Read this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/sports/othersports/29wrestler.html?th&emc=th
I’m sure someone could point out that he has an advantage in wrestling because his opponent has no limbs to grab hold of and try to manipulate. I don’t care. That’s pretty damn impressive!
Your subject would be military involvement in Iraq:
Sayeth McCain:
“I have some news,” McCain told voters at a rally here Wednesday morning. “Al-Qaeda is in Iraq. Al-Qaeda is called ‘al-Qaeda in Iraq.’ My friends, if we left, they wouldn’t be establishing a base. . . . they would be taking a country. I will not allow that to happen, my friends. I will not surrender.”
Check.
Sayeth Obama:
“I have some news for John McCain, and that is that there was no such thing as al-Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq.” The crowd roared its approval. “I’ve got some news for John McCain. He took us into a war along with George Bush that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged. They took their eye off the people who were responsible for 9/11, and that would be al-Qaeda in Afghanistan that is stronger now than at any time since 2001.
“So John McCain may like to say he wants to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but so far all he’s done is follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq that’s cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars.”
Checkmate
Earlier today Pittsburgh lost an iconic figure as recent health problems caught up with former Steelers broadcaster, radio personality, and writer Myron Cope. His unmistakeable voice colorfully called Steeler games for 35 years. It is he that coined the term “Immaculate Reception” and invented the Terrible Towel. But his impact went beyond The ‘Burg, as his feature on Muhammed Ali was one of the 50 Greates articles the first 50 years of Sports Illustrated, as rated by the magazine. Double yoi huum hah!
For complete obituary from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08058/860750-13.stm
And for a video tribute:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08058/860753-13.stm?cmpid=MOSTEMAILEDBOX
Well, the Penguins front office managed to pull off a biggie at today’s NHL trade deadline, getting winger Marian Hossa and a defenseman whose name is currently escaping me* from the Atlanta Thrashers. Gave up Colby Armstrong, last year’s 1st round pick, and next year’s 1st round pick. I think I like the move. Its giving up a fair amount, but its not exactly mortgaging the future. The Pens still have Crosby and Malkin and other relatively young players. This trade makes them better now, and I think the Pens had a solid chance at winning the Stanley Cup this year before the trade. Those chances just got better. Earlier I compared the Crosby injury to the back trouble Lemieux developed in 1990-91 and how it made the rest of the team get better to play without him. Well, they have been playing relatively well without Crosby so far. Now another parallel to 1991, as this trade could be like the one that brought Ron Francis and Ulf Sammuelson to the Pens; it gave some good experience up front, it toughened up the blue line play, and it led to 2 straight Stanley Cups. Hopefully this move does too.
*Correction: The defenseman, Hal Gill, came in a seperate trade with Toronto. Buckeyenewshawk regrets the error.
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland points out that the March 4th primary is not an episode of American Idol:
http://buckeyestateblog.com/ted_calls_obama_american_idol_slams_tim_ryan
Strickland is an ardent Hillary supporter, would certainly be on her short list for Vice President. Would’ve also made some sense to be on Obama’s wish list. At least before he started wandering this far from the reservation.
And I totally don’t get the swipe at Congressman Ryan. Obviously no one is mentioning Tim Ryan nationally. With the exception of professional political pundits and his own constituents, about 5 people have heard of Tim Ryan. Also, of course, he’s not old enough yet. Did Ryan kick Strickland’s dog or something? As Hillary herself pointed out in the last debate, whoever of her and Obama wins the nomination, the Democratic Party will (should) be fine. Let’s not lose our perspective here, Ted.
From today’s New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/us/politics/25memo.html?th&emc=th
Personally, 1968 is not ingrained in my mind as I was not yet born. But it is ingrained in the psyche of baby boomers, and the comparisons are there; young, charismatic, etc. But its also important to note that Obama has Secret Service protection, whereas Bobby Kennedy, and obviously Martin Luther King, did not. Still, one certainly cannot rule out the notion of someone making a serious attempt on Obama, whether it be a publicity seeker, a skinhead, or a fruitloop. And, even with Secret Service protection, those attempts do sometimes succeed, or come perilously close to success. Its a real concern.
If you are, plan ahead and good luck:
To say this will mess with normal traffic flow in the Monroe-Detroit corridor would be a mild understatement. The project is necessary, though. Until its completion, there is no connection from the Ambassador Bridge, ie, one of the two ways to get from Windsor, Ontario to Detroit, to I-75, ie, one of the main north/south corridors in the entire United States. Traffic making that link had to drive through several blocks of neighborhoods on the south side of downtown Detroit.
Of course, the timing could prove less than ideal if this is not completed before Detroit plays host to the NCAA Final Four early April 2009.
A discussion recently found on the liberal blog DailyKos:
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/24/7150/36489/402/462327
Argh! Can we please stop arguing over the WTI plant in the East End section of East Liverpool already? Yes, it deals with hazardous waste. Someone has to. Yes, its close to a school. The distance from East Elementary was legal when the original permit application process was begun back in the 1980s. Also, for what its worth, that particular school building will soon be permanently closed as part of a school realignment and reconstruction process going on in the East Liverpool City School District. Yes, there have been a few accidents at the plants over the years. What those excerpted quotes fail to point out, though, is that those accidents were generally caused by either a truck driver that failed to close a valve correctly while dropping off material, or waste that was incorrectly labeled by others, so that workers at WTI did not handle properly, believing it was something else. Yes, WTI failed some test burns before it opened. That was the whole point of testing. They found problems, corrected them, re-tested, passed, and opened. Yes, WTI has repeatedly sought to modify its permits to handle more materials; this is called doing business and trying to grow a business. A vocal minority in this community has been oppossed to WTI for 20+ years now (including some retirees of Crucible Steel in Midland, a noted “friend” of the environment), which is perfectly within their rights to be. I however grew weary of their general attitude that everyone in this town opposes this plant; we don’t.
As for the article itself, what’s the link to Hillary? Her husband’s administration granted the operating permit (it was an EPA adminstrator she helped land the job) and The Rose Law Firm represented the original founder of WTI? Yawn.
Solid article in today’s New York Times on people afraid of health insurance becoming unaffordable or flat out impossible to obtain because of their genome:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/health/24dna.html?th&emc=th
Of course health insurance companies will discriminate if they can. It would be bad business to not charge higher premiums to people that were likely to end up costing them gobs of money. Any company that tried to be noble would be at a severe disadvantage in the marketplace. I would therefore suggest the Congress pass a law that would protect Americans with genetic predispositions. That’s going to be a hard thing to prove if an insurance company happens to know someone is basically guaranteed to get cancer and then finds another way to justify charging them a higher premium. But I feel the attempt should be made, as its clearly not good to have people getting genetic tests on the sly and then not telling their doctors the results until they have to.
They come up with this cheap form of cocaine:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/world/americas/23argentina.html?th&emc=th
Right now it seems to be confined to South America. But I’m sure its just a matter of time before American pushers start selling paco.
