- No dice on your attempt at revisionist history, Mack Brown. The head football coach at the University of Texas became the latest to weigh in on the 2005 Heisman Trophy controversy that began after the original winner, noted cheater, liar and former University of Southern California star Reggie Bush, was revealed to be a dishonest a-hole who took scores of illegal perks and benefits for his family while at USC. USC has since returned its copy of the trophy to the Heisman Trust, but Bush hasn’t done so with the main version of the statue and the trust has yet to issue an official decision on stripping Bush of his victory. That hasn’t stopped analysts, fans, players and former players from weighing in on who the trophy should go to if Bush is stripped of it. Brown became the latest to offer his take, saying that former UT quarterback and second-place finisher in the 2005 voting Vince Young should be the winner. "If they take it away, I think Vince should be awarded the trophy," Brown said in an interview on Monday. "I think you have to go back and really give that choice to the Heisman Trust. If they take it away, I think Vince should be awarded the trophy. Vince was second in the voting, so even if they re-voted I would like to see Vince get it." Ironically, Young has gone on the record as not wanting a secondhand Heisman five years after the fact, so maybe it’s a moot point. Besides, he has the ultimate trump card over Bush because after the Heisman ceremony, Young rallied his Texas Longhorns past Bush's USC Trojans for the championship. Of course, the Heisman voting and ceremony take place nearly a month before the national championship game, so voters had no chance to consider the outcome of that game and they awarded Bush the trophy by a 933-point margin over Young. We now know that Bush was ineligible at the time of the ceremony and the entire 2005 season because he accepted scores of illegal benefits - including a house - from a marketing company for he and his family. USC has suffered the only true consequences from the scandal, receiving a two-year postseason ban, a reduction in scholarships for the next three years and orders to strike all results from the end of the 2004 season, as well as the entire 2005 campaign, from its records. Any traces of Bush have been expunged from the program’s record books and no pictures or other images of him can be found in the USC media guide or on the campus. The last word on the issue from the Heisman Trust came in July, when the group said in a written statement that no decision had been reached in the case. “The Trust will be considering the issues raised in the USC/Reggie Bush matter, and after reaching a decision will publish it, but due to the complex issues involved and the Trust's desire to reach an appropriate decision, no definitive timetable has been established," the trust said at the time. "Until the matter has been fully considered and a decision is reached, the Trust has no further comment.” Hopefully that decision is coming soon so we don’t have to put up with pointless opinions flying from every direction about what do to with the trophy in the event Bush is outed as the winner……….
- Finally…..the end has come for the combat portion of a war that never should have started in the first place. Some 7½ years ago after former Ass Hat in Chief W. launched the "shock and awe" invasion of Iraq, his successor declared in a primetime speech to the nation that “the combat mission in Iraq has ended.” The goal of removing a tyrannical, fascist regime and installing a Western-style democracy may not be fully realized, but the goal of finding the weapons of mass destruction that never existed in the first place still hasn’t been accomplished. Yet at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, America's combat mission in Iraq will officially came to an end. With depressing totals of more than 4,400 U.S. military personnel killed and 30,000 wounded, the war has clearly taken an immense toll on both the nation and especially on those who have waged it for nearly a decade. What’s jaw-dropping is how early in the process Saddam Hussein was forced from power and yanked from the tiny hole in the ground where he was hiding. The bulk of the carnage came after his removal and those years were filled with widespread violence, war, terrorist attacks and ugliness. There were also high points, including national elections and major economic development, but violence and bloodshed are the memories that stand out most from the conflict. President Obama won a lot of votes crusading against the war and vowing to end it, so perhaps it’s fitting that he’s the one to pull the official plug on combat operations. In a smart move, he won't issue his proclamation from the deck of an aircraft carrier with a ginormous “Mission Accomplished” banner hanging behind him, some seven years before the war actually ends. Before addressing the nation, the president spent the day meeting with Iraq war veterans at Fort Bliss, Texas. He also busted a phone call to W. for a "few minutes" from Air Force One while en route to Texas, according to White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton. The focus of the 8 p.m. speech was primarily on insisting that Iraqi leaders step forward and assume their nation’s leadership duties while also emphasizing the new partnership between the United States and Iraq. Additionally, the president stressed the new focus of refocusing U.S. resources in Afghanistan. To pave the way for the speech, Obama also sent Vice President Joe Biden to Baghdad for the transition and the man with a world-class propensity for sticking his foot in his mouth will help mark Wednesday's transfer of U.S. military command there from Army Gen. Ray Odierno to Army Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin. Roughly 50,000 American troops will remain in Iraq until the end of 2011 in non-combat rolls, training, assisting and advising the Iraqis. The Obama administration claimed recently that the overall level of violence in the country is on the decline, but Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned Friday of the likelihood of continuing attacks across the country. On the heels of a two-day span in which 20 bomb attacks struck 13 Iraqi cities, mostly targeting police. At least 48 people were killed in the attacks and 286 more were wounded, so I’d say that additional violence seems very likely. Al-Maliki attributed to attacks to "al Qaeda and remnants of [Saddam Hussein's] Baath Party with foreign backing planning to carry out a series of bombings in Baghdad and the other provinces." Many Iraqis fear that their own law enforcement and security forces are unable to protect them from such violence, but at this point they really don’t have another option, unless they find a way to re-hire Blackwater……..
- Lord help us, they’re multiplying! Much like the gremlins in the 1984 sci-fi thriller Gremlins, it seems that all bad Bravo reality shows about skanky, surgically enhanced house-skanks need to multiply is water….and a network willing to enable them. Just one day after a drama-rific Real Houseskanks of New Jersey reunion show set a new record for amped-up cougs looking to throw verbal and literally haymakers at one another, the network announced it be adding a new show to the Real Houseskanks lineup: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Really, it’s the place this whole charade should have started in the first place. What city on the face of this planet screams fake, plastic and superficial more than Beverly Hills? There’s a reason why punk rockers Weezer named one of their songs after the city and made the tune all about excess and opulence (aside from the opportunity to film the video for the single at the Playboy Mansion) and it’s because of people like the collection of Botoxed, fake-rack-having cougars you’re about to meet. There’s Camille Grammer, soon to be ex-wife of actor Kelsey Grammer, who will bring a dose of Hollywood’s inflated self-importance to the show. She’ll be joined by British designer and restaurant owner Lisa Vanderpump (that is THE perfect name for the rich, loathsome villain in a clichéd Hollywood drama, no?), Kyle Richards, a former child star-turned-mother of four (and the aunt of noted Bolivian marching powder fan Paris Hilton), former child star-turned-mother of four and sister of Kyle, Kim Richards, and Adrienne Maloof, part-owner of the Sacramento Kings and the Palms Resort in Las Vegas. If nothing else, the show will be able to buy good ratings with the sizeable bank roll of its cast. And yes, it’s a cast because this is a scripted, bogus TV program and there’s nothing real about it. There’s a guarantee of bloated egos, catfights between tummy-tucked, nose-job-having cougs, drama over important issues like who was or was not invited to the latest A-list party and a general lack of contact with reality for all members of the cast. In other words, the same freaking show that every other installment of this series puts on, just set in a different city………..
- Having visited Zurich within the past six weeks, I can honestly say that I’m sorry I missed out on this one. Prostitution is much more a part of life in most European countries than it is here in the United States, largely because Europeans have a much more liberal view of sex and other issues than Americans. Of course, the most prominent example is Amsterdam, where prostitution is legal. However, it’s Zurich, Switzerland that is taking definitive steps to address its issues with hookers turning tricks on the street. Police in the city are tiring of trying to police prostitutes and instead, are looking to turn them into a little less of an eyesore for the rest of Zurich’s residents. City officials have made proposals to add "sex boxes" to the city, which are basically metal stalls with high walls that will allow practitioners of the world’s oldest profession to ply their trade right there on the street while shielding their ungodly acts from the eyes of Zurich residents whose homes overlook the city's red light district. The idea is to clean up the city streets and make sure that walking down the road isn’t deserving of an NC-17 rating. "They get up to all sorts in broad daylight - and we're sick to death of looking at it," one resident said of the current state of affairs. The concept is takeoff of the policies of German cities like Essen and Cologne, removing prostitution from the public view while not outlawing it. "We can't get rid of prostitution, so have to learn how to control it," police spokesman Reto Casanova said. Controlling it apparently means creating the equivalent of sex drive-thru windows courtesy of boxes are big enough to conceal vehicles while prostitutes and clients handle business. So next time you’re in Zurich, pick up a nice Movenpick ice cream cone, stroll through the China Garden park and get some drive-up sex while you’re at it………
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