Thanksgiving Football Weekend!

Thanksgiving is a holiday where you give thanks for all the good things in your life. Sometimes the bad things work out for the best too!

Thanksgiving is also about football!

This was "Haas Football Weekend 2009"!

On Friday, the Las Vegas Locos did battle with the Florida Tuskers for the first UFL Championship out in Sin City. Pretty good game and it went into overtime with the Locos pulling out a 20-17 win!

Later that night, I shifted gears to college football. Pitt charged down I-79 just across the West Virginia border to Morgantown for the 102nd Backyard Brawl. The strange thing about West Virginia is that they hate Pitt but love the Steelers...It was another tough, grind it out game and it came down to a field goal at the end...Unfortunately, it was a Mountaineer field goal and Pitt came up short 19-16.

Saturday saw the East Carolina Pirates host, than ambush, the Southern Mississippi Golden Knights. The Pirates jumped out to a 17-7 halftime lead and then saw their advantage evaporate in the second half. SM stormed back and scored to tie it up at 20 in the fourth period. The Knights were going to take the lead with extra point but ECU blocked it and took it to the other endzone. In the NFL that is a touchdown but in college, you only get two points. Leading 22-20, the Pirates kept it on the ground and managed to add a field goal for a 25-20 win. With th ewin, East Carolina hosts the Conference USA Championship next week against the University of Houston.

Sunday, I shifted back to the pros. In fact I went north of the border. The Canadian Football League's championship took place in clear, cold but sunny Calgary, Alberta. My Saskatchewan Roughriders played Montreal's Alouettes. The Riders were nine point underdogs but jumped out to a 10-0 lead at the end of one. Montreal fought back from a 27-11 fourth quarter deficit to close to within two. On the last play of the game, Montreal missed a 43 yard field goal and the Riders had won the Grey Cup 27-25!

No, they hadn't

The refs flagged Saskatchewan for having 13 (!) men on the field. In the CFL, you play with 12 men and somehow there was one too many green jerseys out there. Montreal got another chance from ten yards closer and all of Saskatchewan was screaming.

Learn to count!!!

The came the piece de reisatnacne, the crescendo if you will:

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens

The Steelers had third string QB Dennis Dixon under center and a lot of people had the temerity to write my Steelers off.

How dare they?!

Typical Steeler-Raven slugfest back and forth. Dixon played great and the Steelers seized the lead 17-14 late in the fourth. Then the Steeler defense could not hold Balto when they had too but at least the damage was limited to a field goal.

Into overtime. Dennis finally made a "new guy playing in his first NFL start" mistake and the Ravens had a 20-17 overtime win.

The Football Weekend ended just like it started--with a 20-17 overtime game.

And I enjoyed every second of it.

And I managed to finish a 22 page paper on the Historiography of Russian Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century....

I will do you a favor and NOT post that...LOL

But next week I will put up some of Aries Marching!

Michelle is working on the maps right now.

And she says you cannot rush genius....

Happy Thanksgiving!

All they want is your money

A couple of days ago, I received in the mail a letter from a car salesman who graduated from my alma mater, The Citadel, back in 1981.

As you probably guessed, I did not get along then or now with my school. I have never contributed a penny nor do I really keep up with anything that goes on there. I spent four years of my life there and the Nazi worshippers in charge tried to run me out and twice threatened to have me courtmartialed.

I graduated--with TWO degrees and with honors.

It was not the freshman year stuff (called "fourth class system") I objected too even if they went a little far with it. That is my concession. What I did not care for was the continued harrassment and attempts to steal my belongings, stick me with constant guard duty and threaten me with "demerits."

Too many and they throw you out of the place.

Give me an apology and maybe we can start over. But I do not see that happening.

What upset them the most was that I would not take any crap from them and struck back. God saw fit to give me knobby fists. Plus I can outstare goldfish and most cats. Apparently somewhere in the regulations, it is an offense not to respectfully return Hitler salutes or to participate in mass goosestepping. Refusing to shout "Heil Hitler!" was also frowned upon.

I will be the first to tell you my belt buckle may not have been the shinest but my marksmanship was hard to beat. I also never, ever left a classmate in distress and helped out anyone who needed help I could provide.

It was depressing to see freshmen I helped keep from quitting turn around and become wannabe Nazis to the following year's incoming class. I drew the line when those same people I helped tried to turn on me. When direct means failed, they tried to be more subtle but I reacted in a direct manner and ended any scheme before it started.

They still tried.

And they failed.

The "Brotherhood of the Ring" is a lie and I figured that out rather quickly. Should I have gone to Pitt? Definatley. But I was not going to be the butt of any jokes. They may say whatever they like about me but remember a few things:

(A) Say it to my face

(B) I beat you on your home ground using your rules

(C) You still beg me for money

None of my so-called "brothers" have ever made contact. I live next to one of the largest military bases in the world and I was on the radio for a decade. Not exactly hiding...

So back to our original story. Car salesman from Class of 1981 I never heard of and is much older than yours truely envokes this supposed bond in the hopes of selling me a Jeep Cherokee. Is that what all the Death Marches and Hell Nights were all about?

I still laugh when I get plaintive appeals for donations.

I'd rather give it to some homeless guy.

As the Sycthians once said to the invading, exaspetated Persians suffering in the heat of the steepes: "Go weep."

Rain, rain and more rain!

I would not have been surprised to see someone building an Ark! It rained for four days straight! Remnants of Hurricane Ida drifting northward and it decided to stay. At least it ended any drought problems we might be having.

The four day rainfest wrecked my running schedule but I managed to get a lot of stuff done...I can't fool around outside when the rain is falling in buckets!

But the weekend was great so if you are going to have crappy weather, it might as well be during the workweek.

A black cat ran in front of me on Friday the 13th and guess what happened. Nothing. Well, the cat came back for me to pet it so before I tell you superstitions are nonsense, I should check to make sure I do not have rabies! LOL

After christening the cat "Jackie Robinson", I continued on my way to say hi to a couple of identicial twin dogs I call "Thane" and "Drane", after two identical brothers I created in Aries Marching, due out, I might add, in December.

After Gracy the gray cat came over to say hi to the three of us, I tromped home and say birds all over the place. Have I acquired to power to summon animals? Or do I smell that bad? LOL

I am going to try and get a government grant to research the question.

And the project will be headquartered in Las Vegas...

It can be done!

Fall of the Berlin Wall!

It can be done! On this day in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell! Not because of a military assault or even a massive revolution. No, the people of East and West Germany moved towards each other, ignoring heavily armed East German and Soviet border guards, to join hands. Some of the people on the wall are East German border guards...LOL

This a day to begin great things! Whatever barriers you have within you will fall and today is the day you take the first step forward to whatever it is you want to do!

I remember standing in the barracks of the Citadel hearing the news. I could not believe it! Something as vicious and solid as the Berlin Wall fell without a shot being fired! On that day the Cold War ended and freedom spread into Eastern Europe and eventually to every corner of the USSR itself.

Twenty years later, we still face threats to freedom. The sad thing is is that our own government is the threat. It seems overpowering, solid and invincible but remember the supposedly solid Soviet bloc. It vanished the day the people decided they had had enough.

The same thing can happen here. Corrupt leadership in all levels of government all the way down to the local one combined with greedy corporations have created a Berlin Wall in our minds and hearts in the 21st century.

Get your priorities in order, treat others as you yourself would like to be treated and never, never, let yourself be pushed around whether it be by the increasingly rapacious government or corrupt business practices (Small local businesses are the best!).

Polite, firm and unbending. If Rosa Parks can do it and the entire German nation can, so can we!

Go forth and conquer!

Red Storm Rising...

The People Strike Back?

Conservative voters in New York’s 23rd Congressional District may think they have a difficult decision on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, but a closer look reveals a shocking surprise: they don’t. The 23rd District is holding a special election to determine who their next Congressional representative will be, and it has all come down to three individuals: Republican Dede ScozzafavaDemocrat Bill OwensIndependent Doug Hoffman Knowing nothing about the candidates, conservatives might initially feel inclined to vote the Republican Party line. The problem, however, is that they have a real choice to make in this race. They can choose between an ACORN-endorsed liberal Republican in Scozzafava or a pro-life, anti-bailout, anti-spending conservative in Hoffman. This information might lead conservatives to believe the choice is an easy one – vote for the conservative. The problem, however, is that by breaking with the Republican Party, they might very well be handing over a victory to a liberal Democrat aligned with Nancy Pelosi. So, now, the question becomes, “Should conservatives prostitute their beliefs and vote for a liberal Republican just because her victory would help keep a far-left Democrat out of office?” The situation isn’t all that unusual, and typically conservatives take the path of least resistance. This race is different. This race is a true litmus test of what’s to come in the 2010 midterm elections. Voting the straight Republican line accomplishes nothing for conservatives in the 23rd District or for conservatives in general. Voting the straight GOP ticket would send a message to the Republican National Committee (RNC) that the status quo is just fine. When rank-and-file Republicans march in lock-step with the party there is no incentive for the RNC -- or even local Republican Committees for that matter -- to rethink their endorsements. There is no incentive for them to change their ways. The race for New York’s 23rd District is the perfect opportunity to send a clear message to the RNC that conservatives want their party back. The issue should be non-negotiable for conservatives. If they put their political values over the party’s political preference in this election, the shock waves will be felt across the country. This is an opportunity for conservatives to make a strong statement about who truly holds the power in our country: “We the people.” Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich made his choice this week by publically endorsing Scozzafava, the highly liberal Republican. Gingrich explains his reasoning on his web site:
My number one interest in the 2009 elections is to build a Republican majority,” Gingrich writes. “If your interest is taking power back from the Left, and your interest is winning the necessary elections, then there are times when you have to put together a coalition that has disagreement within it.Gingrich is right. Should Republicans in the 23rd Congressional District split their votes between Scozzafava and Hoffman, there is the very real possibility that Owens, an even bigger liberal, could win the election and represent them in Washington. But what if that doesn’t happen? There is another way of looking at it: in terms of odds. Hoffman is the only hope conservatives in the 23rd have for like-minded representation in Congress. Whether they cast aside their convictions and vote for Scozzafava or hold on to them and vote for Hoffman, the worst-case scenario is they’ll have either a liberal Republican or a liberal Democrat representing them. On the off chance Hoffman wins, however, conservatives will have lost nothing and gained everything. After all, a liberal is a liberal, regardless of party affiliation. Conservatives in the 23rd should ask themselves which choice will keep them up at night when the election is over … and vote to ensure they sleep well.

Now my take...

If the Republican party does not act like Republicans, you will see more of this. Democrats too by the way...This is why the Repubicans were trounced so throughly in 2006 and why they never stood a chance in '08. Of course, Bush's screw ups did not help.

The problem with the two party system is that it can be just as unresponsive and repressive, yes, repressive as a one party system. They try to convince you the Democratic and Repubican parties are your only choices.

Well, the people in upstate New York disagree.

And this is why I am a committed Independent.

I believe both parties have forgotten the people they are supposed to represent. They care more for special intersts and are as corrupt as anything we joke about in Mexico. There needs to be serious reform in many arenas in this country..political, economic, social...and our most of our "public servants" do not seem that interested.

This development in upstate New York should get their attention.

They will try to use scare tactics to head off the Conservative Party by first claiming that voting Conservtive will split the vote and allow the Democrats to win. The people of the 23d Congressional District have answered that if this is the best candidate the Republican Party can offer, maybe it is better that they take their chances outside the two party apparatus.