- President-elect Barack Obama, I think there is a certain member of Congress you need to have a meeting with right away, because you two seem to have a similar (and accurate) perspective on the current state of college football’s postseason setup, run at present by the BCS (i.e. Big Crap Shoot). Obama has already said that his choice would be an eight-team playoff, which is a great idea. Now, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is taking up a similar position. Barton took aim this week at a BCS system he said "consistently misfires," declaring his intention to introduce legislation that would force college football to adopt a playoff to determine its national champion. What I love about Barton is that he didn’t even say the number of teams he would want in a playoff, only that the
the BCS needs go. In all of this, that’s the key point: the BCS needs to go. "In some years the sport's national championship winner was left unsettled, and at least one school was left out of the many millions of dollars in revenue that accompany the title," Barton said in a written statement"Despite repeated efforts to improve the system, the controversy rages on." Don’t forget to throw some credit to the bill’s co-sponsors, Reps. Bobby Rush (D- Illinois), and Michael McCaul, (R-Texas), because anyone trying to shut down the BCS deserves props in my book. The bill, introduced Wedneday, "will prohibit the marketing, promotion, and advertising of a postseason game as a 'national championship' football game, unless it is the result of a playoff system. Violations of the prohibition will be treated as violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act as an unfair or deceptive act or practice." Hmm, I think I like the thought of the tools at the BCS having to rework all of their advertising and promote their “big game” without using the term national championship. And if you think legislation is an extreme route to go, consider ass-hatted college president like Gordon Gee of Ohio State, who still idiotically opposes a playoff system because it would take money out of his school’s pockets, er, because of supposed academic concerns for student-athletes. Wake up, remove your head from your own ass and look around you, G. Gee. Two undefeated teams aren’t even being given a shot to play for the title, a team (the Texas Longhorns) that defeated one of the two title game participants (Oklahoma) head-to-head and has only one loss to the No. 7 team in your system is also shut out of the title game, but your system works? I don’t think so, and neither does our next president nor many members of Congress…..
- Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is my new economic role model. Why, you ask? Well, because I think my life would be a lot happier if I adopted some of the economic principles Correa espouses, especially when it comes to how one should pay back a loan. See, during the 1980s, Ecuador incurred a debt of $4 billion when it was in the midst of an economic crisis, with much of that money borrowed from foreign lenders. In paying back those loans over the course of two-plus decades to the tune of $7 billion spent, Correa claims that the principal remains the same. In other words, he believes his country has paid $7 billion in interest….which tends to happen when you borrow $4 billion freaking dollars. In looking at that bleak picture, Correa decided that because Ecuador is unable to make a dent in what it owes, mostly because of exorbitant interest payments, he’s just going to stop paying interest on the nation's foreign debt and is prepared to accept any consequences. "If we have to confront international lawsuits, we will confront them and, I repeat, I assume all responsibility," he said. "I could not permit the continued payment of a debt that, in any light, is immoral and illegitimate." That statement came the very day that one of the interest payments, was due Friday, so I’m sure the announcement wasn’t exactly what the lender was expecting. Correa is really selling this approach, which I suppose is what you have to do when you are pushing a totally inaccurate, illegal, unethical and ridiculous idea. You sell it and sell it hard, hoping that maybe you’ll win people over even though what you’re doing is obviously wrong, against the rules and screams douche bag at a really high volume. In so doing, Correa claims to be studying how to challenge the debt, which he called "immoral and a betrayal of the country," a reference to the way the terms of the debt were originally set. Better still, dude is drawing up his own restructuring plan, which he intends to present to creditors within a few days. "We have tried to pay this overdue social debt with a program of housing without parallel in Ecuadorian history, which certain corrupt members of the press -- in function of their political interests -- now want to discredit, pointing out the inevitable houses that -- out of 80,000 -- are going to have defects," he said. Weird, disjointed and largely unresponsive, but whatever. I’m choosing to overlook Correa’s loopy, oft-incoherent reasoning because I want to embrace his economic philosophies and make them my own. Just as the Ecuadorian presidente plans to prove in international courts that his country’s debt is illegal, I too am going to label any sort of debt or money I owe to anyone to be illegal and refuse to pay any interest on it. I will draw up restructuring plans and give them to anyone to whom I own money, informing them what I’m actually going to pay back and telling them that if they’re not down with that, they can suck it. So thank you, President Correa, for opening my eyes to all sorts of new economic policies and possibilities, I will be forever grateful…..
- Could it be a welcome back to TV for one of my favorite actresses, Lauren Graham? She hasn’t been seen since the idiotic ass clowns at the CW decided to turn their network into a whore for non-stop airings of shows about rich kids going to fancy parties and complaining about the problems of their spoiled lives, albeit in different settings depending on the show, and in the process pulled the plug on Gilmore Girls, one of my all-time favorite shows. Since then, Graham has been focusing on movies and also her upcoming Broadway debut in February as the female lead (aka Miss Adelaide) in a revival of Guys and Dolls. However, she’s also planning a return to the small screen with ABC, which has made a production commitment to a new comedy starring Graham as a self-help guru who advises women on how to live a stress-free life, only to have her shakras un-aligned when her boyfriend dumps her. It sounds eerily like a rip-off of Men in Trees with Anne Heche, which coincidentally also aired on ABC, except that to the best of my knowledge, Graham has never dabbled in lesbianism before going back to heterosexuality. In addition to starring on the still-to-be-titled series, word is that Graham will also serve as a producer, something she dabbled in during the final season of Gilmore Girls, which went off the air (damn you, CW!) in May 2007. Not sure how big a fan I will be of this new show, but simply based on the cred and good will Graham has already earned in my book, I’ll at least sit down to watch the pilot and suggest that you do the same…..
- How can it be anything other than great when more than 170 sick, twisted, disgusting perverts around the globe, including at least 61 in the United States, are been arrested as part of a major operation targeting international child pornographers? Short of murdering someone, this sort of crime is right up there with rape as the most vile, repulsive types of crime a person can commit. Anyone who has anything to do with any sort of sexual abuse of children in any form is a scumbag, no questions asked. So join me in cheering on Operation Joint Hammer, which so far has rescued 11 girls in the United States, ages 3 to 13, who were sexually abused by child pornography producers. The announcement of the arrests was made by U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and representatives of the European Union said at the Justice Department Friday. In addition to the arrests made on American soil, dozens more were made in Europe, including several young female victims in Ukraine. When you pull back and get a real sense for the scope of this thing, the picture becomes even more disturbing, as connections were found between producers, distributors and customers in nearly 30 countries. The investigation has its genesis in the discovery by some investigators who determined a pornographic video found in Australia had been produced in Belgium.
"This joint EU-U.S. coordinated effort began with the discovery in Europe of a father who was sexually abusing his young daughters and producing images of that abuse," Mukasey said. Wow…..just wow. That’s disturbing on so many levels I can't even begin to characterize it. The losers arrested in this string include not only lowlifes trading child pornography, but also a-holes who sexually abused children. They are alleged to have targeted prepubescent female victims to satisfy their sick, twisted fetishes, but rest assured there were also deviants out there who filled the quota of sick puds seeking photos and videos of boys as well. A great day that these pieces of crap were arrested and removed from society, but a bad day in that we’re all reminded how many of them exist in this world…..
- Count me among the many questioning what the hell Auburn University is thinking in hiring Iowa State coach Gene Chizik as its next head football coach. Chizik spent quite a few years building a great reputation as the defensive coordinator at Texas, but it’s not his work there that has me questioning what the decision makers at Auburn are smoking. No, I’m focusing more on the fact that Chizik has gone just 5-19 in two seasons at Iowa State -- including a 2-10 mark in 2008. The Cyclones didn’t win a single Big 12 game this season, and their win total has dipped in each of the past three seasons, a trend Chizik didn’t seem to be making much progress in reversing. How Auburn passed up coaches like Turner Gill of Buffalo, who actually had a winning record this past season and won a conference title, I don’t know. Yes Chizik coached in the Big 12, one of the two best conferences in the country, but HE DID A BAD JOB. His team wasn’t good, he wasn’t turning around the Iowa State program and yet you felt inclined to snatch him up and make him your next coach? What am I missing? Chizik will succeed Tommy Tuberville, who resigned following 10 seasons because the Auburn faithful couldn’t stomach his not contending for an SEC title every year. You have to wonder how a guy with two seasons of head coaching experience and a 5-19 record in those two seasons represents a marked upgrade. "I'm extremely proud and excited to have Gene returning to Auburn to take over as head football coach of this program," Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs said in a statement. "I know that we have found the right fit for Auburn. Gene's body of work during his 23 years in this profession is remarkable.” Yes, but when given a chance to run a program, he HAS DONE A BAD JOB. I understand that before being defensive coordinator at Texas, he was in the same position at Auburn, but having a history at a school doesn’t wipe away his 5-19 record as a head coach. For a supposed defensive genius, Chizik’s Iowa State defense sure did suck this past season. The team's defense regressed in every major statistical category this season going from 65th to 111th nationally in total defense, 93rd to 110th in scoring defense, 44th to 95th in rushing defense and 91st to 115th in total defense. Sounds like a great choice to “turn your program around,” Auburn fans……
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