Something caught my attention today. I heard a commercial on the radio today that was a thinly veiled direct attack on the governor of the Empire State. Now, I’m no expert with the NY budget, but these commercials seemed illogical.

The one that I heard multiple times today and really stood out was a drama of a mother speaking to the ER doctor that just operated on her son. She was very happy because he (the doctor) saved her son’s life. He said it was all in a days work, but it might not be so next time, since George Pataki cut so much spending out of the budget for hospitals and doctors.

I’d be upset too, if my gravy train came to an end.

This goes back to the since of entitlement that is plaguing the state and society in general. Too many of the left wingers and the R.I.N.O.s (Republican In Name Only, you know, like Senator McCain of Arizona) are addicted to state and federal aid.

What happened to doing a better job than the competition? Did I miss the memo that we are no longer in a capitalist economy anymore?

If you want socialized medicine, go to Canada.. we can see how well it is working for our neighbors to the north.

Now I understand that the cost of health care isn’t cheap, but whose fault is that? It’s the same reason that a college education costs upwards of $100,000, Federal and State aid for those who “can’t afford” it.

Is this something that can be done? Probably not. Once you are addicted to heroin, the only alternative is methadone. Kicking the habit is virtually impossible. It is unlikely that there will be less government subsidies for things such as education and health care.

My question to the producers of the commercials is this: Where would you have the money come from? Would you rather have a cut in the highway department? Police departments? Fire Departments? To be fiscally responsible, you don’t spend more money than you have. I know it is a foreign concept.. but it actually makes sense.. if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.. I know.. it is a crazy idea, but it’s so crazy it just might work..

Well, you had to know it was only a matter of time before I wrote something about the debates going on in our nation’s capitol.

The issue is causing thousands, perhaps millions to take to the streets in protest.

The issue is illegal immigration. Particularly Mexicans, but several nations are represented in these rallies.

Those who know me probably know where I come out on this.. but I’ll break it down.

First of all, there is a reason why they are called ‘Illegal Aliens’ and ‘Illegal Immigrants’.

I understand that our nation was built into the greatest nation in the world by immigrants, but there is a difference between the Mayflower and the coyotes that smuggle Mexicans into California and Arizona.

There are those who say that our economy depends on undocumented, underpaid farm laborers. I can’t find fault in the argument that there is little chance we would be able to get a head of lettuce for less than a dollar if farm owners had to pay minimum wage, plus payroll tax and social security for each of their pickers.

An argument to the contrary would be the drain on social programs that illegals and their children cause. Do enough of our tax dollars go to fund social programs to off-set the savings in food costs? There is no way to know for sure, but most Americans have an opinion.

After several years, someone has decided to do something about it, and now Congress has joined the bandwagon. One piece of proposed legislation would make it a felony to be in the country without documentation, another would all but give a free pass to those already here (but what would stop others from coming in?)

This is one of the issues that you will never satisfy everyone. The politicians can either serve those who elected them, or they can pander to those who can’t even vote for them.

I’m not a fan of talk show host Michael Savage, but his mantra rings true, “language, borders, culture.” By protecting these three things, America can remain strong. By abandoning them, we will be no better than the rest of the world.

And before all you who are dissatisfied with the way things are around here, and are mislead by the media saying how much the rest of the world hates the US, why are so many people giving all they have to come here? Maybe our Founding Fathers were on to something after all.

Let me start out by apologizing for the time between postings.. I am not going to bore you with the lame excuses.. I’m just going to start writing.. Before I go off on my latest rant, an update on my picks from the NCAA, after picking 6 of the Elite Eight, I got stung and only had 1 of the Final Four (Florida). I was in an online pool through Buffalo Wild Wing's web site. Out of over 4500 partcipants nation wide, I finished 334th. (I spent a bit in the top 10 for a while before the wheels came off). Overall, I cant be disapointed in my results..

And now, on with my rant..

The other day I watched a show that I wasn’t sure what to expect. In hind sight, I probably should have known.. but I watched it anyway… it was a show called “American Inventor”. It was a lame show with more fluff than anything else. The basic premise is anyone who fancies themselves as an inventor can bring their creation to this panel of experts who will judge it and if they vote to see if it is the next best product. It probably won’t surprise you to find out it was produced by Simon Cowell.

Seems pretty harmless. It was a 2 hour premier and there was probably about 35 minutes of actual ‘inventions’ (if you could call them that..) there was a lot of hype about the show, the obligatory bio for each of the 4 judges, but mostly it was sound bites of the alleged inventors.

The inventions ranged from the interesting to the insane to the down right stupid.. one guy ‘invented’ a walking stick (he called it a ‘wand’), another brought a device to add smoke flavor (via real smoke) to food, still another brought in an overcoat complete with a piss bag. You read that that right.. this guy added a plastic bag to the inside of a cloak that would allow you to answer the call of nature wherever you are. None of these 3 got passed on.

What really got me about this show wasn’t the bad acting, the weird ‘inventions’ or the shameful self-promotion of the show. What really bugged me about this show was the sense of entitlement that the ‘contestants’ had.

The people that didn’t make it on (you need 3 of the 4 judges to say ‘yes’ to move on) seemed to have a bug up their butt about not being chosen as the next ‘American Inventor’. They seemed to have this unnatural sense of entitlement. They appeared to be genuinely upset that they were passed on.

Now I don’t claim to be an expert on the next great invention, but the so-called inventions that were passed on, for the most part, were some of the worst ideas I’ve seen for new products in a while. I understand the frustration, I mean, many of these people have spent several thousand dollars developing their prototypes. Maybe they were just upset that they wasted their money. Although each of them had one thing in common.. they all said “you’ll see, my product will be everywhere, and you’ll wish things went different today” or something to that effect..

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about American entrepreneurship.. but let’s call a spade a spade. Some things weren’t meant to be invented. The trick is to know when your idea is a bad one, and let it go.

With the original 64 pared down to the Sweet 16, what does your bracket look like? Mine isn’t looking too bad.. I’m 34 and 14 through the first two rounds. I should be doing better.. going against my better judgment, I picked Big East Champs, Syracuse.. I should have known better.. Guess I got caught up in the way they played in the meaningless conference tournament..

Now, they did do something that has never been done in the Big East, no team who didn’t have the first round bye has won the tournament. But they had to win at least 2 games to make it to the Big Dance, the only team that actually would have benefited from beating the Orange was possibly Georgetown, but they made the tournament anyway.. they may have slipped a seed or two, but they are doing fine as a seven seed.

Every year, between selection Sunday, and the first tip just after noon on Thursday, everyone talks about who got the shaft, and who got lucky, and which conferences were snubbed, and which ones got to many teams in. A lot of the talking heads were saying the Big East was over estimated by getting a record 8 teams into the dance, including two number one seeds.. This talk increased when they were 0-3 after the first day. Things got better after a 5-0 second day.

All in all, the first 4 days of the tournament has had some fantastic games, and one can only hope the remaining rounds are as entertaining.

I’m not sure what bugs me more.. the fact that the lead story this morning was the Oscars, or that it was above the fold on the front page.

Listening to the news talk station this morning, the lead story for each ½ hour news update was results from the Academy Awards last night. Now I understand that this year was the first time that a Rochester area person has won the ‘Best Actor’ award. I understand that the glory hungry residents of this area need to look to be in the national media where ever they can find it.. let’s face it, It’s been a long time since Arthur Shawcross or the Brinks Heist was in the news. Before Capote was nominated, did the rest of the country know who Phillip Seymor Hoffman (he’s the guy that sharted in that Ben Stiller debacle Along Came Polly) is or that he is from Rochester?

I guess it goes to the voyeuristic nature of the American culture. As for me, I found better things to do than watch rich, stuck-up people having fun and congratulating each other about movies that I have little to no interest in.

If I really cared about the awards, I would get into the fact that the ‘artists’ who brought us “It’s tough out there for a Pimp” now have more Academy Awards (1) than Martin Scorsese (0). But why should I care about meaningless awards for which I will never be in contention to win, or even be nominated for.

The thing that bugs me is that other stories are being pushed back; Stories that have more bearing on day-to-day life in the area. Stories such as the RPD officer that was forced to use his gun to defend his life and the life of the husband of the allegedly high wife who came at Officer Jeffery Lafave with a knife got pushed below the fold.

Let me paint the picture from what I have pieced together from news reports. Two of Rochester’s finest responded to a domestic disturbance call, to an address that RPD officers have responded to on several occasions. The officer felt either his life, or the lives of other civilians was in danger, so he did what he was trained to do. One shot, center-mass.

And now her family is suing the department.

More and more, the good guys are being painted as the bad guys. It’s getting tougher and tougher for good cops to keep the streets safe. Their hands are being tied in a number of ways, and when the get close to the line, the ACLU whack-jobs cry foul. How can we expect to be kept safe, if those charged to do so are not able to do their jobs?

Now, David Patterson is doing what he can to hand-cuff the men and women in blue of this state even further. Dave is a state senator from Harlem, who is likely to join Spitzer in Albany. He is proposing a bill that would change the way Police Academies train. He is proposing a new charge that could be levied to police officers that are forced to use deadly force in the line of duty. Instead of shooting to stop or kill, they will have to aim for the arm or leg or another non-fatal target on the perp. If a cop is involved in a fatal shooting, under this proposed law, the officer would be charged with second degree manslaughter.

Yep, that’s right. The cop would go to jail for doing their job of protecting the innocent.

When will it stop? Who knows, but it is clear that the government seems to think that we are not smart enough to run our own lives.

Do you recognize that sound you’re not hearing? It’s the collective sound of Americans not watching the Olympics. Who’s to blame? Is NBC’s coverage the problem? Or is it the 6-9 hour time difference between Italy and the US? Perhaps… Maybe it’s the fact that nobody cares. As the games go more X-Games, it becomes less interesting to Americans. As far as I’m concerned the only real sport in the Olympics is hockey. Honorable mention goes to curling.

When snowboarding takes center stage, we have gone too far. And what was going through the first skeleton rider’s mind? (is that what they are called?)

Being honest, the only Olympic coverage I have seen was part of the Canada/Russia women’s hockey game, most of the US/Germany women’s hockey. I listened to part of the US men play the Slovaks Saturday, so I really have no idea what kind of “special stories” are going on in this version of the games. I’ve heard the stories, Michelle Kwan’s injury, the snowboarder who blew her chance at a gold when she show-boated and fell.. and the Bode Miller saga, reminiscent of the challenge between Dan and what’s-his-name, the decathletes from the '92 games, both failed to medal. Lot’s of pre-games hype, with disappointment as the pay-off.

What could make the Olympics better? Many have suggested tape delaying are the downfall of the coverage, perhaps. But if NBC showed the games live, the coverage would be at 9am, who would see them besides housewives and retirees? Would you take work off to watch the biathlon? Not likely. Others have suggested consolidating events into one night. For example all figure-skating would be featured on Thursday. That works if you want to catch one event, but most people would then only tune in for the event’s that interested them.

I think that the games have run their course. There is little doubt that Americans are not interested in most of the ‘games’ of the winter Olympics. All the proof I need to confirm this is the fact that glorified karaoke is pulling better ratings then the games. I doubt many of us would miss the games if they went away and simply never came back. Maybe then, there wouldn’t be a 3 week hiatus of new Law and Order episodes.

A grave disservice was done.

It was a sad day when Dr. King’s widow passed last week. She received an honor that not even her late husband received, being laid in state in the Georgia Capitol building. In fact, no African-American let alone a woman African-American. But that’s not what this is about.

At her funeral, many dignitaries were present, and several spoke. Some used the occasion to spew biased left wing propaganda anti George W.

Former President Jimmy Carter (according to Homer Simpson, we elected the wrong Carter with a reference to Billy Beer) took pot-shots at the current Commander and Chief for a lack of rapid response in the wake of the devastating storm Katrina. His comments were inappropriate to say the least. Not that he doesn’t have the right have a different, (albeit misguided) opinion than the current President. This was hardly the place to voice such an opinion.

It gets worse.

The Reverend Joseph Lowery swung much lower. His comments included “We know there were no weapons of mass destruction, but we knew there were weapons of misdirection right here.”

It was a time to pay tribute to a civil rights crusader. To the memory of civil rights leaders of times past. A mark that was missed on multiple occasions, and an opportunity to do much good was tainted by misguided left wing whack jobs. It was hardly the time or place for such slander.

Another Superbowl has come and gone. With my apologies to the Steeler and Seahawk fans, but let’s be real, it wasn’t that exciting.

The game wasn’t that good either. A very uninspiring performance by just about all involved, separated by a few moderately entertaining commercials. The consensus for best commercial was Bud Light’s ‘Magic Fridge’, I can’t dispute it was a good commercial, (my mom almost choked on her snacks when she saw it. I would give honorable mention to the ‘Sheep Streaker’ (also a Bud Light offering), The Fed-Ex prehistoric saga, and the Sprint-Nextel locker room comparing phone capabilities.

As part of the pre-game, the NFL paraded out the MVP’s of the past 39 Superbowls, with 3 exceptions. There were 3 no-shows representing 6 games (San Francisco’s Joe Montana, XXIV, XIX, and XVI, Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw: XIV and XIII and Miami’s Jake Scott VI) according to a San Francisco paper, Scott was in Australia vacationing with his family and the other two were holding out for more money. The League reportedly covered travel expenses for those in attendance along with tickets to the game and $1000 cash for incidentals. Joe Montana was reportedly holding out for quite a bit more than that, saying he wouldn’t come for less than $100,000. He also told ESPN 2’s Cold Pizza that he would be attending his kid’s basketball game the day of the big game.

Should they have been there? Probably, will it tarnish their legacy? Probably not. What kind of obligations does the mantle of MVP of the Superbowl bring? Officially, I am not sure (having not been a Superbowl MVP myself) publicly, I think they should have made an effort to be there. Could Scott’s family have vacationed next week or last week? Probably, but who are we to say he should have? Bottom line, it would have been nice to see all of the past MVP’s, but it didn’t make that much of a difference to me. It didn’t effect the game at all. To be honest, I had to look up the dates of the 6 Superbowls that were not represented, the most recent one was 16 years ago, and as long as I can remember, Bradshaw was the obnoxious bald announcer. In the end, I guess it comes down to, how much of a difference does it make to us that these 3 former athletes found better things than go to the Superbowl? Not much. If they want to spend time with their families, and they have the means to do so, more power to them.

Radio talk show host and columnist Bob Lonsberry wrote this, I liked it alot, so I figured I would pass it on. He can be heard weekdays on 1180 WHAM in Rochester, or streeming from the station's web site (wham1180.com). His daily column can be read at http://lonsberry.com. This was today's, amen Bob!

==========================

Dear Osama,

I saw your videotape.

And I was struck by how much you look like one of the shepherds in the Christmas play.

But then I remembered you don’t celebrate Christmas. Which probably explains why you’re such a jerk.

I also wondered, listening to the audio, if you’d had your ‘nads shot off. I mean, there’s a certain high pitch to your voice which you typically only hear coming out of the Vienna boys choir. And I figured what with all that running and hiding you do, maybe you’d run afoul of some shrapnel or something.

Anyway, to the specifics of your tape.

You said that you wanted a truce.

Which is exactly what we want. We really, really want peace. And we’re glad you are willing to discuss terms.

Here are ours: You and everybody like you has to die, preferably in a ghastly fashion. Then we’ll lay down our arms.

Until then, please rest assured that nearly 300 million Americans fall asleep every night imagining a set of crosshairs lining up on your forehead.

Seriously, of all the jackals who deserve a sniper round through the brain pan, you’re at the top of the list. Every day Americans pray that your health is good so we’re not denied the pleasure of killing your sorry camel-riding backside. Right now, if you keeled over from a heart attack, we’d consider it that we got ripped off.

Speaking of untimely death, sorry to hear about your pals the other day in Pakistan. Seems like three of your big buddies were getting together to screw a sheep or something and all of a sudden some guy back at Langley pushed a button and the camels got a fireworks show.

Apparently your big bomb expert and your Pakistan boss and some other boss from someplace people who use inside toilets have never heard of turned into a big pink cloud in the blink of an eye.

Ka-freaking-boom.

Here’s the bad news for you: We’re not out of missiles yet. And flying those Predators around is a lot of fun. And we’ve got a whole generation of videogame experts coming up who’d love to Xbox your brains out.

Hey, I had a question: How’s the cave?

Does it get a little old being on the run constantly, hiding like a frightened dog, cowering off in some hole in the ground? Sure, everybody loves camping, but I’m not sure shivering in the mountains in the winter can be that much fun.

Also, some friends of mine wanted me to pass you a message. Essentially, everybody in the United States Army sends their best. Ditto for their friends in the Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy. And they really like this game of reverse hide-and-seek you’ve got going. You hide and they look for you. And eventually they’ll find you.

At which point there will be a lot of noise and some bright lights and then you’ll meet an angel who will give you the bad news about the 72 virgins.

Before I go, there was one other thing I wanted to bring up. In your tape, you said that you were planning more attacks in American.

In fact, you said that you could have attacked already if you’d wanted to and that our homeland security efforts were meaningless to you but that you were working on something and as soon as you got it lined up you were going to pull the trigger.

Well, you’re welcome to try.

But you’ve got to understand, all you do is make us laugh. Honestly, Osama, you are full of so much crap. You couldn’t pull off a convenience store robbery right now.

The reason you’ve done nothing over the past four and a half years is because you’ve not been able to. We’ve broken up cells, we’ve broken up your money supply, we’ve killed your allies in the field. Heck, George W. Bush even listens in on your friends’ phone calls.

In short, we’ve made you our, uh, female dog.

And we’re about to put you to sleep.

So, go ahead, send your tapes and make your boasts. They’re good for a chuckle.

But you’re history, slick. You’re a dead man walking. Your fate is sealed. The what is known, it’s the when that’s still up in the air.

Hopefully, it won’t be too quick. Hopefully, it’ll take long enough for you to suffer and fret an awful lot.

But if it’s quick, that’s fine too. Just as long as you’re dead. Because that’s what you really are. You’re dead. Your cause, your organization, yourself. Just so much bloated, stinking death.

We’re just competing to see who has the honor to do it.

And, on that videotape. All of us back here in America were thinking you could take it and shove it up your backside.

- by Bob Lonsberry © 2006

 

A while back, before blogs infested the internet, I wrote editorial columns and emailed them to anyone who was interested. I ran across one of my favorites the other day. Here it is. It was written around Thanksgiving time, but the theme is universal. Hope you enjoy! :) (the sub refrenced here was the inspiration.for the movie U-571)

=============================================
In this season of Thanksgiving, we have much as Americans to be thankful for. There is, for many people the obvious, a hot turkey dinner with all the fixings, friends, family and a roof over our heads.

Giving Thanks to Those Who Deserve Our Thanks. There is, however, much more to be thankful for.

I had the opportunity this weekend to visit Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. While there, I took the tour of the USS Pampanito. It is a WWII Balao class fleet submarine. While on the boat it made me think. And as I thought about what I was looking at, what I was walking through, I gained a much greater appreciation for the sacrifice that the men and women in uniform make on a daily basis for us.

Don’t get me wrong, I have always respected the military, and admired those who give for the greatest nation on the planet. But until now, that has always been a passive respect.

On the tour, we went in the sub and with the aid of a hand-held player, we hear the voices of the actual sailors who served on that small craft. I say small, but the craft of just over 300 feet was home to 80 men for months at a time.

I make no claim that I can understand what it is like to be stationed on the sub, I have spent 30 minutes aboard a decommissioned sub, docked at the bay, however one of the things that often goes un-anticipated is how small it is, how cramped the quarters are, and how dangerous everyday life aboard a sub is. The rooms were cramped with the 6 people that were at the same point of the tour as us. It was hard to imagine 80 people being there. On one of the tours, it was even worse, they picked up more than 70 British and Australian P.O.W.s drifting in the South China Sea, real life survivors.

The duties and responsibilities of the submariner is great. Think about it, if a ship has problems. It stops. Or worse, it starts to sink. You still have life rafts, and with luck you will get rescued. However, as witnessed by the recent Russian sub still at the bottom of the ocean. A mis-hap, more often than not, yields no survivors--especially at a depth of 400 feet or more.

The tour was very moving to say the least. We learned of more than 50 other American subs that never returned from a tour of duty. Their final resting place is forever unknown to the families of those brave sailors. The more than three thousand men who gave their lives for the fight for freedom. To protect the rights that our fore-fathers bleed for.

I thought of the election, and the media circus that it has become. I thought of the hundreds of over-seas absentee ballots that may not get counted because the party in power doesn’t like who they might be voting for.

Too many times the military gets the raw deal.


This isn’t right. Why is it that the professions that mean the most to this nation, are the ones that get the least respect, both in pay and in society. Why is it that the jobs least important to society pay millions to those who can throw a ball, or sing or act? How is that right?

It is time that the men and women who serve in the military get the respect that they should have coming to them. Too many soldiers and sailors are on food stamps. These are the ones who will protect us, so that we can continue to enjoy the freedoms listed in the Constitution.

If you ever have the chance to go to San Francisco, take the opportunity to tour the USS Pampanito. If nothing else, you will learn a bit of history that no textbook can teach.

As you read this, take the time to reflect on the freedoms that we enjoy. Take the time to thank those in the military who you know, both those who are still with us, and those who have gone before us. And most importantly, remember that while we are free to enjoy the many freedoms that we as Americans enjoy, democracy only works if we do. Get involved, if it is nothing more than going to a PTA or a local city council meeting.

Please forward this to those who you know in the Armed Services, I would like as many of them as possible to know that there are people who support them, and respect what they do.

A friend of mine sent me this.. it makes you think.. it should be passed on to all your ingnorant liberal friends. (I didn't change the formatting at all.)



Things that make you think a little:

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq in January.
In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the
month of January.That's just one American city,
about as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq.

When some claim that President Bush shouldn't
have started this war, state the following:

a. FDR led us into World War II.

b. Germany never attacked us; Japan did.
From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost ..
an average of 112,500 per year.

c. Truman finished that war and started one in Korea.
North Korea never attacked us.
From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost ...
an average of 18,334 per year.

d. John F. Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict in 1962.
Vietnam never attacked us.

e. Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire.
From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost ..
an average of 5,800 per year.

f. Clinton went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent.Bosnia
never attacked us.
He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three
times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on
multiple occasions.

g. In the years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush
has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled
al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran , and North
Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who
slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.

The Democrats are complaining
about how long the war is taking.
But,
It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno
to take the Branch Davidian compound.
That was a 51-day operation.

We've been looking for evidence for chemical weapons
in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find
the Rose Law Firm billing records.

It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the
Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard
than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his
Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick

It took less time to take Iraq than it took
to count the votes in Florida!!!!
Our Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB!
The Military morale is high!
The biased media hopes we are too ignorant
to realize the facts

I’m going to the Bronco’s game in Buffalo (Orchard Park) tomorrow night (8pm on ESPN), so I decided to drop a couple of football takes.. Let me start with the Bills… where to start? There too many open shots to take at them..

Let me preface this rant by saying I am not a Bills fan.. the only team I like less than the Bills would be the ‘Boys in Dallas.

Having said that, let me start with their soon to be ex-#1 receiver Eric Moulds. After a dispute with an assistant coach during the Miami game 2 weeks ago, he was benched for the Patriots game. It looks like he will be in the lineup Saturday for the Bronco’s game, but it will likely be his last game in Buffalo’s red white and blue in Riche Stadium. What colors will he be wearing next year? My guess? Philly. It is painfully obvious TO won’t be there next year and they will be looking for a solid receiver. Where will TO go? A couple of possibilities, Dallas or Denver, but who knows.

Who is going to make it to the Superbowl? From the AFC, it looks tough to pick against the Colts. On the other hand, Denver looks tough. My picks as play-off teams include, New England, Indy, Cincy and Denver to win their respective division with the Chargers and the Steelers to snag the wild card. Over to the NFC, it still looks like anyone’s game. My picks (which I reserve the right to change.. ) are Giants, Bears, Bucks and Seahawks to get in as division champs and Carolina and the Vike’s to steal the wild cards. With 3 games to play, the second bye is still up for grabs.

Let me skip right to the championship games. Indy to sneak past the Broncos, on the AFC side. On the NFC side, I’m going with the Giants to go back to the site of Jay Feeley’s worst game of the season and make amends over the Seahawks. Who will take home the Vince Lombardi trophy? My pick is the 18-1 Colts.

Did the Air Marshals do the right thing?

When passengers boarded American Air flight 924 bound for Miami this week, no one suspected it would be anything but a routine flight. But for Rigoberto Alpizar, and the US Air Marshals, it turned out to be anything but routine.

We have all seen the coverage of what happened that day. We have heard spin from both sides. Where do you come out? I tend to lean towards the “they did the right thing” side.

Reports are coming out that he may have not been all there. Reports are that he is bi-polar. His wife reported that he had not taken his medication.

On the other side of the cone, we have all known for several years now that the last thing you want to say anywhere near a commercial flight is “bomb”. In the days since 9-11, it’s worse than shouting “fire” in a crowded theatre.

Who’s at fault? How were the Air Marshals to know his mental state? Can anyone, even a highly trained psychiatrists, spot diagnose people with such conditions? If so, can we trust these snap decisions? We have seen terrorist groups adapt as law enforcement tactics evolve.

To get a true feel on why it was handled correctly, you have to ask yourself some serious questions. What would the reaction have been if it had been a terrorist and the Marshals had reacted differently? Is it out of the realm of possibility for an Al Qaeda operative to feign some sort of mental deficiency to dissipate attention and suspicions?

In my opinion, the Marshals that reacted should be applauded, not criticized. Keep up the good work guys, you make it safer to fly than we can ever know.

It's getting to be that time of year. No, I'm not talking about the time for Christians around the world to celebrate the birth of our Lord. No, I'm referring to the blatant abuse taken by countless brainwashed consumers. The day after Thanksgiving, known as 'Black Friday' (likely because often it's the first weekend all year that many retailers' bottom line finally transitions from red to black) is the day that normally civilized people will get up before the crack of dawn to wait in line for hours in the hope of saving $20 on something that they don’t really need anyway..

I leafed through the ads in the Turkey Day paper to see if there was anything that that would make me want to get up that early (I didn’t even realize that there was a 5:00am!). There were some good deals, (LCD TVs for a few hundred dollars, DVD’s on the cheap, computers and accessories at or below cost, and the list goes on..) but nothing tempting enough to get up before the sun to stand in line. A friend called me Thursday night and advised me of a good price for some digital media (about ½ the cost I paid for the one I have now). I told him to get me one if he went. He called me Friday afternoon to say when he got there a bit before opening, there were nearly a thousand people in line. By the time he got to the part of the store where this ‘killer deal’ was, they were long gone. There was a wait of over an hour to pay for the ‘screaming deals’. Thanx, but no. I’ll pay the couple extra dollars for the couple extra hours sleep, and avoid the lines.

But the prize I was looking for was made available for purchase 3 days before the madness begins… The much awaited for, highly touted follow-up to Microsoft’s entry into the video game console, the X-Box 360, launched on the 22^nd.

Several months ago, as the hype became greater, I broke down and put a deposit down to be sure that I was one of the first to be playing the ‘best of the best’. All summer I bought myself gift cards to buy down the cost of the system (figuring to be around $500 for the package deal Media Play was offering). That way, upon launch day, I would only need to come up with about a hundred dollars or so.

As the magic date approached, I read on several websites all about the system and the games that would be available on launch day. I had narrowed it down to a few and the count down began, I even took the day off to play. I had read the rumors that there would be an artificial shortage, but as many times an article accused the software giant of short supplies, there were quotes from MS brass strongly refuting such claims. I wasn’t worried, especially since I had pre-ordered one to ensure come the 22^nd, I would have sore thumbs and crossed eyes from staring at the TV all day.

In cases of great anticipation, many retailers will open at midnight on launch day to start selling their products as soon as legally possible. Media Play didn’t sell enough pre-sale to justify the early release, but they ensured me that I would be all set when they opened at 10am.

You can imagine my dismay when I made it into the store and was told I was going to have to wait. You see, of the nearly 900,000 units ordered, Bill Gates, in his infinite wisdom shipped around 40% of them. According to the manager, Media Play was expecting to receive 6 units, but got 4. Which leaves 2 possibilities, someone screwed up, or two employees got theirs before I could get mine.

The only solace to the whole situation is the laundry list of reports that came out several days later about the high number of defective boxes that went out. (with the equally adamant response from MS brass that the number of defective units paled in comparison to the total number shipped)

Long story short, as I type this, on the 6^th of December, I am still sans 360. They tell me the next one they get will be mine, but they don’t know when that will be.

What am I going to do with it when I get it? Will I bust it open and pull an all-nighter? Perhaps.. but the first thing I will do is check eBay. If they are still going for 2-300 above retail, I’ll make someone else’s Christmas a bit merrier, and wait a couple more months for either Halo 3 or Knights of the Old Republic 3 to be released and get one then. Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. Stay tuned to see what happens…

In the mean time.. if you were one of the fortunate ones to get one, let me know what you like or don’t like about your system and what games you have.

Well, I've been hearing about blogs for quite a while now and I decided that it was time that I started one. I'm not sure what kind of direction I will take this, so I'll use it as an outlet for my random thoughts. I'll hit on politics, sports, perhaps even some pop culture (movie and tv reviews, etc...).

Stay tuned and if you like what you see, pass the address on to a friend. Any suggestions, drop me a line. If there is anything you want my take on, drop me a line.