, the staffers and the Senator attempted to catch the flags before they fell to the ground.Watch the i-CAUGHT VIDEO HERE."I think the bases are not weighted enough," Clinton said as she propped flags back up.
One of Clinton's aides quickly summoned the advance man in charge to assist in the crisis. Clinton's spokesperson shifted back and forth between the cameras and the flag commotion before looking right at the cameras and saying, "Thanks everyone."There were no planted questions to worry about, but on this Veterans Day the flags dropping all around the Senator created quite a stir among the press before Clinton fled the scene.
There's more on Clinton's recent woes -- and whether the former first lady is looking more vulnerable than inevitable these days in The Note.
Share
var addthis_pub = 'abcnews';
November 12, 2007 9:05 AMNitya-->
ABC News' Eloise Harper and Rick Klein Report: It's been a rough stretch for Hillary Clinton -- a tough debate performance, a lost voice, and the revelation that the Clinton campaign had been coaching questioners at events.Then, on Sunday, everything started falling down around her.
After a very Presidential-esque news conference - Clinton turned around to leave the reporters and their peppering questions. A staffer swooped open a curtain, and chaos ensued. Four large American flags came crashing in front of Senator Clinton as she headed for the door.
In a controlled panic, the staffers and the Senator attempted to catch the flags before they fell to the ground.Watch the i-CAUGHT VIDEO HERE."I think the bases are not weighted enough," Clinton said as she propped flags back up.
One of Clinton's aides quickly summoned the advance man in charge to assist in the crisis. Clinton's spokesperson shifted back and forth between the cameras and the flag commotion before looking right at the cameras and saying, "Thanks everyone."There were no planted questions to worry about, but on this Veterans Day the flags dropping all around the Senator created quite a stir among the press before Clinton fled the scene.
There's more on Clinton's recent woes -- and whether the former first lady is looking more vulnerable than inevitable these days in The Note.
1 to go for the #48 car
Johnson wins fourth in row to take command of Chase
By Jenna Fryer, The Associated PressNovember 11, 200709:22 PM EST
Johnson took command of the Nextel Cup championship Sunday, winning at Phoenix International Raceway to open a daunting lead over his teammate in the race to the title. It was his 10th win of the season -- most since Gordon won 13 in 1998 -- and barring a collapse in next week's finale, Johnson will become the first driver to win consecutive championships since Gordon did it in 1997 and 1998.
But Johnson doesn't want to be compared to his mentor, the four-time series champion.
"I certainly don't want to be called the next Jeff Gordon. I am Jimmie Johnson. I've always done it my way," he said. "If you look at our driving styles, our setups, look at everything we do, we are on opposite ends. We do have some common interests, we are close friends.
"But I am not Jeff Gordon, so let's just get that out of the way."
No, he's not Gordon. But his work on the track makes it impossible not to draw the comparisons.
"They're just unbelievably good," said Matt Kenseth, the 2003 champion. "They're as good as any group I've seen, including Jeff in his heyday when he was winning 10 races a year and the championship by over a hundred points."
Johnson can realistically do the same.
The defending Nextel Cup champion, heads to next week's season finale at Homestead, with a comfortable 86-point lead over Gordon. He needs to finish just 18th or better to win his second championship in just six seasons.
"It's over. It's over," conceded Gordon. "Even if we win it, it's because they have problems. While we'll accept it, we don't want to do it that way.
"Those guys have flat-out killed everybody. And you've got to give credit where credit is due."
Johnson was subdued in Victory Lane, and refused to claim the title.
"Homestead is going to be a stressful weekend. We've got seven more days, I'm just going to try to keep my mind clear and focus on the things we need to do," Johnson said. "This is kind of where we were last year. We just have to go down there and be smart and see how it shakes out
Gordon was off all day. He had a tire rub after making contact with Kevin Harvick, and finished a disappointing 10th.
It was a crushing performance on a day when Johnson raced to his fourth consecutive victory. He became the first driver to win four in a row in a season since Gordon did in 1998.
Gordon, who handpicked Johnson to join Hendrick Motorsports when the team expanded to four cars in 2002, marveled at how strong his protege has been during this championship hunt. It's put it nearly out of reach for Gordon, who dominated the "regular season" and opened a lead of more than 300 points before the field was reset for the Chase.
"Unless you lead every lap and beat Jimmie Johnson to win the race, we don't have a shot," Gordon said. "We're just coming up short at a crucial time. Those guys have just knocked it out of the ballpark, and it would be tough to beat that even if we were hitting on all eight cylinders."
Although it will take a total collapse next week by a team that rarely falters for Johnson to not win the championship, crew chief Chad Knaus wasn't ready to claim the Cup just yet.
"Obviously were real happy to extend the points lead," Knaus said. "But going into Homestead, you never know. You never know what's going to happen.
"We could easily have an issue and not finish the race. We just have to stay focused and keep our heads down."
Greg Biffle finished second and Matt Kenseth, his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, was third. Tony Stewart was fourth and was followed by Ryan Newman, Harvick, and Martin Truex Jr.
Kyle Busch, who was trying to become the first driver to win three of NASCAR's national races at the same track on the same weekend, finished eighth. Busch won the Truck Series race at PIR on Friday, the Busch Series race on Saturday, but never made it all the way to the front in the Cup event after starting 38th.
The race mathematically eliminated everyone but Johnson and Gordon from title contention, so
regardless of what happens in Homestead, Hendrick Motorsports will win its seventh Cup title.
But it was Johnson and his No. 48 team that have laid claim to the championship, refusing to play it conservatively and merely chase points. This crew has raced for wins -- he went hard after Kenseth in the closing laps for a victory at Texas last week -- and did the same thing Sunday.
Not comfortable settling into second place, Johnson passed Martin Truex Jr. for the lead with 24 laps to go en route to the 33rd victory of his career and first at Phoenix.
By Jenna Fryer, The Associated PressNovember 11, 200709:22 PM EST
Johnson took command of the Nextel Cup championship Sunday, winning at Phoenix International Raceway to open a daunting lead over his teammate in the race to the title. It was his 10th win of the season -- most since Gordon won 13 in 1998 -- and barring a collapse in next week's finale, Johnson will become the first driver to win consecutive championships since Gordon did it in 1997 and 1998.
But Johnson doesn't want to be compared to his mentor, the four-time series champion.
"I certainly don't want to be called the next Jeff Gordon. I am Jimmie Johnson. I've always done it my way," he said. "If you look at our driving styles, our setups, look at everything we do, we are on opposite ends. We do have some common interests, we are close friends.
"But I am not Jeff Gordon, so let's just get that out of the way."
No, he's not Gordon. But his work on the track makes it impossible not to draw the comparisons.
"They're just unbelievably good," said Matt Kenseth, the 2003 champion. "They're as good as any group I've seen, including Jeff in his heyday when he was winning 10 races a year and the championship by over a hundred points."
Johnson can realistically do the same.
The defending Nextel Cup champion, heads to next week's season finale at Homestead, with a comfortable 86-point lead over Gordon. He needs to finish just 18th or better to win his second championship in just six seasons.
"It's over. It's over," conceded Gordon. "Even if we win it, it's because they have problems. While we'll accept it, we don't want to do it that way.
"Those guys have flat-out killed everybody. And you've got to give credit where credit is due."
Johnson was subdued in Victory Lane, and refused to claim the title.
"Homestead is going to be a stressful weekend. We've got seven more days, I'm just going to try to keep my mind clear and focus on the things we need to do," Johnson said. "This is kind of where we were last year. We just have to go down there and be smart and see how it shakes out
Gordon was off all day. He had a tire rub after making contact with Kevin Harvick, and finished a disappointing 10th.
It was a crushing performance on a day when Johnson raced to his fourth consecutive victory. He became the first driver to win four in a row in a season since Gordon did in 1998.
Gordon, who handpicked Johnson to join Hendrick Motorsports when the team expanded to four cars in 2002, marveled at how strong his protege has been during this championship hunt. It's put it nearly out of reach for Gordon, who dominated the "regular season" and opened a lead of more than 300 points before the field was reset for the Chase.
"Unless you lead every lap and beat Jimmie Johnson to win the race, we don't have a shot," Gordon said. "We're just coming up short at a crucial time. Those guys have just knocked it out of the ballpark, and it would be tough to beat that even if we were hitting on all eight cylinders."
Although it will take a total collapse next week by a team that rarely falters for Johnson to not win the championship, crew chief Chad Knaus wasn't ready to claim the Cup just yet.
"Obviously were real happy to extend the points lead," Knaus said. "But going into Homestead, you never know. You never know what's going to happen.
"We could easily have an issue and not finish the race. We just have to stay focused and keep our heads down."
Greg Biffle finished second and Matt Kenseth, his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, was third. Tony Stewart was fourth and was followed by Ryan Newman, Harvick, and Martin Truex Jr.
Kyle Busch, who was trying to become the first driver to win three of NASCAR's national races at the same track on the same weekend, finished eighth. Busch won the Truck Series race at PIR on Friday, the Busch Series race on Saturday, but never made it all the way to the front in the Cup event after starting 38th.
The race mathematically eliminated everyone but Johnson and Gordon from title contention, so
regardless of what happens in Homestead, Hendrick Motorsports will win its seventh Cup title.
But it was Johnson and his No. 48 team that have laid claim to the championship, refusing to play it conservatively and merely chase points. This crew has raced for wins -- he went hard after Kenseth in the closing laps for a victory at Texas last week -- and did the same thing Sunday.
Not comfortable settling into second place, Johnson passed Martin Truex Jr. for the lead with 24 laps to go en route to the 33rd victory of his career and first at Phoenix.
24 laughs at Hillary
'24' chief scoffs at Hillary
By Robert Stacy McCainNovember 12, 2007
A TV producer in Hollywood is not convinced that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — seen here Saturday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (right) reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at a party fundraiser in Des Moines, Iowa — will even win the Democratic nomination, much less the presidency.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Hollywood producer Joel Surnow dismissed as "nuts" the notion that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton can be elected president and said he and other conservatives in the entertainment industry are leaning toward supporting Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani's presidential campaign.
The executive producer of Fox's Emmy-winning counterterrorism thriller "24," interviewed after a Saturday speech to a conservative student group, also predicted that the current screenwriters' strike would be "hugely long" and settled to the disadvantage of the writers union.
"I'm not even sure that Hillary is a fait accompli [to win the Democratic Party nomination] as this point," Mr. Surnow told a group of reporters and bloggers in a wide-ranging interview during the Young America's Foundation's (YAF) West Coast Leadership Conference. "Are we nuts thinking Hillary Clinton could be president of this country? Honest to God, just stand back and think about it."
Saying that he was "probably going to get behind Rudy" for the White House, Mr. Surnow named comedian Dennis Miller as another entertainer who has "come out" as a conservative in the overwhelmingly liberal Hollywood environment and said that another popular comedian, Adam Sandler, "is going to come out and support Rudy Giuliani."
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft was the keynote speaker at Saturday's conference, which YAF spokesman Jason Mattera said was attended by more than 500 student activists and foundation supporters.
"Real leadership is not the friend of consensus, because the real leader is always outside the consensus," Mr. Ashcroft said in remarks to foundation supporters at the Reagan Ranch Center, where he accepted YAF's Torch of Freedom Award and paid tribute to former President Ronald Reagan as a leader who exemplified vision and values.
Students attending the event also heard presentations by Dinesh D'Souza, author of the new book, "What's So Great About Christianity?" and Nonie Darwish, author of "Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror."
The influence of Hollywood and the entertainment industry was a topic of discussion from the beginning of the weekend conference, when Internet newshound Andrew Breitbart gave an impromptu talk on Thursday to a select group of top campus conservative activists.
There is "an underground society of Hollywood conservatives," said Mr. Breitbart, author of "Hollywood, Interrupted," and founder of the Breitbart.com news site. He said students interested in entertainment careers should not be frightened away by the industry's reputation as a liberal bastion.Those remarks were echoed Saturday by Mr. Surnow, who dismissed as "whining" conservatives' complaints that they are treated unfairly by Hollywood liberals.
"Our job is not to whine. That's their job," Mr. Surnow told students gathered in the grand ballroom of the oceanside Fess Parker Doubletree Resort. He named former President Bill Clinton, California Sen. Barbara Boxer and singer Barbra Streisand among the liberals who have publicly declared themselves fans of "24."
The action-packed show also has many prominent conservative fans, including radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, White House adviser Mary Matalin and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Mr. Surnow said excellence in entertainment transcends politics.
Asked by a student during a question-and-answer session why he'd cast outspoken liberal actress Janeane Garofalo in the most recent season of "24," Mr. Surnow answered, "Because she's a great actress."
He described the Fox network series' protagonist, counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer, as "a tragic character" who has been emotionally damaged by his experiences.
"There's nothing left but to do the right thing," Mr. Surnow said of the character portrayed for seven seasons by Keifer Sutherland. "He's come to symbolize this sort of pure killing machine that all of us secretly want to unleash on the bad guys."
The character "really represents just justice," he said, describing Bauer's attitude as, "They're bad, we're good and we're going to get them."
After his speech, sipping a vodka gimlet as he talked to a group of writers, Mr. Surnow scoffed at the suggestion that Hollywood's liberalism prevents conservatives from getting work in film and television.
"There's tons of conservatives who work," he said. "If you write a great script, you could drop it off a freeway overpass in rush hour, and the movie would still get made."
Speaking of the ongoing writers' strike, which has stopped production of many movies and TV programs, Mr. Surnow predicted a long strike that could prove disastrous to the Writers Guild and rejected the suggestion that the union had the industry at a disadvantage.
"Hollywood's not being held hostage. ... I think [the studios] are going to break the Guild," he said, later remarking: "Millionaires on the picket line. ... They're not going to get a lot of empathy."
By Robert Stacy McCainNovember 12, 2007
A TV producer in Hollywood is not convinced that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — seen here Saturday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (right) reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at a party fundraiser in Des Moines, Iowa — will even win the Democratic nomination, much less the presidency.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Hollywood producer Joel Surnow dismissed as "nuts" the notion that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton can be elected president and said he and other conservatives in the entertainment industry are leaning toward supporting Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani's presidential campaign.
The executive producer of Fox's Emmy-winning counterterrorism thriller "24," interviewed after a Saturday speech to a conservative student group, also predicted that the current screenwriters' strike would be "hugely long" and settled to the disadvantage of the writers union.
"I'm not even sure that Hillary is a fait accompli [to win the Democratic Party nomination] as this point," Mr. Surnow told a group of reporters and bloggers in a wide-ranging interview during the Young America's Foundation's (YAF) West Coast Leadership Conference. "Are we nuts thinking Hillary Clinton could be president of this country? Honest to God, just stand back and think about it."
Saying that he was "probably going to get behind Rudy" for the White House, Mr. Surnow named comedian Dennis Miller as another entertainer who has "come out" as a conservative in the overwhelmingly liberal Hollywood environment and said that another popular comedian, Adam Sandler, "is going to come out and support Rudy Giuliani."
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft was the keynote speaker at Saturday's conference, which YAF spokesman Jason Mattera said was attended by more than 500 student activists and foundation supporters.
"Real leadership is not the friend of consensus, because the real leader is always outside the consensus," Mr. Ashcroft said in remarks to foundation supporters at the Reagan Ranch Center, where he accepted YAF's Torch of Freedom Award and paid tribute to former President Ronald Reagan as a leader who exemplified vision and values.
Students attending the event also heard presentations by Dinesh D'Souza, author of the new book, "What's So Great About Christianity?" and Nonie Darwish, author of "Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror."
The influence of Hollywood and the entertainment industry was a topic of discussion from the beginning of the weekend conference, when Internet newshound Andrew Breitbart gave an impromptu talk on Thursday to a select group of top campus conservative activists.
There is "an underground society of Hollywood conservatives," said Mr. Breitbart, author of "Hollywood, Interrupted," and founder of the Breitbart.com news site. He said students interested in entertainment careers should not be frightened away by the industry's reputation as a liberal bastion.Those remarks were echoed Saturday by Mr. Surnow, who dismissed as "whining" conservatives' complaints that they are treated unfairly by Hollywood liberals.
"Our job is not to whine. That's their job," Mr. Surnow told students gathered in the grand ballroom of the oceanside Fess Parker Doubletree Resort. He named former President Bill Clinton, California Sen. Barbara Boxer and singer Barbra Streisand among the liberals who have publicly declared themselves fans of "24."
The action-packed show also has many prominent conservative fans, including radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, White House adviser Mary Matalin and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Mr. Surnow said excellence in entertainment transcends politics.
Asked by a student during a question-and-answer session why he'd cast outspoken liberal actress Janeane Garofalo in the most recent season of "24," Mr. Surnow answered, "Because she's a great actress."
He described the Fox network series' protagonist, counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer, as "a tragic character" who has been emotionally damaged by his experiences.
"There's nothing left but to do the right thing," Mr. Surnow said of the character portrayed for seven seasons by Keifer Sutherland. "He's come to symbolize this sort of pure killing machine that all of us secretly want to unleash on the bad guys."
The character "really represents just justice," he said, describing Bauer's attitude as, "They're bad, we're good and we're going to get them."
After his speech, sipping a vodka gimlet as he talked to a group of writers, Mr. Surnow scoffed at the suggestion that Hollywood's liberalism prevents conservatives from getting work in film and television.
"There's tons of conservatives who work," he said. "If you write a great script, you could drop it off a freeway overpass in rush hour, and the movie would still get made."
Speaking of the ongoing writers' strike, which has stopped production of many movies and TV programs, Mr. Surnow predicted a long strike that could prove disastrous to the Writers Guild and rejected the suggestion that the union had the industry at a disadvantage.
"Hollywood's not being held hostage. ... I think [the studios] are going to break the Guild," he said, later remarking: "Millionaires on the picket line. ... They're not going to get a lot of empathy."
Friday, November 2, 2007
# 2 pencil and a catholic Education
#2 pencil and a Catholic education
The value of a Catholic education and a #2 pencil (this is too cute)
Youdon't even have to be Catholic to appreciate this one.
Little Mary Margaret was not the best student in Catholic School.
Usually she slept through the class.
One day her teacher, a Nun, called onher while she was sleeping.
'Tell me Mary Margaret, who created theuniverse?'
When Mary Margaret didn't stir, little Johnny, who was her friend sitting
behind her, took his pencil and jabbed her in the rear.'God Almighty!' shouted
Mary Margaret. The Nun said, 'Very good' andcontinued teaching her class.
A little later the Nun asked Mary Margaret,
'Who is our Lord and Savior?'
But Mary didn't stir from her slumber Once again,
Johnny came to her rescueand stuck
Mary Margaret in the butt. 'Jesus Christ!!!' shouted
Mary Margaretand the Nun once again said,
'Very good,' and Mary Margaret fell backasleep.
The Nun asked her a third question..
.' What did Eve say to Adam after she hadher twenty-third child?'
Again, Johnny came to the rescue.
This time MaryMargaret jumped up and shouted,
'If you stick that thing in me one moretime, I'll break it in half!'
The nun fainted.
The value of a Catholic education and a #2 pencil (this is too cute)
Youdon't even have to be Catholic to appreciate this one.
Little Mary Margaret was not the best student in Catholic School.
Usually she slept through the class.
One day her teacher, a Nun, called onher while she was sleeping.
'Tell me Mary Margaret, who created theuniverse?'
When Mary Margaret didn't stir, little Johnny, who was her friend sitting
behind her, took his pencil and jabbed her in the rear.'God Almighty!' shouted
Mary Margaret. The Nun said, 'Very good' andcontinued teaching her class.
A little later the Nun asked Mary Margaret,
'Who is our Lord and Savior?'
But Mary didn't stir from her slumber Once again,
Johnny came to her rescueand stuck
Mary Margaret in the butt. 'Jesus Christ!!!' shouted
Mary Margaretand the Nun once again said,
'Very good,' and Mary Margaret fell backasleep.
The Nun asked her a third question..
.' What did Eve say to Adam after she hadher twenty-third child?'
Again, Johnny came to the rescue.
This time MaryMargaret jumped up and shouted,
'If you stick that thing in me one moretime, I'll break it in half!'
The nun fainted.
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