The Swamp: Rep. Stark apologizes for sharp anti-Bush remark

Am I the only one who thinks that Congress could get a lot more done if they stopped wasting time crafting resolutions to commend, condemn, and censure people and offering pointless apologies? Whether it's Rush Limbaugh, or MoveOn.org, or Pete Stark, I don't give a crap about official condemnation of their words, or about silly apologies* they were forced to give. You have more fucking important things to do. Especially with this week being Islamo-Facism Awareness Week.


* Seriously, he apologized to the troops? For what exactly? None of his comments in any way disparaged the troops.

It's Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week!

Don't forget that it's Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week this week. How did we ever manage before Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week? I remember those dark times, when Islamo-Fascism was hiding around every corner, wreaking havoc. But no more, because now, we're aware of it. It's finally safe to live in America again. Personally, I've been trying to be extra aware of Islamo-Fascism this week. I almost thought I saw some Islamo-Fascism at Wal-Mart the other day, but it turned out to just be a trick of the light. That Islamo-Fascism is some sneaky shit. I think every week should be Islamo-Fascism Awareness week. After all, they are trying to kill us. I can't imagine how many people we lost to Islamo-Fascism last week, before people were paying attention. I'll bet it was a lot. Sneaky Islamo-Fascist bastards. They need to go back to Islamia or wherever they come from.

Racist propaganda

We've received the following email from three different family members now -

CHRISTMAS STAMP
How ironic is this??!! They don't even believe in Christ and they're getting
their own Christmas stamp, but don't dream of posting the ten commandments on federal property?

USPS New Stamp (REVISED) original was issued in 2001

This one is impossible to believe. Scroll down for the text.


If there is only one thing you forward today......let it be this!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing
of Pan Am Flight 103!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of
the World Trade Center in 1993!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM
bombing of the Marine Barracks in Lebanon!

REMEMBER
the MUSLIM bombing of the military Barracks in Saudi Arabia!


REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American
Embassies in Africa!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of
the USS COLE!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on
9/11/2001!

REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were
lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!

Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a commemorative first class Holiday postage stamp. Bull!

REMEMBER
to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp

When purchasing your stamps at the post office. To use this stamp would be a slap
in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.

REMEMBER to pass this along to every patriotic AMERICAN you know!!!

The email is not only terribly misinformed (big surprise there), it's also very offensive. I don't offend easily, but earnestly forwarding around racist nonsense like this does it.

As I've mentioned before, all of Michelline's family are conservative, but they're not an uneducated bunch. What can you make of this? What do you do? They all know we're liberal and they still forward us this crap, and I think they really expect us to nod our heads and say 'Oh, yeah, that's terrible. Those damn Muslims'. Well Michelline decided she'd had enough and sent this back -

By forwarding this on, you're saying that you feel ALL Muslims are responsible for the atrocities mentioned in this email. That's wrong. The vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and respectful of human life. If we hold all Muslims to blame for these atrocities, then perhaps we should hold all Christians to blame for the Irish unrest. Let's hold ALL Christians to blame for the Crusades. Let's hold all Christians to blame for the Holocaust. Unless we are going to call Christians to task for these atrocities, we cannot hold the vast majority of Muslims responsible for the cruelties and misdeeds of a few.

I would ask that you do not forward racist emails such as these to me. I find them highly offensive and so should you. For by perpetuating this nonsense, you are stating quite categorically that you feel that the only valid American Citizen is a Christian one.

Thank you for demonstrating such wonderful "Christian" ideals and virtues.

I think she's right that allowing this stuff to spread without comment is not acceptable. She normally just deletes this crap, but this one sent her over the edge. She's a little apprehensive about what some of the people may say, but I told her not to worry, she's firmly on the right side on this.

The media are stupid

Warning - Cowboy fan introspection and wankery follow. If you don't like it, too bad.

The Cowboys are 5-1 and barring key injuries or some other catastrophe, appear to be headed for the playoffs for sure, and have as good a shot as any at the division title and home field. None of that changed yesterday. Looking at it practically, I'm sure the team is unhappy with the loss, but realize that it was only a couple of plays from being a different game. But, damn it, I like to listen to sports radio and read sports websites, and from that selfish perspective, the final score yesterday has ruined this week for me.

I've only listened to about 10 minutes of radio this morning, and I've already heard it expressed that between the Buffalo game and the "blowout" yesterday, maybe the Cowboys aren't as good as advertised. That's what a lot of the media are going to take out of the game yesterday. Not that the Cowboys came back from a 14-0 deficit to take the lead in the third quarter, but that the Patriots ran us off the field. Yes, a 21 point victory is a blowout, but what kind? Not the kind where the Patriots came in and never looked back. The game wasn't over until the Patriots kicked a FG to go up 14 with about 4 minutes left.

Imagine this scenario - the Cowboys, after that FG, take the ball and drive down to score a TD. Then the Patriots get the ball and run out the clock. Then it's 41-34 and we hear about how the Cowboys played them tough all the way. But essentially, it's the same game - barring a miracle comeback, it was over after the FG. That's why that stupid garbage time TD pissed me off so much.

One last thing about the defense. I'm sure we're going to hear about this all year, but I've watched every game, and I'm not worried about the defense. Sure I'd rather have a great defense, but what we have is good enough. The defense made a couple of key plays yesterday that kept us in it.

Again, the analysis makes no difference to the actual success of the Cowboys. But perception matters to fans, because that's how we experience the game. The analysis and discussion are where a lot of the fun lies. So I guess I'll have to grit my teeth this week, and hope that we take care of Minnesota Sunday so that this week is a distant memory for the media.

StupidFilter

If they can seriously get this thing working, it will eliminate most of the complaints I have with using the internets. It will be a great day when I get get online without seeing any 1337 speak or LOL or emoticons.

Clash of the Titans (or New England at Dallas)

Here it comes, the matchup of two 5-0 teams for just the fifth time in NFL history and the third in the past 84 years. The media's fascination with the drama of the Cowboy's improbable win on Monday is starting to wear off and the hype for the game on Sunday is building. I love the hype. It's really a no lose situation for a fan.

1. They say the Cowboys haven't played anybody. First, you can only play who's on the schedule. Second, just about any NFL team can beat another; it's always hard to win in the NFL. If it's so easy to go 5-0 in the NFL, teams ought to be doing it all the time, right? I remember the last time someone shot a 59 on a PGA course, some pundits complained that it was an easy course. Umm, maybe so, but where were the rest of the 59's? Anyway, the Cowboys schedule hasn't been a gauntlet so far to be sure. But neither has the Patriot's schedule. Here are their opponents with their records -

Cowboys
vs NY Giants 3-2
@ Miami 0-5
@ Chicago 2-3
vs St Louis 0-5
@ Buffalo 1-4
Total 6-19

Patriots
@ NY Jets 1-4
vs San Diego 2-3
vs Buffalo 1-4
@ Cincinnati 1-3
vs Cleveland 2-3
Total 7-17

2. They say the Cowboys have a bad defense. It's true, the defense didn't look great against the Giants. But how are things shaping up overall? Right now, including the Buffalo game, the Cowboys rank 8th in yards per game allowed with 285.4 and 13th in total points allowed with 96. The Patriots definitely have the edge here. They're 2nd in YPG allowed with 251.4 and 6th in total points allowed with 65. But the edge isn't enormous.

3. They say Tony Romo is overrated. No question that some of the praise heaped on him, especially in Monday night's pregame show was overly effusive. But he's got enough experience under his belt for us to make a decent assessment of his talent level. He's pretty damn good. With 15 career starts, he has 4411 yards, 63.2% passes completed, 32 TDs and 21 interceptions (which includes his 5 from Monday) and 94.7 rating. I've watched every snap of every game, and he's had a couple of bad games. But the stretch run where we lost 3 of 4 last year was mainly due to defensive breakdowns. I think there are quite a few NFL teams who would take Tony Romo in a heartbeat right now. As a fan, you get a sense of certain players. I never trusted Bledsoe or Quincy Carter to lead us down the field. Romo feels like a leader to me, a guy who'll shrug off the bad stuff and do what it takes to win. Realistically, the only things I see that can stop him from succeeding going forward will be injuries or some Rick Ankiel-like meltdown.

4. Finally, I heard Chris Mortensen on a radio show this morning. I'm starting not to like him much. He repeated one of the things that's been making the rounds the last couple of days - that Buffalo's coverage scheme confused Romo, and that Belichick would see this and go to town. Buffalo's scheme was pretty good, but at least 3 of those int's were all Romo. Belichick's obviously a great technical coach, but Jason Garrett is no slouch on offense. He also fell back on the old conference disparity saw. He said that looking the Buffalo-Dallas game and the Indy-Tampa Bay games made him think it was a factor. That's just crap. Did he say the same thing when Arizona beat Pittsburgh the week before? Or when Green Bay beat San Diego? It's really too early to tell how this year will go with the conference matchups. Right now, the AFC is 12-10 vs the NFC. The AFC clearly has the top 2 or 2 of the top 3 teams. After that it's a crapshoot. And it really doesn't matter when you're looking at an individual game. I think Mortensen is just lazy.

So, all that said, I'd still pick the Patriots if I leave my heart out of it. They haven't shown any weaknesses so far. I think Dallas' offense is nearly equal to theirs, but they do have a defensive edge. But I don't think it's the foregone conclusion that most of the Pats fans seem to think, and I don't think a blowout is likely. Possible, sure. New Orleans took us to the shed last year, but I don't think they were that much better. Damn, though, I would love to read Simmon's column if the Patriots do lose. (and BTW, did I mention how great NFL.com is lately).

RIAA - Evil soul-sucking bastards

This is terrible.

A single mother who took a stand against America’s biggest record companies over music piracy was fined $220,000 (£108,000) yesterday.

Jammie Thomas, a Native American from Minnesota, is one of 26,000 people whom the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has sued over the past four years for alleged use of music “file-sharing” software.

The 30-year-old made legal history after refusing to pay an out-of-court settlement, as all others challenged over their behaviour before her had done, but her failure to carry the case is likely further to embolden the music industry in its attempts to protect copyright.

A federal jury sitting in Duluth, Minnesota, ordered Ms Thomas, who has two children aged 11 and 13, to pay the six record companies that sued her $9,250 for each of 24 songs they focused on in the case.

The sum is equivalent to about five times her annual salary.

This is getting ridiculous. This has nothing to do with protecting artists. This case focused on 24 songs, how the hell so they get $9250 for each of them? The RIAA didn't prove, nor were they legally required to, how many times the songs were downloaded.

Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, which co-ordinates the lawsuits, said after the verdict: “We think we’re in for a long haul in terms of establishing that music has value, that music is property, and that property has to be respected.

Nobody doubts that music has value, but these lawsuits, coupled with ridiculous ineffective DRM, only alienate customers and make more people want to stick it to the man. Ruining a woman's life for sharing a few songs just proves that the people running the RIAA are heartless, greedy, evil bastards.

What a night...

The first official teeball game was tonight. Libby got a hit on her first swing, but unfortunately stepped off the bag after arriving at first and got tagged out. She did get an RBI, though.

It rained off an on and they finally called the game in the top of the 5th with us winning 7-6. Our Mets played much better than their major league counterparts. We only gave up 4 in the first and got them all back. So we left soaked from the game-ending downpour, but happy.

We stopped at McDonald's to get a quick dinner. But after a mixup with our order which included two managers and a refund, not to mention them forgetting to give us our food, we were there for 30 minutes.

As we left we all noticed a thumping sound in the car. I stopped and checked the tires but they all looked good. We took off and it continued, so I stopped again. I felt the tires this time and found a big screw sticking out of one. It would probably have held, but considering how rainy it was and the fact that we have to cross a huge suspension bridge to get home, I decided to change it.

As I'm finishing that up, Libby tells me she has to go #2 and she can't hold it. I finish up with the donut and whip across the street to the Citgo where we wait for 10 minutes while she does her business.

Finally, at nearly 10 PM, we get home. Then we have to clean out the mess in the car from getting the spare out, start the laundry, make lunches and shower.

Our next game is on Thursday. I hope it's a little less eventful