SSN

In reference to the second tier of Great Britain’s National Insurance(Social Security)

“…but you had a choice to put them into the loving, caring arms of the State, or into the hands of the cut-throat rip-off merchants who run private investment vehicles.”

Shame....

...I have joined the masses of idiots whom have gambled money online. I'm down $20 on horse racing...

Mozilla Firefox

Are you sick of pop-ups, and internet explorer taking FOREVER? Give this a try...

www.mozilla.com

Let the campaign begin!

Iraqi Defense Minister: Iran, Syria Aiding Terrorists

Allawi Enters Iraqi Election Race

I think everyone knew that when Iraq became “sovereign” in June, that the “care taker government” was not going to ask the U.S. led coalition to leave. As today marks the official start of campaigning for Iraq elections, what will leading candidate’s platform embrace, and who’s ideas will get him or her elected?

Is it not ironic, how Iraq, who once openly and proudly supported terrorism by Palestinian militants, is going to be holding elections almost on the same day that “Palestine” is?

Required Reading...

You see, we didn't invade Iraq too soon. We actually invaded 10 years too late.

EXACTLY!!! George H.W. Bush's commitment to a 100 hour ground war, appeasement of the United Nations and his decision to sign an idiotic cease-fire with Saddam was the first and most important building block in the mess we currently have in Iraq.

Sanctions are POINTLESS!

Thank God Cuba is filled with Catholics.

Until everyone comes home...

Add a soldier to your gift list this year.

www.uso.org

Tight Race in Israel

Interim Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas is in a tight race with Marwan Barghouti, who is serving 5 life terms in an Israeli jail.

Israel's current position is that he will not be set free. He is responsible for 5 Israeli deaths.

Just another twist in the bizarre Middle East drama.

Egypt offers more support.

Democrats Care!

For shits and giggles, I signed up on the DNC website so I could obtain periodic talking points from the left. Here is an portion of a letter from DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe:


- Why did so many people have to wait in line in certain Ohio precincts and not others?

- Why weren't there enough machines in some counties and not others?

- Why were so many Ohioans forced to cast provisional ballots?

We will find answers to help implement and advocate reforms in the future.
Let me be clear. We do not expect either the recount in Ohio or our investigation to overturn the results of this election. But both are vital to protecting every American's voting rights in future elections.

If this is about every Americans voting rights, why not investigate every county in the country? Why not investigate Pennsylvania, whos margin was closer than Ohio? Oh... Kerry won that state so it doesn't matter...

Note to DNC: YOU LOOK STUPID!

Middle East 101 (acording to me)

Hamas conceding Israel has a right to exist? Egypt releasing political prisoners to Israel and vice versa? What the heck is going on here?

Out of all the smoke and mirrors peace deals that the Middle East peace process has produced, I believe this is a genuine opportunity for a normalized situation in Middle East.

The situation is this: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Syria/Lebanon do not recognize Israel as a state, and all basically have state policies of Israeli elimination. Egypt and Jordon were in the same group, but have made their “peace” with Israel over the decades.

The main sticking point in any negotiation is something called “right of return”. When Israel was created, per United Nations Resolution 181 after World War II, 300,000 – 400,000 Palistinians were displaced. Arabs say the Jews through them out, Jews say they left on their own to avoid the issuing massacre from Israel’s neighboring Arab countries, which invaded the day after Israel declared itself a state. Even if they were “thrown out”, since when does this give them a “right of return”. There have been thousands of wars over thousands of years, and everyone has had a winner and a looser. The Jews won and the Arabs lost. It’s interesting to note that the Arabs who had remained in Israel became Israeli citizens after the war.

The displaced palestinians who are of Egyptian and Jordanian decent were still promised a state. From 1948 to 1967, Jordan occupied the west bank and Egypt occupied Gaza. The Palestinian state was never created. In 1967, Israel, in what is commonly referred to as the 6 day war, took the West Bank from Jordan, The Golan Heights from Syria, and The Gaza Strip from Egypt. Its Ironic that Israel is working towards creating a palistinian state in Gaza and the West Bank when Jordan and Egypt did nothing to create such a state when they had control of the territories for almost 20 years. 99.9% of the Golan Heights had been offered back to Syria in return for recognition. Syria refused.

The consensus “border”, even among the Saudi Royal Family is the “green line”, which was the old Jordan/Israeli border before the 1967 6 day war. The security fence, a wall in some areas, falls 80% on the line, and leaves 94% of the west bank and all of Gaza for a Palestinian state.

The death of Yaser Arafat signals the end of the struggle. Its time for peace.

Wow!

Imagine the possibilities... All from bullets, bombs, and American/coalition lives.

The answer is hope.

Life is good...

I got a new Car!!! Mazda 6! Words can not describe how much I disliked my Honda Civic. Let me list the upgrades:

1) Size Matters. I am no longer cuddling with whomever is riding shotgun.
2) When I have passengers, no longer does it take 12 seconds to reach 60.
3) Key-less Entry. I felt I was the last person on earth the have to walk up to my door and turn the key.
4) My Old XM Radio sucked, as in you could only see 8 characters of the song title or band. I got one like my brothers, and it kicks ass.
5) My old Civic's color us U-G-L-Y. Some advice: If your getting a car, dont get the trendy new color. Get Black, white, or silver.
6) Automatic! Ive never had one, so its cool. Its got a quick shift feature, so I can still go "manual". This is awsome when accelorating.
7) Radio controls on on the steering wheel. Very cool.
8) Smooth ride. If I kept driving that civic I would of had hemroids in a few years.

Ok, Im done gloating.

Buckeye Highlights

Freshmen Jamar Butler had 4 assist in 13 minutes.

Its nice that Ivan Harris can shoot the 3, but the Bucks have NOTHING down low. Tony Stockman was their 2nd leading rebounder with 5, Dials pulled down a massive 6...

The Bucks are loaded at gaurd. Jekel Foster was only 1-5, but played well.

Charlie Rangel can go....

Well, how would you complete the headline?

This is how a leading member of the congressional black caucus views the men and women who are willing to die for life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

"They're not doing it because they're patriots. They're not doing it for any other reason other than they're poor, and they need job opportunities and they need educational opportunities. All this talk about how these people are enlisting because they're patriotic? It's a bunch of bunk," - Charlie Rangel (D-NY),

People in Upper Manhattan, Bronx, and East Harlem actually elect him as their representative every two years. I think it speaks volumes on how hard core New Yorkers feel about America.

36 loses in 3 3/4 years sucks...

However, I agree with Matt that Butch Davis should have gotten one more year.

Who would have thought early in the day when I heard Butch Davis was gone from Cleveland that there would be another coaching move in sports during the day that would be bigger?

Davis:

I personally would have given him one more year. Here is why:

1. I just liked him. He was a winner as an assistant under Jimmy Johnson at Dallas and was a winner at Miami Fl. when that program was in the toilet. I listened to post game shows and his analysis of things and just thought he knew what he was talking about (as opposed to sometimes listening to coaches and wondering what in the world are they talking about.)

2. While his drafts have not been very good, and I am the first to point that out, the Browns drafts before him by former coach Chris Palmer and GM Dwight Clarke were even worse.

3. Two or three years ago the Browns released several starters taking a big cap hit that year in order to improve themselves in the future. It was going to be tough for Davis to win that year.

4. While all teams have injuries, and it is a part of the game, as a Brown's fan I do think Cleveland has had more than their fair share the last couple of seasons. For example, their top two drafts picks this year are lost before the season (safety Jones) and in the first couple of games (Winslow.)

Wanting Cleveland to be good as quick as possible, I thought the quickest way was going to be by having Davis coach one more season with guys getting healthy in the off season, some new free agents, and another draft. While there are examples, it is hard to imagine a first year coach having a good season next year with Cleveland.

Willingham:

I am not a big fan of coaching changes two or three years into a new coach taking over unless the guy is a disaster. For me this especially applies to the college game and all the intricaces involved with recruiting. That being said, here are some facts on Willingham at Notre Dame.

1. 21-15 record. Two years ago Tressel goes undefeated and wins his fifth national championship and follows that up with an 11 win season and a top 10 finish. Ohio St. has a bumpy season this year and some people are all wound up (which is foolish in my opinion.) You can only imagine what Notre Dame fan were thinking.

2. 11-7 record at home.

3. Over a span of their last 25 games, Notre Dame has lost eight of those games by more than three touchdowns. Basically, Notre Dame in its last 25 games has been waxed 30% of the time.

4. From what I've heard, and I don't follow Notre Dame recruting, but last year's recruting class was not a great one and things weren't going real well early on for this class.

For different reasons I probably would have given each coach at least one more season, but guess I can see the changes were made.