Last week’s scores:

Erick Brockway: 10
Finrod: 9

Bye Week Teams: Dallas, Indianapolis, Miami, San Francisco

Sunday, October 18

Houston at Cincinnati
Detroit at Green Bay
Baltimore at Minnesota
NY Giants at New Orleans
Cleveland at Pittsburgh
Carolina at Tampa Bay
Kansas City at Washington
St. Louis at Jacksonville

Arizona at Seattle
Philadelphia at Oakland
Tennessee at New England
Buffalo at NY Jets

Chicago at Atlanta

Monday, October 19

Denver at San Diego

Husker 13
Finrod 11
Erick Brockway 10
Alberta 10

Bye Week: Chicago, Green Bay, New Orleans, San Diego

Sunday, October 11

Cleveland at Buffalo
Pittsburgh at Detroit
Dallas at Kansas City
Minnesota at St. Louis
Oakland at NY Giants
Tampa Bay at Philadelphia
Washington at Carolina
Cincinnati at Baltimore

Atlanta at San Francisco
Jacksonville at Seattle
Houston at Arizona
New England at Denver

Indianapolis at Tennessee

Monday, October 12

NY Jets at Miami

Bye week: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Arizona, Carolina

Sunday, October 4

Baltimore at New England
Tampa Bay at Washington
Tennessee at Jacksonville
Oakland at Houston
Detroit at Chicago
Cincinnati at Cleveland
Seattle at Indianapolis
NY Giants at Kansas City

NY Jets at New Orleans
Buffalo at Miami
Dallas at Denver
St. Louis at San Francisco

San Diego at Pittsburgh

Monday, October 5

Green Bay at Minnesota

danasdaddy: 13
Finrod: 6

Week 3 games:

Sunday, September 27th

Washington at Detroit
Green Bay at St. Louis
San Francisco at Minnesota
Atlanta at New England
Tennessee at NY Jets
Kansas City at Philadelphia
NY Giants at Tampa Bay
Cleveland at Baltimore
Jacksonville at Houston

Chicago at Seattle
New Orleans at Buffalo
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati
Denver at Oakland
Miami at San Diego

Indianapolis at Arizona

Monday, September 28

Carolina at Dallas

Finrod: 14
navychick1993: 13
NightTwister: 7

Everyone is still welcome to join in, even if you didn’t make any picks for Week 1. If there’s enough new entries, I’ll do two running-score tallies: one by total correct picks, and one by percentage correct picks.

Now for Week 2 games:

Sunday, September 20th

Carolina at Atlanta
Minnesota at Detroit
Cincinnati at Green Bay
Houston at Tennessee
Oakland at Kansas City
New England at NY Jets
New Orleans at Philadelphia
St. Louis at Washington
Arizona at Jacksonville

Seattle at San Francisco
Tampa Bay at Buffalo
Pittsburgh at Chicago
Baltimore at San Diego
Cleveland at Denver

NY Giants at Dallas

Monday, September 21

Indianapolis at Miami

Thursday, September 10
Tennessee at Pittsburgh

Sunday, September 13
Miami at Atlanta
Denver at Cincinnati
Minnesota at Cleveland
Jacksonville at Indianapolis
Detroit at New Orleans
Dallas at Tampa Bay
Philadelphia at Carolina
Kansas City at Baltimore
NY Jets at Houston

Washington at NY Giants
San Francisco at Arizona
St. Louis at Seattle

Chicago at Green Bay

Monday, September 14
Buffalo at New England
San Diego at Oakland

Less than a month after being told by Donald Trump that she can keep her Miss California crown, Carrie Prejean was fired on Wednesday, Foxnews.com has learned exclusively.

There are conflicting stories here: Donald Trump says that she refused to show up to events she was contractually obligated to show up for, but her lawyer says that she didn’t turn down anything she was asked to do.

It’s hard to tell who’s right and who’s wrong in this, however I’m wondering if the California USA pageant has been looking for an excuse to get rid of her, because it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if multiple folks fueled by ideology maliciously reported bad things about her– just look at the aftermath of Prop 8, there seems to be little that those types wouldn’t stoop to.

The question is, does the new policy work? At the time, critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to “drug tourists” and exacerbate Portugal’s drug problem; the country had some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. But the recently released results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, suggest otherwise.

…

Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal’s drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.

The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%; drug use in older teens also declined. Lifetime heroin use among 16-to-18-year-olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8% (although there was a slight increase in marijuana use in that age group). New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003, and deaths related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half. In addition, the number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and money saved on enforcement allowed for increased funding of drug-free treatment as well.

The author of the CATO report? Known sock-puppeteer Glenn Greenwald.

I’m not going to say that decriminalization of drugs in the United States will definitely cause usage to drop. But I do think that this is definite and solid evidence that decriminalization will not cause usage to skyrocket, like most critics claim. I also think that decriminalization will give us fewer long-term drug addicts, because more people will be willing to admit they have a problem and seek treatment.

Personally, I want to see the federal government get out of the drug war business. We have 50 states for a reason: individual states can try things, and if they go wrong, just that state is affected, but if they go right, then other states can follow suit. This whole federalism process, however, is stifled or shut down entirely when the federal government steps in and makes rules for everyone. To me, federal drug laws make about as much sense and do about as much good as the old federal 55mph speed limit: impossible to enforce, leading to selective enforcement, corruption, and general disrespect of the law in general. We’re better off getting the federal government out of as many things as possible, including drug law.

Now all we need to do is find some people with musical and singing skills and we could record this and send it to Dr. Demento as well as any conservative radio program that would air it.

While not exactly a film buff, Gordon Brown was touched when Barack Obama gave him a set of 25 classic American movies – including Psycho, starring Anthony Perkins on his recent visit to Washington.

Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem.

The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words “wrong region” came up on his screen. Although he mournfully had to put the popcorn away, he is unlikely to jeopardise the special relationship – or “special partnership”, as we are now supposed to call it – by registering a complaint.

A Downing Street spokesman said he was “confident” that any gift Obama gave Brown would have been “well thought through,” but referred me to the White House for assistance on the “technical aspects”.

A White House spokesman sniggered when I put the story to him and he was still looking into the matter when my deadline came last night.

Bingo! Chalk up another clueless mistake for the Obama White House! Hat tip to my lovely girlfriend that ran across this news article today.

Oh, and please consider this an Open Thread for any and all things related to the NCAA tournament, including your tournament bracket picks.

WASHINGTON — The labor union-supported Employee Free Choice Act–which if passed would facilitate the hotel unionization process and allegedly increase hotel owner expenses–has been circulating for some time now on the periphery of the lodging industry as a threat that has thus far failed to reach its potential. The American Hotel & Lodging Association’s (AH&LA) efforts to decry the bill’s ultimate purposes combined with not enough votes in the U.S. Senate and a threat of veto by former President George W. Bush have seen to that fact.
But with the inauguration of new President Barack Obama and a new Congress taking session, the threat of the Employee Free Choice Act has emerged once more and in more foreboding form considering prior to his election Obama stated, according to published reports, that he will sign the act into law if Congress passed it. Furthermore, there are Democratic Party majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives. The last time the bill went before Congress, the House approved it and the Senate failed to pass it by a slim margin.

All typos mine. The article goes on to quote Marlene Colucci, the AH&LA’s executive vp of public policy:

“Legislatively, it’s been interesting to see the transition from the last Congress to this Congress. And one thing you saw during President Obama’s campaign was this bill would be one of the first things out of the shoot and Obama would sign it. But since then we’ve visibly seen it slow down and we’ve seen a statement from President Obama saying, ‘We really need to focus on the economy first because if we don’t have jobs you can’t unionize them.’ Also, I think the result of the campaign against this issue is making it so toxic, no one is anxious to take it up. The new administration sees this as a real poison pill for them, as they want to focus more on bringing people together and the tough economy. This issue hamstrings employer and employee relationships and hurts the economy. There’s a study coming out that will show the impact it has on jobs. You’re also seeing what happened with the auto industry and the affect heavy unionization has had on that industry and the ability to negotiate. Not many are anxious to copy that model. We’re not pro-union or anti-union. But the National Labor Relations Act was created so there are balanced rights for employers, employees and unions. Employees need to have an opportunity to vote via secret ballot whether they want a union.”

The article goes on to quote from hotel labor union UNITE HERE, which says the usual pro-union drivel that I’m not going to bother typing in. Then it goes on to further quote from Colucci on why it may not be so easy for unions to get the act passed:

“In effect, members of Congress were getting a free vote before because they knew it would not be signed by President Bush. This time around it’s not a free vote. All the pressure now will go on the Senate, which is more of a deliberative body and has seen a lot of change. A lot of Democrats from the South are more convertible on the issue. Both Democrats from Arkansas may be having second thoughts. Republican Senator Arlen Specter voted for it last time and now there’s pressure on him. But if it gets to President Obama, he’ll be between a rock and a hard place. But I don’t think it will get that far. His advisors will try to make sure the Senate never gets it to him.”

She goes on further to observe that she expects the bill to be moved quickly to the House floor, because its supporters don’t want attention drawn to it as it would if it went through the normal committee process. The article goes on to point out that the binding arbitration part of the bill is even worse, since it removes all incentives for a union to compromise. The final statement is from Ed Noonan, a labor expert:

“I still hope it won’t pass or pass in its current form. It would be disastrous for the country. And hotels would be particular targets because the union organizing activity will concentrate on industries that can’t relocate. The fear is if legislation works the way the unions want it to work, many companies will leave the country. A hotel can’t simply leave.”

What can we take from this? Many businesses are just as worried about the EFCA as we are, and are quietly mobilizing against it. With luck they and we will succeed in blocking this giveaway to the unions by the Democrats.

Personally, while it’s great for me to have the Steelers in the Super Bowl (since I’ve been a fan since their title runs back in the 1970s), it means that I’ll actually have to pay attention to the game this year; I’d been successfully ignoring it in years past, save for when the Steelers won it last time, heh.

Open sports thread (I miss redstatesports.com).

Sure, technically there’s still work there to be done. And sure, we still have over 100,000 troops there. But you know what? Iraq is standing on its feet now, and it’s high time that we acknowledge that. Sure, us political geeks may know that as of Jan. 1, Iraq not only has taken over security for the International Zone in downtown Baghdad, but also has complete authority over its own citizens; US troops can no longer detain Iraqis without cause.

But does anyone else know that?

Heck, a majority of Obama supporters in the presidential election still thought Republicans controlled Congress; they sure as shooting aren’t going to be aware that Iraq has come a long way since 2006. You can bet that the media isn’t going to tell them that, either, unless they can somehow spin it that Obama has made Iraq all chocolate and roses, as opposed to that evil Bush that couldn’t do anything right.

No, you need to take a page from the late Ronald Reagan and take this straight to the American people. Tell them about what’s happened in Iraq as a result of the surge, and how the Iraqi government is now in full control of its people and its borders– a government that’s only there because of the incredibly hard work and sacrifice of the American military. The people need to hear this, and they deserve to hear it from the leader that asked for patience from them in a long hard time of war. You, and only you, can give this message.

Please.

Tough rules have been instituted for individuals wanting to attend President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, forcing some to rethink their plans to come to the nation’s capital on Jan. 20 for the historic oath of office of the nation’s first black president.

Among other items, thermoses, coolers, silly string, backpacks and lawn chairs will be banned along the parade route. Those objects and strollers are also prohibited up on the Capitol, where Obama will be sworn into office at the West Front Capitol.

So hundreds of thousands of people are going to be forbidden from carrying any significant quantity of beverages, and they’ll have to stay standing because they’re not going to be allowed to carry chairs.

For those 240,000 people with the up-close tickets, umbrellas and posters will also be forbidden on the Capitol grounds, though they will be permitted along the parade route. Signs or placards must be made of cardboard, poster board or cloth and not larger than 3 feet by 20 feet.

People with seats further out on the Mall will endure more lax rules, but alcohol is prohibited as are glass bottles and no tents will be allowed.

Of course, nowhere along the way will weapons, fireworks or pepper spray be allowed.

Better hope it doesn’t rain! Even if you’re only on the parade route so you’re allowed your umbrella, your cardboard, poster board, or cloth sign isn’t going to hold up too well. Oh, and you’re not allowed to bring anything to defend yourself, so you’d better not risk bringing anything of value.

When asked if specific items such as canes, walkers, lighters, matches and diaper bags would be prohibited from the parade route and the Capitol, authorities said they didn’t know yet.

Way to impress the AARP crowd, there. Something tells me the smokers and the moms with infants aren’t going to be too pleased, either.

Some people have already discerned the writing on the wall:

D.C. officials and the National Park Service are expecting anywhere from 1 million to 3 million people for the inauguration. They say the inconvenience is a small price to pay to witness history in the making.

But some parenting blogs are abuzz with complaints about the less-than-kid-friendly restrictions.

“Of course, they’re not going to say, ‘no children,’” said Sunny Chanel, a San Francisco-based contributor to Babble.com, a parenting Web site. “But they’re definitely not making it easy for parents with smaller children to go.”

Antron Johnson, who’s organizing an inauguration trip with three busloads of Obama supporters from Atlanta and Savannah, Ga., said he’s had about a dozen people, mostly elderly, who dropped out after learning about the parade’s no-chair policy.

Additionally, Johnson said seven people, including families with young children, recently backed out — losing their deposits — because they’re afraid they won’t be able to maneuver in big crowds.

Most people will be traveling to the city by bus or subway. Some estimates have suggested that if 1 million people try to ride the subway after the inauguration is over, it will take eight hours to move everyone, assuming everything runs smoothly. So area transportation officials are warning — if you’re coming, be prepared to walk a lot and wait even more.

Metro service has already said it is charging rush hour rates for travel and bathrooms will be closed for security. The option left for parents wanting to change stinky diapers? Hundreds of porta-potties the transit system and park officials are providing downtown.

“It’s truly scaring people,” Johnson said. “The news is becoming more and more bleak.”

What a wonderful way to begin a presidential administration– by scaring your most die-hard supporters! Deprive the elderly of what they need to be able to get around (wheelchairs and canes), the mothers of what they need to keep their littlest ones happy, and generally make everyone miserable– for up to eight hours afterward. Oh, and this is all in the middle of winter in a town that thinks it’s a Southern city but often gets the winter weather of a Northern city.

Whee.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Mayor Richard M. Daley said Tuesday that city crews will cut back on plowing side streets this winter in an effort to save money. The mayor said the city will only plow side streets during weekday union business hours this winter, rather than during overtime hours.

The other change? City parking meters are being outsourced and will have their rates double or more over the next 5 years, plus the meters will have to be fed 24/7 (hat tip: my wonderful girlfriend):

Motorists will pay $6.50 an hour by 2013 to feed downtown parking meters — more than double the current rate — and neighborhood parkers will see an eight-fold increase under a $1.15 billion privatization plan that raised eyebrows in the City Council.

…

In addition to the possibility of “congestion pricing,” the deal calls for meter rates in the Loop to rise to $3.50 an hour in 2009; $4.25 in 2010; $5 in 2011; $5.75 in 2012, and $6.50 in 2013. Central business district rates outside the Loop would go from $1 an hour to $2 in 2009; $2.50 in 2010; $3 in 2011; $3.50 in 2012, and $4 in 2013. Rates would be cut in half between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m., but meters would have to be fed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Need I add that the city of Chicago is pretty much owned by the Democratic Party? Personally, I’m rooting for blizzards to hit Chicago every Friday afternoon all winter long. Imagine someone getting a ticket because their car was snowed in next to a parking meter all weekend long and they couldn’t move it because the street hadn’t been plowed the whole time.

We won. The Iraq War is over.

I declare November 22, 2008 to be “Victory in Iraq Day.” (Hereafter known as “VI Day.”)

By every measure, The United States and coalition forces have conclusively defeated all enemies in Iraq, pacified the country, deposed the previous regime, successfully helped to establish a new functioning democratic government, and suppressed any lingering insurgencies. The war has come to an end. And we won.

What more indication do you need? An announcement from the outgoing Bush administration? It’s not gonna happen. An announcement from the incoming Obama administration? That’s really not gonna happen. A declaration of victory by the media? Please. Don’t make me laugh. A concession of surrender by what few remaining insurgents remain in hiding? Forget about it.

There’s not much I can add to this other than to give it my complete and whole-hearted support. After all, if we don’t celebrate this victory, who will?

Here’s hoping that baseball fans in those states take an unfriendly view to the start of the World Series being pushed back so Obama can talk politics at them for half an hour.

My contribution:

I was reading stories off a Pittsburgh site about the Steelers’ win over Jacksonville, when I noticed something peculiar. At the bottom of the page it had categories for ‘Today’s Most-Read Articles’, and while four of the five were articles about the Steelers and their hard-fought win over Jacksonville, the #1 was not. Furthermore, it was also #1 for ‘Today’s Most-Sent Articles’.

What was it? An editorial column about Obama’s connections to Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayres.

In a Steelers-crazy city like Pittsburgh, that’s saying something.

We’ve fought and won two wars in Iraq.

Let’s go back to 1990. Saddam Hussein ordered Iraq’s armed forces to conquer and occupy the neighboring state of Kuwait. The United States along with many allies, under cover of a UN resolution authorizing the use of force, liberated Kuwait from Iraq’s occupation in early 1991. The United States also encouraged Shiites to rebel against Saddam Hussein, which many did, thinking that the United States was going to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

But we didn’t. Some of our allies who were on board with expelling Iraq from Kuwait were not on board with continuing on into Iraq and removing Saddam Hussein from power. So after it was clear that the United States was not going to overthrow him, Saddam Hussein rounded up those that rebelled against him and had them imprisoned, tortured, and killed.

Over the next twelve years, Iraq violated every UN resolution passed to restrict its behavior; eighteen of them. Through the oil-for-food scandal, Saddam Hussein bribed many foreign leaders and people of influence; he paid money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers who were attacking Israel; and in 2002 he took in one of al Qaeda’s top leaders, al-Zawahari.

When it came time for the UN to vote on an authorization of force to remove Saddam Hussein, however, the money he spent as bribes paid off: the UN failed to approve an authorization of force. However, this did not stop the United States from doing what needed to be done; we gathered a coalition to invade Iraq, an even larger coalition than the one that expelled Iraq from Kuwait 12 years earlier.

Thus began the first war in Iraq, and it went very well; Baghdad fell in three weeks and Saddam Hussein went into hiding, only to be found and caught less than nine months later. We had won the war that we had prepared for. The Navy even hung a Mission Accomplished banner.

But another war was coming in Iraq that we had not prepared for. The country of Iraq was in shambles after Saddam Hussein was deposed, thanks to thirty years of his rule; there was no functioning government to speak of, and the people didn’t know how to govern themselves. Into this chaos al Qaeda decided to strike. Foreign fighters and foreign money poured into Iraq under al Qaeda’s coordination and the second war in Iraq, the war against al Qaeda, began. And to make matters worse, many of the people of Iraq didn’t want to trust us, remembering how we encouraged them to rebel against Saddam Hussein twelve years earlier and then abandoned them. Can we blame them for not wanting to be abandoned twice?

Many in the American media didn’t want to admit that al Qaeda was behind the violence in Iraq, even though the new force battling the United States in Iraq called themselves ‘al Qaeda in Iraq’; the New York Times called them ‘al Qaeda in Mesopotamia’, figuring that people didn’t know that Mesopotamia was the Biblical name for what is now Iraq. It took three years and much bloodshed before the United States came up with a plan to win this second war, thanks to General Petraeus. Many thought it was unwinnable, that we should pull out of Iraq. But thanks to the surge and perseverance, we’ve won this second war now as well. We’ve routed al Qaeda in Iraq, and we now have an invaluable new ally in the Middle East.

I’ll end this tale here, since the McCain people can write it from here better than I can. But John McCain needs to remind people why we went into Iraq (to depose Saddam Hussein) and what happened afterwards. Otherwise he has no clear answer as to why we had to deploy the surge and win in Iraq, and no clear weapon against Barack Obama who wanted to pull out of Iraq.