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Website of the Week
Another great movie from the BBC.
Local Pump Price of Unleaded Gasoline:
$3.89/gallon
Price Per Barrel of Oil:
$136.04 (previously $125.96)
last modified Jul 8, 2008 at 22:33
With a dismal scoring of 5-6 last week yet maintaining a 14-8 overall record, the drama of my foray into sports prognostication continues to unfold. At risk is my ability to say things like "I believe the Republicans will pick up seats in the House and Senate next month." Disbelievers could potentially retort, "That's what you think, but your record this year was 14-56."
Anyway, here goes round three:
Florida State versus Notre Dame
*Yes, I know, I predicted Notre Dame to lose last week. I think subconciously I just wish that Notre Dame would get beat. Plus, Florida State almost beat Miami, so they are itching for the major upset.
**Florida State 35 Notre Dame 28
Georgia versus Kentucky
*Georgia is one of overranked teams that has not faced a serious challenger to prove their mettle. Kentucky is one of those underranked teams that is just itching to prove its worthiness, unfortunately they are on NCAA probation (no bowls--no rank) Kentucky will win this one by about two touchdowns.
**Kentucky 31 Georgia 17
Alabama versus Tennessee
*This has got to be a contest of who has the most annoying and blindly loyal fans. The nostalgia over the glory days of yore will be so thick you can cut it with a chainsaw. Alabama is another one of those probation teams looking to wreak havoc on everyone else's bowl potential. Clausen is playing hurt. The Tide will roll.
**Alabama 27 Tennessee 17
LSU versus Auburn
*I have it on strong authority that Mike the Tiger plans on making his rounds in Auburn, AL. It seems that there is some mascot confusion in Auburn over whether they are the War Eagles or Tigers. Mike plans on setting the record straight once and for all who the real tigers are. No Cadillac. Who will QB? LSU will win a close one.
**LSU 24 Auburn 21
Other predictions:
Miami 21 West Virginia 10
Texas 14 Iowa State 13
Ohio State 17 Penn State 10
Texas Tech 28 Colorado 24
Ole Miss 24 Arkansas 17
Oregon 56 USC 48
Southern Miss 31 TCU 6
President Bush signed a $355 billion defense spending bill today that includes a 4% raise for the military. Hurrah!
Of course, I had to laugh at how the AP reported the news item:
"Wednesday, President Bush signed into law a bill giving him the tools he wants to wage an expensive, no-end-in-sight global fight against terror and possibly Saddam Hussein." [emphasis added]
Ah, the objective AP...
The Washington sniper has supposed left a written message at the location of his last shooting. Police Chief Moose issued a statement via the press to the shooter, saying:
"To the person who left us a message at the Ponderosa (restaurant) last night, you gave us a telephone number. We do want to talk to you, call us at the number you provided."
At first, I thought that Chief Moose may have issued a poorly written statement that made little grammatical sense. What is one to make of "call us at the number you provided"? [emphasis added]
The only way that this statement can make sense is if the shooter told the police in the message that he would call a certain phone number, e.g. a pay phone or at the police department, and would give them further information, i.e. demands, political statements, etc.
That's my take. Anyone else with a different opinion as to the meaning of Moose's message?
Okay, I have no future in the prognostication business. Or maybe I do. Who am I to say?
My record this weekend was a paltry 5-6 bringing my overall record to 14-8. My apologies to those in the Ohio State camp. I should give the Buckeyes a little more credit.
My condolences to Jim for the Auburn loss to Florida. Maybe your guys will be posed for the upset this coming weekend against my tigers. I'll be tuning into Jefferson Pilot at 11:30 for the game.
After the games last week, my record stands at 9-2. Not too shabby, if you ask me. This week I will make another go at perfection and predict another 11 games.
Ole Miss versus Alabama
* This game is in Tuscalousa and Alabama is out for revenge due to their loss last year. Alabama will get payback. They're on probation, so what is more fun than having nothing to lose and getting to put a dent into a good team's record?
** Alabama 34 Ole Miss 27**
South Carolina versus LSU
* With QB Matt Mauck on the bench, South Carolina will focus on the run. What they do not know is that backup QB Eric Randall can throw better than Mauck and is a run threat, too. LSU's vaunted defense will have to stop South Carolina on the ground, but still be wary of those aerial attacks that Lou Holtz may have under his sleeve.
** LSU 27 South Carolina 17
Florida versus Auburn
* Florida will keeyell (that's Floridian for "kill) Auburn. They are out for blood and are determined to get back into the AP Top 25. Auburn keeps rolling down that hill.
** Florida 49 Auburn 13
Vanderbilt versus Georgia
* Okay, folks, this is Georgia's homecoming game. This will be either a very huge margin of victory by UGA over Vandy or Vandy will pull the upset. Since Vandy has instituted a no cussing rule, they may be allowed this one consolation for their season.
** Vanderbilt 31 Georgia 30
Other games:
Penn State 42 Northwestern 14
Texas 35 Kansas State 31
Oregon 56 Arizona State 38
Washington 31 USC 28
Upsets of the week:
Air Force 38 Notre Dame 27
Iowa State 17 Oklahoma 14
Wisconsin 49 Ohio State 45
An excerpt from Woody Harrelson's letter to The Guardian:
I give in to Woodman [his driver], and we stop for a few beers. He asks me what I'd do in Bush's shoes. Easy: I'd honour Kyoto. Join the world court. I'd stop subsidising earth rapers like Monsanto, Dupont and Exxon. I'd shut down the nuclear power plants. So I already have $200bn saved from corporate welfare. I'd save another $100bn by stopping the war on non-corporate drugs. And I'd cut the defence budget in half so they'd have to get by on a measly $200bn a year. I've already saved half a billion bucks by saying no to polluters and warmongers.
Then I'd give $300bn back to the taxpayers. I'd take the rest and pay the people teaching our children what they deserve. I'd put $100bn into alternative fuels and renewable energy. I'd revive the Chemurgy movement, which made the farmer the root of the economy, and make paper and fuel from wheat straw, rice straw and hemp. Not only would I attend, I'd sponsor the next Earth Summit. And, of course, I'd give myself a fat raise.
Where does one begin on this? Does throwing large (random?) lump sums of money solve any problems? How would businesses stand up under the massive production constraints of the Kyoto Treaty?
I tend to agree with him on a few points, such as the legalization of certain illegal drugs. I'm also for ending tariffs on steel and reducing subsidies to large corporations and farmers unless they are used as incentives for inducing certain process or environmental improvements. The financial numbers he uses appear to be kind of random and are not backed up by any specifics. I like the $300 billion back to the taxpayers, but I think it should be commensurate to the amount of taxes paid, i.e. those individuals and corporations who pay a larger amount should receive a larger amount back.
By and large, this excerpt and the op-ed piece as a whole are full of rhetoric that only give the semblance of having a better solution than the attack on Iraq. There is no substantiation of facts ("The fact is that George Bush Sr continued to supply nerve gas and technology to Saddam even after he used it on Iran and then the Kurds in Iraq.") or accounting for the specifics of his suggestions for improvement or of the reasoning and accountability behind his budgetary allocations.
Maybe we should ask Sam or maybe Coach?
Some liberals, it seems, have forgotten how to debate. The modus operandus is to make an attack on a person's character by branding them with certain politically reactive labels.
Some of these labels are
*racist
*homophobe
*partisan or biased
*right wing or far right
*sexist
*bigot
It really does not matter whether or not these terms are accurate to these liberals. You belong to a group of people (i.e. Christian conservative) that, in the liberal mindset, is genetically predisposed to fulfill any of the above labels and capable of doing so at any given moment.
It's worse for black conservatives. They get the ultimate kiss of death from black liberals. Terms such as "slave" or "Uncle Tom" are replete in the liberal playbook of invectives.
Colin Powell has reached the highest American political office ever attained by a black person. Did he reach it because he was black? No. Did he become successful as a military general by harping on race or by demanding special consideration because he was black? Again, no. Did Bush make him Secretary of State because he is black? No, he is perfectly qualified, although he is liberal leaning on certain matters.
So, that is why Harry Belafonte's recent remarks have bothered me so much.
In regard to Colin Powell, Belafonte said that "[t]here's an old saying, in the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and there were those slaves that lived in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master ... exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him."
Of course, he later qualified his vitriole against Powell: "This was never meant to be a personal attack on Colin Powell's character," he said. "What it was meant to be was an attack on policy, and the reference, the metaphor used about slavery is part of my personal feeling that plantations exist all over America."
Uh huh. Metaphor, right. That makes it all better now.
The evidence is mounting that this sniper or snipers may well be terrorist related. Of course, this is an odd situation, to say the least, but why are the Presidential bodyguard unit, the FBI, the Justice Department, and the Pentagon all getting involved in the investigation?
In WorldNetDaily, an ATF official said that the terrorist angle was being looked at by the FBI.
"None of this has been overlooked. There's an awful lot that they're not allowing out," he said. "But the issue really is, as it was with the nuclear (terrorism) stuff, that they do not want public panic."
The suspects are already described by some witnesses as 'Hispanic' or 'Middle-Eastern'.
Prince Georges Police Department Detective Paula Pascarella, who is part of the task force, told WorldNetDaily on Friday that authorities are investigating the possibility of teams of snipers using more than one .223-caliber rifle and traveling in more than one white vehicle.
Moose told reporters at Tuesday's press conference that there are "numerous vehicles they could be using.
I think dinosaurs were the quirky news item of the day yesterday. If you haven't heard, some scientist has discovered a mummified dinosaur that still has his skin intact. Check him out!
Also, if you are a resident of Anchorage, you may want to keep your kids inside. A giant rapto-like bird with a wing-span of about 14 feet has been spotted by residents of a nearby village.
Somehow, I found this interesting article by Phil Vischer, one of the creators and writers of VeggieTales, in which he describes the process of scoring the music to their recent movie Jonah.
I have always been excited about the idea of dipping into the rich heritage of church music for film scores. So I sent Kurt off on a mission to find a hymn we could use in the score that dealt with God's mercy. A few weeks later he came back with an old, 19th century hymn that fit perfectly! For a film about mercy -- about a guy trying to escape across the sea to get away from God -- we found a beautiful little hymn that starts out:
"There's a wideness in God's mercy -- like the wideness of the sea.
There's a kindness in God's justice -- that is more than liberty." *
We never actually use the lyrics in the film, only the melody. But for those who recognize the hymn or who've heard about it and read the words, hearing that melody hinted at early on when the film's theme is first mentioned, then hearing it explode near the end when all is revealed, is about enough to bring tears to your eyes.
It appears that Dell has wised up and decided to put to rest the "Dude, You Need A Dell" campaign.
Dude, what a relief!
USA Today remarks that every Tuesday and Thursday, between 25 to 50 people gather at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to hold a Bible study.(pictured below)
Although Bush does not attend these Bible studies, the article notes that "Bush starts every day on his knees in prayer. He reads the Bible each morning and studies a Bible lesson daily."
Wow, isn't that a blessing to read and to know? God is gracious to allow America to have a President that loves Him and daily seeks after Him.
Jay Nordlinger has an interesting collage of piece items about Jimmy Carter, the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize (all together now: What a joke!)
Here's a sample:
For years, Carter has been a thorn in the side of presidents, acting as a kind of “anti-president,” as Lance Morrow once put it in an essay for Time. You recall how Carter irked Clinton on Haiti and North Korea. His low moment, however, came during the run-up to the Gulf War, when he wrote members of the U.N. Security Council — including Mitterrand’s France and Communist China — urging them to thwart the Bush administration’s effort. Our government found out about it when the Canadian prime minister, Brian Mulroney, called the defense secretary, Dick Cheney, and said, “What the . . .?” Some people actually allowed themselves to utter the word “treason.”
Okay, so I am not a psychic but I did pretty well on my predictions.
Let's see... My only wrong picks were Penn State (which was lost in overtime) and Texas Tech (not too sure what I was thinking there).
So my official scorecare is 9-2. Not bad.
Here are a few predictions on this weekend's college games:
LSU vs. Florida
*It is difficult for anyone to win against the home team Gators in Gainesville. I think the Tigers may do it, but they need to have a strong performance by their defensive secondary and an impressive showing by QB Matt Mauck. Of course, I'm a little biased, too.
Georgia vs. Tennessee
*Without Clausen, Tennessee will get mopped by Georgia. Not that it will be a pretty win for Georgia. They tend to play on the level of their competition, for good or worse.
Florida State vs. Miami
*I heard some sports guy say that the only team that can beat Miami is the second string of Miami. I don't think it will be Florida State.
Other winners: Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oregon, and NC State.
Some upset winners: Arkansas (over Auburn), Penn State (over Michigan), Texas Tech (over Iowa State), and Oklahoma (over Texas)
Wow, I had the chance tonight to watch the new VeggieTales movie Jonah with my two girls and it was hilarious. Where do these guys come up with this stuff?
The music is clever and catchy and the witty banter is plentiful. It is so good to go to a movie and be able to trust the intentions of the directors and producers. I would have gone to this movie myself if I had to, but it was just so much fun to be enjoying a wholesome, great, funny movie with my kids.
The Monopoly rules explicitly state in reference to Free Parking:
“FREE PARKING”… A player landing on this place does not receive
any money, property or reward of any kind. This is just a “free”
resting place.
We never did this, of course. We would put all our taxes and fines in there, plus a complimentary $500 from the bank.
By the way, here is a great site that offers the rules for almost every sport or game imaginable.
There is an interesting story in the Daily Record of a 27 year old Scottish woman who had an abortion but was shocked to discover a jar with the aborted baby's remains in it. She is suing the hospital.
Why sue the hospital for leaving a jar with the "fetus" in it? It is, after all, just a "part of her body". What's the big deal?
If the issue is that she has psychological distress because she has to endure being in the same room with a dead baby in a jar then she is implicating herself in a greater crime: complicity in the murder of a baby.
The real crime committed by the hospital (other than the abortion) is that it forced the lady to come face to face with the cold reality that her "decision" caused the death of a real, living baby. That's the true reason that they are being sued.
How dare the hospital abort her baby and then leave the evidence with her! Now, she has to live with the consequences of her decision. Horror of horrors!
One of the greater ironies in this article come from the woman's own words. They sadly reveal that she still does not comprehend the import of what occurred.
She said, "I will never get over what happened to me." [emphasis added] Yeah, right.
With the new release of Kurt Cobain's final song and the impending release of Pearl Jam's new cd, it looks like grunge may be making a comeback. As long as grungey clothes stay in the '90s, that is fine by me.
As a matter of fact, I think I would be totally thrilled if music today received a fresh new surge of music such as the creativity that accompanied much of the grunge music of the nineties.
These shootings in Maryland and Virginia smack of terrorism a la Palestinian versus Israeli style. At best, this is just some crazy and/or evil American killer who has no qualms about killing man, woman, or child. At worst, it is the beginning of a new form of Al Qaida terrorism against the US.
Either way, you have terrorism, plain and ugly.
What makes this type of terrorism so bad is that no one knows how they can protect themselves and still go about their daily lives. Surely the US could focus a spy satellite or two on the areas in question and look for these folks.
I think that God uses these things in part to show us our absolute dependence on His grace for our protection and safety. We know who holds tomorrow and He cares for us.
I have developed the bare bones structure for my family's hunting club web site called Hogue Plantation.
Hopefully, I can use this as the launch pad for a really nice site that will serve as an attractive advertisement and informational resource for people who are searching for prime hunting in the South.
Here is the webpage (very, very basic) for my MBA class in which I am learning how to use MS Frontpage. I am pretty excited about Frontpage and hope to make an experimental Uberblog with it soon.
Now, for all you computer geniuses that understand backwards and forwards CSS, , ASPs, HTML, Flash, and all the other tricks and know-how's for making a great web page... I am not totally cheating by using Frontpage, but it will bridge the gap until I attain some semblance of web page proficiency.
While checking my lovely hotmail account the other morn, I stumbled across this "desperate plea" for assistance. As my English teacher used to say, "I may be dumb but I ain't stupid."
Sorry, but I had to X out the phone number and the e-mail address. I would feel terrible if someone actually thought this scam was legit and fell for it through my blog.
FROM:Dr Okolie Awele
234-803-xxx-xxxx
SOCIETE GENERALE BANK(NIG)LTD.
32/34 BREADFRUIT STREET
MARINA-LAGOS
ATTENTION PLERASE:
First, I must solicit your confidence in this transaction, this is by virtue of
its nature as being utterly CONFIDENTIAL and TOP SECRET.
Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make anyone apprehensive
and worried, but I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day. We have decided to contact you by e-mail due to the urgency of this transaction.
Let me start by first introducing myself properly to you. I am Dr Okolie Awele a Manager at the SOCIETE GENERALE BANK NIG. LTD, Lagos. I came to know of you in my private search for a reliable and reputable person to handle a very confidential transaction which involves the transfer of a huge sum of money to a foreign account requiring maximum confidence. I am not too really sure if you are my long lost contact whom I am trying to reach, but in anyway, please do take this message with a good heart and revert to me if you are not the person I think you are. I would explain more latter.
THE PROPOSITION:
A foreigner, late Engineer SANN CLARKE, an Oil Merchant / contractor with the federal Govenment of Nigeria, until his death three years ago in a
ghastly air crash, banked with us here at SOCIETE GENERALE BANK Lagos, and had a closing balance of USD$40.M (Forty Million,United States Dollars) which the bank now unquestionably expects to be claimed by any of his available foreign next
of kin or alternatively be donated to a discredited trust fund for alms and ammunition at a military war college here in Nigeria.
Fervent valuable efforts has been made by the SOCIETE GENERAL BANK to get in touch with any of the CLARKE family or relatives but all have proved to no avail. It is because of the perceived possibility of not going to be able to locate any of late Engr. SANN CLARKE's next of kin (he had no known wife and children) that the management under the influence of our Chairman, board of
directors, CHIEF OLUSOLA SARAKI, that an arrangement for the fund to be declared"UNCLAIMABLE" and then be subsequently donated to the Trust Fund for Alms and War in Africa and the world in general.
In order to avert this negative development, myself and some of my trusted colleagues here at the bank now seek for your permission to have you stand as late Engr. SANN CLARKE's next of kin so that the fund, USD$40.M USD would be subsequently transferred and paid into your bank account as the beneficiary next of kin.All documents and proves to enable you get this fund
have been carefully worked out and we are assuring you a 100% risk free involvement. For
your assistance, your commission would be 20%. 80%be for myself and my colleagues for investment purposes in your country.
If this proposal is OK. by you and you do not wish to take advantage of the trust we hope to bestow on you and your company, then kindly get to me
immediately via my e-mail furnishing me with your most confidential telephone,
fax number and exclusive e-mail so that I can forward to you the relevant details of this transaction.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated co-operation.
Regards,
Dr Okolie Awele
MANAGER
SOCIETE GENERAL BANK NIG.LTD.
N.B. PLEASE, FOR CONFIDENTIAL REASON, I WOULD LIKE YOU To CONTACT ME HERE xxxxxx@europe.com
Are the premils trying to actively issue forth the second coming of Christ by trying to influence US policy on Israel? Or is that just Jerry Falwell?
Or better yet, is Jerry Falwell trying to purposefully bog otherwise productive Christians down in conversations of how Jerry Falwell does not represent the theological and political beliefs of all Christians in the US?
I was more than pleasantly surprised to see Fox News doing a review of the new VeggieTales movie Jonah. In fact, my whole family has been eagerly awaiting the veggies debut to the big screen for quite some time. Wouldn't it be great if it were a smashing success and Christian movie writers and producers could make a splash in the kids movie segment?
Note to self: Must incorporate this movie into some kind of incentive program for my kids.
Happy 52nd Birthday to Sting!
I think that my top five Sting/Police songs have to be:
1. Why Should I Cry For You?
2. King of Pain
3. Fields of Gold
4. Roxanne
5. Walking on The Moon
It looks like Hurricane Lili will make the chance for rain on Friday at 450%. I remember watching some old movie (I think it had Humphrey Bogart in it) about a group of folks in the Florida Keys who sit out a hurricane with strong drink and dulcet conversation.
Two things I ask of you, O LORD ;
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the LORD ?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
(Proverbs 30:7-9, NIV)
Courtney Love, that is. The wife of the deceased Kurt Cobain finally settled her long-standing lawsuit with Universal Music Group. Or rather, Universal settled with her. (same difference, so sue me...)
I don't understand why more labels don't settle these lawsuits in a quicker fashion. There is nothing more damaging to a record company than to have their name besmirched. Well, maybe having your artists' albums distributed for free on the web is a little more damaging, but lawsuits take their toll as well.
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