Why do we hate cops?

It seems that in this day and age, there is a growing disdain for our law enforcement officers, whether on the local level, or national.

Recently, there were 2 separate chases involving criminals and local police departments that ended in the death of one of the alleged criminals fleeing the authorities.

The first occurred on 15 May, 2007. Pam Chatman (a woman with 30+ aliases and a rap sheet "literately 20 feet long") was fleeing the police after shoplifting from the Grease Towne Mall, the other happened more recently. A passenger in the fleeing car was killed at the end of the pursuit. In the car, the Police found unregistered, loaded weapons and drugs.

On the national level, boarder guards are not being able to do their job. When they are threatened by drug smugglers and coyotes, and return fire, they are put in jail.

Why is it that when someone is arrested, we blame the cops? Why is it that when the person fleeing the police gets hurt in a chase, we immediately look to see if the cops were at fault? What ever happened to 'you do the crime, you do the time?'

Granted, there are some bad cops out there, but they are by far the exception, rather than the rule.

I don't really have an answer to this, I just thought I would throw this out and see what you had to say about it...

I can't belive I'm saying this...

Al Sharpton was right.

Yes, you read that right. I am actually agreeing with the Reverend.

When Hotel heiress, Paris Hilton was reassigned to house arrest to serve out the rest of her already shortened sentence, it stank of favoritism.

The fact that less than a day later, she is back in jail shows that perhaps the LA justice system might not be as messed up as initially thought.

Does a person's race or economic status play a part in the treatment they receive from law enforcement? Perhaps. Does it happen as often or as blatantly as the good reverend would have us think? I don't think so.

Playing the race card when race isn't the factor only hurts the real victims of racial bigotry. In fact, in todays society, it seems that we bend over backwards to avoid any hint that race might be a factor. Without getting into detail, I have seen it happen.

In the Paris Hilton situation, I think the message is that if you are famous, you are above the law. The list of celebrities who have gotten favorable treatment includes people from several different races, not just Caucasians.

So much for Justice's blind fold, I think it might be slipping.

He should be in jail.

And now he's talking of suing the government for putting him in quarantine.

I'm talking about the lawyer that flew to Italy and back after being diagnosed with a rare form of TB.

Ok, so maybe he wasn't aware of his condition before his flight to Italy, but reports indicate that he was advised not to fly home on a commercial flight, and the fact that he changed his flight to Montreal and drove across the boarder seems to indicate that he knew he would be flagged at the airports.

Who knows how many he could have infected. He put countless people in danger. Now, I am by no means an expert on infectious diseases (like his father-in-law), but it seems that a trans-Atlantic flight would expose him to a myriad of people, both directly and indirectly.

He acted with reckless abandon (can you tell I watch Law and Order?).

One good thing has come from this, it exposed a weakness in the boarder crossing that can be addressed and corrected.

Isn't it just the case...

OK, so now if you don't come to the defense of a complete whack-job, you are a coward? Even if that fat cow is a complete 180 from where you stand on a subject..

I just want to make sure I know all the rules.

In case you missed it, (and unless you are living in a cave, you probably didn't) that annoying waste of space Rosie O'Donught used her soap box to once again prove her ignorance to the world on her show.

A few weeks ago, she compared the US Troops to terrorists. Surprise, people didn't like that insinuation, and she got a reaction.

When co-host Elisibeth Hasselbeck didn't come running to her defense, Rosie called her a coward.

So, the lesson of the day is: If a co-worker who could eat you says something stupid, something that you don't agree with, and when people get mad, if you don't kiss her fat backside, you are the coward.

You see, Rosie is smarter than all of us, and if she says it, it must be right. (like when she said that George W. planted bombs in the World Trade Center #7, the evil conservatives must have done it. Since I'm not as smart as she is, I wondered why if we bombed ourselves, why we couldn't sneak WMD into the Iraqi desert.. but like I said, I'm not that smart.)

I'll step down from my soap box now.

Season Finales

This week, two of the best shows on TV had their season finales, 'Lost' and 'Heroes'. I wanted to give my takes on both.

I'll start with the older of the two shows, 'Lost'. I will include spoilers, so if you haven't seen it yet, and plan to, be warned.

This years season was kind of a weird one. It featured a long hiatus 6 episodes into the season.

I wasn't sure how I liked the emphasis on 'the others' in season 3, but the last couple of weeks made it worth it. There was some interesting developments of Ben, Juliette and 'The Others' in general. Having said that, I thought the episode that they spent developing Nikki and Paulo (Expose, s03e14) was misplaced. They spent too much of the episode developing characters that were minor at best before this episode, only to kill them off at the end. I didn't remember them at all, but after discussing the episode with friends, I vaguely remember them (or at least her) from the past.

Overall, I felt that the 2-hour grand finale raised more questions than it answered. I like the way that the 'flashback' was actually foreshadowing. But the beard doesn't work on Jack.

Questions like:

--Whose funeral did no one go to? (Ben? Locke? Sawyer?)
--Who is at home wondering where she might be when she is meeting Jack at the airport? (Ben? Sawyer? Kate and Jack's kid?)
--Was Naomi really the problem that Ben said that she was?
--Did Desmond make it out of the 'Looking glass Station'?
--What was the work that Walt said Locke has to do? (and where have he and Michael been?

Also, some questionable plot turns, like why does Charlie close the door of the station from the inside instead of the outside?

I know that a lot of people got turned off by the season. From the huge gap in the middle of the season to the (at times) drawn out plot lines. I felt that I had enough invested in the first 2+ seasons to at least stick out the end of this season. Now that it's over, I will be looking forward to the 4th season this fall.

++ Heroes ++

When this show first started, I wasn't sure if I would like it. Enough people told me it was good, so I gave it a shot, and after an episode or two, I got hooked.

I wasn't keen on having to read all the subtitles when Hiro and Ando (and Lt. Sulu as well) when they were talking to each other in Japanese, but I get it.

I liked how they dragged out how long it took to figure out if Claire's dad was a good guy or not.

After 22 excellent episodes, I have to say that I was disappointed in the finale. I felt it was rather anti-climactic.

The final show-down with Sylar was a let down.

My prediction for next season is that Micah and Molly will be a big part of next season. They left a huge opening for it when they were waiting for the elevator.

Have we seen the last of the Petrelli brothers? What is their mother's power? Will DL come through from the bullet? Is Niki or Jessica going to dominate? Is one of them done? Are we going to find out that Suresh has an ability (it is in his blood, his sister had the same power as Molly)? What happened with the Haitian? What is going to come of Hiro in feudal Japan?

Both shows have potential to have strong seasons next year.

What are your predictions for next year? What about reactions to my thoughts/questions?

Baseball needs to re-think its scheduling practice

I meant to write this a while back but I didn't want to over shadow the events that lead to my last two posts.

Now that the baseball season (both Major and Minor leagues) are starting earlier and earlier, they need to rethink the idea of having cities in the northeast host games in the early season.

Those of us who live in the northeast (I'm in Rochester, NY) know that weather is, at best, unpredictable.

It doesn't seem to be as much of a problem for the majors, since they have larger travel budgets and multiple trips to each city (except for the inter-league games, which don't occur in early April).

Why is it that the southern and western teams consistently travel to the colder climbs to open the season. Who was the brainiac who sent the L.A. Angels of Anaheim to open the season in Cleveland, OH? With several feet of snow on the field, the games were moved to Milwaukee, WI, into their domed stadium. (did anyone else notice that the games were moved to the home stadium of the team owned by the sister of the commissioner?)

Now I understand that the southern teams don't want to lose home game dates in the summer when more people are likely to attend, as opposed to the days that schools are still in session.

What becomes unfair, is now that the Rochester Red Wings of the International League (an AAA League) will lose 3 home games this year because of bad weather. Since the teams involved, aren't scheduled to make another trip to the Flower City, the games will be made up when the Red Wings travel south later this summer.

To make matters worse, in the make-up games, the Wings won't even get the benefit of last ups in these games.

Now is the time to make the change. If the season isn't going to start later in the year, than have the first 2 weeks take place in southern and western cities, or cities that have domed stadiums. Would you rather sit at the stands of a game in August in South Carolina, or in Rochester?

Or, here's a novel idea.. how about going back to playing more double-headers? That would allow the season to start later, but not shorten the number of games (which might not be a bad idea either..).

Play ball!

More gun laws are not the answer

Given the recent events in Blacksburg, VA this week, one might be quick to say that we need more laws to control the possession and use of firearms in this country.

Without turning this into a 2nd Amendment discussion, I would have to whole-heartedly disagree.

Anyone who says otherwise either hasn't thought it through, is just plain ignorant.

First of all, do you think that Cho Seung-Hui was concerned with the law when he gunned down 30+ people on campus Monday?

Would another law have prevented the tragedy? In a word, 'No'.

Sure, it may have slowed him down, but as hell-bent on destruction as he was, he would have found a way to secure weapons to fulfill his manifesto.

If the gun dealer had not legally sold him guns, he could have gone to many urban street corners to pick up a Saturday night special, or he could have gone into a garden center, and picked up a bag of ammonium nitrate and a Ryder truck like Timothy McVeigh did 12 years ago today.

Despite your stand on the interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, the more restrictions the government places on it's law-abiding citizens, the less protected the citizens become.

One thing that I don't hear being mentioned is the comparison to the shooting in Trolley Square in Salt Lake City two months ago. No one has stopped to say how much worse that tragedy could or would have been, had Kenneth Hammond (an off duty police officer) not been there with his legally registered hand gun, how many more innocent lives would have Sulejman Talovic taken if he wasn't stopped by a citizen with a gun?

Let's apply that hypothetical to the Va. Tech. scenario. If one of the students in the engineering building (or in the dorm for that matter) had been allowed to carry a gun, how many of those 30 people killed would still be alive? Given this, one could hypothesize that gun laws exaggerated the casualties.

In full disclosure, I am a member of the NRA, and a gun owner.

As always, I welcome, and invite your thoughts and comments.

Imus got a raw deal

Don't get me wrong.. he is an idiot for what he said on the air, but was it grounds for the wrath of Sharpton?

Was anyone really surprised that he was capable of saying something so stupid on the air? He's been saying stupid, ignorant, controversial things on the air for nearly 40 years now. He invented the profession of shock-jock. Was he over the top this time? Perhaps.

Here's a novel idea, if you don't like what someone says on the radio or TV, change the channel. Let's all be serious... it's 2007, we have more choices for media than ever before. How many people actually heard what Imus said live? He's not even on the air in my market, and if he was, I wouldn't be a listener (well, I guess he was on MSNBC, but I'm not one of the 4 people that watch that network).

It is one of the biggest double standard in today's society. And before you play the oppressed slave card, lets really take a look at it. First of all, who do you think sold the slaves to the slave traders? That's right, other black Africans. And if they hadn't, how likely is it that Al Sharpton would even be in this country? He is a descendant of slaves (ironically, descended from a slave owned by the ancestors of former Senator Thurman). If slavery hadn't happened, would he be here to cry out against the devastation caused by some idiot on the radio? If I were one of the players, I don't know who I would be more upset at. No, I do know. Imus is some ignorant radio shock jock, Sharpton is arrogant enough to think that I need his protection. He thinks that the players aren't tough enough to let it go.

Why is it that Kramer gets lambasted for his moronic tirade, Imus gets fired for saying less, yet Chris Rock and Richard Pryor's routines are full of 'cracker' references and N-bombs, and audiences are in hysterics.

And have you heard the lyrics for Snoop Dogg, or Jay-Z, or countless other rap/hip hop artist. How many times do they talk down to black women, and all they get is the 'parental warning' label on the CD and sell countless albums.

The scariest part about this whole thing is that I agree with that fat slob on The View, if they can take down an icon like Imus, who is next? Rush? Beck? Savage? Hannity?

Another racially motivated story in the news that seemed to disappear recently. Those 3 lacrosse players that raped the stripper last year (oh yea, that's right, they didn't). The story that forced the pre-season number one ranked college lacrosse team to sit out the season. The story that got the coach fired, the story that blacklisted those 3 boys. Oh yea, the story that will likely get the Durham County DA disbarred for trying to grab headlines and kowtowing to Jackson and Sharpton about the 3 evil, privileged, white boys that were less than civil to the black stripper, who couldn't keep her story straight.

Bottom line, we have taken this whole politically correct thing way to far. We all need to take a step back. We need to be more sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of other. Thumper's mother had it right when she said "if you can't say something nice, don't say nuttin' at all."

But we also need to be less sensitive and not be so quick to take offense to the things that others say, you know the whole sticks and stones thing.

Let the flame war begin.

I went to see my brother Michael's performance as Adam and Noah in his high school's (and my alma mater) production of Children of Eden this weekend.

I don't know how much of my opinion comes from the fact that he is my brother, but I thought the production was fantastic. It was a long show, over 3 hours. But it moves right along, and before you know it, the first 90 minute act is over.

He doesn't have the most powerful singing voice in the cast, but he didn't detract from it (and it is much better than I would ever be), but he makes up for it with stage presence. When the little things that happen in every performance came up, he didn't miss a beat, even when his pants fell down mid-dance. :) (he was wearing a tunic, so it wasn't the obvious wardrobe malfunction we had a few years back in the Superbowl).

He also starred in productions of Our Town (he was the narrator, and a toss up for my favorite of his performances, tied with his Adam/Noah role), Pippen (he was the head), and Greater Tuna (he was one of the radio guys).

The house was pretty full, the fire marshal sign in the back of the house says capacity is 1045, there was probably over 800 people in attendance.

I wanted to give kudos to some of the other fantastic performers (in no particular order) from the show. Scooter Rosenthal (Father), Susannah Hallagan (Eve/Momma), Claire Walton (part of the snake/Yonah) and Tim Crawford II (Cain/Japheth). This is by no means the list of the cast that did a phenomenal job, but these are the ones that stood out in my mind as I watched the performance.

Kudos also go out to the army of parents and volunteers that helped out with costumes, sets, tickets, etc.. the animal costumes were very clever. I liked the alligators slinking around the stage on skateboards and the giraffes with the canes as front legs.

Great job guys, you all have a ton of talent, and if you keep up the hard work that you obviously put into this production, there is no limit to what you can achieve in the future.

This is likely my brother's last high school performance. He will graduate this spring. He plans on attending college for film production at either BYU or RIT in the fall.

For more on the play, and photos of rehearsals, click on the school's web site, here (it's a pdf, so you need adobe).

Does the ACLU really have our best interests in mind?

Recently, News10 (the local NBC affiliate) did a story about how easy it is for anyone to walk in off the street and view adult themed web sites at the public library.

Shortly after the story, complete with hidden camera footage and a convicted pedophile sent back to jail on a parole violation, County Executive Maggie Brooks threatened to pull county funding of the library if they didn't do something to filter out the porno sites.

Cue the ACLU.

They come riding in on their high horse and start screaming 1st amendment violations. They came in shouting about government censorship.

Here is why the ACLU is full of crap..

Sure adult themed websites are (for the most part) well within the bounds of the law. Adults, who are so inclined, have the right to view the material if they so chose, but is it the tax payers responsibility to provide it? In a word, No.

Now, an argument can be made that that is the government censoring what can and cannot be viewed at the library.

Perhaps.

There are books about Nazis, Marxism, all sorts religions, and many more subjects that some people may find offensive, and if you wanted to, you could do internet browsing on such topics.

The library is a place where people of all ages can come to do research on any number of subjects. It is an open source of knowledge.

Here is where I show a bit of ignorance. I do not remember the last time I was in a public library. I know you can read magazines, but I doubt you can read the latest issue of Playboy. You may be able to, I didn't check.

About the censorship, where I work, I can't even view my bank's website. There are a number of reasons why, but one reason is the whole 'unsafe work environment' thing. I can't go to an adult site from work because it might offend someone else.

The library employs people, why can't we use this reason?

What about that stupid 'no smoking' law? It's the same thing. I bet if there was a physical health effect like second hand smoke, there would be all sorts of people lobbying to block it.

Bottom line, If you are a consenting adult, you can pick up a copy of a porno mag in any number of places, but I don't want to pay for you to read it. If you want to view this material online, I don't want to pay for you to view websites of similar content.

The funding should be pulled until they install a state of the art filtering system, or until the computers are pulled from the libraries.

Well, I'm back in school.. I took a couple of weeks off, and reset my annual allowance of tuition assistance from work.. (boy, $8000 goes quick at a college...)

I am starting out in a financial management class. It is starting out as another accounting class. I really don't like accounting. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and after the last accounting class I took, all of the sudden Enron doesn't look so bad.. it is almost conceivable that it was all an honest mistake. :)

In the month or so since my last posting, a couple of things have piqued my interest, but not enough to devote an entire column to it.

First of all, I appreciate any and all comments I get for my columns, but please leave your name (at least a first name) so I know who is responding to what I have to say.

There are a couple of things that seem to always be headline news of late (besides the war), the '08 presidential election, and the farce of global warming.

On the election front, I really am not too excited. The one candidate that I would like to see, probably won't win his party's nomination. Most of the Democrats scare me for one reason or an other, and the RINOs on the right are only slightly right of center, and for some, that is giving them too much credit, but given a McCain/Giuliani ticket verses a Clinton/Obama ticket, I think you know where I would come out on that.

On the global warming issue, I think the good people of Oswego, NY have a few things to say about that, and what about the 3 inches of snow that fell in Malabu, CA last month, or all of the citrus groves that were frozen?

Anyone who believes in the concept of global warming, and that we have anything to do to cause or have any power to stop it should read 'State of Fear' by Michael Crichton. I know it is a fiction, but it makes you think.

Besides, I don't recall seeing any pictures of dinosaurs driving their SUVs to cause the end of the last ice age. If they had, perhaps we wouldn't have any oil left for our use.

The current trend.

There seems to be a growing trend spreading.. It is all over the talk shows. Quite frankly, as an American, it kind of bothers me.

The trend I'm referring to is the defamation of Wal*Mart.

It seems that it's becoming popular to say that the largest retail chain is destroying the fabric of the US economy.

It seems to me that it is sour grapes. They are upset that Sam Walton was smarter than they are.

Isn't it just that Wal*Mart has embraced the idea of capitalism and does a better job than most.

Refresh my memory.. what is capitalism? Is it you do your best, unless your best is better than someone else's best?

Perhaps it's let the government put restrictions on one entity who earns more than another?

Oh yea, it's the idea that the goal is to do your best, and if someone does something better, than you find a better way to do it.

The nay-sayers blame Wal*Mart for putting small businesses out of business. But is that really the case? They say that their business practice is unfair, but is selling something for less than someone else really unfair?

Whether or not you agree with the business practices of Wal*Mart, you can't disparage them from doing anything they can (within the law) to make as large of a profit as they can. Doing anything less would be unfair to the shareholders and employees. Disparaging Wal*Mart is un-American, and stinks of communism.

It's obvious that Americans approve of Wal*Mart, or at least we tolerate them, otherwise, we wouldn't be flocking to give them our money. It must not be that important that they are 'running mom and pop shops out of business', or perhaps, they aren't. Didn't we go through this when grocery stores, butcher shops and bakeries started going away in favor of a larger supermarket?

I say good for them. I'm going to do much of my Christmas shopping to support one of America's icons. A company that openly opposes unions, a company that choses not to settle law suits to discourage frivolous suits.

All this, and the best prices and best selection. Oh yea, they re-incorporated the 'C' word in their advertising.. they actually said 'Merry Christmas' in a commercial. Keep up the good work Wal*Mart!

The dust is starting to settle on 'Decision 2006'.

Who is going to turn out to be the big winners and losers? It's still too early to tell, but the newly crowned democrats are tripping over themselves to raise minimum wage. That will only serve to slow down the strongest economy in the history of the world.

When I was in high school, I was all about the raise in minimum wage, but that was a long time ago.. and it was a very selfish view point.

First off, how many people do you know that are older than 20 that still earn minimum wage? If it's anyone you know, tell them to go back to school, get a real skill, and get a real job.

Working for minimum wage is good when you are in high school, or maybe even college, but if you are still making that amount, you need to look within yourself, not to the government, to better your financial standing.

Learn a skill, work in a factory, basically, make yourself more marketable.

People get paid what they are worth.

A lot of people complain that athletes and celebrities make too much, but I say, if someone is willing to pay it, they are worth it.

To those who say athletes are paid too much, and that teachers should get more (I agree that teachers are grossly underpaid) I say this: 'As soon as 50,000+ people show up and pay $50+ to watch you work, then you can complain that you aren't getting paid enough.'

Well, I kind of got off on a tangent, but what it comes down to, is that less than 2% of the population make minimum wage (according to the department of Labor estimates that 2 million Americans earn minimum wage, and we all heard the reports of the 300 millionth American a few weeks ago). Raising minimum wage will only increase the operating expenses, which will result in one of 2 things happening.. small businesses will go out of business because they can't afford to pay the high school help more than $5.15/hour, or they will pass the higher costs on to their customers, causing all of us to pay more for our goods and services.

It's just another example on why a vast majority of the unions in this country are just dead weight in the economy. Take a look at the industries that are dominated by union labor.. how are they doing? (I'll give you a hint.. the automotive and airline industries)

I'm not one to say 'Write to your Congressperson', but if you are so inclined, it won't be a bad idea.


As always, I encourage your thoughts and comments on this or any other topics.

Happy Turkeyday!

On this day of thanx, most of us have much to be thankful for, but sadly most of us (myself included) take what we have for granted.

On a lighter note, a thanksgivig tradition that has stood for several years gets better today.. for some..

For as long as I can remember, the Cowboys and Lions each host a game each Thanksgiving day, this year, the League did us one better, they added a 3rd game.

This is a good thing, right? It is, unless you are not able to get the NFL network..

That's right, you can only see the 3rd game if you are one of the 14 subscribers of the league owned network.

Ok, it's not that low, but most cable companies don't carry it, including Time Warner (my cable provider).

Both companies (Time Warner and NFL network) have links on their website to contact eachother to petition viewers and potential viewers to express an interest in the channel.. a virtual game of chicken. who will buckle first? only time will tell.

But this is all a moot point, I'm not going to get to watch much football today.. I'm taking my grandma to the casino today, it's going to be fun!

Have a great turkey day, don't eat too much (just kidding.. go nuts!), but keep the spirit of the holiday in mind.

I wasn't one of those freaks who spent days camped out in front of a a store to be the first to get a Playstation 3. I probably won't ever even get one..

I wasn't even one of those guys who got up early to stand in front of a store to get the new Nintendo Wii. I wanted to get one, I just didn't get up at an ungodly hour to get one.

And I'm not going to be the guy who spends $5-600 on a system that retails for half of that.

I'll be getting one in a few days, when they are back on the shelves.

If you see one for sale at the list price, drop me a line!

As I pulled the curtain closed behind me in the voting booth this morning, I couldn't help but wonder why we need to spend millions of tax dollars to replace voting machines that seem to work fine.

And to replace them with what? Computers that have not been proven to be 100% reliable.

The way I see it, the old fashioned machines are reliable, and completely non-biased.

There were never any 'hanging chads' in NY. Why? well, partly because most New Yorkers are smart enough to figure out the basics of voting, they have a severe case of picking the wrong candidates, but we can figure out the ballots.

How many of the candidates that I voted for will win? With the poles closed for not quite an hour now, it is difficult to say.. it's likely that 3 for sure, (Clinton, Spitzer and Cuomo ), and possibly a third, (that alleged felon Hevesi), but the rest we'll have to wait for the results.

What will come of the future? Only time will tell, but to quote a line from Robin Williams latest movie (which I haven't seen, the line was used in the commercials) "Politicians are like diapers, they both need to be changed often, and for the same reasons."

As always, I welcome your comments.

You need to watch this 3 minute video, and share it with everyone who thinks we are not making a difference in Iraq.

http://www.glennbeck.com/realstory/iraq-video.shtml

Election day is just over a week away, and the campaigns are coming down to the wire. I'm not entirely sure who I am going to vote for.. I know a few I will vote against, (but they will still win..)

Here's how I will vote:

Against former president Hillary Clinton for senator, and against Eliot Spitzer for governor and against comptroller Alan Hevesi (he should be in jail, but that's a different story)..

I plan on voting for Tom Reynolds, not so much for him, but there is something about Jack Davis that doesn't sit well with me.. can't say for sure what it is.. (his 'Danville' crack sure didn't win him any votes..)

If you have a candidate that you support, and want a chance to convince me to vote for your person, leave a comment and state your case.

You may have seen or heard the political advertizements featuring Michael J. Fox supporting candidates that support expansions in stem cell research.

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh put his foot in his mouth this week by calling him out, saying that he was either off his meds or faking it.

At first thought, it seems pretty insensitive, (many would say you shouldn't expect less from Rush, but I digress.. ) but he (Fox) does have a history of doing just that for his own political gain. When he testified to congress a few years ago to campaign for funding for research, he, by his own admission, did not take his medication in order to visably worsen his condition to emphasise his point.

Where do I come out on this matter? I've always been a fan of Michael J Fox, when I was younger, I wanted to grow up to be Alex P. Keaton, and I loved the Back to the Future movies, but they are both right.

Could Rush have done a better job of calling a spade a spade? probably.. did Fox do something to exagerate his condition? Does it really matter? He is campagining for something that is very importaint to him.

Bottom line, this time of the year, the airwaves are flooded with political comercials. It seems that each candidate is busy telling you why the other guy would do a worse job than him, rather than why he will do a better job than the opponent.

Week 7 is all but in the books (Giants/Cowboys tonight) and the 76 Buccaneers can rest easy.. the Oakland Faders have left the ranks of the win less. There are now no win less teams in the league.

The 72 Dolphins may have something to worry about.. both the Bears and Colts are still unbeaten. The Colts looked good yesterday, and Peyton had a pretty good game (25/35, 342yds, 4TD). In doing so, they opened the season 6-0 for the 2nd year in a row.

On to baseball. Game 2 of the World Series was last night, and the talk is about Kenny Rogers. Was he cheating? He says 'no', Cards manager Tony La Russa apparently didn't think so either.. so who am I to say otherwise?

It's a long unspoken rule in baseball that if you aren't cheating, you aren't trying, and it's only cheating if you get caught. Having said that, I would have to say he wasn't cheating, since he didn't get caught.

Was it risky to allegedly have pine tar on his hand? Yes, he risked being suspended for the remainder of the series. But he got away with whatever he had on his hand in the first inning. We'll see what happens next in game 6 (if it's needed).