- Look who’s curmudgeony today…yes, it’s New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick
channeling his inner bitterman on the subject of an altercation between
receiver Aaron Dobson and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels that was
allegedly the reason Dobson has been inactive the past two games. Multiple
reports claimed Dobson was benched
for talking back to McDaniels and after a 41-14 ass-kicking on Monday night in
Kansas City, it was clear the struggling New England offense could use one of
its better receivers. However, anyone who’s heard even one minute of a
Belichick press conference knows that there is no way in hell he’s candidly
addressing the topic when someone asks the inevitable question about Dobson’s
absence, so cue the gruff, terse response. When asked whether the decision to
sit Dobson was a football or disciplinary decision, Belichick offered a simple
response: "Football." That was as far as the Hoodie would go in
person, but the matter wouldn’t go away and so the next day, he released a
statement in order to clarify his stance. . "In my year and a half with
Aaron Dobson, he has always been respectful to me and to the rest of the
coaching staff," the statement read. "He has never once been
argumentative or confrontational. The suggestion and reporting that his playing
time was in any way the result of a 'loud disagreement' with a coach is
completely false." Dobson backed his coach, saying that "nothing
happened." "I have no idea how it happened," Dobson continued.
"It's just a rumor, so I really wasn't worried about it. I guess it got
real big, but coach killed it. So I'm not really worried about it." Spoken
like a true Patriots automaton…….
- F*ck the police….or the national government court that
tells you your would-be breakaway region can't hold its own referendum on
independence. Catalan
leaders are embracing that mentality these days as they boldly forge ahead with
a vote on independence, defying a national government court challenge as they
seek to break off from the rest of Spain and establish their own (allegedly
superior) nation. Spain's Constitutional Court provisionally blocked the plan
for a vote, but various parties in the Catalan region are undeterred and have
decided to fight back. “We have agreed to maintain the election decree so that
citizens can exercise their right to vote on November 9,” regional government
spokesman Francesc Homs said. In a nice burst of cooperation, Catalan
pro-independence parties say they are united on the issue following meetings to
find common ground on the issue, which is threatening to cause Spain's biggest
constitutional crisis in decades. The central government hasn’t flinched in its
vow to keep Spain united and has steadfastly scoffed at the drive for
independence in Catalonia. Even the failure of last month's independence
referendum in Scotland failed to dampen the Catalonians’ enthusiasm to govern themselves
and in recent weeks, hundreds of thousands of them have taken to the streets to
speak out. Along with the independence movement’s actions to unite, Catalonia's
moderate conservative government formally decreed the creation of a commission
to supervise the ballot. The national government wants the Constitutional Court
to suspend that decree and believes that will happen, according to Deputy Prime
Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria. “No one in Spain can say on their own
authority what is legal and what is not,” Santamaria said. “That is a matter
for the courts. This government has an obligation to obey the law and to make
sure it is obeyed, because it has an obligation to make sure everyone respects
democracy.” Whatever you say, S. Catalonian leader Artur Mas disagrees. “We
will forge ahead and we will do it together,” Mas said. Si, señor……….
- There are heroes among us. Sometimes, they live in a land
far away and we’ll never meet them, yet we stand united by a common goal and a
spirit of fighting the evils that pollute this world of ours. Many reading this
have never been to London, may never visit England and will never communicate
in any way with Craig Mandell. Yet Mandell has undertaken a cause that goes
beyond heroic and should inspire citizens of cities around the world to follow
his example. Mandell is aiming to raise money to ensure that the musical menace
that is Nickelhack out of his city and while he should probably shoot higher
than the $1,000 he’s seeking, it’s a good start. The Hack doesn’t currently have
any scheduled dates in the British capital and if Mandell has his way, that
won’t change any time soon. The push to permanently expel the Canadian hack
rockers from London is underway on Kickstarter, with the page cleverly titled,
“Don’t Let Nickel Back.” Mandell doesn’t have an original idea on his hands,
but it scarcely matters. He was inspired by his friend Andrew Goldin, who used
the same method to bring Foo Fighters to Richmond, Va. last month. "With
your help, we can ensure that the band do not schedule any gigs here, do not
attempt to come here – nor even phone here," Mandell wrote on the page. "Just
imagine, thousands – perhaps tens of thousands of music lovers – all not
witnessing an exclusive concert by Nickelback in London. It will be
glorious." Yes, glorious it shall be. Tens of thousands of Brits, toasting
one another in their favorite pub with warm beer, regaling their friends with
tales of the time they didn’t see the worst band in the world rock out a stage
in their city with the most putrid brand of arena rock imaginable. Those who
contribute to the campaign will have an email sent on their behalf to Nickelhack's
management and the degree of sass in the message will correspond directly to
how much money they give. The campaign will continue until Nov. 3……….
- Many would like to tear city hall down to the ground. The city of Eugene,
Oregon is making good on those aspirations and using the occasion to do
something positive for the environment at the same time. Work is underway to
take down Eugene City Hall so a new one can be built and the city is teaming
with local company BRING Recycling to give some of the pieces of the building a
second chance at usefulness. BRING Recycling sells reclaimed materials at its
Planet Improvement Center in Glenwood and keeping bulky building materials out
of landfills is a huge positive when dealing with a massive building like the
city hall.
"Each paver weighs about a hundred pounds or more, and there
are quite a few thousand of them, so it's a very slow laborious process to lift
them up, one by one, put them on pallet and lift them on a truck to lift them
to BRING," said Julie Daniel, the organization's executive director. Like
a good government official seeking to ensure that the government’s good deeds
are known and respected by all, the city’s facility design and construction
manager was quick to tout the project. "Re-using, re-purposing as much as
we can is good for the planet and the bottom line and historical continuity as
well," Mike Penwell said. Speaking of cashing in, the city is offering
pavers to the public for $3, or $4 if you’re ostentatious enough to want one of
the more decorative blocks. Some portions of the old building will be
transplanted into the new one, so hopefully everything will find a home that isn't
atop a mountain of decaying trash………..
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